chapter 119 Seventeen


    Evelyn’s POV


    My head felt foggy from his bite, and I could feel a strong urge to fall asleep. My eyes fluttered


    closed as I swayed on my feet. Thest thing I remember is the tingles spreading all over me as


    someone tried to steady me on my feet before feeling strong warm arms wrap around me as I plunged


    into darkness my body sumbing to exhaustion.


    **********************************************************


    I knew I was dreaming; I knew because I had already been here before, already knew what


    happened next, yet I couldn’t pull myself out of the dream as I followed him toward the basement.


    Three weeks. I had three weeks, and I was officially free of this hell. They would age me out of the


    system. I could go out on my own, but the uneasy feeling of leaving Lana to this monster had been


    haunting me.


    I tried twice to go to the police station, each time standing out the front looking at the building that


    was supposed to offer protection. But would they offer protection from one of their own? He was a well-


    respected officer, the man with the perfect wife, perfect house, and perfect life. I was a throwaway


    child, the broken foster kid that he took in. The voice in my head told me they wouldn’t believe me, then


    the voice, telling me it was my fault, that what happened was my fault. The thought of having to go


    through the courts and tell a bunch of strangers what happened for an entire year, have them question


    every detail and scrutinize everything about my childhood, about me, the victim bing the used.


    The term innocent until proven guilty really irks me. Why must I be questioned as if I am the guilty one?


    So each time I turned around, not able to go through with it, not able to mention my biggest shame.


    That was what yed on my mind when he told me toe to the basement. I knew he didn’t really


    need help to sort things, knew he only wanted me to go down there so he could torture what was left of


    my soul, to make sure I waspletely destroyed beyond repair.


    That sickening feeling filling my gut as my feet touched the cold basement floor. His wife was a


    nurse and always worked the night shift, leaving us with this monster. I often wondered how many


    before me. How many more girls had he destroyed? I wasn’t sure, but I knew his next target was going


    to be Lana. I couldn’t live with myself knowing I left her with him, left her to this house of horrors. I


    watch as he undoes his belt and points to the dusty couch in the corner. Bile rising in my throat as I


    walk over to it. I could hear the TV upstairs above us, Lana watching cartoons,pletely unaware of


    what was happening below her. He ces his belt and gun on the mini fridge before roughly grabbing


    me. I tune out while he has his way with me. Onlying back to reality as he pulls my pants back up.


    Tears rolling down my cheeks, I hear the TV click off, knowing it was nearly bedtime.


    I could hear him talking to me, but I didn’t understand a word he said. All I could focus on was her


    footsteps as they went up the stairs to her bedroom. I couldn’t abandon her like that, leave her to him to


    do as he pleased. Before I realised what I had done, I had picked his gun. My hands trembled as I


    pointed it at him. He cocked an eyebrow at me before swigging from his bottle of bourbon. Heughed.


    “Hand it over, we both know you won’t do it,” he saysughing as he moves toward me. My hands


    shake as I turn the safety off, his eyes widening before he tries ripping it from my hands. We struggle


    before he backhands me, my head whipping to the side and the gun falling from my hands on the floor.


    He bends down, picking it up and putting the safety back on before walking up the stairs like nothing


    happened. Hours I sat down there before I got the courage up to go back up the stairs, my dream


    though felt like it was only minutes. Everything moves quickly, and next I am sneaking upstairs.


    Walking to his room, I find him passed out drunk. Running down the stairs, I grab a bottle of liquor.


    He always smoked in bed so it would look like an ident. It was no secret the officer was an


    alcoholic. Apparently, he suffered from some form of PTSD. I pour the liquor on his bed, careful to not


    wake him. The smell was pungent and burnt my nose. Grabbing one of his smokes from the bedside


    table, I light it. Smoking half of it before grabbing the bottle again and tipping it on him. He wakes


    immediately looking up at me half asleep. A cruel smile on his lips as he reaches for me before


    realising what I tipped on him. Anger zing as I draw back on the cigarette, trying to calm my nerves.


    Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.


    “Burn in hell,” I tell him before flicking it. I watch as itnds on the bed, the covers catching alight


    before his clothes do. He screams. I watch horrified at what I did before my brain kicked into function.


    He tried getting up, but mes engulfed him, could smell his burning hair as he climbed off the bed


    frantically trying to put out the mes. I step back, watching as everything caught alight before I run for


    the door. His screams will forever haunt my memory. As I ran from that room, bolting down the stairs


    only to remember Lana was in the room next door to his, making me run back up, but the hallway was


    already alight. The wallpaper was burning and peeling off the walls as I run past and into her room.


    Shaking her, she wakes up just as the fire rms re.


    I rip her from her bed in her Harry Potter pyjamas. Her eyes widen when we step into the hall and


    she sees the mes. I shove her toward the stairs, and she runs down when I feel something fall on


    me, shoving me down the stairs and I thrash, burning pain moving up my back making me scream in


    agony and all I can focus on is the pain as Lana screams. I writhe in agony trying to get whatever it is


    on me off.


    I hear voices, they sound familiar to me, getting louder and louder.


    “Evelyn, wake up, wake up.” Someone is shaking me from my dream and my eyes fly open. My


    heart is pounding against my chest painfully. Sweat coats my skin and my eyes try to adjust to the light.


    I scream trying to get away from the hands shaking me, thrashing to get him off.


    “Evelyn, it’s me. Stop.” That voice, that familiar voice ringing through my head again and my eyes


    focus beforending on Thaddeus. I stop looking around the room and I am not in the house of my


    nightmares but in my bed with my mates. Tears roll down my cheeks as I realise I am awake, no longer


    burning, and the searing pain dissipates.


    Thaddeus hands clutch my face. “You’re okay, you’re okay, little one. It was just a dream,” he says


    before pulling me towards him and into hisp. Rnd moves closer, cing his head in myp, and I


    feel my breathing even out as realityes back to me. Noticing Orion watching me from the end of


    the bed, an undecipherable expression on his face. Looking down at Rnd, I notice ws marks


    across his back, red angry lines that were nearly healed already.


    “What happened to your back?” I whisper. My voice sounded hoarse like I had been screaming


    and my throat hurt just speaking.


    “Everything you feel, we feel. That’s what woke us. I thought I was on fire,” Rnd says before


    rolling his head and looking up at me. I lean back against Thaddeus, his hand stroking my damp hair


    from my face. Guilt floods me as I stare down at Rnd. They could feel it, feel everything, and the


    thought sickened me.


    “How long have I been asleep?”


    “A few days,” Thaddeus answers, making my head whip to the side to look at him.


    “Thaddeus marking you knocked you out. His mark did the same to us as well. Think it’s because


    he is a Tribrid,” Orion answers the question I was about to ask.


    I nod, not knowing what else to say. Guilt eating at me as I stare at Orion. His curious gaze


    watching me.


    “What happened? If we are going to burn every time, you’re asleep, I need to know why,” he asks.


    “Please Evelyn, just tell us so Thaddeus can take it away. I can’t live like this, not knowing. At least


    tell us so we understand,” Rnd says, reaching his hand up and cupping my face. I feel a lump form


    in my throat, and I try to swallow it down, but my mouth is so dry.


    “You have been reliving for days now, we haven’t been able to wake you until now. What’s once


    more,” Thaddeus says, kissing the side of my face.


    “Nothing will make us leave you, Evelyn. You can trust us,” Orion says, moving onto the bed.


    “You may just change your mind about that, if you know,” I tell him. His eyebrows furrow in


    confusion.


    “What do you mean?” Thaddeus asks before gripping my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.


    “You’re not the only monsters. What I did made me just as bad as him. But I couldn’t leave her with


    him,” I whisper, looking away toward the window.


    “Leave who?” he asks.


    “Lana”