Chapter Thirty-Nine

Scarlett's mouth falls in shock, but there's no time to explain. Not when more demigods continue filing through the elevator doors.

Wilde was right, initially. We're outnumbered.

"I've got to get these off," I tell Scar. "Please stay safe."

She nods and joins Astrid and B. I don't see Zo anywhere, which is both a relief and terrifying. Nick and Jesse are still going at it, the latter's face streaked with so much blood he looks unrecognizable. And yet, he doesn't falter. He fights Nick with the same stamina and vigor as before.

I duck around the corner of the lab and sink to the floor, finally noticing the ‘hole' Zo referenced earlier. It's a wide cavity in the tunnel floor, a bit of the railing extended over the edge.

I tear my gaze away, attempting to drown out the noise and do what I couldn't do earlier: reach within myself, within that darkness, and free myself of these chains.

Anxiety still has me in a chokehold. I can't shut my brain down from worrying about my friends, Nick, and the two professors who came to my aid. There's also a small part of me that is frightened. Frightened of what will happen if I push myself too far and lose myself to the monster that's itching to break free of its human prison. But I can't be a liability. I can sit there bound and helpless while my friends fight on my behalf.

So I blow out a breath and focus my intent on gathering the strength to break these fucking chains.

My eyelids drift shut. My breathing evens out, and the sounds of the fight behind me become nothing more than muffled white noise.

Let them fear you.

And there it is. Gentle as a whisper, but edged in cruelty. Sharp and soft at the same time. Beckoning. Rather than blindly grope through the darkness for that place buried deep within myself, I approach it with determination and courage, following that voice. The deeper I go, the more the rage, animosity, and self- loathing surge forward, eager, begging me to tap into their fury and unleash myself.

But that's not what I need.

Just enough.

I push past the negative emotions, instead taking just a little of what I need. Their yearning fingers brush and grasp, urging me to fall, to drown beneath their enticing waves. And though it feels nearly impossible, I do my best to stay afloat, realizing it's not time to give in.

Not yet.

The pressure on my wrists dissipates, and I release a relieved sigh as the chains fall, clunking to the ground. Crude red brands wrap around each of my wrists like macabre bracelets, and I rub the soreness from them as I stand and round the corner to return to the fray.

It's an all out bloodbath.

Dozens of bodies litter the ground, and I again shudder in relief as I note each one of those bodies is dressed in black.

Nick and Jesse are still in their stand-off, the fight personal, as not one other demigod dares approach. Power simmers from both men, creating its own boundary that no one dares cross with the understanding they'd likely be incinerated .

My mirror-vision kicks in, the third snake-head whipping behind me and eviscerating a demigod that had the audacity to sneak up on me.

Nice to see you guys again.

All four snake-heads hiss somewhat adoringly.

My gaze immediately zones in on Zo, who fights off an attacker. But he doesn't seem interested in hurting her, it appears. He seems more interested in grabbing…

Shit. Zo has Zeus's bolt.

The demigod knocks it from her hand and the bolt goes flying onto the subway tracks, inches from the deep crater in the floor.

Astrid, B, and Scar pause their fight to follow the path of the lightning bolt, which is now closer to where they stand.

"Grab that dagger!" Zo screams.

Without saying another word, the three immediately leap into the tracks, fending off more demigods as best they can. I follow, the Scylla taking matters into its own hands and decimating anyone that tries to step within mere feet of me. I pause only to glance at Nick, contemplating whether I should send one of the heads to tear off Jesse's arm, when a piercing scream fills the air.

My head snaps toward the sound, the sight before me propelling my legs to work as fast as they can .

Astrid struggles with a demigod, who appears to understand well enough to not let her hands touch him. But he makes the mistake of going for the bolt at the same time Astrid does. Her fingers merely brush his forearm, and his body immediately seizes, a dull gray crawling from the spot she touched him and spreading. He whirls at the last minute, grabbing the back of Astrid's shirt just as his statue pummels into the dark crater, taking Astrid with him.

Or so I thought.

She hangs desperately from the broken railing, trying to haul herself up. Scar flings her body at Astrid.

"No!" Astrid screams, her fingers uncurling from their grip on the railing. "Keep her away! Everybody stay the fuck away!"

Tears streaking down her face, Zo grabs a flailing Scarlett before she can reach Astrid. Scarlett pushes against a devastated Zo. B stands there looking both stricken and unsure, her body bouncing forward and then back.

Because if anyone touches her to save her, they will turn to stone.

I get there just as Astrid gives a Hail Mary attempt at holding on, the knuckles of both her hands so white it's like she dipped them in snow.

