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I smelled them the instant they appeared. The awful scent of death and fire engulfed my senses, leaving me nauseated and desperate to grab Queen and flee. I shut all the curtains, only peeking out of the one beside the front door. They were always here- colluding. But I felt another presence- one much more suffocating even before they arrived.

I took a chance to glance back at Queen. She was lying in the same spot she passed out in. Black symbols and patterns snaked themselves around her wrists and ankles, like chains against the floor. I wasn't sure what type of demonic entity she had allowed to enter her body, but my plan wouldn't work if she was corrupted by it.

I needed her pure. As pure as someone like her could be anyway...but this wouldn't help. At all. She was beginning to smell like them- my nostrils and throat burned every time I inhaled the ash smell.

There was no choice but to render her unconscious. I could see the blank rage setting into her eyes when I was on top of her. After a few moments of holding all the power, it became a game of survival. If I didn't make a move, she would have killed me.

I scoffed, shaking my head. She would have killed me. When I had done nothing but try to save her from herself and her choices.

She was a hard one to win over. I should have known considering what she did to me all those years ago, but I thought it would be a lot easier than this. I didn't expect her to fight me like this. I could've been whatever and whoever she wanted me to be. But she was holding out. I looked out the sliver in the curtains-- for them. For him.

For hope of being "rescued". She would never need saving from me but her mind had been so warped by these creatures that she actually believed that they had her best interest at heart. They abandoned her and came back when it was convenient for them. I stayed. Even when she pushed me to the brink and I wanted nothing more than to move on, I stayed. I was the only one in her life that had.

The sooner she realized that, the better. And until then, she could stay unconscious. Maybe she would come to her senses. Even if she didn't yet, it would delay the magic beginning to consume her. It would buy me time to once and for all get rid of the people standing in the way of our happiness.

I studied them all. A couple of men; vampires...easy enough to kill. I recognized one as Drake and my confidence soared even more. He'd help me. He despised Syn. The witch who would've been trickier to kill if she were more powerful stood beside him. My eyes landed on the grimoire in her hand. Now that would be a problem. Even in a mere mortal's hand, it'd do damage. Where did they get something like that? It glowed a bright gold only visible to me, the whispers of spirits radiating off of it-- calling out to me.

Chanting my name.

My true name.

And if it knew my true name, then it was written somewhere inside of it. I tensed. I had spent centuries destroying any written record of my name in such books. I freed myself long ago, but if they had already known, they would've done something with it. I was safe for the moment, but I couldn't determine for exactly how long.

I needed that book.

I needed leverage to get it though. They wouldn't just hand it to me. The moment I placed any sort of importance on it, Syn would immediately catch it.

My eyes bounced around each of them. The ideas ran frantic in my mind. I couldn't leave. They needed to come to me. I could kill them outside the barrier, but it would be ten times more difficult and I wasn't in the habit of making things harder on myself.

Cain stood in front of Syn, both of them deep in conversation and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was right beside them- weightless and invisible to them. They couldn't see or hear me. I was just a spirit lingering around them, my chest tightening as my proximity to the book increased. I tried to ignore its call and zeroed my focus on their conversation. Their mouths were moving, but I could only make out bits and pieces of the conversation.

Focus.

"Take down the barrier..."

"Saint, no..."

"...not an option."

"Saint..."

I turned my head to where they were all looking and tilted my head. Cain stood in front of me...but there was something else. I looked at his eyes, the evidence of possession clear as day. Intriguing. I studied him. He was far more advanced than I had originally anticipated. The antichrist.

From the moment I met him, I knew there was something special about him. I just didn't know what until I got a closer look- as Aiden. The moment I laid a hand on his head, a canopy of lives and deaths flashed across my mind. So much pain, bloodshed, evil.

Yet more power than I had ever come across in all my centuries of living.

His aura was asphyxiating.

Oh, the power that I could have if I consumed him. The thought seemed so out of this world to me prior. But here he was, in a body that wasn't his own. He had to be significantly weaker. Possession required the utmost attention and precision. It was tiring. As young as he was, he had to be exhausted...

That would help.

I shut my eyes again, moving my consciousness back into my own body. A smile appeared on my face as an idea popped into my head. Love was one of the most powerful forces in the universe. Especially the love a child had for their mother...

I called out to him. A shrill scream as close to Queen's as I could manage and I watched.

Syn moved, his foot taking a step toward the barrier before he stopped. He caught the trick, but it was too late.

The one it was meant for stepped inside and I laughed. I waved my hand into a fist, creating a bond with him and pulling. He fell to the floor in agony. His body seized, black foam pouring from his mouth as he tried to resist my hold.

I only strengthened my grip. He should've been screaming, but he was silent. His body writhing against the floor.

I stepped outside, my smile only growing the more he fought. The more resistant he was, the weaker he'd get. If he kept going he was going to die. But if he stopped fighting, he'd still die. It was inevitable. "I'm surprised that worked." I laughed. "I can't say it was even one of my best tricks."

"Enough, Aiden!" Syn roared at me. "Let him go!"

His friends held him back, obviously brighter than him as he fought against them. He was weak. The moment he stepped into here I'd kill him. All I had to do was snap my fingers. He couldn't even stop a few measly creatures holding him back.

"Syn, stop!" I heard Cleo scream as I took slow steps toward Saint. The closer I got, the weaker he became. "Let us take down the barrier first--"

Before she could finish her sentence, he snapped his fingers. With a resounding crack, the three of his friends fell to the ground, their necks snapped. He was furious. And if I weren't in this barrier I may have felt a tinge of fear with the rage in his eyes, but I was safe. If anyone had to worry, it was him.

Yet he stepped in anyway.

Love. The traitorous wench.

"You're too late," I yelled, his son lying at my feet. He was barely holding on. "I suggest you stay still. You'll die a lot slower."

He stepped toward me. One step, his jaw clenching as he tried to fight against the pressure that had to be pushing down against him. It'd kill him if he kept moving. The barrier protected those inside from threats from the outside. He wouldn't be able to last-- I paused.

He shouldn't even have been able to step inside. Neither of them should have-- Lilith too. How did I miss that?

"With all your years of living," he growled. "You don't know about loopholes?"

I hesitated and he snapped his fingers, rupturing my hold on his son. He waved his hand, sending me flying back against the house. Pain shot down my back and head as I hit the wall. The splintering wood pierced my skin, making me wince as I tried to gather myself, but I couldn't move. Something wrapped itself around my neck, holding me to the wall. It tightened the more I struggled and I was forced to watch Syn lift Saint from the ground.

My anger increased tenfold at the loss. I was so close. Only a few moments away from having all the power of the world at my disposal.

He walked to the edge of the portal, where his friends lay. One of them, Drake was beginning to wake up and I smiled to myself. He was on my side. With everyone still knocked out and Syn being so close to depleting his energy, he could kill him. Easily at that.

"Drake," I garbled out. "Kill him!"

I wanted to be the one to do it, but this would suffice. He wanted his revenge on Syn for as long as I could remember. I had practically served Syn's body on a platter. All that he had to do now was kill him.

He glanced at me, anger radiating off of him as he struggled to stand up. His eyes moved to Syn and Saint momentarily and then back to me. Do it.

Instead, he grabbed the grimoire from Cleo's arms and turned to leave. My eyes widened at the betrayal, but a moment later he screamed "Fuck!" And turned back. "I am going to kill you," I heard him promise Syn and ease began to creep through my body.

Good.

꧁꧂

Author's Note