Eternal Night

(III) Chapter 17: The Last & the First

Frankie's vision began to blur as a deep-seated hunger clawed painfully in the pit of her stomach. She was sitting in a puddle of crimson, forearms sliced open to the bone as her life's blood poured out of her.

But it wasn't enough.

Nothing she gave seemed to be enough and the thought broke her heart.

Jacob continued to recite the incantation, eyes nervously glancing between his sister-in-law and Lyra, the latter of which having taken to nervously pacing. The redhead was busy gnawing on her fingernails as she took in the sight of Frankie willfully bleeding out onto the sigil she had carved into the floor.

"Why isn't it working?" she asked, turning on her heel to pace in the other direction.

I'm not sure, she heard Frankie's voice in her head. She sounded so distant, so... so deflated, empty. But I can feel it waking up...

Lyra didn't need further clarification to know what it she was referring to.

Her dark passenger.

That blood-rage.

I can't let them die, Lyra, and the brunette turned to look at her friend, a fresh round of tears welling in her eyes, face alarmingly pale. I couldn't bear it... He said losing them the first time drove him to madness. He and I are still bound and I don't think... I don't think I could...

"They're not dead yet," Lyra insisted. "This has to work," and she dropped down to her knees suddenly, situating herself just outside the circle. Oddly enough, the blood had never passed outside the border of the sigil.

I don't know how much more I can take this... if I lose control...

"You won't lose control, Frank. You're the strongest person I know. Just... just hold on a little longer."

They were interrupted by the sound of a ding coming from Frankie's phone. Lyra reached for the mobile device and quickly read the text message that had come through.

"Who's JB?" she asked incredulously and she held out the phone so Frankie could read:

Couldn't make it out in time. He's here. Thank you for trying.

All breath left her body in an instant as her heart sank and then shattered.

Jack... oh no, Jack.

Tears finally breaking free, a silent sob sent Frankie's whole body shuddering with grief.

No, no, no, she couldn't let it end this way.

She tried once more to reach for Vlad down their shared bond, but he was so far beyond her grasp now – an effect of the hex or his own anger, she wasn't sure. Her chest cracked as her whole being grew heavy with the weight of the dead. It was too much. It was just too much.

Lyra had placed the phone back on the floor and was about to reach out to comfort her devastated friend when Frankie suddenly raised the knife up into the air with a shaky grasp.

If you and Jacob manage to make it out of here alive, tell Rémy I'm sorry. Tell him I didn't want to lie to him – I didn't want to lie to any of you.

"Frankie, what are you doing?"

But the woman turned away as she closed her eyes and brought the edge of the blade to her throat.

I'm sorry.

With what little strength she had remaining, she ran the knife across the front of her neck, cutting deep as more blood poured out of her and onto the floor. Lyra shouted a word of protest, but when she made an attempt to reach into the circle to stop her, she was stopped by an invisible force that had appeared around the sigil – and consequently, around Frankie.