by Lindsey Iler
When I open them, I’ve decided. I smirk, not allowing Edric to know he’s won. I’ve won. Sarah Beth will be okay as the blood is spilled from my body. The Blackstone family will be known as the ones who brought down the third generation of Angels.
Edric’s top lip curls, angry.
“Stop!” I hear Edric’s voice, but his mouth hasn’t moved.
“What the hell is this all about?” Mrs. Blackstone circles, a hand tight on my hair to keep me in place.
Around her gown, I see another Edric standing beside Emerson. Everyone’s glances shift back and forth between the two Edrics. Their appearance is identical. I pinch my eyes shut, hoping I’m seeing things. When I open them, both Edrics are still here.
“What’s going on?” I call out.
The second Edric moves to me, while the other remains beside my sister.
“Lennox, it’s me.” He crouches down. “Little Wicked, it’s me.”
“Don’t listen to him!” the other Edric, seconds away from slitting my sister’s throat, shouts. “He’s trying to confuse you.”
“Lennox, look me in the eyes.”
Mrs. Blackstone stills. I glance up to see if she’ll give anything away, but her face is unmoving stone. I look back at Edric, tapping his chin with my pinky finger, the only thing I can get loose from Mrs. Blackstone’s hold.
He smirks because he knows what I’m doing. Physically, these two appear exactly the same. Inside, they are two completely different beings. Whoever hides behind Edric’s face beside my sister is nothing like my Edric.
The Edric threatening my sister, his touch did nothing but make my body rage more with a fury I’ve never know. How did I not realize it sooner?
Edric, beside me, grasps my finger, and I sigh. The heat that has risen to a roar, evaporates, just like that, from a single touch. As he stands, he places a finger over his smiling mouth, telling me to stay quiet.
He wouldn’t waltz in here without a plan set in place. That would be plain stupid.
I watch as he walks up to my sister. She rocks her head back and forth, like she’s trying to get rid of a headache. The grogginess clears from her eyes. They widen when she sees Edric in front of her. He yanks the knife from his imposter and slides it across my sister’s throat. Blood runs down the front of her pink, fluffy dress. Just earlier this evening, she had spun around in it, showing off the way the skirt fluttered like a butterfly’s wings.
“Nooo!” I scream.
Everything around me grows chaotic. My ears flood with pumping blood, muffling all sounds.
Mrs. Blackstone releases my hair, flinging me to the ground. Nothing but anger lifts me off the pavement to my knees. Sarah Beth rests on her side, eyes wide, and cheeks pale. I crawl to her. No one stops me or tries to keep me away. This is what they wanted after all.
Mrs. Blackstone stalks toward me. Her heels clack against the road. “Angels with clipped wings can’t fly.”
“It was you. You hit us. This has all been your plan to bring us down, to keep the power.”
“You can’t be eliminated from this Earth, Lennox Callahan, but I can make it so that every time you close your eyes, all you see is that.” She crouches down, grips my chin, and forces me to look my dead sister in the eyes.
A deep, anguished cry escapes through my mouth, but it comes straight from my heart, ripping me open and fleeing my body.
“As for you”—Mrs. Blackstone stands toe-to-toe with the fake Edric—“did you honestly think we’d let you sabotage our entire family’s legacy for some pussy?” She taps his cheek with her open palm. “How stupid do you think we are?”
With a knife gripped in her hand, she stabs Edric’s doppelgänger in the chest, believing she has killed the real Edric. Much like the Angels, it seems the only ones who can truly hurt the Blackstone family are those who share the bloodline.
A thick wave of wind picks up dust around us, circling like a harsh tornado and obscuring everything in sight. It quickly settles, and Edric stands on his feet, but his brother lays lifeless beside him.
“What have you done?” Mrs. Blackstone screeches, stomping to her son.
