Last to Love

by Alexa Whitewolf

  I snort and let him go, ruffling his red curls like I used to. “Probably because Mamma gave me her special gift.”

  “Is that why Papà sent us down here together?”

  I sigh then, all trace of lightness gone. “Sì, claro.” Rubbing the back of my neck, I look around. “You’ve been here before, Matty?”

  “Yeah,” he says, seemingly unaffected. “We go that way.” He points towards the downhill slope, and I follow in his tracks. Now that we’re alone, I’m having a hard time finding the words. I’ve been so focused on Alessandro and his shit that I haven’t even allowed myself to enjoy having my younger brother back. How does that feel for him, I wonder?

  “Matty?”

  “Yeah?” He focuses hard on the path ahead, but I can hear the catch in his voice.

  “I know it’s weird, being back, but... You know I’m happy you’re with me, right?”

  He stops then and turns to me, his expression forlorn. “Are you? Papà said you beat him up because you didn’t want to be forced back into the family.”

  The bastardo... Of course he took my words and twisted them! I sigh and step closer, grabbing his shoulders again. “Matty, Alessandro and I have never seen eye to eye. You know that. Remember back before you died, how I also nearly beat him up?” When he nods, I continue, “That’s why he has bruises. Because I don’t agree with what he did – he disturbed your sleep. It’s unnatural, no matter which way you look at it.”

  His eyes fill with tears and he tries to push me away, but I hold on tighter. “Matty, aspetta. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you, and I’m not happy to see you! You’re my little brother, and you have no idea how much I missed you and how much I blamed myself for what happened.”

  My words seem to be getting through. At the very least, he stops trying to struggle out of my hold. “I wasn’t even at your funeral, because Mamma died shortly after. I... It’s been hard, Matty. I’m glad you’re back, but I’m deathly scared of losing you again. I don’t think I could survive it.”

  The truth of the words reverberates through me, something I haven’t let myself feel. Much like my feelings for Monica. How much have I really buried, and how much more will have to go sideways before I’m able to man-up and admit everything?

  When I let Matteo go, there’s a tentative smile on his lips. “I’ll be okay, Lucas. With a big brother like you, how could I not?”

  I return the smile, even if it feels forced. Something about Alessandro’s eagerness to have us down here tells me this won’t be easy. None of it. As we start walking again, we’re side by side like the hikes we used to take as kids. Only, of course, this time we’re heading into the Underworld itself. I try not to let that dampen my spirits.

  “How does it feel, being back alive?”

  Matteo shrugs. “Strano... Like I’m there, but not there, you know? Like part of me is missing.”

  “Ana said you’d know what we need from down here to make you whole again.”

  He falters in his steps. “Well, sort of. Charon will know, and if nothing else, I figure Mamma will.”

  I remember Charon being the guy in the boat who leads the souls around. Hopefully, he’ll be less of a bastard than our father, and give us some straight answers.

  We get to the cave and Matteo goes in first. I hesitate, then follow him in. The moment I step through, my body vibrates, and the shimmering grows more intense, almost reddish. Then it’s gone, and I’m back to a regular silver color.

  Matteo’s wide eyes meet mine. “Is that normal?” I ask him.

  “No... I’ve never seen anything like that. The souls that come through aren’t, um, well they’re not formed like you. They’re little orbs. Like these ones.”

  I take in the surprisingly well-lit area we’re in. The cavern walls have a rugged yet smooth surface only man could have designed, and little shiny orbs are floating all around. That’s what Matteo is referring to. I shudder at the thought of the humans reduced to such...remnants.

  Matteo notices it. “They’re not so bad, you know. But, maybe, let’s not stick around too long. Charon’s boat is that way.”

  As we continue onwards, I take in our surroundings. I’ve no idea how we’ll even get out of here, but maybe I might just be able to see Mamma, and she can tell me what she couldn’t in the land of the living.

  Now that I’m here, the exact same place I didn’t want to be, I wonder if I’ll even be allowed to go back to the living. My nightmares of the Underworld are ever more real in my mind, and so is the gut feeling that I’m running out of time. Too fast.

