Page 51 of Kiss of Death

Then I fell to my knees and wept.

12

CALLUM

I stood in the dark forest, standing in a copse of trees that remained perfectly still in a world with no breeze or sunshine or rain. It was one of the few places I could find peace, the absence of demons and creatures and worshippers that wanted me for different reasons.

I stared into the darkness and did my best to think of nothing.

Not my unbearable existence.

Not Tiberius and Darius.

Not Lily.

It was the only reprieve I felt, standing in pure nothingness.

Callum.

I stiffened when I heard it like a call, but felt it like a whisper. My head turned to the sky as if I expected to find my answer somewhere in the sea of endless darkness. I replayed it in my mind, recognizing Lily’s unmistakable voice. “Xivin…”

I left the forest and ran to the path between the trees, running back toward the castle where it seemed to originate. I sprinted as fast as I could, my speed a fraction of what it used to be since I let her keep my gift of strength.

I was halfway there when I heard it again, louder this time, coming from the direction of the funnel.

Callum.

I skidded to a halt in the dirt and looked up again, expecting the answer to her call to be revealed to me. I knew it was her, recognized her voice in my dreams as well as my reality. I felt the burn in my eyes from the tears, the relief that she was alive.

She was still alive.

I continued to run toward the castle and where the funnel was located outside the grounds, hoping to hear her voice louder and to know she wasn’t the next one coming down through the purple light.

It took minutes to reach it, and when I arrived, no one was there.

No one was gathered to see the new souls that had come to spend their eternity.

I was relieved not to see her body floating down.

And I was so happy to hear her voice.

But it didn’t come again, and that killed me.

Then he appeared beside me, a grotesque demon with his horns and his teeth, smiling at me like my tears were some kind of joke. “Lily Lena Rothschild traveled to my lands and demanded to know what had befallen you.”

Pride flushed through me…along with the most intense feeling of love I’d ever known.

She knew I didn’t leave her.

She knew.

She knew my love for her was true.

“Told her you’d been stripped of your title because of the way you betrayed the Covenant to aid her. Told her you could be released in exchange for her soul, but she didn’t think you were worth it.” He smiled again, excited to see the light leave my eyes from this betrayal.

But it was no betrayal at all.

I’d made the choice to be here long ago. Understood the terms of that agreement when I made it. And I would never want her to do the same. Would never want her to serve my sentence so I could have a second chance at life.