“They. Can’t. Love!” he shrieks, increasing the rumble of the concrete slab beneath me. “They are monsters. Demons. All of them! They are the reason your world is riddled with hate and violence! The reason why your mother was slain!”
My tears flow freely, the hot saltwater diluting the thick blood caked in my hair. I know arguing with this maniac is pointless. His rage will only intensify and he may end up killing me out of sheer anger. I need more time. I need to try to make him see why this is wrong.
“But you can love, X,” I say in a small voice. “You can right these wrongs. You can show everyone that the Light stand for good. You don’t have to do this.”
He reaches a hand towards me and cups my cheek. “Oh, but I do, Gabriella. I really do. You shouldn’t be allowed to exist. You don’t deserve the gifts of the Divine.” He brushes away a few trickling tears, and moves my soiled hair out of my face. “And it is just my luck that I’ve found you right before your ascension. As long as I keep you immobilized and breathing, I can kill you right as you ascend and acquire all your power. And with that, I will make everything right. I will erase the ugliness that the Dark has created. Starting with your precious prince.”
I resist the urge to crack a weak smile and tell him that his plan is botched. That, even though I may die, he will never have my power. I am still linked to Dorian. And when I die, he will acquire the magic that has lain dormant in my human body.
“But I thought…I thought the Light didn’t kill innocents. That they wanted to help and protect humans. I haven’t done anything to you. How are you any better than the Dark?” Even as I say the words, I am going over a thousand different escape scenarios in my head. There’s no way I am going to lay here and die.
Xavier’s hand travels down from my cheek to my neck before resting on my chest where my heart pounds fiercely, despite my injuries. His small token of healing has ensured that.
“You may have not done anything yet, but you are far from innocent. You have Dark blood running through your veins. You consort with the Dark freely.” His hand travels down to my hand where the tiny blue anchor sits. He grasps it gently, running his thumb over my inked flesh. “And you have been marked.”
I open my mouth to protest but before a sound escapes, he squeezes my hand, causing me to scream out. I hear the crunch of my splintering bones breaking like glass under his grip. I feel the jagged pieces slicing through my skin, the wet sounds of tearing flesh causing the acid in my stomach to churn. I cry and shriek in agony until I am hoarse, my dry lips splitting and bleeding. He lets my hand fall with a torturous thud, as if it’s nothing. As if I’m nothing.
Xavier wipes his bloodied hand on my clothing and backs away casually, watching me whimper and cry from the excruciating pain. I want to die in this moment. I can’t take it anymore. And from the way his demented gaze sweeps over my body, only God knows what else he has in store for me.
Exhausted from the overwhelming pain and sobbing, I let my eyes close, praying for unconsciousness to take me again. Let him do what he wants with me. I don’t want to be awake for it.
“Wake up!” he shouts, slapping me across the face swiftly. My mouth fills with blood and it dribbles past my split lips and down my chin. My cheek is on fire and I suspect that the skin has been broken there as well judging by the way my salty tears sting the area.
“Fuck you!” I spit, thick bloodied saliva flying into his face. “You are worse than the Dark, you piece of shit!”
Xavier’s eyes grow wide and frantic, as if he’s gone mad. He smiles menacingly as he brings a hand up to wipe my spit from his face. Then faster than I can see, his hand is around my neck, squeezing dangerously tight. “You stupid girl. Do you realize how easy it would be for me to snap your little precious neck? To rip off every limb like paper? Have you no regard for your life? No sense of worth?”
I struggle to get free from his grasp but of course it is futile. “I’d rather die than let you have an ounce of my power,” I rasp through the tight strain.
He retreats at my words, looking down at me with contempt. “Funny. That’s what Solara said as I drained every drop of her essence from her body.”
I flick my gaze to him, a disgusting smile creeping onto his face. “What did you do to her?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I killed her. I knew she had been in contact with the Dark Light, yet she refused to disclose your identity. She fought hard and well. Just not hard or well enough. Being a hunter has its advantages.”
So he was a hunter. No wonder he was able to elude Dorian and Aurora. My cloudy mind drifts to all the times Xavier was right under Dorian’s nose. He probably didn’t even expect the Light to be that bold. But Dorian was an assassin as well. How could he have missed this? Was he driven to distraction to the point of oblivion? Was he just as blinded by his affections as I was?