I throw myself onto my stomach, shimming as close to the edge as possible. Scar's agonizing screams and Zo's protests float past my ears.

"Rhi, what the fuck are you doing?!"

I ignore her and stare at Astrid with an outstretched hand. "Give me your hand!"

Panic flares in her sapphire eyes as perspiration drips from her brow. She merely shakes her head.

"Damn it, Astrid! Give me your fucking hand!"

"I can't." She inhales deeply, and I know what's coming. I can see the exhaustion and resignation in the hard lines of her face, in the way her normally bright eyes dim. She releases one hand from the railing.

Then the other.

With an inhuman cry, I lurch forward. My hand clasps hers, and my upper body tips with her dead weight suspended in mid-air. Just as I suspected, I remain flesh and blood. As if realizing she can touch me without repercussions, Astrid reaches for my other hand, the heaviness dissipating only slightly as I hold Astrid aloft by both arms.

Four sets of arms settle on either side of my own as Zo and B help me haul Astrid from the depthless crater, and the Gorgon collapses on top of me once she's pulled to safety.

"Thank you," she murmurs into my hair, a slight tremble in her body. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Astrid pushes off of me, and we both stand. Scar stands a few feet away, hugging her middle, body shuddering with sobs. Astrid stays back, wiggling her bare fingers pointedly.

"Later," she tells Scar, who presses her lips together in a tight smile and nods.

"Where's the bolt?" I say, looking around the empty tracks.

"Maybe it fell," B suggests, peering into the dark hole.

An unsettling sensation snakes through my veins at the bolt's disappearance, but the fight continues to roar above us on the subway platform, and I'm desperate to see if Nick is ok.

After one more quick scan of the surrounding area and coming up short, the girls and I head over to the edge of the platform and hoist ourselves up. I stay behind, making sure each one of them gets up without any trouble, before I start to pull myself over the edge.

"Rhi!" Zo screams my name as I'm shoved back onto the railway floor, all the air whooshing from my lungs on impact.

Before I can regain my bearings, Jesse's blood spattered face looms above mine, a murderous intensity in eyes, lips drawn in a feral snarl. I've seen Nick in his own monstrous state, a sight that once sent fear quaking through every blood cell. Even Leviathan stoked an unholy terror within me, my nights swarmed with lucid nightmares and my days riddled with crippling paranoia.

But not one of those compares to seeing my lifelong friend, my once-lover, reduced to a growling, primal beast, hell bent on pain and destruction.

There's a point where a human that appears monstrous becomes more terrifying than the monster itself. It's the boundary that separates human from humanoid; where something seems human, but not quite. There's an unnerving sensation that something is off. It's why zombies can appear more terrifying than any other fictional monster, myself included. Because what's more horrific than watching something that was once human descend into madness, into a warped, disturbing version of itself? Psychologists call it "uncanny valley," the place where I currently exist, staring at the enraged, bloodied face of my former best-friend.

I roll quickly to my side and stand, but not before Jesse's fingers brush my shoulder, sending powerful, excruciating electrical shocks throughout my system .

I fall to my knees, glimpsing the demigod stalking toward me through blurry vision. The Scylla strikes and strikes and strikes, but Jesse is undeterred, propelled by both undiluted hatred and sheer fury. He heals absurdly fast, another point in his favor.

With each step closer, malice seeps from his pores, a maddening glint in his eye telling me he's beyond reason, beyond keeping me alive for his own sadistic purposes.

This time, he will kill me.

Jesse doesn't make it another step before Nick barrels into him, sending the demigod teetering over the edge of the crater, disappearing into the darkness below. I wince in hearing his deafening scream fade as Jesse continues to fall, until his screams are no more.

Nick helps me to my feet, his touch gentle and tentative. He places his fingers underneath my chin, turning my face this way and that, before his gaze drops to my neck, sliding across my collarbone to my shoulders, down my arms, and finally, to my torso and legs.

"Are you hurt?"

"No." I cup his face, his bronze skin several shades paler, blood trickling from a cut on his cheek and somewhere on his scalp. His lips are swollen, split, and bruised, and everything in me wants to just pull him in and place my mouth on his.

"The girls?" I ask as one of his hands curves around my waist.

"All in one piece." He smiles, hissing slightly as the cut on his bottom lip splits wider. "Talbot and Cicero are just about done with the rest of them. I really think we-"

Nick's words cut off as a gurgling sound bubbles from his throat. The hand at my waist grips in desperation, his gold eyes flaring with disbelief. Blood pours from his mouth in a manner like I've never seen, rich and dark and flowing like a dam bursting.

