Igniting Sparks

Chapter 47.

Edited by KitWulf                                        22-5-2021

*

She snuggled closer against his bare chest which heaved up and down with every breath he took. Steady and rhythmic. It kept her calm and grounded. Sane even. Without him, she would have lost her mind a long time ago. He was her beacon, her light in the darkness.

Her fingers traced along his skin, counting ribs and moving along his chest, feeling the curve of muscles and the lean body she had grown to love. She couldn't help but smile as she felt his chest heaving up one more time as if he was taking a deep breath and dropped again as the exhale came. She waited for the next one but it didn't come.

It had stopped.

His breathing had stopped. She felt his skin grow so cold it was starting to hurt her. Azura tried to slip away from him, panic rising up as his frozen fingers grabbed hold of her arm and kept her in place. Her skin started to blister where he held her. She struggled harder and felt her skin rip open as she managed to free herself. Azura staggered a couple of steps backward and stared at the man before her.

He was stark naked just as she was, yet his skin seemed almost icy blue as he pushed himself up from the ground. His movements were rigid and it seemed like his whole body was frozen. Every time he'd bend a joint she could hear things snap, twist, and turn. She winced at the unnatural sounds it was making. His face was recognizably Lucas but at the same time, it wasn't. The eyes were completely white and the wicked grin plastered on his face was one she had never seen on him before.

The wounds he had inflicted started to burn and Azura stared at her arms as the blood oozed out of them. The edges of the lacerations had turned black and the skin curled up at the places where it had been ripped apart. The red liquid moved along her flesh down to her hands and fingertips but the drops didn't fall. Instead, she watched as the diverse trails seemed to flow upwards again along her arms, past her elbows to her shoulders. They connected with each other and separated again, leaving a web of blood on her arms.

Azura flinched as her own blood was starting to burn into her skin. She tried to move her arms, to wipe away the blood, but it was impossible to move. He was holding her wrists down, his body mere centimeters away from her. Azura's breath hitched when he'd suddenly appeared before her, restricting her movements without her even noticing. The trails of crimson started to work their way down her neck to her chest as a couple flowed up to her cheeks. It burned into her breasts, scorched her nipples and cheeks.

He grasped her wrists so tightly she could only cry out in pain. Tears formed at her eyes as more blood oozed from her wounds, feeding the existing rivulets and making the blood run faster across her whole body. He was relentless as he squeezed harder making more blood emerge. Any more pressure and he would snap her wrists. The trails of blood had reached her legs now and were leaving an intricate pattern on her whole body. She was starting to tremble as the searing pain only intensified.

A sickening crunch, more pain, and black spots formed in front of her eyes.

Azura felt herself fall as he snapped her wrists as if they were twigs. She fell backward, more black spots danced in front of her as the rest seemed to be consumed by darkness. His face was the last thing she saw before the black void fully consumed her.

*

Azura sat squatting down on the roadside between the tall grass with her head between her knees. Her airpipe felt like it had closed itself off and she had to fight for every bit of oxygen. even though it had only been a nightmare, she could still feel where her own blood had burned into her skin. There wasn't a single mark visible on her skin but the pain was still very much present. Lucas was leaning against the car, waiting for her to get up again. A sign she would feel better and he could actually start talking to her. Traffic passed them with high speeds as Lucas had pulled over into the emergency lane the moment it was clear she was having another bad dream.