Page 44 of Craving Darkness
Kallista
I screamed again and turned my face to the side as I thrust the wood in front of me on instinct. The weight of the monster hitting me had my back falling flat on the floor. My head struck the plush carpet hard enough to have me seeing stars.
I waited to feel the pain of being devoured alive, but all I felt was suffocation. I couldn’t breathe with the demon on top of me. All of his weight was crushing me to the floor, and I couldn’t move. My hands were trapped between our bodies, so I couldn’t even try to push him off. Every time I breathed out, it got harder to pull more oxygen into my lungs as they became more and more compressed with every second.
Black dots filled my vision, and I didn’t know if I was going to die from being crushed or from suffocation first. As tears leaked from the corners of my eyes, I heard a crash and a roar coming from my bedroom door and whimpered, wondering if a second monster had come in.
Suddenly, the weight was lifted off me, and I heard a thud as I drew in deep lungfuls of oxygen. Hands began to run over my body, from my arms to my legs, as I shook violently. It took a long minute for the rushing in my head to subside before I could finally hear the words being said.
“Baby, are you hurt? Please tell me you’re okay. I don’t know if she’s okay! She’s covered in blood! Fuck! There’s so much blood.”
“I don’t think it’s hers, Valen. Look at the demon. She stabbed it through the heart.”
“She’s not speaking. Kallista, answer me, damn it! I need to know you’re okay.”
I cracked my eyes open to see a figure crouched above me, his long black hair falling over his face as he continued to check my body for injuries. “Valen.” My whisper was quiet but filled with every bit of relief I felt at having him here with me. “Valen, I’m okay.” At least, I thought I was okay. I was alive and not being digested in the belly of an Aswang, so it was a good day, right?
Hands cupped my face, and I leaned into them. “Fuck, baby. I was so worried. Seeing you like that…”
I tried to raise my hands to touch him, but I was so exhausted, and my body felt like it was bruised from head to toe. “Valen,” I gasped, the pain finally making itself known. I glanced down at my chest, where most of the pain was centered, but couldn’t see anything but my nightgown soaked in dark blood. But there was definitely something wrong. “Maybe I’m not okay…”
“Let me look, Valen. She probably has at least one broken rib.”
Valen barely shifted as another man moved to my other side and gently prodded along my rib cage. When he hit a particular spot, I hissed in a breath as the pressure sent bolts of pain zinging through my system.
“She definitely has a broken rib. The way that wood was, it probably jammed into her ribcage when the demon fell on her. She’s lucky it didn’t go through her chest, too.”
Valen let out a vicious snarl that cut off as soon as I let out a pathetic whimper. “Can we get her up off the floor?”
“Sure, just try not to jostle her too much and keep her torso from bending. It’s a good thing you’re already mated. The accelerated healing will have her fixed up in no time. Probably nothing, a small ache by tonight.”
Multiple hands grabbed me gently, and together, they got me to my feet. My bed was broken from the Aswang dropping down onto it, so they walked me over to the chair, where someone knocked the neat pile of clothes to the floor.
“What is going on in here? Who are you people? How did you get in here? I’m calling the police! Patrick!” My mother started screaming for my father until the handsome man in a suit stepped up to her. Her mouth closed abruptly as she shrank back against the wall.
“Mrs. Hargrove, my name is Crispin Decious. We are here to make sure your daughter is okay. Are you aware she was being stalked by that priest?”
“St-stalked? What? No! He was here to—here to…” She looked over to where I was sitting in the chair, covered from my neck to my feet in blood, and paled. “Is she hurt?”
Well, it was good to see she cared enough about me to ask. “It’s a little late to give a shit, Mother.” Every second I sat there, the pain eased a tiny bit, and I found it easier to take a deep breath. “All my life, you accused me of being possessed,” I laughed, then groaned as my ribs told me how much of a stupid idea that was. “Guess what? Not only am I half demon but I’m also mated to a full-blooded one.”
I reached out to take Valen’s hand in mine. He squeezed my fingers gently. “The only monsters here are you and that so-called priest who wanted to have me for breakfast.” I sighed and looked up at Valen with pleading eyes. “Can we go now? Please?”
He bent down and kissed my lips softly. “Of course.”
Chapter 30
Kallista
My father appeared in the doorway as Valen was helping me to my feet. The questions began all over again, and I rolled my eyes, choosing to ignore them and let someone else give the answers. We stepped around the body of the Aswang and headed toward the bathroom. I needed to shower off the blood that was coating my body first before I left the estate for good.
I could hear the man who’d come with Valen speak to my father in the same calm tones, explaining the situation. I doubted it would do any good. The day my father cares more about people than his career plans is the day I fall into a dead faint.
As soon as the door was closed behind us, Valen began to undress me with the gentleness one would show for a newborn baby. My plain white cotton nightgown was sticky and wet with dark blood, so he held it away from my face as he lifted it over my head, which I was eternally grateful for. It dropped to the floor, and I was left in just my panties. He knelt down and, while looking up at my face, tapped first one foot and then the other after sliding them down my legs. Once I was fully naked, Valen quickly stripped out of his own clothing.
We took a hot shower together where Valen did all the work and I let him. Exhaustion from the adrenaline crash was making me want to close my eyes and just lean on him. The gentle brushing of his hands against my skin felt so soothing and the way he kissed the dark bruise on my ribs where the wood had dug into me made tears spring to my eyes.
“Valen,” I whispered hoarsely, but he just shushed me softly as he stood to his feet and gathered me in his warm embrace. In his arms, I’d never felt safer, and I never wanted to leave them again.