The Void

Chapter Eighteen. Feel The Failure.

The castle continues to move in a blur of upended chaos around me, but I don't feel the effects of its chaos as it spins around me. Rhydian and the others haven't been seen since the incident in the ballroom, but I can't sense them, don't even try, there's a gaping hole where my ability to care about them should be, but it's not there.

How little I desire to find them doesn't nag at me, but deep down I know their distance ensures their life, which seems to be blessing because the itch to rip everyone apart. Is a barely restrained need that is constantly pulling against the threads of restraint Mady has instilled in me.

There's so much power thrumming through my veins that I am constantly aware of, they burn and surge at every glimpse of Vampire's that I see but there's a tether holding me back. Where Cole couldn't establish control, Mady has, something I assume has to do with the fact she administered the serum.

My accidental murder of her mate has made her more vicious than she was already, every moment of flirtatious teasing between Mady and Rhydian was just her attempt at persuading him to comply with her body. I might think that there was more of a power balance than first obvious, but Cole was her mate, and the death of one is a feeling I never want to experience. If I ever feel again, that is.

There's less teasing in her cruelty now, but there's also less surety in her plans too, like she was relying on Cole's intentions to get to their end goal. Only, he only ever spoke of what this would give him, not what she would receive in their victory. Now it seems as though she is rolling around possible plans of action but hasn't quite decided on what to do.

The castle is full to the brim with traitorous Vampires that deserve nothing less than a painful exit from this world, and to be finally thrusted into whatever pain comes after. I get they've been alive for a long time, but does loyalty mean nothing to these people? I may not be a Vampire, not entirely human either but I can understand feeling trapped and the life Rhydian gave them was not that.

I stand in the doorway of the dining hall, watching as people rid the large room of the tables and chairs, pulling the navy curtains from the windows. "Feeling the bloodlust yet?" Mady queries, but there's a casual giddiness to her words.

"Only yours" I reply, voice deep and unbothered. Despite the incredibly overwhelming urge to rip out her heart, I am forced to show an incredible amount of restraint.

If I need it, the power is there, tingling at my fingertips, but aside from that, my body feels like an empty vessel awaiting commands. My veins are black, they spiderweb across my neck and down my shoulder, a physical display of what she's done to me.

Mady's laughter whispers at the shell of my ear, "Do you really want to risk killing me? You don't want to end up like the others, do you?"

...There's more smoke surrounding me than I can comprehend, suffocating me as I fight to breathe through the fog of this memory. I can't actually choke on the feeling; but I fight against it anyway-my senses are overwhelmed quickly by piercing screams. The strong echo of it, sounds like it is leaving multiple raw throats, all the noise ripping through me with a power that I have never wanted to feel.

The woods around me are dark, trees line the clearing I am stood in the middle of, my bare feet planted on the thick grass stretching around me. The memories surfacing are vaguely familiar and heart stoppingly-frightening, there's many cloaked assailants surrounding the collection of bleeding women scattered throughout the trees.

There has to be more than ten of them, all in bloodied outfits that are more dated than the last; how many times have we failed at this since the 1600's? In turn, how many times will it take us to get it right?