Fame’s eyes grew wide at the finality in my voice, being the first to understand what I was going to do, and he bellowed at me to leave. I ignored him, ignored all their pleas and demands, as I focused on their magic. It immediately recognized me, saddling up next to me in remembrance. I closed my eyes and started to talk to it, to coax it to come to me, to fill me. To give me all that it had to give.
The magic hesitated at first, knowing that its hosts didn't want that, but when I turned my plea sultry and sweet, it started to come to me, asking if I really wanted it all. And I did. I wanted every drop it had to give.
In a rush, all four of their powers came into me, sailing down my throat and flooding my veins. My body bent backwards as the sheer force of their powers rushed into me. Filling my belly so full I felt it was going to burst, but I told it to keep going, to go until it didn't have anything left.
I felt my mate marks burst at my wrists again, but I didn't lose focus. I coaxed and talked to their powers, telling them to keep it up. That I wanted more. I wanted it all.
I heard my dad yell at me in the background, I heard roars of pain and despair in front of me, but I was determined to follow my mates into the beyond. I felt their powers filling each and every cell, lighting me up from the inside, filling me up so much that my skin started to burn in pain from keeping it inside this corporeal body, but I kept going.
I kept going until I felt my eyes roll back into my head, and the world became black and silent.
Chapter 40
Allofmylife,I had never been afraid of death. I was Death, so I didn't need to fear it. I knew more than anyone that it came for everyone, eventually. I didn’t know for sure if we would live after the Apocalypse or not, but I wasn't afraid of the outcome. What I was desperately afraid of was that my death wasn't going to mean something other than the end of the world. That I was just this walking waste of a life who didn't deserve things like love and happiness.
Then Lillian came smashing into our lives.
When the four of us decided to start the Apocalypse in order to save Lillian from the creatures designed to kill her and her family, I was surprisingly filled with a calm acceptance. This would be a much better death, an honorable death, than the one we were most likely to have without her. So it was an easy decision. I just hadn’t counted on that stubborn fucking woman deciding to come with us.
When she was crying, begging us to stay with her, my heart shattered into pieces. I neverwantedto leave her, but us being together in the long run apparently wasn't in the cards. I was still so incredibly grateful to have her in my life for however long I got to.
I almost broke my resolve when she fell to the ground, sobbing. I knew she loved us, but I didn't know the depth of it. As she fell into despair, I saw it, I felt it through the bond. I saw that she had finally accepted us as her mates, loved us for who we were as men, and wanted to build something with us for the future. And we’d ruined all that hard work when we decided to give up our lives for her.
I shouldn't have been surprised when she got up, body looking like it had been put through the wringer, but her eyes shining bright with tears and an idea, with resolve and determination to see it through. I should’ve known that damn woman had a mind of her own that none of us could control.
Fame was the first to realize what she was doing, yelling and cursing at her. Telling her to not ruin this for us, but she didn't care. She smiled and closed her eyes.
I could tell the moment when our powers stopped just racing out of us and started to race into her. I could feel the power’s happiness, the feeling of being home reverberating through the mate bond.
All of us started to yell at her, even her father, but she wouldn't listen. My brothers and I looked at each other with the same look of despair. This was not what we wanted. Then the impossible happened.
Our mate marks, the white lily flower, lit up like it was the fourth of July, and our skin started to reconstruct itself. I could feel my body starting to build itself back up, filling me with my death power, returning the life I thought I’d just given up. I looked over at my brothers, and they looked the same, glowing with health and life and confusion. At least until we all looked over at Lillian, and she fell to the ground like a rag doll.
No. No.No!
The four of us scrambled to our feet and ran to her body. Lucifer screamed in pain, screaming for his little girl to wake up, and a part of me felt like this was my fault.
I skidded to her body, lifting her up and cradling her against mine. War was the next one right at my side, clutching her left hand, and Con slid into place on the other side, clutching her right.
I skated my fingers against her neck, trying to find a pulse, something that could tell me she was alive. Both of my brothers were doing the same thing with her hands, holding them, kissing them to make her wake up. Fame was looming over us, his face white as a sheet as anguish and hopelessness solidified on his face. He took a step back, shaking his head, clutching it so hard I thought he would make a dent in it.
“This was not how it was supposed to happen. This was not what I thought would happen.” His voice was muffled, and he shook his head over and over as his eyes took on a crazed look, trying to make sense of the whole thing, but nothing about this made sense.
His head snapped up, and a wildness overtook him as he screamed, “This was not supposed to happen!”
I’d never been scared of my brothers before, but as I looked at Fame’s face, I was scared of what he was going to do, what he was capable of doing and I clutched at Lillians body harder in fear.
I looked over at Con, who was now lying in her lap, silently praying for her to wake up. War started to shake her hand, telling her she needed to quit playing and open up her beautiful eyes. As I held her, a dread I had never felt before settled into me as I clung on to her unmoving body, not wanting to let go or face any truths.
“Uh.” I heard a voice behind me, and I slowly looked over my shoulder at the Creator, awake and staring at the rest of us.
Fame snapped his face to Him as he growled out, “What did you say, old man?”
Wow, Fame had gone over the deep end if he was talking to the Creator like that. He was always the one who told us to respect Him, know that He had a plan for us and to trust in that plan. The man before me now looked like he was about to tear the Creator’s face off.
He didn't balk or glare at us back. In fact, He just smiled as He moved around us gently and put His hand on her. He took a deep breath and closed His eyes.
“Have you guys felt your bond yet?”
