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My mom stood in front of me, my dagger in her hand. Fresh blood coated the length of it, Bellamy doubled over, blood pulsed from his side as his hand covered it. She had done what I couldn't. He looked from me and back to the portal before he stood as straight as he could and fell into it. I didn't even have time to stop him.
I crumbled as the portal crackled and then snapped shut. His prone body was lifeless on the other side.
"What did you do!" I screamed as I turned toward my mom. There was no joy in her expression, only determination.
"I saved you. He was going to kill you," she said. She dropped the dagger at my feet and turned away from me.
"He wasn't going to kill me, he would have stopped," I said. My blurry gaze swung around the clearing, but I couldn't read the expression on Lex and Alastor's faces. Did they agree with her? Or did they know Bellamy? "You killed him."
Weak and lightheaded, I leaned against the useless pillar of stone, my focus on the spot I had last seen him. My worst fear had been realized and guess what? It was every bit as painful as I knew it would be. Lex and Alastor knelt next to me, and I wasn't even sure when they had moved.
"You could have stopped her," I whispered.
"Sam, you are still losing blood, we need to get you patched up," Lex said. He ignored my words for now, but he wouldn't be able to avoid them forever.
My eyes were heavy as I attempted to open them. I slowly blinked. The luxury of Alastor's penthouse came into view. I was in his plush bed, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen. My neck ached. It probably didn't help that I had just recovered from almost dying similarly, only this time I was positive the bite marks were still there. I ran my fingers over the bandage that covered the damaged skin, and everything came back to me.
My life was a mess. I wanted to burrow into this bed and never leave it, because getting up meant facing my future. A future where I wasn't sure I wanted to kill demons or fight other people's battles. Let the other hunters do it.
The decision was simple when I looked at it in a certain way. I wasn't the only descendant of Orion and Artemis. Others could fight the same battle I had been up against for the last few years, and I was going to let them take the reins. Losing one person I loved was one too many.
Kicking the covers off, I found my feet. Dizziness hit me, and my hand shot out to steady me. Lex came into the room carrying a tray. He quickly placed it on the chair and came over to help me.
"Sam, you shouldn't be up," he said, and guided me back onto the mattress. "You lost a lot of blood. Alastor had us come here, but he was called away. He paid for the room until the end of the month and said to use it as we needed."
"Is he coming back?" I didn't know why he would. His mission was over. Bellamy was dead. My whole body recoiled at the thought as tears filled my eyes again.
"I'm sorry. It is sort of Alastor's M.O., he gets close to people, and then he leaves them." He sounded matter-of-fact, like it wassomething that just happened like snow if it was below a certain temperature. It was something that was never questioned. But it felt like another dagger to my already ravaged heart.
After he had me covered up again, he went back for the tray. He placed it on the bed next to me. I eyed the plate full of fruit, the perfectly sized pancakes, and the small container of syrup.
"Room service?" I lifted an eyebrow at him and attempted to smile.
"Without a doubt. I'm trying to heal you, not kill you," he said. He perched on the bed next to the tray and looked at me. "If I could have stopped your mom, I would have. I know he wasn't going to really kill you. He would have stopped if no one stopped him."
"You lost him too, didn't you?" There was something in the way he spoke. Reflecting the same truth that I knew. That Bellamy wanted to save me, not kill me. Me dying wasn't his goal, saving me was. Well, it looked like he got what he wanted, because I was here and he wasn't.
"We bonded over our feelings for Alastor and you, actually. A late night of drinking led to something unexpected for both of us, I think." He nodded. "Yeah, I lost him too."
I climbed into his lap and wrapped my arms around him. I knew little at this moment, but I knew that letting him go was the last thing I was planning on doing. His enormous arms circled me and pulled me close. He tucked my head into his chest with a shuddering sigh. We would heal together. The rest I would leave for tomorrow.
Epilogue
RAIDEN
A week.
Seven days.
One hundred and sixty-eight hours.
Ten thousand and eight minutes.
It was all the same, I’d been ghosted. Sam had turned off her location and expressly forbidden Ty from even mentioning her name to me. At least I knew she was still breathing. It wasn’t like I could blame anyone but myself. Still, I was here in our park, on our swing set hoping she would come, so I could beg for the forgiveness I didn’t deserve.
Even now, my dragon fought to be released; he raged inside of me, and I was lucky I had gained back control. I’d lost what he had cared for most. As it was, he had nearly destroyed the warehouse in his rage. The one place I could let him free without fear, the failsafe when turned on kept him contained. I had never needed to use it before now.
The singed metal walls that had paint melted from them and my living area in shambles were the least of my worries as I clutched my phone in my hand. She hadn’t answered a single text, or call.
