Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) by Emma Hamm (scary books to read .TXT) 📕

eyes. She was barely awake and didn’t recognize him. That was how he needed to keep it.

A strand of darkness slid from between his fingers. It hovered in the air before sinking into her temple. “You will not remember me,” he murmured. “You will only remember a shadow, and all memories of Leo will take my place. I will watch out for you, but you never met me before.”

Her eyes rolled back, and she fell into a deep sleep, tucked into the warmth of Leo’s arms.

The Cat Shifter stared at Pitch with an unreadable expression. “You took her memories?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t want her to remember you at all?”

“Not even a little bit.”

Pitch turned to leave.

“Pitch,” Leo called out. “You’ve never wanted to be the hero, have you?”

“No.”

But he would be the hero if the world needed him to be.

Chapter 12

Pitch materialized on the front lawn, his hands shaking. He had left the girl in trusted hands. She would be fine with Leo as so many others had been. But he couldn’t wash away the lingering feeling of responsibility. She was his just as much as Legion was.

He had never been a father, but perhaps he should have been.

These were thoughts for another time. Saving the world was first, then dealing with his confusing emotions for Lydia, and then he could deal with the numerous creations he had never interacted with.

The front door was open. His brows furrowed in confusion. He had left that locked; he was certain of it. Now that the house lacked its usual magic, Louis had been doing much of the work the house had once done.

“If that Cat left the front door wide open, I’m going to fire him.” Pitch grumbled as he rushed up the stairs.

He crossed the threshold, breaking through the silencing spell which hovered in a bubble around his abode. His senses were at once assaulted with the cloying weight of magic, the clattering of footsteps running down the stairs, and screaming.

Lydia was screaming.

His stomach dropped and his palms slicked with sweat. Louis tumbled down the last few steps.

“Pitch!” he shouted. “The lady, she’s-”

He didn’t wait to hear what the Cat Shifter would say. He took the stairs two at a time, his shadows boiling around him. Every breath she took between screams made him run faster. He ignored Louis’s frantic shouts and busted through the door to her bedroom.

The hinges groaned and shattered. Wood splintered beneath his shoulder, the door falling to the floor with a resounding bang.

Lydia huddled against the headboard. Her hands pressed against her eyes so forcefully he feared she might tear out her eyes. The blankets had been ripped from the mattress and tossed all around the room.

Clattering footsteps echoed behind him and Louis was breathless as he spoke. “Pitch. I was trying to tell you.”

Her hands flew away from her face. Tangled blonde strands stuck to the tracks of tears on her cheeks. “Pitch?”

His name on her lips was the sound of angels singing. He dissolved into shadows and materialized at her side. “What is wrong?”

She reached for him, her hands patting the sides of the bed until she made contact. She turned her head, and he saw them. Her eyes.

Dark threads of magic weaved underneath her skin. The infection had spread from her eyes to her temples, the strands undulating. The blown out pupil had returned to normal size but all colored had leached from her irises.

Her eyes were now an unnerving shade of pink. They moved restlessly in her head as though searching for something. He recognized this magic.

“Lydia, darling, what did they do to you?”

She clenched his fingers. “I can’t see anything. Why can’t I see anything?”

“How did this happen?”

“I was traveling. I saw a strand of your past, and it reached out to me.”

Pitch tensed. He tried to keep his hands relaxed so she wouldn’t know, but he saw the furrows of her brows. She was becoming more perceptive to his moods. “My past is dangerous.”

“Sil was there.”

“What?”

“I spoke with her. Not in messages she had left, but really spoke with her. She said it was important that I know what happened so that I understand you. But then she was gone, and I had no protection. Your siblings-”

She was choking on the words. They stuck in her throat and the dark infection bracketing her eyes pulsed with power.

He knew what they had done. This wasn’t the first time they had laughed at his misfortune. They had taken his first bride, and though they could not kill Lydia, they could maim her.

“I am so sorry,” he said. “I should have been there.”

“You were.” She gulped. “I saw you and what you did to them. Pitch, you should have destroyed them when you had the chance.”

“How could I destroy them? They are as much a part of me as you are now.”

He had never voiced his emotions to her. He had never admitted how important she had become.

It wasn’t the right time. He should be delicate and romantic for her. But he had never been that kind of man. Pitch didn’t know how to be gentle or sweet. He knew how to take until there was nothing left to give.

“Pitch, now is not the time to tell me that.”

“I know, it is selfish to do so. I’m sorry, love, let me try to help.”

She caught his hands when he pressed them against her temples. “No, listen to me. I wanted to see your face the moment you admitted your love. I wanted to know it was true by the look in your eyes.”

“Do you need to see me to know the truth?” His tone was too harsh, but he could not soften it. “Can you not taste it in the air? Can you not hear my heart in every word? Do you not feel it?”

He tangled his fists in her hair. Pulling too hard, turning his words bitter with the harsh bite of pain.

Darkness was not soft. It turned the world dim and emptied