Page 28 of Demonic Affliction

My name rolling off her tongue is my undoing. My hand snaps to the back of her neck, holding her in place as I lower my head. My lips graze the shell of her ear, and Willow’s pulse spikes as a shiver runs through her.

For one perfect second, there's nothing else. Just the taste of her skin on my tongue, her pulse against my palm, and the small sound she makes when my lips find the sensitive spot below her lobe.

Then the cold slips in. It starts low in my spine, spreading outward through my veins, filling my body with a horrible, familiar wrongness.

I feel myself start to slip as The Other wakes. I blink, and it’s like I’m watching from somewhere outside my own body, unable to control what happens next.

“You’re dangerous for me, serafyn,” I whisper. “I can’t seem to control myself when you’re near. I just want to…”

The words die in my throat as the last thread of my sanity snaps. Unable to control myself, I feel my hand reaching up toward my mouth. In the next moment, there’s a sensation like someone is shoving a hot poker through my jawbone. I try to scream, but The Other has taken my voice from me, and nothing comes out but a puff of air.

I’m vaguely aware of something warm and wet dripping down my face, but my mind is too jumbled from pain to fully understand what it is.

Then Willow screams, and I realize exactly what’s happened.

The Other throws my mask to the side, and it clatters loudly against the far wall, splattering blood all across the ice.

“Cin,” Willow gasps. “Your… your face…”

I want to reach up and hide from her, but I can’t even do that. Shame pulses hot through my veins as I watch her eyes widen with horror—and I can’t even blame her. It’s why I hide behind the mask.

Only now, The Other won’t let me.

I lean in close to her neck again, breathing deep, getting high off her scent. Willow squeals as some of my blood smears onto her skin, but The Other makes me hold her in place.

“You smell so good,” I say. “I just want…”

“What?” She sounds scared now. “What do you want, Cin?”

Instead of answering, I lean in, nuzzling her neck. I want to stop. I'm screaming at myself to stop, but the command doesn't reach anything that will listen.

My teeth sink into her skin.

Willow lets out a choked scream, and it is the worst thing I've ever heard. But the being controlling my body just laughs.

I pull back with my mouth dripping black blood, a manic curl to my lips. “Just a little taste…”

Willow's hand flies to her neck, and thick black blood wells between her fingers, streaming down her arm. Her terrified eyes meet mine for one horrible moment, and I watch the trust in them die as she finally sees the monster living in mine.

Without a word, she turns and runs, stumbling twice before gaining her footing and disappearing into the hallway.

I want to call after her. I want to tell her to keep running, to not look back, to get as far from me as her legs will take her. Instead, laughter tears out of my throat—high-pitched and evil—nothing like any sound I've ever made in my life

My legs move on their own, The Other’s hunger driving me forward, forcing me to chase her.

“You’re mine, serafyn! You can’t run forever!”

Willow glances over her shoulder, notices how close I’m getting, and lets out a horrible scream. “Rhune! Nyx! Dravik! Help me!”

Her voice bounces off the ice walls, and somewhere ahead of us I hear footsteps answering. Rhune and Nyx round the corner at a dead sprint, and I watch their expressions shift the second they see me behind her.

Rhune's already reaching for Willow before his feet fully stop moving, sweeping her behind him in one fluid motion. Nyx breaks off in the other direction, angling to cut me off before I can lunge and sink my claws into her.

Nyx's arms lock around my chest, holding me back while Rhune moves to disable my arms. Willow watches from a few feet away, her face frozen in horror as I struggle against my brothers.

I manage to slip through their hold briefly, lunging toward Willow and snapping the air in front of her face before they haul me back.

I laugh maniacally as they pull me away, the sound tearing out of my throat and bouncing off the walls. The Other's voice pushes out through my mouth, shuddering with madness. “You’re mine, serafyn. Mine, mine, mine, mine⁠—”