The darkness rested. For how long, I didn’t know.
But my time was now.
“I want to be like you,” I whispered. “And more than anything, I want to prevent Julius from doing whatever it is he’s doing.”
He smiled. “That’s my witch.”
My next truth would be the scariest one of all, but I’d grown used to myself and the need to spill my heart with him.
“Don’t let me go.” I met the ocean in his eyes, and within the waves, maybe I could find a permanent home. No more running, and oh, how I loved the sound of that. “I need you, but I want you just as much as I need you.”
He stepped in, taking away the space that separated us. “I’ll never let you go.” He took my hand and brought it up to his lips to kiss. “Because I want you more than I need you, so don’t let go of me either.”
Twenty
Sebastian
Isabella clung to my shoulder as I faded us to our destination. It was another cave of sorts if you’d call it that. This one was made up of metal. You could tell that someone spent a lot of time and energy into embedding this material into the rocks.
The smell was rancid. Isabella was covering up her mouth and nose with her hand the moment we got here. “What is that smell?” she asked me.
“Evil that’s been left to fester,” Prudence muttered ominous words as she stepped ahead of us and moved on inside the cave. We still stood at the entrance.
“None of them is dead yet,” Joy said, hopefully. “I can feel it.” We all could, but the ball could drop at any moment. All that mattered, though, was getting the kids out of here and making sure Harvest didn’t get his hands on Isabella.
There was never an occasion where we all went out together like this. Even our parents came. I wondered just how much they weren’t letting on about what was really going on for us all to be here?
To ignore the inkling in my gut, I ran my fingers through my hair. It didn’t help. I was still restless, even worse that I had Izzie to think about. I couldn’t leave her alone but bringing her along was doing nothing to calm me. I stared at her small stature next to mine and my heart beat went up a notch.
“Stay by me.” I grabbed Isabella’s hand.
“And far away from me,” August said behind us. I turned and arched an eyebrow his way. “Her touch of death is some serious shit. We all need to be careful not to accidentally graze her skin at any point. My nut sack wants to shrivel up every time I see her and that’s saying something.”
“You’re disgusting,” Maureen told him.
“What nut sack?” Payne couldn’t help but say.
“And what the hell do they have to do with Izzie?” I gritted the question out, earning a few knowing smiles from the entire family.
“All right, let’s go,” Dad told us all. “Wait, where’d your mother go?” He looked around for her.
“Her and Kitty are both gone,” August noticed.
“No, they’ve gone on ahead,” Barron told us. “Maureen, Prudence, and even Joy slipped inside with them.”
“What is it with the women in this family and their need to go first?” Dad sighed.
Payne glanced around at all the faces in search of someone, then he scowled. “Let’s go.” He started walking inside while Barron took the easy route and fated. Isabella and I followed behind Dad, August, and Payne.
“Do you miss the sun when you’re down here?” Isabella asked me out of nowhere. She caught my surprised, yet curious frown and elaborated. “I know, it’s random and now is not really the time, but living down here in the Underworld, don’t you hate not waking up to the sun?”
I tilted my head at her as we walked. “I don’t miss something I can go and see anytime I want in the human world.”
“I’d never seen the sun until the day after I escaped. I didn’t even know what it was,” she had that faraway look in her eyes as she talked like she was in a happy place, “but I remember getting woken up by it in the back of the truck I crawled into… and the moment the sun kissed my skin, I swear I fell in love with it. The warmth I felt from it gave me a hope I’d never dreamed of having, and that marked the beginning of ten long years I managed to hide myself from Julius.”
If the sun could have been her lover, I would have been so fucking jealous. The absolute sparkle in her eyes as she talked about the sun and the moment she got away, you could tell how life-changing it was for her. “I want to see the ocean,” she said in a daze and at random.
I never thought of it before, but I realized she left a life behind the day I found her. Something tight hit my chest. “Did you have to leave anybody behind when you came with me?” I couldn’t help but ask, but I also feared her answer.
She shook her head. “I had a few friends, but if you meant a lover then, no, I didn’t have one.” The relief I felt was instant and my shoulders loosened as we walked. “What about you?”
“I wouldn’t have come on to you if I was with someone,” I told her. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve been in a relationship.” Happiness twinkled in those dark eyes of hers. She brushed her hair behind her ear, looking entirely pleased. “Maybe we should have asked these questions before climbing into bed with one another?” I offered, earning me another joyful beam from her.
She laughed. “Maybe.”
“Fucking hell,” August muttered, looking back at us before glancing at Payne. “Do you have earplugs?”
“One of these days, August, you’re gonna trip over your own words,” Payne said to August. “I can’t wait to shake the hand of the woman that finally knocks you on your ass.”
“Done talking?” Dad turned his head back slightly. “If so, look ahead.” He pointed ahead.
“Killian!” Mom yelled for Dad and he faded which set all of us into motion.
“Shit,” Payne swore. “Is that spikes hanging from the ceiling?”
