Epilogue
Josh
I hope you fucking rot.
The sting of the bruise began to fade, beginning the process of healing. Much like Remi’s harsh words, but not enough to get them out of my head. Her anger toward me was warranted, and I couldn’t blame her, not one bit, but how she said it; the look in her cold dead eyes ripped me to shreds.
For fuck’s sake, the girl had a grip on my goddamn heart.
I ended up back in Father’s office, sitting in the empty seat across from him, the sweat continuing to drip down his face. It could only mean one thing; a vision was coming.
Judging by the looks of his complexion and the nervous shake in his hands, it was going to be a big one, and that put me more on edge.
“Mateo,” called Father Benedict. My birth name, and he was the only person allowed to call me such. A name I despised since I found the truth to it. The only other person who knew was Baron, and even he didn’t dare to reveal it.
“Father, do you think it’s wise for Remi to travel with us?” I questioned.
He smoothed down a spot on his robe, trying to remove a wrinkle. “You’re her guardian. The Aces know what they’re dealing with, and I have come to fear one among the pack plotting against you both.”
“So, Remi is being targeted?”
“So are you. You remember the prophecy I gave you?”
“Yes, but—”
“The attraction will only build unless you can control it. I would rather her be angry at you than bring down the whole human race.”
Father Benedict used a tissue to dab his forehead as I watched him breathe slowly, preparing himself for the blow.
After the Blessing, I’d found Father Benedict barely conscious in his office, covered in his sweat and vomit. I had called for help to the infirmary, unsure if this vision was the one to kill him. The same pain-stricken look and unsteady hands. A vision had come to him in the middle of the night of me and an unknown female with beautiful blonde hair, but chaos was pictured in the distance. Blood and sacrifice, the Earth tilting too far off its axis, trying to survive every known demon walking the Earth. All because my hands held her . All because the power we wielded together created a catastrophic disaster.
Father couldn’t figure out why we were the deciding factors, and at first, I didn’t believe it, but since meeting Remi, the magnetic pull of her very presence twisted all my morals and responsibilities to rubble. The night I met her at Electric Haze turned everything I built to protect upside down, and I tried so hard to be with someone else, to open my heart to a lesser evil.
Because Remi and I were forbidden, and if we let ourselves embrace the intensity of these feelings, then nobody would survive.
Father Benedict’s head rolled back, a gurgling sound rumbling deep within his chest, and his body shook from the tremors of the vision. I bolted from my seat, keeping his body and head steady, avoiding any possible damage. Usually, his visions lasted for a few seconds, no more than a minute, but the longer he convulsed, the harder it would be to recover. Foam escaped his mouth, dripping down his neck into his already sweat-soaked robe.
“Father,” I called. Usually, we were told not to disrupt the Seer’s visions, it could alter or cut off too quickly and the message wouldn’t make sense, but watching him convulse in a manner so violent left me no choice but to stop the pain.
“Father, it’s Mateo. I’m here with you,” I soothed.
The foam stopped just as he took a huge gulp of air, his breathing ragged, his eyes coming forward. The once white of his eyes was almost completely red, tears streaming down his face from the intensity of his vision.
“Father?” I called again.
He leaned forward, bowing his head as he tried to control his unsteady breaths, shaking and cold from his perspiration. “Water.”
With one hand on his back to steady him, I reached for the handle on the bottom drawer of his desk and grabbed a small bottle of water he kept at hand, untwisted the lid, and fed him the warm liquid. Father drank every last drop, sighing with relief when I gently laid him back against the chair.
“You were out longer than usual,” I murmured.
“Was I?”
Anxiety began to trickle down my neck and shoulders. “What did you see?”
“I didn’t see anything, that’s the problem.”
I straightened my spine in response. “Nothing? So, you mean to tell me—”
Father cleared his throat and pushed the sleeves of his robe up to his forearms. “It means the world was covered in complete darkness.”
When I didn’t say anything, Father Benedict took out a set of white rosary beads and began to mumble a prayer until the words were barely a whisper. If the world was covered in darkness, and Father couldn’t see any salvation, it only meant one thing.
We lost.