Chapter Twenty-Seven

My rage ignited. "Did you do this to her?" I asked the woman.

She shook her head. "You did."

"I would never harm her."

The silver-haired woman tilted her head and then shrugged with indifference.

"Draco! Come back! Please come back…" Piper sobbed down below. "Just kill me. I'm begging you."

The Seers watched as I came up to the very edge of the opening. The air below was thick with smoke and the scent of death, leaving a foul taste of sulfur and soot on my tongue.

"What are you waiting for, Draco?" said the old Seer.

This felt like a trap. Everyone wanted me in hell. Was it to keep me there or to turn me into a monster who would ultimately give them something they wanted?

I looked up at the Seer. The energy she gave off was everything I'd imagined. Wicked, selfish, and hungry for more power.

"Draco! Draco!" Piper continued screaming.

The need to jump tugged on every fiber of my being. I had to go to her. I had to bring her back. She was good. She deserved to live. The world needed her, not me.

But what kind of world would she come home to if I went in after her and turned into the man everyone feared I'd become? If the scene below was my hell, it was a world of torment and death. It was a place I'd created, my worst nightmare.

"You are wrong, Draco." The old woman pointed at Piper. "It is the beginning of changing your fate. You must do something selfless and good to set a new course."

Good for whom? The Seers? Piper? Or for the future of everyone? I was still torn, unable to trust myself.

Then maybe I should trust someone else.Every piece of my life felt convoluted except one: Piper. She had believed in me when I'd been written off by everyone. "We make our own fate," she'd said.

"Fuck it." I jumped.

Jesus. What is this?My body felt ice cold and deprived of oxygen. I could breathe, but the air burned my lungs and made me gag. All around me, as far as the eye could see, were burned trees, smoke, and charred bodies. In the distance, near a stand of blackened trees, a doe staggered with its head down. The animal was gaunt and close to death. There was no life here, only death. It was a wasteland of misery.

I ran to Piper. The skin on her had been sliced open, exposing meat and bone.

"Who did this to you?" I asked.

"You came back." She sniffled. "Please give me more. I won't cry so loud this time, I promise. Just don't leave."

"I am not going anywhere." I removed the pins from the chains that held her wrists in place and then freed her ankles.

I scooped her into my arms and sank to the ground.

"Who is doing this to you?" I understood this was hell, but… But nothing. I hadn't a clue how any of it worked other than hell was meant to be a place of suffering and penance. She deserved neither.

Piper kissed my neck. "I'm sorry I can't remember. I will try harder, I swear. Just don't leave me. All I hear is their screaming."

"Whose?"

"The world's."

None of this made sense. Was this hell my future or simply a place my soul would go to after leading a life of inflicting horror on the world?

Perhaps it's both. Perhaps I would be unable to escape the hell on earth I created, not even in death. I cannot let this become anyone's fate. First, I needed to free Piper.

"Piper, tell me where you hid the chalice. Do you remember where it went?"

"I tried. I tried so many times, Draco. I don't know."

So this was what I'd wanted her to remember in her visions? It hadn't been erased words or moments we shared. It had been the chalice. My desperation to find it and save her would turn me into something dark and sadistic. Perhaps I blamed her for losing it.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed. "Don't go. Beat me, but don't leave."

I resisted the urge to retch. Hearing her beg for pain like this was unbearable.

I stroked the back of her long matted hair. "Just try, Piper. Try to remember where you hid it."

"I found it in the basement."

"Okay. That is good. Very good. And what did you do with it after?" The sooner I could find it, the sooner I could get her out of here.

"I don't know, Draco. But you can't leave. You have to stay here with me."

"No, I am trying to get you out," I said, filled with remorse. "You were never meant to die."

"If you go back, it's over. You won't be able to forgive them for this."

I knew exactly what she meant. They hurt Piper, all to get what they wanted from me. I held her tightly. "I know how much you are suffering. I only want to make it stop. If you could just try to remember. Where is the chalice? After that, I'll bring you back, and then we'll figure out the rest."

"I don't know." She began sobbing. "Please don't be angry. Please don't leave me here alone. Beat me, fuck me, do anything you want, but don't go."

