I slowly nodded as I took the knife out and pierced the shield. Muriel didn't even notice, so consumed with her mind and what it was telling her. He kneeled, then lay down next to her. He grabbed her hand and looked at her tear-stained face with love and understanding.
“I will never get what I deserve. I will never have true happiness. Why was I cursed like this?” she muttered, not paying attention to either of us as she wallowed in her pain and despair.
He looked up at me and nodded, a sad resolve settled in his eyes. I quickly leaned forward and slit her throat, the knife sucking all the divine angelic power inside of her back into the blade. Instead of the natural reaction of eyes opening and her grasping at her neck like I expected, all she did was sigh in contentment with her eyes closed. I didn't want to drag this out any longer. Without even looking up, I sliced his willing throat immediately. Again, the knife sucked up all of his demonic powers. I glanced up at him and was surprised to see him smiling as he grabbed her hand, clutching it in his as he closed his eyes. They both disintegrated into ashes before my eyes.
I noticed a twinkle in her ashes and realized that it was the blessed ring, the one that causes the shield. I picked it up, still unsettled about what I’d just done, but knowing that I needed to go help my mates and my family, I grabbed the satchel and ran over to the guys.
The shield around Pop Pop started to come down, and for the first time since Muriel had arrived, I released a breath of relief. We were going to make it. We were going to all get out of this.
I looked over at the guys, their power still releasing at a steady pace. “Well, aren't you guys just over-achievers? You can pull back now.” I laughed off as I looked out at the destruction they’d caused as the last creature perished, leaving a sea of dead bodies. A suddenly got an itch on my forearms and I started to scratch them as I said, “I took care of Muriel and Behemoth, and my Pop Pop should be waking up soon, so we are all good.”
My scratching stopped when Death gave me a pained expression as he clenched his teeth. I didn’t understand what he was trying to tell me so I looked at Fame. He wore a frown, and his eyes glittered with regret and love. War’s face was pinched in pain, and tears were gathering in his eyes as he looked at me and gulped. Con was freely crying, tears streaking down his face as his eyes bore into mine, trying to tell me how much he loved me, how much I meant to him without saying a word. But none of them stopped the flow of their power.
I looked down at their hands, noticing that where their power flowed from was starting to blacken at the tips, break apart, and disappear like when you light paper on fire. This process was slowly creeping up from their hands to their arms and I realized what was happening. I looked down at my mate marks, seeing small sections on each starting to gray out.
I took a step back, shaking my head as everything around me disappeared but them. “No,” I whispered in desperation.
Tears gathered in my eyes, blurring out the edges when I remembered that I was the Queen of Hell and queens don't cry. This time my body didn't obey my command. The tears spilled over as I screamed at them, waving my hands like I could use my own magic to make them do what I said. “Take it back. Stop the power. Stop it!” The torment in my voice broke as my eyes kept flicking to each of them, begging them to listen to me.
This time War’s tears spilled over as he choked on his words. “We can’t, little goddess.”
My head started spinning as I heard raging gut wrenching screams in my head. Pain filled screams that I hadn't even heard in Hell before. The guys winced. Those screams were not just in my head. They were coming from me.
No, this isn’t happening to me. No. I refuse to let this happen. I ran up to each of them individually, shaking them, hitting their backs, yelling and cursing at them to stop. To just pull back. To stay with me.
But they didn't stop.
The cave started to feel like it was closing in on me as it was getting harder to breathe. My chest collapsed on the inside and my mind was curled up in a dark corner, not able to work out how to get out of this. How to save them. How to save our future together.
Con’s soft and smooth voice called to me, beckoning me to turn my face towards him. “I'm so sorry, my hellcat. I wish I could have forever with you, but I will always be thankful for having you in my life. You made it worth living. You made me believe in love and eternity. Before you, I was a bored husk of a man, but today, I get to die for my mate. I get to be the man I always wanted to be, because of you. I love you.”
A sob broke from my mouth uncontrollably as my world was shattering around me and I felt my mate marks starting to burn.Why? Why were they doing this?
“Little goddess,” War called out to me, and like a moth to a flame, I went to him. “I knew from the moment I met you that you were my twin soul. You were the one who could understand me and accept me for all that I am. I was devoted to you from the first day I saw this warrior goddess in front of me and knew that I would be changed forever. I would rather spend one day fighting and loving you than a lifetime alone. The day you chose to love me back was the day I knew I could die a happy man. I love you, little goddess, with all that I am.”
The rivers of tears falling down my face wouldn’t stop, and I didn’t know if they ever would as the four pieces of my heart were being ripped out of me and there was nothing I could do about it.
Fame’s commanding voice called out to me, “Come here, princess.”
I went, dragging my feet as my body was starting to grow sluggish.
“You are going to live through this. We want you to live your life, find happiness again, find joy. Don't let your fears hold you back. I knew from the moment I compiled your file that you were going to be trouble for us, but you’re thebestkind of trouble. The trouble we all needed in our lives. You found it in your heart to love a cold, unfeeling man like me, and I will forever be grateful that your bratty self came into our lives and gave us so much. That you never quit challenging us, making us better men by just being in your presence. You are the princess who transformed into a queen before our eyes and gave us the privilege to call you our mate. I love you with my body, mind, and soul.”
I started to gasp because my sobs and tears were clogging up my airways. My body started to collapse into itself from the pain and anguish that was overtaking me, both my arms burning to almost be unbearable, like they were being burnt from the inside out.
I couldn’t do this. My mind kept turning those thoughts over and over in my head. I couldn’t just sit here and lose the men I have finally learned to love. Finally opened myself too.
“Come here, demoness, just one more,” Death summoned me in his whiskey laced voice, and as a demon, I responded with the last bit of my strength. “You were the card I never saw coming. You saw my scars and pain, and you drank them down like it was candied water. You took all of my attitude and surly demeanor and found the little boy underneath who just wanted to find love, be loved, and you gave that to me. You stared hardship in the face and said, ‘fuck you, I’m going to have you anyway’, and I’ll forever be grateful that you did. That you are the most stubborn woman I have ever met and was lucky enough to call you mine. You gave my meaningless life direction and purpose. Dying for you today is the best outcome for my life, and I would die a thousand more times for you if I could. I love you, more than anything, and our love for you will live on past this moment.”
My body gave up at that instant, and I crumbled to the ground, not wanting to get up ever again. Not wanting to even try. I could hear my dad desperately calling to me in the background, but the sea of pain, despair, and heartbreak I was feeling overtook all of my senses. Overtook every cell in my body, and I just wanted to give up. I curled up into myself, wanting to give up on this life and go with them.
I looked at my mate marks, feeling the bonds linked to them flicker weakly as the burning started to decrease and the ache in my heart increased. I looked around with the side of my face on the ground, tasting the tear-stained dirt as I cried, when my mournful gaze landed on the ashes of Muriel and Behemoth, and an idea sparked life back into me. Yes. That was the answer. I didn't want to live the rest of my life sad and depressed like my dad, always pining away for the ones I could never have again.
I now understood how he felt, and an overwhelming pride filled my heart that my dad had had the strength to keep going while feeling this way, when he had a daughter to take care of, but I didn't have a tie to them like that. No, I’d seen what being without your mate did to an eternal, and I didn’t want that for myself.
Resolve filled my soul, and I got up on shaky legs. I looked at the men who I loved more than life. The flesh on their chests started to burn away from power being released, and I made my choice. No one was going to stop me. I slowly walked in front of them. They screamed at me to get out of the way, that soon there would be a blast that completely demolished this place, and I needed to get out of here.
I just smiled brokenly at them with my red rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks, and took a big breath before I quietly said, “No.”
