Parva took a step toward Sidney. There was a small part of me that was still lucid enough to regret everything I'd said to her because I'd crossed a line and now she was mad. There was a part of me that was still smart enough to be afraid.

But the dominant thing I was feeling, as Parva approached my Sidney, was rage. Each step she took only fueled my desire to see Parva dead. To feel her life leech out by my hands. I didn't want to drink her; the thought disgusted me. I wanted to obliterate her.

“Get away from her,” I said between my teeth.

Parva ignored me. She sat down beside Sidney and pushed Sidney's wet hair away from her face. Her fingers made the briefest contact with Sidney's skin and my rage doubled.

“Get away from her!” The voice that came out of me was not mine. It was ancient and powerful, but the power meant nothing because I was still on this side of the wall.

Parva gazed down at Sidney with eyes that were almost romantic. She reached out a finger and ran it along the gag. “The louder you get,” she said to me, “the more I want to kill her.”

Sidney's entire body was shaking as she tried to scoot away from Parva. But there was nowhere to go. There were cabinets along her other side and she was still chained to the pipe.

“Just take off the gag,” I said.

“No. Not yet. There are lessons you still need to learn. So you can be humbled a little, get it? That's the whole point. That's the only reason I let you live in the first place. So I could humble you, because you were too arrogant for a pissant of an adolescent human male. It was infuriating.”

She thought I was arrogant? How many human males had she met in her life? What about Porter? What about Brick? They made me look like a piece of milk-soaked bread.

Parva lowered herself until she was lying alongside Sid. Her fingers toyed with the knot in Sidney's gag, but I knew she had no intention of untying it. There was only one reason for her to be lying in that position, and pounded the wall of air with my fist.

“Parva, don't!”

“Trust me, I don't want to. She's not going to taste good. There's too much of you in her now.” Parva leaned in toward Sidney's throat. Sunlight through the kitchen window glinted off Parva's fangs. “That's the one regret I have about changing you. You used to be so sweet.”

“Parva!”

“Relax, I'm not going to take much. Just want to speed things up a bit.”

“No! Stop it!”

Parva's teeth made contact with Sidney's throat. She hesitated, and then I saw the fangs scrape against Sid's skin until, finally, they pierced through. Then two things happened:

Sidney started to scream.

And I went ballistic.

I threw myself against the invisible wall. It wouldn't break, but I couldn't keep myself from trying. I felt like I was trapped in a car that had gone into the river, and water was pouring in and everyone I loved was about to die, and all I could do was kick at a damned window that was designed not to break. I was hopeless. I was desperate. I couldn't make myself stop.

I ran to the closest window and tried to bash it open. Some wild part of me thought maybe I could get in that way. But once the glass was broken, the same solid wall stopped me. I returned to the door, went back to trying to force myself through the metaphysical barrier, to trying to get a breath before water closed in over my head.

And Sidney's screaming went on and on, the high-pitched cry of a deer in the jaws of a mountain lion. At some point, I began to scream, too. I don't remember what I said. I'm sure I begged. I know I prayed. It didn't matter. Parva ignored it all.

Eventually, Parva sat up. Her mouth worked, and then she spat the entire mouthful of that precious blood onto the ground. She licked her lips, grimaced, and spat again. Sidney choked for air on the ground beside her. The gag was soaked. Two thin streams of blood ran down her neck. I was on my knees, panting, crying, clawing at the solid air barrier as though I could dig it apart with my fingers.

“Disgusting,” Parva said.

Was this humble enough for her? To have me on the ground, begging for the life of my Sidney? Would she take the gag off? Let me in?

“Things should start moving along, now,” Parva said. “It was happening already, but this'll speed it up.”

I just shook my head. I didn't know what she was talking about.

“You were new and weak when you bit her, so you only bonded a little. That's good. That means there will be something left of her when we're done.”

“Parva, please.”

“You were both right, though. It would have gone away if you'd left it alone. After this, it'll be different. When you bite people, you'll bond right away. You won't have any control over it, and there will be no going back.”

She looked at me. “I'm telling you these things so you'll know what to expect. That first girl you bonded with, Emily. Hers is permanent. And she's going to die someday. I'm about to give you a taste of what that will feel like.”

“No.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Too late. It's already happening.”

Sidney's breaths were getting more shallow, coming less frequently. Her eyes searched for me, but they were glazed and unseeing.

“You're killing her,” I said.

“Only the parts of her that belong to you,” said Parva. “And they were dying already. That's what brought you here. The bond was calling you back, so you could save her.”

“Yes. Please, just take off the gag so I can get in.”

“No. Be quiet and pay attention.”

My entire body ached to be in the kitchen with Sidney. The bond, if that's what it was, was shouting at me to go to her, pulling like fishhooks in my brain. But I was completely at Parva's mercy.

And as I watched, helpless, it only got worse. Sidney got too tired to keep pulling at the pipe. The part of my soul that was inextricably tied to hers grasped for her, as though I could will her back from the brink of death.

“This is what would have happened if you'd never found her,” Parva said. “Every cell you claimed, every corner of her soul that you infected is going to die, and then she'll be free of you.”

I could feel the truth of what she was saying. My hold on Sidney was getting weaker with each passing moment. And the farther she drifted away, the more it hurt.

Sidney grew still. She breathed, but only a little. Parts of her began to tear loose, leaving gaping wounds in the fabric of my inner universe. The wounds gushed with hot, purple blood. I was eviscerated. Hollowed out. I was losing her. And, with her, I was losing myself.

“Sidney, no.” Tears poured down my face, splashed among the glittering shards of glass. I was on my hands and knees at the invisible wall. “Parva, help me. Please. Don't let her die.”

