Esme’s whole body sagged when she spotted her friends in the distance.
“Go,” I leaned in to tell her, while I talked to a man whose name I’d already forgotten.
Draco, Rose, and Phillip all stood by their table and were chatting when Esme came over. Rose hugged her tightly, and then started squealing about her dress and jewelry. They both looked beautiful—Rose was in a yellow dress that was sheer along her arms and flowed down to her toes. When she turned to talk to her brother, I could see there was no back to that dress.
Phillip looked strangely out of sorts, not with his usual confident swagger.
Then my eyes collided with Draco’s. Instead of the sneer my body wanted to react with, I gave him a smirk. I was in control of this game, and he was waiting for me to mess up. The brute wouldn’t have any issue strangling the life out of me right here in front of everyone, if he was allowed. But he wasn’t. I was too important for him to act out his desires.
Moving my gaze away from him like he was nothing, I faked giving my attention to the man in front of me that was still talking even though it was obvious I didn’t care about a word he said.
I excused myself when it was time for us to be seated. Esme was already walking over to me, and together we sat with some famous person, his wife, and the director of the hospital we worked at, plus his wife.
Esme chatted with everyone, keeping up pleasantries while we ate, and I kept my talking short. I wasn’t known for being particularly loquacious anyway.
I was called up to the stage to accept Seahill’s Man of the Year award, and I took the crystal sculpture and said thank you before walking off the stage.
The music began again, and people started to move to the dance floor. I was willing to do anything to get out of sitting at that table again, listening to those people go on about their lives, knowing it was all fake.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Esme
Without any words exchanged between us, Dorian all but tossed his shiny award on the table and took my hand gently, wanting me to follow his lead.
He led us to the dance floor, where people were starting to swirl around like something out of a fairy-tale story.
He spun me out before pulling me back to his chest.
I wasn’t a dancer, but I followed his movements, and we were floating across the floor with ease. I laughed, mostly at myself.
“Not too shabby.” I was surprised that I hadn’t tripped yet or stomped on his foot.
My eyes had been on him since he stood in my doorway earlier. Dorian was a god in a suit. Never thought I’d be attracted to a guy in a tux, but I was willing to say to hell with my words earlier about not wanting to mess anything up for his cock tonight.
“Not too shabby at all,” I commented to myself with a half smile, and I closed my eyes for a moment, basking in this feeling of being with him, no other thoughts of what else was happening around us.
The music slowed down, and he pulled me closer, our movements decreased. He wasn’t done dancing with me yet.
The beat was romantic, and we swayed together like we’d been doing it for years.
I found him looking up at the ceiling when I finally opened my eyes again.
“No stars tonight,” I commented, and his head came back down to look at me with longing in his eyes.
“The night has always been my favorite time. The silence and the beauty are incomparable to the other phases of the day.”
He was looking at me like I was the night sky he admired so much.
“The night is my favorite too. I like to sneak out to the rooftop at the hospital when I get a break during third shift,” I admitted, watching a grin on his face grow.
“Me, too.”
I giggled, thinking about Dorian sneaking away from his busy job to stare at the stars, but this man was so complex, more than I could ever hope to know.
“I love you.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer, so I was taking a leap of faith.
“You shouldn’t. I’m too lost in the dark to feel your love.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to leave my love in the stars, so you can find your way through the night.”
My response had been quick, but it came straight from my heart. Dorian didn’t think he could love, but I had faith that he could, he just needed to see the light for himself.
His mouth parted, obviously not knowing how to respond, and a small part of me hoped he would throw everything in his head out the window and kiss me. Love me, and never let me go.
But then his eyes snapped toward the door, and he moved quickly, leaving me on the dance floor alone.
Phillip was at my side instantly, and I looked to him for answers. Something was happening, something big.
Draco and Rose appeared moments later, and I didn’t wait to hear what was going on, instead running to the doors Dorian had disappeared through in search of him.
I heard a commotion as soon as the cold air hit my skin when I pushed the doors open to the street.
All of the people who were out here earlier were gone—even the valet workers were inside staying warm.
“Dorian!” I called out. A feeling in my gut told me he was part of the commotion down the street. I took off running, not caring that Rose was calling after me to wait.
There were people shouting, and the energy was charged, with mad blood in the air ready to ignite and demolish the city.
The Hero Society stood on one side, and part of Dorian’s crew I could assume stood on the other.
“What the hell is happening here?” Draco demanded as he walked onto the scene like the ancient general he was.
“They caught us by surprise, breaking into headquarters and locking us in the containment room while they trashed the place,” Leon said, his lip dripping blood.
I didn’t want to believe it was true, but I knew it was despite hopes and wishes.
Dorian was looking over one of his people and then flashed closer to my group.
“Our time to fight isn’t now,” he stated, then turned his back to us. It hurt, but I knew who he was and what part he had to play.
