I HURT.
God, I hurt. All over. But the pain in my head is by far the worst. Just the tiniest flutter of my eyelids causes excruciating pain to rip through my skull. It feels like a hatchet has been embedded in my brain, the pressure pushing on the vital bundle of cells that controls all movement. I can’t move. I’m not sure if it is out of immense pain or if there really is a hatchet crippling me.
Oh God, am I paralyzed?
No. I can feel pain. Shit, it’s all I feel. But my leaden body won’t move. Maybe it’s out of complete and utter fear. Or maybe I’m being bound by restraints. I urge myself to crack open an eyelid, fighting through the agony with a clenched jaw. I stifle the whimper building in my throat, resorting to biting the inside of my cheek. Great. More pain.
I try to peer through the tiny slit of my lid for any clue of my location. The room is unlit yet a small stream of dim light floods from a high window. From that, I can see that the dank, stuffy room is barren. Cement floors, bare cinderblock walls, all grey and desolate. It’s depressingly silent except for the annoying sound of a leaky faucet somewhere. Every drop feels like a stab to the temple. I inwardly groan. If I could cry, tears would be streaming down my face. But it hurts too much. It’s all…too much.
I try to swallow but the saliva in my mouth feels too thick. Even my tongue seems swollen. The metallic taste on it makes my stomach roil. If my aching body could withstand the heaving, I would vomit.
“Oh good,” a haunting voice says from somewhere out of my line of vision. “You’re awake.”
I feel my already sluggish blood freeze in my veins, my dry lips parting fractionally in my attempt at a gasp. I know this voice. It’s one that I considered friendly and warm. A voice that was always attached with a smile.
Xavier steps into my line of vision, moving silently in the shadows. He grins adoringly, scanning the length of my body with rapt fascination. When his eyes flick to mine, I nearly choke on a labored breath and my sore eyelids pop open widely.
He’s Light.
Golden irises twinkle brightly in the dim, drab room as he continues to gaze at me with wonder. He doesn’t seem hostile at all. He still looks like the warm, sweet man I always thought he was. And he’s Light. He’s the embodiment of goodness and healing. I just don’t understand.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised, sweetheart,” he says taking a step towards me. “You are one hard little thing to find. I had to kill all those poor, helpless girls yet you were right under my nose the entire time. Ha! Could you really not sense me?”
Again I try to swallow, my eyes darting around frantically. Even the horrific ache dulls in comparison to the concentrated panic binding my body.
“You can speak, darling. I have many questions for you and I need you to be cooperative. Your compliance will be the determining factor in what happens next.”
“What’s that?” I choke out in a raspy, broken voice. The vibrations of my voice rip through my throbbing head, causing tears to spring to my eyes.
Xavier smiles again, tilting his head to one side. “Whether or not I kill you quickly or torture you until your human body eventually gives into an agonizing death.” He takes another step towards me and looks down at the ground. “But judging by the amount of blood you are losing, your death may be quicker than I originally planned. But I think we are still on schedule.”
Blood? I take a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth, tasting the metallic ting in the air. I try to give myself over to my senses and focus on my hearing. The dripping nose magnifies as I concentrate and I inhale again, this time through my mouth. It’s not a leaky faucet. It’s blood. My blood. And judging by the mere second between drops splattering to the ground, I’m losing a lot of it.
“What do you want from me?” I whisper. I can’t even think about the pain it brings. Soon I may not be able to feel pain, or anything else, ever again.
Xavier slowly extends a hand towards me, causing my already weak heartbeat to sputter frantically. “Shhhhh, love,” he coos. He strokes my cheek lovingly then cradles my head, raising it up a few inches. I can’t even fight against it. I still can’t move.
After gazing at me adoringly and causing my tears to spill, he gently eases my head back down on what feels like a concrete slab. When he removes his hand from underneath my head, it’s covered in bright, red blood. He rubs his fingers together, working it into his hand like a balm, before wiping it clean with my shirt. Bile rises in my tight throat.
“Isn’t it obvious what I want? Isn’t it obvious what everybody wants from you?”
