Epilogue
MATTEO
My eyes are still closed as I start to come to, memories of my date night with Alexei playing through my mind.
Throwing popcorn into each other’s mouths.
The I-love-yous.
The way he fucked and came inside me.
Every nerve in my body is totally at ease and relaxed.
Bliss—that’s what this is.
But with these pleasant thoughts comes a surge of disappointment because I don’t feel my boyfriend in my arms.
I’m about to reach around to find him when, “Matteo,” hits my ear.
It’s not the gentle, sweet voice that spoke to me earlier in the night. It’s not Alexei.
My eyes pop open, and a dark cloud hovers above me.
The hell?
I try to jump up, but I’m paralyzed, unable to even move my eyes, which are fixed on this cloud, the bands of black smoke twisting into each other like a clump of snakes.
Alexei must still be in bed with me. I need to warn him, but as I open my mouth to speak, nothing comes out.
“Yes, you are a beautiful specimen, aren’t you?”
When I first heard the ominous voice, it sounded like it was coming from outside of me, but now it’s clear it’s in my mind, like when I was communicating with Syphor.
But this doesn’t sound like him. This is something else.
“You’re going to help me, Matteo.”
“No, I’m fucking not, asshole. Get the fuck out of here.”
Knowing I was able to drive Syphor from Finnegan, I’m hopeful I can do the same with whatever this is.
“No, you won’t,” this entity says, reading my thoughts. “Syphor was weak, but you will see just how strong I am.”
The cloud of smoke descends, and as I breathe, it fills my mouth and nostrils.
It’s like smoke, but it has a familiar taste and smell to it, reminding me of what I threw up after Cody exorcised Farras from me.
As more of the smoke fills me, I’m choking on it…
can’t breathe. I fight it, willing my limbs to life, but I’m locked in place, with only this horrible, suffocating sensation overtaking me as this fucker enters me.
Finally, the cloud is gone, and I can breathe again. I gasp for air, trembling as my body’s struggling with the intruder that’s overtaken me.
“Oh, you feel so good.”
“Get out!”
My hand moves, but it’s not me doing this. It rises to my face, and I study it as it moves effortlessly. I can’t resist.
“What are you?”
“I am Vairov, a deity to you. Syphor’s leader.”
This may very well be the horrible thing the Sinners have been trying to prevent from coming into our world. I wish I could disguise my horror.
“I feel your fear, and you should be afraid, for it is my time to enjoy this world now.”
I sit up, still without any control over my movements, and Vairov turns to Alexei, who rests peacefully, still lost in the pleasure of what we shared, unaware of the horror taking place beside him.
Vairov reaches over and slides the comforter down, revealing Alexei’s nude back.
He snickers through me, and it’s like an echo that swallows me whole.
Then he runs the back of my fingers over the curve of Alexei’s ass.
“Get your fucking hands off him!”
“How will you make me?”
He turns my hand around, groping Alexei, and I’m terrified Alexei will wake and this fucker will do something horrible to him.
“Oh, the things I will do to him.”
I’m grasping for my pain again, to wield it against him, but this isn’t like Syphor.
I don’t feel that same fear I was able to tap into and intensify to chase him out of Finnegan.
There’s only a dark abyss…and a sadistic impulse so powerful, I find it infecting me, making me wish I could do horrible things to Alexei too.
“I see in your mind that he wonders about what happened all those years ago.”
There are flashes…images. I’m across the street from an outlet of shops illuminated by streetlights. A young guy steps out of a storefront and locks the door. Who is this? Why am I seeing it?
“This is his brother. The one you know as Kysar knew he would grow up to be a powerful force to use against us, so I found Farras, and the Darkness sent him to protect us from this threat.”
“You killed Alexei’s brother?”
“Farras did much of our bidding.”
My mind shifts to another image. I’m working diligently—no, not me, Farras—scrawling into a notebook. Like Luke mentioned about his visions, it’s like a dream where I just know that this is the Manual the Saints discovered.
“Farras defeated one of our greatest threats, but the very part of his nature that allowed us to connect with him was his greatest weakness. He could have helped us much more, but his appetites were too strong, and he was caught.”
Another series of images—this time chaos as men in tactical gear burst through the door of an apartment, descending upon Farras. I look at my hands, see a gun.
“What a waste of a great asset,” Vairov laments. “But he served his purpose. And because of him, now the Sinners are left with this useless creature instead of a god that could rival us.”
