36. Seraphina
36
SERAPHINA
“JUST A BAD DREAM”
I jam Orion’s keys into the ignition of his truck, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when the engine rumbles to life on the first try. I jerk the gear into reverse, not even looking where I’m going as I attempt to turn the truck around.
As I’m shifting into drive, the cabin door bursts open, and I watch as Orion’s mouth opens in a heartbroken cry. He starts running toward the truck, and I force my eyes away, slamming my foot down on the gas as I peel off into the opening between the trees. When I look in my rearview, Orion has fallen to his knees, his bright blue eyes locked onto the tail of the truck as it disappears into the forest. My chest squeezes, but I force my attention to the road, carefully dodging stray limbs and rocks that jut out onto the thin path.
It’s thirty whole minutes before I make it to Vee’s. I park the truck at the edge of the clearing and jump out, not bothering to turn the engine off as I sprint toward the mountainside. Because I’ve noticed something—something that causes my heart to fall out of my chest.
The door is wide open.
“Vee!” My voice cracks as I call into the pitch-black mouth of the tunnel. “Vee, are you in there?”
Silence greets me, and I stumble into the dark, my hand brushing the wall to guide me as I maneuver the long hallway. When I enter the large circular foyer, only one sconce is lit, casting ominous shadows along the walls and floor.
My throat bobs as I catch a glimpse of a dark stain on the middle door handle. A stain that looks a whole lot like dried blood.
“No,” I moan. “No, no, no…”
The doors on either side are sprung wide open, the frames shattered like someone took a battering ram to them. From here, I can see clear into the tiger’s rooms, though my great furry beasts are nowhere to be seen.
I shake my head, unable to believe something has happened to them as I step forward, my palm closing around the door handle. I throw it open, fighting the urge to stumble back as the acrid stench of blood and sweat assaults my senses.
It looks like a tornado went through the room—cabinets torn open, couches thrown over, pillows sliced open with stuffing strewn across the floor—but the worst is the sight of Vee’s bookshelf. Her cherished possessions are strewn across the bloodied floor, some cut open, others burned to melted puddles on the ground. The glass case that held the onyx duck I had bought for Vee is smashed apart, the contents empty, and the fowl missing.
From what I can see, three dead bodies are strewn across the room, golden bird masks strapped to their faces and spattered with fresh blood. Deep, linear gashes run all across their flesh, oozing thick red liquid into the carpets and pooling along the stone floor. I have no doubt it’s the work of the tigers, and I gaze around the room for any signs of Sviato or Savyne, my heart falling when I come up with nothing.
With nothing left to do but hope they managed to escape through the open door, I gaze around the room for signs of Vee.
“Vee? Are you here?” My knees wobble as I stand there, holding my breath and praying for a word, a sound—anything to tell me Vee is alive.
And then I hear it—a gasp.
“Vee!” I rush around the island in the kitchen. I’m so happy, so overjoyed that she’s still alive, but my relief is cut short when I take in her state—at the dying light of her aura. There’s a deep, oozing gash sliced diagonally across her chest, spreading across her blouse and staining it red. Her skin—normally so vibrant and tan—glows pale in the flickering kitchen light, a thick sheen of sweat coating every exposed inch. She sucks small, shuddering gasps in through slightly parted lips, and with each exhale, a puddle of blood drips farther down the side of her chin.
And her eyes— oh God, her eyes . The calming bloodstone hue I know and love has been replaced with an ugly, milky-gray color. Almost like she’s… blind.
“ No .” I fall to my knees in a puddle of blood. “No. Please, no.”
I reach a hand out to touch her, only to yank my arm away as a rattling gasp exits Vee’s lips. Her eyes pop wide as she reaches up, her clouded eyes staring somewhere over my shoulder as she caresses my face. Thin lips pull upward, causing deep wrinkles to form in the corners of her eyes and mouth, but they only serve to make her look more beautiful.
“Is that you, Aaron?” she whispers. Her voice is a dying croak, but despite that, it’s filled with so much joy. And that look on her face… seeing it now, I realize I’ve never once seen Vee truly happy in all the years I’ve known her.
