Chapter 57
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Xavier
As he tries to get in the house, Blaine's pain is searing up my arms as he looks for a way in. Latham, all I feel from him is defeat and fear. We are not getting into that house; there is no way. We all know it, yet something keeps pulling me back to the casting.
I watch it unfold in the back seat. I can't think of why, yet no matter how many times I walk around the house, I find my feet taking me back to the car.
Coming past Latham again, he stands by the door.
The look on his face is like he is dead inside.
I saw that look on his face before when he tried to kill himself after losing Maya.
Blaine, I could hear around the other side of the house, and I peer in through the door.
Prison worlds are secure, and only the caster and the key have access to them; not even the devil himself can break into a prison world, so they are rarely created.
Special permission has to be granted by the council to erect one because sanctions have to protect it from the public.
Humans crossing into one would notice no difference, only demons, and only those trained in what to look for could identify a prison world.
"Latham?" I say, gripping his arm. "We will…"
I don't finish what am saying because I am unsure, but I know he would give her up to keep her safe.
We all would until we find another way to get her back.
I can hear Leviathan trying to convince Bella to open the door, though I cannot see him.
Her fear can be felt. Yet something else, her burning hatred for Leviathan.
He has always been unhinged. Long before he was ever placed in that vessel.
The reason his father handed the title to Latham; Leviathan, was as crazy as a cut snake.
He killed for joy and pleasure, a true sadist. He enjoyed others' pain.
I knew Latham feared his brother because of what he was capable of.
No, Latham was stronger, and more competent than his brother, but he couldn't predict Leviathan.
The man was deluded. Years of torturing and running the underworld had sent his mind elsewhere.
He suffered with reality and the confines of his own imagination.
Only seconds ago, he was chasing Bella around the house, and now she was convincing him she wanted to be with him like she was playing a game.
Her voice reaches my ears easily, even without being in the house.
And once again, my eyes fall on the car outside the gate.
My body is compelled to go there and recheck it.
Blaine is a frantic mess and would kill himself trying to get to her while Latham has switched off. Gone to some dark place, yet Bella's overwhelming determination has my mind reeling. What did she put in her mouth?
Walking out the gates, I stop by the car and look back at the house. It just looks like an abandoned mansion. I can't even see Latham, though I know he hasn't moved from his position at the front door. What is going on behind the gate is completely obscured from the outside world.
I search the car again, my anger growing more and more as I keep replaying the cast, looking at it from every angle possible.
Walking around to the other side of the cast, I replay it.
I watch as she stuffs and puts something in her mouth.
Only from this angle do I see her hand push between the seat and the backrest.
"Idiot," I curse, having not figured it out sooner.
Opening the door, I lean in, running my hand between the gap, searching for what she’s placed inside.
When my fingertips touch the glass, my brows pinch as I wrap my fingers around the cylinder-shaped object and pull it out.
It easily fits in the palm of my hand. The cap or cork is gone, but a residue of a red substance lies at the bottom.
Climbing out of the car, I hold it up to the light. It looks like blood. Curious, I stick my pinky inside before licking it. I am suddenly smashed with memories. None are Bella's but Addie's. I gasp, recognizing it is vampire blood, and I turn, looking at the house.
She has vampire blood in her system. My heart races at the knowledge, and I turn to run through the gates to let Latham know.
However, the moment I push the gate open, I am hit with a force field.
My body hurtles through the air as heat blasts me, and I land on the windshield of Leviathan's car.
The air is knocked from my lungs on impact.
I choke and gasp, forcing myself upright.
Car alarms go off everything, and I feel the power rippling around the place falter before dying entirely, and the house is revealed.
It isn't like before. No, it is flaming rubble and burning debris.
My eyes widen, and I see Latham sprawled on the grass just inside the gate by a burning tree.
Car alarms in the street are going off, but the prison world has managed to contain much of the blast as it exploded before disintegrating.
Blaine's pain radiates through me, and I blink in shock as I stare at the house.
"Bella!" Latham gasps, getting to his feet.
His scream is more of a wail as he starts tossing the debris out of the way. I hear groans as I climb off the car and stagger toward the house. Blaine digs himself out from under the porch roof while Latham is throwing flaming rubble everywhere as he tries to find her.
Dazed, I start digging when I hear movement off to my side. The vast roof that has crushed the house moves, and the ground shakes as the rubble moves in a wave. Latham snarls, his head whipping in the direction just as Leviathan emerges. Burned, and his clothes are now gone.
My heart races as I watch my demon mate take on his true form, his rage radiating out of him.
Horns protrude from his head, his eyes a demonic black, and the more angered he gets, the bigger he gets, his skin changing to a deep red, and sharp-pointed teeth lace his gums, his nails elongated to sharp needle points, and he rasps a breath as he turns on his brother.
