The tunnel was dark and damp, with only old lamps giving any kind of light from the slippery walls. His feet faltered when his monster charged, crashing against his ribs. It spread its claws and began to slash at his organs and flesh. The pain the monster inflicted on his torso almost made him drop to the floor.
His collar buzzed. “No,” Diel hissed, trying to breathe calmly so as not to incur the collar’s wrath. He crawled along the damp floor, palms slick on the stone. He managed to push himself to his feet just as the monster attacked again. It swung Diel’s body into the wall; his arm bled as the jagged old rocks in the walls sliced his skin.
“You won’t win,” he growled, addressing his monster, and picked up his feet. But the monster struck again. Diel’s other arm took the impact this time as he crashed into the opposite wall. The coppery scent of blood filled the dank, sticky air around him. He felt the warm liquid soaking into the sleeves of his shirt. Still, he pushed on. He pushed and pushed himself, muscles aching and breathing labored as he turned right in the maze of underground tunnels and found himself at the door to the housekeeper’s home.
The monster lashed out one more time, wrapping its long claws around Diel’s throat. Diel’s back scraped against the wall, the rough stone digging into his spine. His head was rigid in the monster’s grip. “I won’t do it,” he hissed, and the monster swelled through his body, aiming for full possession, for complete control. Diel tensed and fought back in a furious battle for dominance.
He could feel the monster’s wants and needs. It wanted them to finally take someone as their own after years of solitude. Years of fighting for Diel, of taking the punishments from the Brethren priests so Diel didn’t have to face them. Years of taking the lead, killing and gaining revenge in the name of anyone that had ever hurt them. The monster had had enough—it demanded that it be allowed Noa in compensation for all the years of being Diel’s shield. That after years of being fucked and tortured, it be given her in reward.
But Diel conjured up the image of Noa naked before him, his hands in her long pink hair, and he shuddered, his throat closing tight. The monster might have taken the brunt of the Brethren punishments, but Diel was always there with it, withdrawn from the act but still hearing the grunts, smelling the priests’ tobacco-and-whiskey-laden breaths as they smothered his skin and tried to exorcise the monster from within him.
But the monster had always been too strong for them to win.
Something Diel was very aware of as his own fight with the dark entity inside him raged on.
“No.” Diel pushed the monster from his throat and wrestled it back to the dark depths of his soul. With all his remaining strength, he kept it locked away as he faced the door and inserted the key into the lock. It turned, and Diel silently pulled the door open.
His breathing was rough as he climbed the steps to the kitchen. The house was quiet but for Diel’s audible breaths. He slunk against the walls, inching along the perimeter of the dining and living rooms until he reached the central staircase. He ascended it in silence, his pulse thudding as he neared the second floor, a carpet swallowing his footfalls. An array of bedroom doors was spread before him. He had no idea which one was Noa’s, so he closed in on the one nearest to him. He pressed his ear to the door and silently turned the knob. As the door opened, he saw red hair spilling over a pillow like a flame.
Not her.
Next was the small brunette. After that were the two females who were together, sleeping side by side. Diel paused for a moment and watched them in bed together. The blonde had her arm over the waist of the brunette, a peaceful look on her face, even in sleep.
Embers flickered in Diel’s chest. He had never seen two people sleeping together—not fucking, just … asleep, trusting the other not to hurt them, not to kill them. Diel frowned and his cheek twitched, a strange heat seared through his body.
He immediately felt the monster wake again. Knowing he was lacking time, he rushed to the next door, only to find it already slightly open. He peered through the gap; Dinah sat at the window seat across the room, a book of some kind in her hand. She didn’t see Diel at the door, too lost in the book, eyes and fingertips racing down the page.
He turned to the final door. The one at the very end of the hallway, slightly set aside on its own. Noa. She would be in that room. Diel stumbled as his monster charged again, aware that Diel had found the one he was looking for. Diel gritted his teeth and held firm against his monster’s assaults. Sweat broke out on his brow. Goosebumps exploded over his skin despite the boiling blood flowing in rapids underneath.