Everyone was in a frenzy, rushing to gossip about Ebony and Gabriel. How he’d come on to her, the two of them flirting. How her back had slid up against the wall as he neared closer…
I roar into the air, my head tossed skyward.
But my fears aren’t quiet. In fact, they’re worse than ever before. It’s Ebony’s part in all of this that stings the most: she didn’t resist him. In all the years of Gabriel touching her inappropriately, trying to coerce her into his arms, she’d always said no. Everything he’d done had confused her, but she’d fought back.
Now, however, she allows him to do as he pleases. She even sounds like she enjoys it…!
My ears had strained to hear the story, to see if it was Ebony who turned Gabriel away. Yet to my horror, they’d spoken of Leo. Of all people, he’d come along and broken them up. What would have happened if he hadn’t shown up — would she have kissed Gabriel? Would they be even closer?
The image of Ebony half undressed and falling into his arms plagues my mind. I tug at my hair as I try to force the imagery away.
Thinking of them so intimately entwined makes me nauseous.
To think I trusted them, trusted Gabriel, and now look at him. He’s become as manipulative as Dorian, as slippery as Lucien, as brash as Kashton, and as arrogant as Leo. I wish all of them would go to hell!
In the recesses of my mind, I tell myself that Gabriel has always been sly, thinking of nobody but himself. And when I think about this further, I find it rings true. But Ebony? She’s another story entirely.
My love never used to welcome advances like this. She was content cuddling up into my arms and spending her time with me, yet now I can’t recall the last time we did that. Every attempt I’ve made has been overlooked.
The girl I knew wouldn’t have ever submitted to Gabriel. Never. I hope and pray that what everyone saw today was an illusion. A lie weaved by the Queen’s deceitful web. I’d give my soul again right now if it stopped anyone else except me having Ebony.
That’s what love is. What it does to you. It’s so strong that it guides you along paths you never knew existed; it’s a love Gabriel doesn’t know. How can he? He doesn’t see Ebony the way I do.
The way I did… Oh, Ebony, why did you have to do this! We’d shared True Love’s Kiss, that was meant to be the end of this torment, so why does it still linger…?
My thoughts storm through all the feeble mental defenses I have in place, nothing is sacred anymore. I’m so caught up in the rampant tide, that I almost miss the way the windowpane shimmers in and out of focus. It’s swimming. Dancing with subtle shadows, those shadows taking on a form the longer I stare.
Entranced by the way it moves, my vision glazes over until all I see is that pane.
Frowning slightly, I shuffle closer. My eyes try to pinpoint fresh details as they come into focus.
I see Ebony running, her arms cut and torn, her eyes streaming with tears as she crashes through more gnarled branches. She’s frantic, her chest heaving with sobs. I want to look away but I can’t.
Suddenly, a shadow gains on her.
It takes on the shape of a man, its features hidden by the depth of the woods they run through. Then, to my alarm, the face of her hunter finally reveals itself.
It’s me.
I’m wearing the most macabre sneer, the pleasure I seem to take from her suffering so overwhelming that my heart hammers inside my ears.
Ebony keeps looking back, screaming at me to stop, to leave her be — anything to stop me from chasing her. But I keep coming. My pace is relentless, to the point of being inhuman. I’m so hot on her heels that when she trips over a fallen branch, I immediately seize the opportunity to pounce.
I bite back a horrified gasp as I watch myself lunge at her.
Forcing her arms above her head, I hold her in place with one hand while the other searches inside the pocket of my jacket. Ebony is squirming against me, but my grip is unbelievably firm.
A knife catches the light of the moon. Its blade twinkles as I lift it above my head, Ebony screaming, begging, beneath me. As I bring the blade down, I turn away from the image, my hands clasped across my mouth to stifle my screams.
The last image I see is of my grinning face as I take her light away from.
“What’s up with you? Christ, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Tearful though my eyes are, I raise them to look into Gabriel’s amused face. He’s concerned about me, but there’s enjoyment lurking behind his features; he finds seeing me like this funny.
