Archan
I fear no evil, the shadow is mine and so is the valley.
April brings the spring rain and new blossoms as life proceeds with a sureness that makes me murderous. Everything should halt. The birds should stop their incessant chirping, the Earth should pause on its axis, and the heavens should weep. The universe should tremble for the daughter it has lost. My head tips back against the slate, the pounding in my temples insistent and strong.
“Brother, we need you. Without intervention, they will breach the seals before the next sunrise.” Jed crouches before me and stares over my left shoulder at the cracked slab of stone immortalizing the woman who stole my heart. The chilly rain drips down his nose and eyelashes onto the ground. He sighs and squeezes my shoulder. “She isn’t here, she cannot hear your pleas, she cannot answer your prayers.”
I stare at the several hundred-year-old oak tree as the water runs down the budding branches. Immortality never felt so long or so lonely. Without her, what is the point?
“It’s been months, don’t let her sacrifice be in vain. She gave her life so we could thwart the evil encroaching on humanity.”
My gaze snaps to his. “Without her, there is no humanity left worth saving. Without her, my resolve to help these unworthy creatures is weak. We aren’t bound by any laws to even remain on this mortal plane. Let the gates fall, let them discover what true evil looks like, and what true fear feels like.”
The air shifts behind Jed, and my other brother materializes. “Again?” Lucifer drawls. “It has been three months, Archan. It’s time to snap out of this self-pity and depression. You return every night, and every night you leave empty, just like her grave.”
In a blink, my hand wraps around Lucifer’s throat and his head whacks against the tree, the bark crumbling to the ground. “Her grave is bare of the soul you so readily bartered away to destroy your abomination of a son that threatened her world.” I slam his head again. He doesn’t fight me. “She trusted you.”
He knocks my hand to the side and leans forward, his face twisted into a snarl. “She trusted me to follow through on the legacy she left behind. She gave us the tools, but we have to fight. You do not honor her by wallowing in a future you cannot have. It would disappoint her to know your indifference towards the world she relinquished her power to.”
“She had no right!” I holler. “Her life was mine, her soul was mine.”
Jed grabs my shoulder and pulls me away from Lucifer. “Natia gave up her life for you, brother, not for humanity, not for the world. It was because she loved you.”
I rub my hands down my face. “And she gave up her right to make that choice when she declared herself as mine. I’m one step away from destroying this world that stole from me the one thing I’ve wanted for myself, the one thing that could make this eternal life bearable.”
“Then what is stopping you?” Lucifer asks, shoving his hands in his pockets.
I run a hand through my hair, the cool water dripping down my neck, under my shirt and along my spine. “I owe her nothing. She stole happiness from me,” I mutter.
“In every soul on this earth lies a piece of Natia. You won’t eliminate them because if they die, every connection to her vanishes. It’s time to stop moping. Whilst you have grieved, Lawrence has pushed through the seals to Tartarus. He gathers an army at the last door, ready to be at the beck and call of the most feared creatures this universe offers. I cannot stop him alone. Together as a family, we have a chance. After tonight, this problem will escalate to epic proportions. Realms will be altered and life for everyone will be irrevocably changed.”
Jed stands beside Lucifer. “We need you. The forces that oppose us will cower under your power. They may even retreat before this becomes a war, because without you, brother, it will be a bloodbath.”
“You have Zac,” I point out.
“Zac’s heavy-handed methods only ever result in bloodshed and battles.”
“You aren’t the only one struggling with the gaping hole she left in our lives,” Lucifer mumbles.
I pace back and forth in front of the tree. “She didn’t just leave a hole. She took my trust and shredded my soul with her selfish actions. I was ready to die.”
“There were a hundred ways that night could have played out, but only one where she saved the man she loved,” Jed says, stepping towards me.
I tip my head back as the sky rumbles in displeasure. I blink at the clouds, the scent of a storm wrapping around me. Pregnant with the promise of violence. Her scent. It’s inescapable.
“You don’t return to a cold bed wrapped in her scent, sheets rumpled from shared passion. You don’t watch idiots holding onto each other with ugly jealousy in your heart. There isn’t a bathtub with handprints reminding you of the woman you love. You won’t find her clothes strewn around your floor. Everywhere I turn she is there; I feel her light amongst humanity. I walk down the street and swear I glimpse her dazzling blonde curls bouncing in the sunlight.”
“Perhaps fighting for that light to remain will help you, brother,” Lucifer ventures.
I sigh and taste the freshness of the rain on my tongue. “Perhaps.”
A battle may relieve me of the turquoise eyes haunting my every waking moment and tormenting my dreams. And if I take the world down with me as we go? So be it.
3
Chapter Three
Duncan