“Tsk, tsk, Mother. Right now, I’d say you’re in no position to be slinging animosity. You just killed your youngest son, or at least you believed you did.” He shrugs, kicking his brother’s lifeless body. “In reality, you killed your eldest. You get to live with the fact that you killed the son who bent at the knee for you, who did your bidding, Mother, while the boy you’ve left in the dark concerning the family secrets, roams free.”
“You won’t get away with this!” Mrs. Blackstone hollers.
The attention shifts behind me. I see seven sets of feet, two belonging to my parents, and the others to Emerson’s and Amilee’s. The last pair belongs to a stately man with stark white hair, wearing a well-tailored suit.
“He will get away with this,” my father says. “Our three families are the rightful Peacekeepers. You and your family have one option, and that is to flee and never come back.”
“What about me?” Gemma finally speaks up.
“As for you”—my father walks forward, glancing back at Mr. and Mrs. Saville—“you may have the Saville blood running through your veins, but it is easy to see you don’t belong amongst us. Angels are relentlessly loyal. Even when we falter, we still put our own first.”
Why is he looking at my mother?
“You buried me.” Gemma speaks through clenched teeth. “What kind of family does that? How can you be surprised I’d turn my back? You gave me no other choice.”
“We always have a choice, and you made yours. Go ahead and run. We’ll find you when you least expect it. One of us will be there to end the life you were so graciously granted nineteen years ago,” my father says.
Once Gemma’s out of sight, I lay beside Sarah Beth, flat on my stomach. My head pounds as I fight the effortless tears. Her hair is soft against my fingers.
When she was five, her favorite thing was to come into my room and beg me to brush her hair. I clench my eyes shut, wishing to be back in that time, to hear her laughter.
My father straddles her body and lifts her. I roll as she leaves the ground. The starry sky is the backdrop for her leaving me. She’s gone.
She’s fucking gone.
I’m not sure how much time passes as I stare at the stars. My hair fans out around me. Tears soak the cement beneath me. At some point they stop. This dreadful numbness takes over.
Emerson lays beside me for however long she can take it.
Amilee eventually joins her.
They both hold my hands.
No words, just a silent promise to carry on.
Not a single thought crosses my mind as hours tick by. It isn’t until the sun hits the horizon when I realize I’ve been on display in the middle of our town.
Time has passed, but I haven’t allowed the reality to set in. I suppose that happens when monumental events happen so close together. They all sort of start to blend together. It’s up to those who’ve experienced them to sift through, to find the truth.
“He killed my sister,” I say.
No one is around to hear me.
I’m alone.
I stand, pull the street sign from the ground without a single thought, and swing until I feel the connect. The church’s sign cracks down the middle. I walk along the streets, shattering the glass of every storefront window. The anger, it feels good, unstoppable.
The metal sign drags behind me until I hit the road’s edge. I twirl around, heaving the post in the air, watch it flip, and speed back toward Earth.
When it does, Edric catches it.
At the sight of him, I stare at the ground. It’s unbearable to look at Edric. He’s caused my pain, facilitated my take down, but why, only to turn his back on his own family in the end?
“Lennox!” he yells from the opposite side of the road. He drops the metal post and moves off the curb into the middle of the street.
“Don’t take
one more step.” I hold up my hand, squeezing my eyes shut.
The pain is too unbearable. It’s like an undertow on the beach. It pulls me in, only to release its grip on my flailing body. The second I believe I’m safe, it drags me back down, reminding me who is in charge.
Edric is my undertow. When I look at him, the pain I felt lying next to my sister’s lifeless body is all I can imagine.
With an undertow, you can’t fight it. It will only drag you down further.
So, I stop fighting it. I let it take over again, stealing my body away from me.
Chapter Nineteen
Edric
Lennox falling to the ground, giving up all hope, succumbing to the pain of the truth—It’s an image I’ll never be able to erase from my mind. She’s broken, tears running down her face and a harrowing scream escaping her mouth.
“Lennox, please, listen to me.” I fall down on my knees beside her, frenzied for her to understand. I cup her cheek, brushing the hair from her face. “Shh, baby, listen to me.”