Although I can’t forget the nightmare I’ve just watched, I find the strength to turn my fear into anger. Anger toward him. I know some of what drives me is my own confusion, twisted into an unearthly shape by what I’ve seen. However, it doesn’t stop me wanting to make Gabriel sorry.
“What’s up with me,” I begin, my voice already too loud. “How about what’s up with you — you tried to have Ebony in the middle of the school corridors!” All control disappears as I let my emotions take charge, a reflex alien to me.
Gabriel stares in disbelief, the smile he was starting to wear now slipping from his face. His amusement fades, and with its absence comes more frantic emotions — anger, uncertainty, annoyance, embarrassment. He’s so overcome by them that he almost doesn’t answer me. Nevertheless, true to his gluttony, he swallows all of his emotions up. They leave him with nothing except the misplaced confidence he always has in himself.
“You need to calm down, Seth, you’re going to hurt yourself at this rate.” Ever with the taunting.
I grind my teeth together as I address him, my eyes boring holes into him. He’s so goddamn pigged-head.
“Don’t talk to me like a child! You have no right treating Ebony that way—”
“Hold up, she didn’t ask me to stop, so maybe you should complain at her before you do me. Or, better still, get your facts right. She wanted me.” Gabriel barely contains his smile.
“Like hell, she wants you, Gabriel!” I spit. “She’s never wanted your creepy touches, she’s always come to me for help, and now she’s too tired to fight you off.”
“Yeah, go on, keep telling yourself lies to make yourself feel better. Anything but face the reality that Ebony wants me and not you.”
“SHE DOESN’T WANT YOU!”
My throat burns as I bellow at him. Even I’m surprised at how passionate I am about this — I knew my feelings were running high, but I’ve never screamed at someone in my whole life. My personality is normally too placid.
But before I can question it further, Gabriel bursts out laughing.
He’s making fun of me, of my pain. Turning it into his own private game, an endless source of entertainment. I almost don’t want to believe what I’m seeing or hearing, yet I also can’t help but scold myself for expecting anything else.
Gabriel is an asshole. He always has been.
People can say what they want about any of the others, most of what they say I wager is true. But none of them come close to the idiotic behavior that Gabriel showcases. It’s as if he prides himself on being this big a jerk.
The more his laughter echoes inside my head, the more I think about punching him. Right now, I’m tempted to do worse.
The image of me killing Ebony isn’t true, nor will it ever come to pass. But me hurting Gabriel like that? I can see it happening. I’m so certain of this that I ball my fists by my side, quietly willing myself to take him out.
One hit, that’s all I need. He’ll drop down, leaving me able to pummel him out of existence. I’ll teach him to laugh at me, to treat my sorrow like a source of amusement.
14
Gabriel
I know my laughing isn’t helping, but this is ridiculous.
Seth has been a ticking bomb for days, and now, finally, he’s exploded. And for some unknown reason, he’s chosen me as his target.
Funny when the other guys have done far worse.
I can’t be sure, but I know they’ve longed
to do as many filthy things as I have. Probably even more. My only mistake is being caught making advances in public — it’s a travesty to be labeled the problem when I’m not the only one.
This is all so laughable!
If Ebony was Seth’s girlfriend, I’d understand his problem, even if I know, I wouldn’t respect the boundaries of their relationship. However, when it comes to this, Seth is way off base with his aggression.
What makes his outburst even more unusual is how surprised he’s acting — I’ve always pined for Ebony, all of us huntsmen have. This isn’t new information to anyone, Seth included. Yet he seems unstable the longer we talk about this as if I’ve taken one of his most prized belongings from him.
I don’t have to talk to Ebony to know how much she’d hate being seen in that way. She’d be the first to tell us all to stop treating her like our property, and she’d be right to do so; Ebony has power beyond us all. But most of all, she’d just want us to get along. To go back to a time when it wasn’t all about fighting and destruction, back to when we all lived in ignorance, pretending we didn’t know Ebony’s true fate.
