Snippet #2640880

"You can't promise that." She spoke with venom he had never expected, not toward him. His eyes went wide, a lump formed in his throat. He immediately thought the worst, she hated him. After two years alone, she grew to hate him she must have. He knew he deserved it. He deserved every ounce of her ire. She was right, he couldn't promise to keep her safe, Sam would make sure of that. Even with everything he had done, he felt more shame in this moment than he ever had before. Not knowing what to do, he stayed there, continuing to speak, hoping beyond hope she didn't mean it.

To his immense relief, she looked at him. She looked at him, and apologized, though it was never her fault. It was his. Damion had failed to keep her safe. He couldn't blame her for being frustrated for that. Damion was simply lucky that she had felt merciful enough to forgive him for his failure.

When Ember finally took his hand after what felt like an eternity, he gently pulled her out. Though her full beauty was brought into view she didn't seemed to be in much of a better mood. She said she was a mess, but Damion didn't think so. He could never think of her like that. He wanted to say something to her, tell her how wonderful he thought she was, but he couldn't. He couldn't say anything. Words that once would have come so easily to him, were now impossible to utter.

The moment Ember said she needed to sit down, Damion began guiding her to the nearest chair, which she nearly fell into. He looked around the room, everyone else was gone. Ember wore a small though still beautiful smile on her face. At last they were alone.

"What happened since…." The words came almost hesitantly, her face was pained as if the question itself had actually harmed her. "Since we last saw each other?" At once his voice, and face took on a darker, more wounded turn. It was admittedly a hard thing to talk about. Though with Ember words that he would kill to keep hidden instantly became unburdened."I'll be honest it was hard sometimes. I was alone again, but I did everything I could to keep you safe, Ember. I did everything they wanted me to, because I knew what would happen if I didn't. If I wasn't alone in my cell, or following their orders they were testing on me. Working on my poison, it wasn't pleasant."

Images soon filled his head of those horrible two years. Images of the things he did, the people he hurt. They began to poison his mind again, it seemed worse when he was awake. He saw innocent people succumbing to his toxin, slowly but surely marching towards an unpleasant end. Worse he saw corpses destroyed beyond all recognition, flesh stripped off, eaten away by his acid. And their screams, agonizing, truly agonizing echoing across the room where he had coldly taken away their lives.

He couldn't look at Ember. The things he had done were truly horrific. Even if it were to keep her safe it still made him a monster. He walked away from her toward the bookshelf. he didn't deserve her, he couldn't even bear to be that close to her. "To keep you safe I had to do things. Things I'd rather not talk about."

As he spoke the visions kept pouring through his mind. He unknowingly set a hateful fist toward the bookshelf, sending several books falling from their resting place. As it fell one in particular caught his eye. It was ornate, bound in a most intricate manner. Once it landed it sent a wave of pictures spewing from its pages. Damion eyed it curiously, on the side was his very own name in gold lettering. Though he did not know it at the moment the book was filled with all manner of history, and facts pertaining to Damion himself. On the ground in scattered piles lay hundreds of photos. Damion's eyes went wide at what he saw.

The very images he saw in his head mere moments before sat there before him. His victims were memorialized, their pain and death forever captured on these images. Damion looked at the ground in horror then back at the shelf from which this horrid book originated. There were five other books placed there, each with the names of one of the anomalies trapped here. What in the hell had Sam done here?