My tears have dried along with the blood crusted on my skin, but my heart…
It aches.
The sound of feet pummeling the ground vibrates my broken body.
“Karston! Guys, he’s over here!” Preston kneels down beside me, his hands hovering over me as if he’s scared he’ll hurt me if he touches me.
“We heard fighting,” Auston heaves, almost out of breath.
“I-I fou—” I try to tell them what happened, but my words get stuck in my throat.
“Shh,” Preston whispers. “Let’s get you to the hospital wing. Then you can tell us everything that happened.”
As Braxton picks up my lifeless body, my mind whirls. In a matter of hours, I found her, fucked her, fought her, and lost her. The steady thumping of Braxton’s beating wings lulls my discarded body to sleep. My last thoughts are of Hadley and how badly I’ve failed her.
Chapter 17
Hadley
“You. Look. Gorgeous,” Ocean gushes, standing behind me in the full-length mirror. Her blue hair is stylishly pulled back in a fancy updo, and her eyes are radiant in her beautiful, heart-shaped face.
My breath catches as I stare at my reflection in wonderment and awe.
This is really happening.
The dress is crafted from silk, with long sleeves and a chiffon lace top. It cinches at the waist before cascading around my legs in layers of white. My sandy blonde hair falls in thick waves around my shoulders, heightening the golden beads of the dress.
I feel…beautiful. Ethereal. Someone deserving of being Caius’s wife.
Caius.
I need bug spray to kill all of the butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. The mere thought of my handsome fiancé makes me smile giddily.
Soon, I’ll be Mrs…
Um…
Fuck, why don’t I remember his last name?
I scrub a hand down my face, but even my momentary bout of confusion can’t stop the beatific smile from cleaving my face in two. My expression in the mirror is happy. Unbelievably happy. I can’t remember a time when I felt this content. For so long, I had been allowing life’s tides to carry me away from the shore. With Caius’s guidance, I found the will to swim and resist the currents. He makes me want to be a better woman, a better lover, a better friend.
“Ninety days,” Ocean breathes, resting her chin on my shoulder. “Are you excited? Scared? Don’t you dare pee in that dress, Hadley Jameson, or else I’ll stab your eyes out.”
I swat at her hand with a wry grin. “I’m not gonna pee myself. And to answer your question, I’m both. I kind of think I’m going to pass out.” I chuckle at Ocean’s wide-eyed stare.
“I’m not catching your heavy ass,” she warns seriously. “I don’t get paid enough for that.”
I snort, turning back to the mirror and sliding my hands down the silky fabric. The beads on the dress twinkle in the store’s lighting like thousands of diamonds.
“You’re not getting paid at all,” I correct.
“That’s what you think,” she jests, eyes brimming with humor. “Your momma paid me to be your friend back in elementary school. I’m still getting monthly paychecks.”
“Only monthly?” I question in feigned horror. “Your parents are paying me daily to be your friend!”
We stare at each other for a long moment before we both burst into giggles.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” she breathes. “I never thought I’d see the day when Hadley fucking Jameson decided to settle down.” She squeezes my shoulders once before releasing me. “You look gorgeous.”
“Karston will love this dress,” I agree, already picturing his slack-jawed expression as I walk down the aisle. Braxton and Auston will get extremely possessive, growling at any man who stares at me for too long. And Preston will have a dopey grin on his face, as if instead of exchanging wedding vows, I’m granting him dominion over the world.
“Karston?” Ocean queries, giving me an odd look. “Don’t you mean Caius?”
“What?” I ask, scrunching my nose in confusion. Memories bombard me of my last time with Karston. No, Caius. My last time with Caius.
Our bodies moved rhythmically together, each thrust of his hips sending me closer to the edge. I could feel how much he loved me, how much he wanted me, how much he desired me. His cum dripped down my thighs, mixing with the evidence of my own desire. Love emanated from his green eyes, eliciting full-body shivers and goosebumps.
Wait! No! Caius has dark brown eyes.
Right?
A weird tingling erupts on the back of my neck. It’s a feeling, one I can’t define, and makes my head whip from side to side, searching for the invisible eyes I can feel piercing my skin.
“Had? Are you feeling okay?” Ocean asks worriedly. I hear her, but I’m unable to process her words. They go through one ear and out the other, unable to settle in my brain.
I step off the platform and cross the store. The mannequins stare down at me with sightless eyes, amplifying my unease. Ocean’s voice carries from behind me, but I can no longer focus.
That feeling intensifies as I step out of the shop and into the waning sunlight. The street is unnaturally silent and still, not a person in sight. Every window is dark, ominously so, and ‘closed’ signs hang from each door.
What the hell?
Unease skitters up and down my spine. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen anyone in the dress shop either. No workers. No cashier. No one.
As I walk, the asphalt begins to change beneath my feet into hard-packed dirt.
Wait, when did I lose my shoes?
I glance down at myself in dismay to see my wedding dress contort until I’m utterly naked. The storefronts diminish before my very eyes, replaced by gray walls emitting a soft, green glow.
I’m in…tunnels?
My hands shake as I walk farther and farther down the tunnel. Everything begins to become blurry, as if I’m looking through a distorted funhouse mirror, and I take a deep, fortifying breath.
The moment I exhale, my surroundings come into focus.
I’m no longer on the street nor in the tunnels. Instead, I’m leaning over an unfamiliar Reaper, both of us naked. His eyes are black and lifeless, cracks marring his face like a cup that has been dropped more times than I can count. As I watch, horrified, a green mist escapes his throat and enters my own.
I’m…
I’m…
I’m eating this soul’s essence.
An ear-splitting scream erupts from my mouth as I propel myself off of the Reaper and onto my ass. Tears burn my retinas as I stare at the lifeless soul, his mouth open as if he was trying to scream before death claimed him.
Understanding dawns on me with painful clarity.
The strange world, Karston’s fear when he first saw me in the tunnels, my missing memories.
The Darkness has inhabited my body.
Chapter 18
Braxton
The on-call nurse removes a needle from Karston’s arm and turns to us as his eyes flutter closed. “He will be okay. I’ve given him a dose of medicine to help him sleep, and during that time, I’ll have one of the Master Reapers come and heal him.”