Of course I know the answer, but I want to keep him talking until I can figure out what to do. What can I do? I am brutally injured and I am pretty sure he is manipulating my body so I can’t move. But I have to do something. I can’t- I won’t- lay here and die without a fight. I’ve come this far. I’ve fought through heartache, confusion, denial, and fear just to get here. The finish line is in sight. I have to make it. I have to survive.
“What is it?” I croak.
“Dear Gabriella…Did you know I knew your mother?” he asks, halting all thoughts of escape with his change of subject.
I take in a sharp breath, choking on the thick saliva that I am sure is mixed with more blood. “My…mother?” I sputter between raspy coughs.
“Yes,” he smiles, tilting his head up to the ceiling in remembrance. “She was very strong. Very efficient and talented. Fierce. And beautiful. What a beautiful woman she was,” he remarks breathlessly. His expression suddenly turns dark and contemplative. “I envied her. She was better than the rest of us and she knew it. She felt invincible. I hated her arrogance.”
Xavier swallows laboriously and runs a hand through his neatly styled brown hair. He takes a deep breath before letting his shoulders slump. “But I loved her. I loved her so much,” he says in a broken voice.
I almost feel sympathetic at the sight of his pain when a tangible shift in the atmosphere steals my breath. The shell containing his immense power, his human form, falls away piece by piece, unleashing a ghostly form. This is different from anything I’ve ever seen from Dorian or even Aurora. It’s bright, blindingly so, and nearly translucent, more like a premonition. A whisper of a body.
He convulses as he shifts, fighting against his rage, trying to put himself back together again. He wants to remain in control. Once he’s got his emotions in check, and the pieces of his humanity have fallen neatly back into place, he scowls at me, as if I am to blame for his momentary lapse.
“She couldn’t love me, though! She couldn’t give me her heart. Because of him!” he screams pointing at me. Wind whips through the desolate space causing my blood-matted hair to fall into my face. The cement slab under me rumbles with his sudden outburst.
“I could have given her everything! But she wouldn’t love me. She would rather commit treason than be with me. To be with him!”
He’s at my side quicker than my eyes can see, crouching down, his face just inches from mine. I can see the reflection of my terror in his wide, crazed eyes. “We could have been so happy together,” he whispers, though his soothing voice doesn’t match his insanity. “And look at you…just like my dear Natalia. Drawn to the Dark treachery. Did he fool you, love? Did he make you fall for him with his mind games? Make you believe that he loves you too?”
I’m too afraid to answer him, too frozen in overwhelming fear to even whimper a semblance of a response. If I could move, I’d be trembling violently. If I could sob, I’d be drowning in my own tears.
“Answer me, dammit!” he screams, spewing spittle in my face. He grasps my shoulders and shakes my limp body, causing the pain to spread even more.
“No!” I cry. “He didn’t do any of that. He really does…he does love me.”
“Impossible,” Xavier sneers, dropping my body back onto the slab. My head throbs viciously and I’m sure the wound has opened even more. My vision goes blotchy and I feel cold. So unbearably cold. It won’t be much longer now.
Seeing me slip away, he grasps my cheeks in his shaky hands. “No, no, dear love. I need you to stay with me.” Then he leans forward and presses his open mouth on mine. Comforting warmth spreads through me, and I feel some of the debilitating ache subside in my head. However, I still don’t have usage of my limbs.
Xavier pulls away after only a few seconds. “That’s enough,” he says with a satisfied grin. He looks over me, lost in his thoughts and rubbing an index finger over his lips. “Maybe it was you all along. Maybe you knew consorting with the Dark would help conceal you. Would throw me off your scent. Maybe you knew I would have to deflect, and in turn, would not be able to detect you. Is that it? Is that why you want him?”
I try to shake my head but it’s no use. “No. I didn’t know what he was. Not at first.”
“And once you uncovered the truth? Surely you knew what kind of sheer, unrelenting evil he harbored. Didn’t you try to escape him?”
“No,” I answer confidently. “I… I love him.”
Xavier snorts. “And where is your prince? Where is your dead father’s best friend and brother in arms? Ah…that’s right. Marrying his own kind. You see, Gabriella. They can bed our women and create…monstrosities…with them. But they always go back to their kind. They would not dare taint their precious bloodline.”
“My father didn’t leave my mother,” I reply, rage taking over my trepidation. “He was killed for loving her. He died for love.”
