“Vex—” I’m crying now, tears freezing on my cheeks.“I can’t let them die.I can’t—”
Seven.
Six.
Five.
He kisses me.
Hard and desperate and full of everything we said to each other last night and everything we haven’t said yet.His hands tangle in my hair, pulling me closer, and through the bond I feel him flooding me with every ounce of strength he has.
You are not alone in this.Whatever happens, we face it together.
Four.
Three.
Two.
The screaming in my head reaches a crescendo, and I can feel Mandy’s terror like it’s my own, can feel the exact moment the ice shades reach her—
And then it stops.
All of it.The voices, the visions, the screaming.Gone in an instant, leaving behind a ringing silence that’s almost worse.
I pull back from Vex, gasping.“What—?”
His radio crackles to life on the nightstand, Blade’s voice cutting through the static.
“Vex.You there?”
Vex reaches for it without taking his eyes off me.“Yeah.We’re here.”
“We’ve got a situation.Multiple attacks happening simultaneously across the territory.Gas station on Route 7, three homes in the residential district, Betty’s Diner—”
“Is Mandy alive?”I interrupt, my voice ragged.
A pause.Then: “Yeah.Prophet got there in time.But this thing is escalating fast.It’s not just targeting you anymore, Tessa.It’s going after everyone.”
The mark pulses once, a cold reminder of what it showed me.
This is just the beginning.Every moment you resist, more of them die.How long can you bear the weight of their suffering?
I look at Vex, and he must see something in my expression because his grip on me tightens.
“We’re coming back,” he says into the radio.“Twenty minutes.”
“Make it fifteen,” Blade replies.“And Vex?Keep her close.Whatever this thing wants with her, it’s ramping up.”
The radio goes silent.
Outside, the wind is still howling, but the voices have faded to whispers.I can still hear them if I focus, still feel the pull of the mark urging me to give in, to surrender, to end this before more people get hurt.
But I can also feel Vex through the bond, solid and real and refusing to let me go.
“Talk to me,” he says quietly.“What did it show you?”
“Everything.”My voice breaks on the word.“It showed me everyone dying.Showed me you shattered into pieces.Showed me what happens if I don’t give it what it wants.”
