Chapter Twenty-One
Amelia
H ell follows me everywhere I go .
It burns the people I love just like it burns me. Maybe I was never meant to escape it.
I press my hands harder against Margaret’s wound, my fingers slipping in her blood. The restaurant is chaos. Shouting. Wailing in the distance. People screaming. But all I hear is the faint, wet rasp of her breathing. It's way too shallow and slow. Margaret is old and fragile. I hope, with everything inside me, that she can survive this.
“Margaret,” I choke out. “You have to hold on, okay? Just a little longer.”
She blinks up at me, unfocused and delirious.
“I love you,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “I don’t think I ever told you that. But I do. I love you so much. You don’t get to leave me, okay? You don’t get to die before I show you how much you mean to me.”
She smiles, and it shreds me.
Her thumb strokes my cheek. “Oh, my sweet girl,” she murmurs.
Her hand is bloody, and her thumb smears the red liquid on my cheek. “I took you in because I understood you,” she says softly. “Because I saw myself in you.”
“Margaret—”
“I’m just like you,” she cuts off whatever I meant to say. With a shaky breath, she confesses, “I ran too.”
The world shifts beneath me.
Her nails bite into my skin. “I was supposed to be sacrifice number thirty.”
I shake my head, horror creeping up my spine. “No,” I whisper. “No, that’s not possible.”
The village never told us about any sacrifices escaping. It was a well-known fact: no one ever left the village. Ever. Not a single soul was born there and lived somewhere else. I thought I was the only one.
“Oh my god,” I breathe, clutching at my heart, which feels like it might stop at any moment.
All this time... I was with someone who’s just like me? Another sacrifice who escaped?
“You have to listen to me, Amelia,” she begs. “This isn’t right. They have something to do with this.”
Her words turn my blood ice cold. The only thing keeping me sane at that moment is the sound of sirens wailing in the distance.
Margaret’s state is deteriorating. She’s sweating, and blood won’t stop seeping out of her.
“Stay calm, Margaret. Help is on the way.” I try to console her, but she seems to sense her end.
The doors slam open, and two men storm inside. Masked. Massive. Rifles in their hands.
“Nobody move!” one of them bellows.
The restaurant is already on its knees, and panic sets in again. We thought it was over. Where is my Damien?
Their eyes find mine instantly, and I don’t even get the chance to run.
A hand grips my hair and jerks me back so hard my spine cracks. I claw at them, but the second man moves in, lifting me clean off the ground.
“No—NO!” I thrash, kicking wildly, slamming my heels into their shins, their ribs, anywhere I can reach.
Margaret is screaming my name, trying to crawl after them, her hands gripping their feet like it can stop them. One of them slams his foot down on her hand, hard, and she passes out.
Oh god.
I fight harder. Harder.
“Damien! Damien, help!” I bellow. My monster. My shadow. My everything. He’ll save me.
The first man grips my throat, cutting off my air. “Shut up.”
I choke on my scream as they drag me outside. The street is full of people, but no one helps me.
A white truck is parked right at the curb. Back doors thrown open, it’s waiting for me like a hungry mouth.
No.
The second man yanks a chain from his belt.
No. No, no, no—
Cold steel slams around my wrists, tightening until I gasp. The other end of the chain is bolted to the truck’s interior. They shove me inside, and the doors close behind me. The lock clicks.
It’s okay. It’s okay. I try to calm myself, whispering again and again that Damien is coming. He won’t leave me. But my doubts laugh at me.
It takes a moment to realize the giggles aren’t just in my head. They’re inside the truck too.
Linda...
She sits across from me, a sick jester smile stretched across her face.
“Well, well. Look at you.”
Linda sighs dramatically, like she actually pities me.
“I always knew something was off about you, so I did a little digging.” Her lips curl. “And guess what I found?”
I glare at her, my entire body trembling. I say nothing.
“You came from Hell.”
She knows. This is the worst that could’ve happened.
“Tell me, Amelia... don’t you think it’s time you went back?”
I suck in a sharp breath.
“I made some friends from your little village. Turns out, they were more than happy to help me drag you back.” She gestures vaguely. “Said something about a debt that needed to be paid.”
Sacrifice.
They’re taking me back to be sacrificed.
“You should’ve kept your head down. You should’ve never gotten close to Damien.”
I flinch at his name. Is he really coming to save me? Did he leave me? Can anyone save me at this point?
“Poor Damien. He has no idea, does he? No idea that you’re such a fucking weirdo.”
“You don’t know shit, Linda.” My voice is raw, furious. “You think he’ll let you walk away once they’re done with me? That he won’t kill you for what you’ve done?”
Uncertainty flickers in her eyes, but it’s gone just as fast.
“Maybe he’ll finally love me. You know, with you being gone and all.”
“Fuck. You.”
She chuckles, crossing her legs like she’s enjoying herself. She’s way too calm for someone handing me over to a fate worse than death.
I press back against the cold metal wall, heart hammering. My throat tightens, my lungs feel too small. But I don’t let her see it. I won’t let her see how fucking terrified I am.
“Did you actually think you’d have a happy ending? You? The girl who was never supposed to make it out alive? You’re a fucking joke.”
She walks closer until she’s right in my face.
“I promise you, sweetheart. He won’t even be able to find your body when they’re done.”
She’s the devil. She has to be, with the way she twists her words into sharp knives and throws them straight at my heart.
“Maybe he’ll look for a while. Maybe he’ll even cry over you. But in the end? He’ll forget. And he’ll find me right there to comfort him.”
I can’t bite my tongue any longer.
“Is that what this is about? You couldn’t have him, so no one else could? That’s pathetic, Linda.”
Her nostrils flare.
Bingo.
I don’t stop. I want her to break. I’m dead either way.
“You’re fucking miserable. Nothing more than a daddy’s girl with more money than you could ever spend. But all that money, and still you’re unlovable.”
I lean forward, spit the truth in her face.
“No matter what you do, or will ever do, Damien won’t ever love you.”
I bellow the last words. “And guess what, Linda. You aren’t just taking me to my grave, you dug yours too.”
I’m sure of it. If Damien can’t save me, if this is my last day on earth, then it’ll be Linda’s too.
That does it.
Her face twists, and rage floods her eyes. She lunges.
Her hands clamp down on my face so tight I’m sure her fingerprints will be branded into my skin. “You fucking bitch.”
But they made a mistake.
The chains are too long.
I swing my arm back and punch her in the face, so hard her head snaps to the side. The chain whips forward and slams into her forehead.
Linda screams, clutching her face as she topples backwards. Blood pours down her face, and a few seconds later, she’s unconscious.
“Oops.”