Vampire
The end. The omega. Mortua. The reaper. None hold the domain that it—that she does.
Unknown
No.
No.
No. No. No.
Not again. Not again.
I can’t feel anything but the way her body is slumped in my arms. The way she seems to flop with the movements as I somehow propel us across New Chicago. A power I didn’t even know I had.
I don’t know where to go. I don’t know who to contact.
Can I even contact anyone?
She’s alive, still. I can feel that much. But the tether is weakening. The bond holding her is strong enough that I can still grasp onto it, but I don’t know what to even do with that instinct.
With the fact that I can feel the bond.
The only place I can think of is several thousands of miles away and I don’t know if she’d even keep an antidote or whatever the fuck this is doing to her.
Fucking silver bullets dipped in emerald.
Of course. It’s tacky and fucking ridiculous that this is the way she’d die. That she’d not tell me.
The border of New Chicago appears, and I fly over it as if I’m going somewhere. As if this even fucking matters.
I won’t be able to get to Romania in time.
I won’t be able to find anyone who would know anything about vampires.
The world flashes as I speed towards what I hope is the general direction of Romania.
At the very least she should die with her people, right?
Something cracks. Not me, nor even Cass.
No, it’s like the world splits. Like there’s a something I just shattered that shouldn’t have broken. Or maybe can’t break.
Except it just did.
I see the rift. It’s over what I think is the Steel Empire. Which is somewhat disconcerting since that’s at least a few hundred miles from New Chicago.
It’s a rift of darkness. Of midnight ink that I just created.
I know I created it. The same way I know Cass is still alive. The same way I knew those spirits were being directed into the afterlife.
It’s instinctive.
I don’t think. I just fly straight through it.
The same strange lights flash. The same way they had when I’d fallen into the void in the Seer’s grotto.
The same voices speak. But their words are strange and repetitive.
Cass’ tether strengthens here. Just a little. Like it’s trying to pull her back together. Like it’s helping me.
“Thank you,” I whisper to no one.
To something far greater than me. Or, perhaps not—
But no one answers—how could they?
There is no one here.
Something cracks again.
And the world reappears.
I see window a little too late. My body reforms, but the momentum carries. There’s a sickening pop as my shoulder strikes the thick panes.
Rolling onto the floor, I cradle Cass between my one useful arm and a plane of shadow that cushions us as we roll back into the center of the room.
I stand slowly and painfully, feeling my shoulder reknit itself.
Cass doesn’t move, but I can hear her breaths—ragged and painful.
My shoulder thunks back into place, and I nearly puke but manage to let out a strained groan before bending to pick her up.
She’s so light. So much lighter than she should be.
Her bed sinks with her weight and I drop to my knees beside her. Sweat beads at her forehead, plastering her dark hair to her scalp and face.
“Cass,” I whisper, stroking her face. “Baby, please.”
Nothing.
She’s alive, but the tether is starting to fray. The void had only done so much.
“Goddamnit,” I hiss, putting my hands on her neck and face. I see the wound now. It’s not even bloody. Like her body hadn’t even bothered to bleed.
Like it knew it was over.
“You can’t die on me,” my tears fall now.
There’s nothing to be done. Nothing to do. I can only sit here and watch this happen.
“This is so fucking unfair,” a torrent of darkness crashes into her bedside table. It fragments like a bomb just went off.
If what had happened to Percy was excruciating, the torment now is rending.
Like watching my own soul shrivel up and die.
“You can’t,” I say, voice louder, “you can’t go.”
The tether weakens. Her eyes flutter and her face pales. It’s a real-time desiccation of her fucking body and I can’t stop it.
“What the fuck is the point,” my throat is raw from the useless raging. I press my face into her chest. Feeling her against me one last time.
Her heart thuds slower. It gives a few quick, successive beats then skips. It happens again. And again. Each interval further apart.
“Reach into her and grab it,” a voice whispers. I don’t see them.
I turn to look around the room, but there’s no one.
There’s no other soul. I can’t feel anyone but Cass.
“Fine,” I say, my voice thin. “Just reach in and pull it out.”
Nothing happens, of course. My shadows can’t just “reach in” and pull the fucking bullet out.
And then it happens—the tether disappears.
Darkness erupts. Like a violent torrent of power that I can’t control. Things shatter around me. The tornado of suffering that I can’t seem to stop. That I don’t want to stop. There’s screaming, but I can’t tell if it’s me or the other side.
The tether. Where is the fucking tether?
It’s the void landscape, except Cass isn’t here. Where the fuck is she?
The inky darkness ripples but it’s just me. She’s dead. I know she is. I just fucking felt her die.
So why is it only me?
Has it always just been me?
Am I the only one?
What am I?
I stare out into the nothingness. Anger and shame pressing cold claws against my heart.
I failed. I failed her.
Something glints in the void. It’s hard to make out but it’s—
It’s a string. The tether. It’s rising further and further into the air, but I don’t wait to figure out what to do.
I leap for it and grab it with hands that don’t exist. I can feel her in it. Feel her resonating.
But it’s still pulling. It’s still trying to leave and go wherever the fuck death takes beautiful people.
“No.”
A single word.
A single command.
The force of the eruption sends me flying. I collide with the other wall of the room. Her room. In Romania.
I can see everything now. I can see the wood flooring. The bed that looks a little worse for wear. The drawers and knickknacks shredded by my outburst.
And her.
And she’s moving.
“Oh fuck,” I cry out scrambling to my feet and diving to the bed. “Don’t you fucking die again.”
“I—” she wheezes and her entire body spasms.
“Stop, you’re alive. You’re okay,” I whisper, frantic.
“I should have told you,” She rasps.
“I don’t fucking care about you being a goddamned vampire,” I say, breathless. I can feel the tether. It’s strong. It’s there.
She’s going to live.
“You—” her eyes open and the stupid contacts hide the brilliant orange.
But she’s alive.
“No, you idiot,” I feel manic with glee and fear. “I don’t care because I love you. There’s nothing you could be that would scare me because I love you, Cass.”
I press my face to her chest and let out a sob. I can feel her heart. It’s beating and moving and beautiful.
She lets out a painful cough. “I love you, too.”