A noise that rattled the books in the room broke my moment of reminiscing. I ran towards the doors on the other side of library. One was hanging unhinged, so I tossed it to the side and stepped out into the chaos.
And if ever thered been a scene that had been made of chaos, this was it. Nothing could have prepared me for what was playing before me now. Not what Id seen of battle and hate personal y or what Id seen dramatized on the big screen or what Id seen of documentaries of wars in school. There was nothing that could prepare you for malice and murder playing out in front of your eyes.
There were bodies everywhere, tiling the marble floor, garlanding the staircase running down the foyer, stringing from the chandeliers . . . and these were just the unmoving ones.
There were stil hundreds of alive-at-the-moment ones in hand to hand combat, utilizing whatever they could to give them the upper one. I watched one man lift the limp body nearest him and throw it at the one charging him, sending the man flying backwards through a second floor window.
Groups of bodies crouched over a single body held to the ground, drawing out a life that could have gone on forever had it not been for me. I knew this day had been coming before I came into the picture, but the exactness of this day had been punctuated by me. Death wasnt just my gift, it was my curse.
It was what was surrounding me.
There were no tears”the emotion charging through me was beyond any relief I could give it. When my gaze fel upon a mans eyes freezing mid-scream, to stay that way forever as the Inheritors surrounding him with their hands dril ed into his skin smirked away to the next closest Guardian, I went into action.
I knew I should be helping any one I could, the one who needed my help most at closest proximity, but I needed to find Wil iam. I had to find him.
If death was al we had left to count on, we were going to meet it together.
I hurdled over endless bodies, both living and dead, relying on my internal compass to find him. If he was anywhere in the manor, I knew whatever tether it was that tied us together would lead me to him, but I didnt feel the usual tug I did when he was close. There was nothing but a slack rope, begging to be pul ed taut. Desperate, I searched over each face in passing, praying none of the silent ones would be his.
Making my way to the end of the foyer, an Inheritor noticed me approaching. In the midst of mayhem, he noticed me. Luck was something as evasive as a golden ticket when it came to me. Ripping the giant bronze gong from its cables, he heaved it on to its side, tossing it like a Frisbee my direction. I ducked just as the giant disc whizzed past me, crashing into a cluster of men behind me.
Not achieving his goal of slamming his target with a two ton flying saucer, the man marched towards me, making it no more than a tile length in my direction before someone hip-checked into him, sending the Frisbee thrower flying across the room.
Go find him, Paul yel ed, shrugging out of his jacket. Ive got your back.
This time tears pricked to the surface. Either Wil iam had convinced him or, hearing word of the upcoming war, Paul had eagerly asked to be a part of it (although I didnt doubt the latter had more to do with him being here). Paul had wanted nothing more than to separate himself from me, yet here he was, defending me so I could find Wil iam.
Go! Paul yel ed as the man who had it out for me began to stir.
I did, running and leaping past him, having nothing but a smile and a hand running over his back in passing. A smile and a touch for a man that would very likely die here today. Save some for me, I hol ered back, not able to let a serious moment be my last with Paul Lowe. Wed end things like wed started them.
His eyes swept around the room as he readied his body to meet the charging man. I real y dont think that wil be a problem.
My laugh of reply was sad, but it was al I had for him as I ran towards the sealed doors leading into the bal room. I wasnt sure if Id find any one in there, but I couldnt let it go uninvestigated.
I shoved through the ten foot tal doors, closing them noiselessly behind me. I didnt need or want to be fol owed. Turning to inspect the al but silent dark room, my knees gave out. I would have fal en to them had I not stil hand my hands braced over the doorknobs.
It was like Id just awakened from a nightmare to find it hadnt been a nightmare at al , but the sweetest kind of dream in comparison to what I saw before me now.
At the center of the massive bal room was a long table to which a few dozen chairs were fitted around. At the far end of this table were a handful of Inheritors surrounding a man laying prostrate over the table, John at the head of the man. I shook my head, sure the body I was seeing splayed out on the table wasnt him, it couldnt be. It was a trick of the eyes, a mirage of my deepest fears. It wasnt Wil iams eyes that were fading into shadows before me as a team of men lead by John neared their goal.
I screamed, shril and without the restraint of volume, the kind that would have had the men covering their ears if they werent so intent on ending the life of the man I loved.
The faces stayed focused, not looking my way, but one did. John managed a smile through his concentration, eyes lifting to the mezzanine floor above as a flood of men rained from over the railing.
Just when I thought this day couldnt get any better, John said, his smile pul ing tighter as the army of men came at me. I rushed forward, no plan, no strategy in mind other than getting to Wil iam. That was al that mattered in our end. That we were together in life and, now, in death.
An audience to my greatest victory yet, John said, as the swarm of men scattered over me. The day I kil the chosen one. The day Immortals wil discover the prophecies are false and our ancient, antiquated ways are in need of an overhaul.
