by Amy Richie
Chapter Forty-Five
I could only stare in open-mouthed horror at the man I had once known better than my own reflection. It was clear that I had only seen what I wanted to see in the alley, because the man standing in front of me now was barely recognizable.
His hair blew wildly around his unshaven face. I knew he didn’t age, but he looked years older. Deep lines were etched around his eyes and mouth, suggesting that he didn’t smile much anymore.
My heart was already broken into a million pieces, but seeing him like this was like the final blow. Without my permission, tears escaped my eyes and slipped down my face.
“You’re crying?” he sneered at me.
“I’m not crying.” I sniffed softly.
He laughed low in his throat. “Are you afraid?”
“A little,” I admitted.
“You should be.”
“You’ve been watching me,” I accused.
He didn’t try to deny it. “Yep.”
“So you have always known where I was.”
“Does that surprise you?”
“It surprises me that you didn’t come sooner.” He only grunted in response. “You’ve had Sylvia here the whole time?”
His eyes swung to where Sylvia still sat, slumped against the wall. “She would have been kept more comfortable if she hadn’t tried to escape so many times.”
“What should she have done? Laid back and let you kill her?” I yelled up at him.
He didn’t answer in any words that I could understand. He growled fiercely into the wind and slammed his open palm against the door jam. The shed shuddered under the onslaught.
“So, what are you going to do now?” I probably didn’t want to know the answer.
“You already know.”
“Where’s Rueben?”
“He’s not here.”
“Did Silango send him away?”
“How should I know?” he snapped.
“He just disappeared without a single word.”
I tried to get to the window before he noticed. Maybe I could get away. Even if I couldn’t get Sylvia out with me now, Marcus would probably follow me and she could get away then. I just hoped that she had the strength left to get away. She was stronger than I was at one time, but that was before Silango and his warriors had half-starved her.
I didn’t want to leave her there, but I couldn’t see how I had much choice. I wouldn’t be able to get past Marcus to get to the door and only one of us would fit through the window.
If only I could tell her my plan and make sure she was ready to run. I glanced over at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. She wasn’t looking at anyone. Her head was hanging low, almost resting on her chest.
Was it possible that she had fallen asleep? Now? Rueben had told me that if you get too thirsty, you get extremely tired. Sometimes, you can hardly even force yourself to stay awake. But to fall asleep now?
Marcus slumped into the shed, his bulk filing up the space around us. He was muttering to himself, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I wondered if he even realized he was talking out loud.
My opportunity to get away from him was slipping away. I scooted backwards another inch. His eyes swung over to freeze my breaths. He regarded me coldly with his unfamiliar eyes.
“Where do you think you’re going, Claudia?” he snarled at me.
“Nowhere.”
“That’s right. There is nowhere to run.”
“I…uh…” I swallowed noisily.
“We’ll catch you and drag you back here.”
Were there really so many warriors that were meant to kill us? “Silango doesn’t trust you to do the job yourself,” I spoke braver than I actually felt.
“He thought I might be reluctant to…do it.” I was surprised that he admitted the truth. “But, I’ve been biding my time, waiting and watching.”
“I know this isn’t you.” I was desperate to get through to him. He was in there somewhere.
He smiled, revealing all his teeth. It wasn’t an amused smile, though. The sight gave me goose bumps. “Then who am I?” he taunted.
“Silango has gotten in your head. He’s made you…”
“Crazy.” He tilted his head to one side with another crazy grin.
“Marcus, please just let me go,” I half sobbed. “Tell him I got away.”
He turned to glare at me, but made no move to let me get past him. “I can’t,” he finally said.
It was the first time since he opened the shed door that I heard a little of the real Marcus. I licked my bottom lip quickly. “We’ll run.”
“You can’t run fast enough, or far enough. I’ve tried. It’s not…” he sucked in a ragged breath, “It’s not possible.”
“I can…”
“No,” he cut me off sharply.
He swung his arm around then, revealing an axe that he was holding. I hadn’t seen it when he came in; where had it come from? And more importantly, what was he going to do with it?
I saw the muscles under his shirt tense up. He took two deliberate steps forward and stopped in front of Sylvia and me. His entire jaw trembled with his effort to breath.
My eyes grew wide with terror. Which one of us would it be: Sylvia or me? The time had come, and there was no fighting it now. Marcus couldn’t fight it, and we couldn’t get away.
I closed my eyes tight, but I still heard when the axe came down with a sickening thud. My breath caught in my lungs and my heart stopped beating.
Marcus left the shed, but then came back in before I even opened my eyes. When I did, he was standing there in the doorway, his shock matching my own.
“Claudia,” he gasped. “I don’t…I can’t…” His voice broke into a pitiful sound.
“I know.”
My breathing wasn’t coming out like it should. It was like being in a dream and I wasn’t sure what was real anymore. I was afraid of what I would see.
I couldn’t hear Sylvia’s breathing anymore.
“She’s dead,” he confirmed.
“She can’t be.” I shook my head back and forth.
“I’m not…,” he wiped violently at his face, leaving red streaks where his hands had been. “I’m not going to be able to let you live.”
