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

and stared at his porcelain face. Midnight eyes bore into her soul. Or perhaps it wasn’t her soul at all, but another he was looking for.

“I didn’t ask to be kidnapped,” she whispered through tears. One of her hands flopped against the covers as she tried to move. “I want to go home. Please, just let me go home.”

He growled at her, making her blood turn cold. “You aren’t going home. Paint me as the villain all you want, but you are staying right here.”

“Please!” Her tears had a visible effect on him. She could see how much he was struggling with her begging. Maybe there was a good man underneath that tough exterior. “I’m terrified of you. Whatever gets you off, you must have gotten that by now. Please. Please!”

He ran a hand through his dark locks. “Stop begging me for something I will not give you.”

Lydia’s eyes squeezed shut as she prayed, “I am begging you, don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me.”

“Stop it!”

She flinched at his shout. More tears dripped down her cheeks until they were rivers running from her muddy eyes.

“You are going nowhere!” His shout echoed.

Her breath caught. She should have known something like this would trigger an episode. Lydia had always struggled with her health. From forgetting to eat, to asthma, she was a delicate creature known by name at the hospital.

She thought she had more control. Her lungs seize. Pressure grew in her chest as her throat closed so tight she couldn't swallow. Anxiety made it worse as heat rushed from her toes and darkened her cheeks.

Gasping noises rocked her body, but no air eased her torment. Her eyes widened and her hands flopped against the bed.

“In... hal…. er…” she tried very hard to explain to him what she needed.

Something akin to panic blazed in his eyes before he rushed forward. “What’s happening? Sil, Sil go easy on her.”

“Why are… you always… calling me Sil?” She pointed at her chest. “Asthma.”

He blinked at her.

Did he not understand what she was saying? She was going to die, she realized with horror. He was going to let her die because he was an idiot who didn’t know what an asthma attack was.

What a way to go. Kidnapped from a club she didn’t want to be at and didn’t even get the heroic "death by murderer". No. Instead, her own body was her demise.

Dark spots blinked at the edge of her vision, threatening unconsciousness very soon. Only then did she see a lightbulb go off in his head.

He snapped his fingers. “This is a human affliction!”

The last thing she saw, before oblivion claimed her, was his hands reaching toward her and tapping her on the forehead. Cool relief rippled down her body. Her lungs eased, her muscles relaxed, and her body slipped into a deep dreamless sleep.

He was livid. How dare she pick a human with such weaknesses? Flaws were not to be tolerated, they were to be exploited.

This tiny human would be the bane of his existence. Sil had yet to make herself known, although he understood the cryptic message to mean she never would, and he remained here with the drabbest woman he had ever seen. His enemies would have a field day when they realized all they had to do was startle her into an asthma attack.

Rage bubbled just below his skin as he swept from the bedroom. Although he closed the door quietly to ensure she remained asleep, he wanted to slam it shut so the walls would quake. He wanted to break things. He wanted to destroy everything he could get his hands on.

But he didn’t.

Pitch learned a long time ago destruction led only to more destruction. The shadows who always accompanied him rolled in great billows as they trailed behind him. They were his constant companions, and the only ones who understood his true nature.

Hands clenched, he rushed down the stairs. He didn’t want to admit he was running, but he was. Running from the mouse tucked into his bed. Running from the realization that the love of his life was gone forever. Running from himself.

His home was on the very edge of existence. It was a place between dimensions, hidden in the shadows of the human world and the next. It offered him salvation when he found himself in spells like this.

He controlled himself until he made it outside. Only then did he allow the primal scream to rip from his throat. The house would muffle the sounds. It always did. For the house had a mind of its own.

Falling to his knees next to the thorns of dead rose bushes, he punched his fists into the soil frosted with ice. His physical form was already losing substance. He had to pull himself together.

Maybe if he had been a normal magical creature, he would have had another voice inside him sympathizing with his pain. But Pitch was no normal creature.

He was utterly alone.

Slowly, his breathing regulated. His heart hardened to halt the ache causing him pain. If he lost what was left of himself, he could not finish what Sil had wanted him to do.

“Damn it,” he muttered. “I promised you. And I will do everything you wanted before I seek the fading light.”

Tilting his head back, he stared at the full moon. Silver light danced upon falling snowflakes that tickled his cheeks but did not melt.

“You said you had to go,” he whispered to her soul, hoping she could hear him somewhere. “We started in the middle, don’t you remember? If you are dead, then this is the end. So where is my beginning? When do I get to see your beautiful face again? When do I get to feel the pulse of excitement when I meet you for the first time?”

His eyes closed against the pain that bloomed. There was no way to hold himself together. Not when she wasn’t there to help him.

He wanted to be there for the woman who was hidden in his house.