Page 353 of Coal Hearts

Breathing hard, I glowered at the satanic ceremony up ahead. Curtains of rain blurred the world, flicking it between reality and dreams.

That sensation of elseness.

That awareness of someone.

I’d felt that pull once before.

I’d sensed Ily’s eyes on me before I’d ever spotted her in the club.

Her energy was a tangible thing, threading with mine, binding me to her even as I fought so fucking hard to bind her to me.

You’re making it up.

You’re drunk on the hunt and—

I shivered as another buffet of sentience quaked through me.

I swiped at my eyes, trying to see, but...I knew.

I knew before my brain could make sense of pictograms and pixels.

Vision could come in many forms.

Knowing could strike even the lowliest of creatures.

And this...it bypassed my paltry eyes, and I saw.

I saw with my fucking heart.

And I ran.

With a roar, I charged toward them.

They had her.

They hurt her.

They’ll die.

The storm was my friend as I threw myself into whatever entity existed within me.

The diabolical.

The despicable.

The immoral and unhinged.

The strange sensations of my youth returned, but I didn’t shut them down this time or convince myself they weren’t real.

Familiar black hunger poured through every vein.

My hearing sharpened until the splashing of every raindrop ricocheted in my ears.

My nose became acute, scenting the musk of sex in the gloom.

And my teeth ached as if they lengthened, ready to tear flesh from bone and lap at hot marrow.

I ran faster.