I felt sick—in my heart, soul, and stomach. "I'll stay. I'll stay until you remember, Piper, but you must try."

Suddenly, I looked up at a large form hovering over us, gripping a blood-caked flogger in his right hand. He had my face, but his eyes were filled with rage and hate.

He grabbed Piper's arm and jerked her away from me.

"Let her the fuck go," I snarled, getting to my feet.

I reached to get her back, but my hand went through her.

Piper screamed as he threw her onto the bloody stone table. Sooty rain began falling from the sky, lightning striking the ground around us.

"How the fuck did you get free again, you cunt?" said the man who looked like me. He chained Piper's legs and arms without a struggle.

I rushed at him, only to pass through.

Piper turned her head and looked at me, those hazel eyes filled with terror. "Help me, Draco. I love you."

I blinked and was back in the basement, surrounded by the Seers.

"No, no. Fucking send me back!" The hole had been closed, but the sounds of a whip cracking and Piper's screams rang in my ears. "Send me the fuck back."

The Seers' expressions hadn't changed much, still hungry and sinister.

"Oh boy. I feel like I just walked into the middle of a fun family squabble." Lori stood at the bottom of the staircase in a red dress, grinning with delight. "They took her—your sweet, sweet Piper. Didn't they?"

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Lori strutted over. "Making sure our new King isn't swayed by these she-devils. They want to break you, Draco. They want you so far gone that you'll do anything to stop your torment. Of course, it will never go away—those sounds of Piper screaming your name. The Seers are quite skilled at manipulating the wall between this world and theirs." She narrowed her eyes. "But after you give them what they want, they'll just take your precious Piper again. And again. Until you give in once more to whatever they want. There will be no escape."

The Seers had nothing to say.

"And you? What do you want?" I asked.

"To give you the world, Draco. A world where you decide who lives, who dies, and who has power." She snapped her fingers, and a tall man with empty eyes came down the staircase, holding a gold cup in his hands. In the other hand, he gripped a rope. He gave a hard tug, and Leo came tumbling down, all bloody and bruised.

"What is this?" I growled.

"A goodwill gesture," Lori said. "Our friend Leo discovered the chalice amongst his things after Piper packed them. Likely an oversight on her part. However, we caught him attempting to sell it to one of our black-market collectors. Leo had done his research and knew it was a priceless artifact sought after by many." Lori leaned in to whisper, "We even told him that Piper was in trouble and could be saved with it." She shrugged and then tsked. "He chose the money."

Leo groaned on the basement floor, half conscious. I did not care for the bastard, but I'd already gotten inside his head. He was not a good person, but he was not evil either. He was simply a giant asshole. Selfish, a bit greedy, and harmless compared to the likes of Lori. Also, he wasn't my problem.

"Thank you for finding the chalice, Lori, but what do you want in return?"

"It's time to take your place as head of Ten Club," Lori said. "With your power, no one will be able to touch you or your Piper. After I give you the chalice, of course."

"Just remember, Draco," said the old Seer, "you have no idea how to use the chalice."

I shook my head. So it seemed I'd been right. Here I was, one step closer to a future I'd so desperately been trying to change. The Seers had something I wanted. So did Ten Club. Ultimately, I'd have to give in to both if I wanted Piper back.

Defeat washed over me. I'd been a fool for hoping I could beat fate, and it was time to accept that. There was no other way to rescue Piper from that sick nightmare of pain.

But I will have to sell my soul.Then again, so what? I would do anything for the woman who had shown me a slice of something true and unspoiled in the world.

On the other hand…I looked at Lori and then the silver-haired woman. "Sorry. But I make my own fate. Not Ten Club. Not the Seers. Not the family who wrote me off." I stepped around Lori and her sidekick. "Keep your fucking chalice. Leo, too."

"Where are you going?" Lori spat.

"I'm the anti-Christ, the most powerful person to ever walk the earth. And I'm going to tell the world what you have in store for them." It was the last thing Piper asked of me, and I believed in her, in her goodness.

"Draco! Don't go!" Piper's voice echoed in my ears.

I fought my urge to turn back and save her; however, if I truly wished to help her, I had to fight for a world where my hell never came true. If there was truly goodness in the world, she would be set free, and I would see her in the afterlife.