OffSpring | ✎

Chapter LXX

Chapter Seventy | The Monster I Am
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M A D D I E

My heart seizes in my chest, his words bringing forth a wave of anxiety to wash over my system, fear joining in its alliance to wreak havoc in tendrils of my mind, my eyes roaming his face. Those once mischief eyes were now filled with distant sorrow as he refused to meet my gaze, jaw locked.

'There was no other choice,' his sentence whispers a mantra in the throes of my mind, blending with my own chaos.

"What did you do?" I question, my voice low as I stand frozen in my spot.

Silence greets me, the tightening of his fist the only sign that my words have reached past the barrier he was striving to set up. My chest rises and falls with uneven, ragged breaths, my brain running a mile a second, his silence only resulting in me to dive deeper into the crevasse of my mind, creating my own answers the longer he refused to provide me with one. The painful churning of my stomach momentarily brings my attention to the dry itch that still harbors my throat.

I couldn't help the rise of my hand as I once more hold the base of my neck, swallowing and keeping my focus on him, his eyes following the movements, brows creased over dark eyes.

"What. . ." I release a shuddering breath, dropping my hand to my side, ". . .did you do?" I ask him louder, angered by the fact he still has not spoken.

Reluctance shines through his irises before his mouth parts around his words; "There was an attack at the castle not too long ago," he tells me, assessing my expression, "and you were caught in the midst of the fight."

"I blame myself. . . I left you alone and somehow, someway —" his knuckles tighten with the pressure of his strength, fire brewing in his eyes — "somehow, a night terror was able to get to you."

"You died that day."

The organ within the cave of my ribs lurch in my chest at the revelation, his words causing the dangerous rise of my anxiety, the emotion grappling my heart within its grasps and tugging, willing myself toward the existence of a panic attack. With wide eyes, I move as if to take a step toward him, the clanking of the chain holding me in place.

"What did you do to me?"

There was no concealing the anxiety from my face as I regarded him with fear, the fear stemmed for his awaiting words, a part of me already aware of what would seep from the seams of his mouth. A cold sweat breaks across my skin, goosebumps littering the surface, the chilling air that ascended through the air closing in tighter.

"I had to. . ."

"What did you do to me?!"

"I turned you!" he reveals, his expression torn, "There was so much blood, I couldn't stop it, you were barely hanging on and the only way to save you was to turn you. . I could not let you die."

The slight crack and shutter in his voice fell upon deaf ears as my vision unfocused. There was no possible way, he could not have. This had to be some sick joke to get back at me for the way that I have treated him. Yet slowly, I raise my hand to my mouth, forgetting about the man before me as I am finally lured to the awaiting abyss that desired for me; probing at my lips, I graze my hand around the front of my teeth, dread soon settling in when I feel the points of fangs, confirming his admission.

My hand trembles as I remove it from my mouth, my breathing reaching new heights, twisting both of my palms to inspect them: I notice the pale tone my skin holds, the tan hue that once coated it now gone. Like a tidal wave, a jumble of images project to my mind's eye, razor-like teeth shocking me back a few steps as I stumble away from Adrian, the splatter of blood accommodating the image with the sight of a horrendous creature.