The Breaking of Bonds

Prologue The unforgiving lava ate away at my sanity. I cried, screamed, and swore all at once. I didn’t quite know how, as it choked me, making breathing impossible. My lungs, throat, mouth, lips, everything burned. It felt as if I was walking through a desert, with a sand storm hitting me from every direction. I should have been dead by now. Maybe I already was, and this was what hell felt like. Permanent torture, not just a passing phase. If pain and eternal torment were the purpose, then I could understand this constant attack on the very core of my being. The only part I couldn’t quite grasp, regardless of how long I tried to analyze it, was why the pain coming from inside was so much worse than this ocean of fire I felt surrounding me but couldn’t see. Anger surged, my heart shattered, yet that moment when I’d seen Louis doing nothing to save me, that was when it had all become clear to me, in a little twisted trick life had decided to play on me: I truly loved him. I loved Louis with all the depth and power I was capable of. How short a time I’d known him did not seem to matter. Nor did his betrayal. He’d seen me being fed to the wolves and didn’t move a finger to save me, yet all I wanted was for him to come pull me out of this sea of misery and hold me. Just hold me and tell me he regretted his choice. Once again, I faced the same resolution: the limits I never wanted tested again after being cheated on, lied to and then dumped, they hadn’t gotten any better. I still allowed myself to care for someone completely, accepting all their flaws and forgiving all their mistakes. If I’d heard Louis say the words I craved for, the pain inside would have vanished; I would have found the strength to escape this liquid fire drowning me and once safe, I would have dealt with Anthony. Anthony… The bastard who’d dragged me into the vampire world, treated me as his property, who had threatened my friend and then forced her to turn me into a vampire, just so he could test a theory. He’d thrown me into the portal to Ankhsis, knowing I had no chance of survival. And Louis had let it happen. Why was I even trying to survive this torment?