Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) by Amelia Hutchins

“Beggars cannot be choosers, Lena. I only played with it a little; I promise,” Thanatos chuckled darkly, sending a rush of something worrisome through me. “She accepts. Your turn, Kendra.”

I blinked at the name Thanatos spoke, watching as my sister removed her hood, stepping beside me.

“Hey you,” she whispered thickly, leaning over to kiss my cheek. “I have something for you. You need it now more than I do. I didn’t get to say goodbye before, but I bartered for that and to leave you with a gift. One of us should have a happily ever after, right?”

Her hand touched mine, sending warmth rushing through me. I watched her, unable to speak, But I knew she would hear my thoughts.

“I failed you, Kendra.”

“No, you didn’t, Lena. You protected Makenna from death. You were there when she needed you most. I didn’t actually expect you to fight the Devil for his daughter. I never thought Lucifer wanted her, but he adores her, and he loves her. I asked you to protect her and to remind her of me often. I always knew I would be the one to die and that you would go on. Even now, as you lay here dead, you’re filled with life, Magdalena. You’re meant for more, and we all realized that. You’re the light that shines in our darkest hour.”

“We’re all dead, Kendra. I fail to see how that can be considered shining,” I screamed internally. “Look around us. Our bloodline is all here—dead.”

“You’ll have more children, and you will keep the line alive. You are eternally blessed.”

“I can’t have children. My womb is a prison for Lucian’s seal,” I argued, doing my best to ignore the screaming of the furies.

“Yes, you can. We’re interchangeable, right? My gift to you, sister, is my womb. It was spelled within my body, saved by our coven for you. You will carry us on with you,” Kendra whispered, leaning against the altar. “Not all of us are dead. Some of us were stolen from Death, and placed where neither it, nor he can ever reach us. Have faith, Lena. Parts have been moving while you adapted to your new life. You’re not meant to house evil, and those things within you turn evil when in the presence of their maker. You didn’t think we’d let the bloodline die out, did you?” Kendra asked, tilting her head. “We’re witches, sister. We live for the line and to keep it going. While you were falling in love, we were setting the stage to guarantee you survived. Your death tossed a wrench into the design, but Lucian helped us fix it easily. Inside Club Chaos, in the hallway outside the room where your body lay, I made a deal with him to ensure you would come back to us. I was already dead before Lucifer ever touched me. Witches, right? The end goal is all that matters, and to make sure that one of us continued, we all agreed to make that sacrifice. I love you, Lena. Find me when I am reborn, and bring me home where I belong.”

I tried to move my hand, but she shimmered in the breeze and vanished as red-hot pain shot through me. The hands holding my limbs and body tightened while the chanting reached a crescendo. My body twisted and turned as something built in my chest. My throat was filled with vile matter, and my mouth was forced open as black flecks escaped, bursting into the night air.

I tilted my head and peered off into the distance. I no longer moved or felt the furies within me. Someone reached into my rib cage, fishing around inside as a sickening, wet sound filled the air.

Persephone stepped up closer to me, her eyes sliding over the mangled mess of my chest. “Womb,” she stated in a crisp tone. Adam came to her side, handing her a black sack before peering down at me. His eyes were filled with regret. “Give me room to work. Lucian, join Spyder at her side, and prepare to receive the other womb.”

Persephone’s hand pushed into my stomach, and I screamed. I screamed. I came alive in anguish, debilitating pain that had every inch of me feeling everything she did. Her wide blue eyes briefly met mine before she continued.

My entire body vibrated with power and pain. It was the sort of agony that no one should ever feel. I felt her inside my stomach, fishing around in my body. She hummed, watching me as I proceeded to scream, a shrill shriek that hurt my own ears in volume.

“I am Life, and so even the dead feel me, Magdalena. I am sorry about the pain, but in order to save you, we didn’t have time to subdue or lessen it for you,” she explained in a soothing tone. “This is going to sting a little, sweets.”

Her hands ripped my womb from me, and I opened my mouth, screeching as I begged her to stop. My words were jumbled and tears burned my eyes as I pleaded for it to be over. It was too much, and endless. It felt like she was tearing me apart, rearranging organs, and doing so with a butcher’s blade.

Lucian watched Persephone lift her hand, grabbing the blackened, rune-covered womb from her hold. I saw him placing it into the box, one that glowed with ancient crimson-colored words before he opened his mouth and fucking ate it.

This had to be an acid trip gone wrong. He hadn’t just really eaten a fucking box, right? I didn’t have Hades’ part-time wife redoing my insides with red-hot pokers, and my dead family wasn’t really standing around as it all unfolded.

Nope.

Life wasn’t this twisted.

More pain started, and then I felt it. I could feel my soul against my skin. I screamed, begging and pleading, pleading and begging for them to stop. It was wrong. It was right. Nothing made sense.