Dakota walked back towards the medical cottage tired and angry. He was exhausted. They must have covered what felt like a hundred miles looking for Elizabeth. He felt terrible for the way he had treated Ana, and the first thing he was going to do was apologize. She had every right to let herself be numb every once in a while. It had been completely out of line for him to act the way he did and say the things he had said.
He pushed the door open and Carmen immediately pulled him in. “Where is Tony?” she asked quickly.
“Still out looking.”
“You need to get Argento and his men.”
“Carmen, what’s wrong?”
“Anastasia found your mother.”
Hope fluttered in him, and he gently gripped her arms. “Where is she? Is she okay?” “What’s wrong?” Dakota asked when he noted the look on her face.
“Anastasia went after her, into the Brute world.”
“Alone?” Dakota yelled.
“You were not here, and she believed Elizabeth would die before you returned.”
“Son of a bitch!” Dakota yelled. “How long ago?”
“About an hour.” Carmen’s eyes widened. After Anastasia had gone through, she had gone searching for someone to help, but all the Fighters had been out searching for Elizabeth. She had considered going through after her, but knew she wouldn’t survive ten minutes in the Brute environment.
“I’m going to grab Argento. We need to go now.”
Dakota ran out into the darkening night. What felt like an eternity passed until he returned with Argento and ten of his Brutes.
“We need to go now,” Dakota repeated.
Carmen handed him two vials. “I figured out how Gregory was bottling the magic. These will get you home.”
“We will need two?” Dakota asked, wanting to be sure.
“No, one is a backup, in case the other breaks.” She threw a third vial to the ground and the swirling blue light appeared. “Good luck, bring them home,” she said as they stepped through.
“I will kill her.”
“Sarah, please,” Anastasia cried, her heart twisting in ways she hadn’t believed still possible. “Please don’t do this.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” she asked angrily. “You deserve it and more!” she screamed over the storm that raged around them.
“Why? What did I do?” Anastasia pleaded, taking a step towards them. She looked around to search for Brutes, but saw none.
Sarah lifted the knife higher, and Anastasia saw a trickle of blood roll down Elizabeth’s throat.
“Drop the weapons, Anastasia,” Sarah ordered. “Or I swear I will slit her throat.”
Anastasia began unsheathing her weapons and throwing them to the side. “What did I do, Sarah?” she asked her again.
“You killed him!”
“Brady? Vincent killed him!”
Sarah scoffed. “You are the reason he is dead, the reason why my own mother doesn’t know my face anymore! You ruined my life! And now you are gallivanting around about to have your own child, not even the least bit upset about the fact that my world has ended!” she screamed.
“Sarah, I’m not pregnant. Vincent lied to me, there was never any baby.”
“He told me you would say that.”
“Vincent told you? You’ve been talking to him?”
“Of course.” Sarah laughed. “Who do you think told me about the pregnancy?”
Images of Sarah as an infant and young child began popping into Anastasia’s head. She had watched her grow from the day she was born into the girl who stood before her. Where had everything gone so wrong?
“Vincent is using you,” Anastasia pleaded with her. She was doing everything in her power to talk Sarah down, to save the life of the little girl she had once thought of as a sister.
“Vincent is going to help me get my mother back. Get my brother back.”
“He is a liar, Sarah,” Elizabeth said softly.
“You shut up!” Sarah yelled, digging the blade deeper into Elizabeth’s skin.
“Sarah, stop! You are not this person. Please don’t make your mother lose you too.”
“She isn’t going to. I will always be here for her, it’s why I am doing this, why I am trusting Vincent.”
“He won’t help you, Sarah. Even if he wanted to, he can’t. Brady is dead, and he is not coming back.”
“Don’t you dare say his name! Don’t you ever speak of him! He was my best friend and you stole him from me!”
“He was my best friend as well, Sarah! Don’t you think I feel pain now that he is gone? I miss him every single day, and there is not a moment that passes that I don’t feel angry at Vincent for manipulating his mind and sending him into that battle.” She left out the guilt she felt for it as well, worried it would only fuel the fire.
“You never cared for him. He was my brother.” Sarah practically growled it, and any hope Anastasia had been clinging to that she was going to be able to talk her down began to diminish.
“Why hurt Elizabeth? She didn’t do anything to you, why not take me instead?”
“When I kill her, you will feel the pain. When you have to tell Dakota that she is dead, you will feel it again, just as I had to when I told my mother that her son was never coming home. That she would never hear his laugh again, or see him smile.”
Tears burned her throat, and she began pulling for her magic.
“Sarah, please. Let Elizabeth go, we can talk about this.”
“It’s too late, Anastasia. She has to die so you can be punished.” Sarah pulled her grip tighter on the back of Elizabeth’s hair. More blood began dripping down the blade and washing away before it hit the ground.
“Please, Sarah. Don’t make me do this,” she cried, feeling the last shred of her soul fall away.
