With that sweet sentiment, Gavin yanked his arm back, and Shane crumpled to his knees. I now saw Gavin’s hand holding Shane’s heart. The hilt of a blade etched with girly hearts protruded from the back of it. Gavin used his other hand to pull out my knife.
His features were hardened steel and downright scary as he looked down at Shane. He wiped my blade on his pants, and the bloody hand grasping Shane’s heart squeezed until flames exploded from it. Shane was consumed in fire a second later. I assumed the delay in fireworks was due to Gavin’s mixed blood running through Shane’s body, but all the same, still combustible.
We finally beat him. I opened my mouth to ask for my knife back.
And that was when the army advanced, knocking me to the ground and swallowing me until I could no longer see Gavin or Holly. I lost sight of the Sword as well, but I had bigger problems to deal with.
I stared up at the surrounding faces, none of which looked the least bit happy that I just freed them from not one, but two different dictatorships. I mean seriously, what the hell were they mad at me for? Where was the appreciation, people?
My nose exploded in pain as a booted foot connected with it. The assassin to my other side flinched when my blood splashed on his hand, and they were more careful about their next blows. They aimed more for my clothed areas to avoid breaking skin.
As I did what I could to defend myself, I grew distracted by the sounds of my people engaging in battle with them. I assumed they came out with their flashlights and weapons, but the sounds of gunshots and fired crossbows dwindled quickly as they ran low on ammo.
When I heard the first scream being cut off abruptly, I was the one to flinch as they finally struck me where it hurt. My friends were being overtaken, and I was trapped in the middle of about fifty powerful vampires who looked pretty intent on seeing me dead.
Each terror filled shout tore at my heart, and the need to get to the others made me physically ill. Knowing exactly what you wanted and being kept from it was not an easy pill to swallow.
I heard Gavin yelling my name, trying to find me in the chaos. He felt my emotional distress, and I needed to pull my shit together for my friends’ sakes.
Patting myself down, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that I was also out of ammo. The odds were rapidly stacking against me. Again.
Underdog for the win.
Hopefully.
Something in my brain clicked into place as I lay there, taking in the entire scene around me.
It all became so clear in those moments alone with myself, while I tuned out the pain from the hurricane of fists and feet descending on me and tuned into the sufferings of the humans.
I didn’t need a weapon. I was the weapon. I was humanity’s weapon against evil, and only they could decide whether or not they needed me. Nothing else could stop me from being my badass warrior self, fighting this war against anything hell bent on destroying what is good in this world. When every last person on the planet decides they no longer need protection, that will be the day my purpose is fulfilled.
I knew exactly why I was put on this earth. Glancing up into angry eyes, I readied myself to face that purpose.
And just when I thought I had shit figured out, it hit the fan and was tossed right back in my face.
The need to save the others pulsed heavily through my veins until I was breathing off of it, and it overrode the craving for blood. I felt my insides changing as this new craving took root and spread, forcing me to my hands and knees, helpless to save my friends but forcing me to endure the pain of that helplessness.
I clawed at the earth under my hands but was otherwise rendered motionless. Their screams echoed down the hill, and I heard the frantic edge in Gavin’s voice as he continued to call for me.
I saw flickering beams of flashlights bounce wildly around the sky until they were snuffed out permanently. Darkness gained even more ground over humanity, and I still couldn’t do a damned thing.
Through the blood and dirt caked strands of hair stuck to my forehead, I could only watch as the boots continued their punishment until they moved just enough for me to see Gavin engaged in a brutal sword fight with another assassin, who looked about a foot taller than him. When he delivered the lethal blow, he spun and met my eyes.
And he smiled at me.
Wait.
He was smiling. Why was he smiling? Boots of fury rained down on me and he was grinning from ear to ear like this was the happiest freaking day of our lives.
What the hell was going on?
This was all wrong. Something was happening to me, and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t break out of this like I did earlier in the abbey. My body took control, and no matter how much control my mind sought, I couldn’t fucking move. And my friends were dying in front of me. I wanted to cry, but the only thing I could do was let out a pitiful scream.
Just then, something shifted in me, something soothing yet strong and powerful. My entire body lit up with a warm, tingly rush from my fingertips to me toes. It felt like I was reconnecting with a part of me I never knew was there. It felt heady yet familiar. Realization dawned.
This was my soul restoration. My soul was finally mine.
And then I felt something completely different. A white hot burst of pain sliced through my chest and all I could do was look down and watch the blade sticking out of my chest, dripping with my blood.
I faintly heard Gavin’s agonized cry. “No!”
The sound of it reminded me of the time we fought the assassins the first time in Gem City, so full of regret and finality.
When the blade was violently yanked from my heart, I fell to the ground and saw heaven. A brilliant light blinded me before settling into a vibrant array of colors beyond this world’s spectrum. The sky was a vibrant indigo that seemed to shimmer like someone spilled glitter on it. My head lolled to the side, and the blades of grass held different shades of sparkling emerald.
But my heaven only lasted a moment before I saw beneath the mask to hell. Fire ignited in every direction, albeit a pretty fire of those same vibrant shades. No matter how pretty, I was positive fire was synonymous with hell, even though I didn’t think I was dead.
