Epilogue #2
Vairov doesn’t even seem amused by me anymore. He’s too focused. He heads over to Cody’s bed, where he’s lying flat on his back, shirtless. Like Seth, his eyes are wide open. He’s able to move a little more than Seth seemed to. He must be able to fight Vairov with his power.
“You’re so perceptive, Matteo. But it won’t save you.”
He sets the blade on the edge of the bed, then looms over Cody.
“Leave him the hell alone!”
“No…” The word reverberates through my being.
He seizes Cody by his neck, tightening his grip.
I hear Seth’s muffled voice, like Vairov has released him from his power.
“You are mine,” Vairov says, this time out loud, for Cody to hear.
Cody’s face is bright red, and it’s like I’m hit with a wave as I breathe out, my thoughts swirling as I’m lost in sensation and a sea of darkness.
Next thing I know, my lips are locked with Cody’s as Vairov gasps. I’m light-headed, the way I’d be if I were drunk and about to black out. I finally manage to feel back in control of my limbs and pull away.
Cody struggles to his feet but collapses to the floor beside his nightstand.
“Fuck,” he mutters, and when he turns to me, his expression is strained, his neck tense, the veins pushing forward. “Matteo, the knife!”
I’m disoriented, out of sorts. “The knife?” I turn to where Vairov left it on the bed.
“Matteo, I was wrong,” Cody says. “I know what my vision was. I see it all now. I was terrified because I knew I’d have to ask you to do this, and I’m sorry, but…fuck.”
Is he saying what I think he is? That he wants me to stab him?
Cody writhes on the floor, bashing his fists against the polished cement.
“We don’t have much time—You’re mine!” His voice shifts to Vairov’s.
Instinctively, I grab the knife, if only to defend myself.
“Please, Matteo,” Cody calls out. “If you don’t do this, everyone will die!”
Tears push from his eyes, and as Seth strains another cry from under his gag, Cody turns to him.
I stare at the knife in my hands. I’m back in control of my body, so I could do it, but there must be another way. “I—I can’t…” I’m not a fucking murderer.
“Seth, I’m so sorry, but…you have to,” Cody says, groaning. “Please, Matteo. It. Hurts. So. Much. I can’t…hold him…” He rears his head back, crying out, his war cry mixing with Vairov’s voice.
I glance at Seth, seeing the desperation in his eyes as the mattress rocks violently as he struggles to break free.
I’m in a panic, but I know from my brief interaction with Vairov that Cody’s right.
With all he could do just in my body, he will be unstoppable in Cody’s.
Surely Seth can see that even in how effortlessly he managed to hold him down.
Fuck me.
I don’t want to do this.
I drop to my knees over Cody as he struggles and screams.
There’s a commotion outside, followed by a knock.
“Seth? Cody?” It’s Brad.
“Do it,” Cody whispers with what seems like the last bit of strength he has left before Vairov’s voice comes from his mouth, “You’re too late! He’s mine!”
Fuck, there’s no time to debate, no time to reason. And deep inside, I know Cody’s right. This was what he saw that day in the church because this is the only way to stop this monster.
I scream as I raise the blade and drop it down, hoping I’m not too late when I pierce his chest. Cody’s eyes widen as his gaze meets mine.
There’s rage in his expression—that’s Vairov—but it fades into something softer—the guy I recognize.
Cody nods, a sort of sick approval for what I’ve done, and his body stills.
His head rolls back, and thick black smoke rushes from his face, like snakes scurrying through the air and disappearing into the wall. Several moments later, it’s gone.
And there’s just Cody lying on the floor.
He shakes like he’s having a seizure, then makes a choking sound before blood rushes past his lips.
Turning to me, grinding his teeth, surely to push back the pain of the knife wound, he mouths, “Thank you,” before his gaze wavers, then settles, his eyes unnaturally still, telling me a truth I’m not ready to process.
I hear all the agony in Seth’s soul as he cries out yet again, and I turn to him. Tears rush from his eyes as he howls beneath the gag, and I don’t have to make out the words to know the way he must be cursing me right now for what I’ve done.
The door bursts open, and Brad and Luke race in with Alexei on their heels. A few other students are about to follow them in, but when Brad sees Cody’s body, he quickly turns around, blocking them. “Hey, no, no. This is private.”
Luke and Alexei make their way in, staring at the sight in horror.
“I had to,” is as much as I can say.
I bow forward, tears rushing from my eyes as the weight of what I’ve done catches up with me. Alexei is at my side in no time. “Matteo, are you okay? What happened? Please, talk to me.”
I can’t, though. I can barely wrap my mind around all that just happened, when I feel something on my back. A punch. Then another that sends me to the ground.
“You piece of shit!” Seth turns me over, laying into me between Alexei’s and Luke’s attempts to keep him back.
As he makes another go for me, Brad hooks his arms around him.
“Murderer! You’re a fucking murderer! Get off me!
” Seth pushes on Brad before rushing past me and falling to his knees at Cody’s body.
“No…no, no, no.” He searches desperately for any sign of life.
“Come on. It’s you and me, buddy. It’s just me against everyone.
” He waits for a reply from Cody’s still body before pounding his fist into the floor, screaming again, as though trying to make up for all his cries that went muffled behind his gag.
“Let’s talk this out,” Brad says.
But Seth turns, his gaze locking with mine. “Take that fucking knife and slit your goddamn throat.”
I’m not slitting my throat—but suddenly I find myself crawling toward Cody, retrieving the blade from his body.
Alexei screams, “No, Matteo!” and soon he and Luke have my arms at my sides, pinning me with their weight.
“Take it back!” Alexei shouts.
I want to resist, but it seems like the only desire my body has is to get Alexei and Luke off me so I can finish the job. And truly, after what I’ve done, a part of me just wants to do it anyway. Because I really am my father’s son.
“I won’t take it back!” Seth shouts. “I fucking won’t!”
“Please, Seth,” Luke begs.
“You’ll never know what really happened if you let him do this,” Brad says, trying to reason with him.
Seth pushes to his feet and starts toward Brad, but then pushes past him and throws himself against the wall, bashing against it before shouting, “Stop, Matteo!”
I feel the release of my muscles as my body is once again in my control.
“Oh God, oh God,” Seth says, crumbling to his knees, turning away from the body like he can’t bear to look at it.
“Cody?” Luke says. He still has my arm, keeping me in place, but his gaze is behind me.
I follow it to see Cody sitting up, a patch of blood on his chest, but no sign of an injury. He’s not the panicked, fear-struck Cody I saw just a few minutes earlier. He’s eerily serene.
“Who are you?” Seth asks. He must’ve noticed the change too. Something’s different about Cody, in his expression, even in the way he’s sitting up.
This isn’t Cody.
Did I fail? Were we too late?
Cody glances between us, his gaze settling on Seth.
Even before he answers, I have a sense of the truth.
A knowing like what I experienced when I was inside Finnegan’s body with Syphor for the first time.
An ominous warning of not just who he is, but what it means for what’s to come.
That for us, this is only the beginning.
And in a voice much deeper than Cody’s, our visitor says, “I am Kysar.”
As my mind spins with this wild revelation, Alexei steps up beside me, resting his hand against my back. Despite everything—all that’s happened tonight, along with this current mindfuck—my boyfriend’s touch assures me he’s with me.
And I’ve got his.
No matter what darkness lies ahead, we’ll face it together.
THE END