Her hand grips my wrist, only to shove me away. “Leave. Just leave me here.”
“I can’t do that, Little Wicked.”
“You killed my sister, and one day I will find the strength to ruin everything in this world that makes you happy, but for now, please, leave me.” She gazes up at me. “If anything about us was ever real, then please give me this, Edric.”
I run my fingers through her hair. She doesn’t have the strength to push me away, so she allows it. Her body curls into a ball, and I pull her to me, cradling her in my arms. As if it’s a reflex, she cuddles into my chest as I stand and walk toward the car.
“Lennox, I did what I had to do.”
“That’s how you are going to justify this to me, Edric? You did what you had to do? You took the one thing from me I was willing to sacrifice everything for.” Her tears soak my shirt. “You, of all people, should know how broken I feel. You lost your sister at the hands of another, and I hope you can live with the fact that you brought a chaos into my life that will never go away.”
“She’s alive, Lennox.” Her body stills, and I smile, knowing I’d never do anything to bring this girl any sort of anguish. “When I said I did what I had to do, Lennox, I meant it. What I had to do was spare you the pain I felt.”
Lennox wiggles until I put her down. “Speak. Tell me what she’s alive means?”
“When Gemma surfaced and you forced me to leave, I knew I needed to do something,” I begin to explain. “You see, what they were after when they killed my sister was her bones. She had a simple talent, but perhaps, the best talent of them all. She could revive any life taken too soon.” I shrug. “So, when I heard the plan for your sister, to lure you out, I knew what I needed to do.”
“You dug up her bones.” Lennox finishes my thought.
“I replaced a bone in Sarah Beth with one of my sister’s. With the help from a few others.” I shift my glance to Victor who’s waiting for us beside the car.
“Can you take me to her?”
“I really hope those are happy tears.” I smile and run the back of my finger over her cheeks to dry them.
“Edric, I need to see my sister.” She inhales small, rushed breaths.
“Of course.” I nod. “I’ll take you to her, okay?”
Victor opens the passenger-side back door. Lennox halts in front of him, wraps her arms around his waist, holding him close.
“Thank you,” she whispers into his chest. “I don’t know what you did, but thank you.”
Victor doesn’t try to hide his discomfort. I place my hand on Lennox’s back, urging her into the car. He tilts his chin to me in thanks as I slip in beside her.
With her head on my shoulder, Lennox’s eyes close, exhaustion finally setting it. I whisper promises to her as Victor drives us through town. Lennox doesn’t ask any questions like I half-expect her to. Instead, she grips tightly to my hand.
What I would give to erase tonight’s thoughts from her head, but it would do me no good. She’ll forever have the image of me slicing her sister’s throat. The terror and anger she held in that moment may just be the catalyst of our downfall. I rest beside her, because when we step out of the car, everything could change once again. I’d like to remember us like this, joined together and peaceful.
“We’re here, ma’am,” Victor says. He inspects her in the mirror as she sits up, stretching the pain from her spine.
“What did I say about calling me that?”
“Ms. Callahan, my apologies.” He jumps out and opens the back door.
I slip out first and offer my hand to Lennox, but she doesn’t take it.
“That isn’t much better.” She smiles, like a real, emotionally driven smile. Not one out of obligation, but out of unfiltered will.
“We’ll work on it.” Victor grins, shutting the door behind us. “Go be with her. Find a way to make her feel as normal as possible. Just as you believed you were until your nineteenth birthday, she believed she was, too, and now she knows she’s not.”
“Victor!” Lennox yells as we make our way up the path to her home. “What’s normal anyway?”
“My point exactly.” He winks. The man has a clear soft spot for our Lennox. “Take care of her.” His eyes burn into mine, pretending as if he can use his compulsion on me, but he and I both know he can’t.
Lennox’s steps seem to grow smaller and smaller as she approaches the front door.
“Are you okay?” I ask, knowing she’s as eager to get to her sister as Sarah Beth is to get to her.
“Are they in there? My parents?” she asks, looking at me over her shoulder.
