Night

by Jessica Florence

  “You told us not to tell her, and look what happened. She died! She died, Phillip.” I didn’t even need to see her face to know tears were falling down her soft cheeks.

  Phillip said nothing, as he had since that night. The smile he normally wore had been missing ever since.

  “You knew this was all going to happen, and you let it happen anyway. Who’s next, Phillip? Who are you willing to let die for this future you’ve chosen for us? Me? Mina? AJ? Asher, and Echo, and Leon, and Lilith? Charles? Who, Phillip? One of ours is gone because we hid Dorian’s role from her. She was in love with him, deeply in love. I felt it while she used her power to save his life. We could have prevented all of this. Hell, she had powers, and we never even knew.”

  She didn’t mention my name because there was no way for me to die, even if I’d wished I could join them in death if they were there. Living without them—without her—would gut me.

  Rose was desperate to end the pain and suffering that had taken over everyone. But she was just as helpless as I was. To use her powers to make others feel better, she would have to feel better herself, and that wasn’t the case. Rose felt everything too deeply.

  I tried to pull her back to sit in my lap, but she was out of my arms and standing in front of Phillip, who was looking at her with a tick in his locked jaw. He was in pain. Probably in more pain than any of us. I could see it, but she was too blind right now to understand his suffering.

  The movement was fast, and every mouth in the room dropped as her petite hand sliced through the air and struck her brother across the cheek.

  Instead of coming back to me, she left the room in sobs.

  The rest of the crew sat there, trying to process everything. One by one, they all left to go grieve, leaving Phillip and me alone after Mina kissed his red cheek and walked out.

  “It’s not easy,” I said, knowing what he was feeling right now.

  His eyes collided with mine and he knew I understood.

  “She was our only chance to make it all right.” He was breaking, tears he hadn’t let the others see were started to spill over his eyelashes.

  “I don’t wanna know the future. It’s always been a cursed power, in my opinion, but I know what it’s like to make sacrifices. It’s never an easy choice, but someone had to make it.”

  I’d been red with rage when fighting Dorian. Centuries of pain had taken over, and I couldn’t see anything but his end.

  “The burden of her death doesn’t lie solely upon your shoulders. It’s mine and his, too.”

  I should have seen what was right in front of me. That something was powerful enough to make Esme choose her fate. Dorian should have seen it too—hell, maybe he did, but ignored it.

  Whether he knows it or not, he loved her too.

  I’d seen it in his eyes when she was gone.

  It was the same look I gave Rose that moment when she had put herself in danger to save me. Love that could reach the stars.

  I didn’t know his history.

  But being a demigod gave me a good idea. He was the only one of his kind. Everyone else had been put down one way or another. That in itself would stir and make even a sane man go mad.

  Somehow, he’d known about me, and throughout history had been trying to sabotage me. He played his part well, though, I’d give him that. We had no clue until Echo pieced it all together. I’d read the files of his journal after that. His hatred of me was palpable, and he would stop at nothing to see me lose everything, just like him.

  I’d seen the look on his face at the funeral. He was pissed to hell, and more focused than before to see the world end.

  Let the freaks free, and the humans would become their playthings.

  “It’s only going to get worse,” Phillip said, his hands covering his face in frustration. I knew the feeling. Everyone could feel the air shifting, turning dangerous, as if waiting for a spark to ignite it.

  “Always feels this way before war.”

  The anticipation of what would happen, the fear that you could die, and the sadness knowing that you will probably lose those close to you…I would do everything I could to stop that from happening. No more loss, no more suffering. I stood, not sure what exactly I could do right now, but I had to start somewhere.

  “Go home. He’ll show up for a chat. He’s not even blocking me on his moves right now. Teasing me of what he’s capable of.” Phillip gripped his hair tightly. The visions were haunting him. I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner, then left for my truck without another word. He knew all I could say, but the touch said enough. Everyone was hurting, him included. They all needed their time, and then they would come back around.

  The drive back to my demolished cabin was quiet, and the sun had finally gone down.

  For a brief moment once I got out of my truck, I looked out at the city scape through the trees then back at my old home.

  I did miss my quiet life.

  I missed my chickens and my cows. I missed not having any responsibility but taking care of them and being in the darkroom. It was the easier choice, but not the right one.

  The forest around me lit up, and I knew he was here.

  There would be no fight. This was the calm before the storm, and my only hope at trying to fix this before war came.

  Chapter Thirty

  Draco

  Dorian stepped into my peripheral view to my right.

  He was staring at the city, his hands in the pockets of his dark denim jeans, looking casual in the winter air.

  We were silent for a brief moment before I turned to face him fully.

  “How?”

  He knew what my question meant and kept staring off at the city.

  “I drank a tonic that made me seem dead. When I woke, they were all gone. I’d served in battle as a healer, and witnessed the gods’ end with you, brother.” He looked at me and sneered at the word brother.

  I’d been given a small amount of their blood, to seal the deal, a secret I’d kept even from the others. But Dorian and I shared blood—we were family, to some degree.

