Revealing the Monster by Amelia Hutchins

Chapter Thirty-Six

In no world was Lena leaving me again. I’ve plotted and planned, and I had no intention of ever letting go again. ~Lucian

There was a somberness that came with dying. I’d made a choice, and I didn’t regret it. I’d protected Makenna from death or the Prince of Lust to be more accurate. Asmodeus had turned against Lucifer, who had tried to protect me. I hadn’t anticipated it, nor expected the Devil to intervene on my behalf.

Lucian cradled my limp form in his arms, and I did my best to ignore the pain slicing through my chest. It felt as if the dagger was trying to tear itself into my soulless body. I whimpered, unable to stop it from escaping as he jostled me.

Blood pounded in my ears, obscuring my ability to hear what the others said around us. I could feel the immortals’ power and knew everyone sensed they were fighting a losing battle.

Lucian’s lips brushed my cheek before he placed me onto a stone altar, peering down at me with pain burning in his stare.

“Hold on for me, Lena. Just stay with me a little longer,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against mine.

“I love you,” I murmured. I lifted my hand, curling my fingers around his cheek while fighting to stay conscious. “I will always love you, Lucian. From now until forever,” I finished, coughing blood droplets into the air.

“Don’t do that,” he said softly. “You don’t get to tell me goodbye. I am not letting you go, ever.”

I laughed at the balls of his statement. Of course, Lucian Blackstone was bossing me around on my deathbed. He was willing to fight Death himself for me and commanding that I don’t die. Only something like Lucian would be stubborn and make that demand.

My lashes dusted my cheeks as the pain lanced through me, and a scream bubbled up from my lungs. Lucian grabbed my hand, holding it while he chanted softly, igniting candles within the large, opulent chamber where he’d brought me.

He watched me shout and struggle to get air into my lungs while the dagger pushed deeper into my chest. Midnight-blue eyes held mine captive, swallowing me whole while I fought to get through the piercing fire burning itself into me. My back arched and buckled as I thrashed around.

“Help me, Spyder.” Lucian grabbed one arm, intertwining his fingers through mine, while Spyder did the same to the other hand. “Breathe, Lena. Just breathe, sweet witch. You’re going to be okay. You hear me? I will fix this.”

The pain was debilitating. It started in my chest and shot through my body like spider webs through glass. I was losing my grip on remaining coherent.

I was fading into nothingness that I’d willingly agreed to in order to protect my son from becoming a tool used to hurt his father. I didn’t get a chance to move into the fade or be reborn. I’d sealed my fate by fighting my destiny, which had been to hurt the man in which I’d fallen hopelessly in love.

“Stay with us, Kitty,” Spyder ordered, his ice-blue stare locking with mine.

“Be good to Lucian and help him after I’m gone.”

“Fuck that noise. You don’t get to leave us. You’re stuck with us forever, Kitty cat. You hear me? Just fucking hold on, they’re coming,” Spyder snapped, his eyes slowly glowing as the air in the room grew thick with unease.

Lucian’s voice was rough, dripping with emotion as he spoke to the others that stood near the altar. The earthy scent of sage filled my nostrils, burning as Erie and Synthia lit copious amounts of it, chanting a protection spell for the magic being readied.

The moment the candles were set alight, they shot into the air. Shadows swayed on the walls, moving without being cast. It was as if the light called them here, drawing them to us.

A shiver of unease rushed through me as a familiar scent of magic drifted over my exposed flesh. Blinking, I tried to see past the blurring of my vision. Panic crawled up my spine, clawing its way into my mind as I remained alert but unable to communicate coherently.

“Just breathe, Lena. In and out, you’re not leaving me now,” Lucian stated firmly, his tone holding the authority and calmness of his position. “Hades is here,” he announced, and as I watched, a blinding blue light ignited in the room, swallowing the shadows.

“You rang?” Hades asked, his violet-blue gaze sliding over me before his chest rose and fell with a labored breath. “Lucian, no, no fucking way. You can’t do this. You know it is forbidden.”

“What will they do, Hades? Fight me? They can fucking try. I have never asked for anything from any of them. I am asking for this. I am demanding this one thing be done. I will not lose her again. They can do this one thing for me.”

“They’ll have to fight me too, Hades,” Spyder said, and then more voices echoed his words.

Hades’ stare held mine, his dark head shaking before he scrubbed his hand over his mouth. “Have you asked her if she wants this?”

“Don’t fucking do that,” Lucian warned, his anger palpable in his tone. “Lena doesn’t get to die here. You understand? She’s going to accept what is about to happen.”

“I didn’t ask if you wanted this, Lucian. I asked if she did, or if you’ve talked to her, and if this is what she wants,” Hades returned, unbothered by the tone of Lucian’s voice.

“I want to live,” I whispered weakly, fighting to remain coherent enough to understand what was happening around me.