“Your father is, but perhaps he should be the one to tell you everything you need to know.” I reach past her and open the door.
The house is quiet, and no staff is seen. Having been here a handful of times, it feels strange and foreign, almost like a real home.
“Sarah Beth!” Lennox hollers, leaving my side. She takes the stairs two at a time. The sudden urge to see her sister with her own two eyes overcomes every bit of her.
She doesn’t need me. Not for this. I can be certain, because I wouldn’t have needed anyone watching as I held onto my sister, if I had been given the chance. That relief she’ll feel when her hands touch Sarah Beth’s warm skin will take over her entire body. She won’t be able to control those emotions. That isn’t something she needs an audience for.
But I’ll be here when she does.
“Young man,” a deep voice says.
I rotate until my eyes land on no other than Dax Callahan. A monster, an opportunist, and tonight, perhaps for the first time, a father.
“Yes, sir?”
“Come join me in my office. We have some things to iron out.” He waves me over and I follow, well, because it’s Dax Callahan, and no one gets away with crossing him. Tonight proves the ideology.
His office is how I’ve imagined it would be. Tall, dark, cherry bookcases line both sides of the room. Behind his grand, gold desk are floor-to-ceiling windows. Above hangs a cluster of gold-plated pendant fixtures, giving off enough light to be intimidating, while not blinding. He sits behind the desk in a high-back chair and adjusts the lapels on his sports coat. He appears casual in business wear, which is the perfect analogy for him as a whole. Settled. Comfortable. In charge. And as vain as my mother and father.
“What you did for my daughter, Sarah Beth . . .” he says, suddenly unable to speak another word.
This is normally when I’d dig into someone’s mind to understand how they feel, but it’s too intrusive. He thought he was going to lose his two daughters. I’m not sure if I want to understand that kind of pain. It’s right in front of me, visible proof of the kind of anguish that tears you apart from the inside out. His shoulders sag forward, and his breaths are uneven at the thought of what could have happened.
I cut him off with my hand held between us. He graciously takes it as a peace offering.
“Nothing needs to b
e said, but please know, I didn’t do it for you. I did it for her”—I gesture to the ceiling where Lennox is reuniting with her sister—“for both of them.”
“You’re a good man.”
“A good man for being a Blackstone, is what you’d prefer to say, sir. I’ve heard the tales. The hatred runs awfully deep, and now, I can understand why. Power, and the struggle it brings, can create beasts inside all of us.”
“And that is no more.”
“How do you figure, sir? No offense, but I know my mother. I know the Blackstone legacy. There’s no way this is finished.”
“We have signed a treaty.” He nods his head, fully understanding my confusion. “One that states they will no longer reside in Belle Meade, under one condition.”
“And what condition is that, sir?”
“You are able to stay within the walls of my town, if you so wish, Edric, under my protection.”
“And they agreed to this? No strings attached? Because that doesn’t sound quite like my family. We demand loyalty, and if I were to stay, sir, I will have fully rejected them.”
“Don’t you think you already have?” He runs his hand over his face, collecting his thoughts. “Your family used you, just as we used Lennox. The only difference is, I am willing to do anything I can to fix all my wrong doings. Your family was far too eager to toss you to the wolves.”
“You being the wolf.”
“I do not bite those who have protected my own, Edric. I am on your side, so please know, you are welcome here, for as long as you want.”
“I need you to know, I was never aware of what my family planned. I was in the dark as much as you were.”
“And yet you still managed to find your way to my daughter. Imagine that.” His lips lift in the corners. “What we are is not defined by our bloodline. Sometimes, we defy all odds. You have a heart, perhaps a beastly heart, but you still have one that beats. Don’t waste it.”
I nod and escape his office as quickly as my legs will allow. Under Dax Callahan’s thumb is not a place where I want to make myself comfortable. He did what he thought needed to be done, what he believed his daughter would want. I appreciate his willingness to allow me to stay while my family moves on, but in our underground world, everything comes with a price tag.