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I knew something was horribly wrong the second Zach burst through the hallway. The hair on the back of my neck stood on as I replayed the scene over and over.
Zach screaming.
And disappearing through the dark vortex.
For months, I have ignored saying his name or even think about him. I dreaded to see him again. To look at him in the eyes and see hatred. The sound of my panic was drowned out when he started to casually walk on my way. His long trench coat looked odd on him like he was from a different century. Also, his short blond hair was now longer and in a ponytail almost reaching his shoulder. As I looked up and up, my eyes widened to see those blue eyes again.
"Lana." He nodded at me once he was in my earshot.
I only stared at him, trying to find what his game was but he didn't even move. "What the hell you are doing here?"
"Ah! It's lovely to meet you again face-to-face I suppose. Again I could've seen you a lot if it wasn't for your beloved sending me to hell." He feigned a disgusted shiver but it didn't need Sherlock to know who he was talking about. Mikhail. Just for that saying, my anger intensified.
I never asked Mikhail to take that step.
I never wanted him dead, not like this.
Before I could make my point and curse them to hell with it, everyone in the room started to chant causing my head to feel heavier and the room to blur. The first sign of the dread came from a little burning feeling through my arm and then spreading throughout my whole body.
Clumping my mouth shut, I tried to ignore the pain, to desperately fight off the effects of the ritual but my body hit the floor without a break. From my blurred vision, I saw Zach's mouth moving but I couldn't hear them. My mind screamed for me to stand up but I couldn't. I just watched Roth leaping forward to grab that awful book. Just as the chanting increased, it stopped altogether.
"Sage and Roth...before we continue this ritual, I want to talk to Lana in privacy...for our own good." Zach declared suddenly much to everyone's surprise. I turned my head slightly toward him. Nothing was making sense now and even Roth seemed pissed off for interrupting her ritual.
"Is this how it works, my dear? I wanted you to make an appearance so we could crush her confidence, breaking her even more and now you want to talk to her for our own good? Or is it for your own good?" Roth's paranoid scream echoed through the room, making me wince. Every little sound hurt. Hell, even breathing hurt.
"I'm on your side, Roth! I was the person who knew her the best once, so I am the best choice you've got to break her. Now, will you let me do my fucking job or do you want me to back off from the deal?" He snarled, making my heart run cold.
"This boy has potential. Let's not get the anger best of you, shall we?" Sage chuckled, calming Roth down a little.
My mind coursed over all the different possibilities of what could happen to me next and unfortunately, none of them were pleasant. Meanwhile, Roth seemed to think over for a minute before she finally nodded. "Okay. You have it. Don't make it longer than ten minutes or you're going down with her."
"Don't worry. It'll only take ten minutes to make her do whatever you want." A familiar smirk formed over his lips, making me more determined to not fall into his games. I needed strength if I wanted to save myself. Besides, I didn't know what job Zach got in hell as his punishment, so I didn't want to risk it if somehow he became stronger than me.
"Let's go." Zach's hold was surprisingly soft despite his threats as he dragged me from the room. But the thing with him was he always loved to surprise me. Maybe this one was another one of them.
The more we walked away from the room, the more I could feel my panic rise. I won't stand a chance against him if I couldn't even control my emotions. Zach was still dragging my weak body to God knew where when suddenly he stopped at a door, making me halt in my tracks.
He gave me a cheeky smile, running his fingers through my knots in a soft manner. My doubt grew until I couldn't stop myself from the inevitable question. "Are you Mikhail in Zach's form?"
The smile vanished from his face immediately, replacing it with a cold look. "Of course, of fucking course, you'd think that it was your beloved."
"I haven't accepted him yet!"
Zach looked ready to kill as he chuckled. "Sure. Think all you want but we both know that look on your face. When Mikhail banished me to hell, I looked at you for the last time, begging you to really look at me. But you only had eyes on him, looking at him like you used to look at me. Eight years we've known each other and this is what I get?"
"So?" I couldn't forget what he made me go through. "You claimed to love me back then, but where did we end up again? Yeah...me standing here waiting for my death and you side with the people who'd give me that damn death. I never wanted you gone, Zach. Yes, I wanted you to suffer, I wanted you to feel guilt but never gone."
Some color returned in his face making him look seemingly human. "Look, Lana, that's not why I am-"
"Why are we here?" I stopped Zach with a flick of my finger. "If this is the talk you wanted to have, please let me go die in peace now."
Zach didn't reply. Instead, with a sigh he opened the door in front of us, making my eyebrow raised in alarm. He was supposed to talk to me alone, not in a room full of humans. As if noticing the confusion in my eyes, he gently pushed me inside, locking the door behind.
"So basically you're thinking if I'm nuts." He breathed out.
"Yes...that you are. I've known that for a long time Zach but what the hell? Why are we in a room full of humans? What are your grand plans? What the fuck do you want?" I balled my fists in anger and looked at the humans. Their haunting eyes stared at me in nothingness.
"You see, I know you won't believe me but I actually came here myself, they didn't find me to break you."
What?
"What are you saying?"
"When I landed in hell, I was given the job to find the dark souls of the pit and trap them inside me. That's how I'm living and breathing now. So, when Roth and Sage took all those possessed, lost coven members in Limbo with you to complete the ritual, my trinket just started to glow up like a damn disco light." He raised his hand where a small bracelet was peeking out from his coat's sleeves. "Since hell and Limbo are just too close, I thought it was hell's business to begin with. So naturally, I was looking for the source of the glow."
"You found us and what? Thought to get yourself in the middle of it like a damn child?" I asked, puzzled. He shook his head with a small laugh.
"No, I didn't find you all just like that. I had someone ask for my help. Someone I hate yet willing to work with him just to save your life. Think, Lana, think."
My eyes widened. "Mikhail."
***
It all felt like a dream once I took notice of what Zach was saying.
I told Mikhail to accept me as I was.
Accept him.
Was it his way of saying that he could? God, I didn't want to raise my hope that high.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember what it felt to be a predictor. The souls I took hummed with me to take more. Reaching for the souls that were standing in the room, I pushed myself toward them. The humming grew louder alongside the screams. I didn't know if it was five or ten minutes yet but when the screams finally stopped I knew I'd done it. I had taken them all.
"Your time's up. Zach...bring her." Roth's voice filled the air and a wicked grin spread across my face. They were too stupid to only let one person take me. For a second, Roth looked shocked before her eyes turned to Zach who gave her a daring grin.
"Who are you?" Guess mama Roth didn't get the chance to see his evil face years ago.
Looking at him, I noticed his face morph into a monster's. He was no longer the man they saw when he came here. He was the person I saw for a year in that sanatorium. Only a blue phantom of nothingness.
"You're...your face, how?" Roth stuttered, before covering up the slip with a cough. She wasn't that intimidating now, was she?
With a glint, I forced myself to look at Roth who was turning into a hellhound. Before she could finish the transformation, Zach and I both called our force on Roth. The souls inside of me and the lonely souls Zach had trapped inside his body worked together to head toward Roth. She didn't even have time to register what was happening. Roth let out a loud scream and right before my eyes turned to ashes. When I looked at Zach, his eyes turned to normal but we had yet to fight the final battle.
One down and many more to go.
***
FUN FACT: It's been four years since Emie is gone. Roth's been taken down. Next is Sage. What do you guys think about this chapter? Let me know!