  As if to prove my point, some of the orbs don’t linger above our heads, rather surrounding me close – too close.

  “I think they’re attracted to your gift,” my brother laughs from ahead.

  Matteo’s steps never falter. I lengthen my stride so I can be fully by his side and nudge him, trying to make the most of the time we have together. “So, did you meet anyone while you were down here?”

  He shakes his head, though a blush sort of coats his cheeks. “Not really. I mean, some of the people here have been around for ages, so even the girls who look like my age are ancient.”

  I snort. “And? You got something against older women?”

  He wrinkles his nose and I laugh. “Alright, point taken. No mummies for my younger brother.”

  “What about you?” he asks. “I overheard Papà talking about some Monica. Who is she?”

  “She’s...” Damn, I dug myself into a conversation I don’t want. “She’s a friend.”

  Matteo snorts. “I’ve seen your friends, Lucas. They’re model-worthy. Is she just as banging?”

  I roll my eyes. Even years in the Underworld haven’t robbed him of his much-loved slang. “Sì, she’s pretty.”

  “Pretty?” Matteo wrinkles his nose. “Come on, give me a bit more.”

  “You don’t give up, hmm? Bene. Let’s see. She has hair like a raven’s, and eyes as blue as sapphires. When she gets mad they flash with lightning. And her body, well, it would put a goddess to shame.”

  Matteo whistles at my description. “Wow, you’ve got it bad!”

  “Got what bad?”

  “Being in love, duh!”

  I nearly trip over my own two feet. “Fratello, you’ve lost your brains down here. I’m not in love. I don’t do love.”

  Matteo laughs even harder. “Claro, whatever you want to tell yourself.”

  Too soon, the hilarity ends as the space around us grows somber. My eyes scan the area, waiting for an ambush. “Why did it get darker?”

  Matteo shrugs. “Don’t know. I don’t remember much from the first time, but I know around Charon’s boat it gets like this. Some people whisper it’s because he’s blind, and he wants to take the light out for unsuspecting souls, too.”

  I glance at him. “What do you think?”

  “I think... I think that what’s scarier is not Charon, but the dog past him.”

  “Cerberus, you mean?”

  My thoughts drift back to the old legends I grew up with. A three-headed dog that protects the gate to the Underworld. Incidentally, one created by the same father of the original chimera. I wonder if there are also mini versions of that particular monster running rampant somewhere in the world of the living... The thought isn’t comforting. At all.

  Matteo nods, snapping me back to reality. “He’s massive, Lucas.”

  I laugh, trying to sound brave. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Even as I make that promise, my gut tells me nothing will be simple this time around. And for the first time, I miss my pack, sensing their loss like a physical blow.

  All the past conflicts, I’ve had them to rely on. Now, I’m on my own. And while this is my blood family, my mess... I miss the family I chose.

  Monica

  “You cannot save him,” Ana taunts me.

  “Lucas can save himself,” I toss back at her. “But thanks for being a bitch and meddling with things that don’t concern you.”

/>   She tries to laugh, but I push her into a chair next to Alessandro. She’s been talking crap the entire way to the library, and I’m tired of it. Mainly because I really, really want to slap the shit out of her.

  Once we have Alessandro and Ana secured with rope – and a blindfold and gag for her to avoid magic use – I leave Finn and Tristan to keep an eye on them and join Dominic. I make sure to take her pentagram bracelet, too. He’s talking with Lucrezia, and their whispered fight has me antsy.

  After we caught Lucas’ dad, Dominic’s vrykolakas secured the mansion and we called the girls back here. The outside is a mess – Alessandro has a lot of loyal wolves that were recalled by some who managed to escape us. So, really, we’re under siege in a Victorian-era house with more secret passages than a castle, meaning we need to get out of here, and fast.

  But we can’t until we figure out how to get Lucas back. All we’ve managed to put together is that somehow they sent him and Matteo to the Underworld. Ovviamente, only Lucas’ soul travelled, and his body was left behind because he was still alive. Whereas Matteo...

