Marco appeared. But it was too late; the injured Hunter was gone – vanished into thin air by Zalen. Our gaze locked before they vanished.
I looked up at Marco. His penance for past sins was my sister’s doing, not mine. But, we both knew the Cutter would never have uttered a single word to him about our past if I hadn’t involved us. Regret erupted inside him.
“Our past is not forgotten but has been long forgiven, Reaper.”
Marco snorted, refusing to believe me. He grabbed Jace’s shoulder. Within a blink of an eye, I was lying on the ground outside the burning building. My feet brushed against the ground as my savior, Jace, held me in his warm arms.
“Tell that to your sister. She won’t be particularly pleased to be on this side of her scissors. You smell like death already,” Marco snorted, and vanished.
Jace gently lowered me to the ground. “I’ve never asked anything from you, until now. Please, grant me what my heart most desires.”
“Anything,” I said, looking into his chocolate brown eyes.
“Give me a second chance to make this right,” he begged, as smoke seeped from his skin. “Give me a second chance to be with you like we once were.”
“You wish for my immortality,” I said, stroking his thumb with my gnarled hand. My old body scarcely obeyed my command. I wanted to rest, needed it. The thread of my life was unraveling while his was as strong and youthful as ever. It was cruel in more ways than one.
Jace held my face in his hand, comforting me. “I want your immortality and for you to have what you once had before she took it from you and the humans.”
“You only get one request, and you have to be willing to kill me for it,” I said and guided his hand over my chest. The knife skimmed my skin, but it was enough to tear it open.
“Living as an immortal in this body would be more like a curse than a gift,” he said. The regret in his eyes was already evident. “I want you to have the opportunity to be what you once were, before she took it.”
“Reborn as what I once was?” I asked, tracing his thumb since he refused to return my gaze. Smoke rose around us. It seeped over the wheat grass while every building around us went up in flames.
“Playing with your fate is dangerous.” His voice burned apologetically. “But I can feel the life leaving your body. I’ve never asked for you to grant me anything, dearest. Grant me this.”
“Choose one.”
“Then I chose you,” he said, and the regret in his eyes was already evident. “I want you to have the opportunity to be what you once were, before she took it.”
“My body is aged, and my soul is broken.” My voice hung in the air as if I’d sung it.
“So give me a taste of your kiss, and let me be reborn into a life of eternal passion.” he said, speaking in the same melody.
“I’ll be reborn as human,” I said more seriously. My smallest finger stroked his thumb – connecting our souls. “Take my Elysian as promised. The others will be looking for someone to follow; they will look to you even if there are others who challenge you. Return it to me so I may defy death once again in my human form.”
“I’m not a ruler,” he insisted.
“You must learn,” I insisted.
“I don’t care about the others, only you matter to me,” he said.
“Then you must find me and return the Elysian to me,” I whispered. “You must heal me, Jace.” The very essence of my spirit– the Elysian pumping through my veins - started to drift into his soul. “Follow your heart. It brought us together once before.”
Countless souls of humans and deities pulled away from me as the Elysian drained from my body. I felt disconnected and disturbingly alone. Jace broke the connection before I was completely disconnected from him. I didn’t have to ask why he didn’t take it all – I saw the truth in his eyes. He couldn’t bear it. “I can’t steal everything that makes you who you are. I can’t take it all. I can’t take all the essence of your soul.”
His chocolate brown eyes didn’t radiate with vengeance as he pressed a knife to my chest. They glistened with tears. His dark brown hair shimmered, like gold had been melted into each strand. The sight would’ve been utterly breathtaking if sand and sweat hadn’t dried into his hair as well. A bloody gash under his left eye interrupted his otherwise perfectly tanned skin.
Burnt oranges, soft yellows, and deep reds surrounded the sun as it neared the horizon. My time was quickly slipping away. A hint of scorched wood piggybacked the wind while smoke crawled over the blood-soaked dirt.
I reached up with my gnarled, weathered hand and gently stroked his face. Hiding in the sheer beauty of his eyes rested his tortured soul – screaming for forgiveness. His tears trickled onto my aged skin as he shoved the blade deeper through my chest. I struggled to breathe. My vision darkened at the edges.
My oldest friend. My would-be brother. The person who’d I’d come to rely on over the years had murdered my family. Hector betrayed me in the worst way. I rubbed sleep from my eyes, wondering if my previous life was this disorienting and cruel.
I sighed and focused on the gift Jace bestowed upon me. I gazed at my gray hand. Like the objects around me, I was painted in black and white. I gazed out the window. The sun kissed the horizon.