Hades’s eyes remained locked with mine, watching for any sign that I wasn’t able to decide my fate. He slowly blew the air from his lungs, fighting whatever war was happening inside his mind.

Prying his gaze from mine, he looked over my prone form to where Lucian stood, glaring murderously at him.

Pain assaulted me, rendering my mind useless with how thickly it wrapped around me, consuming my thoughts. I slid my attention to Lucian, who watched me with anguish burning in his stare. His hair was messy, sticking up every which way from running his fingers through it, pulling on it while he waited for Hades and the others.

“You heard her,” Lucian interrupted, sliding between Hades and me, obstructing my view. “Call them, now. Call her, now.”

“Persephone doesn’t come for me, pun intended,” he snorted. “I’ll call for them, and they will reach out to her. What is it you intend to offer them for Lena, Lucian?” His words held a grim undertone. “Their price will be steep, and I’m not sure you’re prepared to pay it.”

“I will deal with that when the time comes to give them what they want. Call them, now, Hades. I cannot hold her here indefinitely from Death,” Lucian growled.

A deep, soothing chuckle sounded in the room, and everyone turned toward Thanatos, who leaned against the wall, holding his scythe over his shoulder.

“No, you cannot. I’m guessing that isn’t what you called me here to deal with, though. You want her soul back. Right?” Thanatos stated firmly.

“I will get it from you, Thanatos. You will give it to me or die. You owe me, and I am collecting the debt now,” Lucian hissed, his armor slowly wrapping around him, while Thanatos stared with a calculated look.

“I want Spyder to call his favor in, too. After all, I heard he’s rather fond of the female also,” Thanatos returned, pushing off the wall as his scythe vanished into a puff of black smoke. “Her soul has frayed after all, and you’re going to need someone to sew it back into place. Choose because you’re out of time, and I’m about to reap what little is left of her soul.”

“Not yet,” Lucian growled thickly. “Lena, hold on for me.”

I coughed, sending blood splattering over his armor-clad chest. Spyder’s hold on my hand tightened and I whimpered. The dagger was barely visible through my chest now, as the pain jackhammered through me endlessly. The blade was steadily sinking into me, as if seeking an escape through my back.

“That looks painful,” Nyx’s honey-laced voice announced to the room. A sliver of darkness drifted over me, and then her face became visible. Her hand shot out, curling long fingers around my jaw. “Poor, sweet girl. You just can’t fucking stop throwing your life away, can you?”

“It may have helped if you hadn’t placed Asmodeus’s fucking keys into her damn corpse,” Thanatos snorted. “He’s all giddy at the idea of running earth as his kingdom.”

“Give a man a throne….” Nyx recited.

“… And he’ll call it home,” three voices chimed as raw, unchecked power rushed through the room, stealing the air from it.

“Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos,” Lucian said, his tone cold and merciless.

“Monster, we’d say it was a pleasure, but it never is. You brought us here, and think to blackmail us?” the three Fates spoke as one, sending goosebumps over my flesh.

“I am calling in your debt, all of yours debts. Help me save Lena’s life, and I will free the one you’ve asked me to release in exchange for her immortality,” he stated, and the others seemed to still at what he’d offered.

“Your word that it will be done?” one asked as they separated into three separate beings.

The Fates appeared as three younger-looking women, and power pulsed from them. Their attention shifted to me, where I stared at them, the rattle in my chest becoming more pronounced.

“She looks close to death, does she not, sisters?” Another one asked, humming the words softly.

“So close that Thanatos stands ready to reap her soul, even though she doesn’t have one to take. Interesting, but more so are the dead surrounding her as she circles the drain. Why are they here?” The third asked softly.

“We cannot touch her with those impure things within her, Lucian. Handle it, and finish what you started by freeing Asmodeus from the Goddess of War’s freezer. You ruined my favorite show with that stunt. The afterlife and such has limited dramas lately. I’m rather irked you did that, but more intrigued that you freed him to kill the woman you love. A bold move, or at least I thought it was until you called for us.”

“Asmodeus was the only one who could free the furies and unbind them from her soul. He served a purpose, and I’d already begun the steps to bring her back free of them. I want Lena to live without the furies inside of her. She’s earned that freedom.”

“And if she decides to live without you?” one Fate asked, twirling silver twine in her hand.

“Then that will be something I will have to live with,” Lucian stated.

“Kill her,” one Fate demanded in an excited tone. “End this life and the pain she’s enduring. Prove to us how far you are willing to go to free her of what you’ve done to her.”

“Not until her soul has been replaced, and her parts are corrected. When she is reborn, she will come back whole. There will be no trace left of what she has endured. That includes my seal. Bring them in, and let us begin,” Lucian whispered, turning to look at me. “Be brave, my sweet witch. I’ll be waiting for you when you come back to me.”