"You always do this, Ember. Run. Cry. Make me the villain."
The words slammed into her like a physical blow.
Ember's breath hitched, her back pressing further into the bed as Kaelith loomed over her, his glowing blue eyes unreadable, his face inches from hers.
His hands were firm, fingers curled against the sheets beside her head…trapping her.
Not painful. Not yet.
But possessive.
Wrong.
The way he was looking at her…she had seen it before.
Not in Kaelith.
Not in a demon.
In a man she once loved.
Isaac.
Her past roared back into her mind, sharp and merciless.
"You think you're better than me?"
"You think someone else is going to love you the way I do?"
"You're nothing without me, Ember."
His hands on her wrists, his breath against her skin, the bruises he left that she had to cover….
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
No.
She wasn't there anymore.
Isaac was dead to her.
She wasn't that girl anymore.
So why did Kaelith's touch feel the same?
"Kaelith, stop!" she gasped, shoving at his chest.
But he wasn't listening.
His eyes flickered, dark, wild, haunted by something not of the present.
His grip tightened.
"Sorei," he murmured.
Ember froze.
Her stomach dropped.
He wasn't even seeing her.
Kaelith's face softened, but the longing in his eyes wasn't for her.
"Why do you always try to leave me?" His voice was low, pained. "You swore you'd stay."
Her breath shook.
He was somewhere else entirely.
Lost in a time before her.
Before Ember.
Before she could process it, his hands ran down her arms, gripping her waist….tight.
"I won't lose you again."
Panic spiked through her veins.
No, no, no…..
Her hand flew up.
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the air.
Kaelith's entire body jolted, his head snapping to the side.
A long silence.
Then…..
A sharp gasp.
Kaelith's entire frame stiffened.
His eyes refocused, the haze vanishing in an instant.
Ember's chest heaved.
For the first time…..true fear flickered across his face.
"Ember," he breathed, his voice barely audible.
She was shaking, her arms wrapped around herself like she could hold herself together.
Kaelith sat back, his hands trembling as they left her body completely.
His mind was spinning.
The bruises on her wrists.
The terror in her eyes.
He had seen that before.
On Sorei.
On a girl who had once trusted him.
On a girl who had once loved him.
And now….he had done the same to Ember.
The realization crushed him.
His breath was uneven, his fingers twitching against his thighs.
What had he done?
She wasn't Sorei.
She was Ember.
And he had become exactly what he swore he never would.
Kaelith felt sick.
He forced himself to move, to get away from her before he made things worse.
His voice was hoarse. "I…."
But he couldn't speak the words.
So he did what he always did.
He ran.
The door slammed behind him.
Ember didn't move.
Didn't chase him.
Didn't breathe.
She just curled into herself, tears falling silently onto the sheets.
She had promised herself…..never again.
Never again would she let a man make her feel like this.
But here she was.
And it hurt.
It hurt so much.
(**FLASHBACK**)
"You're lucky I still want you, Ember. No one else ever will."
Isaac's voice slithered into her ear, his fingers digging into her wrist.
Ember winced, trying to pull away, but he held tighter, his grip like iron.
"You think you can leave me?" he scoffed. "After everything I've done for you?"
Her heart pounded.
"Let go," she said, voice wavering but firm.
Isaac's jaw ticked. "You're really starting to piss me off, you know that?"
"Then let me go!" she snapped, yanking her arm.
His laugh was humorless, dark. "And go where? Back to those people who don't give a damn about you?"
Ember froze.
His smirk deepened. "Oh, that's right. You have no one."
She felt the words like a blade.
Isaac's expression shifted, his fingers loosening slightly. "You think someone else will love you? With your sickness? With your pathetic past?"
Ember's stomach twisted.
She hated this.
She hated that he knew exactly how to get under her skin.
How to remind her of everything she had tried so hard to forget.
**Years Ago**
Her mother's voice was soft, warm, safe.
"She's special," she whispered, stroking Ember's hair as she lay curled in her lap.
Her father sighed. "She's sick. That's what she is."
Ember's little hands clutched her mother's dress. "I'm not sick, Daddy. I promise."
Her father's face softened. "I know, sweetheart. But the doctors…."
"The doctors don't know everything," her mother interrupted, voice firm.
Her grandmother, sitting by the fireplace, nodded. "She was fine before that day in the mountains."
Ember tilted her head. "What day?"
Her parents exchanged glances.