Maybe I needed to give it a few minutes?
I lifted a hand to pinch myself but noticed the bright, white light had a source. It was radiating from… me. Did my father dose me with his drugs before I killed him?
Snap out of it, Lucy.
Why was this so shocking to me? I had witnessed this once before, the phantom memory of Gavin reconnecting with his soul played over and over in my dreams for years. I obviously knew how it worked, and I briefly wondered if Shane might have been onto something with that jab at my stupidity.
My soul was settling into me, and I was most definitely not dead, but the assassin army was not so lucky, the hell fire indicating their fates.
Huh.
So the prophecy was fairly accurate. I burned through a whole lot of evil tonight with my luminescence.
I lay there, the brilliant light blurring into flames that engulfed me. Being at the center of the great pyre made me realize it was, in a way, my own funeral. The old me was dead. All my doubts and fears about what I was had vanished.
I was humanity’s defender. Even my body was made to fight and repel evil. My purpose was defined, and the only thing that could kill me was not fulfilling that purpose.
Gavin was there once the ashes cleared, and the remnants of light faded into my body. He yanked me up into a seated hug, and I winced.
“Ow! That hurt!”
“Sorry,” he said around a smile. He was shaking against me, and I realized he might be crying a little.
“Hey, I’m okay. We made it.”
He pulled back to look at me. “We made it. And you got your soul back.”
“I got my soul back.” I smiled up at him, but the happy bubble burst when reality sunk in.
“Where’s Holly? Rachel?” I shot up and regretted the quick movement when my chest
wound stretched to release a fresh torrent of blood.
“Slow down, Lucy. They’re both fine. They’re inside with the others.”
The world spun a bit, and a flash of metal gave me something to focus on while I rode out the waves of nausea. The blade wearing my blood rested at my feet, and I thanked God it wasn’t the Sword of Michael. This could have ended a lot differently if it had been.
My soul might have saved me from regular blades, but it probably wouldn’t have faired as well against that particular one.
As Gavin supported my weight, I hobbled toward the abbey. Max and Nick were among the group of Keepers lining up our fallen along the grass. When they saw me coming they rushed over to scoop me up in bear hugs.
It hurt, but I welcomed the pain along with the comfort of having them whole and healthy in my arms.
“Lucy.” Max’s broken sobs told me he was barely holding it together.
I looked from him to Nick, who had gone abnormally silent. I knew this was hard on them, but something told me this wasn’t about the battle casualties.
“What is it?” I felt the sting of tears when I saw their watery eyes, knowing it was bad and already sharing their pain. Because whatever hurt them would, undoubtedly, hurt me.
Nick could only shake his head back and forth, his mouth pressed into a pitiful frown as tears tracked down his face. Max met my gaze and another sob escaped before his words.
“We just got word from Sophie. She’s at the hospital. Allison is in recovery, but…”
He looked to his feet before pausing to collect himself and choke back another shaking breath. He had trouble keeping them even through his sobs. When he met my eyes again, he shook his head back and forth in answer to my already formed question.
“Brody?” I asked anyway, feeling hot tears run down my cheeks.
“He didn’t pull through. There was too much brain damage, and he didn’t—”
He cut himself off, and I pulled him into a hug, completely numb to the fire raging through my chest as my body knitted my heart back together. Funny that it could feel like it was breaking at the same time it healed.
My vision blurred with tears as I stared blankly past his head. I didn’t have to see it to know grieving was all around me.
When Nick broke down into agonized cries, I kept one arm around Max’s shoulder as he cried silently into the crook where my neck met my shoulder, and I pulled Nick into my other side. Max’s hand squeezed my waist like a lifesaver while Nick’s arm came behind me, his hand hanging onto my shirt for dear life. I became their anchor when a part of me also felt like it was dying.
I knew Nick was closest to Brody, but I had grown attached over the months and felt as lost as he and Max did. I didn’t want to imagine not seeing those goofy smiles or hearing Brody’s corny jokes. His good mood had been infectious, and our family would never be able to laugh as loudly or smile as widely without him.
It was a strange thing to mourn along side friends and family. On the one hand, it strengthened your bond with them through a common loss, but on the other hand, you share in their grief, which makes it more potent than your tears alone. Walls crumble between you as you bare everything to them, but you also absorb everything from them. Every tear, every question to the heavens, and every vulnerable piece of their souls.
I felt it all in my own shattered soul. But at least I had a soul now, one that would be broken and rebuilt many times over in my long life. That’s what family did for one another. They gave strength to heal and took it when hurt. I needed to be an anchor now, giving as much strength as I could, but thinking about never seeing Brody again sucked my waning strength dry.
Another fat tear escaped, and I was close to crumbling under its weight.
Sensing my needs, my own anchor stepped up behind me and placed a hand on my hip with the lightest pressure to assure me he was there for me. And that’s how we stood, holding each other together like we always would, keeping each other’s heads above water when we were drowning.
Death would always find me one way or another, and no matter how hard I fought against it, I wouldn’t hide from the pain. My little group huddled together in our shared grief, but we weren’t the only ones.
