This Blood that Bonds Us (This Blood that Binds Us #4)

78. Seventy-Eight

Seventy-Eight

Kimberly

With my heart racing, I shook the bars of my iron cage. I wasn’t strong enough to bend them by myself, and no amount of sure will was budging them.

“Will, can you hear me?”

Will busied himself with scratching at the wall, not paying attention in the slightest.

“I need your help.”

“Fuck off.”

“Please help me. Look. I’ve already bent the bar a little. If you just help me, I’ll get you out. I’ll make sure you get to Her. Wouldn’t that be great?”

He stopped carving into the stone. “You’ll take me to Her?”

“Yes! And you can have all the blood you want. Just come over here and reach into my cage and pull on this bar while I pull this other one.”

I blinked, then William was in front of me on the other side of the bars. “I’ll kill you if you touch Her.”

“I don’t care about Her. I have to get to Aaron. Just help me.”

William reached for the other bar, and I pulled with all my might on mine. The hole to fit in was tight, but I slipped out.

“Okay. Help me now,” he said.

William had more energy than I’d seen all day as he pulled at the bars of his enclosure.

“Sorry. I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

“You bitch!” he called, but I was already up at the top of the stairs running as fast as my feet would take me.

The only light left in the sky was from the moon and the northern lights overhead. I scanned the ground, looking at all the fallen. They could be anywhere, but my body seemed to know where to go. The top of the cathedral served as my beacon in the night. All I could hear was my breath while the strong scent of blood hung in the air.

The front of the cathedral had been blown open, and the rubble was all over the lawn. From inside, the remnants of flickering candlelight illuminated my path.

My eyes settled on an image I’d never be able to scrub from my memory.

Zach and Luke leaned over two bodies on the floor.

My heart wasn’t beating.

It wasn’t real.

Aaron lay against the tile with a dagger straight through his chest. Eyes closed. Pale. Next to him, lay Presley. Unmoving.

A scream curdled in my throat. I wanted it to shake the building and tear down every stone and paned window until every piece crumpled into dust.

I was too late.

In less than a second, I was there, but Aaron’s warmth was already gone. I placed my hand on his chest and felt nothing. For minutes, I sobbed, unable to control the grief. It was just as I’d feared . . . I’d lost everything.

I pulled the dagger from his chest and went to work biting my wrist to pour my blood into his open wound. Then Presley’s. Nothing. No sound. I bit my other wrist. More blood. It had to work. Our blood was the same. Why wouldn’t it work?

“Kim.” Someone was talking to me and trying to grab me. I pushed them away.

How had I been too late to fix this? I’d done everything I was supposed to. It was all for nothing. They were gone. Along with every dream we had of leaving this place behind. I missed something. There was a solution I didn’t find. It had to be my fault somehow.

I clenched the bloody dagger in my hand and imagined shoving it through my own heart to be done with it all. There was nothing left.

Zach, Luke, and I were all together but utterly alone. Everything that meant anything was gone. Up at the altar, Ezra held the queen. She was offering Her blood to heal him.

I didn’t care about Her anymore. She could have the ring. She could have anything She wanted. I just wanted them back.

It would be easy to leave the cruel world behind. One dagger to the heart, then it would be over, and we’d be together again.

Then Aaron’s words echoed in my mind. Promise me you’ll try.

“Aaron did it so we wouldn’t be connected to Her anymore. I’m sorry.” I think it was Luke speaking.

I couldn’t stop staring at Aaron, caressing his cheek as he’d done to me so many times.

No, this is right. It was exactly right. The Calem boys were free. Those wonderful free boys that sang, laughed, and danced together in Blackheart—that loved more fiercely than I could have ever hoped to—were finally free.

As I stared up at that altar, I knew it was where I was meant to be. Not in Blackheart or Alaska, but there with them. We did it, and even though this was the end to us, all the love and happiness we’d shared, somehow, it still felt right. The true ending. It was Aaron’s dream . . . our dream, and I had to see it through.

Only the five of us remained. Ezra stood next to the queen at the altar. Bloody but alive. Clinging to Her. While the twins wept next to me.

Our family was gone, and our world lay lifeless on the marble.

“We can remake the bond. Save your brothers. But we have to do it now,” Ezra said, eyeing me like he still wanted me dead. He likely would kill me, and I didn’t have the desire to fight it. I almost wanted him to come closer and get it over with. “We have to leave.”

“We can all be together again.” The queen spoke, walking closer and leaning in front of Zach and Luke and beckoning them. “We can start over.”

The twins weren’t answering. They, too, were staring at our dead with the same vacant longing and shock.

“My Love, this isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning. We still have centuries. So many happy memories to look forward to.” She moved Her hand over Luke’s cheek and ran Her fingers into Zach’s hair. “Let me show you. Let me ease your pain.”

Aaron had passed his hope to Presley and me . . . and I was the last one standing. I had to keep it alive, even if I felt like dying. Even if living in a world without Aaron Calem was like living in a world without sunlight.

“You can’t have them.” My voice was barely a whisper. I leaned on blind faith they could hear me and tried to push the words out louder. “Don’t do it.”

The Calem boys didn’t belong to them. They were meant to be free from that wretched place. We belonged to no one.

“Aaron wanted you all to be free. That’s his dream. You promised to protect and to love this family . . . to fight. Until the very end. I promised you and you promised me.”

That was the oath we’d all made. Our dream.

Ezra ignored me and extended his arm to pick them off the floor. I gripped the dagger, ready to defend Aaron’s and Presley’s bodies. Till my heart stopped beating, I would fight for our dream. I wouldn’t give up. I would try.