“They. Can’t. Love!” he shrieks, increasing the rumble of the concrete slab beneath me. “They are monsters. Demons. All of them! They are the reason your world is riddled with hate and violence! The reason why your mother was slain!”
My tears flow freely, the hot saltwater diluting the thick blood caked in my hair. I know arguing with this maniac is pointless. His rage will only intensify and he may end up killing me out of sheer anger. I need more time. I need to try to make him see why this is wrong.
“But you can love, X,” I say in a small voice. “You can right these wrongs. You can show everyone that the Light stand for good. You don’t have to do this.”
He reaches a hand towards me and cups my cheek. “Oh, but I do, Gabriella. I really do. You shouldn’t be allowed to exist. You don’t deserve the gifts of the Divine.” He brushes away a few trickling tears, and moves my soiled hair out of my face. “And it is just my luck that I’ve found you right before your ascension. As long as I keep you immobilized and breathing, I can kill you right as you ascend and acquire all your power. And with that, I will make everything right. I will erase the ugliness that the Dark has created. Starting with your precious prince.”
I resist the urge to crack a weak smile and tell him that his plan is botched. That, even though I may die, he will never have my power. I am still linked to Dorian. And when I die, he will acquire the magic that has lain dormant in my human body.
“But I thought…I thought the Light didn’t kill innocents. That they wanted to help and protect humans. I haven’t done anything to you. How are you any better than the Dark?” Even as I say the words, I am going over a thousand different escape scenarios in my head. There’s no way I am going to lay here and die.
Xavier’s hand travels down from my cheek to my neck before resting on my chest where my heart pounds fiercely, despite my injuries. His small token of healing has ensured that.
“You may have not done anything yet, but you are far from innocent. You have Dark blood running through your veins. You consort with the Dark freely.” His hand travels down to my hand where the tiny blue anchor sits. He grasps it gently, running his thumb over my inked flesh. “And you have been marked.”
I open my mouth to protest but before a sound escapes, he squeezes my hand, causing me to scream out. I hear the crunch of my splintering bones breaking like glass under his grip. I feel the jagged pieces slicing through my skin, the wet sounds of tearing flesh causing the acid in my stomach to churn. I cry and shriek in agony until I am hoarse, my dry lips splitting and bleeding. He lets my hand fall with a torturous thud, as if it’s nothing. As if I’m nothing.
Xavier wipes his bloodied hand on my clothing and backs away casually, watching me whimper and cry from the excruciating pain. I want to die in this moment. I can’t take it anymore. And from the way his demented gaze sweeps over my body, only God knows what else he has in store for me.
Exhausted from the overwhelming pain and sobbing, I let my eyes close, praying for unconsciousness to take me again. Let him do what he wants with me. I don’t want to be awake for it.
“Wake up!” he shouts, slapping me across the face swiftly. My mouth fills with blood and it dribbles past my split lips and down my chin. My cheek is on fire and I suspect that the skin has been broken there as well judging by the way my salty tears sting the area.
“Fuck you!” I spit, thick bloodied saliva flying into his face. “You are worse than the Dark, you piece of shit!”
Xavier’s eyes grow wide and frantic, as if he’s gone mad. He smiles menacingly as he brings a hand up to wipe my spit from his face. Then faster than I can see, his hand is around my neck, squeezing dangerously tight. “You stupid girl. Do you realize how easy it would be for me to snap your little precious neck? To rip off every limb like paper? Have you no regard for your life? No sense of worth?”
I struggle to get free from his grasp but of course it is futile. “I’d rather die than let you have an ounce of my power,” I rasp through the tight strain.
He retreats at my words, looking down at me with contempt. “Funny. That’s what Solara said as I drained every drop of her essence from her body.”
I flick my gaze to him, a disgusting smile creeping onto his face. “What did you do to her?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I killed her. I knew she had been in contact with the Dark Light, yet she refused to disclose your identity. She fought hard and well. Just not hard or well enough. Being a hunter has its advantages.”
So he was a hunter. No wonder he was able to elude Dorian and Aurora. My cloudy mind drifts to all the times Xavier was right under Dorian’s nose. He probably didn’t even expect the Light to be that bold. But Dorian was an assassin as well. How could he have missed this? Was he driven to distraction to the point of oblivion? Was he just as blinded by his affections as I was?