“She's not going to die. Besides, you did this to her. You bit her. You abandoned her. You let it get like this.”

“I can save her.”

“How? By making it worse? She can survive this. Bite her again, and she won't survive the next one.”

Would she survive? If she did, what would be left?

My soul was in chaos. Bits of Sidney broke free, ascended, and with each part, a tiny piece of me was ripped away and cast into hell. And, god, the pain. Fire was terror. Brimstone was self-loathing. Yes, I knew whose fault this was. Sidney had offered her blood, but I did not have to accept it. I knew better than she did what kind of creature I was.

“Parva, please.” I was gasping. Sobbing. Gone was the ancient power I'd tried to use to control her before.

“This is just a taste. Just a taste of what it feels like to lose a human. It's the consequence of preying on the innocent, and you will feel it with every human you bond to. The deeper your bond with them, the worse the pain when they finally, inevitably, die.”

Sidney. I needed her so bad. This was not right!

Parva lifted one of Sidney's eyelids and examined her. “It's almost over. Another minute, maybe two, and the bond will be broken.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Give her to me.”

“Right now? When she's so close to freedom? Another minute and she'll walk away. She'll heal. And you'll never have to worry about her again.”

She might as well have threatened to dismember Sidney in front of me. I lifted my eyes to Parva.

“I'll do anything,” I said. “I'll give you anything you want. I swear. Just let me in.”

“You're so sure you want to do that to her?”

“For god's sake, Parva, please!”

“You're not listening. If you don't bite her now, she will be free of you. Isn't that what you want?”

“No!” Even as I shouted this, another part of me was fighting. Trying to be heard in the maelstrom.

“All right, then, I want to hear you say it.” Parva stood up and walked over to me. She got to her knees in the glass and, without warning, reached through the empty window frame. She grabbed my hair and yanked my head up so that I was looking her in the eyes. “Say, 'Please let me in so I can make Sidney my slave.'”

I only hesitated because I knew I was expected to. I was past shame or pride or any of those things. I could see Sidney on the ground, and she turned her head just enough to be able to see me, too.

With my eyes on Sid's, I said, “Please. Let me in so I can make Sidney my slave.”

“Until she's dead,” Parva said.

“Until she's dead.”

“Now let's hear her vows.” Parva returned to Sidney and yanked her head forward so she could reach the knot on the back of the gag. She untied it and pulled the towel free from Sid's mouth. Sid's eyes rolled but she blinked, tried to focus on Parva.

“No,” whispered Sid. “You said you were going to help me . . .”

Who was she talking to? To me? To Parva? Parva said, “Sorry, honey. This is bigger than either one of us. It's the crushing of the unjustified male ego. It has to be done. And there have to be sacrifices.”

Sidney sobbed.

“Sid,” I said. “Invite me in.”

She wouldn't look at me. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she drew in shallow, ragged breaths. I saw her pull weakly against the handcuffs as if there might still be a way to free herself. I swear to god, I can barely make myself write this. To this day I haven't forgiven myself for what I did to Sid. She's the only member of my family who was strong enough to resist that early bond, and I stole that from her.

“It'll be okay,” I said. “I won't let her hurt you.”

“Nate,” she whispered.

“Yes. Yes. Invite me in, Sidney.”

“I can't.”

What did she mean, she couldn't? Was Parva influencing her somehow? Was she too weak?

“Yes, you can. Just say it. Say 'Come in.' I'll help you. Say, 'Come in.'”

“No. Please. Wait a little longer.”

If I waited any longer, it would be too late. I said, “Sidney. Tell me to come in.”

“No!” It wasn't a shout. It was more of a plea. But all I knew in that moment was that something was stopping me from getting what I wanted, and that I had the means to overcome it. So I filled my voice with power and pushed it into her skull.

“Sidney Cross. Tell me to come in.”

Her lips parted. Two tears ran down her cheeks and dripped from her jaw. Then she whispered:

“Come in.”

All at once, the solid barrier of air disappeared under my fingers. I fell forward and caught myself in the pile of glass. I stumbled, righted myself, and then leaped toward Sidney.

Parva was in the way, and then she wasn't. My arms went around Sid, the fingers of my right hand grasped her hair. I yanked her head to the side and exposed her throat. Not the side Parva had bitten. The other one. Then my teeth were buried in it.

Sid cried out, but not like when Parva bit her. This was a cry of relief. Her body strained against mine as I drank. The handcuffs rattled against the pipe. I reached up with my left hand, grabbed the chain, and snapped it. Sidney's arms went around me. My hand touched her face, her arm, and then I was under her shirt searching out the warmth of her skin.

I didn't wait to see what would happen like I did with Emily. The thinking was done. I'd fought for too long. I was already searching for Sidney, pushing, harder, building up the bond that I knew would make sure she would always be mine. Our metallic souls ground against each other as the incompatible parts were sheered away, and when there was nothing left to separate us they came together in a solid block of iron. One piece. There was no Sidney left anymore. She was part of me. It was done.

I didn't need to keep drinking, but I wanted to. It felt so good to hold Sidney's warm body close to me and feed. She relaxed and let me hold her.

“Just going to keep going, huh?”

Parva. How I hated her. Her stench was in the room, on my Sidney, and kept my territorial anger simmering just under the surface. I'd have to give Sid a bath when I got her home.

Parva said, “Are you so ready to feel her die again? It'll be permanent this time.”

As if I could pay attention to her meaningless ramblings while I was in the middle of such a satisfying feed. I'd waited so long for this one. Held off for so long. And now my attention was totally absorbed in the life sounds of Sidney's body. The rush of her blood and her beating heart.

Suddenly, Parva's arm snaked between me and Sid and came across my throat.