Damned: Chapter 14) Shiver

A deadly chill ran across my body as I stared into the eyes of the soulless girl on the ground.

My body froze in fear.

No. I didn’t mean to kill her.

I didn’t feel anything again. I was numb, cold, and shocked.

I heard other voices come into the room. My eyes were glued to the body. This couldn’t be happening. Oh God. A morbid poison laced throughout my body.

Vitaly knelt to the girl on the ground and tilted her chin to him. His eyes wavered over her and he frown in distain.

He was mad. I knew it. Why wouldn’t he be?

I couldn’t breathe anymore. A prickling sensation iced through my veins while my heart thumped painfully. I felt like the dead one here. I murdered someone. I killed Oksana. Staring at the body, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t do anything again. Shock consumed me. It electrified my senses. I heard talking, shouting, yet nothing processed to my understanding.

Katherine.

Katherine.

The voice. His voice was getting closer to me.

Katherine, look at me.

I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t.

Vitaly untightened the gun out of my hand.

“Katherine.” He stated again, this time tilted my chin towards him.

“I- I killed her.” I gasped in a sob intertwined with shock, “I killed her. I didn’t mean to kill her. I- I-”

“This is what you get for bringing this bloody girl into this place!” Mikhail shouted towards Vitaly which startled me.

“I should have snapped her neck from the time I had the chance,” Sevastian growled and lunged towards me but Rostov pushed him aggressively away.

“Who the hell side are you two on?” Natalia suddenly snapped at Mikhail and Sevastian while Nik steadied her up, “Oksana tried to kill me!”

“She’s right. If it wasn’t for Katherine, Nat would have been dead.” Nik defended.

The old man suddenly locked his eyes on mine and walked towards me. I didn’t like that expression of his. I achingly swallowed and lowered my eyes, slightly holding on to Vitaly’s arm. Instead of looking at me, he aimed his attention harshly towards Rostov.

“Eta devushka cozdaeot slishkom mnogo nepreiatnostei. Izbavtesi ot neo.” This girl is too much trouble. Get rid of her.

“Ya ne mogu sdelati eto,” I can’t do that. Vitaly seemed to state firmly, “On a moya otvestvonosti ii ya prinemayu reshanya, a ne tii.” She’s my responsibility and I make the decisions, not you.

“Then you take responsibility that your fiancée is dead!” his grandfather shouted, “What do we tell her family, Alecovich? Do we tell them that your Shlyuxa killed her?” Wh*re.

“Dedushka!” Grandfather! Vitaly barked angrily, causing him to stop with a scowl, “As for Oksana, I don’t fking care. She’s betrayed us, both our families.”

“What do you mean?” Mikhail knitted his eyebrows.

“I mean, she’s been working for Gianmarco Vincelli.”

“That’s why she tried to kill me,” Natalia suddenly interrupted, “I found out and she tried to get rid of me.”

I looked at Natalia as she said that yet something felt off. She was lying. The way she said it, it wasn’t as she would. I just knew somehow that it wasn’t true. I felt it. Then again, why would she lie?

“Vincelli must have influenced her.”

“And to be fair,” Nikolai interjected, “We all know Oksana wasn’t a very smart girl.”

“Sir?” Maria’s sweet voice suddenly brought me to my attention.

“Maria, take Miss Donovan back to the room,” Vitaly stated firmly.

“Yes sir,” she smiled and took me by my slightly trembling arms out of the room.

This wasn’t happening.

I didn’t like feeling like this.

“Miss, please have something to drink.” Maria offered as I sat on the edge of the bed in silence.

“I’m fine.” I lied softly.

“Miss Donovan, please don’t do this to yourself.”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. How could I stop this agony? How do I ease this guilt? Will this pain ever go away? My voice hardened, I couldn’t speak anymore. When Maria left, I slide down the edge of the bed and buried my face into a pillow.

I wanted this feeling to stop.

I wanted to stop replaying what I did.

“Katherine,” I felt someone’s hand suddenly at my shoulder.

Slightly raising my head off the pillow, I stared into drowning blue eyes. Vitaly knelt to my level and seemed to study me. I looked away.

“She’s dead,” My voice broke painfully, “I killed her. Everything’s my fault.”

“It isn’t,” he stated, cupping the side of my cheek and slightly twisting his fingers into my tousled hair.

“I-”

“You should get some rest, Katherine.” He sighed.

How could I even rest after this?

“Come on, I have something to show you.” He smiled getting up and extending his hand towards me.

At first, I was hesitant. Okay, when did he start smiling?

Vitaly held me close to him and ushered me through the other door, his personal hall. It was weird, not many people I knew had a hall in their room.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked looking up at the, chiseled to perfection, man at my side.

He stopped at a door on the right and stood in front of it. I raised my eyebrows innocently and attempted to joke to push away my pain.

