Obsession

Chapter 36

Thirty-Six

F ollowing the battle, the mansion, once imposing and inescapable, now seemed less daunting. Its secret passages and hidden doors held the promise of freedom.

Ren and Callum's plan for her escape was no longer a thing. Grayson and Bastian could no longer hold her. Bastian was strong, but not big enough to dominate her any longer. For once Grayson couldn't have planned for something…for her magic to break free.

Though Ren had no idea if she would be able to shift again, just that uncertainty held such a weight on her that she hit a level of anxiety she never experienced before. She had no idea how she had even become the large imposing snake to begin with.

The reality of the situation was almost too much for her to handle.

Ren’s path to escape had arrived with a hushed silence, the mansion seemingly holding its breath in anticipation as if it were a living being itself. It always seemed like it was sentient with the way the corridors always seemed to change as she walked them.

She bent to Callum and offered an affectionate kiss to the wounded man. Her scaled lips dwarfed his.

“I love you.” Callum laid one hand on her nostril as he returned the gentle kiss.

Their shared moments had been fraught with anxious anticipation, each glance and touch laced with the gravity of their impending actions. A culmination of everything happening right then.

He hummed in appreciation then limped away as she smashed through the door.

The same one that held back an army of starved mutant vampires. Her wriggling body whipped through the flood of starving vampires as they were caught unaware. Herded against the doorway like cattle to a slaughter, they barely had room to breathe between their lithe decrepit bodies.

Their frames were frail in the wake of her bulk and speed, and when the passageway got too clogged, she just sprayed them with showers of toxic saliva that sent them scrambling.

Meanwhile Bastian and Callum gave chase to Grayson. It seemed as though the savagery of the ambushing herd followed Ren’s path as she sought her freedom.

Ren's heart pounded in her chest as she navigated the labyrinthine passages Callum had shown her. The scent of moss and damp earth finally filled the air, the darkness of the hidden corridors both terrifying and liberating when they started to show light from the end of the tunnels.

As she reached the hidden exit, the fresh night air filled her lungs, a heady mixture of freedom and fear. The scent of blooming night jasmine wafted in the air, its sweetness tinged with a note of sadness.

Ren’s mind filled with her memories of the men she grew to love and it made her pause in her escape.

Callum's parting touch, warm and reassuring, was a bittersweet reminder of their unlikely bond. His heart longed to have it again.

She wanted to be able to leave with Callum. But now the freedom they had been fighting to get her; it was finally hers.

As the sun set over the horizon she sat in the last vestiges of its rays and let the warmth soak into her bones, reveling in it.

Ren, the snake in the grass—as it turned out—was now able to bask in the warmth of the sun once more; her cold blooded reptilian form canceling out the side effects of her supernatural blood bonding to the vampiric brothers.

The magic of her ancestors changed her yet again.