Book II: From the Ashes (18+)

Chapter 26.

I'm in a great mood today so here's another for y'all hehe

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The cigarette between my fingers burned unnoticed, the ember a dull glow in the darkness. I barely registered it, the smoke curling lazily into the night air as I faced him in the dimly lit alley. The chill gnawed at my skin, a sharp reminder that this encounter was far from ordinary. But it wasn't just the cold that bit into me—it was the dread, the tension coiling in my gut like a snake ready to strike.

Daniel approached, his hands buried deep in his pockets, eyes wary as if treading on thin ice. My heart raced, my pulse a relentless drumbeat in my ears. I watched him intently, unsettled by his reappearance. Why now? Why come back after all this time? My mind raced with questions, each one more frantic than the last. My breath hitched as he stepped into the light, revealing a ghostly figure of the man I once knew. His once vibrant presence had dimmed, his face gaunt, shadows clinging to his features like a shroud. What had happened to him? The Daniel I knew was confident, almost brash in his certainty. But this? This was a man hollowed out by something dark and terrible.

"Why did you come back? I thought—I thought you left for good," I managed, my voice trembling, betraying the confusion and fear gnawing at me. The last time I saw him, I had become attuned to the monster inside me... the beast. The destroyer. I told him to leave, to get out of my head, and to never come back. And here he was... once again. My mind replayed that moment over and over—had I been too harsh? Had I pushed him away when he could have been a lifeline? No. He had to go. But why now? Why, after all this time, was he back?

"I'm sorry, but I had to. I had to see something," Daniel replied, his voice low and troubled, as if each word was a burden he struggled to bear. He wasn't just back for old times' sake. There was something more, something lurking behind his words. 

"Where did you go?" I asked as I took a drag of my ciggy, trying to mask the unease gnawing at me. The smoke burned my throat, but it was a welcome distraction. 

Daniel, however, remained silent, his eyes avoiding mine. "Daniel?" I repeated, more insistent this time. My patience was thinning, and the fear beneath it was growing.

"Addy... you must listen to me," he finally said, his voice edged with an urgency I had never heard from him before. His tone sent alarm bells ringing in my head, but I couldn't let him see how much he was rattling me. I had to stay in control, had to keep the upper hand.

"Go on, then?" I prompted, my heart pounding, dread coiling tighter in the pit of my stomach. What could be so urgent, so dire, that he felt the need to seek me out like this? I couldn't shake the feeling that whatever he was about to say would change everything.

"There's something you need to know," Daniel began, his expression darkening as if about to deliver a sentence rather than an explanation. Why wouldn't he just say it? What was he so afraid of? The silence stretched on, taut and suffocating. "What is it?" I pressed, urgently threading through my words.

"After what happened with Alexander, I—I had to go and find him. I had to find Knox, give you hope or something. You aren't you, Adelaide. This person you've become... this isn't you," he said, his voice thick with regret and something else I couldn't quite place—fear, perhaps. His words sliced through me, sharp and unforgiving. Was I that far gone? Had I lost myself so completely that even Daniel, of all people, could see it?

"Oh, piss off," I snapped, the defensive retort slipping out before I could stop it, fueled by anger and the deep ache of his words. Who was he to judge me? He had no right. None of them did. I turned away, unwilling to hear his lecture on morality—one he had no right to give. But he screamed, "Adelaide!" Daniel's voice cracked like a whip, startling me into silence.