Page 73 of I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell

And then he grits his teeth and grabs the shaft of the arrow.

“What are you—”

He rips it out. Blood coats it, thick and wet. I stare at him in horror.

“How can you be so stupid?!” I screech, reaching for him as he stumbles. He evades me, barely finding his balance by pressing a bloody hand to the steel of the container. “You shouldn’t have removed the arrow. That’s what was keeping you from bleeding out!”

He shakes his head, blinking hard. “I’m not going to heal with it in.”

“You’re not going to heal like this! You needed to wait until we could rest and I could find gauze and apply pressure and—”

All the things we need to do die in my throat as he glances back in Beliar’s direction. “I have to deal with him before The Reckoning happens. If the archers come back while he’s alive, they’ll stop us. You need to leave. Follow the map to the house. You’ll be safe there.”

He’s still holding the arrow. His eyes widen at the red staining his hands, as if just now realizing what he’s done.

“Come with us,” I beg. Tears turn him blurry. “At your house back in the overworld, I said you were unmissable, just like me. But that’s not true. I’d miss you. So, please, Luke, come with us.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” His voice cracks as his bloody hand cups my cheek, forcing our gazes to lock. He’s shaking his head, as if trying to convince himself out of something.

“Come with us,” I repeat, harsher. Maybe I convinced him. His eyes are contemplating—

“Fuck it,” he breathes.

And then he kisses me.

For a heartbeat, it’s just us. The feel of his lips against mine, the desperation inside me willing him to run with us. Even though I’m mad, even though I’m confused, even though everything is so wrong, the movement of his mouth against mine feels disastrously right. Like everything has an explanation and will work out, as long as we can sort through it together.

But then he’s pulling away with a shudder. He drops the arrow and digs the keys to the van out of his pocket, folding my hand around them. I stare at my closed fist, belatedly recognizing the kiss for what it was: a goodbye.

“You did well, Brie,” he whispers. The same words that flooded me with emotion only a day prior. Now, with tears clogging my throat and my lips burning from his, the effect is ten times worse. “You’re almost there.”

Before I can say anything, he’s storming back toward Beliar.

Reeling, I grab the backpack and loop my arm through Krystal’s, who loops hers through Poppi’s, who holds tightly to the third woman still holding the bow like a cane.

Beliar says something to Luke, but I can’t hear it over my own panting as I drag Krystal and the others past the remaining containers to the van. Without sneaking around, it’s a much shorter distance to close. I slide the back door open, ushering them inside.

Krystal’s the last to go. She shakes in my arms as I help her up. Once she’s in, her half-lidded eyes find mine.

“Tell me this is all a bad dream,” she pleads. “Tell me we’ll wake up.”

“It’s a hell of a nightmare, isn’t it?” I force a grin. I don’t want this to haunt her for the rest of her life. Because she will have a life left to live. “So funny seeing you here in my dreams.”

Her expression cracks in relief and she sinks into the seat. I close the door as Beliar’s voice echoes in a menacing hiss across the valley.

“You’re weak.”

I look back and choke on my gasp. At the bottom of the steps, Luke is struck down onto his hands and knees. His biceps quiver, barely holding his body up. He reaches for his dagger on the ground but Beliar kicks it out of reach with a cruel laugh.

“You’re weak!” the demon repeats. “And you always have been. It should have been me.”

Luke pushes himself up onto his knees. He spits a mouthful of blood at Beliar’s feet.

Beliar guffaws. “You think that’s an insult? What a gift to see all that red flow out of you like a river, as it should. Soon, it will be a flood.”

Beliar wraps both hands around his weapon. I’m slugged with the truth that Luke is about to die. He just kissed me like something out of a goddamn movie and he’s going to die. Beliar is going to kill him and I’m the only one left to do something about it.

I should leave. He told me to leave.