We drove for miles through the fog and darkness. My mind faded in and out of awareness. Who was I?
A part of me died with Damon.
A part of me died with Luca.
A part of me died with my dad.
If people continued to die, who would I be anymore? I'd be just a skeleton with fractured bones. My soul would be stripped bare.
Did I even have a soul anymore? Had the human side of me disappeared? Had it been replaced with one of pain and anger?
After hours of thinking, trembling, and thinking some more, I wiped the tears from my cheeks. Valerio parked in front of the pack house, taking me by the hand and helping me out of the car. "Are you sure about this?" he asked, pressing his lips together.
I nodded my head and we began our trek to the pack hospital. The closer we traveled, the faster my heart raced. Saying goodbye to two men today, to two lovers?
Was it hard? Yes. Was I going to be able to do it? I didn't know. Did I have to do it? Yes.
Valerio opened the door for me, allowing me to walk into chaos. Nurses were running around frantically, their eyes wide. Papers were on the floor, all over the tables. A desk had toppled over. My brows furrowed at the mess.
"Where is he?!" someone yelled, rushing out of the hallway to the foyer. The doctor appeared in the foyer, his eyes wide, a deep gash across his face. When he saw Valerio and me, he stopped, breathing heavy and bowed his head. "Moon Goddess. Valerio."
"What's going on?" I asked.
He swallowed hard, his lips parting and shutting quickly.
Nurses sprinted into the hospital, carrying a doctor whose arm was completely ripped off and throwing her onto a hospital bed.
"He's... gone."
"Who?" Valerio asked, his eyes following the panic as Protectors carried others into the hospital.
"Luca."
My eyes widened. "What the hell do you mean 'he's gone'?!" I brushed passed him, running to Luca's hospital room.
Empty. It was completely empty.
His bed sheets were in a jumbled mess, a nurse was laying on his bed, blood gushing out of a gash in her neck.
Shuffling sounded behind me and I shot around, glaring at the doctor who was now in the room. "I thought you said he was dead?! You said he would never wake up!" I grabbed him by the neck, pressing him up against the wall, high in the air. "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO THAT? WHY WEREN'T YOU WATCHING HIM?!"
"We... we didn't think he would wake up. There... there was absolutely no way that he could wake up. He was dead. His soul left his body."
Valerio walked up to me, his eyes black. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me away from the man. "We have bigger problems than this. He killed two of our Protectors who tried to stop him at the borders."
My eyes widened. I clenched my jaw, breathing deeply. "This is on you!" I pointed to the doctor and rushed out of the room with Valerio. "There are a group of Protectors waiting at your office, waiting for orders."
I nodded, my nostrils flaring. I couldn't believe this was happening.
He was dead. How could he escape if he was dead?
When we reached the floor to my office, I grumbled as the only thing that stood upright anymore was the wooden door. A group of Protectors were outside of it, waiting.
"Find him! Find Luca. Be careful. He's killed two of our men today. Do not underestimate him. Stay in your group but find him!" I demanded.
When they were gone, I stormed into my office, stepping over the plaster that had crumbled everywhere. Valerio slammed the door behind himself. "What the hell?! What the hell happened?"
His eyes widened, and he shook his head, his hand running through his hair. "I... I don't know."
I slumped down on my desk chair, leaning my elbows on the desk and pushed my hands through my hair. Why was this happening? How was this happening?
Luca was dead. His functioning ceased to exist. His soul was gone. There was no way he could be alive. Absolutely no way.
Valerio and I spent hours and hours studying the map, going through the different theories that could've happened, but we ended with nothing.
After hours of searching for him, the Protectors lost his scent a few miles outside of our borders. How did a dead man escape? Why did he kill our warriors?
I was now curled up in my bed, tears streaming down my cheeks. How was this happening?
Valerio peeked his head in my room. "Are you okay?"
I waved him over. "Please... please lay with me tonight. I'm not okay," I admitted. He made his way over to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and I curled up into him. His body warmth comforted me. His frame was similar to Damon's and his smell... it was nearly the same as his, but it wasn't him.