  “What’s going on?” I ask Dom and Luz, avoiding the sight of Lucas’ pale form on a sofa.

  I don’t know how much longer I can stand seeing him like that. If someone would have told me I’d be pining for a stubborn alpha with a streak of crazy chimera blood in him, I would’ve laughed in their face. And now... I just want him back. Clenching my fists so I avoid going to him, I force attention on my companions.

  They stare at each other for another beat, then Lucrezia folds her arms over her chest and lifts her chin in a gesture I’ve come to know as defensive. “If you go, I go.”

  “Out of the question,” Dominic says.

  “Just because your blood is royal, doesn’t mean you get to order me around. I’ve humored you enough, but this is where I put my foot down.”

  I groan, loud enough to grab their attention properly this time. “Guys, please. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and Lucas looks dead enough to make me lose my shit. What are you talking about?”

  “Dominic wants to go after him, in the Underworld, and I want to join him.”

  “Great, I’m in,” I say. “I didn’t know it could be that simple. How do we do that?”

  Dominic glares at me. “It’s not that simple. I’m only guessing that I can go, on account of me having both strigoi and wolf blood in me. My vrykolakas have no soul, meaning, technically, I can do this. But you and Lucrezia don’t have the half-dead in you.”

  “Except I already died,” Luz reminds him softly. “Which means if nothing else, going back there should be easier for me. And Monica is linked to Lucas, so there’s that. Plus, your vârcolac side has its downsides, or have you forgotten? If you get tempted down there, if anything like what happened with Radu happens again, you may lose your soul, period. Which is why you need me there.”

  “Oh.” It dawns on me then that they’re both afraid to let the other go. “Why don’t you let me go, alone?”

  “No,” Dominic shakes his head. “Lucas would kill me if anything happened to you.”

  “I doubt that.”

  He throws me a glare intended to shut me up, then turns to Lucrezia again. Their bickering resumes, and I give up and head back to the rest of the pack while they reach a conclusion. Tristan and Dani are keeping an eye out on the prisoners now.

  “Where did Finn and Elle go?” I ask.

  “To check out the area, and make sure we didn’t miss anyone inside the house,” Dani says.

  “I may owe you an apology,” Tristan adds. “For being a bit of a bastardo.”

  “Just a bit?”

  He shrugs. “Maybe more than a bit.”

  I grin. “Apology accepted.”

  Dominic and Lucrezia come back then, and she’s grinning. “We’re on, but just the three of us.”

  “You’re not seriously going after him in the Underworld?” Dani pales.

  Alessandro hears us and starts laughing, but I ignore him. “We are, and we’re going to get him.”

  “And how can you be so sure?” he drawls, desperately trying to gain our attention.

  It works, if only temporarily. I pull out the coin I’d been hiding and shove it in his face. “Because I have this. And your precious Ana isn’t the only one who can play with the occult when the need arises.”

  His eyes glitter with menace, and I get a bad feeling about leaving the rest of the pack behind. To Dani, I whisper, “Get Lucas’ body somewhere safe... Maybe even back to the cellar, after we leave. If anything happens, if you guys need to take off and his body is harmed, we won’t ever be able to bring him back.”

  She nods. “Consider it done.”

  Then I join Lucrezia and Dominic, already by the door. “Let’s head back to the cellars. It’ll be easier to re-do the spell in a spot it’s already been cast in.”

  We head down, the silence eerie in our steps. Dominic mutters under his breath about Lucas and his crazy family.

  “It’s too bad you didn’t get to meet his mom,” I say softly. “She was a beauty.”

  “Lucas never talks about her,” Lucrezia says.

  “I’ve only ever heard him talk of her once,” I admit. “I think... Her loss really affected him, and the fact he could do nothing to stop it. I’m not sure he’s ever gotten over it.”

  “Speaking of losing people... We’re omitting something else,” Dominic says. “We said we’ll bring Lucas back, but what about his younger brother?”

