Hard to Hate You // Michael Langdon

Part XXIV - Final Betrayal

He glares at me.  "And where the hell did you learn the complicated spells for knocking me unconscious, bringing Mallory back, and creating this barrier?"

I shrug.  "A book from the library.  Turns out my light reading during my stay in this outpost paid off."

He shakes his head.  "As did your acting.  You had me fooled."

I sigh.  "It didn't have to be this way.  But I will tell you one thing; you were never going to win.  I was going to make sure of it."

"You lied about loving me," he states bitterly, the betrayal seeping through his words.  

I roll my eyes as I step towards him.  "I didn't lie about loving you.  I still do love you, but I'm not allowing love to blind my decisions and morals - although I will admit that my morals are almost nonexistent."

I press my hand up against the barrier.  "I love you, Michael, and I hope you'll forgive me in whatever timeline we land in after Mallory fixes everything."

He shakes his head, tears stinging his eyes.  "I already forgive you and I don't even know how."  He looks into my eyes as he places his hand against the barrier across from mine.  "I believe that you've done the impossible; you've won your way to my heart."

I chuckle sadly as I return his gaze.  "You've done the even-more-impossible; you've won my heart."

We smile sadly at each other for a few seconds before Michael sighs.  "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to forgive me for this."

I quickly step back, realizing what he's about to do, but I'm too late.  A massive amount of energy surges between our hands, and the barrier dissipates in waves.  Michael's other hand immediately reaches for my neck and cuts off my air supply.  

I use all my strength to try to push him off, but his grip remains tight.  "Michael-" I gasp, trying to look into his eyes to make him realize the mistake he's making.  

He is barely able to look at me through his tears, but I can tell that his father is entirely fueling his actions right now.  Shit.  It looks like the only way I'm going to get out of this is by overpowering him.  I desperately use everything I have in me to fight him, but he is undeterred.

I back up until I trip over the rug and we crash to the ground.  As I'm falling, I reach behind me for a broken piece of glass from the mirror that broke during the first battle against the witches.  

As I'm reaching to stab Michael with it, he catches my arm.  I attempt to throw him off with my powers, but nothing happens.  We hit the ground together, and he pins my wrist out to the side so I can't stab him with the glass.

I keep kicking Michael, but I feel my strength fading and can tell I'm going to lose consciousness soon.

I suddenly get an idea, one that has such little chance of working that it's barely worth trying, but I know I have to; I can try to bind our lifelines together so that my death will kill him too.

I quickly recall the spell from the textbook as I open my mouth, attempting to ignore my blurring vision.  "Vita...n-nostra-" I choke out, barely audible, a single tear falling from my eye.  Michael furrows his brow slightly, but otherwise seems unsuspicious of my incantation.

Having successfully completed my last-shot incantation, I give up, allowing my whole body to go slack.  The last thing I see before losing consciousness is Michael's teary face.

Third Person POV

Michael quickly releases Valentina as the life leaves her eyes, the reality of what he just did settling in.  He holds his hands out in front of him, staring at them as if they betrayed him.  He looks between them and Valetina's body, the disbelief and confusion etched across his face.  She had been fighting for her life, then she just uttered a strange incantation before giving up.  It was so out-of-character for her.

He takes Valentina's face in his hands.  He has so many unanswered questions.  What was her incantation?  Why did she give up?  Why did she only cry a single tear, yet here he was with tears streaming down his face?  She was the one who was just murdered, yet he clearly felt more remorse.

Mallory watches Michael in horror, realizing that she's next.  He just killed the love of his life in a way that was so long, intimate, and deliberate that it could only make her terrified of what's coming her way. 

She desperately looks down at the water around her.  It's barely bubbling at all despite her multiple attempts at Tempus Infinitum.  It seems like her last shot at survival is whatever spell Valentina was attempting to cast.

What the hell did Valentina even try to say?  It was definitely an incantation; it sounded like Vita nostra.  Mallory shakes her head, never having heard any incantation like that, yet somehow feeling like she should know what it means.

"Vita nostra," Mallory mutters under her breath.  She is not at all fluent in Latin, but she's pretty sure that it means our life.  What type of spell could mean that yet stop/kill Michael?

Mallory's eyes go wide, the answer suddenly coming to mind.  Valentina was binding her lifeline to Michael's.  Our life.  She knew she was going to die, so she wanted to bring Michael down with her.  That explains why she just gave up so suddenly.  She quickly turns her attention to Michael, praying that Valentina's spell worked.

Michael is still hovering over Valetina's body, shaken to his core.  Mallory shakes her head; why the hell would he kill her if it was going to have this much of an effect on him?

Michael releases Valentina's face and raises his head to look straight ahead of him.  Mallory watches in confusion; there's nothing there.  Once Michael has sat up the whole way, he speaks lowly, almost in a hiss.  "Father."

Mallory's eyes go wide as she realizes the answer to her previous question; Michael's father made him kill Valentina, and he's about to make him do the same to Mallory, perhaps worse.  Michael slowly turns his head to look at Mallory as she backs up to the edge of the bathtub, terrified.

Before Michael can make a move, he suddenly gasps and clutches his stomach.  He falls off to the side of Valentina's body, gasping for air.  After a few seconds, he slowly turns his head to look at Valentina, realizing what she did.  "I underestimated you."  

He sharply inhales, the sudden motion sending pain through his lungs.  "Looks like I'm paying the price," he scoffs to himself, her lifeless face still somehow looking smug.  He gasps weakly for air, his breath coming out shakily.

Mallory watches nervously, waiting for him to take another breath.  He doesn't.

His life force vanishes, and Mallory realizes that it's over.  However, her relief is short-lived; she still has to perform Tempus Infinitum.  

She pulls herself out of the bathtub and runs over to Valentina's body, taking a ring from her fingers.  "I'm going to find you," she states, holding Valentina's limp hand in hers.  "I promise."

With that, she steps back into the bathtub, Valentina's ring in one hand and Michael's hair in the other.  She smiles to herself as the water begins bubbling around her; it seems like it took the close encounter with death to reactivate her magic.

Mallory clasps the items in her hands tightly as she takes a deep breath.  "Tempus Infinitum!"