Chapter 7 · Shadow Symbiosis

"Get out of my head, Cain!"

I didn't scream it with my throat. I screamed it with every shred of my consciousness, slamming the words against the oily, suffocating darkness that was currently trying to merge with my soul.

*"Your head is the only place I can breathe, little battery,"* Cain’s voice purred, vibrating not in my ears, but directly against my spine. *"And right now, you're leaking. All that delicious hate... it's practically an invitation."*

I stumbled back, my boots skidding in the dirt and blood of the men I’d just slaughtered. My breath came in jagged rips. The letter—Lucas’s pathetic, polished lie of a eulogy—was still crushed in my fist. He didn't just betray me; he'd been shopping for my bloodline like I was a piece of livestock.

"I'm not your battery," I spat, my voice sounding raw even to me. "I'm the one who woke you up. That makes me the boss."

*"Boss?"* A cold, phantom pressure wrapped around my waist, pulling me flush against a chest that wasn't physically there. I could feel the sudden drop in temperature, the smell of ozone and ancient dust. *"You're a flickering candle in a hurricane, Ella.