My hands fall to his chest, shaking. White-hot panic sears every nerve, cell and organ in my body as I try to come to terms with what's happening.

As if I'm only imagining the jagged bolt protruding from his chest.

Nick's body slumps into mine as the bolt is wrenched from his back. I stumble beneath his weight, sinking down to the railway floor with his head in my lap. Salty tears cloud my vision, stinging as they find their way into tiny cuts. Jesse stands over us, a wide, gruesome smile stretching unnaturally across his mouth, his teeth stained with blood.

"Til death do you part, I guess." He laughs maniacally, backing away with the bolt still in his grasp, a fact I pay no mind to. He can gut me with it, for all I care. Flay my skin. Slice me open from neck to navel, and it would still be less painful than knowing the man I love, the man I've done everything for, my soulmate, is dying in my arms.

"Nick," I whisper. More blood trickles from the corner of his mouth as he attempts to draw in air. His eyes flutter open and closed before falling shut, and I gently shake him.

"Nick," I repeat, his name breaking on a cry. "Please. Open your eyes."

Don't leave me.

"Rhi," he forces out, and nothing has ever sounded more like a plea than my name on his lips. "You have to…" he coughs, spraying blood. "Your venom. Please. "

My mouth parts when I come to terms with what he wants me to do. I shake my head. "I ca-can't. Please don't ask me to do that." Another powerful sob wracks my shoulders. The gold in his eyes has dimmed to a dull yellow, and his skin has turned ashen. Pallid.

The color of death.

"P-please," he stutters, his breath now coming in short, uneven gasps. "It hurts."

I press my forehead to his, tears falling in uncontrollable waves. They tumble from my cheeks onto his as I consider his request.

It hurts.

I place a kiss on his forehead and raise mine. Sniffling, I exhale sharply, allowing my fangs to descend and letting the flavor of almonds wash over my tongue. It's always been a welcome flavor, something I attributed as a part of my power and my strength. A part of me. Now, the flavor turns bitter on my tongue and will forever serve as an unwanted reminder of the time I was forced to kill the man I love.

My heart is kicking and screaming, pleading and begging not to do this. But my brain knows better. My brain knows he's dying, and he's in excruciating pain, and the last thing he wants is for me to take that pain from him. So, before my heart wins the battle, I sink my teeth into Nick's neck.

His blood explodes over my tongue, and with it, sensations and memories . I see the moment in the hallway when he first saw me, feel his shock and awe of my beauty but also his wariness of a connection he'd felt long before I did. I see his meeting with Kassi and feel the devastation when she begged him to stay away from me. I see myself sleeping in his bed the night he found me inebriated in the hallway. Feel his worry and concern for my well-being .

Every single meeting, moment, and embrace I experience through his eyes. He knew he loved me after our lunch in the diner. He knew there was more to that love than just a boy falling for a girl. He knew we were meant for each other, before the realization we were soulmates.

There's one last memory, one that rips my heart from my rib cage and tears it in two.

What Nyx showed him in her Cave that had him frightened to tears was the danger of his family. A little boy and a little girl. Our children.

A pleasurable sigh escapes Nick's lips, and I draw my mouth from his skin. His breathing has evened out, but is incredibly shallow, and I know I only have moments left.

I comb his dark hair from his face, committing every feature of his to memory. The way his long, dark eyelashes fan across his cheeks. The strong slope of his nose. The curve of his sensual mouth, one that made me laugh as much as it brought me pleasure.

Nick's eyes open for what I know will be the final time. The gold burns a little brighter, and a peaceful smile graces his lips.

"I love you." I practically choke on the words, disbelief and denial flooding me that it will be the last time I tell him.

" Quiero besarte hasta la muerte," he utters.

I want to kiss you until death.

Swallowing yet another sob, I gently cup his cheek, still smoothing his hair back. I place my lips over his, my mouth trembling as they seek his warmth. His lips move against mine, warm and inviting, and I savor every last feel of them.

The fight dwindles down above us, and I have no idea if Jesse is coming back to kill me, but I stay there and kiss him. I kiss him until the movement of his lips slows, and his breath is nothing more than a faint puff of air.

When his mouth finally stills, I pull away, feeling the tiniest sprout of hope in my chest that somehow, Nick pulls through. After all, isn't that what fairy tales tell us? That a kiss of true love cures all? No one has loved anyone more than I loved this man, so why can't that be enough?

There will never be another. Not for you. Not for him. In this life or the next.

Nick's eyes flutter closed, but before they shut forever, he says, with the final push of his last breath:

"I love you, Rhi."

And then, Nick dies.