As Sarah raised the knife to plunge it down into Elizabeth’s chest, Anastasia raised her hand and released a ball of light towards the young girl she had watched grow up. Everything began to happen in slow motion, and pain seared through her heart as Anastasia watched scenes from Sarah’s life flash before her eyes. She watched as she took her first steps and as she danced in the rain with a laughing Brady.
When the light struck her, Anastasia watched as the life drained from her eyes and she slumped to the ground.
Anastasia fell to her knees and screamed. She had thought that she had been broken before. Had foolishly believed that she had suffered all that she was going to and that she would be able to take a life, as long as it was absolutely necessary, and not feel the guilt weighing on her shoulders anymore. She had been wrong on all counts. Sarah’s death was not something she was going to be able to walk away from. She knew that she would carry the guilt with her every single day for the rest of her life.
“Do you still believe you are better than me?”
Anastasia looked up and straight into Vincent’s arrogant face. She looked at Elizabeth and saw that she was looking at him as well.
Anastasia stood cautiously and looked him straight in the eyes.
“The fact that you haven’t answered is telling enough. You slaughtered that girl.” He motioned to Sarah. “You could have frozen her, couldn’t you have? Could have taken that knife away with a flick of your wrist, but instead you killed her.” The laughter in his eyes only caused his words to hit her harder. Why hadn’t she done those things? Why hadn’t she tried some other way to get through to her?
“It’s because you and I are the same. You wanted to feel the power, and it’s time you embraced it,” he whispered into her ear.
She moved so fast, he couldn’t have seen it coming. Anastasia wrapped her hand around his throat and lifted him a few inches above the ground. Since she was using her magic to hold him, she had to focus on not killing him. Not yet, anyways.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t just squeeze?” She spoke softly, a warning of the coming storm.
“Do it,” he taunted. “It will prove me right.”
“Anastasia.” Elizabeth’s voice sounded behind her, and Anastasia turned her head to see about two dozen Brutes behind her.
“You kill me, and they will tear her apart where she stands.”
“Why don’t I just kill them as well?” She reached for her magic and found nothing.
“I stole it.” He grinned as she dropped him.
“How?” She looked down at her hands, turning them as if looking for some sign he was wrong.
Vincent nodded to Sarah. “When you killed her, your walls went down. Walls you didn’t even realize were up, therefore you did nothing to protect them.” He backhanded her and she fell backwards. “So foolish.”
“This was your end goal? This is why you manipulated her into helping you?”
“Think bigger, Anastasia.” He knelt closer to her and bared his teeth in a maddening smile.
“Brady, this started with Brady.”
“He had been the one you were supposed to kill, but it seems his ties to you were stronger than I had originally anticipated, and he ended up sacrificing himself to save you. This one, on the other hand,” he said, motioning to the lifeless Sarah, “well, it seems she was always jealous of you and therefore had no emotional links to you. It’s too bad, really, she had a sweet heart within her. I suppose that’s all in the past now, though, isn’t it?”
“You son of a bitch!” She reached for him, but he grabbed her by the throat.
“What was it you said to me? Oh yes, tell me why I shouldn’t just squeeze.” He gripped her throat harder and black spots began to invade her vision.
“You will pay, Vincent.”
“You know, people keep saying that to me, and yet here I stand and not a scratch on me.”
She spit in his face and he wiped it angrily.
“Brat.” He threw her back and she bounced off the Brutes that stood around them. “Finish them,” he instructed. “Then go and get the boy. I’m tired of these games.”
“Anastasia, are you all right?” Elizabeth asked as she helped Anastasia to her feet.
“No, but I don’t think that matters.”
Vincent disappeared, and the Brutes began closing in around them.
“What are we going to do?” Elizabeth wondered.
“I have no idea.” Without her magic to help her, and with her weapons lying at the feet of the Brutes, she was at a loss. Part of her wanted to fall to her knees and beg for death, for an end to all of the pain she was feeling. Elizabeth deserved better, though. She would get Dakota’s mother back to him and then deal with picking up the pieces of her soul, if that were even possible at this point.
The first Brute attacked, and Anastasia ducked out of the way just in time to avoid a crushing blow from its fist.
“Mouse is fast.”
“Let’s play with her first. Then the other,” another added.
Two Brutes came out of nowhere and grabbed Elizabeth.
“Anastasia!” she yelled, but when Anastasia lunged for her, another Brute blocked the way.
She didn’t move fast enough, and its fist knocked the wind out of her. She spun and her foot caught it in the groin, but when she went for the knockout, another hit her from behind. Everything began to blur together. The pain eventually subsided and she knew that she was close to death. She could hear Elizabeth’s screams as the Brute whaled on her, and she wondered why it hadn’t killed her yet. It had called her mouse, she thought. It must believe itself to be the cat, and this the game.
Her vision was in and out, until eventually she couldn’t see anything but black.