Chapter Twenty
The club’s all grins and thumb ups as Autumn and Blake emerge from the bedroom, both blushing when they realize everyone could hear them.
I just stand off in the corner, willing the madness to stop, knowing that this is the end for me. They’re holding hands all the way to the table where Drac sits with Amber on his lap, watching as their son dances in the middle of the room to the Monster Mash song.
None of them notice Hyde lurking in the corner, hand clenching a beer bottle angrily, his eyes laser focused on Giovanni.
I don’t like the way he’s looking at him, like he’s about to hurt the kid. That’s when I notice a gun in his hand, and it’s pointed under the table, directly in Giovanni’s direction.
“Oh, fuck no!” I rage, marching across the room just in time to fling the gun from his hand, sending it sailing across the room.
Hyde jumps up, suddenly looking around at the eyes that swivel to look his way.
“We’re hurting babies now?” I rage, protective ghost mode activating to its fullest extent as a chair goes flying and a bottle crashes against the wall. “You’re such a piece of shit!” I scream, though Autumn’s probably the only one who can hear me.
“You don’t get to hurt women and children. I won’t let you.”
My hand shoots out, gripping his throat as I violently fling him against the wall, his body hitting it not nearly hard enough.
“What’s going on?” Drac yells as a cool wind sweeps through the room, knocking over bottles and throwing things to the ground.
“It’s Eve,” Autumn shouts. “Hyde tried to shoot your son, and she’s pissed.”
Drac’s on his feet almost immediately, but Autumn stops him.
“You can’t get near her. If you do, she may hurt you.”
“You little piece of shit! You goddamn Misfit scumbag! I swear on my afterlife, your next breath will be your last one.”
A Dark One slips up behind me, catching me at my weakest. It’s enough to give me the strength to pick Hyde up again, his eyes widening when my body takes shape.
“Holy fuck!” he screams.
Everyone takes a step back, just long enough for the claws to sink in and strengthen me. “Here’s what happens to rats who go after kids, you fucking bastard!” Then he’s flung against the wall, his neck snapping the minute it hits the cold concrete.
That was all it took for the Dark One to consume me, entering me from behind, just as my rage breaks into pure chaos.
More chairs go flying, and a few members get thrown against the wall, my rage pinning them in place.
“Eve, stop! This isn’t you! Don’t let the Dark Ones consume you!” Damien shouts, watching in horror as claws elongate from my fingertips and sharpen into points. All of that sadness and longing are over. The emptiness hollows me out to where I can’t feel anything but hate.
“Stay the fuck away from me, Damien! There’s nothing here for me anymore. Nothing!” Tears sting my eyes as a dark inky like substance fills and coats them, merging with my soul as the Dark One eats me from the inside out.
Damien steps towards me, grabbing my arm, only to be violently thrown in the opposite direction.
Krueger appears without warning, but he’s too late. They’re all too late. Books fly around the room, my hair violently whipping and hitting my face like vicious slaps as my rage builds and festers, my spirit slowly turning until I’m facing the two people responsible for my demise.
My eyes focus on her first.
Then shift to him.
My thirst for their blood increasing.
“Krueger, what can I do?” Damien shouts.
“She’s gone, Damien. They’ve taken her over,” Krueger says, his voice laden with disappointment.
“Listen to Its,” a voice that is not my own, hisses from my tongue. “She is ours now.”
“I don’t believe it! I won’t believe it!
” Damien shouts, crawling towards me on his knees, barely dodging a chair that goes whipping by him, only gripping on my hand long enough for my claw to pierce his soul.
“I know you’re in there, Eve. You gotta fight it!
You’re stronger than this. You didn’t mean to kill him.
It was an accident. You were just protecting the kid. ”
“Don’t listen to Its. Its lies!”
More Dark Ones appear from the shadows, watching with glee, dancing around us like a mob feeding off my misery.
Phantom clutches Autumn closer to him just as Amber and Drac dart from the room with Giovanni. They’re protecting him from me. Protecting themselves.
And they should.
I’m no longer in control, my soul dwindling with every passing second.
The only man who has ever loved me is moving on, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. The more I think about it, the deeper my despair sinks, until the darkness sits heavy inside my chest.
“Just let me go, Damien. It’s too late.”
A single tear drips down my cheek, and he quickly rises to his feet, wiping it away without a single ounce of fear in his eyes.
“It’s not too late,” he whispers. “It can’t be.”
“Why, Damien? Why can’t you just let me go? Just let me die in the shadows. It’ll be better off for me there.”
He clutches my hands, holding them tighter than he ever has before. “Don’t you get it, Eve? Haven’t you figured it out yet? I can’t let you go. My spirit won’t let me.”
“Why?” I shout, the black etching my vision.
“Because you’re my unfinished business, baby. You!”
Everything stops. The violent winds. The hissing in my ears. Everything goes silent so his words can soak into whatever’s left of my soul.
“You’re lying,” I cry, the tears still dark and consuming.
“No,” he assures me. “It’s why I stuck around the clubhouse.
It wasn’t because I pledged my life to the club, it was because for the first time in my life, I had met someone worth chasing.
Someone that keeps me on my toes and fights me at every turn.
Someone whose smile brightens my day even when it’s being sarcastic and smug.
When I looked into your eyes, I saw everything I wanted in a woman and more, and after I passed, I was so drawn to you that I stuck around just to make you feel safe.
Krueger said I was crazy for following you around the way I did, but I couldn’t help myself.
For me, Eve. You’re not just unfinished business; you’re my sole reason for existing.
I know you feel lost without Phantom and you don’t want to let him go, but he’s still breathing.
Don’t succumb to the Dark Ones. They’ll kill what’s left of your soul and feast on all that’s good inside of you.
And I know there’s still good in you. I can feel it. ”
He moves his fingers through my hair, but this time I don’t shy away, I lean into it, feeling the connection even though everything inside me tries to block it.
“Don’t listen to Its!” the Dark One growls, his screams becoming desperate and angry. “Its lies. Its deceives. Its wants your soul!”
Then Damien’s lips move in, forcing out the darkness, filling me with a light that I feel deep down in my toes. It’s the first time I’ve felt alive since passing, and it’s a strange feeling, one I thought I’d never feel again.
The claws retract, the black veil lifting as the Dark One’s body is violently ripped out of me and thrown back into the shadows. How that’s possible, I have no idea, but I melt into Damien’s kiss, letting the man that’s been an annoyance since I met him, become everything all at once.
When we finally pull apart, Krueger is actually fucking smiling, staring at us both like a proud papa. “See, I told you she’d come around, eventually.”
Damien’s grip strengthens as he pulls me closer to him, too afraid I’ll run or try to hit him again. He doesn’t realize how weak I feel, that my soul feels tired and drained.
Then everything starts to blur… sound… sight. I can barely see him through the haze, almost like my soul is dissembling into particles.
“No. No. No. Baby, stay with me. Please don’t fade out. Please.”
My hand moves over his face, ignoring the giant hole, and just let myself feel something for him other than repulsion. Love.
“It’s okay, Damien. It feels like my time.”
“Please!” he begs. “I can’t lose you. Stay with me, Eve. Stay with me, baby.”
But it’s too late, the darkness did what it needed to… it ate away what was left of me and now all I can do is fizzle away.