Word Count: 1671

~Aspen

After a couple of hours, Atari comes down to the cells to taunt us.

The moment she comes into view, I know what I need to do, and I know that I don't feel bad about it. If she kills all Demon's, she's killing herself anyways, so I may as well be the one to do it if it means saving everyone else.

"Have you all accepted your fate?" She questions, amusement tripping off each word. From across the cell, I can practically feel the anger seeping off Keo.

"In my last moments I would rather not be looking at you, Atari," Keo mutters.

She only smiles at him, having no idea about the plan we have concocted. I can tell from Keo's anger that he still suspects that I may not be able to pull this off.

I know I will though, because what other choice do I have?

"We could have fun together, Keo, if you had your priorities straight," she exclaims pitifully, brushing a long piece of hair over her shoulder.

I probably should just let Keo go to kill Atari himself once I get into her head, although I get the feeling that would be more brutal than anything I want to experience.

"My standards could never get low enough," Keo responds in that smooth, molten honey voice that he uses when he is taunting someone with seduction.

Atari glares at him, but I find myself zoning out of their conversation, trying to harness my magic.

It's harder than I thought it would be to get into her head.

She seems to have a strong mind, but soon enough I fight my way into her conciousness, seizing control of her body. When my eyes flutter open, I'm outside of the cell looking in.

I can see my body now slumped against the wall. Keo stares at it, before he drags his gaze to me, looking slightly horrified.

"Don't move. Stay here," I hiss in Atari's voice.

He just nods mutely as I turn away, still trying to wrap his head around the magic I've used.

I make my way upstairs quickly. Guards only give me passing looks, not seeing anything wrong in my appearance. In turn, I don't even acknowledge them, trying not to give anything away.

Striding through the house, I make it to the next set of stairs, ready to scale up and hopefully find Larsen in here. Chances are, he's off somewhere doing who knows what.

The sound of doors opening behind me draws me to a stop.

Just as my luck would have it, Kastriv strides through the front door. Immediately his eyes fall upon me, anger simmering his eyes as he meets me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Kastriv..." I start.

"Atari, we need to talk," he exclaims. I can already tell he's armed to face her, considering that faux confidence that can be easily shattered by the woman who has had full control over his life since he became a Noble.

"We can't-"

"Where is my mate?" He demands. "I know you have her."

For a split second I'm convinced he's going to kill me so Larsen doesn't have to. Either that or he's going to get on his knees and beg who he thinks is Atari to return me back to him.

"It's me, Kastriv," I tell him, reaching for his hands. He pulls them away though, scowling at me.

"What?"

"I'm in Atari's head..." I hiss, glancing back over my shoulder to ensure no guards are listening. I doubt they would suspect anything is out of the ordinary, considering this magic isn't exactly common.

"Don't lie to me. Where is Aspen?" He growls.

I sigh dramatically, even if he has every reason to think it's Atari lying to him right now. "It's me Kastriv. The spirit used me to bring her to life, and now her blood is part of the spell that is going to kill me and all the other Demon's."

He blinks as the information settles into his mind.

"Why should I believe you?" He asks skeptically.

"The first night we met, Oliver had burned my hand and you knew something was wrong. You got me out of that situation," I remind him softly, hating that it's Atari's voice I'm hearing as I express a time that was so terrible in my life.

Kastriv let's out a long sigh, digging his hands through his hair. He believes me, at least.

"Aspen...this is dangerous," he mutters.

"I'm going to kill her. Once and for all," I tell him. "She's going to die if this spell goes through anyway. I'm just speeding things along."

He shakes his head in disbelief. "What if it kills you to?"

"If won't," I say shakily.

I'm not actually certain about that. Honestly, I've tried to push that concern out of my head, knowing that if I thought about it too much, I may convince myself out of it, and I would die anyway.

"How do you know?" He looks as though he wants to touch me, but considering my appearance, he chooses not to.

"I don't, but I have no other choice. If I don't do this, I'll die anyway," I remind him coldly.

His mouth sets in a hard line. He wants to tell me not to do it, but he knows what fate I'm going to face if I don't go through with this. He has no other choice than to help me as much as he can.

"How are you going to do it?"

"Where's Larsen?"

He motions up the stairs, looking grim. "Follow me."

He leads me up to the second floor and to a wing at the back of the manor. We make it to a mahogany door where Kastriv pauses, going to knock on the door.

I grab his arm. "Wait, let me do this."

"Why?" He frowns.

"Larsen may be suspicious if he doesn't know I'm Atari," I say lowly, not wanting to risk him hearing us through the door. I doubt he would want to be part of killing Atari, and although I feel bad about subjecting him to this, it must be done.

"Good luck getting his gloves off." It sounds like a warning, but I already know what I need to do.

"I don't need to," I tell him, before turning to knock on his door.

Kastriv backs away down the hallway, although I can tell he isn't going to go far. I am going to die, after all, or at least experience the sensation of death.

Nobody responds, so I open the door a little, peeking in.

Larsen is sitting on his bed, reading a book. It's a strangely normal act that doesn't suit someone capable of so much death and pain.

"Come to bother me, Atari?" he mutters, not looking up from his book.

It suddenly dawns on me how strange and invasive this is. I'm talking to Larsen when he thinks I'm someone else. I would feel bad, but I know who he is and that he is capable of terrifying things.

"What's with the bad mood?" I question in Atari's sultry tone, folding my arms over my chest.

He looks up, something bitter swirling in his deep green eyes. "Ellard has given me some unfortunate news."

I blink. I don't really want to know about Larsen's private business, but Atari wouldn't brush this off. She would want to know every sordid detail.

"What is it?"

"There is a girl in a nearby small village that needs to be dealt with," he exclaims, sounding bored, disinterested as he flips the page.

I swallow tightly. That doesn't sound good.

"Dealt with?"

"She has too much power for her own good," he mutters, so cold and callously it causes a chill to race down my spine. He has no care for the lives he takes, and it's disturbing.

He gets up, discarding his book on his nightstand before going to walk past me.

I grab his arm. "Wait."

He looks down at where my hand almost touches the skin between his glove and his shirt. "Woah. Careful."

"I'm going to free you now, Larsen," I breathe lowly. Maybe he will escape this life of being a Noble to come somewhere and do something good instead of needlessly killing people.

He frowns. "Free me from what?"

"Myself."

I reach out, touching the side of his face with my bare hand.

He physically flinches, taken aback both by being willingly touched for what I imagine is the first time ever, and from watching someone he knows try to kill themselves.

He immediately grabs my wrist, tugging it off his skin. "What...what have you done?"

Almost immediately I can feel the poison of touching his bare skin sink straight into my veins like a powerful shock.

"I'm sorry it had to go like this. I didn't want to put you through her death, but it was all I could think of quickly," I tell him, aware that I'm revealing something he won't yet be able to understand.

My legs give out from under me and I sink toward the ground. Larsen catches me before I hit it too hard, guiding me down until I'm lying on the floor. All the feeling in my limbs are leaving me as the poison spreads through my body.

"You're dying." He looks so stunned, unable to feel anything beyond that right now.

I doubt he is sad...Kastriv won't be.

"I know. And you're free, and I may be too," I breathe, choking as my throat starts to close up, an incredible gain gathering in my heart.

I can see Larsen scrambling, trying to find a way to save Atari.

All I can think as my vision starts to fade is that I really hope I wake up from this.

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