Page 98 of Love Lives
The realization wrapped itself around my chest like a vice, tightening until I could barely breathe. He'd done this to save me,knowingthat it would kill him.
I'd never even told him that I loved him, that I didn’t care anymore if it was just chemicals in my brain or whatever, that I’d been stupid to think it couldn’t be real.
People were moving around me, talking, but I had no idea what they were saying, and what did it matter anyway? I hadn't been able to stop this vision from coming true. This was my fault.
All my fault.
I touched the back of my hand to the vampire's cheek. It was cold.
"He's gone," the vampire lady said, next to me. "Let him go."
I glared at her because what the hell did she know? And who did she think she was to be giving me orders? I was about to snap at her when I noticed a faint light shining through the fabric of her coat. My eyes latched on to it.
Was that...?
"Do you have the gems?"
Was that the third stone activating? Would it let me talk to the God of Death?
Would it let me ask for Aldrich back?
Maybe I could talk him into that. Maybe I could make a deal. Maybe... I didn't know, but I was ready to try anything.
When the vampire lady only looked at me blankly, I grabbed the stone out of her pocket without waiting for permission. It was half a miracle, really, that she didn't just kill me when I got that close, but maybe she was taking pity on me. Either that or she didn't dare go against Vlad's orders. I didn't care which it was.
The smooth black stone was glowing dully in my hand. It was definitely activating, but... I had no idea what to do from here. Frantically, I glanced between Aldrich and the artifact I was holding.
Did I have to speak into it?
I held it to my mouth. "Hello?" I asked, feeling utterly ridiculous, but not above trying. I would have triedanything.If it meant getting Aldrich back...
There was so much I still had to tell him. So much left unspoken between the two of us.
The stone didn't react, though, and then it stopped glowing.
I stared at it for a long time, anger, frustration and grief warring for top position within my chest. This stupid stone, this stupid night, this stupid fucking prophecy. I didn't care if we won the war if it meant losing Aldrich. I let the stone fall and buried my face in Aldrich's chest, irrationally angry athimtoo.
"I said there are no reasonable sacrifices," I reminded him. "Didn't you know that includes you too?"
There was no response.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Aldrich felt his spirit,his soul, tear itself away from his body, and then he was floating, blindly, through space. It was a surprisingly peaceful experience. Not at all what he thought dying would feel like.
This sure as hell wasn't what dying had felt like when he'd been turned into a vampire. For some reason, he could remember that now. The exact night, in all its details. The way Zenon had looked at him as if he was insane. The way his sire-to-be had smiled only a second later.
There were other memories now too, of his mortal life. Of the people in his town, his family, his little sister... Aldrich mentally steered himself away from those memories. They were painful, and what was the point of examining them in his last moments of consciousness?
Wait, was this where he would have to repent for his sins?
"No, child, this is not that."
Aldrich tried to turn around, even though he had no actual body to turn, which was the weirdest sensation ever. He wanted to ask who was there, but he had no mouth to form words with either.
Whoever resided in this nothingness with him, though, seemed to be able to read his mind. "I'm the spirit who takes care of the dead," the stranger introduced himself. "Or, at least, I used to be."
A spirit? Was that... the God of Death they'd been trying to reach?
