Page 29 of Possess Me at Midnight (Doomsday Brethren #4)

Chapter Twenty-Two

I rush to the bed to shake Ice awake, but he is already jumping up and shoving on his jeans.

“The Anarki are here,” he mutters, grim-faced.

Swallowing, I nod. “They haven’t penetrated our magic yet.”

“Won’t be long. I sense great numbers.”

As soon as he says the words, a bombardment of mental activity penetrates me. Thoughts. Puzzlement. Anger. Triumph.

“They know we’re inside and potentially cornered. We must escape now.”

Ice hesitates. “ You must. I’ll help you. Hide you and Bram. Take the Doomsday Diary?—”

Horror grips me as I seize his hand. “No. You’re coming with me.”

He caresses my cheek. “Princess, they believe they have someone cornered. If they break through our magic and find the premises empty, they will know we’ve fled and continue chasing us. If they find me here, they may believe they’ve won and leave you to escape with Bram and the book.”

His words pelt my brain and distill down into one terrible truth. “Ice… You can’t. If they find you, they’ll torture you and k?—”

He places a soft kiss over my mouth, ending my sentence. “We’ve no time to argue. Let’s get you hidden. I know a place in the cellar. If I can, I’ll teleport away and meet you in the village in an hour.”

It sounds so simple, but something on his face gives me pause. Panicked, I squeeze his hand even tighter. “Promise?”

Resolution drifts across his face, and it scares me to death. “If I’m not there in an hour, take a car and go on. No objection, princess. Magickind is counting on you.”

His assurance that he’ll teleport away…a lie designed to soothe me. Placate me. He’s going to let the Anarki take him to better my chances of escaping. And if they catch him…

A sob clogs my throat. Ice is sacrificing his life for mine.

“Please don’t do this…” Tears fill my eyes. “Please.”

“Time to go. If you’re to escape, we can’t waste time.” He brushes past me. I watch his wide back retreat, then bend as he lifts Bram, still shrouded in the black cloud, over his shoulder. “Grab your pack. Follow me.”

This can’t happen. I can’t let this wizard give himself over to evil and unspeakable torture merely to save me.

With all my strength, I latch onto his elbow and spin him to face me. “As I become a part of you, you become a part of me. I will be honest, good, and?—”

Ice covers my mouth with his hand, his body tense, but not before I see the raw anguish on his face, the hope and despair warring in his eyes. It’s killing him to stop me. So why is he?

“You don’t mean that—any of it. Speaking sacred words to keep me with you… No.” His voice is a tortured whisper. “For me to allow that would be dishonorable. And I won’t have you suffer should something befall me.”

Why did I ever convince myself that he could Call to me with revenge in his heart and mind? I feel like such a fool. I cannot—will not—give him up now, especially to the Anarki.

I turn my head, dislodging his hand. “But?—”

“We did our best, princess. We tried to escape, but I failed you.”

“You didn’t. We?—”

“I love you.” His green eyes shine with sincerity. “Know that. If you wish to make my dying thoughts happy, escape for me. Live for me.”

Before I can respond, he turns away and rushes out of the coach house, heading through the early dawn mist toward the manor house.

He loves me? Fresh tears sting my eyes as I strap my pack on my back and hurry after him, my stomach in knots. In the moment, I’m numb to the danger and fear. But doing without him? Even the thought of it crushes me. How has he come to mean so much to me in a few short days?

As I chase after him, my thoughts race. There must be some way to convince him to escape with me. Or try. Maybe the Anarki don’t know who’s here.

But as I run after him across the iced grass that crunches beneath my feet in the ghostly fog, I sense the Anarki’s thoughts. Zain Denzell’s thoughts and voice, calling out for Ice. Somehow, Mathias’s lackey identified Ice’s magic.

I scan the protections we have placed around the house.

A new horror rolls over me as I reach Ice’s side. “You covered my magic with yours? They cannot sense any spell except yours. Why? You put yourself in terrible danger.”

Ice cuts me a sidelong glance as he continues toward the manor. “I did what was necessary to protect you.”

And then he’s striding into the house. I follow, my thoughts flying, but I’m out of options…and out of time.

I catch up to him again and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling his face inches from mine. Tears spill down my cheeks. “Please… Don’t do this. I th-think I love you, too.”

He caresses my cheek, his eyes softening as he wipes away my tears with a gentle thumb. “That thought will be the reason for my last smile. Thank you. Now down to the cellar with you. They’re getting closer.”

They are. I can feel them—a collective evil quickly unraveling the magic we blanketed the estate with in our hurry and exhaustion last night.

“Ice, you can’t sacrifice yourself.” He’s too strong and proud, and I can’t let him forfeit his life for me.

He plunges into the cellar and flips on the light, wincing as the magical mine’s dark magic zeros in on him again.

“I would do anything to keep you safe, and I pledged long ago to kill motherfucking d’Arc.

The Anarki fear me, and Mathias will want me brought to him alive.

That’s all the chance I need to fulfill my mission and allow you to escape. ”

But he doesn’t live through that scenario…and I don’t think I want to live without him. “Why?”

He pushes a huge dusty sofa away from the stone wall, revealing a square opening. Kneeling, he draws Bram off his shoulder and eases my brother inside the hole. “Get in.”

Unless I find a way to stop him, these are our last moments together, and it’s killing me.

“Ice…” I beg him, barely holding in my sobs.

A crash, a slam, and a mass of footsteps on the floor above us as the Anarki flood into the manor and quickly spread out.

“Now, Sabelle. Time has run out.”

“Come with me! We can both hide here and?—”

“We can’t.” With a shake of his stubbled head and a tight jaw, he shoves me inside the hole, then conjures water. Instantly, it floods the cellar knee-deep.

“What are you doing?”

He picks up the stone block to lock me and Bram in. “Use your magic to lift Bram. Take the tunnel to the village. Find a car and go. Be safe. Do not come after me, Sabelle. Promise me.”

He staggers back. Unless he leaves the cellar, the mine’s destructive energy will weaken him in minutes. If he has any hope of escaping the Anarki, he’ll need every bit of his strength.

I have to let the stubborn wizard go…but it’s more painful than most anything I’ve felt.

“Why are you willing to give your life for the chance to kill Mathias?” I need to understand.

“Ask Bram. He’ll explain. Good-bye, princess.”

Then Ice presses a desperate kiss to my mouth—not gentle, but claiming, marking, saying everything we’ll never have time to voice. It lasts a breath, a heartbeat, but he imprints himself into my memory forever.

When he pulls away, his eyes hold mine for one last moment. “Remember me.”

Frantically, I try to pull him into the crawl space with me, but he shoves the stone back into the wall, shutting out my view of his beloved face. My world goes dark.

I try to bite back a sob as I press my hands against the barrier that separates us.

On the other side, I hear the scraping of the sofa across the floor, along with the something else he drags across the stone to serve as yet another obstacle.

A rush of cold water and a blast of cold air later, I understand.

He didn’t merely conjure a slab of ice to block me from returning to the cellar; he froze the opening shut so no one, especially the soulless Anarki, can follow.

Finally, footsteps, lone ones, fade away. The slam of a door resounds with finality.

Ice has left the cellar and gone to meet his death.