“Ow,” I hissed and went to suck the blood off it, but Byron beat me to it. He grabbed my hand and pulled my finger deep into the wet heat of his mouth. His tongue wrapped around the digit, and he sucked my finger clean. Memories of him doing the same thing to my cock filtered through my mind and my cheeks flushed as he watched me with a dark hunger in his eyes.
“Sorry to break up this delicious morsel of a moment, but could you sign here?” Terence said as he held the pen out to me.
I pulled my finger from Byron’s mouth, loving the way his tongue rasped against my skin and grabbed the fancy gold pen. Terence held open the book and on the page was my nameand the agreement we were making. A handful of memories in exchange for a favour to be taken at a later date.
A favour that couldn’t be refused. Sounded simple enough.
Byron squeezed my hand as I signed my name on the dotted line.
“Perfect.” Terence closed the large book with a snap and hid it back in the folds of his robe. Then he pulled out a small glowing jam jar and handed it to me. “When you’re ready, drink this. It will restore what you have lost.”
I took it from him and looked at it closer. The liquid inside was thick, black and full of small glowing silver particles. “Thank you.”
He snorted. “Once you’ve got your memories, you won’t be thanking me. Now, I need to get back to my girl. Have fun you two and make sure you invite me to the wedding.”
Terence disappeared in the same way as he arrived, through a swirling black vortex, but I wasn’t focussed on him. All my attention was on the little jar in my hand.
There was no point in waiting. I’d probably find an excuse not to do it and then I’d never find the closure or self-understanding I was seeking, and I’d probably die in ignorance.
I stared at the jar. No. My father wouldn’t win. He wouldn’t have this part of me.
I unscrewed the lid and quickly tipped the contents down my throat. I grimaced at the taste, and it was gloopy as it slid down into my stomach.
“What now?” Byron asked as his hands settled on my hips.
“I guess, now we wai—”
Pain exploded behind my eyes and a knife scraped across the inside of my skull.
“Wilder!” Byron shouted. He sounded panicked. That was a first.
My heart rate spiked and I couldn’t breathe. I gasped for air but found none. My magic sputtered and died in my veins, abandoning me. Fuck, I hope it settled in Byron. I hoped he’d keep it safe.
My knees crumbled, my heart stopped, and the world went black.
Hands swept my sweaty hair from my forehead.
“Just once more, Wilder. You can do it, can’t you?”
I whimpered. I was exhausted. My brain was fuzzy, and I’d lost all sense of time. All I could feel was pain. “Father… please….”
He cupped my face and tipped my chin up. “Do this one thing for me, son.”
“Please,” I sobbed as I looked into those harsh green eyes. They were so cold. So empty, but I leant into his touch. I wanted to feel something close to love even if it was a lie.
My father’s face morphed into a snarl. “You’re pathetic. This is what you were made for, and you can’t even do that. Maybe this time, I’ll just leave you dead.”
He doused me with ice cold water again and it was like the pain of a thousand needles scraping my skin. But this wasn’t even the worst of it.
No, the worst was yet to come.
My father walked over to the switch on the side of the machine and pulled it. The generator fired up before the shock of electricity shot through my veins. My entire body jerked and tensed as my nerves spasmed under the voltage. I screamed in agony as my father held me there, suspended with my arms stretched wide and metal coils around me to catch my magic.I’d lost count of the times he’d brought me to the edge of death just so he could siphon me. Eight? Nine maybe?
All I knew, was that I was more dead than I was alive now.
Surely there was only so much I could endure before I never came back…
“…this isn’t right, Wilder. We need to leave.”