Page 158 of Rot In Knotty Pieces

I reach out and pull off her suppressant patch, then I take mine off and lean over her, pressing our foreheads together. I stare into her eyes, my tears falling on her cheeks.

“I remember you. Oh, Callea, I finally remember you. I won’t forget this time, I promise, I won’t. Just…” Stay with me.

She holds me tight and gets weaker and weaker. She reaches down with one hand and draws three letters in her blood.

Fly.

“Callea, please.” I choke on my tears, the selfish pleas I want to make. She’s hurting. She’s suffering. It takes me a moment, and it hurts, more than anything I’ve ever done, but it hurts to decide.

“You can fly. It’s okay. No more pain. I love you. And we’ll meet again. I will see you soon.” I say the words while I strangle the ones I want to scream. Stay. Don’t leave me. I give her freedom and peace.

Her hand holds mine, and then her strength goes. She just doesn’t take another breath. I pull back so I can see her. Her eyes are closed, but she’s smiling, just slightly. She looks peaceful and so young.

I turn my head and find Sage fighting Father. He’s torn up and bleeding, but then Blaze arrives with his dao, and Sage steps back.

I look back down at my sister and brush the short hair over her scalp, I’m almost scared this small touch will hurt her, but she can’t feel it, not anymore.

All this time, I thought she was dead.

He kept us apart.

He hurt us.

He broke us.

Now, I’m going to break him.

Inside, the fire burns hotter and hotter.

A presence that has been growing pulls out of the dark and pushes to the front.

I willingly give up my hold on our body, letting this new alter free, and pull out the knife I gave to Rose.

Phoenix

Istand up and look down at the body of my sister. She is pale in a puddle of blood, the scent is strong on me, and when I look down, I see that I’m covered in it. She will live again. We both will.

One day, our souls will find each other. She’s flying free now. Weightless, innocent, and without burdens.

My anger is so cold that it surpasses these mortal things. My flames burn higher inside until I tremble with it.

“Who are you?” Father shouts, looking at me. “I don’t know you.”

He screams and clutches at his shoulder where the single old scar of a bond sits. It must be tearing him apart. Callea’s last gift to this monster.

He’s on his knees, his mask ripped off. Just a mortal man, an old one at that. An ugly one. Just an alpha with no more power in him than that. Every single aspect of his power came from the mask and the fear he wielded like a talisman.

That mask is gone.

I wear a mask, too: the mask of the body.

“I am Phoenix, risen from the ashes of the life you destroyed. I will be your end. Your punishment. Judge and executioner. You had a life, a chance to be kind, to be a good alpha. Instead, you wasted it hurting children and murdering those who got in your way.”

I speak slowly, enunciating my words with an accent that the body can’t quite manage.

“What the fuck do I care about children or people?” he screams, his back bowing. “Everyone deserves to die. Merelee, you waste. I should have killed you the day I found you.”

His eyes widen as I step slowly towards him. My pack gather around me, their family and friends around them. The children of this monster who have crept back watch on in horror.