Chapter 25 #2
He smiles at me. “He tries so hard to protect you, doesn’t he?
Don’t you wish you could stay with him forever?
We all know the reason he pushes you away is that he’s afraid I’m going to kill you.
But if you were useful to me, I wouldn’t do such a thing, and you could continue seeing him.
He has his servants packing everything up today.
He’s on the move again, for the first time in many years.
He used to move constantly… I wonder what kept him in the same place for so long.
I can’t imagine it would be something like you. ”
Atticus is leaving? What if I can never find him again? My stomach tightens at the thought. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do. I have an offer for you. You see, once he starts moving, it’s rather bothersome to track him down.
But someone like you? He lets you find him.
He makes sure you do. What if I gave you the option to always be with him…
and in exchange, you only need to tell me where he is whenever I wish to seek him out? ”
“No, I won’t do that to him.”
“I’ll find him one way or another. Do you really think I have no other way to locate him?
That I didn’t already put people in his life that belong to me?
As for you, if you don’t agree, we’re going to walk outside and I’m going to slit your throat and toss you on the road where he’ll find you when he makes his great escape. ”
“Why?” I whisper.
“Because I simply can’t stand to see that man happy. It just… it makes me want to hurt him,” he states. His fingers slide through my hair while he leans in close. “So what will it be, Yorick? Will you be my personal scout or will I slit your throat? You know, I could do it in front of him.”
“I won’t betray him,” I say in a shaky voice.
“Such strong words coming from such a small man,” he mocks as he hooks me and begins dragging me out of the tavern.
I hope someone will stop him, that someone will help me, but everyone inside cowers away just from his mere presence.
Even if they know nothing about vampires, they know that he’s a monster, and they’re not going to sacrifice their lives for mine.
No… the only one who’s ever protected me is Atticus. And now Morpheus wants me to betray him?
He carries me over to the shadows and then dashes into the night. I try to push myself off him, try to twist away, but the second I do, he slams my arm down hard, breaking it.
I cry out as he pulls me tighter. “This is what happens when you fight me. Do you want to keep fighting me?”
I shake my head, but I’m really not sure what I want besides being back with Atticus. I want to live a normal life with him by my side.
“Don’t fight. There’s really no sense in it at all, is there? No fussing.”
I’m breathing heavily as I question why I didn’t listen to Atticus and leave him alone after he asked me to so many times. He tried to reason with me again and again, but I selfishly kept going back to him.
“It’s such an easy choice, Yorick. Do you want to live or do you want to die? I will probably make Atticus watch you die. That sounds significantly better, don’t you think?”
“Please, please don’t,” I beg. “If you’re just going to kill me, kill me right here.”
“That defeats the entire purpose of your death. You’re really too pretty to die, but if you must, I want to make sure Atticus is there to witness it.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can.”
All too soon, I’m standing on the road that leads up to Atticus’s manor. The very road that I’ve always longed to see, I now want nothing to do with. Morpheus sets me down on my feet, and I cradle my broken arm against my chest while my mind races, wondering what I should do.
“This is the last time I’m asking. I can hear him leaving his home. Do you want to live and be with Atticus? Or do you want to die?”
“You will just keep hurting him,” I snap. “No matter what I choose, you will hurt him. You always do.”
“You don’t think your death will hurt him more? You think I won’t just keep finding him myself? Or find someone else to continually drive into his life?” Morpheus pushes my hair off my forehead. “Yorick, decide.”
All I’ve ever wanted is to be loved by someone like Atticus. No, not someone like him. By him. I want him to love me the way I love him. But to betray him like that?
“I want to be with him,” I whisper, unsure whether this is my final answer or not, but Morpheus takes it as one.
He grabs me and moves so swiftly that I don’t even have time to register what’s happening before blood is running down my neck and chest. I stagger back and clutch at my throat.
I don’t want to die. I don’t…
My legs no longer seem to be a part of me. They’re too heavy, and I can’t keep myself standing. I stagger as I realize that all of this was a joke. Morpheus was going to kill me either way, wasn’t he?
If I can make it to the trees, then maybe Atticus will never know I died here. Maybe he’ll live his life thinking that I finally found somewhere I was happy and didn’t need to keep coming back to him.
But the idea of dying alone is terrifying. I don’t want to be alone. I want Atticus more than anything. I want to see him one last time. I want him to lie to me and tell me it’ll be all right.
I hit down on my knees as I see movement when Atticus’s carriage turns away from the manor and continues down the road.
It’s Atticus’s carriage… leading him away from me.
I’m scared… and it hurts so badly.
Opening my mouth to call out to him gets me nowhere, since I can’t manage to speak. Pain, terror, and loneliness wash through me while I sink forward and crash onto the dirt road.
Tears trail down my cheeks at the cruelty of this world. Could I not have what I wanted even at my dying moment?
Soft hands touch me and I open my eyes, looking up into the dark ones staring down at me. Atticus’s hand pushes my hair back before he leans down and presses his forehead against mine.
“I’m right here,” he whispers. “It’s okay. I’m right here.” His hands tighten on me. “Why does Morpheus like you?”
Like me? He slit my throat. He left me here to die.
“Do you want to live, Yorick? Do you want to be stuck frozen in time for eternity? You’ve always struggled to find happiness. I doubt this will help. It’s not an easy life and it sure isn’t one filled with people. You’ll become a monster like I am.”
I cling tightly to him, just wanting to feel him.
“I’ll keep you alive… but in exchange, you have to promise you’ll help me dispose of him. We have to end this,” Atticus says before leaning down and sinking his teeth into my throat.