  The door to the cell squeaks as I push it open, and walk to the incensed wall. My palm presses against it, caressing it and getting a feel for the energy underneath. On a whisper, I say, “There was only one coin.”

  “I don’t get it.” Dominic steps near me. “What’s the link with the coin?”

  “Janus is a god we know in the old stregheria way of life. He’s the deity watching over doors and arches, but a lot of people think in terms of houses. Or, he’s also the same one who looks over portals. Like between worlds.”

  “And the Underworld falls under that?”

  “Sì,” I say. “So knowing how to tap into that power while having stregheria magic that is linked to the old ways, it’s a pretty high. From when we were young, Ana’s been into the occult. It’s why my nonna refused to teach her magic at some point, but Ana just went off on her own. I guess she figured out a way to do the ritual while channeling Janus’ forces, and that’s how she sent Lucas to the Underworld.”

  “That’s great,” Dominic says, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Gotta love more witches into the occult. But the question is, can you replicate the ritual?”

  “I think so,” I say. “But something like that would need chimera blood to open properly, to lead directly to the Underworld. Which is one thing we don’t have. But since Lucas got beat up in here, I’m hoping we can scrape some blood somewhere.”

  “Alright, good. And his younger brother?”

  “That’s what I can’t figure out,” I whisper. “If they used Matteo to leverage Lucas, why send them both to the Underworld? Ana bragged that Matteo is bonded to her, and that’s what keeps him alive. If that’s the case, then sending him there is counterproductive.”

  “Unless...” Luz shares a look with me. “Unless Matteo was a trap, and never intended to actually survive.”

  Dominic straightens from a corner he’d been inspecting closely, presumably in search of Lucas’ blood. “You’ve lost me. What are we saying?”

  “That Matteo isn’t coming back. They sent him to the Underworld so Lucas can witness him die – again,” Luz says.

  “And there’s only one reason why they would do that.” I feel sick at the realization. “To force Lucas’ change to full chimera, once and for all. And make sure he would do their bidding in the Underworld.”

  “But with Matteo gone,” Dominic points out, “they would lose their leverage.”

  My heart beats faster as more of the pieces fall together. “No, on the contrary. They would use wha
t has happened as leverage. Either Lucas remains in their servitude, doing whatever they wish of him, or they pull Matteo and his mother’s souls from the Underworld, over and over.”

  “That’s horrible!” Luz says.

  “What happens to a soul when...”

  Dominic doesn’t have to finish his sentence. “It gets displaced, and haunts the earth forever, until nothing is left.”

  “So you’re saying Alessandro would force Lucas to work for him, and if not would threaten to destroy his brother and mother’s souls?”

  “Yeah,” I whisper.

  Dominic growls. “If Lucas doesn’t kill this fucking bastard, it’ll be my pleasure to do so when I return.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  ∞ Sfide ∞

  “Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.”

  -George S. Patton-

  Lucas

  One thing I always remember from my nightmares of the Underworld is the darkness – gripping, living, and thriving like an evil being. There is none of that here, only never-ending walking, and souls. So. Many. Souls. Despite them, my steps are assured, unafraid.

  Perhaps the reason for my calmness is Matteo, and trying to be strong for him. He had no one the first time around, and it’s my duty as his older brother to be there for him. Or, maybe, it’s because I expected some kind of effect on me. The chimera to completely overtake me, the need I’d been feeling to rip through me.

  None of that happens and, in a way, it makes me even more wary. In other ways, it calms me down. Not as much as I need it, though.

  When we emerge from the dark tunnel, it’s in a larger cavern. Or, what I think is a cavern. It takes me a moment to realize the ice I see in the distance is actually a lake. A faint light emits from above amid dark clouds, like the barest of moons. Not that it’s possible, but the illusion is grand.

  Matteo glances over his shoulder. “That’ll be Charon, up ahead. Let’s get closer.” Without waiting for me, he bounces ahead, completely unafraid.

  I shake my head and follow behind, toying with the coin my father threw me. Its rough surface feels like sandpaper against my fingers, an odd reminder that I can still feel something.