Destiny: A Hunter's Novel, Book 3 (12 page)

I also wondered how long the dark magic would mark me. I thought I had beaten it back completely but I suppose, like falling in love for the first time, it would never really leave me.

“Yes, the book. What little secrets did you learn.”

“None I’m willing to share…with anyone.”

“Interesting. I thought your buddy Kai would have talked you into seeing things his way.”

I pushed the tip of my blade into the skin under his chin.

“I know who my friends are.”

“Do you really? Do you really believe all these people surrounding you are friends?”

I knew he was trying to instill doubt in me and it was working.

“No, but they will stand with me against you.”

“To what end Prophecy?”

I laughed. I wanted to tell him the truth: that I needed Tema back, that I needed to get rid of Mastema. But I needed Serafine to show at the right time. I hadn’t signaled her yet.

“For that exact thing: the end.”

“You can’t remove me.”

He thought I had taken Kai’s advice.

“Who said I wanted to?”

Mastema grabbed my leg, flipping me forward, and as my blade sliced a jagged hole into his neck, I fell face first onto the grass. I never saw it coming. I only felt his weight on my back, his knees if I had to guess.

“You will kiss the ground I walk on, and follow me where I want you to follow me.” He flipped me over onto my back. “Then pray for mercy when I skin you.”

“What good will it do? To what end?” I coughed out, now that my lungs were expanding again, free from Mastema’s crushing weight.

I never saw it coming. I thought Mastema would want to draw out my pain, torture me as he promised. I thought if he was going to kill me, it wouldn’t be quick. But that was just it – Mastema was unpredictable. He slid the blade between my ribs with precision, a precision that only came with practice.

I could tell by the shortness of breath I was feeling, the excruciating pain and the metallic taste in my mouth, he had punctured my lung. I was drowning in my own blood. I couldn’t move because the bone blade had come out of my back and pinned me to the ground.

Mastema bent down next to me, putting his mouth next to my ear.

“To whatever end I want. Don’t forget Delaney, I’m still the architect of the only world you know.”

And as I lay dying I knew the Black Shadow had been his doing. I had my suspicions but with that simple phrase, a phrase I had heard out of the Shadow’s mouth, I knew my suspicions were true. I had no idea how or why, but he had been behind the Shadow’s presence in my life. He had tried to control me for years, and I had rebelled accordingly. I guess it could’ve been worse. I could’ve been raised by Mastema himself.

I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him to me, he came toward me easily and I knew he did so willingly. I stopped pulling once his ear was next to my lips. There was frothy red blood coming out of my mouth and nose.

“My nightmares, maybe, but my world? No...”

My vision was dimming and I couldn’t hold a thought or word. I saw the flash of Serafine’s red hair and knew she must’ve been watching us. I could hear everything but could only see the red of Serafine’s hair and the darkness of Mastema’s form.

“What have you done?!” Serafine screeched.

I felt my head lift and warmth engulf me as Serafine’s red hair covered my face.

“Please, if you ever loved me – save her. Bend time. If you don’t –”

“You’re dead. You can’t be here. You. Are. Dead.”

My head was placed carefully on the ground. My vision had cleared again but the darkness still lurked. Serafine moved to Mastema and put her hands on his face.

“Does this feel real?”

“How?”

“I was her Angel. Save her Tema. Save her …”

“You’ve been with the
Angels
this entire time?!” He roared, so loudly I felt the ground shake under me. His reaction reminded me of Michael’s when he’d found out his sister had been with the Angels. Angels didn’t have many fans, how odd.

“If you don’t save her all is lost. We’ll never be able to have an argument about this if you don’t go back and stop this, right now!”

I watched, gasping for breath, as a darkness moved toward Mastema, engulfing him. I thought I had seen darkness before, but nothing was quite as dark as that darkness. I saw it reach into his chest and pull a tiny light out. His final bit of good. The final bit of his soul.

