Kiara's POV:
His body had cushioned my fall, but he himself was hard chested and I flinched when I landed on top of him.
Nathaniel had taken the brunt of pain as his back hit the floor. Jacquelyne gasped at my audacity. Obviously, she hadn't anticipated my actions. Neither had he.
I placed both my hands on both sides of his face and looked into his red eyes, hoping to see a hint of brown.
A voice in my head told me that I had to bring him back. Bring him back. Only you can bring him back. The chanting of those words turned into buzzing as I focused on trying to reach Cassian.
I stared at him so hard, that I could feel my eyes watering.
"I know you can hear me, Cassian. I know you're in there. You can fight him off. You have to!" I desperately begged him, my palms flat on his cheeks.
He just stared back at me blankly, not responding.
Huh?
Why the hell wasn't he saying anything?
It's done. He's gone forever. But your war is not over. The voice buzzed, making me a bit disoriented for a few seconds.
From behind me, Jacquelyne screeched, "You stupid trollop! You broke the spell and drove him out!"
I looked up in surprise, "I did?"
"I worked so hard! I.. I... waited so long! No...no... NO!!!" She ran over to us in astonishing speed and knocked me off Cassian's unmoving body with a sharp kick in the ribs.
Groaning, I sat up and winced at the pain in my stomach. Damn, she could kick pretty hard for a dead girl.
She flung herself across Cassian's body and shook him by the shoulders. "You cannot leave me now! You cannot! You... you... COME BACK!!!" She yelled and cried, but to no avail. On not being able to complete the spell, Nathaniel's spirit had been forced to leave Cassian's body and return to Hell, where he came from.
I looked at Zorraine to see if he was okay. He wasn't stirring, but the gentle rise and fall of his chest told me that he was alive. Heaving a sigh of relief, I turned to Jacquelyne's weeping form and stood up shakily.
"Its of no use. You have to face it Jackie, Nathaniel's gone and Cassian's gonna be back any minute now," I said calmly, crossing my fingers behind my back.
If only she'd take my word for it and go back to the Prisons of Damnation or whatever.
She stopped weeping and straightened up slowly. An uneasy feeling washed over me. She's probably not gonna go down without a fight.
Uh oh.
Her angry features were focused on me. I felt like I was at gunpoint under her intense glare. She stood up and got away from Cassian.
"You think you are so clever, don't you, celestial bitch?" She snarled, taking a step towards me.
Mustering every ounce of courage to not step back, I sneered at her, "Think? No, honey, I believe I'm clever. Well, cleverer than you of course."
Wow Kiara, you really wanna die today, huh?
Jacquelyn, however didn't seem too offended. She laughed, "You're only a plaything, a toy! Just like I was! You think you're special, but you're not. He's intrigued by you because you didn't try to offer yourself up to him as soon as you met him," she paused to smirk at me, "I admit, I made that mistake. I didn't pose as a challenge to him. That's why he got bored of me. And trust me, honey, he'll get bored of you too!"
I knew that I shouldn't let her words affect me, but hurt flashed across my face for a fleeting moment before I masked it, "Yeah, well, atleast I didn't get obsessed with him and throw a murdery fit because he didn't want to get with a psychotic stalker like me."
This time she definitely got riled up, "I loved him," she said quietly.
I shook my head and laughed, "You lusted for him, Jacquelyne. You were willing to commit murder for him. Don't you see how messed up that is? Instead of trying to get him to mend his ways and be the light in his dark, Nathaniel covered life, you encouraged his sadism, his monstrous side! Maybe that's why he didn't want you. Not because he was bored of you. It was because he knew you were toxic for him!"
I breathed heavily, to make up for all the air I had lost while giving the speech. My chest heaved but my eyes never left Jacquelyne's blazing ones.
For once, she seemed cowed. She lowered her head to stare at the ground. Her expression went from murderous to pondering, as though considering what I had just thrown into her face.
I didn't know where I got all the spunk from. But I knew that everything I had said was true.
Suddenly, her shoulders started to shake. I looked at her skeptically, wondering if she was having a seizure.
When she looked up, I realized that she was laughing.
Her face read malice as she neared me menacingly. I stared back with equal amount of contempt.
"Then I guess he'll be glad to be rid of both you and me!" With that, she backhanded me with such force, that I went crashing into the wall. I could feel my already broken rib strain even more. Tears swam in my eyes but I didn't let them fall.
Not managing to get a scream of pain from me, she flicked the chains wrapped around her wrists and they came hurtling towards me like two vicious flying snakes.
They wrapped themselves around my throat and started choking me. Struggling to breathe, I tried to unravel the chains. But the more I struggled, the more they tightened around my neck.
Judging by the smug look on Jacquelyne's face, I was sure my face had started to turn blue. My capability to think started to fade. My vision started to get blurry. Then... the chains loosened and fell to my feet.
I tried for a smirk, "That's all you got?" She growled angrily as she willed the chains to fly back into her hands.
"If you had screamed for mercy like a good girl, I would've given you a quick death, but since you're as much of a resilient brat as ever, I'll make you suffer," I felt my head starting to ache as she spoke. Then it felt like it was going to burst open.
But I didn't scream for mercy. I clutched my head and glared at her, "Do your worst."
She smiled gleefully, "I was hoping you'd say that."
My temples throbbed in pain. A dozen hammers slamming on my head. I gasped as the back of my skull stung like a bee had taken out all its anger on me. "Ah!" I couldn't stop the cry of agony that escaped my lips. I fell to my knees out of exhaustion.
I looked up to see Jacquelyne's satisfied grin. But I wasn't going down without a fight either.
Not caring if she saw me or not, I grabbed the first sharp, jagged rock that my hands could find in the semi darkness and slowly got to my feet.
That was one of her faults. She was so engrossed in her own sadism, that she didn't care about anything else. And sure enough, she didn't have time to stop me when I hurtled towards her almost blindly and brought the rock down on her skull as hard as I could.
Jacquelyne grunted and stumbled backwards. I pushed her to the ground and climbed on top of her, straddling her.
"I. Will. Never. Let. You. Win!" I pronounced each word with a punch to her face. My knuckles started to get bloody and I was sure my own head was about to burst open, but I didn't care. All I knew was that I had to end her.
I rained blows on her until her face was a bloody mess and I felt my finger bones crack. The pain in my head subsided as I breathed heavily.
Her blood soaked lips stretched into a filthy grin, revealing her now broken red teeth, "But I already have, celeste!"
"What?" Before I could figure it out, a sharp pain shot through my side. I touched my left rib to find it sticky with blood.
She had stabbed me with the same rock I had hit her with. Taking advantage of my distraction, she flipped us over so I was lying on the rough ground and she was on top of me.
She stood up slowly, picking up a much larger rock and lifting it over her head, grinning maniacally.
I closed my eyes when I realized what she was going to do. I whispered softly the words that he would never be able to hear, even though I really wanted him to.
But I wanted only them to be my last words.
"I love you Cassian Christian Mantzari."
______________________________________________________________
I waited for the unbearable pain and then, eternal nothingness.
However.... it never came.
I felt Jacquelyne's weight being flung off of me and heard a familiar feminine voice yell profanities at her.
A pair of strong, muscular arms gently lifted me up and buried my face in a warm chest. I couldn't react because of the throbbing in my side. I couldn't believe it. He wasn't here... was he?
I must be dead already and this must be a dream.
I dared not open my eyes, fearing that the dream would end. I felt his breath fanning my face as he kissed my forehead lightly. All the pain seemed to go away as soon as his lips touched my skin.
When I heard his voice, I knew I was in heaven:
"I love you too, Kiara Carlyle."