it for love! Didn’t you do the same with the essences? For love? I need to kill you…for love. Let me kill you. Let me kill you! I need to kill you for my Luci.”
He staggers forward, but the fight with the monster has taken its toll on him. The beast might not have been able to kill him, but it weakened him. He’ll be no match for me and my blade. He can barely fucking stand.
“You’re dead, Abram,” I hiss as I breach the gap between us and pierce his flesh. My blade embeds itself into his chest, into his heart, as a golden light illuminates the dagger. Through it all, he continues to laugh.
And laugh.
And laugh.
And laugh.
Blood bubbles on his lips, but he doesn’t stop laughing. His death is imminent, but that jovial grin remains plastered firmly in place.
“This isn’t over,” he gurgles around another bout of deranged chuckles, blood drizzling down his chin.
Instead of replying with words, I merely twist the dagger in his heart. The light from the blade extends, traveling through Abram’s body and causing his skin to turn an ashen shade of gray. His hair falls out in clumps as he drops to his knees, my dagger still nestled between his ribs.
“It’s not over,” he repeats, coughing. He throws his head back and laughs once more. I can see the whites of his bones as his skin flakes away, cascading around him like some sort of fucked up snow. “You still have Lilith to contend with, my dear.”
His eyes burst from his head like two explosives have been placed in his sockets. They drip down his cheeks like candle wax as the remainder of his skin blows away in a wind I can’t feel. Soon, Abram is nothing but yellowing bones, until even they wither away like centuries old paper placed under water. My dagger clatters harmlessly against the floor as his words run rampant through my head.
Lilith.
What exactly does she have planned? I bend to pick up my dagger as my thoughts continue to spin faster than a whirlpool.
“Caius?” a soft voice inquires, and immediately, all thoughts of Lilith and Abram fade away. I suck in a lungful of air as I pivot on my heel, facing the love of my existence for the first time in centuries. Actually facing her. In a real, tangible body, not a monster construed of shadows. She no longer has the multicolored hair, wings, and horns that classify her as a member of all four divisions. Instead, her sandy blonde hair and azure eyes are purely her own. My Hadley.
She’s sitting between Braxton and Preston, both running their hands over her arms to provide her warmth and comfort.
As I watch, she stumbles unsteadily to her feet, using Brax’s shoulder for balance, before taking a tottering step towards me. Tears well in her eyes as I stare at her wordlessly. My entire existence dims to this one moment.
She’s here.
She’s safe.
She’s here.
She’s safe.
“Hadley?” I breathe as she lunges herself into my arms, her lips eagerly seeking out my own.
Her kiss is like heaven, like the Garden of Eden before she was killed and I was banished. Nothing exists but her in my arms.
Her hands tangle in my dark hair as she nips greedily at my lips, her tongue snaking out to soothe away the sting.
“Caius,” she cries against my mouth as I tighten my arms around her. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let her go.
“I love you so much,” I whisper, punctuating each word with a kiss. “So much.”
All of those years in my prison…
They were worth it for bringing me to this moment. I’ll go to Hell and back a thousand times over if it means keeping Hadley in my arms.
Because she’s mine and I’m hers, and that’s the way the creator intended it.
Chapter 22
Braxton
Great. Now the smog monster has his smog fucking hands on Hadley. I know I should be happy for her, but I’m not. Call me jealous, but I’m still unable to let the past be the past.
To me, Caius is still the Darkness, still the creature that almost killed Karston, still the monster from my childhood nightmares.
Yet there he is, my girl swapping spit with him while he touches and squeezes every part of her body. I have to turn away, or the anger will get the better of me. Part of me still believes this was all a ploy, that he caused all of these events to happen because he