Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (38 page)

Tears clogged his throat, making it
impossible for him to breathe. “What are you waiting for? Do
something!” Julian snarled at Annabelle. She remained frozen, her
sea green eyes wide in horror, her hand over her mouth as she gazed
at Cassie. “Annabelle!” Julian barked, causing them all to jump in
surprise.

Annabelle shook her head as she turned
toward Julian; her shoulders slumped in defeat, her posture was sad
as she huddled in on herself. There was a hollow look to her eyes
that made her appear somewhat shrunken. “I cannot heal the dead
Julian,” she whispered forlornly.

Chris felt as if he had punched, he
took a staggering step back. Pain clutched at his chest as tears
instantly sprang forth. “No,” he moaned.

He took a step toward Cassie,
determined not to believe it, unable to accept the fact that she
could be gone so easily. Unable to believe that she could be so
swiftly and cruelly ripped from their lives. Unable to believe that
her inner light could so easily be doused. He froze though, unable
to go forward as his gaze landed upon her face. Cassie’s eyes were
halfway open, her pupils dilated as she stared unseeingly at the
ceiling. Her mouth was parted slightly, her face lax. Knowledge
slammed into him, strangling him with its intensity as he turned
away, gasping and choking for air as pain and loss engulfed
him.

Julian and Annabelle remained silent,
unmoving, but he could feel their sadness and loss even through his
own grief. Julian swore loudly, turning away he slammed his fist
down on one of the metal shelves. It crumpled beneath the blow,
spilling its contents across the floor. Before Chris could even
blink, he lifted up one of the cases and heaved it across the room
as if it weighed no more than a feather. Glass and materials
shattered across the room. Chris wrapped his arms around himself as
he took a step away from the cans that rolled toward him. Julian
bellowed in rage before lifting another shelf and heaving it across
the room.

Fresh agony swamped Chris, but this
time it was so fierce, so intense that it knocked him to his knees.
He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see as his vision blurred and his
head pounded with the torment pulsing through him in never ending
waves that nearly caused him to pass out. He bowed down; his
forehead nearly touched the floor as his heart exploded, shattering
into a million pieces, destroying everything that was good and
right inside of him. Burning away the humanity that had been in
him, and leaving only scattered pieces of nothing that were quickly
buried by a rage so intense that Chris feared his head would
explode. The blood in his ears was a loud rush that blocked out
nearly all other sound.

Rage and a thirst for vengeance, for
destruction and brutality, swamped him. Chris couldn’t breathe, he
couldn’t think through it. Both of the emotions were so intense
that physical pain twisted through him as he struggled to breathe,
and tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Julian stop,” Annabelle whispered
pleadingly.

Julian froze, his shoulders heaved as
he stared at the back wall. His hands were fisted at his sides, his
body shook but he seemed to have regained some control over himself
again. “Devon cannot know about this, not yet. Not until we can
contain him in some way. I promised her he would not die, and I am
going to keep that promise,” Julian said softly, his voice choked
with emotion.

“How are we going to do that?”
Annabelle whispered.

“I don’t know.”

Chris gasped for breath, he tried to
find his voice, tried to rise up against the tidal wave of emotions
crashing over him. He was afraid that if he couldn’t get control he
would be forever buried beneath the debris of Devon’s rage and
grief. Forever caught up within the whirlpool that now controlled
the vampire. For Chris was keenly aware of the fact that there was
nothing left of the man within Devon. The man had been destroyed by
Cassie’s death; the monster inside him had finally burst free of
its cage to take Devon’s place.