It definitely was. The device was shaped similar to a chandelier would look, only instead of holding lights, hundreds of metal spikes jutted out the bottom. It dropped several inches and screams erupted in the metal cave. The kids were trapped below it in a giant oval hole carved out. It was at least twenty-feet-deep. The shape of the spiked chandelier was built perfectly so that it would drop down on them. “Help us get the kids out!” Mom yelled up at us.
“Let’s take it down.” Payne looked up at the trap once more.
“You can’t,” Prudence yelled as she scooped up a child and placed her away from the circle. “It has a protection spell. We’ve already tried. It’s about to drop, we have to hurry and get these kids out of here.”
“There are hundreds of kids down there,” Payne muttered. “We won’t get them all out in time.”
“We have to try,” she told him.
“What about Harvest?” August asked before I could.
Prudence shook her head and dropped back down into the hole. “There’s no one here but the kids.”
I caught Isabella’s worried frown. “It’s okay. Stay right here,” I told her as we all moved toward the kids.
“If it’s a spell, I might be able to neutralize it,” she said quickly. “I’ll try to see while you’re doing that.”
I nodded, then jumped down. I materialized my scythe and several of the kids shrieked in terror. “It’s okay, we’re going to get you guys out of here.” I morphed my scythe into a chain. “Payne,” I yelled and the moment he tipped his head to look down, I sent the chain crawling up the wall of the hole and into his hands. He disappeared with one end and I could only guess it was to find somewhere to anchor the chain. Around me, we were all using similar ways to get the kids up quicker. My essence gave the chain a bluish glow and with it, I was able to control it without actually touching it. I wrapped several children in by their waist and slowly began to push them up the wall.
The spikes dropped another few feet. It was still a distance away from us, but who knew when it would drop completely. “We’re not getting them out fast enough,” I muttere
d.
“Sebastian!” Isabella yelled from above. “It’s going to drop completely. It’s spelled with a time limit.”
“Maybe we can fade with them all,” Joy said quickly. “Everyone touch each other,” she told the kids.
“We can only fade one person with us at a time,” Maureen swore.
“We have to try,” Joy met her eyes and said. “Maybe if we all use it together.”
“Here,” Maureen pushed her way in front of Joy. “I can do it on my own.” She glanced around at the kids. “Just make sure they are all touching each other.”
“Maureen, this won’t work if we don’t all try together,” I tried to tell her.
“I said, ‘I got it’,” she hissed, then sighed and placed her hand on her forehead.
I knew what was going on and didn’t press her. All of our curses reacted in different ways, and pride was a tricky one. “We will all try.”
Maureen bit her lip. “Suit yourself.”
The trap caved once more, only this time it wasn’t stopping. I jumped upright about the time Barron jumped ahead and collided with the trap. It stopped, but it wasn’t Barron that stopped it.
“Sebastian.” It was Payne that yelled. I landed in front of him and Isabella. He took off his jacket and was using it to hold her upright. She looked pale as her hands were stretched out in front of her, palms facing the trap. “I saw her swaying.”
“I need more power,” she panted, her eyes closed. I raced toward her. Payne stepped away the moment I gripped her shoulders. I slid my fingers down until my skin skimmed hers. “Here, take mine.” And what once was settled, roared back to life between us. Just like the first time we touched, her darkness seemed starved for my power. Which proved how much she was draining herself to control this trap. The more we held each other, the calmer the feel of our flesh joining became, until now. It didn’t go unnoticed when Isabella practically moaned as she stole from me. My own reacted to hers.
“That’s it,” she whispered, her eyes hardening as she lifted her arms. The trap moved up just as her arms did. “I got it,” she assured everyone. She flung her arms to the right, and it went crashing against the wall and shattered.
She turned around and smiled. “Look at me coming in to save the day.”
I pulled her into my arms. “We make a good team.”
“We do,” she agreed.
I saw a little boy walking up toward us and gestured for her to look behind her. “I think he’s coming to thank you.”
She turned around, and that was when I spotted the change in the little boy. It wasn’t a little boy. It was a gremlin in disguise. “Wait, get back!” I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backward, but the little boy jumped, transforming into the gremlin. He started clawing at her leg. She screamed, and I called my chain to me. It morphed back into the scythe and sliced the gremlin in half.
Izzie still screamed and gripped her leg. I took in the dark spirals moving beneath her wounds.
“What is that?” Maureen dropped down in front of her and asked.
“Sebastian.” Izzie arms flew out in front of her in search of me, and my heart broke at the sight of it because I was right here beside her and she acted like I was so far away, or maybe it was him trying to pull her away from me and that was the reason she was seeking me out so desperately.
That thought had me livid and torn apart.
I pulled her into my chest, making sure I touched the back of her neck with my hand. She sagged against me, and I stiffened at the feel of her tears hot against my chest. I had never felt so enraged or distressed at the sight of another person’s pain.
The thought of her being anywhere other than with me sent me into a panic.
“I felt him inside the gremlin,” she whispered, gripping my shirt until her knuckles were white. “He’s closer than ever.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised.
“I don’t think this was a trap set for us,” Prudence studied Isabella resting in my arms.
“You’ll have to keep her safe.” It was Dad that spoke. He was protective of Mom and all of us, so I understood his words.
“I plan on it.”