My eyes fluttered closed. He wasn't Damon, but he could comfort me for tonight. Tomorrow, I would be better.
I laughed through my lie in my mind.
I wouldn't be better, but hopefully I'd get a good night sleep with him.
Soon, my eyes fluttered closed and I let the darkness consume me.
"Thank you so much for inviting us," I said, glancing at the woman in front of me. She looked so familiar. My eyes widened. This was the pup's mothers, the family that Alexandra and Samuel had attacked - Ashur's mother.
"There is no need to thank me! I'm the one that needs to thank you. Over and over and over again. How could I ever repay you?" she asked, opening the door opened wider for me to enter.
Valerio entered behind me. The house that I remembered as a bloody mess was now spotless, clean, and full of life.
Her older son, the one Samuel attack, stood taller than me now. He bowed his head, offering me a smile. The features on his face had matured.
Valerio walked in next to me, holding out his hand for the boy – now man – to shake. He gripped Valerio's hand quite hard. "How have you been, Henry?" Valerio asked.
"I'm doing better, much, much better," he said. I followed them to the dining room and we took a seat at the table. There were six seats set out, but only four of us here. My brows furrowed together.
"Boys! It's dinner time!" the woman yelled, into the hallway before coming to take a seat with us. A teenage boy ran into the room who I immediately recognized as the pup I saved twice.
His eyes lit up as he saw me and he ran over, wrapping his arms around my neck. "Mae!"
"Moon Goddess," his mother corrected.
He rolled his eyes at his mother and I smiled at the exchange. "I'm sorry... Moon Goddess," he said, bowing his head. I laughed at his tone and he sat next to me.
Valerio rested his forearms on the table, leaning forward and looking at the Henry. "Mae, would like to ask you and your brother an important question."
The man's brows raised, his eyes widening.
"Where is your brother?" Valerio continued.
Henry shook his head, his lips parting. "Ashur! Get in here!" he yelled louder than his mother.
My brows furrowed as a young man walked into the room. A man I didn't recognize. His eyes widened as he looked at me and he bowed his head. "Moon Goddess." He turned to his mother, placing a kiss on her cheek. "Hey Mama."
"Ashur, I'm so happy you could finally make it down to dinner," she said with a semi-annoyed tone.
He smiled cheekily at her, but then she pinched his cheeks. "Sorry."
Her laugh lifted our moods even more. "I could never be mad at you."
My eyes widened, watching the young man named Ashur in front of me. How... how was he alive? I had saw his body and absorbed his soul. He was dead.
Ashur sat down across from me, still smiling.
This must be another man, another boy named Ashur. They didn't even look alike.
"Mae, would you like to tell these young men why we're here?" Valerio asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
My gaze remained on Ashur. "Uh... yes..." I found myself saying. "We wanted to know if you would like to join the Protectors."
The two men's eyes widened, and they nodded. A boyish giggle escaping from Ashur's lips as if he didn't believe this was happening. My eyes widened.
This man. This was Ashur. I remember his laugh echoing through my mind every time I touched the cut on my arm.
My arm. I glanced down at it. The red and yellow mist that once swirled around in it was gone. Completely gone. And, the cut had healed as if it was never even there. But, I knew it was. I could see the smallest glossy line of a scar on it.
I glanced back up at Ashur and for a moment, a spark of red and yellow glowed within his eyes.
My eyes opened wide, and I shot up in the bed, clasping my hand over Damon's mark on my neck.
The End.
A/N
How'd you like the ending? Very much? Not at all?
What did Mae's vision mean?
What will happen next?
This was the last chapter of The Betrayal, but there will be a final book in this series. It will be called The Rise. To find this book, search "The Rise beautifullybrutal" in the search tab, or go to my profile. The first chapter won't be out for a couple weeks, but add the book to your library so you'll get the updates!
If you have any book covers/art/etc. for The Betrayal or The Marking, please send it through instagram or to my email so I can showcase it to everyone!