Revealing the Monster by Amelia Hutchins

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I found peace in nothingness, and Lucian fought for me. He refused to let me go. In a world full of Prince Charming’s, I’d always choose the villain. Lucian was my forever, even if that time was to be short-lived. ~Lena

The room shifted. Or maybe I was losing my grip on reality. The scent of sage grew more robust, and the altar I was on lifted from the ground, slowly spinning.

I peered through hooded figures that appeared as their loud chanting echoed around us. Large stone pillars surrounded us, and beyond them lay rolling hills that spread vastly out into the terrain. Fires shown sporadically on the hilltops, sending clouds of smoke into the starry skies above us.

The pain had lessened, which I was certain wasn’t a good sign, and I could no longer see the handle of the dagger protruding from my chest. Numbness was settling in, and with it, a sense of calm that had me floating on an endless sea of waves. I felt like I’d been placed on a ship and sent out to sea.

Whispered voices started, forcing my attention to the hooded figures that circled where I lay on the altar. Witches, I realized absently.

My mind wandered with their chants, giving in to the familiar taste of the magic they were using. Spyder still held my hand, his shadows slithering over me while he peered down at me. I searched his gaze, turning as someone else moved closer to my side.

“Magdalena, I need you to agree to what needs to be done to save you,” Lucian begged, his tone hoarse and filled with an emotion I couldn’t place. “It is going to hurt, and that cannot be avoided. You’re going to want to die and will probably beg me to end it. I won’t, because losing you isn’t something I will allow to happen. You’re my home, and I can’t lose you again.”

I opened my lips to speak, but nothing came out. My chest no longer rose or fell with air, and I blinked past the tears that refused to fall. Panic began to rise through me, swallowing me entirely. Lucian’s eyes studied my face, watching as the realization sank in that I was already dead.

Spyder’s hand tightened on mine, his sober look now making sense.

I’d died again.

The furies which were being ripped from me with the dagger were the only thing keeping me alive. It was no longer me driving because there was no part of me within my body.

“You’re still here with me, Magdalena. Spyder is holding you here. His shadows have you, keeping the soul that was inside of you, within him. You’re still my girl. It’s okay to be afraid. You can be scared, but you can’t give up on me. Trust me, little one. I’m going to fix this, and you will be fine. I promise you that,” he stated, leaning over to kiss my blood-covered lips with his warm ones. “Allow me to save you. I need you to want this, Lena. Say yes.”

“Yes!”I didn’t speak it out loud, but he’d heard it somehow.

I didn’t want to die, not after just discovering the stubborn asshole loved me! I held his stare, watching his lips sliding into a bemused smile. He shook his dark head, pushing the hair away from my face before he moved back, turning to nod at the people on the hillside that tossed more sage into the fires. Sparks filled the sky, sending embers into the night.

“Her body temperature is dropping. It’s time to get started,” Lucian announced. “She’s agreed to this. You all heard her agree, begin.”

He stepped back, and I slid my gaze through the robed figures, watching as they pushed the hoods back, staring down at me. If I had a working heart, it would have beaten wildly at what met my gaze.

My mother smiled sadly, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. My grandmother stood beside her, looking at me as they began softly chanting. I fought to speak, to whisper their names while they all chanted, their voices fluttering over me with a comforting melody.

Pain began burning in my chest, and I jerked against it. My back lifted off the altar, and the pillars with glowing blue lights turned crimson. Blood poured through them, painting the earth in a copper river that flowed up the mountains and hillsides.

Inwardly, I screamed along with the furies. It felt like we were all being torn apart or separated. It was debilitating pain that had my entire body shaking against what was being done to us.

It wasn’t normal pain. It was ripping me apart as if my genetic makeup was being rewritten with their words. I began flopping around, held only by Spyder’s grip while he watched over me. Fingers gripped my shoulders, slamming me down while the spell continued rushing through the circle.

Blue light shot into the night sky, the symbol of magic painting the image into the air above me. I was in the middle of a huge pentagram, one filled with powerful magic—the magic of my bloodline. My eyes moved to my mother, who watched me carefully.

Lucian hadn’t killed my family. I don’t know how I knew this to be true, but I did. I saw it all playing out in my mind. He hadn’t just stood by while they’d been murdered, as I’d assumed, or not for the reasoning I’d thought, anyway. They’d brokered a deal, one to ensure a member of our bloodline continued.

Black magic, mixed with forbidden magic in the air; Lucian had known they were marked for death, and he’d allowed them to be slaughtered because it was an easier way out than what the cost for meddling would have been.

Something wet began leaking from my orifices, and I felt a hand on my forehead. Thanatos peered down at me, his eyes sliding to where Lucian stood with the Fates, watching the witches work.

Hades and Persephone stepped up at my feet, each one grabbing a foot before they started whispering in a strange language I couldn’t understand. Panic was shooting through me even more with their appearance. Thanatos leaned down and brushed his lips against my ear, kissing below my earlobe.

“Do you accept the return of your soul, Magdalena Fitzgerald?” he asked huskily.

I blinked, turning to look at Spyder, who nodded, squeezing my hand tightly with encouragement. Fear filled my core, knowing that something big was happening here—something I couldn’t understand.

The seal was in my womb, and if it was unleashed, it would end the world. I didn’t know if that was the plan, but I refused to let it to escape and slaughter everything and everyone.

“That won’t happen, Magdalena,” he said, reading my thoughts. “Lucian wouldn’t allow it, not even for you. It’s been handled. Do you accept the soul you lost? Or do you deny what I offer?” Thanatos repeated.

“I accept. But not if it’s evil, cursed, been used to do shady shit, or anything to that accord.”

“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.

I sobbed brokenly as Lucian swallowed hard, watching me cry harder than I’d ever cried in my entire short lifespan.

It ached, like everything was on repeat. I felt it all from the moment of my birth until my life had ended at my hand. It was like being forced to watch the lamest, low-budget film with a shitty ending.

Thanatos hummed, his golden needle slowly working while I screamed at him to stop hurting me. He turned me away from Lucian, who had stepped back while they worked.

My eyes slid to the Fates, seeing them thread a spindle. I blinked as one spun the fiber while another held out the length. The third was holding a pair of shears, watching it all with a bored expression on her face.

The thread glowed blue, the size of it getting shorter as they whispered, bowing their heads together. Thunder clapped in the distance, and lightning struck the ground.

The immortals gathered around the Fates as if they sensed someone else coming. I stared through them, ignoring the growing masses while pain continued to tear me apart. Atropos opened the scissors, smiling as she slid them toward the fiber.

The moment she began to close them shut, everyone working on me stepped back, and the thread turned blood red, breaking her shears before she could cut through it. Numbness swallowed me while everything faded away to darkness.