Strong adult themes and distressing content || Court Of Amaeris || Book One ||
Solar Flare - Demon hunting guild and the new permanent residence for Astola's Tri-bloods.
Four years is a long time to be hunting demons on military orders, but...
*Chapter contains a depiction of extreme PTSD - please read at your own risk*
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I don't remember getting home after that. Waking up in the infirmary with Adonis on the adjacent bed, who remained unconscious for three more days after I awoke.
Aries refused to leave my side, informing me that when Kieran and Seth returned to the scene the next day, there was nothing there but a dead Succubus; apparently one of Lust's dancers, which meant that whoever... or whatever was gathering B-class demons, was attacking lust based halflings. Even the mana stones from the three I took down were gone, meaning that whoever was there was eager to clean up and hide any evidence of having been there.
And I had a terrible hunch that I knew who was to blame; as my own digging led me to realise that each girl who had died so far was blonde, five-foot-two, and had a horrible resemblance to yours truly.
But that voice the Shade spoke in.
That was doing more to me than any appearance-based resemblance I had to any victim thus far; forcing me to acknowledge my already shaky mental state - one I had spent two years burying deep down in hopes of never having to face it.
Two days of acting as if I was fine, knowing damn well that everyone could see me falling deeper and deeper into that hole I had tried to fill. Seth constantly threw question after question to try and get me to talk while Lily did her best to get Seth to simply shut it. Because Damon had resurfaced.
When Adonis woke up, my mind only spiralled more; was Damon here for me? Had he been snooping around since the Horsemen's haywire mission, was it actually him I saw that day? Was I to blame for the sudden attack? Did he anticipate that Aries and I would be there?
Baseless leaps for answers. I was plummeting, spiralling within myself, reduced to panic and anxiety. And when it became obvious I wasn't good, everyone, including my father, started begging me for answers. The only people that didn't push me were Kieran and my little group of tri-bloods.
And yet, now that Alice, who had been keeping me company for the last 2 nights was gone, left alone by myself within the crushing walls of my room and mind, the memories came and didn't stop, each one more devastating than the last.
And I invited it. I was to blame for what happened to me, blamed myself for what happened to Aries. Abuse was normal, expected. What Aries and I went through was simple torture.
Torture my mine kept putting me through.
"You can't keep doing this!" I spoke aloud to myself, washing my face in the basin of my bathroom; I had already lost breakfast that morning, seeing a shadow from the corner of my eye and completely freaking out again. Aries had understood, and thankfully, didn't say much. I didn't want to lose lunch; not after Alice went out of their way to find me peaches to lift my spirits.