  “Apollo?” I guessed. Light was Apollo’s thing, plus the medicinal gifts. Dorian nodded.

  “I wasn’t a part of the demigods’ demise,” I told him, hoping he knew that I hadn’t been there for that. At least to strike one thing on his list off.

  “I know. You were the chosen one, while they killed their own children.” His voice was calm, but his words told another story.

  “I didn’t want this—to live this long, to watch everyone I cared about die. Immortality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as you know.” I glanced off toward the city, missing Rose. I hadn’t checked on her before I left, knowing it would have conflicted her more with me there. She needed her own time right now, but I would see her soon enough.

  “I won’t stop,” he told me, and I knew that would be his answer, but I had to try. Rage had been replaced with resolve, and all I wanted was to make things right.

  “I’m sorry about Esme.”

  I gambled bringing her up, and by the way his body tensed, I had gambled wrong.

  “She was nothing to me, and now she’s dead. That boy bet on the wrong future,” he hissed, and a shimmer of light started to appear around his body. He was going to leave.

  “I know hurt; I know pain. If you don’t face the truth, Dorian, agony will consume you like your hatred already has. We don’t have to do this, brother. There’s still time to right our wrongs.” It was a Hail Mary attempt. I sent out a prayer to whoever in the universe was listening that Dorian would see reason and choose the right path, not the easiest.

  His eyes leveled me with a glare of torment and pure rage.

  “You know nothing of the pain I’ve felt, but you will soon.”

  Light started to encase him, and I knew there was only seconds left before he vanished.

  “You didn’t deserve her. You didn’t deserve her love.”

  He was gone moments after the word
s left my mouth. I knew it would sting him, but we both knew they were true. She believed there was something more in him, and he was proving her wrong by continuing on this path.

  Hell, her sacrifice fueled him more.

  The world had barely survived demigods the first time, and now we had one that had thousands of years of anger built up, ready to be unleashed upon mankind. There was nothing stopping him now, not anymore.

  But we would still fight.

  I hopped back in the truck and drove to headquarters.

  Rose was asleep when I climbed into bed at the apartment I was staying at above the restaurant. She was sleeping in my bed instead of at her apartment, just to be close in case anything happened.

  She groaned and turned into my torso, moving her hands against my bare chest.

  “I feel awful for hitting him,” she confessed, as I knew she would. Rose was kind, but had that warrior’s spirit in her. She lashed out in hurt and anger. Phillip knew it, but that crack of her palm against his cheek would echo in the room for days to come.

  “He knows and understands, but can’t change what is,” I said as I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly.

  “I don’t wanna lose you,” she mumbled against my chest, and I wanted to chuckle. She couldn’t lose me—I was immortal. Before I could comment, she spoke the words I never wanted to hear come out of her mouth.

  “I’d lose you if I died. I don’t wanna die.”

  I spent the rest of the night telling her it wouldn’t happen, that she would be protected, and Phillip wouldn’t allow her to die, but I knew deep down that he would sacrifice everything. But if everyone was gone, what happy future would there be for us? I didn’t know.

  She needed a distraction, to not feel for even a few moments, so I gave her that—my body, my words—and she found peace for the night, resting in the safety of my arms in an orgasm coma, as she called it, having learned the phrase from one of her many romance books.

  I was glad she still found time to curl up in her chair with a blanket, tea, and a book. Some people believe that you have to be happy all the time, but it wasn’t true. I’d lived long enough to know that it was those little moment in the chaos of life that made us happier people. One minute of doing what you enjoyed is all you need to keep you going, sometimes.

  Sighing, I closed my eyes and tried to feel the happy that was flowing from Rose’s skin to mine. I felt heavy with everything that had been happening. But at least I had her with me. I had the Hero Society. I was blessed to have people care about me.

  Tomorrow was a new day, and we needed to start preparing for what was coming.

  Tonight, I would sleep well, with the woman I loved against my chest.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Dorian

  “You’ve lost, and we are free.”

  My battle cry bellowed throughout the city as Draco fell, sword to his chest.

  He would heal, of course, but he would never truly live.

  My army raised their fists in the air in victory.

  My eyes landed on the dead below. I did give them a chance to join me, to give up their righteous Hero Society and just be free. It wasn’t like I wanted to take over the world and become their king. I wanted people with powers to come into the sun, to be who they were meant to be. Not some superhero race who watched over mankind from the shadows.

  “We won’t ever give up. Remember that, Dorian,” Echo called out. She was completely bare, her body covered in dirt and blood after having fought in her animal forms. Asher was by her side, but there was blood rushing down his head. He would survive. I’d seen it. So would she.

  They looked down at their fallen comrades. Phillip’s sister was lying on the ground, eyes closed, hands lying on her bleeding stomach where Draco had placed them gently after she died.

  Leon and Lilith were embraced together on the grass. She had sacrificed herself to save his good soul from going to hell, damning them both to perish together. At least they had that.

