Page 30 of Vexed
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Lily
The iron gates shimmered, an ugly distortion in gloom light. Behind them: home. The Human Realm. The place I desperately both wanted to be and didn’t.
Vex held me, his usually cool hands gripping my shoulders so tight they almost hurt. I couldn’t stop sobbing. It was a pathetic, blubbering mess of grief, and I hated myself for it, but the tears just kept coming.
Adimus and Thalia stood a few feet behind Vex, staying silent as they watched the most painful moment of my life.
“Lily,” he murmured, his voice was rough, a sound I usually found so comforting. Now, it felt like a blade twisting in my gut. “Look at me.”
I shook my head, burying my face deeper into his chest. It smelled of rain and something ancient, something eternally sad. “I can’t.”
“Please, darling.” He pried my face up, his thumb brushing away the trails of tears on my cheeks. His eyes, usually bright silver, were different. Darker. It was hard to tell through the blur of my watery vision.
“I don’t want to go,” I choked out. “Please, Vex, don’t make me.”
He sighed, a sound that seemed to carry the weight of centuries. “You know I have to. It’s the way it has to be.”
He pulled me closer, his embrace suffocatingly tight. “I need to confess something,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.
My heart stuttered. Confess?
“Remember in elementary school? When you got into trouble for hurting that girl, Tracy, the one who always bullied you?”
My brow furrowed. “Yeah… She choked on the pear she took from me. Everyone said it was me. I almost got suspended.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, his gaze pinning me. “It wasn’t you, darling. It was me. I made her choke on that pear—well, my shadows did. She deserved it.”
My mouth fell open as I stared at him. “You… what? Why?”
“Because she hurt you.” His voice was low, almost a growl. “And no one hurts you.”
I’m unsure if I should be mad or laugh. Because, what the fuck? A chuckle burst out of me before I could stop it, pulling a smile out of him.
But then, another confession clawed its way out of him. “And all those times when you felt alone? When you thought I’d left you? I was always there. Watching. Making sure no one hurts you. Patching things up when you fall. You wouldn’t have even noticed me being around, but I always was.”
A fresh wave of tears cascaded down my face. He’d always been there. Even when I didn’t know it. Even when he was supposed to be gone.
He raised his hands, palms facing me. The air crackled with a strange energy. This was it. The moment he erased me from his life—he had to erase himself from mine.
“I will always love you, Lily. In this life and the next. I will find you again. You will always be mine,” He softly says, his words breaking my heart even more, piece by piece.
“I…” I started, my voice trembling, “I love you too, Vex.”
His eyes widened, just the slightest flicker of surprise. Then, before he could say anything, I reached up and pulled his face down to mine.
His lips were cold at first, but then they warmed, softening against mine. Every touch, every stolen glance, every shared laugh crowded my mind, a desperate attempt to hold onto the fleeting memories. It was the perfect kiss. A kiss that could destroy me and define me at the same time.
His hands moved, cupping the back of my head. I felt the surge of power, the cold tendrils invading my mind. He was taking them. Taking him. Taking us .
The pain was unbearable, a searing white-hot agony that ripped through my consciousness. Images flickered and faded, faces blurred, voices silenced. He was pulling the threads, unraveling the tapestry of our intertwined lives. He was taking away our memories.
I clung to him, desperate, as the last vestiges of our shared existence dissolved into nothingness. Then, darkness. Pure, absolute darkness.
The first thing I felt was the cold. Not just a chill, but a teeth-chattering, bone-deep kind of cold that seeped into my very core. Then came the pine needles stabbing into my back, and the damp earth clinging to everything. Groaning, I pushed myself up, my head swimming. Where was I?
Sunlight dappled through the trees, illuminating a seemingly endless expanse of forest. Panic bubbled up in my chest. The last thing I remembered was walking through the field near my apartment, picking daisies as I watched the stars. How the fuck did I end up here?
“Okay, Lily, deep breaths,” I muttered to myself, forcing my shaky legs to stand. No phone, no keys, no clue. Just me and a whole lot of trees. Figuring the best thing to do was head in what felt like a vaguely eastward direction, I started walking.
The forest felt off. Not just the disorientation, but a heavy silence hung in the air, broken only by the crunch of my own feet. Finally, I saw it—the familiar grey of my apartment building peeking through the trees. Relief washed over me so intensely, I nearly collapsed.
My heart hammered as I fumbled with the knob, the metal cold and unfamiliar in my hand. I pushed open the door and practically fell inside.
“Lily!”
Hannah launched herself at me, nearly knocking me off my feet. “Where have you been? Oh my god, we’ve been so worried! Everyone’s been looking for you! We filed a missing person report three days ago!”
Three days ? I stared at her, completely blank. “I…I don’t know. I don’t remember. I was just… in the forest.”
Hannah pulled back, her brow furrowed with concern. “The forest? Lily, you look terrible. And you smell like dirt and pine needles. I’m calling everyone to let them know you’re okay. Go take a shower and I’ll get you something to eat.”
I numbly nodded, shuffling towards my bedroom.
The image of my own reflection in the hall mirror confirmed Hannah’s words.
My hair was a tangled mess, my clothes torn and covered in mud.
I looked like I’d been dragged through hell.
There’s no doubt my mom is going to give me an ear full of what happened.
Probably going to have me go back to therapy. Which, to be honest, doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
As I stripped off my filthy clothes, my eyes are drawn to a specific object. Sitting on my bed, propped up against the pillows, was a grim reaper teddy bear.
I stared at the teddy for a long moment, a shiver crawling down my spine. With a dismissive shrug, I continued removing the filthy clothes that cling to my body. Before turning to head to the bathroom, I see my childhood diaries splayed open on the desk.
Frowning, I quickly flip through them and notice most of the pages have been scribbled on. Some sentences completely scribbled out. That's odd. I don't remember doing that.
With a shake of my head, I close the diaries and place them all in the top drawer of my desk. I can dwell on that later.
I was exhausted, confused, and definitely needed a shower. I grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom, determined to scrub away the dirt, the smell, and the unsettling feeling that had settled deep in my bones.