Draco was not giving up his chance to finally have Dorian in his grasp. I stood there silently as he lunged for Dorian, who avoided his movements with the fluid grace of a cat.
“He has sight, Draco, you won’t win!” Phillip yelled, and my hand flew to my lips. Dorian had sight like Phillip did? Had he been planning for me to fall for him all along? My heart was hurting, and I knew it was only going to get worse.
Everyone stood there, watching their two leaders in an intense battle, immortal against immortal.
Someone had to stop them. Phillip grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let me go.
“You get near him and he’ll die,” he warned me, and my lips parted. I didn’t want him to die. I needed him to let go of the hate that he harbored deep in his soul and choose love.
Faith.
This was going to be okay. It had to be.
Everyone was completely enraptured by the scene before them.
Draco cursed and then spit blood from his mouth. They couldn’t die—why would they keep fighting? This had to be personal on a level that we didn’t understand.
“Dorian, please.” I begged for him to stop, to choose me over this. He looked at me, and Draco used the opportunity to punch him hard in his perfect face.
Dorian smirked and then spit out his own share of blood.
Draco took a step back, seeming to be shocked by the blood on the pavement. It did look odd.
“Demigod,” Draco cursed, and then looked at Phillip as if he knew this all along.
Demigod?
“It’s impossible.” Draco shook his head, not believing what he had discovered.
“I’m very much here, and I will have revenge!” Dorian shouted and then began to attack Draco with a fierceness I never imagined he possessed. Both men were lethal, and I was afraid for them. They were too evenly matched.
S
omeone from Dorian’s team shook out of his shock and moved toward Leon so fast he was just a blur.
Then the others followed. Stolen powers fought the originals, and I couldn’t help but fall to my knees at the sight before me. Brother fighting brother. Hate fighting hate. It had to end.
Draco and Dorian were covered in each other’s blood splatters and still fighting, but both seemed to be losing energy quickly.
Leon and his battle partner were causing chaos with all the buildings around us, debris falling everywhere, and a light pole came crashing down behind Rose, Phillip, and me.
“We have to do something!” I looked back at Phillip, and he was standing there with a face that said it all. This was supposed to happen. He was following his line to the bright future he wanted for us.
I wasn’t okay with that. Someone was going to get hurt, maybe even die. I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let it happen.
My legs found their strength, and I started moving toward the two men that were fighting for a death that neither could find.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Esme
I was maybe five feet away when time seemed to slow, and I watched as Draco grabbed a piece of rebar that had fallen from all the debris around us.
“No!” I cried out as he moved it slowly into Dorian’s chest.
Dorian’s eyes were wide with shock as he let go of Draco’s torn shirt and fell to the ground.
Red and golden blood flowed out past his lips, and I ran to him, pushing Draco out of the way.
The fighting around us stopped—every single person was still, watching the villain of Seahill struggle to breathe against the blood filling his lungs.
“No, no. Dorian!” I cradled his face while looking into his pain-filled eyes and then to his wound. He was dying. Dorian was dying. How could he die? He was immortal.
“Demigods aren’t immortal. He’s been on borrowed time for ages.” Draco stood there, watching his foe slowly head toward the darkness that beckoned him. I didn’t blame Draco for this, but I grieved that he hadn’t seen what I had in Dorian.
Dorian’s body gave away, and he collapsed on the ground with a loud thud.
His eyes were on me, blood coming out of his lips and the corners of his eyes.
“You can’t leave me, Dorian. I love you. Please, baby, don’t leave me. I have faith in our love; it’s the kind I always wished for. The love of legends. Don’t let this be the end, Dorian.” I lay on the ground next to him and cried, pleading for him to miraculously pull through.
“Esme,” he croaked and his eyes closed.
I looked to his chest to see it was still moving but barely. Dorian was on the edge of death.
“Not this time. I’m not losing another person I love when I can do something.” I gave myself a pep talk before sitting up and reaching for the bar in his chest. I pulled, and pulled hard. Red and golden blood was pouring out of his chest when I finally freed the metal from his body. I placed my hands over his chest, feeling the liquid seep through the cracks in my fingers, and began pushing my power into him. I would not let him die.
His eyes opened suddenly, and he seemed to be choking, but I wasn’t stopping.
My hands started glowing, a bright gold covering the wound in his chest. I glanced over to my vein and saw that it was losing its color fast. I realized that by healing him, I would be giving up what was left of my life, so he could live.
I should have thought about that more, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t live in a world where he wasn’t. He would survive without me, but I would not without him.
Peace settled over my mind as I accepted my fate.
His wounds began to heal, but it wasn’t enough. He needed everything I had, and I gave it to him.
“Esme, no. You’re giving him too much,” Rose shouted, and I shook my head.
“You can never give too much for love,” I said out loud, but already I was getting weak.