Aaron…
She must think I’m her old love, Aaron. The one who gave her the ducks.
“Aaron?” Her smile drops as she struggles to sit up—to find her Aaron again.
With my heart cracking, I place my hand atop hers that is still clinging to my cheek, praying the tears won’t fall and break this ruse. “I’m here, Elvira. It’s me, Aaron. I’m Here.”
“Oh, Aaron! ” Her eyes squint as a fresh wave of moisture builds in the corners. “Aaron, I’ve been so worried about you. Those masked people told me they killed you after they found us together that night. They taunted me with it, but I knew better.” She clutches her small black duck tightly in her palm. “I knew you would come back for me.”
My throat burns with the strength I keep my sob inside. For a moment, I don’t know if I can carry on with this—but then I look down at her. At my Vee. At my poor, dying Vee.
“I will always protect you. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” I whisper, wishing I could have more time with her. Wishing, selfishly, that I could say goodbye as Seraphina.
Vee brushes her thumb across my cheek, frowning slightly at the wetness she finds there. “Aaron… why ever are you crying?”
“I’m just so happy to see you.” I choke on the lie as I brush her silvery hair back from her bloodied forehead. “I missed you.” I will always miss you.
“Oh. I missed you too.” She smiles up at the ceiling, and for a moment, she’s the picture of serenity. I watch as her eyes close slowly, as she labors with each breath she draws. “But we’re together now, aren’t we?”
I nod, unable to stop the choked sound that claws out my throat. “We are, Vee. Together.”
“Vee?” Her eyes flutter open for the briefest moment, a deep eleven between her brows. “Vee… that sounds familiar.”
I shake my head even though I know she can’t see it. “Maybe you imagined it.”
“Yes… yes, I must have, mustn't I?” Her eyes drift closed once more, and I stifle a sob, preparing for the last breath to leave her. But a few moments later, she jerks awake with a gasp.
“Aaron? Aaron?” She looks around blindly, her eyes wide with fright.
“I’m here.” I continue to brush her hair back. “I’m still here.”
“Oh.” She relaxes once more, her eyes fixing on a point on the ceiling and never wavering. “Oh, Aaron, I had the strangest dream.”
“Really?” My voice is hoarse with emotion. “What was it about?”
“Oh, it was so awful...” Her lips quiver as she stares at that one spot, like somehow, it will tether her to this earth. “I dreamed—I dreamed that I was old. That you were gone, and life was…” She shudders, her eyes taking on a glossy sheen. “It was all just a bad dream, wasn’t it, Aaron?”
“Of course.” My words come out in broken, heaving sobs. “Of course it was.”
She smiles. Her chest rises once more, and then never again.
I clutch her frail body to me, closing my eyes tight as her warm blood seeps into my clothes. This isn’t real. Vee can’t be gone. She can’t.
Yet she is.
“Vee,” I whisper, brushing her hair behind her ear. I’m numb all over, forced to look at the lifeless body of the woman who was like a mother to me. And where all that nothingness had been a moment ago is suddenly filled with raw, blistering hate.
Who did this? Who would dare to hurt someone I love?
The answer comes as fast as the question—as true as the golden masks on the intruder's faces. The Sanctum did this. They took her from me, like they’ve taken nearly everything else.
A nasty snarl twists my face as I lean my head back, screaming my pain into the empty skies above. Wishing, praying someone will listen, will bring her back.
Nobody does.
My sobs are cut off abruptly as the sound of shuffling footsteps makes their way to my ears. I raise my head, surprised to see Orion standing in the doorway, his face ashen as he stares at the carnage—at the dead woman in my arms. The aura bursting from his shoulders is tinged with blue, swirling and melting into the black and eating up all the light in the room.
“Seraphina…” He takes a step toward me, bright blue eyes piercing me through the shadows. “Seraphina… let me help you.”
I stare at him unblinking, the corners of my vision crowding with red as my broken mind twists and weaves its own narrative. If he hadn’t killed those people at the Neon Flamingo… if he hadn’t kidnapped me, the Sanctum probably would never have found me. If he just left me the fuck alone, none of this would have happened. Vee would still be alive.
