Ruin (Rhodes #1) - Rina Kent Page 0,89

that Mae made herself impossible to refuse. But after the euphoria came the realisation of my mistake.

Not only did I defy the demons, but I also succumbed to feelings I should’ve been exempt from. A grey hole takes over my heart, submerging it with all the pain and fear I ignored thus far; my cursed childhood, the asylum, but mostly Uncle’s death.

In that moment, when I lost the one person who could’ve stopped me from going wrong, a black shadow took me over. All I could do was embrace my true self. I’ve never felt right since then. I stopped feeling. Full stop. That’s why, opposite to Tristan and Dylan, The Pit was easy and fun for me. That place was exactly what I needed to turn into the version Aunt Ariel and Father wanted me to become.

The version I thought was the right way to live.

Mae releases a soft moan, turning to her side. She throws her hand on my half of the bed and caresses it softly as if it’s my chest. A chuckle escapes me.

I’m in too deep.

When Mae came along, it was a mere obsession, but it soon possessed me. Mae is releasing the beast. The feelings. The fucking pain. And that doesn’t give her good scores with the demons. They won’t stop now. That’s the exact reason I haven’t slept all night. If I do, they will take over my body and disfigure her beautiful face. They will draw blood from her translucent skin.

I shake my head. No. I would never allow that. Even if it means a permanent lack of sleep.

“So you chose her over us.”

My head whips to the source of the frosty voice. Aunt Ariel, in the summer dress she died in, stands by Mae’s side. She watches her with a glare, so tense, so black, a shiver travels my spine.

I blink.

This isn’t real, right? I can’t see Aunt. I don’t see Aunt. She’s usually rambling in my head, why is she out?

I close my lids. “This is a dream. This is a dream...”

“No, it’s not.” Father’s calm voice fills the room. Not my head. The fucking room. “This is us coming to finish what you couldn’t.”

My eyes pop open. He’s standing next to Aunt, a hand in his pocket. He’s wearing the same suit he died in, looking at me with the same eyes he passed to me. What in the gates of hell are they doing out of my head?

“Poor girl.” Mother comes from the opposite side, her voice a notch above a murmur. “She’s another version of me.”

The three of them encircle the bed like pathological doctors ready to eviscerate a corpse. Only Mae isn’t a corpse. She’s alive. Her chest is rising and falling with the same tranquil rhythm, unaware of her surroundings.

I run to them to erase their heinous faces. My fingers connect with thin air, and I slump beside Mae. They stand their ground, three pairs of eyes pinning me down.

“Leave!” I shout. My head hurts. Their emergence from it weighs more than them being inside.

“I killed myself for you, Nephew.” Aunt Ariel points a finger at me, her wrist scars as vibrant as I remember them. “All I’m asking in return is to live through you.”

“I gave you your voice back.” Father stands tall in front me, his face darkening. “I sacrificed myself for you, didn’t I? I even offered Eva. The girl’s blood will be payment.”

Pounding fills my heart. My hands shake prominently as if I’m nearing a seizure. Maybe I am. I wish I could, to wake up from this nightmare.

“Let them have her now.” Mother sighs. “At least she won’t suffer for long years.”

Closing my eyes, my hands clutch the sides of my head. It hurts. Their voices, their words, their presence. All of it hurts.

When I open my lids, they’re still there, repeating the same words. They play on my auditory senses like dragging nails through a chalkboard. Over, and over, and over.

Then, I see him. My lips part. The demons’ atrocious voices almost hush to the background— almost.

“Uncle?” I ask, incredulous. He was never with them in my head. No matter how much I wished he was.

He stands near the door, a shadow of a smile on his lips.

“Help me, Uncle.” I can’t recognise the weakness in my voice. “Take them away,