Page 101 of Slayer

“Ready,” I told her.

She closed her eyes, taking in a slow breath, and I noticed the runes on her arms began to glow ever so slightly. Then she reached down and traced a curved rune on her own arm with her fingernail. When she opened her eyes, I gasped and jerked back instinctively.

They were completely white.

She smiled softly. “I should have warned you. I’m sorry.”

Then she dipped the needle brush into the ink mixed with crushed Veil Stone and held it over my arm. She looked me in the eye one more time, and again I was startled by the way her pupils had vanished entirely, her gaze unfocused yet piercing at the same time. Was she in a trance?

“Remember you are in charge, Stella, but the more I push, the better a hunter you’ll be.”

I drew in a steadying breath. “I want to protect humans from the bloodsuckers. Push as hard as you can.”

She tapped my arm once with the needles, and I flinched at the sharp sting, my muscles tensing, but it was manageable. Then she tapped again, her head tilting slightly as if she were reading something invisible beneath my skin.

“That’s not too ba—” I began as pain seized my chest without warning, not on my arm but deep inside me, like invisible fingers squeezing my heart. Then the thoughts came.

You’ll never amount to anything.

The needle tapped again.

Everyone here will figure out you’re a waste of time and leave.

Tap.

Asher doesn’t like you. He wants something from you.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Even your own mother was evil, paying money to a vampire.

Tap. Tap.

Akari’s hand moved faster now, the needles rising and falling in a tight pattern as tears blurred my vision and a hollow loneliness opened in my chest so wide it felt bottomless.

Akari gasped, and I looked over at her. “I’ve never drawn this one before,” she said, then shifted position and began another. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The physical pain on my arm was nothing compared to the war in my head.

Linda liked me. She said I was her favorite. I fought the voices, clinging to the memory of Linda telling me that in her office.

She lied to give you hope. She’s already forgotten you.

Harper and Luna are only your friends because they feel sorry for you.

Nobody loves you. They never have. That’s why you’ll always be alone.

Orphan. Unwanted, unadoptable. Orphan!

The voice screamed so loud it tore into my soul, and the most shocking part? The voice was mine.

A sob tore out of me before I could stop it, and I glanced down to see three runes already etched into my skin.

Three.

How had time slipped like that? There was no way… I’d only been here a minute. Tops.

Akari’s eyes were still white as snow when she met my gaze. “You have so much power, Stella. You can handle more Veil Stone than anyone I’ve ever seen, but I can also see the fragility of your mind. There is a delicate balance between what the body can endure and what the mind can survive.”