“Is that your playroom?” I smiled softly.

Vitaly furrowed his eyebrows at me in confusion, “My what?”

“Nothing.” I quickly retrieved my comment.

He opened the door and flicked the lights on.

“It’s a guestroom, you deserve one.”

I walked in and my eyes scanned the room, it was nice. Vitaly neared me and took a soft breath.

“Try and get some sleep.”

That was all he said. I nodded in reply and he hesitantly walked out of the room. My heart began to ache suddenly at the haunting memory of the sin I committed. I crawled into the bed, covered and buried myself between the sheets after turning off the light.

The place was dark and cold. She walked down the stairs into the dim room after hearing the cries. Her soft locks bounced playfully as she secretly made her way down the staircase. She wasn’t supposed to be there but she couldn’t control her curiosity. They had left the door open by mistake. They thought she would have been asleep. She’s wasn’t. Her little hands hugged onto her teddy bear tightly as she was swallowed deeper into the dark room. It was larger than she had expected it to be. She must have had regretted taking her sweater as her little dress was no help keeping her fragile body warm.

Slipping through another door, she walked along a carpeted hall and followed the moans and cries. It was getting louder, she was getting closer. That’s when she realized what it was. Peeking into another room, children scattered themselves on the ground. They seemed to be hurt as some were crying. Around fifteen children of varied ages were in there. What was wrong with them? When she slipped herself into the room, it was almost unnoticeable as she could have blended in there. There was something different about these children that she couldn’t wrap her thoughts around. A girl around her age slumped on the floor, and a boy slightly older lay achingly on the sofa at the end of the room. She walked towards them and knitted her eyebrows.

The little girl who slumped on the floor around her age seemed to be asleep. Kneeling to the ground, she tried to wake her up. She wasn’t opening her eyes. She pressed her ears to the girl’s chest yet there was no sound. This scared her. Quickly, she went over to the boy and pressed her ear to his chest. There was thumping. With his eyes closed, he muttered something softly. He was in pain and there was nothing she could do about it. His body was cold yet damp with sweat. He wore a chain that had strange writing on it. She never saw anything like it before. Slowly, the boy opened his eyes in pain to see the little girl in front of him.

“What’s your name?” she asked sweetly, her voice filled with an unearthly innocence.

He muttered something but she couldn’t hear so she leaned in closer to him. That’s when she felt a sudden chill run across her body. The lights in the room seemed to fade and the children faded around her. Everything disappeared and she was left alone in that cold, dark room. The metallic smell of blood laced through the room and she turned around to be surrounded by the ghost of those children. They were covered in blood. Some of their arms and legs twisted abnormally and some sustained deep wounds. She wanted to run but she couldn’t. Her feet were glued to where she stood. They all neared her in that circle, they wanted to hurt her. They walked closer to her. Closer. Closer. Closer. She screamed.

I shot up from the bed on the edge of a bitter scream. Looking around the dark room, I trembled. Quickly turning the lamp at the side of the bed on, I sat up and tried to get myself together. That nightmare murdered what was left of my courage. No, I couldn’t stay in here again. I didn’t like being alone. I didn’t like the darkness. I didn’t want to be here.

My fear chewed me viciously. I had to get out. Without a second thought, I pushed myself off the bed and walked out of the room and out of the hall into Vitaly’s room. He was asleep, shirtless on the bed, with an arm behind his head. The covers tousled gracefully low on his waist as he shifted slightly.

Dear God.

Was he naked?

Taking a deep soft breath, I swallowed. I wasn’t going to scare myself to death back in that room. I didn’t want to be alone, I hated the solitude. With a nervous flush, I walked around the bed and slipped myself in. I tried not to wake him. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep, so harmless and less intimidating.

I must be going mad but I swore I saw a hint of a smile tug at the edge of his lips. No, I must be thinking too much. I was insane. Trying my best to shut my eyes, I snuggled into the sheets to keep myself warm. This guy must have been a vampire or something because he slept with the AC at the lowest degree.

“You’re here.” His soft raspy voice vibrated throughout my body.

I opened my eyes to face the side of him. He kept his eyes closed as he said that.

“I couldn’t sleep.” I admitted in a quiet, raw tone, “I- I had a nightmare.”

Vitaly opened his eyes and tilted his head towards me sleepily, “About?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I frowned.

At that moment, he took a deep breath and sat upright on the bed. His grey sweatpants highlighted at the edge of the sheets. He was about to leave when I suddenly held his arm. He frowned yet he didn’t seem to be mad.

“Donovan, are you alright?”

Shifting myself up, I swallowed painfully, “Please don’t leave me.”

Vitaly seemed to be a little stunned at first but softened his expression towards me, “I’m not planning to, Katrina.”

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