Chapter 37 · Aftershock: A New Neon Pact

"Stop fighting it, Kael. You're literally tearing yourself apart," Nyx’s voice didn't just ring in my head—it felt like a serrated blade scraping against my frontal lobe.

I slammed my back against the cold concrete of the alley wall, my breath coming in jagged, wet gasps. Every nerve in my body was firing at once, a million white-hot needles stitching through my skin. My vision flickered, the neon signs of the district blurring into long, bleeding streaks of violet and chrome.

"I can... handle it," I spat, though my voice sounded like I'd been swallowing glass. I gripped my forearm, watching the skin ripple. Something was moving under the surface—dark, iridescent veins that weren't mine, pulsing with a rhythm that didn't match my heart.

"Handle what?" Nyx snapped. I could feel her presence pressing against the edges of my consciousness, dominant and suffocating. "Your cellular structure is rejecting the fusion. You’re not 'handling' it; you’re leaking bio-energy like a cracked battery. If you don't let me in—completely—you're going to be a puddle of organic sludge by midnight."

"I'm not... giving you... full control," I groaned, sliding down the wall.