Blaine starts ripping through the rubble, sobbing and crying for Bella as he tries to find her when Latham is no longer Latham.
Gone is the man I love and the monster everyone fears is now in his place.
The grim reaper. He honestly looks like his father at this moment.
Leviathan roars and wails as he looks around at the destruction when Latham attacks him.
Only Leviathan catches sight of him at the last second and kicks him back.
Shifting into his demonic self, he is a sickly gray, his horns not anywhere near as large as the deathly impaling horns that protrude from his brother.
Latham lands on his feet before they lock horns.
Blaine wails loudly. My eyes move from the fight to see him drag her burned body from the rubble.
Her skin is black as coal. Blaine screams, clutching her to his chest, which is littered with burns from digging her out.
I look at the vial that is still clutched in my hand.
It didn't work. It should have worked. I go numb, stumbling toward Blaine to find her nearly unrecognizable features obscured by the burns covering every inch of her.
Latham and Leviathan fight it out, yet I can't tear my eyes from the woman we all loved dead in my mate's arms.
I blink in shock, waiting for some miracle, but none comes.
Bella's hair is singed short, her clothes burned off completely, and all I can do is stare at her dead body when I hear a horrifying scream.
I turn to see Latham has his brother by the horns.
Latham grips his jaw with his hand, and I listen to the sound as he snaps his brother's jaw before opening it wide.
His brother collapses to his knees as Latham stands over him.
Latham opens his mouth and roars at Leviathan.
I watch as Latham rips the soul out of Leviathan and devours it.
Leviathan makes a gurgling noise before his eyes turn white, and Latham chokes, stumbling back as he lets his brother go.
Leviathan crumples on what is left of the house while Latham tries to catch his breath.
Latham's chest rises and falls heavily with his anger. With his brother dead at his feet, his anger diminished, he returns to his usual self. Anger is replaced with anguish as he staggers back, turning to face us. His eyes go to Blaine's tear-stained face.
"Latham," Blaine stammers, his lips quivering as Latham stumbles, tripping over his feet to get to her.
Latham falls to his knees, his hands reaching for her charred remains.
Blaine is rocking back and forth with her in his arms when I notice the crowd we have suddenly drawn from the street.
I can hear the sirens of the emergency services racing to our location, yet none of us moves.
All of us are in shock. None of us believes she is gone.
Time seems to stand still. Eons could have passed. I would never have noticed. All of us are numb and deaf to our surroundings until I hear a gasp, making me look at Latham, who is looking at me.
The blank look on his face resembles how I feel. Turning my head, Blaine is still rocking back and forth.
"You're choking me," rasps a voice I thought for sure I’d imagined.
"I don't mean to," Blaine answers before freezing.
His head lifts, and he peers down at Bella, her charcoal skin turning back to fresh skin, her plump lips turning pink. I blink in shock as her body changes from black charcoal to white flesh.
Though her hair has not survived too well, she is suddenly whole, and Blaine is choking her, his arms crushing her. She taps his arm.
"My throat is burning," she chokes out, her fingers touching her throat, which is soft, white flesh.
Blaine lets her go, and she lurches forward, only to be snatched by Latham and crushed against his chest.
She groans before sniffing him. However, I am in disbelief.
She was charred remains, now a living corpse.
Her skin still burns in parts, but she slowly returns to us when Latham hisses, and I hear her growl, her entire body healing rapidly.
Latham's hand goes to her short hair, and a tear slips down his face.
My hand opens to see the vial, and I chuckle.
"Bella, you will drain me," Latham says, stroking his fingers through her hair.
Bella, controlled by bloodlust, ignores him, and I grab her, prying her from him. His blood stains her mouth, and she blinks at me and wipes her mouth, staring at her blood-coated fingertips.
"My little monster," I chuckle while she seems shocked at what she’s done.
"I didn't mean to," she gasps, looking at Latham.
I kiss her cheek when Blaine comes over to her, holding his arms to her.
"Well, I don't fancy explaining this to the humans so quickly. We need to get out of here," Blaine tells her before grabbing her.
He takes her, kissing her lips, his face still stained with tears.
"And you can bite me all you like. I'm not a sook like him," Blaine tells her, nodding to Latham, earning a growl from Latham and making her chuckle.
"My brother?" Bella asks, looking around for him when Blaine suddenly disappears with her, misting home.
I suppose that is something we will have to tell her when we get back. But her brother is definitely gone, just like the rest of the place. Latham walks over to his brother, who is now just in the vessel he has possessed. I touch his shoulder, and he looks at me.
"Let's go home," I tell him, and he nods as I mist us both out of there.