Blood Lust

Chapter 31

"She can't go on like this."

"She's fine."

"Look at her! Look at what they're doing to her! How can you say that this is fine?!"

"I said she is fine. I did not say any of this is fine."

"Chandra, would you at least look at what they've done to our child?!"

The woman turned away from the glass wall and turned the same furious glare of the male. A tense moment passed before she turned her attention to the small girl. "You okay, baby?"

Kate lifted her head and blinked at her mother. Everything felt slow and heavy. It was hard to see, and their faces swam in and out of focus. Pain wracked her body, particularly the pulsing throbbing of her head. Her eyes felt swollen and dry, despite not having cried through the entire ordeal. She knew better than to cry. She knew better than to fight. Nodding took far more effort than it should have.

Chandra looked back at the male. "You're underestimating her. If you keep coddling her-"

"I know exactly how strong she is, damnit! That doesn't make any of this right! She shouldn't have to know this kind of pain! She's five, for fucks' sake, we're supposed to coddle her!"

"What do you want me to do about it, Morgan?!" Chandra screamed suddenly, the red color of her eyes taking over the pupil and cornea. "What can I do? Please, oh wise one, tell me! Do you think I like watching them take her away and bring her back in pieces?! Do you think I like knowing that the next time they walk in here, it could be to tell us she's dead and they have to start over?!"

Morgan took another step closer, his own eyes turning bright, radioactive yellow. "Give them what they want," he spoke every word slowly and clearly.

"No," she snarled back. "That will only make things worse."

"Worse than this?" he gestured at Kate. As she always was when they brought her back, she handled her pain in silence, but she was shaking violently, and her eyes were empty. The blood trickling down her arm from the intravenous needle was thick and dark from dehydration and whatever else they did to her.

"They will turn her into a weapon. They will use her to hunt her own kind, our people!"

"I would rather see her used as a weapon with a chance to fight back than watch them cut her open over and over until her essence fades."

"That's easy for you to say; you don't know what it's like to be a weapon! You haven't been here as long as I have, remember? I know what they will do!"

Morgan threw up his hands in frustration and turned away. Careful not to aggravate any open wounds, he lifted Kate up off the floor. Her arms automatically wrapped around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and melting into the comforting warmth of her father's magic. "You are a coward, Chandra. You have always been a coward. You're right. Katalin is likely the strongest demon that has ever and will ever live. But what good is that when she has nothing to live for?"

Turning his back on Chandra, he carried their daughter away to the bathroom to wash her wounds and put her to bed. Kate forced her eyes open so she could smile and wave at her mom. They argued a lot, but her parents always smiled when she did. And while she looked absolutely miserable, her mother did smile and raise a shaking hand to wave back.

Behind Chandra, unseen by the demons and their keepers, was a black-eyed male slamming his fists against the invisible wall separating him from the dark memories that trapped his mate. No matter how loud he shouted, how hard he pounded against that wall, or how much power he used to call her name, they could not hear him.