A soulless Mastema ruling over Hell would bring the world pain and evil worse than ever before. Serafine had told me that, but I had a hard time grasping the thought until that moment. Mastema dropped to his knees. I closed my eyes, unable to watch what I knew was happening: my final chance being pulled from Mastema.

I heard my heart beating in my ears. Then I lost my breath and heard rushing. I felt weightless and free. I easily opened my eyes to puffy whiteness. It wasn’t like the harsh white light I’d seen when Nolito had pulled me into his dream meeting.

I felt as though I was in a Glamour shot. This was a welcoming white. A white filled with warmth and comfort, not wrath and loathing. I looked down and saw that I was in white robes, held together by a gold rope at the waist. They were a bit too Roman for my tastes, but comfortable.

“Goodnight. You do look like me.”

I wondered if what they said was true: children have a special bond with their mothers, because I knew my Mother’s voice before I ever saw her face.

“Muscle to muscle and toe to toe, The fear has gripped me but here I go, My heart sinks as I jump up, Your hand grips hand as my eyes shut.”

-
alt-J,
Breezeblocks

When she came into view it was like looking into a mirror. Although she was older than me by a few years, there weren’t that many differences between the two of us. I had the same build she did and even our voices were similar.

“I must be dead then.”

“Not yet. This is, sort of, a middle ground. That dipstick down there will bend time for Serafine.”

I figured the dipstick she was talking about was Mastema.

“I’ve missed you,” I said.

Even though I hadn’t known her most of my life, I still felt her absence.

“I’ve missed you too, baby. So much of the pain and tribulations you’ve been through are my fault. The reason the Black Shadow was in your life at all was because Mastema figured out you were the reason Serafine died. He didn’t know in what way but after I showed up asking after Serafine, it wasn’t a far stretch. After he thought she died, he wanted to keep an eye on you. Luckily, some children grow up because of their parents and others in spite of them.”

“So will I go back or am I going through to, the other side?”

“It’ll be up to you. It’s called the Veil. Either way, I just want you to be happy, not everyone gets the choice.”

I knew if I was being given the choice, I would choose to go back to earth and be with Azrael, my Dad, Serafine, Anie, Cade…everyone. I had a life that I wanted to live.

My Mother was looking off into the distance below us and I could see the battle scene frozen mid-fight below. I was prone and bleeding out on the ground, Mastema was on his knees in front of Serafine, Az was fighting next to Alewar, having not realized I was losing my life right under his nose, and my Father was looking up. It was as though my Dad was looking right at my Mom and I. Odd.

“How long do I get to make the choice?”

“For as long as you need,” My Mom said, pulling her penetrating gaze back to mine. “Time is frozen here. We’re in between the Veil and…” She waved her hand above us.

I knew if I was given the choice, I would choose to go back to earth and be with Azrael, my Dad, Serafine, Anie, Cade…everyone.

“Do you think Tema can be a good ruler again?” She asked me.

“I think so.”

“I hope you’re right. I knew him a long time ago, I am praying he remembers what goodness feels like. I know that look on your face. You’ve chosen. Keep out of trouble. Stay close to Azrael. You’re my heart, don’t break it.”

She turned me away from her and pushed. I was falling face first to the ground from above the clouds. But as I fell, everything slowed. Instead of frozen, everything moved – but slowly. The only things standing still were Mastema, Serafine and myself. I landed on my feet next to the bloody version of myself on the ground, and that version disappeared.

The darkness that had encroached on the last bit of light left in Mastema quickly left. I caught the last glimpse of it as it flew away and I could feel the promise of its return.

I felt my robed-self solidify. I stood wearing the white robes I had worn while I had chatted with my Mom.

Mastema and Serafine looked over as I stood there.

“Are you okay, Laney?” Serafine came over and checked my body, she then glanced at the ground where the other me lay bleeding. I swatted her hands away. I wondered if she even saw the strange robes I was wearing.

“I’m fine.”

Serafine moved back to Mastema, who was still kneeling on the ground and pulled him up to a standing position. Serafine’s palm cracked across Mastema’s face. I flinched.

