Epilogue
MARCUS
I stumbled to a stop in the alley, the pavement lurching beneath my feet as the world spun, shifted, and heaved like a wild creature as tormented as I was.
My eyes clamped shut, a sharp pain stabbing behind them as my mind buckled under the darkness clawing at it. Always clawing, clawing, clawing....
The rough brick bit into my forearm as I braced myself, my bloodied hand rising to my head as I panted, the once-warm liquid now cold against my skin, and my eyes fell to the crimson-painted knife clutched in my other hand.
My hand slid down, smearing remnants of the woman’s blood across my face.
Laughter bubbled up my throat as the image of Barrett and Micah’s fear-filled eyes flashed through my mind, and I slumped against the wall as it continued to pour from me, echoing off the walls.
I lifted my gaze skyward, the rain blurring my vision as I soaked in its misery and heaved a sigh. Something fought against the darkness deep within my mind like a caged animal .
Pounding, pounding, and...
Their terror is delicious.
I shook my head, the voices dancing through my thoughts as images flashed across my mind. Barrett cursing as he held me...us off, our teeth snapping within inches of his face, desperate to taste his blood, to fill his veins with the delicious darkness coursing through ours.
Don’t you fucking give up!
Something pounded against a cage in the back of my mind as Barrett’s desperate plea flitted across my thoughts, and I flinched, eyes falling shut.
They deserve it. She would still be here if it wasn’t for their goddess.
“I know!” I growled, chest heaving as the dark voice slithered in, coiling around me until I thought I might suffocate.
I threw the knife as I cried out in an attempt to expel the overwhelming sound of voices, the blade ricocheting off the brick wall opposite me, the dull ringing leaving my vision fizzling before flashing back to reality.
My eyes darted around, ghosts of faces long gone slipping into view, bloodied hands reaching for me. “It’s their own fault.”
The ringing faded, the faces falling into darkness, and the roar of the rain returned. A smile stretched across my face at the distant sound of Barrett’s shouts, and I pushed myself to my feet, closing my eyes as I reached out, further and further, to a familiar mind.
He stiffened in the distant quiet, feeling my consciousness brush against his.
Who is this?
Damien’s voice was hardened, tired, even, as if he were already on the cusp of breaking under the weight of his fallen mate’s memory.
That hurts, Damien. You don’t even recognize your best friend’s voice?
His mind flooded with emotions, words buzzing to a tune that made me flinch.
The ringing returned, the faces and ghastly cries of those I’d murdered filling my ears as I shook my head, stumbling to a stop, panting.
A figure fizzled into existence, peering at me from around the nearby corner with sad eyes, her curly golden hair curtaining her face untouched by the downpour. I blinked, and she vanished.
Marcus?
I turned, attention drawn from the ghost at the sound of his voice, so full of sorrowful disbelief that I laughed.
Don’t pretend you care that I’m still alive.
His hesitation and confusion slipped through our connection.
What are you ? —
If you hurry, you might be able to save them.
He didn’t respond, and I shared a glimpse of what I’d last seen of Barrett and Micah as the darklings attacked them during my retreat.
I mean, you could be too late already. Better be quick.
His panic flooded my mind .
Marc—
I severed the connection and let out a heavy breath, my mind heavy—too heavy.
Darkness stretched from the shadows around me, the walls and sky melting until they were swallowed up into the gloom, and I lifted my face as the lights winked out.
“Hello, Eris,” I muttered.
She emerged from the shadows, her onyx eyes gliding over me. “Have you found her yet?”
I let out a sigh and shook my head. “It wasn’t her.”
She clicked her tongue, her frustration crawling over me like hot waves tearing at my mind. “She will turn up. Keep searching.”
I rolled my eyes. “What makes you think it’ll do what you want?”
“It takes time. This is powerful magic we are dealing with,” she said, turning as she waved her hand through the air. A necklace appeared from the misty shadows around us. The pendant howled with the voices of the dead, lost souls trapped inside, waiting to be put to use.
“Perhaps it would help if you carried it,” she said, lifting it in front of her eyes. “Allow it to guide you to her soul, to whichever human it reawakens in.”
I stiffened as she drew closer, the necklace floating through the air as she guided it toward me. It fell into my hands, the metal icy to the touch, swarming with energy.
“Why does it matter?” I muttered.
“She must be human,” she hissed. “It will only work if she’s human.”
The voices grew louder the longer I held the necklace. I’d hated the sound from the first moment I’d stolen it from Hade’s domain, had been desperate to discard it.
She turned from me, sweeping her hand across the darkness as Damien’s face appeared, stricken with fear as he rushed to the aid of those he loved. A part of me relished in the despair lighting his eyes, but another part of me, something deep down, pounded against a wall, a cage.
Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.
Eris tilted her head as she watched him. “He is so close to breaking, and when he finds himself facing the possibility of losing her again—” She slashed her fingers through his image, dark claws tearing at his face until the darkness claimed the vision— “he will fall at my feet.”
My eyes fell back to the necklace, the metal humming with the demand to be used, to claim souls and bend them to its will.
“Change your approach,” she said as the darkness climbed up her body, the shadows receding. “You are drawing too much attention to yourself. Hades has caught wind of the necklace’s presence in the Mortalrealm. Continue as you are and you’ll expose us both. ”
The darkness slithered away from me, sinking back to the shadows as the distant lights of the city returned. I stood alone in the street, clutching the cursed necklace as Eris’ presence pressed against my consciousness once more.
“Find her, Marcus. I want Moira’s reincarnation.”