“Shut your dirty mouth, Gabriel, or I’ll shut it for you!” Seth rasps, his voice unable to keep up with the soaring heights of his annoyance. If it weren’t for not wanting to give him an ounce of satisfaction, I’d stand here mouth gaping.
I don’t know who this guy is, but this isn’t Seth. It can’t be. He’s unrecognizable. Over the years I’ve driven him to madness many times over, yet still, he’s kept his cool. Of course, there have been heated moments, but nothing that compares to this.
“You want to fight me, Seth? Is that really what you’re saying?” I stare dumbfounded.
“All of you treat me like an idiot like I can’t do anything — ‘oh look at Seth, he’s so lazy, so incapable’ — I have feelings, you know!”
“I know that, for Christ’s sake. Seth, will you calm down, you’re taking this way too far.” I’m so uneasy that I raise my hands to make it as clear as possible that I’m uncomfortable.
“Calm down? You never did with Ebony, your wandering hands all over her—” I stop Seth before he can continue any further with such nasty lies.
“No, you don’t get to do that. Don’t you dare.”
Taking a deep breath, I attempt to center myself. I doubt it’s possible at this point, so fraught are my nerves, but I power on regardless. I need something — anything — to hold onto. My sanity feels dangerously unstable right now.
As I turn to the side, my eyes see a flash of color. Curious, I turn to watch as Kashton motions for Lucien to come and watch Seth and I argue. The nerve of those two is truly monstrous. They should be offering to step in and stop Seth from losing his mind, but instead, they’d rather pull up some chairs and eat popcorn.
I go to tell them to leave us alone, that we’re not here to entertain them. Then suddenly, Lucien runs past me. Turning to follow his movements, I see him hold back Seth from slamming his fist into my exposed cheek.
Stunned, I fail to react.
“Seth, you need to let this jealousy go,” I hear Lucien try to reason, his voice low. “This isn’t how you win Ebony over — none of us will get her this way. If you don’t learn to share her, you’ll lose her.”
“I’m not the one trying to violate her—” Seth starts to argue.
“Please, Seth, just let it go. This isn’t the way to get her to notice you.”
I nod my head in agreement, my mouth still not connecting with my brain enough for me to talk. As for Kashton, he vocalizes his shared opinion, eager to soothe Seth as much as the rest of us.
“It’s true, man. We all want Ebony for ourselves, but that’s never going to happen. The best we can do is share her, and each has her in our own way.”
“I agree.” I finally add, happy that my voice has come back.
Annoyingly, however, my input only riles Seth more. It seems that Kashton and Lucien agreeing is fine, but the moment I join in, the peace shatters.
Seth barrels his way toward me, breaking out of Lucien’s grip. His fist pounds into my jawbone. The crack it makes on impact is ugly. Reeling in pain, I clutch at my face while wildly swinging my other arm.
To defuse the situation as best they can, Lucien and Kashton enter the fray. However, it’s not long before their fists are flying too. All four of us are too concerned with our quiet rivalry to keep this aggression to ourselves.
Before too long, I’m not only punching at Seth, but I’m also trying to land a blow on Lucien and Kashton as well. As far as we all care, everyone in this room is guilty of deceit, of betraying their brother.
The logical side of my mind tells me to stop with the drama, that if I lay down and submit, the others will follow suit. Then I remember how we’ve always behaved this way when a problem appears that we don’t agree on. Bearing that in mind, I soon learn to ignore my own suggestions; they’ll never listen to me. Even in spite of Lucien’s own admission, none of us are happy to share Ebony.
We all say that we are. We all have our own plans to put into action. However, none of us truly believe we’ll have to share her affection. It’s to be all or nothing.
I know I won’t stop seeking out her love.
I want her kiss to caress her. I long to feel her body on top of mine, the two of us so feverish with carnal urges that we don’t have the breath to speak. Riding out the motion of our bodies, making the rest of the world disappear with the intensity of our feelings for one another.
If the future isn’t to be like this, I don’t want to know about it.
