Book I: Near Death Experience (18+) ✔️

25.

"Do it!"

"I cannot, Father...it isn't right", Xander pleaded. But it was useless to his father, as the swift hand came down onto his cheek. Sent to the ground, his collar picked up by the man, he spit out, "You will do this, from orders of your family. Do not let empathy cloud your mind, son, it is a useless feeling for us."

I could feel the hatred Xander had for this man, his father. I didn't understand. What did he want him to do? I watched as Xander walked into a cell, the smells of mould and damp water flooded my senses but also a scent I didn't realize was until I saw a man chained to a chair.

Blood.

I could smell it as if I was an upir as well. The sickly sweet scent flooded the nose of the man I was inside.

The man was beaten, bloodied and bruised as if a violent hand had brought so much pain to his body. I could feel the hesitation Xander had as he watched the man, but I could feel his father enter the room. His scent was close to Xander but it was tainted in a sense. Ruined.

Is this why Xander lives on Knox's estate? To be away from this family?

With a shaky breath, he focused his powers, feeling the energy surge within him. Closing his eyes, he tentatively reached out, touching the man's mind like a door waiting to be opened. As he entered the man's thoughts, he was immediately engulfed in a tempest of memories and emotions, navigating through the tangled mess of his consciousness. The man screamed in pain, the process wasn't pretty. The man's eyes began to bleed, crimson dripping down his cheeks into his mouth staining his teeth red.

They always said that the eyes were windows to the soul...

Xander stood there breathing heavily as his mind swirled into his, coating each piece of happy memory with pain and despair. These powers, are rare for an upir but are used against others by his father. The power to break the mind renders the person affected useless and feeble. He truly could tear apart the physic, crippling the individual brain-dead.

And he had done this many times. I could hear it in his head, these images of Xander's memories flowing into mine. Women and men, both in this same chair were torn apart physiologically until they were gone.

He haunted the individuals, plaguing them with false memories and visions until they broke apart under him. He felt the man's fear, his confusion, and a desperate plea for innocence echoing in his mind. Xander winced, feeling an overwhelming surge of empathy as if he were experiencing the man's anguish himself.

Xander sank to the floor, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, his body shaking with the emotional toll of the experience. The world swirled into inky darkness once more.

The memory left me as quickly as it came, leaving eyes widened as I stared into my beloveds. The words were lost from my throat, only tears pouring into my eyes as I stared into his. Xander's hand clasped against my cheek as his lips twisted into a saddened smile, while he petted my hair. He whispered to me with a tightened throat, "I do not wish for others to do what they did to me, to you."

Xander picked my sore and aching body off the floor, cradling me in his chest as I sobbed quietly. I could hear Knox coming closer to us as Xander walked towards him. I felt another hand sweep up my chin as I looked into Knox's eyes, guilt flooding me as I realized what I did to him. I cried lowly, "I am so sorry."

"You'll have to try harder than some wind to get rid of me," Knox joked as he wiped the tears off my cheek making me laugh with my tears. I pressed my body further into Xander's chest mumbling quietly, "Why is this happening to me...why now?"