“What is wrong with you, Tema?!”

Mastema smiled, and I saw a man standing in front of me instead of the wretched creature he had been.

“I can’t tell you how many times I wished to hear you say that again.”

I watched in fascination and discomfort as they kissed with passion and love, Serafine dissolved into him. I could see the crack that had been caused by the loss of each other, their Mates, healing before me. I felt like a voyeur watching them make out like teenagers, but c’est la vie.

Mastema may have tried to kill me, but I knew in that moment that Serafine was his balance. That had been the problem: Hell was missing its better half. The world was moving slowly, and we were standing still. They stopped kissing and just looked at one another, rememorizing the other.

“I have missed you Serafine.”

“Me too.”

Mastema looked over Serafine’s shoulder and saw me still standing there, but as though he was seeing me for the first time. He held my gaze.

“I apologize for trying to kill you. I’ve been a bit…off since Serafine was taken from me. I suppose I have you to thank for her return,” Mastema admitted begrudgingly, although I suspected he was really happy.

“You owe her more than one, as well as the rest of the population on Earth,” Serafine confirmed as she turned. Her brows knit together as she finally saw what I was wearing.

“What?” I asked.

“Why are you wearing the robes of the Veil?”

“I was visiting. Mom says hi.”

Serafine smiled while tears welled, ready to break free.

“I should’ve known,” Serafine said.

I stomped my way over to Mastema, pushing my finger into his unyielding chest.

“If you
ever
pull that shit again, we are going to have a problem.”

“Very well, Prophecy,” Mastema smiled down at me.

I thought I’d seen him smile before, but this was so different from the bitter laughs and crazy smiles I’d gotten before. As though his world, and by proxy everyone else’s, was set right again because Serafine was there. I understood the feeling.

I looked around us and saw we were standing at the beginning of the battle, when Mastema had appeared, his Demons kneeling before him. Alewar was sitting between Az and I. Similar to the look on Mastema’s face, I saw an identical one on Azrael’s. I knew in that moment that I was willing to take whatever part of Az’s life he was willing to give me. If we never married I’d live in sin with him until the day I died, which, thankfully, was not right then. Then the world spun around us again.

I looked over my shoulder and saw two very happily Mated Supernatural beings, that I knew would be a part of my life for as long as I was given one. I fully trusted Serafine and I knew that since I meant so much to her and I’d brought her back to him, Mastema wouldn’t hurt me either.

“So, what are the rules here? Can we meet our past selves? Pat ‘em on the back, tell ‘em they’ve done a good job?”

Mastema exaggeratedly rolled his eyes and Serafine giggled. Yeah, I thought things were going to be just fine.

“I think I’m going to have to go back further and talk to myself,” Mastema said.

“Don’t feel bad, I talk to myself all the time,” I snort-laughed at my own joke.

“Are you sure I can’t just kill her?” Mastema asked it without a laugh, but I caught a look in his eyes that told me he was joking.

“Don’t be an ass, Tema,” Serafine walked forward and grabbed my hand. I looked at our joined hands with a questioning frown. “We have to hold hands to get to Hell on a time bend. Stupid? Yes. But that’s the way things are sometimes.”

I felt the bend and pull of Mastema’s magic but had closed my eyes at the first symptom of its presence.

I felt a flash of heat and then the drying effects of the Brimstone, which stopped with a touch of Mastema’s hand as he passed by me to get to his past self. I won’t lie, it was nerve racking to have two Mastema’s in such a confined space.

Past Mastema turned to his present-time self with a simple tilt of his head. If I came eye to eye with myself I would’ve peed myself, apparently he had done this before.

“What’s happened now? And thank you for bringing the Prophecy to me.” Past Mastema’s gaze was honed in on me and me alone. He was talking to his present-self but wasn’t interested in the reply. He wanted at me.

I hadn’t realized Serafine was standing behind me. I also hadn’t realized she had put her hood up, until she stepped around me and the past Mastema sniffed the air. She lowered her hood. Past Mastema shook his head.