Other factions lost members too, and our collective sobs left an imprint on this place far greater than the singed hillside. They left an imprint on my soul that I would always keep close to my heart as a constant reminder of my purpose, but I would never let it darken my light, and I would work damned hard to keep the darkness from ever touching my family again.
26
3 Weeks Later
I stalked through the darkness, fully capable of seeing whatever obstacle that stood in my path. This wasn’t my first breaking and entering, but the theme song to Mission Impossible played on a loop in my head. I started getting into top secret mission mode. Passing the entertainment center, I was steps away from the staircase when light flooded the room.
“Luce, seriously? I told you we’re not doing this. Let it go,” Holly chided.
I sighed as I heard footsteps pounding across the upstairs hallway. “You take all the fun out of it.”
She smirked, and her rosy cheeks highlighted the perfectly smooth complexion she was rocking these days. Over the past few weeks, I noticed the color returning to her as well as the light in her heather grey eyes. She stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, which were covered in pressed khakis and topped off with a loose navy tank covered by a black fitted leather jacket. Her sleek black hair smoothed down her back, hitting her shoulder blades.
I glanced down at my faded jeans and plain black t-shirt and shrugged. Nothing’s changed there.
“What’s going on down here?” The questioned belonged to the pain in the ass Chief of Police who was now number one on my shit list. And since my previous number ones were now dead, I smiled in hopeful pleasure.
“Lucy, put the fangs away,” Holly hissed.
“No.”
She rolled her eyes before her attention shifted to the ragged, middle aged man barreling down the stairs in sweats and a plain white t-shirt, holding a Glock. He seemed to have aged even more since I last saw him. The dark circles under his eyes weren’t just from interrupted sleep. He thinned out in the face, making him appear chronically ill.
As soon as he saw me, the gun in his hand turned toward my face, which I thought was a bit unfair since he was the one who let his daughter be kidnapped by the homicidal bad guys without doing a thing to stop it, or even end it, allowing her torture to last for months.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” he roared. “Get out!”
I rushed over to him as he hit the bottom step and gripped his neck, thrusting him into the air and making him lose his grip on the weapon. It fell heavily to the hardwood floors.
“Not before I sentence you for your crimes, Chief.”
I flashed him my fangs around the crazed smile plastered on my face. Ever since Holly decided she was ready to face her dad again, we came up with a plan to confront him together, and imagining all the possible ways I could punish him made me giddy for the past few days. I really needed to get a grip on my anger issues, but since I wasn’t openly ready to admit I had issues in that department, especially not to the Adonis of a man I lived with who insisted I seek help for—
“Lucy! Wait!” Holly shrieked. “You’re choking him!”
I put Chief Beckett on his feet, and his head whipped in Holly’s direction, finally noticing her. His features softened as his denim eyes locked onto hers.
“Baby, are you okay?” He rushed toward her.
“Stop!” she shouted and pointed a gun at him.
I gave her that gun.
The smile that had slipped returned to my face with wicked vengeance. Was it too soon to do the evil villain laugh?
I refrained for Holly’s sake. She needed to vent so she could heal and move past her remaining trauma. My sister from an evil mister, a different one than my own, was the tou
ghest person I knew, but she went through a lot and still hadn’t been able to tell me everything. Everything she did mention made me want to resurrect Shane just so I could kill him over and over again.
We all had a bit of healing to do after the events of that night in Scotland. After our grieving period, we had a mass funeral for all the Keepers we lost. Brody Emerson Roberts was among the forty-eight souls we buried and would hold a permanent place in my heart. Sixteen of those deaths had been people from my father’s human army, but they were all deaths my blood couldn’t even prevent. All this power, and I couldn’t save them, save Brody.
I hadn’t even tried to use my blood on him or Allison, but at the time I wasn’t sure it even worked like that, still believing Holly was dead. I beat myself up for the past few weeks with the what-ifs, but my friends have assured me I couldn’t have known.
It was hard on all of us, but Nick and Allison have leaned on each other, and I’ve been extra sensitive around Sophie lately. She’s shown me how tough she can be when push came to shove, and I admired her resilience. She’s been throwing herself into her Keeper research role with renewed vigor. And Max, well, that was another story, but he was doing much better these days.
“You let them take me. You knew I was alive the whole time and did nothing. For months, I was abused and drugged to be some vampire’s chew toy.”
He sobbed, but I was fresh out of sympathy, or fucks, to give. I hoped Holly wasn’t buying this.
”Honey, I’m so sorry. They had you, and they were going to kill you if I didn’t do what they asked. It was her fault,” he spat toward me.
“Bull shit!” I yelled.
“If you would have protected her from the beginning, none of this—”
“Stop it, Dad! It wasn’t Lucy’s fault. I knew all about the dangers, but I can’t believe you left me to be tortured without even trying to get me back.”
“I couldn’t do anything.”
“You could have told Lucy. I would have rather they just killed me than go through that, but you know what? It’s done. Over. In the past. I want to put it all behind me.”
Beautiful Eternity (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 3) Page 31
