See How She Awakens (The Chronicles of Izzy #4)(48)

I understood what Ian meant now. It wasn’t that Aberto’s appearance had changed, or that he’d morphed into something inhuman, it was how his mere presence made any bystander feel. Ian wanted to run, to be as far from Aberto as possible. I could feel his fear as though it were my own, but he stood fast, focused on me as I fought.

Then it happened, I changed back to myself as fear overwhelmed my anger. I saw the split second I’d lost focus. It had given Damali the time she’d needed to attack.

In the blink of an eye, Damali struck out, thrusting the blade deep into my back.

A thunderclap sounded as Aberto ripped through the veil between planes, dragging the ten with him in his wake.

Damali looked up from my fallen body, terrified as she looked up into Aberto’s face.

“NO!” She shouted as Aberto thrust a hand deep into her chest, raising her in the air.

Aberto shoved his other hand inside of her, pulling outward in opposite directions. Damali’s body fell broken to the ground, but he didn’t stop. He reached out, clasping on to Damali’s soul, holding it in place.

“Mercy!” Her soul cried out.

“Mercy?” Aberto’s voice came out a thunderous echo. “Mercy for the one that has ripped my only happiness from my grasp? Mercy for the one responsible for causing the one I love to suffer such torment?” He laughed, sending chills racing up my spine. “There will be no mercy, only pain.”

Aberto conjured a stylus, seemingly out of thin air. He thrust the stylus against Damali’s spirit carving deep red runes into the surface.

I couldn’t understand. She was dead. How could he be marking her soul if her body was no more?

Damali’s panicked cries pulled my attention back to the scene playing out before me.

Aberto finished the marks, tossing Damali’s soul away from him. “There is only one place for your soul, Damali.”

“But what does this mean? Why did you mark me?”

Aberto smiled coldly, “It lets them know you are a willing vessel to be used in whatever way the demons wish. May your agonies be endless.”

The ground opened up beneath her feet, eager cries ringing out as Damali was pulled down by the very demons she’d tried to command.





The present violently snapped back into place. Nausea assaulted me as my mind struggled to make sense of what I’d witnessed.

“No one talks about it, Izzy, but he lost it. After everything happened with Damali, he picked you up and carried you down to the catacombs. He wouldn’t talk to anyone, or let anyone near your body. He surrounded the altar in markings he wouldn’t explain to anyone, and then he disappeared. When we tried to reach him for the funeral, he could not be found. Cristie was assigned to watch over your body, really she volunteered herself. She would find Aberto from time to time, lingering in the catacombs, watching over you.” Ian stopped suddenly, staring at the door behind me.

“I could not accept you were gone.” Aberto’s voice pulled my attention to where Ian’s eyes had been moments before. “I will never accept a world in which you do not exist.”

“Well, I should probably get back to being the Supreme appointed ruler, or figuring out what that means,” Molly said awkwardly, ushering Ian out of the room quickly.

The moment the door closed, the room felt impossibly small. The weight of all I’d seen settled over me.

I hadn’t fully grasped the truth of Aberto and I until this moment. I’d known he loved me, he’d told me as much, but I hadn’t really known. Not the extent of what that love meant.

Aberto moved toward me, standing centimeters away. Reaching down, he pulled me to my feet to stand in front of him. Staring straight ahead, I struggled to calm my breath. Maybe if I just stared at his well-defined chest I wouldn’t have to deal with the seriousness of what I finally understood.

A gentle finger rested under my chin, urging my face upward. Slowly, I titled my head back, my eyes lifting at the last possible second.

Aberto’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared as he stared down into my eyes. The intensity terrified me.

“I am not proud of what I did to Damali. I allowed vengeance to consume me and dictate my actions. But know this, I would do it again a thousand times over. No more will those that stand against you be allowed to walk this earth. As long as I exist, no harm will come to you.”

“I can’t die, Aberto. I think that I’m safe.” I struggled to lighten the mood.

“I cannot exist in a world where you do not,” Aberto responded, dashing my attempts.

“Well, it is done now, and I’m safe. I promise I really am okay.” I wanted to badly to erase the fear from his eyes, the worry from his brow. Lifting my hand, I rubbed my fingers across his furrowed brow. “I’m okay.”

“Are you?” Aberto still seemed unconvinced.

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I hugged him tightly. “I really am, or I will be, once I figure out what I am and what all of this new stuff means.”

“Izzy,” Aberto stopped short as though he weren’t quite sure if he should say what was on his mind.

“Just say whatever it is. Or ask. Either way, spit it out.” I pulled back, resting my chin on his chest to look up. He should try to shrink himself.

“Please do not think ill of me for what I became. I have not been that man in a very long time.” Aberto refused to look down at me.