I tried hard not to cry. I knew that this had been a possibility. This wasn’t Marcus; this was Silango. I had failed to kill him. What was even more pathetic was that I hadn’t even seen him. He was probably still in London after all. I hadn’t been able to save Sylvia and now I couldn’t save myself.
“I don’t want to live anyway,” I murmured pathetically.
He breathed out deeply and closed his eyes. I pushed myself as far away from Sylvia’s body as I could, putting me close to the window. I was surprised when the glass suddenly shattered.
“Wh…”
Marcus brought his fist back into the shed, still scowling. In his other hand, he was holding a red plastic container. I let my breath out in a whoosh when I realized what he was holding. It was a gasoline can.
Marcus began to pour the strong smelling fluid all along the side of the shed that I wasn’t sitting on. He didn’t spill any of the gas on me, but the smell was still strong.
I flinched away from the strong smell of the gasoline. He was going to set me on fire; what a horrible way to die.
I’ll stay with you. He spoke to me without moving his lips.
“Wh…”
I looked up then and he was kneeling on the ground next to me. His eyes, those ancient deep blue eyes, were no longer crazy. He seemed more at peace than I’d ever seen him. Even though he knew that we were both going to die, he would soon be free of his prison.
“I wish I could have been stronger for you, Claudia,” he whispered. His fingers came up to wipe away the tears that still lingered on my face. “I should have left you human.”
“No,” my voice broke on my sobs. “I…I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere without you.” I reached up to touch his face and he gent
ly kissed my open palm. I closed my eyes and felt his tears fall on my hand. “We’ll never be apart now,” I whispered. My voice was too thick, but maybe he still understood. I buried myself in his chest, trying to block out everything that wasn’t him, but I still smelled the smoke.
“Claudia,” he spoke urgently in my ear, “you’re not going to die here. You have to go.”
“What?” Through my heavy fog of emotion, I could barely understand what he was saying.
“Go out the window and run. Run towards the sound of the water until you reach the road. Just keep going–don’t even turn around.”
“Come with me.”
He smiled sadly. “I can’t.”
“What are you doing, Marcus?”
“It’s the only way.”
My chin began to shake uncontrollably as I realized what he was saying. “Please.”
“Once I’m dead, you’ll be free.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I clung tighter to him. “We’ll die together. It was always supposed to be like that, anyway.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“No I won’t.”
“Claudia.” He put both his hands on my face to force me to look up at him. “I love you, more than I love myself.”
“No.” I remembered that night we were running from Ryan and I asked him if he thought it was possible to love someone more than yourself.
“And I said no.”
“And you were wrong.”
He nodded, fresh tears gathering in his eyes. “So wrong.” He pressed his lips against mine. All the love of a thousand year old warrior passed through that one moment. “Go.”
I hadn’t even realized we were moving and suddenly, he was shoving me through the broken window. “No, Marcus, don’t ask me to leave you.”
“Just run, Claudia.” The fire was already starting to eat away at the other wall of the shed.
“No.” I shook my head slowly.
“Claudia.”
I picked myself up off the ground, brushing the glass and dirt off my clothes. “I’m going to find him,” I vowed. “And I’m going to kill him.”
Without another word, Marcus ducked back inside the burning shed. I knew exactly where I was going to go. Silango would pay for what he had done.
I would go to London and hunt him down. Even if it took the last breath from my body. I wasn’t afraid anymore; Marcus was burning himself alive in that shed, so what else could I possibly fear?
With a burst of rage, I took off through the woods, going in the direction of the water like Marcus had said. I pushed myself to run as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough. I soon heard someone behind me. They would reach me before I got to the road.
I wasn’t strong enough to fight anyone yet. I needed to find someone to help me. Kiera. The idea formed even as I ran. I would go to Blakesly House where Kiera could teach me how to fight Silango. She was stronger than he was.
“Do you honestly think that?” came a voice from the trees.
I pulled my legs into a quick stop. He was here. Silango was here.
Chapter Forty-Six
My breath came out slowly, forcing its way in and out of my lungs. I scanned the trees all around me. I couldn’t see anyone hiding there, but that didn’t mean I was alone. I knew well enough that they could easily be there hiding–Silango and his warriors.
I wondered why they waited. They could so easily overtake me. It would be nothing for any of them. Did they enjoy my fear? Did it excite them that my heart was hammering away in my chest?
“Where are you?” I didn’t yell into the trees, I didn’t need to. He would be able to hear even if I whispered.
“I’m here.”
“Marcus is dead.” I swallowed thickly.
“Marcus is not dead.”
“He…burned.”
“Romantic notion, to be sure, but sadly, he couldn’t go through with it.”
His laughter echoed off the ground and bounced off the trees. “Leave him alone.” I had seen Marcus in the fire, so I knew Silango was wrong.
“Where are you running to, Claudia?”
“To…”
“Kiera?”
“She’s stronger than you.” I tried to sound brave, but my voice shook. He laughed again.
“But you are so very, very weak.”