I lost sight of the cluster surrounding Wil iam as I crumbled beneath the weight of an endless sea of bodies fal ing over me, but I was a Taker, in ful mastery and ownership of my gift. John had the numbers, but I had the hand of death to be dealt out to any who fel victim to a touch of my skin.
I heard the shrieks and felt the convulsions of the men closest to me on the pile as their bodies rol ed to the ground, freeing me. I leapt up, already surrounded by another circle of men ready to stal me however they could, but these ones had witnessed their counterparts dying instantly and looked a bit more reluctant to throw themselves down on me.
Knowing I couldnt wait around for them to come to me with Wil iams life siphoning from him, I charged towards the ones in front of me, arms outstretched.
That wil be quite enough of that I think, a voice cal ed out from above me. I didnt need to look up to know it was Troy, but a fluttering glass sound vibrated around me, shifting my eyes up. I couldnt have looked up at a worse time. I noticed Troy for a flash as he flew off of something down to join his comrades because it was the smal island of a chandelier careening towards me that seemed the more urgent of the two threats.
I was correct in which of the two posed the greater risk to me, but I was incorrect in the amount of time I had to leap away from it. The chandelier couldnt have struck me more dead-on. I crashed to the ground beneath it, hearing and feeling the crystal breaking against the hard surfaces it smashed into, including my body.
It was as close as Id felt to having the wind knocked out of me as an Immortal and I wouldnt be alive if I was stil Mortal. But Troys purpose hadnt been to kil me, it had been to distract me.
Theres our little Juliet, Stel a purred, sliding her hand into mine. I didnt think I could have felt worse after being on the bad side of a head-on col ision with a few ton chandelier coming from three floors up, but Stel as touch proved to me yet again just how wrong I was about a lot of things.
Come on, she sneered, pul ing me by the wrist across the floor, bits and pieces of the same chandelier Wil iam and I had danced under stil stuck to or in me. Lets watch Romeo die.
She dragged me to the end of the table, where the men were stil working over Wil iam, so near to their objective. Sliding her hands under my arms, she lifted my broken body and laid me out over the table, not a foot away from Wil iam.
His eyes were a stage away from vacant, not even able to connect with mine with the intimacy I was so familiar with. His skin had christened from copper to gray and his cheeks and eyes were sinking into the depths of his skul . He was more dead than alive.
I concentrated on forcing my gift to the surface like Id never wanted it to more, but it was like turning a key over in a car without a battery. No matter how hard or how many times I tried, I was powerless.
When that failed, I tried to fight. Tried to bite, claw, kick, and squirm my way out of Stel as hold, but I was a newborn lamb in the claws of a lion.
Like the lamb, the only fight I could put up was a scream.
Stop it, its useless, Stel a snapped, grabbing the back of my neck as I snapped my head back and forth, trying anything to fight. She smacked my head down on the table, twisting it towards Wil iam and holding it there. Watch him, you little twit. Youre going to watch him die.
My body was stil shaking, but it wasnt in fight, it was trembling in realization. Wil iam was seconds from death, seconds from the one thing Id tried with everything in my power to keep him away from. Wil iam, I said, my voice shaking worse than my body.
His eyes traced over to mine, the hint of confusion evident in the pul of his eyebrows. He was already so far gone he didnt recognize me.
Im right here with you. I wont leave you, I vowed, hoping my words would make their way into the fading pieces of his consciousness and would give him comfort.
John chuckled, his eyes burning into me. I must extend my thanks for delivering Wil iam to me on a silver platter. This whole thing worked out even better than Id planned, John said, his voice wavering, tel ing he was experiencing a physical tol .
He waited for me to reply, to make further inquiry into his insanity, but I was done with trying to figure out him, the Inheritors, Immortality . . . and life in general. Cora and Abigail were right when they said that, in the end, theres nothing that matters except unconditional frickin love. I was done with the rest of it.
Bryns a little preoccupied at the moment, Stel a answered John, cackling in between. Let me be her voiceover. Clearing her throat, she said, Why, John, whatever are you talking about? she lowered her voice a few notes and added an embel ished school girl wistfulness to the tone.
He grinned at her. This was never about you. You were only the piece of irresistible bait I needed to dangle in front of him.
Whatever do you mean? I thought I was the one you wanted. Why wouldnt I be, with my sub-standard looks and dimwitted personality? Stel a cackled again, in response to her attempts at playing me or Wil iams eyes further fal ing, I wasnt sure.
Youre pretty enough to look at and I have to admit that fiery attitude of yours turns me on like nothing else, but theres a mil ion more of you out there, darling. Johns eyes bored through me. Once I knew who Wil iam was and what the Guardians assumed he was, you became nothing more than the carrot at the end of a pole, dangling just out of reach until I got him exactly where I wanted him. John looked down, his face victorious. Right here. Dying at my hands and with his death, I also kil whatever hope the Guardians had of overthrowing me.
Wil iams body suddenly shook, tapering off into a tremble, something unintel igible drifting from his lips before they closed in unison with his eyes. The man I loved was gone. Here a moment ago, gone forever in the next.