“To see the colors of a sunset,” I said, longing to view the scene the way it was meant to be seen.
“Seeking a little color?”
Leaning against the hospital door frame stood a preposterously attractive young man. He took my breath away the moment our gaze locked. His chest failed to move until I gasped. In a world still in black and white, Jace was a splash of color. His chocolate-brown eyes matched the color of his hair perfectly. It was a few inches long, and the flecks of gold shimmered in the light. His skin was lightly tanned. His burgundy shirt clung to his chest like it was sewn on. His blue jeans hung on his hips perfectly. He smiled, and his dimples revealed themselves. I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t get a word out.
I barely held back tears when he whispered how nothing compared to the splendor of my soul. I never took my gaze off his eyes while he walked over to me. He didn’t stop at the bed’s edge; he crawled onto it and lay beside me, waiting with a lifetime of patience for me to remember how to breathe. I whispered his name. My angelic voice hung in the air like I’d sung a thousand words of adoration.
“You found me, Jace.”
“I followed my heart.”
His hand found mine. His life’s thread wrapped around his thumb. My own twirled around my smallest finger. I tugged on his gently, with my fingertip. Our touch connected our souls, making us one. His love for me surpassed centuries. He’d do anything for me, kill me if he must. His affection crawled over my skin like a fire. Blue flames glistening over his skin as his lips met mine. My feelings for him acted like a catalyst for the fire burning in his soul. He tucked me safely against his body, protecting me from the rest of the world.
Gazing into his chocolate-brown eyes, I knew I could do it – I could kill someone in the name of love. The Butcher gave me a choice: find my sisters and then grant his wish, or he’d kill Elsie and hunt Jace. If I was destined to die by Hector’s hand, cooperating with his demand wasn’t something I could live with. I refused to willingly lay down another deathbed. So I’d come up with a plan that I hated, but it was necessary.
Everyone would be safe, except for me.
Epilogue
Years ago, I fell in love with a young man; the same one I was falling for all over again. Jace and I lay together on a blanket next to an old tree overlooking Bakker’s Cemetery. My family’s tombstones were decorated with three lilies again. I sniffed it. It smelled like rain, like Hector. He would always be watching, ready to steal what was never meant to be his – eternal youth. There was no need to ask him; he smelled Hector’s scent, just as I could now.
“Lily had to be a goddess if the Butcher grew young after killing her,” I said, clutching the flower.
“Marco has several
theories about that,” Jace said but didn’t elaborate. He draped around me and slid closer to comfort me. He encouraged me to ask questions to the answers I sought but didn’t pry. His patience was more resilient than any other person’s I’d met. He simply twirled my hair around his fingers and waited.
“The unseeing past and unspeakable future are once again surrounded in death’s embrace, is what the girl said. We touched and three distinctive sensations came over me,” I said, recalling the memory of the Cutter sitting on broken glass with the Prophet hiding in the shadows. “Rage erupted inside the Prophet. The Cutter’s derangement tore at her sanity. Calmness encased my soul; I had to be patient if I was to find my revenge.”
“Before humanity lost their immortality, you rarely saw your sisters,” Jace said, lifting me onto his lap. He took my hand in his and kissed it lightly. A blue flame leapt from his lips to my hand. A blue flare twirled on my hand as it danced in the breeze. “That changed after Analee’s wish. Close proximity to each other kept you ageless. Distance was your enemy; it stole your youth. A few seconds apart turned to minutes. Soon days drifted by before melting into years.”
I closed my eyes and reflected on my life experiences, my memories. The past would repeat itself… it always did in one form or another. I hoped to uncover clues in my memories, so this tragedy would never repeat itself.
My older sister, the Prophet, saw the unspeakable future. The Cutter was my younger psychopathic sister, ender of lives. My visions – my memories – were clues to a life long forgotten. Meanwhile, a Hunter whose greatest fear was death itself patiently waited the Fates to reunite. If my plan was to work the Butcher would get what he feared most; I’d find another deathbed to lie on. As I watched the blue flame dance in my hand, I prayed Jace would forgive me for what I planned to do next…
About the Author
Sarah J. Pepper lives in South Dakota with her real-life prince charming. At a young age, she fell for paranormal books and now incorporates that genre with the romance that thrives in the hearts of us all. When she’s not storytelling, she’s most likely biking, hoarding chocolate, or taking a bubble bath. Get a glimpse inside her head at www.peppersreadingcorner.com
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