“He fucking helped stop you that night, didn’t he?”
I sense his rage. A small victory.
“He may have altered my plans, but while you were busy chasing Syphor from Cody’s body, my emissary was lighting my way, guiding me to a doorway out of the Rift.”
Fuck. “That’s why you needed Cody.”
He doesn’t respond, and I wonder if he doesn’t want to reveal what may be other reasons for needing Cody.
“I have no use for this man, though,” Vairov says. “Perhaps I should just end him for the inconvenience he caused.”
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
He laughs, and it echoes through me again. He’s clearly enjoying tormenting me.
“Don’t worry. He will be spared for tonight. For we have work to do.”
Vairov slides out of Alexei’s bed and heads for the door.
As terrifying as this experience is, there’s a moment of relief, knowing Alexei is safe. Even if just for now.
“Don’t be too pleased. As I said, I fully intend to enjoy him. Especially now that I know how much you have.”
I try to will my trauma to the surface to take him on.
“You’re only hurting yourself,” he assures me, and I can feel the truth of it, the way these images of my mother torment me. The fears of this darkness in me.
Vairov heads out the door, down the hall. Is he really gonna just walk through the dorm naked?
“Clothes are the least of my concerns,” he tells me, and I hate how he’s right on my every thought, that there’s no way to outsmart someone who’s in my goddamn mind like this.
I reach again for those dark memories in me, but it doesn’t feel as it did in Finnegan. And there’s nothing to cling on to within Vairov. Fuck, what am I gonna do?
I try to anticipate what he’s doing, and as he continues toward the end of the hall, I fear I know the answer.
“Yes, you know who I’m after.”
Cody.
As we reach Seth and Cody’s door, I try to shout—can’t I reclaim just enough of my body to warn them?
But Vairov raises my hand to the keypad, and the green light flashes.
It reminds me of what Preston said, how Syphor was able to amplify Preston’s powers.
I have some abilities too, and Vairov accesses them easily.
He opens the door and steps inside. Moonlight spills in through the window on the other side of Seth’s bed, illuminating the room. I’m trying fucking everything. To scream. To warn them that something’s in here. If Seth could just wake up and stop me!
Vairov heads into the kitchenette, drawing my eyes to the knife block on the kitchen island.
“You leave them the fuck alone.”
“What will be will be. Surely you must realize that by now.”
“That can’t be true, if you managed to stop Alexei’s brother. And they stopped that creature Cody had visions about.”
He ignores this, but I keep struggling, returning to my attack tactic, since it’s all I’ve got. But my efforts are in vain. He inspects the knives, taking his time, like he knows nothing I can do will work against him. He studies the chef knife first. Then a paring knife. Then the utility knife.
“Cody! Seth! For the love of fucking God, wake up!”
Again, I’m surrounded by the snickering as he rounds the island, toward the beds. He passes Cody’s bed, going straight for Seth’s. He moves confidently, like he already has a plan in mind.
Seth, lying on his back, wearing a tank top, is sleeping soundly enough not to hear the subtle movements Vairov has made since he’s entered the room.
Certainly not hearing any of my mental pleas for him and Cody to wake up and save themselves.
Vairov moves close, running the tip of the knife so that it hovers just over Seth’s throat.
“Oh, to show you the things I will do to this one too.”
He pulls the blade away, then takes the comforter roughly off Seth, leaving just the sheet still covering him.
Seth’s eyes pop open, and I’m waiting for him to scream, to run, anything. But he remains still. It reminds me of how I woke up.
Vairov grabs the sheet and starts slicing it with the blade.
“Matteo?” Cody asks. “Matt—”
When he silences, I’m sure Vairov has done the same thing he did to Seth. This thing’s power is so far beyond what we saw with Syphor.
“I told you I was strong. And that’s in this pathetic corpse of a form. Just wait and see what I’ll be able to do soon.”
And I know what he means.
Once he’s inside Cody.
What the fuck will he be able to do then?
Seth shifts, struggling, his eyes screaming out the way I’m sure mine have been this whole goddamn time this thing has had me.
Vairov takes his time shredding Seth’s sheet. Once he’s finished, he rolls Seth over and binds his wrists to the posts of his headboard and his ankles to the footboard. Next he fashions a gag out of the remaining strips, keeping it tight at the back of Seth’s head.
“I wish I could plunge this damn knife into my own chest, you sick fuck.”