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“Okay, deep breaths. I’m on my way. Stay on the phone with me.”
A series of gentle knocks echoed through the silence, sending shivers down my spine as I cautiously approached the door, my heart pounding with fear. The floorboards beneath me creaked, betraying my presence, and a surge of anxiety tightened my chest. I pressed my teeth into my lip, fighting back the urge to cry, each creak beneath my feet intensifying.
“Stop moving, Freya. Even I can hear you through the phone!” Tina urged.
“Freya, I know you’re there.” A muffled voice bled through the door, but I couldn’t figure out who it was. My heart was pounding so loudly in my head that it felt impossible to hear anything else.
“Freya, open thefuckingdoor!” The voice shouted, pounding against the door aggressively.
“They know my name, Tina. Oh god.” My hand collapsed over my mouth as I held my breath tightly.
“Freya, I swear togodI will kick down this fucking door if you don’t open it!” The voice growled so loudly that it shook the room like his voice could move mountains.
“Tina, I have to open the door.” My phone slipped through my fingers, the sound of it hitting the floor drowned out by her yelling.
My hand trembled as I approached the door, the nerves making me unsteady. With a shaky motion, I turned thehandle and opened it, revealing a deranged-looking Dustin staring back at me. His arm casually leaned against the door frame, and his usually vibrant blue eyes were paler. Veins protruded conspicuously around the bags under his eyes, like a map of exhaustion as his brows furrowed in anger at me. His hair was a mess, tangled and uneven.
I know that I had joked that I would love to see an Ellisario on their worst day, but I never imagined it would come, not like this.
“Who were you fucking?” He yelled, sounding almost drunk in anger.
I backed away cautiously, my hands palm up toward him. “What? You haven’t spoken to me in two days, and you come storming over here asking me If I’m fucking someone?” I tried to bite my tongue. To hold the anger that I wasn’t even sure belonged to me. It could have been Azrael’s lingering bond rippling through me, but I didn’t care.
“I felt it. Felt you reveling in something.” He growled, releasing himself from the frame as he stepped inside my apartment for the first time. His eyes fluttered around the room hazily, narrowing on Mr. Thomas perched against the wall. “This guy? Seriously?”
“How dare you judge me. I watched you kill people. I justified it even.” I started, but he cut me off by waving his finger in the air.
“That is your problem. Not mine. I didn’t ask you to justify anything. In fact, I distinctly remember telling you that you must have been delusional to justify me and my actions.” He strolled around the room, each word he uttered feeling like a dagger expertly aimed at my heart. It was as if his tongue was laced with blades, each sentence cutting deep and leavingwounds that lingered with every step he took toward Mr. Thomas. He kicked his shoe lightly. “So, did you enjoy fucking him?”
“Are you jealous right now?” I almost laughed. Jealousy was not a good look on him.
Without warning, his fist slammed into the wall, dust settling around him as the room shifted slightly. “I haven’t been able to get you out of myfuckinghead for days, you know. Feeling your fear, your sadness, your desperate attempts at happiness. It’s like I’m going mad with two thoughts running rampant in my head.” His laughter echoed through the air, a deranged symphony that sent shivers down my spine. “I’ve been trying to get better. To fix what’s breaking inside of me. To fix what the curse has done to me. And then I got this tickling sensation of satisfaction, and I was standing there realizing it wasn’t me feeling it. No, it was you.”
“Dustin, I was holding myself in this room for two days. I didn’t eat. Or drink. Or do anything. You have to know that I didn’t mean to kill Mr. Thomas. He just showed up, and one second, I was standing before him, and then the next-” I admitted, unsure how to explain it myself. “-the next thing I knew, my body was plummeting into him. Against every fiber in my body. And I only kissed him for seconds before he dropped with that horrid grin wiped across his face.” My finger pointed to his body, but my eyes refused to look. I still didn’t feel any better about the situation.
“Lies!” He shouted, pulling at his hair as if opposing thoughts were tearing at his mind.
“I’m not lying.” I edged closer to him, wanting to offer some comfort. He was obviously going through some internal turmoil, like the curse had messed with his head, causing himto go mad, just as Daemon had warned. Though, one thought beckoned me. “How did you get here so quickly? I killed Mr. Thomas maybe ten minutes before you arrived, and I never told you where I lived.”
His head snapped up, and I saw a glint of pure malice in his eyes. “You think I wouldn’t figure out where you live? You’re not that complicated, Freya. And I’ve been in this apartment building for the last two days, which you would have noticed if you had ever left your apartment.”
“You’ve been here thiswholetime?” My mouth dropped open.
He laughed, unsettling me further. “Someone had to make sure that Azrael didn’t come for you, and I wasn’t about to let you tell him I was here.”
“Why would I do that?” My hands slapped to my sides in frustration. “If this is about what happened at the club. I would have gladly let you kill him if I didn’t think it would kill me. If I didn’t think it would killyou!”
“Right, because he claims that you’re hismate.” It was a snide remark.
“Yes, and maybe he’s right. Maybe he’s not. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s in my head just as much as I am in yours.” I yelled back, only angering him further.
“You think I like the idea that you have to feel what he’s feeling all the time? That I have to compete with that now?” He growled, slamming one of the lamps onto the floor. The shattering noise echoed around us, adding to the already tense atmosphere. “I went from not giving a fuck about anyone. Not even my own family. And now I’m crippled by the idea of you. I’m crippled by the fucking guilt you constantly feel. Crippled by all of your pesky emotions!”
I rolled my eyes. “What am I supposed to do? I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t want my life to turn into this chaotic mess!”
His head tilted to the side, and his hair ruffled unevenly. “You have no idea the pain I’ve been enduring for the past two days. The restraint that I’ve been trying to hold onto. I can’t do it anymore, Freya. I’m losing my mind trying to hold myself together.” There were almost tears in his eyes. I could see how hard he was fighting himself.
“Then let go. If you keep pushing yourself like this, you going to combust.” I attempted to raise my hand to his cheek, but he stepped back, putting more distance between us.
His eyes widened. “You wouldn’t like me if I let go. I’m not even sure that I would like me.” He confessed. “It’s like parts of me are tearing away, Freya.”
“I don’t think there’s anything that you could do to change my opinion of you. I already hated you when we met, and now I’m undeniably obsessed with you. And it’s only been a little over a week.” I laughed, though deep down, it was more of an attempt to buy time. Tina would be here soon, and with her, Oliver. I was counting on Oliver to know how to help him. And truthfully, I meant everything I said.
He crumpled to his knees, hands tightly clutching his head. “I’m sorry, Freya. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me for not being strong enough to fight this.” That was all he said before he fell silent as if all the pain had abruptly stopped.
When his eyes flickered up to me, they held a terrifying gaze as if something profound had shifted inside him. The room seemed to darken, shadows filling my mind, and at that moment, I realized the curse had consumed him.
He was no longer a succubus.
He was an Incubus.