Dorian’s eyes never left mine, and I wished I could read his mind.
Did he feel my love healing him? Bringing him back to life with my last breath?
I could barely keep my hands up from the weight settling in my body, but I managed, lying down next to him.
“No,” he managed to croak, but I just smiled weakly at him.
My power was gone, and with them my years of life.
I could feel the cold soothing my veins.
Dorian was healed and sat up to cradle me in his arms.
“Look to the stars and find my love in the dark,” I whispered, reaching out to touch his face with my hand before it fell back against the cold ground.
Love and death surrounded me, and I was at peace. Looking up at the stars, I saw the darkness coming for me.
Then he was there.
“Eli,” I whispered to my brother and let his light surround me, taking us home.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dorian
Rain.
It was raining that night when I first took Esme to her bed. I guess it was only fitting that it was raining at the end.
Stupid.
I wished I had the power to bring back life from the hands of death, only so I could tell her how stupid her decision was to end her life to save mine.
It’d been a week since that night.
A week since I watched her eyes gloss over and that bright light inside them vanish, while her last words called for her brother Eli, as if she could see him coming to retrieve her for the afterlife.
My eyes drifted toward the crowd opposite me, staring at the black casket between us.
They did this to her. The so-called heroes. The women were crying, and their men were consoling them as best as they could in the situation. Phillip was looking off into the distance, as he had been the whole time, not ready to accept his choices. He let her die. He saw it coming, as did I, and he straddled that line to make sure it happened.
For what future? The one where I would fall for her, and suddenly give up my fight against them? Join their team? He gambled wrong, and Esme paid for it with her life.
I was ready to die.
For centuries I’d trained, becoming a master at battle, so that one day I could best the infamous general of ancient Greece. But I failed.
He would always be the brawn in our fray.
But I was smarter.
A hand touched my shoulder, and I looked next to me to see a sobbing Melissa Ann trying to comfort me.
She was wasting her touch.
Esme was gone, and nothing could bring her back. No amount of comforting touches was going to change that.
Rage burned inside me, and my eyes landed on Draco.
They did this.
And they would pay.
She should never have been a part of their society; they should have left her alone.
I should have left her alone.
Everyone rose at the pastor’s urging, and a young woman came up to the stand, bringing the microphone close to her mouth, singing out a song of being at peace, and celebration of parting ways.
Her parents cried together with the music, knowing they were burying their last child.
Esme had everything planned for her funeral, knowing she wasn’t going to live that long if she kept using her gift. I knew she hadn’t planned on this, though—falling for the villain. In the end, it destroyed her.
One by one, people walked over to her closed casket and placed an object on top of it. The thought was silly, especially since there was no taking materials with you after you died.
Still, when it was my turn to say goodbye, I couldn’t help reaching into my coat pocket and pulling out the metal. I placed two obol coins from my ancient home over her casket, to pay her way across the river, even though it had long dried up.
I stared down, envisioning her wearing a soft blue dress, much like the one she wore to the gala.
My hand reached back down in my pocket and rubbed my fingers against the other item I couldn’t bring myself
to leave at home.
“You shouldn’t have fallen for me.” I pulled out the necklace she’d worn the night she died. Delicate and beautiful like the woman who’d worn it.
I placed it on the casket swiftly then stormed off without any words or glances to anyone. They weren’t worth my time right now. I had plans to execute and retribution to collect.
Rage replaced my blood, and I had fuel to fight until the bitter end.
One way or another, the night I loved so much would blanket the earth, and darkness would reign.
Once I was out of sight, I flashed back to the mansion and ran into Jax.
He was sporting a black eye, and I wanted to give him another.
Without my orders, they’d gone into the heroes’ headquarters and locked the crew in their containment room. Roady, our hacker, had bypassed their system in seconds. They thought they were helping, but they fucked everything up. My silence was punishment enough as I walked down the hall toward my room.
It was still trashed from that night Esme died. Pieces of wall littered the floor from all the holes and slices I’d made.
There were no fucks to give when it came to cleaning it up. None of it mattered.
Draco and Phillip scooped her right out of my arms and took her to the hospital.
I had been helpless to do anything, and their attempts to save her were pointless. She was dead.
After ripping off my funeral clothes, I went back to doing as I had been since that night: training. I had to be faster, more precise, and focused on my goal.
Hours passed the same way. I’d quit working at the hospital. It was wasting time that I could spend preparing.
The solar eclipse was just a few days away, a time when I would be at my height of power. The heroes wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping me.
They tried to save me with love, and all they’d done was piss me off further.
Night was coming for them.
Chapter Twenty- Nine
Draco
“That’s it. I can’t be silent today. Not after everything I felt at that funeral.” Rose was up on her feet, staring her brother down. We’d all been sitting in the chill room silently, everyone dealing with Esme’s death in their own way.
Night (Hero Society Book 4) Page 10
