But mortals.
I gasp and fall to my knees as I scan the field and struggle to count the number of mortal lives she’s taken.
“No,” I whisper.
“Oh yes, sister, they’re so much stronger while they’re alive.You ought to try them.It’s a real delicacy.”
“You have to stop, you can’t do this.It’s a massacre.”
She shrugs, nonchalant.“I need enough power to break the system.So I had to take enough souls.We must free ourselves from these chains.”
“Fate isn’t a chain,” I say, my voice high and pleading.
“If you think that, then you’re delusional.The whole system is a noose, throttling our freedom and our choices.”
“Only if you let it.”I’m vaguely aware of footsteps behind me, the patter, patter, patter of running people and chatter growing louder, and then my whole body goes rigid.Hoards of mortals.
Interitus shifts, her features morphing a millimetre here, a breadth there, until it’s no longer my twin sister I’m staring at, but me.
It’s not staring at myself that unnerves me.It’s not even the swelling crowd of humans that bothers me.
What sends the coldest lance of fear straight to my core is the scent of sunset, ocean waves and woodsmoke.
Her energy comes next, warmth drifting under the wind.She glistens and bubbles and floats with such lightness despite being a demon.That’s one of the things I love about her.
Interitus’s eyes snap to a point behind my shoulder and then she smiles and my whole body goes icy.
My heart stops, my soul shrivels, my breath catches in my throat.
“No,” I whisper.
Interitus’s mouth twists into an ugly sneer before her gaze slowly drops to mine.
“I wondered why you’d slowed down.Haven’t seen you in ages.So boring.I thought we were having fun.”
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I bark as the crowds of mortals start screaming and shouting.My name chanted like a vicious weapon.
Mothers scream.
Brothers run to the park fence.
Fathers ball their fists and holler for justice.
Strange how time slows in these moments.Each shout and cry elongating and stretching.
I hear them and yet, they’re so distant.My focus is solely on my sister wearing my face, knowing that my beloved is behind me.What if Gellara goes to her and not me?I coil, a viper waiting, ready.
I want to turn and see her, to hold her in my gaze and tell her it’s going to be okay.But I dare not look away from Interitus.
I choose Gellara over my sister.If this is what it has come to, I will stand in front of Gellara and rip my sister’s soul from her body in order to protect her.
If this is how it is to end, then I am ready to make that sacrifice.
But in the end, we weren’t the ones chasing Interitus.She was always leading us here.
And that is a very different type of ending.
23
