As soon as I’m done, a sense of rightness floods me, and I step back, a huge smile spreadin’ across my face. Time picks back up to normal, and I look up at the Hellgate and watch as the tint of the flames turns from the bright and electric purple of Delta’s color to the warm, soothin’ lilac that matches my own hair and wings. The flames grow thicker and even more ferocious than before, but the heat no longer stings my skin. Instead, it warms me to my very core.
Satisfaction and belongin’ settles into the deepest recesses of my soul, and I feel whole in a way I’ve never experienced before.
“You have to watch! Turn around, it’s the coolest thing,” Delta tells me excitedly, and I spin and wait for my eyes to settle on what she’s talkin’ about.
Slowly, grass and flowers start to sprout up from right under my feet and move out down the corridor like ocean waves lappin’ at the shore. I jump back with a surprised gasp, and the soothin’ flames of the Hellgate lick comfortingly up my back. Delta laughs as she turns to watch the vegetation spread from just the one side of the corridor to now fill the entire middle section of the path and extend out almost all the way to the entrance of Hell’s embrace.
It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed. I feel a sense of profound accomplishment, like this is exactly what I was meant to do, and this is exactly where I’m meant to be.
As I watch, trees grow, flowers bloom, and soft lookin’ grass sprouts up and spreads. I wouldn’t have expected anythin’ so beautiful to adorn the Gates of Hell, but...my eyes land on Alder, and I correct that thought. Of course Hell would be beautiful. Just look at the incredible beings it creates. My mates bein’ two of them.
My eyes fill with love, and like he can feel my eyes on him, he turns from the sight of the garden to look back at me. Alder’s gaze warms, his own love and appreciation pourin’ out as a proud smile takes over his full lips while Delta steps into Rafferty’s open arms for a hug.
“You did it. I can feel that the portal is shut down again, and you stabilized the Hellgate,” Alder tells me with pride.
The corners of my lips tilt up. “Yeah, and it looks like I can also do a thing or two with flowers too,” I tease him as I glance at the bloom still clutched in his tattooed hand. “And you’re right. I think this purple color has grown on me,” I say, gesturin’ back to the flames that now match me.
Alder laughs, and his adorin’ gaze moves behind me to take in the beautiful color of the Gate.
But then, his smile starts to falter. I don’t even get a chance to wonder why.
I feel arms wrap around me from behind, and then suddenly, I’m bein’ pulled back like I’m a fish that just succumbed to the lure of bait on a hook.
I’m yanked back so hard that I can’t even scream before somethin’ is bein’ spoken into my ear, and alarmingly, I feel my whole body go limp under the order to comply. It’s as though the fight was just stolen right out from under me like a rug bein’ ripped up.
Fear and confusion rocket through me, but I can’t struggle. I can’t make a noise. I’m just suddenly tumblin’ into terrifyin’ darkness, with no way of gettin’ out.
I only hear one word before everythin’ in me just seems to shut off. It’s a deep, power-laced voice whispering into my ear as I’m snatched away from my sister and my mate. It’s a voice that gives me chills and a word that pierces my soul.
“Gotchya.”
Epilogue
Gotchya swirls around the darkness of my mind like a wayward leaf on the wind.
I try to reach out and grab for it so I can understand why it’s floatin’ around, but I miss, and it swirls with other echoin’ words: you will be quiet and you will come with me.
The orders twist and dance around in my head, while a power I find myself tryin’ to swim through makes my thoughts and limbs feel heavy.
I shove through the bleak darkness of my mind, my body immediately startin’ to shiver as I start to wake up. There’s a bitter cold seepin’ into me, and I feel like I’m wadin’ through quicksand as I try to figure out what’s goin’ on.
Rough, cold stone lies under my cheek, and my stomach roils as fear and worry sit like jagged rocks in my gut. The heaviness of those emotions anchors me to the here and now, and I feel the ripples of alarm spreadin’ through my body. It’s as though somethin’ scared me so badly that the imprint of it is in my every fiber.
My mouth is dry and chalky, and a barely-there whimper leaks out of my cracked and chapped lips. I struggle to open my eyes, and it takes a moment to blink the blurriness away. As soon as I do, a terrified tear falls from my eye, and I can practically hear it drop to meet the freezin’ stone beneath me.
Metal bars condense into focus in front of me.
Wherever I am is damp, and dark, and ominous, the very air oppressive. I prepare myself to force my body up so I can separate my skin from the frigid temperatures that are bleedin’ into me from below, but I’m surprised when it’s not a struggle to sit up.
So my body is okay, but my mind went twelve rounds with Manny Pacquiao. Strange.
“You will call your scythe and sit up if you want this to stop.”
I freeze at the sound of the
