chapter 65

Ari's POV

Everything seemed too real and too familiar. I was lying on the floor in the basement. The sun was barely up. Then, I heard his voice and my skin crawled .

No.

“Oh, dear sister,” Mason's voice cam from the top of the steps.

Wasn't it always dear daughter or dear sister? My gut clenched with fear. I knew what was coming, and I also knew that it couldn't be real... I had to get out of here, but my body wouldn't move.

There was no use in fighting it. Mason's tall and muscular figure made it to the bottom of the stairs, the stairs creaked with every step. The air went cold around me. I wanted to throw up and scream and fight, but I couldn't move.

My heart raced.

I didn't want this.

He chuckled.

“Are you afraid, dear sister?” he said, his tone as menacing as ever.

I gulped. My head pounded. My mouth was dry. How long had it been since I'd had water? Just enough to be thirsty, but not enough for the potion to wear off.

Gemma?

I heard nothing. I felt nothing. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I could only see flashed of her realm.

His hand wrapped around my ankle and he jerked me toward him. I fell off the bed. Wasn't I just... on the floor?

Something was wrong. What was happening?

Since you know what I’m thinking, I don’t think I need to explain anything,” he said, leaning against the wall.

I shuddered, hanging my head and going to him. My hands ran up his body softly and slowly, how he liked it. I hated it. I hated it. I was supposed to be elsewhere, but where? I heard a low moan of pleasure as his head fell back against the wall. The sound made me want to vomit. He truly was easy to please. He was always easy to please. I just had to get through this. My eyes burned. Why was it the only time he was gentle was when he used me like a whore? None of this was normal.

I slowly got on my knees before him and undid his pants when my lips met his cock. I licked him slowly, and he moaned softly. His hands twisted in my hair. He played with it almost lovingly. He was gentle until he got closer to the edge and started thrusting into my mouth, using me, holding me in place and crooning.

"That's perfect."

I tried not to think about it, but it was so real. Too real. I wanted to leave. I had to leave.

But something was off. The scent of blood filled my nose. I couldn't breathe as he pushed in, crushing his hips against my face. I tried to pull back, to fight, but as soon as I did, I screamed.

His head was at an unnatural angle. He was covered in blood. A corpse and simply looking down at me.

Then, his face changed until Jasper was looking down at me. The basement melted away and I shoved away from him. He leaped forward, pulling a dagger. I knew what was coming. He sliced it across my arm. Tears filled my eyes from the pain.

"You thought you could get away from me, you little bitch?" HE asked and sliced my arm again and again. "I know you have heard the stories. I can't wait to break you."

He laughed and pulled back and shoved the knife deep into my hip twisting it before pulling it out. I screamed, unable to move or thrash around the pain.

There was something I should say. Something I had said before.

"What? Thinking of your pathetic king who couldn't even keep you safe."

My heart lurched. Von! Had I forgotten about Von?

This was all a dream. I rolled away. The playhouse room vanished and I landed in a bed that wasn't my own. The scent of cinnamon and freshly baked bread tickled my nose. Fear pounded through me at the thought.

I knew this moment. I remembered it. No. No. I couldn't be here. The sheets were the same. Sunlight, pale and diffused, streamed through the curtains, painting dancing patterns on the worn wooden floorboards of the visitor's room.

Everything was the same. I couldn't breathe around the panic. Was this the night that I'd gotten pregnant or some other moment? I heard Konor outside the door.

"Pay me first," he said. "You'll pay extra if you damage my toy too much."

A low chuckle came through the door. "DOn't worry, I'll take care of your dear daughter."

I was going to be sick. The world started spinning around me. I smelled the dampness of the basement. The chains were gone. My head was pounding.

The unease at the back of my mind was blaring. This was all wrong. Every single bit of it was wrong! Where was Von?

The floorboards creaked softly as the bedroom door swung open, revealing a figure bathed in the golden morning light. My mother. Her expression was just as chilling as ever as she came to the bed.

"Rise and shine," she purred. "Breakfast in bed for the birthday girl!"

My breath hitched. Birthday? What birthday? A shard of ice pierced the comfortable haze of the dream. It wasn't my birthday. Not even close. And she was never nice. Was this a fantasy? A memory?

She set a tray beside me. It wasn't food but toys and my blood went cold.

I knew.

I knew this moment. I looked toward the door and as much as I wanted to run, knew that this moment was in the past, I was trapped.

"Enjoy." She chuckled. "Be sure to eat up."

I saw Mason in the doorward, bloody and pale as death. Panic, cold and unfamiliar, clawed its way up my throat. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.

"Do a good job, or things will be worse for you."

"No need to warn her," the man said, coming in, unbuckling his belt. I like them with a lot of fight in them."

She chuckled and left. The door closed behind her and the man crossed the room.

"You bite me and I'll kill you," he said and grabbed me by my hair, dragging me closer to him.

He tasted salty, and I couldn't breathe. I retreated from the moment, slipping out of the room and deeper into my mind.

Suddenly, the room shattered around me, morphing and twisting. The sunlight was dimmed, replaced by an oppressive darkness. The walls pulsed with a sickly green luminescence.

Terror, raw and primal, flooded my veins. I tried to scream, to claw my way out of the suffocating darkness, but my body refused to obey. I was trapped, a helpless prisoner in a nightmare twisting ever more horrifying.

The last thing I saw before the darkness consumed me entirely was a flash of fangs, a pair of glowing amber eyes burning with a cold, predatory hunger. And in that moment, I knew. This wasn't a dream. This was a warning. A chilling glimpse into the fate that awaited me if I failed.

The suffocating darkness receded and I slipped into Gemma's realm. Whether the stranger or my parents were playing with my body, I didn't know and I didn't care. I could feel every touch blending together: rough, gentle, painful and not.

It was all too much. A choked sob escaped my lips, the terror of the dream clinging to me like a shroud. My head throbbed, a dull ache that pulsed in rhythm with my hammering heartbeat, but I wasn't waking up.

I looked around, searching for Gemma to understand what was happening to me, but she wasn't there.

"Gemma?" I sniffled, looking around. I got no answer. I started to feel more alone than ever. My demi spirit wasn't even there.

I couldn't remember her name.

I cried and sobbed. "Gemma? Gemma!"