Devour my Soul

Pain bubbled through my throat as my wailing cry screamed up at the white light shining above me. The rawness scratched deeply, unable to heal between the millisecond gaps amid the unrelenting pain being unleashed upon my body. I could still feel every cut, every hit, before I’d managed to heal myself. But Antheon was growing weaker, and so my power was beginning to fade.

“Where is he?”

Delaney’s harsh breath roared in my face, intimidation strong in his voice, but I was past fearing this man. Cold angry eyes glared at me, inches from my own and for the hundredth time I felt myself succumb to the need. The desire to defy the man’s dominance as I glared daggers into his mutated smile.

“I don’t know,” I spat viciously, earning a hard slap across my cheek.

“Lies will get you nowhere, little lady,” he breathed in my ear. I leaned away in disgust, expelling a chunk of blood out at the cold concrete. “I can do this all day.”

Without giving me a second to reply, a sharp pain stung my abdomen, forcing another shriek to pierce from my lungs. The blade was already warm with my blood, its sharp edge sliding through my skin in a clean swipe as though it were merely being dipped in water.

Crimson dripped to the ground beneath my chair, adding to the blood already painted across the dirty floor. Droplets of red scattered across the walls and roof; the aftermath of Delaney’s wrath as he ripped a hook from my flesh, his maniacal laugh thundering through my pain. This knife wound was nothing compared to that hook, but it still fucking hurt.

“You’re right,” I seethed. “We can do this all day, and I still won’t know where the hell Evan fucking Phillips is!”

My head snapped back painfully as the man backhanded the hilt of his dagger into my jaw in a deafening crunch. A loud crack shuddered through my skull, my teeth shattering against each other from the sheer force of the blow. I winced in a gasping pain, swallowing chunks of my teeth, only to choke them back up as they scraped at the sides of my throat.

White pebbles showered the floor, coating in the red liquid as they scattered across the concrete. I could hear Delaney’s satisfying laugh as I spat the last of my broken teeth to the ground, groaning in pain when a new set pushed forcefully through my bloody gums. My skin stitched together slowly, wrapping around my newly healed jaw, and erasing the pain of the cool musty air clinging to the open wound.

“Listen,” I snapped maliciously. “I don’t know what you want with the guy, but I can promise you that I have no idea where he is. And to be quite honest, I don’t want to.”

The man’s smug smile curled down at the corners in a disgusted sneer. “Don’t play smart with me –” he began, but I cut him off before he could finish.

“Does it look like I’m joking?” I hissed through clenched teeth. “What the hell would I want anything to do with that self-righteous ass?”

A subtle ticking sound scraped my ears as Delaney picked at his fingernails with his knife. The incessant noise was grating on my nerves but I remained quiet as the man thought for a moment, allowing my words to sink in before throwing me a disbelieving raise of his brow.

“You don’t honestly think I would believe for a second that you aren’t interested in your soul mate,” he scorned, leaning in close and running a finger down the length of my cheek. “True love’s first kiss. Happily ever after. Unlimited power?”

I scowled, running my tongue over my teeth in irritation, and grimacing at the coppery taste of blood still swirling about in my mouth. Delaney backed away with a short bark of laughter. Pacing in front of me, I glared at the man as he casually flipped his knife, his steps rippling over the puddle of crimson pooled at my feet. Excitement moved through him, his fingers twitching in anticipation as he grinned to himself.

“And, oh, that power,” his eyes gleamed, turning to me for a brief second before wandering far from this little room. “Your boyfriend has been busy, my sweet. So many souls he’s taken. So much power swimming through his veins. It will all be mine as soon as you tell me where he is.”

“Then you’ll be waiting a long time.”

My screeching yelp earned me another smug sneer as Delaney fisted a large chunk of my hair and yanked. The sickening sound of my skin ripping from my head sent a wave of vomit choking out of my mouth and mixing with my blood. Cold air hit the bare patch left behind on my skull, stinging its sharp icy claws into my wound as Antheon struggled to heal it. A drip of something wet tickled down my forehead; whether it was blood, or the strained sweat of my pain, I couldn’t be sure. All I could really focus on was the throbbing pain the pounded my head as if I were being clubbed by a cricket bat.

“Not as long as you might think,” Delaney replied in a light tone. Another wave of bile churned in my throat as he flung the patch of my bloodied flesh carelessly to the side. “Whether or not you tell me, he will find you soon enough.”

My laugh was almost hysterical. Verging slightly on the edge of insanity as my eyes lay pinned on the coil of dark hair splayed out on my blood. “He won’t come for me,” I muttered.

If only my chest would believe that. As much as I wanted nothing to do with Evan, I couldn’t help but hope to the high heavens that he would come for me. That he would take me away from this nightmare, and deliver me safely home. The mere thought of him lingered of warmth of security, even if it was technically his fault I was in this predicament. All I wanted was to see his stupid smirk as he wreaked havoc on the monster standing before me.

Seemingly sensing my thoughts, Delaney grinned widely, and I felt myself shiver beneath his gaze. “Trust me,” he smiled, his tone slick and dark. “He will come for you. And when he does, I’m going to make him watch as I devour that pretty little soul.”