“Let’s get the kids back home so we can do the same.” Dad turned toward the kids.
Twenty-One
Isabella
I kept Sebastian close while the others erased the children’s memories and sent them home. It took a while since there were so many. Nobody asked for Sebastian’s help and I was thankful. Melanie healed my leg wounds with some sort of healing power she wielded, and I was whole again, but only on the surface.
I clung to him desperately, and I wasn’t ashamed of it. I was terrified of the idea of having to let go of him.
Even now, the darkness taunted me. It was restless, and it moved along my skin in search of someone that wasn’t here.
Julius.
The gremlin had done something. I didn’t know what, but it was almost like there was more of the darkness inside me now, a new darkness overthrowing the old one. Something was imbalanced. Some sort of internal battle was happening, and I hated that I didn’t know what it was. All I had was a gut feeling and the darkness rolling underneath me to guide me.
One part sought out Sebastian and the other raged to be free.
I clung to him even harder. He rubbed his hand down my hair. “We’re almost finished here, you two go on back to your place,” Melanie told him. Sebastian inherited his mother’s hair and eyes while the height and sheer mass of him came from the Grim Reaper. Every single one of the men in the metal cave was over six feet tall, it was overwhelming when I really looked at all of them together. Sebastian seemed to be several inches shorter than his brothers, being closer to the Grim Reaper’s height. As for Barron, August, and Payne I didn’t know what they ate growing up but they were definitely rounding up toward seven feet.
Sebastian scooped me up in his arms from where we sat on the ground. “I’ll check in later.”
Melanie nodded and walked away while Sebastian faded us to his place. He placed my feet on the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“My leg’s fine,” I croaked. “Your mom has a great healing ability.”
He frowned. “She does,” he agreed. “But that wasn’t what I meant.”
I shifted on my feet. “Just don’t leave me, and I’ll be okay.”
He gripped my shoulders firmly. “I’m not going anywhere. I already told you.” He rubbed his thumbs soothingly across my collarbone before twisting me around and leading me toward the hallway. “Let’s give you a bath.”
“You just want me naked.”
He laughed but didn’t deny it. Flipping on the light switch once we were in the bathroom, he maneuvered around me and went to turn on the faucet. Once he twisted on the hot water, he came for me next. “Here.” I lifted my arms and up went my shirt, next came my bra. The rest of my clothes followed, and electric heat soared through me when he cupped one of my breasts, a mischievous massage, almost like he couldn’t help himself.
“Are you getting in with me?” I asked softly, lulled by the sweet ache his teasing fondle brought to my skin.
Instead of answering, he led me to the tub and helped me into the scalding water where I moaned as soon as the water caressed my skin. Only my head and shoulders remained above the water. I lifted my arms out of the water and lay them across the edges of the tub. Sebastian's eyes roamed over me appreciatively as he bent down next to the tub. His hand traced the top of the water. “How does it feel?”
I reached for his shirt and pulled him toward the water. “Better if you were in here with me.”
His hand disappeared into the water. “Tell me, Izzie, can you feel him right now?” I caught his heated expression, trying to decipher if his mood was darkened with thoughts of Julius or was it—I gasped and spread my legs as far apart as I could in the tub when his fingers slipped between my folds and wasted no time in burying one inside me.
I shook my head with a fev
er crawling up my neck and face. “No,” I panted, and it was the truth. The darkness held no control when Sebastian was pulling pleasure from us—it even seemed to fall victim to Sebastian’s lingering stamps on my skin. So no, I felt nothing—no Julius, barely even the darkness—but what he was making me feel.
“He had no place inside your body or mind, you know that?” Sebastian asked me. I closed my eyes and arched into his fingers. One circled my clit while another pumped in and out teasingly, just enough so that he withheld the pleasure. “Every time you shake in fear of him, my blood runs cold because of the desperation I feel at being unable to help you, then it turns into rage with the need to go hunt him down and tear him limb from limb.”
Opening my eyes, I saw anguish echoing in the depths of the pale blues staring at me. I blinked, falling harder for him right then and there. He felt pain and fury for my sake, and I adored him more because of it. “Sebastian,” I murmured, in the throes of passion. He abruptly stopped and when I saw him retreating, disengaging his fingers from my body, I leaned forward and grasped his arm. “Don’t stop.”
“Tell me how to make him go away,” he whispered hoarsely, leaning over me in the tub and placing one of his hands against the back of my neck to lift me while the other rested on my stomach. “I can’t handle the fucking shit I saw you go through earlier. It’s like I could feel Julius clawing at you from the inside and taking you from me when I was right there beside you.”
I swallowed heavily and pressed my forehead to Sebastian’s, aligning our mouths with one another. “You do make him go away.” I kissed him softly. “You always make Julius go away, the moment you touch me, he fades away completely.”
Sebastian sucked in a breath, and electric tingles raced over my skin as his exhale came down over my lips. “I don’t want him there at all.”
I leaned my head back so I could see his eyes better. “Will you grow to resent me because of the darkness inside me?” I went ahead and asked straight out, terrified of his answer. “I might never truly escape from Julius.”
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