I bounced my weight from foot to foot. He was right–I was weak. I couldn’t hope to stand up against him and win. But then, Marcus’s sacrifice would have been for nothing. I wanted to face him right there, but I was afraid. So I ran. Since Silango was in front of me, I went back towards the shed.
My thoughts raced even faster than my footsteps. I had to run away from them. I might be able to get away if I hurried. I pushed my lungs to expand further so I could have more air. How far would I have to go to get away from Silango?
For most of my life, I had been running away from him. He had always been a dark shadow over Marcus and me. I knew that I could never hope to be happy as long as I wasn’t with Marcus, but I also knew that Marcus would never be able to be happy with me.
Their bond was too powerful. If Marcus wanted to, he could force me to stop. Just a thought and I wouldn’t be able to run any longer. But he wouldn’t use that power over me because he wasn’t anything like Silango.
For years, Silango had been using the Letrells as his own personal puppets. To kill when he spoke the word, to back down when it benefited Silango. Even Kiera couldn’t help them; Silango didn’t answer to her. So, even Kiera was at his mercy because of her love for Damien.
Damien and Dominick were hardly affected, though. They were just as evil as Silango, maybe even more so. Marcus, Paris, and Rueben–even Achilles–were prisoners of Silango’s will. As long as Silango was left alive, the people I cared most about were never going to be free.
Maybe that was why Rueben had told me how to kill him. He had said he was being selfish and I hadn’t understood, but now I did. Rueben wanted to be free. They would fight for Silango, but deep inside, they wanted me to kill him, Marcus most of all.
It was clear to me what I had to do then, what I was meant to do all along. I had to free my family; I had to kill Silango.
I sucked in a deep breath of air; I didn’t have much time to think things through. I heard him behind me, tearing through the trees.
I broke through the trees just ahead of him. The shed was entirely consumed by flames. I almost stopped, but Silango was close behind me, so I had to keep going.
My thoughts swirled frantically. There had to be a way–there had to be something I could do. I wasn’t going to have a second chance. Right here and now it was going to be one of us. Either he would die or I would die.
I remembered before, when I thought Ryan would kill me. I had worried about Aunt Dora and Uncle Philip and most of all, Marcus. I worried about what he would do without me.
Aunt Dora and Uncle Philip had long since been dead. I had traveled to Hamel and watched them be buried, but I didn’t get close enough for anyone to see me. Marcus had told them that I was dead. He said it was easier that way so they wouldn’t expect me to visit or wonder why I didn’t age.
I hadn’t been happy about it then, but of course, Marcus had been right. He usually was. I didn’t have time to mourn him properly, though–not now, with Silango so close to me.
As I neared the shed, I made the mistake of looking behind me. He was there, just a few feet away now. The sharp planes of his face were pulled back into a ferocious snarl.
My heart leapt into my throat and adrenaline raced through my veins. It gave me enough speed to jump away from him. There was nowhere to go after the shed, though. There were only trees; not even a road to look forward to.
I screamed when I felt his hand on my back. He couldn’t quite get a good enough hold to pull me back to him, but he did manage to push me forward a few steps.
I started to fall, but I caught myself in time and managed to stay upright. A tree that had been cut most of the way dow
n appeared in my path. Green sprouts grew out the top of it, which only came just above my waist.
Something leaning against the tree caught the light of the moon and glinted back up at me. I caught the tree stump and sling shot myself to a stop.
I felt Silango skid to a stop behind me, his breath hot on the back of my neck. Time stopped there by the tree stump with the shed burning in the background.
The ugly black smoke rose up to create a shadow against the dark night sky. The wind tugged at my hair and plastered my shirt to my stomach. The trees around us bent and twisted in an ageless dance with the wind.
I barely noticed any of those things, though. My every thought was focused on the axe that was leaning against the tree. The same axe that Marcus had used to kill Sylvia. He must have put it here–just outside the shed–before he burned it down.
Before I even consciously thought about it, I felt the wood of the axe handle in my hand. My instincts completely took over and just had to follow through with my actions.
I didn’t see anything else except my hands on the end of that axe and Silango right behind me. I only had seconds, if even that.
With every ounce of strength I had in me, I swung myself, and the axe, around behind me. I didn’t stop turning until I was once again facing the half tree.
Everything was going in extreme slow motion. Every second seemed like an hour. My breath filled my lungs, making my chest rise. There were no sounds behind me. Had I missed? Shouldn’t it hurt by now? Why was he waiting?
My breath whooshed out of my lungs and my chest fell again. My eyes closed and then opened again. Still, I heard nothing behind me. There were no sounds of Silango’s breath, only my own as the air filled my lungs again.
Thump.
I took a step forward and turned around to see why Silango was just standing there. As soon as I got all the way around, his body–minus the head–crumpled to the ground. His head was already rolling towards my feet.
My eyes widened in shock and I jumped back. The tree prevented me from going too far, though. The severed head rolled several feet past me. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the gruesome sight.
Where there should have been blood, a thick black liquid oozed out. The smell was horrible, making me gag. The relief that I had thought I would feel was slow in coming.