Knowing this, however, doesn’t make dealing with our squabbling any easier. All I want to do is fight my way through, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong. After so long of Seth needling me, I’m finally at my limit and ready to explode. This fight has been a long time coming for all of us. And because of that troubling fact, none of us are willing to back down.
I kick out at Kashton as I tumble back, my sneaker connecting with his gut so that he falls as well. He lands with an almighty thump.
“Will you just stop — this is insane, we’re never going to agree on this!” He tries to shout over us, rubbing his bruised stomach as he does so.
“I’ll stop if Gabriel promises to leave Ebony alone,” Seth pipes in, while pinned underneath Lucien. I note how the two of them have their fair share of scrapes all over, their skin bright red from the constant onslaught.
“Over my dead body, Seth!” I lunge forward, knocking Kashton back yet again.
Lucien tries to stop me from going for Seth, but I’m on top of him before I have a chance to reason with myself. “Why do you think you deserve Ebony over everyone else, huh? What makes you more special?”
— “Just stop, please, this is getting us nowhere.” I hear Kashton implore, his voice sounding pained. I come close to Seth’s face, ignoring everyone else around us.
“You have no greater claim to her than I do, than any of us do. You need to get over yourself.” As I fall silent, Seth finally begins to stop struggling against me. I don’t know if he’s fatigued or if my words have dug deep, but he looks crushed. It’s as if he’s got nothing left to give. Seeing him like this instantly makes me recoil from him, my face heating with shame.
What are we all doing?!
Moving away from him, all that can be heard between the four of us is our own labored breathing. The soundless void between us broadcasts a shame so deep we can’t speak of it. We had each acted out, blinded by our love for Ebony, to the point of damning whatever else.
15
Wrath
Remaining hidden isn’t one of my strong suits.
I much prefer acting on my emotions, making sure to focus all of my passion into whatever task I’ve been given. It’s served me well all these years, yet now I don’t know what to do with myself.
Biding my time has allowed me to learn so much about Ebony, about her life, her loves, her inevitable mistakes… But I know the time to act is co
ming. Even if I don’t strike Ebony in the heart, I need to take something precious from her; I need a way to make them fear my arrival.
The problem is how I’ll do this now that an Archangel has appeared.
I recognized him for what he was before he even entered the school. And I also know that he isn’t what he seems, something below the surface shifts in an unnatural manner. He fits the description of an angel, but is his heart fair?
Most troubling of all, is how enamored by him the other huntsmen and Ebony are. Even Leo is blind to the powers this creature possesses; I suspect forbidden magic is being used to mask his energy. It’s a strange choice for one so pure, but given how easily angels can fall, I’m not surprised.
Regardless of his loyalty, he’s of no real threat to me. Even at half of my strength, I could easily dispatch him. It would be a colossal waste of my time considering how desperately Ebony needs to be dealt with. Nor do I wish a distraction from more pressing concerns like Rhiannon and her growing magicks. Nonetheless, I’ll handle him if the situation demands it.
The urgent issue for me is how far the huntsmen have fallen.
We used to stand for something, but now they act like fools. They’ve forgotten that their current age is a false one, more suited to the charade they played for Ebony when they concealed her true identity. If this is the way of men in the modern world, I hate how much filth has tainted society and its convictions.
Only Leo remembers who he is, what he is.
He’s still somewhat misguided, and he definitely fawns over Ebony just as the others do. But I also see his conflict over the choice he must make — he longs for her in a way that has him constantly scaling the divide between good and evil. Even though I don’t understand it, I respect the way he handles himself. Besides, he’s taken on a role more suited to a man of his station, he’s an immortal, not a testosterone-filled teenager.
The others are an obstacle that needs removing.
But how?
Killing them is a savage waste of their worth, even if they seem content on spoiling it. If only they’d look past their raging obsession with Ebony, maybe they’d take notice of everything else they’re risking. Rhiannon is alive and feeding, waiting for the right moment to pounce. She’s no match for me. However, I’d rather not tempt fate by allowing her to live. Such relaxed measures leave Ebony too available for possession.
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