Chapter 47
FORTY-SEVEN
AIDEN
I don’t know how long I’ve been here.
I’m trapped in what looks like a dungeon, almost something resembling a wine cellar, with two guards who I’m assuming are what Levi calls ‘conduits’ . They haven’t left my jail cell for however many days it’s been. Time blurs together since there aren’t any windows or any other ways to indicate the passage of time. But it still passes and every second is agony.
Without Levi, everything ceases to matter. I don’t know where he is or what’s happening to him, and the uncertainty is close to killing me. We’ve grown so toxically codependent, relying on each other for something as basic as breathing .
I feel like I can’t breathe without him.
I have to hold onto faith. I have to believe that Levi’s alive and that he’s coming for me because, if not, I’m going to have to start looking for something sharp.
Because a life without him would be the worst form of torture.
The conduits have barely moved in the time they’ve been here. They only take breaks to eat and piss, but it’s on a rotating schedule. Even though I’m locked in, they’ve been laser-focused on making sure I stay here. As if I’ll magically disappear into thin air.
“Can I have some water?” I ask, my throat hoarse as I try to get their attention.
I’m completely ignored. The only sign they give that they heard me is a quick curl of their upper lips. I sigh. Guess that was a long shot. I move to sit up against the wall, bringing my knees up to my chest as I drop my head. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.
The door to the outside finally opens, revealing Mammon on the other side. He has a pile of red clothes with him, folded neatly with a piece of white twine on the top. Both conduits bow their heads at him as he passes, the smallest one handing him a long silver key which he uses to open up my jail cell.
“Get dressed,” he commands, placing the clothes at my feet.
I shake my head, dressing in clean clothing is the least of my worries. “Where’s Levi? What have you done to him?”
Both conduits raise their brows, looking between each other. Mammon’s upper lip snarls and he hauls me up by my hair, delivering a brutal slap across my cheek. “I said get fucking dressed.”
Despite how much it hurt, I stand my ground. I’ll take any amount of pain for the other half of me. I need to know how he is. I need to see him. “Not until you tell me what’s going on! Where the fuck is Levi!”
“Get him ready,” Mammon barks to the conduits, obviously having lost his patience with me.
He leaves the room silently and the two men proceed to strip me. I don’t feel any shame as they expose every inch of me. No, I fight. I won’t be used as a fucking pawn, won’t be manipulated, and won’t give anybody a second of peace until I know where they’re keeping Levi. But it’s a losing battle. There’s two of them and one very weak me, so it only takes them minutes to get me dressed.
Once I’m in an all-red robe with the white twine tying my hands in front of me, I’m led out of the basement. When we step outside, the sun blinds me, burning my retinas. Once my vision clears, I gasp at what I see.
The streets are lined with people, all in white, who ‘ooo’ and ‘ahhhh’ as I pass them. Some even try to reach out to touch me which makes me take a step back and bump into the conduits leading me. Nothing makes sense as I’m taken down the main street of the gated neighborhood until I see where they’re leading me.
It looks like a regular clubhouse that would hold the main office of any complex, but inside, it’s vastly different. It’s all one huge open room with rows and rows of seating that faces a stage.
A stage with one raised platform where every brother minus Levi stands.
I realize what’s happening and start to fight against the conduits. I kick and scream, snarling at them as I try to fight against my fate. This is the ceremony Levi kept talking about, the one where I’m meant to be sacrificed to stop the end of days. All these fucking people—brainwashed because they’re too stupid to have their own thoughts—believe it. They clap when I’m brought up the stage and tied down to the platform.
I try to wriggle out of the constraints, but they’re too tight. I keep going, keep fighting, until a silent hush fills the room.
Then I see him.
Master .
For a second, I want to laugh. This… This man can’t be the one all these people follow. He can’t be the one that controls the Princes of Hell with an iron fist. He’s a weak frail old man. He can’t even walk on his own, Mammon has to go to the literal three steps to help him up the stage. He’s decrepit, wrinkly, looking like the Grim Reaper simply because his time is so close to coming that you can smell the death on him.
Once Mammon has him in front of the podium, the old man—because I refuse to call him Master —covers the microphone with a shaking veiny hand. “Has it been done, Mammon?”
Mammon nods solemnly. “The toxin has been removed, Master.”
Wait. Toxin?
Master smiles at that and uncovers the microphone, leaning forward to address the throng of people waiting for my death. “My flock. Thank you for joining us at this very special ceremony. You might notice that a certain prince is missing.” The crowd mumbles as I hold my breath. “Our great Mammon has removed yet another plague that was poisoning us. Leviathan strayed and he paid the ultimate price.”
“No!” I scream, fat tears rolling down my cheeks at his words. “No! No! Levi!”
Everything in me shatters. My heart stops beating and my lungs cease working. My whole world collapses, and I feel every shard of Earth pierce through me.
Levi’s dead.
“No!” I cry again, banging my head against the platform, wishing it to be untrue. “ Fuck !”
I had just found and accepted him. I just realized how stupid I was for fighting the pull between us for so long. Levi always knew we were meant to be together with such a deep certainty he wouldn't budge, even when I made it so difficult for him.
The only person who has ever seen me. The only person who has ever cared about me. The only person who I could be my true self around.
The other half of me.
He’s. Fucking. Gone.
“Mammon will be the one to bring us our final bounty,” the old man continues, ignoring my agony as he places a knife in Mammon’s outstretched hand. He turns back to the crowd, raising his arms in the air with a weary old smile. “My flock. Let us pray that it leads us to a glorious future for the end of days.”
“It will be a glorious future,” Mammon states, taking a deep breath as he nods. “You just won’t be in it.”
And with the utmost care?—
He stabs his Master.
“Fuck!” I hear Bel shout behind me. “I want him to rail me so bad!”
“It’s time for a change,” Mammon states, smirking as he digs the knife deeper into his master’s chest until the old man breathes his final breath.
Both of the terror twins start cackling as madness descends all around us. Asi’s already untying my restraints when people begin screaming, crying, and running around like they don’t know what to do with themselves. It doesn’t help when Bel and Gore go apeshit, jumping from the stage into the audience with their weapons drawn, looking for chaos to spin.
But I don’t live for chaos. No, I don’t live for anything anymore. My life is absolutely meaningless, empty, and cold.
So, I don’t think.
I simply feel.
I let my tired feet guide me to the podium and reach for the knife in the old man’s chest.
I drop to my knees, tears blurring my vision as I take the knife and dig it deep into my arm.
One long vertical slice down to my wrist.
I don’t think.
I simply feel.
I close my eyes as I hold out my other arm and cut myself.
One long vertical slice down to my wrist.
And it’s with the face of the love of my life that I willingly enter Hell.
Hoping I’ll see him there too.