on.”
“Dying?” she queries and comes further into the room. When she spots Aleister, she pales. “Oh. How?”
“Doesn’t matter! I need to fix it. Help me fix it!” I screech at her, completely losing it. I feel like my heart is about to explode into a million pieces and that nothing will be able to repair it. I don’t understand this feeling. I don’t get it. I don’t fucking like it. I want it to end. I want this fucking nightmare to end.
“Baby girl,” Mother says calmly, taking my hands. “Breathe.”
“I can’t,” I say, my breath hitching and tears welling up again. My vision goes blurry as the blood pools and then spills down my cheeks. “Now you see why I don’t cry!” I shriek, knowing I must look an absolute mess.
“He means a lot to you,” Mother says quietly.
I nod. “I can’t lose him, Mom. I—I can’t…”
“Did you try giving him your blood?” she asks.
I shake my head, but pull away from her, already slashing my wrist wide open with my sharp nails. I open his mouth and pour some inside, then as an idea hits, I also pour some on his wound. He stirs slightly and the nasty hole in his side starts to close.
I gasp and drop to my knees. “Aleister!” My wounded heart starts to heal, but then it shatters all over again as the hole reopens and his head lolls to the side. “No!” I scream. “Aleister, please. Come back to me.”
I drop my head to the bed as Mother comes over and places her hand on my back. I can almost feel the glare she is giving the other males over the top of my head, but I don’t want them. They can’t help. I need someone who can help.
I stand up, shaking her off me. I storm out of the room, the wind whipping around me as I march down the corridor. I hold my hands out and blow doors off their hinges as I seek the someone who can tell Aleister to hang on until I can fix him.
“Annabelle?” Sid asks, poking his head out of a room a few doors down from the destruction I’m causing.
“Sid!” I exclaim and race towards him.
“Annabelle, I have something to tell you…”
“It can wait. I need you to go into Aleister’s subconscious and tell him that I will find a way to fix it. He just needs to hang on.”
“But…”
“Go, please,” I say, trying not to snap at him. My fists are clenched so that I don’t grab him and forcibly take him to Aleister.
“Of course,” he murmurs and follows me back down the hall.
I enter the room where my Gargoyle is lying on the bed, now turning to stone. I swallow loudly and point to him. “Tell him I will find a way.”
I don’t even wait for Sid to enter him. I just leave. I can’t be here. I can’t deal with this type of emotion. It’s the worst of the worst. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I was getting used to the more positive emotions, of feeling something other than pleasure caused by the pain of others and my own. I have to think. My brain is clouded. Looking down at Aleister dying is fucking with my ability to think clearly.
I flame outside into the snow and shiver. I breathe in deeply and close my eyes.
“Annabelle?”
I spin around at the quiet voice. “Xavier. I can’t talk right now.”
She approaches me, dressed in a white silk suit that makes her look even more the ice princess, especially against this uncharacteristic backdrop.
“You blew the door of the room I was in clean off. Sure you don’t want to talk about it?” she asks with a small smirk.
I shake my head. “I don’t have time. I need to think.”
“About what?”
“A way to save Aleister!” I shout at her.
“Because you love him?” she asks.
I glare at her. Love? What is that even? Is it love if I feel like dying instead of him? Is it love if I want him to open his eyes and smile at me so badly, I feel sick?
“I need him,” I state. “He gives a part of me what I want.”
“What’s that then?” she asks.
I hiss. “I don’t have time for this!”
“Humor me.”
I let out an exasperated breath. Every second I’m speaking to her, I’m not thinking about a way to save Aleister.
My shoulders slump. “He makes me feel like a woman. Not the Queen, not a Demon, not a ‘female’, just