by Amy Cross
“That's a massive exaggeration,” I told him. “I did everything that was necessary. I even managed to slip something into her pocket at the police station. I had to use a well-timed smelly old tramp, though. That was totally gross. Now, are you going to drink from me, or not?”
I waited, and I could tell that he was struggling to hold back.
“I don't need it,” he said finally. “I still have a little strength left.”
Sighing, I took a knife from my belt.
“No,” Matthias said, “don't -”
I slashed the blade diagonally across my wrist. Beads of blood began to run down to the palm of my hand, and I knew that this would be too much for him. Sure enough, he pulled my arm closer and began to drink, and a moment later I felt his fangs slip into my skin. There was a pinprick of pain and I tensed, but I knew that this was everything he needed. In that moment, all I wanted was to nourish him,
Finally, he pulled his fangs out.
“Take more,” I said firmly.
“That was enough.”
“Take more!”
He shook his head.
“Don't be a hero, Matthias. You need it and I can spare it. Drink!”
“You can't make me,” he said with a faint smile. “It's a good job you're immune to the toxin after all this time. This would be a really bad time for you to fall asleep.”
“My body's more than used to it,” I told him. “It doesn't even hurt anymore, it's more just a kind of... faint tickling sensation.”
“That's a lie.”
“Maybe.”
“Now you need to leave,” he continued. “You've done more than enough, and you're only going to be a distraction. You've done everything I asked and more, but we agreed that when the time approached for me to make my final stand, you'd get out of the way.”
“I can still -”
“You almost let her see you!” he hissed. “You said it yourself, you came close to making a huge mistake! I need to do this, but I have to be alone when it happens. You know why. You know the curse that all vampires face when we approach death. We have to be alone.”
I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, but the words caught in my throat. I'd known, deep down, that this moment would eventually come, that I'd have to live through his death again. I guess, somehow, I'd always hoped that I'd find a way to put it off forever.
“We knew this day was coming,” he said, reaching a hand toward my face. “We prepared for it. We promised that when it came, we'd be strong.”
He slowly moved the cloak's hood aside.
“Chloe,” he said, as tears ran down my face. “You know you have to leave now.”
I shook my head.
“Yes,” he continued, “you do. Parting now doesn't change what we had before. A very wise person once told me that nothing lasts forever. I laughed at her, but now I understand that she was right. You have to get out of here.”
I was still desperately trying to find a way out of this. A way to save him. I quickly realized, however, that I was in danger of making the same mistake as Hugo.
“I looked so young,” I said finally, as I realized that maybe we really were trapped in a loop. “When I almost bumped into myself in the corridor just now, I was shocked to see how...” I tried to think of the right word. “Naive, maybe. Scared. I guess I'd forgotten what it was like back then, when I was only just learning about all these things, but it all came rushing back. I wanted to warn her. Maybe to save her.”
“You can't change what happened,” he told me. “You've done everything right so far, and now you only have one final task. You have to leave.”
“But then after...” I paused again. “I've spent so long knowing what's going to happen, I forgot what it's like to face the future without that certainty. After tonight -”
“You'll be fine,” he said, interrupting me.
“But what if you're...”
My voice trailed off.
“You'll be fine without me,” he said calmly.
I shook my head.
“What if I go back to being like that?” I asked. “Naive, and innocent, and helpless, like the younger version of me?”
“You won't,” he said, before leaning closer. “Not after everything we've been through. Don't you remember the first time I met you?”
For a moment, I thought back to when I woke up on the farm in war-time France. Matthias had come around from behind a barn, and from his point of view that had the first time we properly met.
“You were such an asshole,” I told him finally.
“I was, but I changed. A lot of that was down to you. Do you really think that there are any circumstances in the whole world that could undo what happened to me after I met you?”
“No,” I replied, as I sniffed back some more tears.
“And it works both ways,” he continued, before leaning toward me and kissing me.
I was still crying, but I let the kiss go on and on until finally he pulled away.
“Now go,” he told me. “Run, Chloe. And leave the rest to me.”
He reached out and put a hand on my belly.
“Remember what happened in the church,” he added. “You can't stay here right now. You have something precious to protect. Something that's not part of this loop, something that will go out into the world.”
“I can't do it,” I whimpered. “Not without you.”
“You can and you will,” he replied, “and one day... Chloe, I promise, one day I'll see you again.”
“Don't make promises you can't keep.”
“One day I'll find you, Chloe Carter,” he continued. “I don't know how, it might be on the very last day of your long, happy life, but I will find you.”
He took my hand and squeezed it tight, and in that moment I realized that he was telling the truth. We'd meet again some day, somehow. I couldn't even begin to accept any other possibility.
“I'll see you again,” he added. “Beyond life. Beyond death. I'll see you in whatever comes next, and I'll hold your hand again, but right now...”
He paused, before letting go of my hand and leaning even closer.
“Run, Chloe,” he whispered. “Run and don't look back.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Hugo
“Do you recognize her?” I whispered, as I saw Chloe beginning to stir. “Look at her face. Tell me her name.”