The twins slowly dissolved from their frozen stares and exchanged a brief charged glance. In the same second, they lunged at Ezra.

The queen’s gasp cut the air, and She retreated to the edge of the altar. I should have been scared . . . or broken, but I was neither. In my chest, fury burned ablaze. I hadn’t realized the incipient fire growing in my belly until it was a wildfire of rage and abhorrence.

I’d let it burn until She was dust in my hands.

Our eyes met. She knew. A promise was a promise. That Thing had taken Cecily’s body and tricked her, and she needed me to free her once and for all. I gripped the dagger covered with Aaron’s blood and staggered to my feet.

I, Kimberly Calem, am brave. I will finish this. I believe because he believed.

She went to run, but I was faster. I grabbed Her by the collar of Her dress and flung Her to the floor. With my hand firmly pressed to the dagger and my blood and Aaron’s mixed, I chanted. As I felt the dagger’s pull, I lunged. She was stronger than me, but it didn’t matter if I separated the power from Her body. She missed and pushed me against the altar. Candles flew and crumbled to the floor as She hoisted me into the air.

There I saw the twins battling with Ezra . . . losing. Luke was a bloody mess barely able to keep on his feet.

She tried to thrust a hand through my chest, and I recited the words again, still clutching the dagger with all my might. She dropped me, and I jumped on top of Her, and my teeth ripped into Her shoulder. Her blood filled my body like tar. Our blood was never supposed to mesh, yet there I was.

With a kick, She flung me into the railing of the pulpit, and it cracked under my weight. Nothing could take my hand from the dagger. She’d have to rip my arm off before I allowed Her to take it.

The twin’s battle almost fell into mine. Luke had fallen, and it was just Zach and Ezra. Zach had his arm around Ezra’s throat before he weaseled out.

I had to finish it. I willed my body to move toward Her. One clear shot with the dagger was all I needed. I caught the back of Her hair as She tried to run. Her grip on my arm could break me, but I wouldn’t let Her shake me off. I bit into Her neck again, letting Her putrid blood fill my mouth, and in turn, She forced Her hand through my shoulder. A soft cry left my throat.

She’d been aiming for my heart, but Her body was finally weak. My vision blurred. A sticky wetness drenched my shirt. I didn’t know how I willed myself past the darkness taking over my vision, but whatever I did, I was taking Her with me one way or another.

Her hands wrapped around my throat, and I smiled despite the crushing pressure.

She couldn’t get away from me.

I let my body fall dead weight into Her. She wasn’t strong enough to keep me up.

“No!” Ezra exclaimed, and I glanced up in just enough time to see Zach shove his arm through Ezra’s chest and seize his heart in his hand.

I wrapped my arms around Her in a hug and pushed the dagger through the center of Her back through Her heart.

“How’s this for nothing?”

I twisted the dagger, forfeiting a bit of myself as it tore through flesh, and Her skin poured black ink.

My ears were ringing, and She was thrashing, but I had Her pinned with the last of my strength. I wouldn’t let Her get up. When She weaseled from my grasp, I dove forward, taking Her to the ground, then shoved the dagger into Her chest.

I was finishing this. Then death could take me.

It sliced through Her rib cage with ease.

It should have disgusted me, but I was high on the fire engulfing me from head to toe. I didn’t feel a damn thing. She’d killed him. She’d killed them all, and now She had to die for everything She took from me.

“Don’t—” Her final word as I pulled open Her ribcage with both hands and grabbed Her beating heart from Her chest.

I watched it stop moving in my hands. It was finally done. I sliced the heart through for good measure and smiled.

We did it. We won. And now Cecily was free. I kept my promises too.

On Her hand laid my ring, and I struggled to pull it off and slip it back onto my finger.

Once the rage was gone, I had nothing left.

I tried to make my way down the stairs, but I lost my footing and tumbled to the floor.

No physical pain could touch my grief. I landed next to Aaron. My hand stretched to him. His golden hair gleamed in the candlelight, and I hoped wherever he was I’d soon be following. I imagined it to be warm and sunny, a place to pry the cold out of my bones.

When I looked to the ceiling, I realized there was no more movement. Zach was down too. It was over, and there was no one left fighting, even me.

I admired Aaron’s face. It was serene despite the usual blush in his cheeks being a far memory. My fingers twitched, longing to inch closer. His hand was so close. If only I could reach a little more.

A fear like I’d never known ripped through me. I was dying. My body screamed at me to get up and to fight, but everything I had to fight for was dead on the floor around me. Carnal terror sent my heartbeat up a few paces and pumped what remaining blood I had onto the cold floor. What if this was the last time I saw Aaron? I knew where I’d hoped I’d be when I died, but I’d never know for sure until I was there.

Black blood stained my fingers and fell to the floor in slow, oozing droplets . Drip. Drip. Drip.

A black puddle formed around me. Whether it was mine or Aaron’s blood, I didn’t know. My vision was going, and my body felt light as a feather. I thought one last time on the Calem boys and the love that they shared. That love wasn’t gone, it was somewhere floating in the air of the cathedral waiting for me to follow it, and I wanted to. Tears stung my eyes as I took in the last sight of him. Internally, I prayed that when I finally closed my eyes, I’d open them and see him.

I replayed it all. All the best parts. Hiking. Meeting Aaron. My birthday. The feeling of his lips on mine. The laughter our family shared.

I willed my eyelids open. A few more minutes with him was all I needed. To memorize every soft detail, to remember every laugh and celebration. Just in case it was truly the last time I would. In case wherever I was going I would be alone.