Shadows of the Night | BOOK 2 DRAFT

40

This chapter is double the length of usual which is why it's a bit late! It was going to be split in two but I thought it's better together so took a little longer to write it all (as well as a little mishap with myself, explained at the end oops). Hope you enjoy! SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER EVERYONE

40. 

An incessant sound buzzes in the air, high-pitched and nasally. It pierces through the darkness. I wish it would stop, but it only grows louder, other voices joining in. My eyelids flutter, but they feel like paperweights, refusing to open.

I let out a jumbled murmur and there's a light pressure spreading from the inside of my wrist—a hand. It presses harder, fingertips warm when I feel like ice. When I'm finally able to open my eyes, the room is so blindingly white I have to squint.

I murmur a complaint as I reach up to shield my eyes. The fingers ease off my wrist and Cassia appears in my line of vision instead, silver eyes brushing all over my face. When she notices me looking, she pulls back, a hesitant smile crossing her lips.

"Hey."

I shift slightly to peer past her. I recognise the room from the white sheets pulled across to shield us from all the other people in the room—the infirmary. Trays clatter and there's a constant buzz in the air, but I can't see any of it. There are two cots in our section, I'm lying on one and Cassia leans against the other.

I blink until I can only see one of her. My head pounds as my memory returns—Cassia getting bitten, Eric nowhere to be seen, Elias falling unconscious, and Malik... the thought of him delivers like a stab. I almost killed him. I would've killed him. Maybe I still should.

"What happened?" My voice is hoarse. "Where's Elias?"

"Take it easy, Milena."

"The last time I saw you, you were—you were on the ground and..." And now she's fine, her shoulder revealed by the black tank top she's wearing. There isn't so much as a scar. "And Elias was..." I can still hear the cracking in his chest as I pumped against it, I can feel the ice in his skin. "Where's Elias? Is he—"

"He's alive," she says quickly, before I can jump to any of my own conclusions.

I sink back in the bed, mind racing. Malik said as much, it was the only thing that kept me from killing him right then and there in the forest. My knife was seconds away from puncturing his skin. There was no guilt, no fear, no thought of what would happen next. In that moment, I'd wanted to kill him. But I hesitated and then... then nothing. I swing my legs over the bed, trying to stand, and immediately am hit with a wave of nausea.

Cassia steadies me. "Woah, woah, I was serious before, you need to slow down. You've been out for a while."

I shoot my gaze to hers. "How long is a while?" She hesitates. "Cassia."

"Three days."

"Three days?" I try to walk again and make it to the sheet before Cassia grabs my arm. I'm lucky she does, too, the world was starting to spin.

"Seriously, Milena. Your body has been battered, it needed time to heal. That's probably why you stayed out so long."

"Or because Malik's henchman whacked the back of my head," I grumble. Cassia sighs, her grip on my arm loosening. "I almost killed him, Cassia. He told me Elias was alive, but I-I still almost killed him."

"I don't blame you."

I run a hand through my hair, focusing on the marks on the ground. Somebody has tried to scrub it, but it's stained—a dark red in erratic patterns. "What happened after I... after they knocked me out?"