"You wouldn't remember," her mother murmured, brushing Ember's hair away from her face. "You were too little."
"But what happened?" Ember insisted.
Her father sighed, rubbing his temples. "We went to visit your grandmother when you were three. You wandered into the mountains and vanished for an entire day."
Ember's breath caught.
Her mother nodded. "When we found you, you were completely fine. No injuries. No bruises. Just… different."
Her father's voice was heavy. "Months later, you started getting sick."
Ember's small fingers clenched. "What does that mean?"
Her grandmother's gaze was far away. "It means you don't belong to just this world, my love."
"You think just because you're sick, people should feel bad for you?"
The laughter rang in her ears as she struggled to pick up her books, her knees scraped from being shoved down.
"Freak," one of the girls sneered, kicking her bag down the hallway.
Ember bit her lip, refusing to let them see her cry.
"You're always so quiet," another taunted. "Like a little ghost."
"Maybe she is," a voice chimed in. "I mean, she's practically dying."
Laughter.
A hand grabbed her books, offering them to her.
"Leave her alone," a familiar voice snapped.
Ember looked up.
Lena.
Her only friend.
"She's weak, not deaf," Lena spat, glaring at the bullies. "Get lost."
The girls scoffed but walked away, muttering insults under their breath.
Ember exhaled shakily. "Thanks."
Lena rolled her eyes. "One day, I'm going to teach you how to punch people."
"You're Ember, right?"
She blinked, looking up from her book.
A boy stood before her, tall, confident, dangerous in a way she didn't understand yet.
"I….yeah," she murmured.
He smiled, sitting beside her like he belonged there.
"I'm Isaac."
She glanced around. "Okay?"
His smile widened. "You don't recognize me?"
She frowned. "Should I?"
He chuckled. "I'm best friends with Lena's brother."
Her shoulders relaxed. "Oh."
"I've heard a lot about you," he said, watching her closely. "You're… different."
Her stomach tightened. "If this is some joke…."
"It's not."
His voice was firm.
"You're not like the others," he continued, tilting his head. "I like that."
She swallowed.
It was the first time someone looked at her like that.
Like she wasn't fragile.
Like she wasn't a burden.
She let herself believe it.
"You think you're leaving?"
Isaac's voice was ice.
Ember trembled, backing against the wall as he stalked toward her.
"You think you can just walk away from me?"
Her heart pounded. "Isaac…."
"Shut up," he snapped, grabbing her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"You belong to me," he whispered, his breath hot, suffocating.
Tears pricked her eyes.
"I loved you," she whispered. "I thought you loved me."
His grip tightened.
"I do," he growled. "That's why I can't let you go."
She couldn't breathe.
She had traded one sickness for another.
And she was dying all the same.
The days her parents died in that car crash…
The rain poured, mixing with her tears as she stood in front of the wreckage.
Her mother's car.
Twisted metal.
Blood on the pavement.
Ember dropped to her knees, her sobs wracking her body.
Her parents were gone.
Forever.
And she was alone.
She felt the cold grip of her father's family before she even turned.
"Pack your things," her aunt said coldly. "You'll be living with us now."
"Did you clean the floors?"
"Yes," Ember murmured, her fingers raw from scrubbing.
"Did you wash the dishes?"
"Yes."
Her cousin, Ava, smirked, holding out a glass of wine.
"Oops," she said, letting it drop.
The glass shattered.
"Clean it up, freak."
Ember gritted her teeth, bending down.
Ava laughed.
"You really are pathetic."
The moment she walked into Isaac's apartment that day, she felt it.
The wrongness.
The betrayal.
Then…she saw them.
Isaac.
And Ava.
Together.
Her stomach dropped.
"You have got to be kidding me," she whispered.
Ava smirked, lazily wrapping an arm around him.
"Oops," she said.
Isaac stood, his expression unreadable. "Ember….."
"Don't," she choked out.
Ava chuckled. "What, did you think he actually loved you?"
Ember's breath shook.
Isaac's jaw clenched. "You need to leave."
"Leave?" she laughed bitterly. "You're kicking me out?"
Ava's smirk widened. "You really are stupid, aren't you?"
Ember turned to Isaac, her chest tight.
"This whole time?" she whispered. "You were just using me?"
Isaac's eyes darkened. "I told you….you belong to me."
Then….he lunged.
**Present**
Ember stared at the ceiling, tears slipping down her face.
She should have learned.
Demons and men were the same.
They only ever knew how to hurt.