She let out a low murmur, but she was still barely conscious.
“Look,” I continued. “What's wrong? Are you too ashamed?”
Her lips moved slightly.
“Look at her!” I snapped, finally grabbing her head and forcing her to look at the photo of Judith. I'd waited so long to make her face what she'd done.
She murmured again. She was so weak, and it was her weakness that gave me hope. All I had to do was kill her, and she'd never go back to meddle in Judith's life. I could have done that already, but there was one thing I wanted first, one thing that was almost as important.
She had to admit that she'd been wrong.
“Say her name,” I continued, determined to make her confess. Even though she was a younger version of herself, I was certain that she somehow understood her great crimes. “You will say her name one final time before I wipe you from existence. Her name will be the last word that leaves your lips. And then, when you die, the whole world will re-order itself around you, and she will return to me. Why should Matthias get his way? Why should I not change reality to get what I want?”
“I don't know who she is,” she stammered. “She's beautiful. Is she a -”
Filled with rage, I grabbed her by the the throat and pulled her face closer.
“You dare lie to me?” I sneered. “At least Klaus Zieghoff showed some pride in his crimes. The man might have been a monster, but he believed in everything he did. You, on the other hand, still want to see yourself as a saint, despite all the pain you've caused.”
“She doesn't know about any of that yet,” Judith's vo
ice whispered in my mind. “You keep forgetting that, my darling.”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Chloe said, pulling on the chains. “I swear, I don't even -”
“Liar!” I screamed again.
“Remember where she is in the timeline,” Judith's voice said calmly. “All you need to do is kill her, and everything else stops.”
“Just wait a moment longer, my darling,” I replied, turning but not seeing her anywhere. “I need her to say your name first, and then I can end her life.” I turned back to Chloe. “Can't you do it? Can't you bring yourself to say the name of the woman you killed?”
“You're wasting time,” Judith's voice told me. “Finish her! Now!”
“I never killed anyone,” Chloe stammered, “I swear. I don't know why you -”
“Do you hear that sound?” I asked, as I tightened my grip on her throat. “My brother says that when fate is challenged, we can hear it screaming as it prepares to push back. He believes we can't change the events of the prophecy, but I'm going to prove him wrong. The sound you hear is the sound of fate starting to crack, and soon the time-line will be reset.”
“You can do it, my darling,” Judith whispered into my ear. “Kill her, and I'll be alive again. Time will be rewritten. The prophecy was just some old words written in stones, in a field in the middle of nowhere. It's not important. What matters is killing Chloe so she can never go back and ruin everything.”
“Once you're dead,” I told Chloe, “fate will have to re-order itself. Your future self will be gone, and the consequences of your crimes will vanish in the blink of an eye. Judith will be returned to me, and that's all that matters. There might be some other ripples in the world, but I'll simply take Judith away and keep her safe. Humanity can burn, if that's what it takes. As long as I get her back, I can live with the rest of the world's pain. For it is the world itself that has wronged me.”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Chloe replied. “Please, you have to listen to me. You've got the wrong person. I don't know how, but somehow you and all these other people have dragged me into something that's none of my business.”
“Do it now,” Judith whispered.
“She has to say your name!” I screamed, turning away and hurrying across the room, looking for some sign of Judith. “She has to beg you for mercy! She's going to die, that much is certain now, but she has to say your name first. She has to admit it all.”
Reaching the table, I picked up a dagger. It was the same dagger that, years earlier, I'd used when I'd cut out my own heart. I should have died at that moment, and certainly the inferno came. Yet Judith had stayed with me, and somehow I had tamed death. I could feel the last of the flames still waiting to burst out of me, but they were trapped so long as my darling Judith's spirit remained close.
For a moment, my hand shook as I held the dagger, but I quickly got the tremors under control as I turned back to look over at Chloe.
“No!” she shouted. “Please, don't do this! You're wrong! You've got this all wrong!”
“I'm simply doing what I should have done a long time ago,” I explained. “I remember the very first time I set eyes upon you, Chloe. It's hard to believe now, but I once thought we would be friends. I thought that we might help one another, that one day we'd move past the madness and we'd all be happy. But look at us now. Look what we became.”
I stepped toward her.
“I blame my brother,” I continued. “More than anyone else, he caused this to happen. And I promise you, Chloe, that I will make him weep as he dies.”
Placing the knife against her throat, I knew that I was so close now to getting Judith back.
“She doesn't need to say my name,” Judith said calmly. “Put your pride aside, my darling, and just kill her while you have the chance.”
I hesitated.
Perhaps she was right.
Perhaps all that mattered was -
“Hugo, stop!” a voice shouted suddenly.
Turning, I saw Matthias limping into the room, clutching his chest as if he was in pain. I had no idea how he'd managed to escape from the cage, but I quickly understood that this didn't matter anyway. I'd already won. All that remained was the small task of proving that to everyone else.
