Threads of black covered Nox’s fingers, spinning vicious claws. The need to sink them into Luca’s tender flesh had Nox digging them into his thighs. Blood—more black than red—welled up around the punctures and ran rivulets to the floor.
The bones in Nox’s ankles contorted, his shoulders jerked, and his jaw dislocated.
He needed to leave, but if Nox abandoned Luca, he would never survive. The other Anubis would find him.
Luca knocked on the bathroom door. Nox shoved a hand against it before Luca opened it more than an inch.
“Stlaay oooud.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Stlaay oooud.”
“Nox, let me in.”
“Nnnooo—” Nox strained to hold back the growl.
“Are you sick?”
“Nnnooo—”
“Well, something’s wrong.”
Yes, something was wrong. But what if it wasn’t the draw of the Anubis Nox felt, but the hunger for violence. Isn’t that what made them such efficient weapons?
Pain raged. Fear ruled. The darkness peeled back, and people stood over him. Lights hung above their heads. Small artificial suns. They wore surgical masks. They held instruments in their hands.
The small village was gone. The screams silent. But the scent of dead tissue filling Nox’s nose, the taste of dirt clogging his throat, the sense of being broken apart remained.
A heart monitor beeped just out of his view. He tried to lift his arms and couldn’t.
An IV ran into the left one. One of the people in a paper suit held a syringe to the port in the line. They squeezed the plunger, and the world turned fuzzy.
A throb surged in Nox’s shoulder, and the faded memories slammed forward, dragging the knowledge of his death with it.
And how now he wasn’t.
But what stitched his wounds and regenerated his flesh, what beat his heart and made him breathe wasn’t life.
It was darkness. It was nothing. It wasn’t good or evil.
And now it commanded him.
Cool tile pressed against Nox’s cheek, not a metal table. White walls surrounded him, not the hospital-type room.
Luca continued to beat on the door.
“Nox. Let me in, or I’m calling an ambulance.”
The claws were gone, and his bones had returned to their normal place. The last thing Nox needed was for Luca to involve other people. Nox propped himself against the cabinet, pulled his shirt over his lap, and took his hand off the door.
It opened. Luca averted his eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Muscle cramps.”