Seduced by Power by Alex Lux Read Free Book Online

still, lifeless.
    Saw Rose bleeding on the floor, her tears mingling with her blood.
    My heart tore apart. I needed to help her, to heal her, to tell her it was okay, but I couldn't.
    The dark band of power around me yanked through time and space and shoved me into the dark.
    Screams howled around me, but not hers. Not Rose's.
    Sulfur and acid clogged my throat.
    Pain, unending and unendurable, threatened to undo me.
    And then I saw Dean, trapped in the same kind of prison, writhing in his own pain, and I knew what had happened.

E IGHT
     
The Grief that Does Not Speak
 
R OSE
     

     
     
    Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
    Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.
    — William Shakespeare, Macbeth
     
     
    Dear Diary,
     
    I'm dead inside. That's the only way I know how to describe this hollow emptiness burrowing through my soul. I've damned the love of my life to eternal torment and suffering.
     
    I don't deserve to live.

    SUNSHINE PEEKED THROUGH the curtains in the guest room as I sat in the bed staring at the wall. A dim awareness of pain throbbing in my thigh did little to break through the haze of utter grief that had consumed me.
    Someone had carried me out of our bedroom.
    Someone else had dressed my wound and washed the blood from my body.
    Another someone had tried to get me to eat or drink something, but I didn't allow that. Couldn't. I would vomit if forced to consume anything right now. Bile already threatened to fill my mouth each time I swallowed.
    I'd spared just enough energy to put on clothes that covered every inch of my body. I'd had to go back into our room to get my gloves. A large pool of blood stained the thick carpet, but at least Derek wasn't in our bed staring at nothing with vacant eyes. They'd moved him, probably in with Dean.
    Just thinking Derek's name, my heart crashed against my chest, trying to get out, to escape the pain and gnawing sorrow clinging to me.
    I didn't know how long it had been, and I didn't care. I had nothing left to live for. Nothing more to give to a world that had stripped me of everything.
    If I had a switch to turn off my emotions, I would have flipped it. I couldn't bear this pain anymore, but I deserved every second of it.
    If I'd followed my instincts and slept somewhere else, Derek would still be here with me.
    A knock at the door didn't motivate me to move.
    "Rose. It's Ocean. I'm coming in."
    She tried the knob, but I'd locked it. No one would be coming in. I wouldn't risk anyone else I loved being too close to me.
    "Rose, you can't lock me out forever. Honey, let me in. Let's talk about this."
    There was nothing to talk about.
    She sighed dramatically on the other side of the door, then the clicking of heels told me she'd given up.
    More staring at walls.
    More sinking into the darkness that grew in me, swallowing up everything light in my life.
    Another knock at the door. "Rose? It's Tammy. We need to talk."
    I expected her to leave too, once she discovered the locked door, but she'd come prepared. A key slipped into the doorknob, and Tammy walked in. Her face had sunk into itself, casting harsh shadows over the hard lines of bones. Her skin had paled into a sickly sallow color, and her eyes looked washed out.
    Hands on hips, she scanned the room, then turned to me. "You need to snap out of this. Dean and Derek need you to get your ass out of bed and figure out how to use your powers."
    I stared ahead, unwilling to look at her or talk to her. How could I face her after taking away both of her brothers?
    "Damnit, Rose, look at me!" She reached out to grab me, but before we made contact, my power lashed out, wrapping around her and squeezing.
    The dark current sucked back into me as fast as it had unleashed itself. We both froze, stunned and scared. Tammy was doubled over in pain from the inadvertent attack.
    I scooted back on the bed, feeling sick. "Go. Just go and leave me. Get away! Get away!"
    She straightened herself with effort and