Too bad I’ll never get the chance to ask him.
I focus my thoughts on my surroundings, again letting my senses take the reins. There’s only one high window from what I can see. Beyond that there’s grass and dirt. I have to be in a basement. I don’t hear any cars or foot traffic. The only thing I smell is blood and maybe…paint? The light seems dimmer. How long have I been down here?
Noticing my roaming eyes, Xavier closes the distance between us in one swift step, clutching my jaw in one of his large, blood-tinged hands. “Don’t even think about escaping. There’s no way you can get away. No one can save you. Just accept this death as your destiny, child.”
“No,” I grit through my sore, smashed cheeks between his fingers. “It’s not. And you don’t have to do this, Xavier. You’re a good guy. Don’t do this.”
He rips his hand away and doubles over into a theatrical guffaw. “What? You think by telling me I’m a good guy, I will miraculously change my mind?”
The sound of his hearty laughter infuriates me but I resist the urge to spew insults. “But you are good, X. Me and you could’ve been good friends. What would Carlos and Jackson and Morgan do once they learn what you’ve done? You can’t tell me you don’t care for them.”
“Care for them?” he sneers. “I don’t even like them. I despise them. What they are, what they represent…it’s every corrupt thing in this world. The reason why you should not be able to live. It will be just one more example of depravity & immorality.”
I muster the last bit of awareness in me, the tiny bit of sanity I am hanging onto for dear life, and try to give him a sympathetic smile. “But you can change that. Right here and now. You can show that goodness and Light always prevails. You can walk out of here knowing that you did the right thing. Please, Xavier,” I plead. “Don’t let your pain push you into something you’re not. Don’t let your Light die and become a ghost of what you were because you were hurt. You’re better than that. Stronger than that.”
He looks at me for a thoughtful moment, contemplating the alternative. Somewhere deep inside him, goodness stirs, beckoning him to return to what he truly his. To his true purpose. To the Light. I hold my breath, hoping- praying- that part of him isn’t gone forever.
Xavier’s mouth turns up into a menacing leer, shattering my last shred of hope. All remnants of sympathy for him seep out of me with my trickling blood. “You think I’m stupid, girl? You think you can trick me into letting you go? Do. You. Know. Who. The. Fuck. I. Am!?” he screams in my face, suddenly hovering over me. Then his fist slams down onto my chest, stealing all the air from my lungs with a crack. I try to take a breath through the immense pain, but I can’t. I can’t breathe. Something is terribly wrong. My eyes grow horrified and panicked, as I silently plead for relief. Oh my God, I’m dying. I am really dying. I wheeze and pant, only swallowing tiny wisps of air. It’s not enough. Not enough to keep me alive.
Xavier looks down at me with a satisfied grin, amused at the labored sounds of my injured lung. He could easily heal me yet he enjoys seeing me struggle for just the tiniest bit of oxygen. After a minute or so, he slowly brings his face to mine. He sees the life slipping away from me and wants to keep me alive just so he can kill me later. Sick, sadistic, twisted fuck.
Just before his lips touch mine, his head snaps up, his golden irises blazing with fiery rage. “Impossible!” he seethes.
Instantaneously, the entire room erupts into a quake, the slab underneath me shaking violently. I can feel the shift in the air turn dense with cracking energy. I can almost see tiny particles of electricity swirling around me, cocooning our bodies.
“No!” Xavier grits. His hand is now on my neck, squeezing harder than I thought was possible, cutting off the sliver of oxygen I had just seconds ago. He hisses at something out of my line of sight. “No! If I can’t have you than neither can he!”
The strain is too much, and I’ve been without air for longer than my battered body can take. I can’t fight anymore. There is no more fight left in me. It’s bled out of the gaping wounds that riddle my entire frame, staining the grey cement a deep crimson. Unconsciousness is so close, its warm blanket of comfort and oblivion outstretched to greet me. I want it. I need it in these final moments. Then with the wet, sickening crunch of my windpipe, my horrified eyes fall to small slits. And just as I let them close completely, before diving into my painless oasis, I see a flash of brilliant blue light and hear a low, terrifying growl.
It’s all black now. Still. Cold.
Numb.