“I looked everywhere for you. I didn’t want to believe you were gone. And yet, here you are.”

“If you want me back, you’ll leave Delaney alone.”

He brought up his hand to her face, and brushed her hair to the side. I stepped the rest of the way around and saw Serafine was leaning into his hand and put hers over his.

“Tema, you can’t –” Serafine started.

“When we go back, you’ll see Serafine. Drop the battle where it stands when you see her. Send our Demons home and be done,” Present Mastema said while pulling his past self away from Serafine. Was he jealous of his past-self touching Serafine? “Then we both get what we want.”

Both the Mastemas’ eyes found Serafine and held. She dealt with it well, not squirming but looking at them both lovingly. She obviously had experience with this kind of situation.

Past Mastema looked at me again.

“I knew I smelled Serafine around you.”

“What can I say? I’m a woman of my word.”

I looked pointedly at Serafine.

“We can talk about all this later,” Present Mastema said. “Do you understand what needs to be done?”

I didn’t ask why I was going to have to endure the pain of being killed or why they didn’t just stop the battle at the beginning. I just wanted this whole weird moment to be over. Serafine grabbed my hand while present Mastema held hers. He waived his hand and we landed where we had begun: next to my bleeding body. I stood there, waiting for him to pull it all back.

When I finally looked at Mastema, his brows were scrunched together and reaching for heaven and his eyes were fixated on my pooling blood.

I snapped my fingers and dropped Serafine’s hand. I walked into his line of sight, cutting off his gruesome view.

“Hey,” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “What’s up? Just pull time back to before you stabbed me.”

“I can’t. Something’s blocking me.” Mastema looked pissed again.

I heard a voice in my head. It was Alewar.

Your Mother doesn’t want you to lose all of her.

How do you know?!

I’ve been eavesdropping. And the higher up you are the more power you can have. Your Mother may have asked for a favor from the big guy.

God? Seriously?

He is called many things but we call him Altissimus.

We?

Even Hellhounds have their own belief system. Only ours is pretty close to the truth, unlike Humans.

Am I going to die?

I was terrified. I knew that my Mother had pushed me and I had come back to myself but my body was still dying on the ground in front of me.

We all die. But your Mother wouldn’t let that happen.

“Can you heal me?” I asked Mastema aloud. I didn’t know where Alewar was located in the mêlée of supernaturals and Demons, but I knew he was probably listening.

“You are too far gone. It is one of the limits of my power.”

“I don’t know if I’m happy because there is a limit to your power or upset because you’ve had occasion to test it out.”

Serafine pulled me to her, away from a frowning Mastema.

“You have a lot of power around you and within you. Use it.”

She looked above, at the white puffy clouds, speaking silently to someone, and nodded. With that simple nod my world crashed around me. I felt myself mesh together again. I could barely take a breath and the frothy blood in my mouth and nose was suffocating me.

I also knew in that moment, just as the Prophecy had said: in the pit of times, who I was to lead. I was meant to be a leader of many. My roots had always been telling me that I belonged helping more than one group. I belonged working toward helping others merge together, have more understanding of each other. I belonged as a leader of myself and a leader amongst the Landet Av Ukjent, The Land of the Unknown. I had felt comfortable before, but now I knew for sure that it was where I belonged – it would be my home.

I let the darkness pull my eyes shut and felt around for the power I needed. I concentrated on healing my injuries but not fully, since I was so low on energy as it was, but enough so I didn’t die. I felt my power finally settle.

My power had always been on the surface ready to break free, but now it settled deeply into me. I had been able to pull power from others before, I knew now that ability been my training wheels. My power had only been awakened when I was around another’s power. Now my power would be my own, it was simply a matter of controlling it and using it correctly.

I was lifted off the ground. I heard arguing over my head. I felt my lung expand and I spit the froth out of my mouth.

“I think she’s going to make it.”

It was my Dad that said it, and my Granddad that cursed afterward. I didn’t have the strength to pull my eyes open.