“He's too late to save you,” I told Chloe, as I realized that I should have listened to Judith all along, “but he's right on time to watch you die!”
Before she had a chance to reply, I cut her throat, pushing the blade as deep as I could. She screamed, and then she let out a pained gurgle as she fell back. I felt a rush of relief as I realized that I'd done it, that I'd finally killed the one person who needed to die in order to bring Judith back. All I had to do now was wait for the universe to rearrange itself. Would I remember what had happened, or would I simply wake up in a blissful new reality? I had no idea, but I was ready to find out.
“You can't change anything!” Matthias shouted. “How can you be so stupid, Hugo? The cycle of fate can't be broken!”
“I don't care about fate!” I screamed, as I waited for time to re-order itself. “With Chloe gone, Judith will be returned to me! That's all that matters! Let the rest of the world burn if it must! I will not be denied!”
“I love you, my darling,” Judith whispered. “It's happening. I can feel it. Any moment now...”
“The more you fight against the prophecy,” Matthias continued, “the more you bring it about! There's nothing you can do to stop what happens next!”
“It's finally going to happen,” I said, turning and taking a couple of stumbling steps away. “I've waited so long. I wasted years and years in Tor Cliff, when I should have done this sooner. It all came together, though.” I reached my hands up toward the ceiling. “I'm ready!” I shouted. “Bring her back to me!”
I started laughing as I realized that it was all done now. Any moment now, history would change.
“I'm coming,” Judith said calmly. “Can't you feel it? Soon we'll be together again.”
Looking over my shoulder, I saw that Matthias was desperately trying to save Chloe.
“You can't turn her, Matthias!” I shouted. “She's dead! Turning her won't work, because if you turn her, then you're the one who changes history! She wasn't a vampire before, so she can't be now!”
Ignoring me, he was still doing all he could.
“Just let her go, already,” I sneered. “It's pathetic to see how you're hanging on to her like this. Just accept the inevitable, my dear brother. I, Hugo Bane, have bent time itself to my will. Don't you hear the howling screams of the universe? That's not the sound of destiny fighting back, it's the sound of reality beginning to shatter.”
I hesitated, but after a moment I saw that Matthias had begun to heal Chloe's throat.
“What have you done?” I shouted, hurrying over to them. “You can't do this! She has to die, or everything will stay the same! The world can't stay like this! I want Judith back!”
Matthias leaned down and kissed Chloe's forehead.
“She can't live!” I shouted, trying to push him away. “You know what she'll do!”
“She didn't kill Judith,” Matthias said firmly. “You know that, Hugo, if you really try to ignore the madness. You know who's really responsible for Judith's death.”
“I love you so much,” Judith whispered. “You have to find a way to make this work.”
“She has to die!” I shouted, trying to reach out and grab Chloe.
Before I could reach her, however, Matthias took hold of me and pulled me around, while yelling at Chloe and telling her to run.
“No!” I snapped, biting him on the neck and then pushing him aside as he cried out. “I can't let you live,” I told Chloe. “I'd already realized that before I suffered this breakdown, Chloe. It's the one thing I've known ever since Judith died. Killing you means that everything gets reset. It means I get another chance. I don't know what the world will be like once I've changed history, but it has to be better than thi
s!”
She backed away, but already I could feel an immense heat against the back of my neck.
“Run!” Matthias shouted. “Chloe -”
Suddenly I felt an immense rush of heat against my shoulders, and I was sent stumbling forward. I turned and saw to my horror that Matthias was finally dying. My first instinct was to rush toward him, to try to save him, but then I stopped as I remembered that he and Chloe were the ones who had caused all this misery in the first place. I heard my brother roaring with pain at the heart of the inferno, and I realized that I was in danger of getting destroyed by the same flames.
“I'm sorry, Matthias,” I said, as I turned away in order to keep from being blinded by the fire. “I'm afraid your heroic sacrifice isn't going to achieve anything at all.”
I hesitated, but in that moment I realized that Chloe was gone. She'd disappeared in the flames, and I felt my heart start to break as I realized what had happened. I'd been trying to stop her going back, but in the process I'd actually made sure that she did make her journey to the past. As Matthias continued to burn, I dropped to my knees and looked down at my trembling hands.
“You can still find a way,” Judith's voice whispered, in the very same moment that I realized Matthias was finally dead. “Save me, my love. Find another way to bring me back.”
Finally, as the entire mansion began to collapse all around me, I looked up and screamed.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chloe
Tears were streaming down my face as I walked away from the collapsed mansion.
I'd lived through Matthias's death before, of course, but back then there hadn't been much time to actually take it all in. Besides, I'd quickly run into him again in war-time France, albeit a young version of him, so that had somewhat taken away the sting. I'd still known that his death was coming, of course, but I guess I'd somehow managed to convince myself that there'd be a twist. After all, Matthias was a vampire. Wasn't there some way that he could stay alive?
Stopping at the edge of the street, I turned and looked back at the ruins.
No.