Chapter 32
Thirty-Two
Isabella
The darkness hummed dimly, almost sadly. The same powerful energies that the shadow had stolen were now causing pain. Unimaginable misery. Enough that I couldn’t be nothing. Nothing had no hurts. Which meant I was someone.
Only I couldn’t scream out in discomfort.
I couldn’t move. And the shadow didn’t have it in it to stir either.
Inside me, it realized what I already knew.
We were dying. The one it stole for, the one it sought out, had wanted this from the very beginning.
Julius made its gloom and desolation to die here. For him.
But, that was already known too. And although, it should have been okay with what it already knew as the agony ripped through me, it was sad and angry, then I felt its regret. Regret in choosing its creator when… it was missing the bad one.
In my head, the blackness painted a picture of the bad one’s face and while imagining him; it grew sadder and filled with more regret.
My darkness was lonely, like me.
Only I didn’t know why I was lonely. Or why I was sad. And that ache in my chest? Well, it felt worse than my dying body.
The worse our situation grew, the sadder and angrier it got at Julius.
I didn’t understand its change of heart, but I came to understand it didn’t want to die today, even though I was already halfway there.
If I died, it did with me. It didn’t like that idea.
Just as shocking, my darkness didn’t want me to die at all.
“Izzie!”
What?
The shadow stirred at the sound.
He came?...
If the gloomy blackness spoke that would have been its words..
“I need you to come the rest of the way.”
It let me lift my head, then it allowed me to open my eyes.
Through my eyes, its depressed presence purred against my insides at the skeleton lying on the surface of the vortex.
I was inside a barrier, but all around me, the storm thrashed violently like it was waiting for the moment it could get me when the barrier was broken.
Why was the bad one here?
And why did that make me feel good?
The remorseful blackness that lived within me began to yearn for him.
Then it let me remember one word. A name.
And everything rushed back to me in angry and bitter memories. But there were also a lot of good ones, especially ones that came with the name.
Sebastian.
I remembered what I had done, and I knew why he was here. And instead of drowning in guilt, my eyes swam with tears because I was so fucking thankful for him. He wasn’t going to let me go. Just like he promised. I loved him. And I thought he would be okay with that.
“Sebastian,” I cried out for him.
Agonizing pain rippled through my body and I screamed. It felt like any second, I might burst. I had to do something.
Sebastian came for me. He needed me. Me.
I tried to move my arms and couldn’t. The vortex held me locked in an awkward pose I couldn’t seem to move out of even though there was nothing on my body.
The darkness that was once dimming was now restless and bursting with the need to get to Sebastian.
I gritted my teeth and pulled at one of my arms until it popped free and I was able to move it.
Next came the other. Lastly, my feet. The shadow working with me instead of against me made the effort easy until Julius popped up between Sebastian and me.
“You have to stay,” Julius warned me.
Instead of a hum, his creation roared at him. And the next thing that happened surprised the hell out of me. Instead of taking control of me or letting Julius have me the moment his hot iron grip smacked my shoulder, my gloomy shadow gave up control. To me.
Not to Julius.
Not to itself.
Not even to Sebastian.
But me.
Because we both wanted the same thing.
Sebastian.
As I took control of what had always been inside of me since Julius put it there, I felt its desire for something other than pleasing Julius. I felt its uncontrollable want for Sebastian Reaper.
Even my broken body couldn’t stop the smile on my face. “You’re not real.” Then I slipped through the mirage of Julius and bent down to the skeleton lying partially out of the barrier.
I grabbed his boned fingers and just like all the times before, ecstasy rolled through me like waves.
His turquoise-colored essence burst back to life around his bones as he lifted himself to his knees, cupped my cheek, and said, “Izzie,” just as he melded back into flesh and blood.
He was naked, but I wasn’t complaining because I was too.
Breathing heavily, I simply stared at him, then myself as his sin began to heal me. What was a curse for him, worked in so many ways for me and my darkness. “You didn’t have to save me,” I told him honestly.
“And miss the chance to wine and dine you?” His left eyebrow went up playfully despite the situation.
I laughed lightly at his words. “But I’m glad you did,” I whispered, holding his eyes captive, hoping my own, conveyed everything I felt and wanted to say but hadn’t yet.
“I haven’t saved us yet.” He stood up, holding my hands as he helped me to my feet. “If we don’t stop this vortex from ripping into the human world, no one will be left and the survivors… well, they’d wish they were dead.”
He was right. Julius had informed me of his plan and my part in fate right before he dragged me under his control.
“What do we do?” I asked him.
“First,” he materialized clothes on himself, then me before turning away from me as he took off his cloak, “we get out of here. Hop on my back. You won’t make it inside the vortex if I don’t hide you underneath my cloak.
” I did as he said and placed my arms around his shoulders, followed by my legs around his waist. Pressed snugly against him, I lay my head against the nape of his neck and let him cover me with the cloak.
I felt the tug in the front where he held it closed with his hand. “I’m gonna run.”
And he did. I didn’t see or feel much of anything underneath the cloak, but I know Sebastian did.
He lost his skin, and I pressed against the coolness of his bones and his essence lit up underneath the cloak.
Mesmerized, I watched as his essence moved around my body and the darkness formed underneath my skin, chasing around the glow.
It was oddly beautiful, almost like they were kissing each other.
Maybe they were because they needed each other.
Maybe that made them thankful toward one another.
My insides tingled and warmed with their connections. I wondered if Sebastian felt it too?
For the first time, I found acceptance in the darkness. If it could give over its control to me, I could accept the past, the present, and the future of it.
“Sebastian!” One of his sisters sounded relieved. When the cloak was removed, and he placed my feet on the ground, I saw that it wasn’t his sister, but his mom.
His siblings were no longer bound by the bracelets now that I was free, and by the expressions on their faces, I could tell that they were happy to see Sebastian.
I stood slightly behind him, using the height and width of him to hide from their gazes.
Sebastian had to materialize some clothes on himself again, but mine had been protected inside the cloak.
“He did it.” Maureen smiled, then whipped her dark eyes on me. “She back to normal?”
“Of course she is,” August said with a shrug. “Look at the way she’s gripping his arm for dear life. If she was still the crazy thing earlier, she’d be running from him.”
I hadn’t realized I was clutching his arm like a lifeline. I stopped immediately. “I’m sor—”
“We can’t wait any longer,” Melanie yelled. She was bent down next to the Grim Reaper as he faded in and out. She had tears in her eyes. What was happening to him?
Maureen ran at the vortex, a sword in each hand as she sent a powerful wave of her orange essence at it. The storm swallowed it up whole without a hint of danger. “How do we stop it?” she hissed.
I studied the layers of magic around the whirlwind. I knew its energies as well as its weaknesses. I had been the one to create it after all. They couldn’t stop it at this point. It was too big.
I moved beside Sebastian. Shoulders straight, I glanced at the ones I had stolen power from against their will, knowing I was about to ask to do it again. This time with permission.
“You can’t stop it,” I told them the truth. “But I can.” So many eyes were watching me. “But, in order to do so, I’m going to have to hurt you again.”