Page 37 of Claimed
My magick lifts him and slams him so hard into the glass that he cries out.
The sound is not one I have ever heard the angel make. It rips into me on the tail wind of a shame and guilt I thought I outgrew years ago.
Crimson magick swirls around. Not hellfire. But my actual magick. The one I have spent ten years hiding.
Silence echoes around me, save for the distant roar of traffic.
I lower the angel to his feet and my power snuffs out. He stumbles and Tanner grabs him, keeping him upright.
A coppery red stain mars the glass from his head and the sickness inside me grows.
I back up.
Ruin takes a step. “Caine.”
My eyes snap to his. There is so much uncertainty on his face. So much confusion. And I can’t stand it.
“Her name is Onyx. She is working for a demon named Azz. She made a deal with him.” My voice is empty. Hollow. “She wouldn’t tell me anything about him.”
“Caine—”
I back up again and my spine hits the rail. “Maybe she will talk to someone that isn’t what I am.”
His features twist. I look away.
“I’m sorry, Horan.” The words rip from me before I grip the rail and leap over it.
They cry out behind me.
“Caine!” Ruin bellows.
But my eyes are locked on the rapidly approaching pavement.
I watch as the ground nears, as the black of the asphalt fills my vision and the few people on the sidewalk look up, their gasps loud. Audible. My heart doesn’t speed. There is a calmness in the end approaching. In knowing that I wouldn’t be missed.
Not by the team. Not by Onyx. Hell, I have no family.
But I would miss Lilah. Even if I’m not sure she would miss me.
As much as I want to let myself splat on the fucking pavement, I summon a portal less than a foot from the ground. It closes around me like a safety net, and I can just make out the flecks of mica in the stone inches from my face.
I snap and the orb jets upward, and I head back to the beach. But a part of me wants to snap again. To let myself freefall into nothing. Into a dark end.
The bleak stretch of beach is empty as I step down, like before.
I stand in the white sand for the longest time, and I’m not even surprised when my phone plays a familiar lullaby. My eyes close and I press my hands to my ears, half tempted to throw the stupid device into the water. The call drops and silence falls around me save for those rolling waves. It sounds again, and again I let it go.
On the third ring, my shoulders tighten.
I pull it out and answer the video call because I just can’t ignore it for long. Can’t ignore her.
Lilah stares at me, her eyes wide and red rimmed. “Are you insane?” she demands. “Why? Would you do that?”
I stay silent, her voice beating into me with a pain that no one else has ever made me feel. And because it’s me, I let the torture continue instead of hanging up.
“God damn it, Caine!” Her voice cracks and my chest breaks at the sound. “Do you have any idea how much you scared me?”
I just stare at her in the screen, wishing she was here in person and knowing it wouldn’t change a fucking thing.