  Phillip rushed to Draco’s side and pulled out the sword in one quick motion, blood pouring out from his wound. I hoped it hurt.

  “You chose wrong, Griffin, and you lost everything.” I spared a glance at him, my words laced with venom.

  “You never deserved the love she gave you,” he spat at me and lunged.

  I fell back against my bed, tired from having trained hard today. The vision was still the same, after having checked through them again for the tenth time today. The future I wanted was the leader in probability. It was war, and in the end, I would have my victory.

  “You never deserved her,” I scoffed aloud. Everyone was making it a point to tell me that, both now and in the future. I couldn’t change anything, even if I could.

  I shut down that thought because there was no point in entertaining it. Esme was better than me, and they were all right. I didn’t deserve her love. I didn’t want it. Told her that from the beginning, but she fell in love anyway.

  My eyes closed, and I could still see her face. Time would go on, and I doubt I would ever forget the way her eyes would spark with fire when I pushed her. The way her lips parted without her knowledge when I wrapped my lips around her icing-covered fork.

  Every moan she’d make when I was inside her.

  “Dammit, Esme.”

  I cursed and sat up swiftly.

  Every time I thought of Esme, all it did was piss me off.

  No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

  The way she looked at me tenderly when she pushed her power into me, healing me with her life force.

  Look to the stars and find my love in the dark.

  It wasn’t her love I wanted, but that didn’t stop me from flashing up to the roof of my mansion to stare at the dark sky. The clouds had been covering up the stars since she died, as if she took their light with her in the afterlife.

  I knew nothing of what awaited people after death now.

  Was the God that many believed in real, and had a heaven for them in the sky?

  Or was there nothing, now that the underworld had no keeper, and the rivers had dried up?

  A mystery that even stumped me.

  The wind was cold, and bit against my cheeks, but I paid it no mind. I was used to pain, and so the chill was nothing to me.

  I sat there for hours. Time was of little importance right now. So, I waited for an opening in the clouds, wishing I didn’t know why I was there.

  Truth was, I missed her, and looking at the stars was as close as I could get to her.

  “I bet you’re laughing at me now.” I spoke to the wind as if it would carry my words to wherever she was. She liked watching me suffer in a non-dying way. Teasing me, showing me her backbone, and defying me.

  “I could use your banter as a distraction.” I laughed thinking about the bantering back and forth we did. That attitude.

  “I could use some of your other special abilities now too,” I mumbled, wanting to run my fingers through that thick hair of hers and then caress her creamy skin. The more I thought of her, the more I began to hurt.

  I’d grown to care for her, that I knew.

  The moment I hesitated in giving her that necklace I’d bought for her, I knew there was more than just a sexual attraction. I’d been in denial.

  “It wasn’t love. But it was something. You were something.”

  My head went down a dream that had never even been in the realm of possibilities. I’d fallen for Esme and could keep her. There was no Hero Society, there was no revenge in my veins. Just us. Fuck knew where that dream would have gone, but when that opening I’d been waiting for in the clouds appeared, I took the opportunity and wished on a star for what could have been.

  “At least now you won’t have to choose between your friends and me. You would have hated me no matter what. It’s better this way.”

  I stood and felt my soul ache.

  I was glad Esme was gone. She’d died with love in her heart for me, instead
of dying from my hate.

  “Goodbye, Esme,” I said to the stars, just as the clouds covered up that gap.

  They were all right—I didn’t deserve her, but at least she didn’t know that before she died, despite me telling it to her. She had hope, a false hope, but hope in us, nonetheless.

  Leaving the roof, I went back to my room to train. It was the only solace I had left, until the heroes fell. Then, and only then, would I finally find peace in this hell.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Draco

  “Again!”

  Leon came at me with speed, and a fist that would knock a normal man out cold. But I moved slightly to the right, and he missed. I’d learned how to fight against his set of powers years ago, so today I was training with him to help learn to be a little less predictable.

  The fight against the man who hosted his stolen powers had been getting to Leon’s head. Since then he’d been wanting to know how to best someone like him. Both Lilith and I were giving everything we had, but ultimately it would come down to the other man’s fighting. That and making sure Leon had a clear head.

  He was still hotheaded at times, and stubborn. But he’d come a long way since he first joined our family. Lilith had moved in with him in the apartment above, and both were quick to respond in any situation and were enjoying their still-new marriage as best as they could.

  I dodged his next few punches but then let him land a roundabout kick to my stomach after tensing for the blow.

  “You need to anticipate where he’s going to move next, not just think about where he is at that moment. Where will he go? You have to think two steps ahead. If he gets his arms around you, you’re done for,” I told him and moved on quick feet to catch him off guard. He managed to block me and then moved in a blur to my right, nailing me in the side with his fist.

  “Good,” I told him, and we kept sparring until Lilith came in and said AJ wanted to see Leon.

  “Wanna wrestle?” Lilith smiled wide and waggled her eyebrows at me.