“ Get. Out.” My voice is not my own, morphed into something vile—born of hatred. Of fury. “ Murderer.”
He shakes his head, coming to a dead stop as his eyes widen, pain brimming from those clear blue depths. So it seems he’s come to the same conclusion as me. That this is his fault.
“Seraphina… I never knew this would happen,” he whispers. “If I thought—I only wanted to make you happy. To?—”
“ Happy? ” A laugh fills the air, but it holds no joy. “ Happy? You have destroyed one of the only things that ever made me ‘happy.’”
He takes a step back, his head shifting side to side. “I don’t—I never meant?—”
“You’re a fucking monster.” My eyes narrow in hatred. “You’re sick. Delusional. And now Vee is the one who has to pay the price.”
Squaring his shoulders, he begins moving toward me again. “We’ll work together. We’ll take down whoever is responsible for this. We’ll?—”
“There is no ‘we ’!” I scream, my chest heaving.
Orion is breathing just as hard, his pupils blowing, eating up the blue until his eyes are one black circle. “Seraphina, I love you! You think I would have done any of that— any of it, if I thought it would lead to this? I’ve been trying to take care of you in the only way—the one way I know how! Let me help you, please, ” he begs.
I shake my head sadly, all the fight seeping from my veins. “Go away, Orion…” I drop my eyes, staring down at Vee’s lifeless face. “Please, just… leave us alone.”
His eyes widen, and he takes a step back as a strange emotion flits over his face, his aura deepening to a menacing pitch. “I can’t do that. Please, let me help you. I can fix this?—”
“Fucking leave us !” I scream, hot tears streaming down my face. Red swarms my vision, blotting out Orion's horrified expression. The pain of Vee’s death is too raw, too real, too much, and I desperately grab onto anything else but this emotion.
I settle on anger.
“You’ve done enough.” I turn from him to glance down at Vee’s pallid, lifeless features. “Just leave.”
He shakes his head. “Seraphina, I love yo?—”
“Don’t you fucking dare. ” I bare my teeth at him in a nasty snarl. “You tell me now ? You tell me now, when I’m holding Vee’s dead body in my arms? You don’t love me—you’re just obsessed with getting me to love you. Well, trying to manipulate me when I’m down isn’t going to fucking work. I’ve been through worse than you, Orion Adair. I hate you! I hate you, and I always fucking will.”
His face falls, and for a moment, my grip on my anger slips, making way for guilt to twist its way into my heart. “You don’t mean that…”
I could be silent. I could say nothing. But everything in me–-everything I am wants to rip the walls from this place. I’m so angry. There’s no room for anything else.
“I meant every fucking word,” I snarl. “Leave. Go, and don’t you dare look back.”
He just stands there staring, and in a fit of rage, I rip the shoe from my foot and fling it at his head. “FUCKING LEAVE! You’ve ruined everything !”
I collapse onto Vee, great shuddering sobs wracking my body as the pain tries to escape. But every time some of it seeps from my pores or falls from my mouth, it’s replaced by that endless stream of sorrow opening up in my chest.
I don’t hear Orion leave, but he's gone when I look back up. With an anguished sob, I rake my nails against the stone floor until they’re bloody and raw. But it’s nothing compared to the pain raging inside my chest. Nothing compared to the flame of hate igniting everything I am.
They took her. They took her. They took her .
With a cry, I push to my feet, my gaze molten as I curse the heavens above. As I vow to murder every single last one of the people—no, the monsters —who took Vee away from me. Just as I’m about to turn away from her, I notice something clutched in her palm. It’s small and black and looks suspiciously like…
The duck. The obsidian duck I gave to Vee.
A new cavern opens in my chest as I crouch down, gently pulling the duck from her hand and clutching it to my heart. “I will avenge you,” I promise, bending to place one last kiss along Vee’s pale forehead. “If it’s the last thing I do, I will right this terrible wrong.” I walk toward the exit, my shoulders held high despite the terrible weight pressing down on me.
Though, for all my perceived strength, I can’t find it in myself to look back.