The Monster Within - Book 1

Chapter 23

The rest of the day passes slowly as I sit in the bedroom all alone. I'm still angry at Apollo, but I can't take the silence and the loneliness any longer. I walk out the room and down the stairs, finding no one around. I walk into the living room and sit down on the sofa, flicking the TV to life with the remote. I aimlessly scroll through all the channels not finding anything I want to watch and then I feel the sofa dip next to me as someone sits down.

'Where's your bodyguard?' Archer asks.

I shrug my shoulders not wanting to talk to him.

'One day I'm going to fuck the disobedience right out of you.' He growls into my ear.

I fill sick to my stomach from his close proximity as he leans closer and closer towards me. The smell coming off him is like acid in my nose. Nothing like Apollo.

'Apollo will be back soon.' I warn as Archer is only centimetres away from my face.

'I guess I'll have to make this quick then.' He says as he pushes my body down on the sofa and climbs on top of me.

I push at his shoulders but he doesn't budge.

'Don't do this... Stop.' I cry as he places a hand on my breast, squeezing it hard in his grasp.

His hands roam over every part of my body as I fight against him, desperate to stop him.

'Archer that hurts. Stop, please.' I beg.

I feel a swell of hopelessness fill me, knowing I can't push him off or scream for help. No one is around to stop him. No one is around to save me. He's going to do what he wants with me and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

He kisses my neck and pulls at my top as anger starts to fill every fibre of my being. I feel this tips of his fingers push up my top, tracing the skin of my stomach. My hands start to tremble from the red hot rage filling me. The shaking moves through my body before a pain shoots through my body like I felt a few nights ago. I piercing scream of pain leaves my mouth, causing Archer to pull back slightly and stare at me. I feel a crippling cramp sear through my abdomen as my back arches out of my control. The tips of my fingers burn like in my dream as I watch sharp, pointed claws protrude out. Before everything goes black.

***

I wake up in the dark, tucked under the duvet of Apollos bed. I don't know how long I've been out of it, but I'm naked and the thought of Archer touching me and doing whatever he wanted to me while I was unconscious swims though my head. I don't think anything happened. I would feel it right? But where are my clothes?

Then I hear raised voices and something smash downstairs, causing me to jump from the bed. I hear Apollos voice boom through the house, as I press my ear to the door, listening. Stealing a sheet from the bed, I wrap it around my body as I head to the top of the stairs, peering down to the sight below.

I gasp in horror when I look down into the hallway below. Archer sits on the floor in a pile of his own blood that seeps from deep cuts all over his body.

'It's your own fault. I warned you to stay away from her. You can bleed to death for all I care.' Apollo shouts over his shoulder to Archer as he walks towards the stairs.

I run back to the room away from the scene. Apollo did that to him. He must of. Did Apollo stop Archer from doing something to me while I was unconscious? I run through the bedroom and into the bathroom where I push the door closed and lock it. I hear Apollo open the door, quickly registering that I'm not in the bed anymore.

'Cassandra? Where are you?' He shouts.

A light tap on the door makes me jump, clinging tightly to the sheet wrapped around my body.

'Are you in there?' He asks softly as if he's talking to a wounded animal

I don't say anything. I'm silent.

'Cassandra?' He asks again.

'What... What happened?' Why is he like that?' I ask, shaking.

'I... I don't know. It's not possible...' He mutters through the door.

'What's not possible? Why did you do that to him?' I scream.

'I didn't do that Cassandra.' He tells me quietly. 'It was you.'

I walk away from the door, not wanting to hear what he's saying anymore. I walk over to the sink and lean over the basin. I run the tap and cup some water in my hand feeling my throat dry up. I press the water to my mouth and slurp it up, spilling a little down my chin. I look down to the sink with a red dot catching my eye. Then another and another. Is that blood? Where is it coming from? I watch as a couple more red splotches appear against the white porcelain underneath me, before looking up to the mirror in front of me.

I scream as I see the blood coating my face. I drag my hands over my face, trying to scratching the red away, failing.

The door slams open behind me as Apollo comes marching in. I spin around to face him, pulling a bloody hand away from my cheek. 

'This... This isn't my blood?'

'No.'

He steps closer to me, slowly, taking my hand in his.

'What did I do?'