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After the Awakening—The Bride
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The electrical current beaded and trickled from the Bride’s hands, rolling down her fingertips like whips. They popped with each thrust. One after another, she hurled a long charge toward the civilians in her path. She did it without a thought, without remorse or guilt for what she had done. And why should I? The mortals became glass the instant her power touched their frail skin.
Bride watched as their souls abandoned their glass bodies. For every final breath that left their lungs, she felt fulfilled—her appetite sated.
The knocking inside her head had quieted. At first, it was incessant, pounding like a drum as though something was begging to be awakened. She couldn’t make it go away, so she drowned it out.
The more Bride crushed, the quieter it became—she needed to destroy. She wanted to destroy. Nothing else mattered, not even the others who had followed her out from behind the doors of the Glass Vault.
Nothing.
Except, him. He was right beside her—the one she was endlessly drawn to. Together they could be anything—together they could create true havoc. The moment Bride opened her eyes, she had wanted his heart to be hers. His heart sat in his chest without any real force, but it was hers. It would always be hers.
Vale.
That was his name. His true name. Yet, something continuously beat at the back of her mind, wanting her to remember there was more than that—there was more to him.
“Again!” Vale yelled, his eyes hard and focused.
A white flash of light, her light, struck an entire row of brick homes, bathing them in momentary daylight. The blow was powerful enough to freeze every living soul within the houses' walls. She could feel her electricity snaking its way through each mortal’s veins, their every cell heating like desert sand, until their bodies became glass, petrified in their last moments of fear, their souls drawn away to the Glass Vault. Trapped forever.
Bride looked back at Vale. His blond hair stood on end, a lovely mess of curls, from her electricity. He was wickedly beautiful, like a lonely bright star illuminating the night sky, searching for its partner. The friction of her power receded back into her bones until there wasn’t a single spark flickering. A wrongness stirred within her. He noticed the shift and his green eyes found her.
Beyond his penetrating emerald gaze, a nightmare was lurking. A nightmare Bride wanted to be a part of. Stalking toward her, he backed her up against a tree. The bark dug into her flesh, and she savored the sting. No matter what happened to her, she couldn’t die. Vale treated her differently than the others—she was his Bride.
“Can you keep going?” he asked softly, his lips dangerously close to capturing hers.
She couldn’t tell him no. She didn’t want to tell him no. She would never tell him no.
“Continue,” he pleaded as his head nestled in the crook of her neck.
The knocking in her skull had ceased. Bride lifted Vale’s head from her shoulder and gazed one more time into his emerald eyes, a devious smile spreading across her lips. That was the only answer he needed, the only one he would ever need with her. Then his mouth claimed hers in a fierce and devilish kiss, their lips slanting over one another’s, their tongues entwining, tasting, devouring. And she relished his kiss—she always did.
Vale’s hands roamed over the curves of her body, cupping her backside when she pulled him closer. His hard length pressed against her, making her anticipation for what was to come rise even more. The electricity sparked again in Bride’s veins as her power resurfaced.
For him, she would always continue.
