Thaddeus
There are worse ways to die than death. Worse ways to torture someone other than physical pain. Looking down at this weak, pathetic woman, I want to inflict the same pain Evelyn endured.
Yet, Evelyn, for some strange reason, wants me to leave her alive. If it were me, I would want to torture her slowly. I will still enjoy this, though. Evelyn doesn’t need to know as long as she remains silent.
“Get her out of here, Orion! I will deal with her and Ryland later.” I watch as they go, and the woman stirs.
How could she inflict what she has done on another woman? But I can see this one is tainted with madness and jealousy; she honestly thinks Evelyn was having an affair with her husband.
The thought of touching this woman disgusts me, but I have no choice. Grabbing her face, I force her to look up at me. She whimpers, cowering back in fear.
“You will not make a sound; you will not cry; you will only suffer internally,” I tell her, watching her eyes glaze over. She doesn’t even put up a fight. Evelyn is tiny, and even she can sometimes fight off my compulsion; however, this woman doesn’t put up any fight. “Now you will suffer what Evelyn did.”
Grabbing her head, I rifle through her thoughts, her body shakes in my hands as I flick through the files of her mind; what I’m not expecting is to find out that the man who tortured my love has survived. Evelyn was so sure he died, and so was I by her memories.
Seeing his burnt face in her memories angers me further. Twisting her memories is easy; I ruin the memories she has with him, twist them into something dark and painful when another thought comes over me. What better revenge than to make Evelyn’s memories hers?
I shove Evelyn’s first horrid encounter with that man into her, letting it flood her mind. April gasps and starts shaking her head, but I hold her tighter. Letting Evelyn’s memories flood her and the emotion she felt during that encounter: her helplessness, fear, shame, repulsion. I give her Evelyn’s every emotion that ever registered within her. Letting go, I look at this vile woman. She has tears rolling down her face, guilt evident on her face. She truly didn’t know what a monster her husband was.
“Speak,” I tell her.
“I didn’t know. Please, no more,” she whispers.
I arch an eyebrow at her begging. “No more?” I ask. There will be more; that is her first memory. If she can’t handle one memory, how will this woman endure what he took from my mate, memories which almost destroyed her? One memory, and Evelyn has a year of them.
“Please, no more,” she begs again.
“That’s what Evelyn begged every time. That is only one; we haven’t even got to the best part. You haven’t seen how much of a monster he truly is. Now be quiet,” I tell her as I grab her face, kneeling in front of her.
She grabs my wrist, not wanting to endure any more, but she will see everything –every goddamn thing– and I will make sure she feels it.
Her face twists in pain; her mouth opens in a silent scream as I shove every memory in her mind, every thought, every emotion. April’s face is tortured; I actually feel bad seeing the look on her face. What that man has done makes me sick; to do that to a child, to abuse his power and trust.
Standing up, I look down at her. She is shaking, but not a word comes out of her, her eyes hollow as she is now forever haunted by what Evelyn endured, just like Orion and me. I am thankful Ryland didn’t see. Orion and I, we swore to each other we will never let him. I felt everything along with her, felt every emotion of Evelyn’s when I took them, like I was with her the entire time; how she didn’t kill herself is beyond me.
Looking at April, though, she isn’t as strong as Evelyn; she just might. There are worse things than death. The mind can make you wish for it; make you want it. The mind is a form of torture on its own, nothing worse than toxic thoughts. Nothing worse than losing your will to live.
Evelyn
Waiting is torture in itself. Thaddeus has been down there for ages, and I haven’t heard a sound from the house. My hands are trembling as we wait, when suddenly, Ryland comes tearing through the trees surrounding the property.
Trampling over the gardens as he rushes over, shifting mid-stride, his feet skid on the grass as he stops next to us in front of the porch. “Thank God,” he breathes, hands on his knees as he drops to the ground, exhausted.
Orion growls at him when Ryland reaches for me, pulling me away from Ryland, which confuses me. Didn’t Ryland tell him that he said I could go? I reach out for him, and Ryland grasps my fingertips. Orion’s anger hits me along with Ryland’s guilt.
Yet, Thaddeus, I can’t quite feel him. He’s calm? It feels like when you hit the eye of a storm, and everything goes silent and peaceful before the hurricane hits again. That is the vibe I am getting.
I try to move off Orion’s lap, but he grips my hips and pulls me down on his lap. “Don’t,” is all he says to me, but that simple word’s venom makes me freeze. Suddenly, the front door opens, hitting the wall and splintering everywhere from the force.
Thaddeus growls, so menacing that birds flee the trees, and I cringe away from him. His eyes are on Ryland as he stalks toward him, and fear and guilt consume me. Thaddeus is one minute behind me, and within a blink of an eye, he has Ryland by the throat.
“It’s not his fault! I didn’t go where I said I was going!” I blurt out, just as he raises his fist.
Thaddeus freezes, his fist still raised as he looks over his shoulder at me. I shrink back under his gaze, leaning into Orion. “I didn’t know, I thought….” I can’t finish; they tried to warn me there was something wrong with her, something off, and I stupidly fell into her trap.
“Did Ryland say you could leave the house without him?” Thaddeus asks. I look frantically at Ryland, worried, and he just nods. Thaddeus growls and turns back to him.
“He said I could meet Lana at the park; I got a message telling me to come here. I didn’t tell him,” I confess, worried Thaddeus will seriously hurt him.
Ryland instantly shakes his head, telling me to stop speaking. I bite my tongue, wondering how much trouble I am in; he wants to kill me by the look on his face.
“She could have fucking died!” he screams, and Ryland hangs his head as Thaddeus shoves him away, ripping me to my feet and crushing me against his chest. His bunched muscles instantly relax as he inhales my scent. “You are in so much trouble when we get home,” he hums below my ear, making me shiver.
“What did you do to April?” I whisper, worried because she hasn’t come out of the house.
“She is alive. For now,” he says as he grips my chin, forcing me to look up and meet his stormy gaze. “Derrick is alive,” he states, and I nod.