Chapter 9
I accompanied Elizabeth back to Santiago’s house so she could pack her things and finally leave. We were finishing up the last of it when we stumbled upon a scene that perfectly closed their doomed chapter.
Elizabeth stood in front of a framed wedding photo. Without hesitation, she pulled out a pair of scissors and tore through the image–ruthlessly shredding her own face beyond recognition.
Santiago stood off to the side, arms crossed, silently watching. Then suddenly, he turned and glared at me, his fury lashing like like a whip.
“This is your doing, isn’t it? You’ve manipulated her–now she listens to every word you say. She’s become your shadow, your puppet. Are you proud of yourself?”
“I only tricked you for three years. Took a few of your organs. And this is how you repay me?” A few organs?
He said it like it was nothing. As if three years of love and betrayal could be reduced to a mere shrug.
Either of those alone would be enough to warrant hatred. And yet he thought my vengeance was unjustified?
I didn’t intend to let him shift the blame onto me, nor would I allow him to believe I still loved him -painting my revenge as love turned sour.
“You think too highly of yourself,” I sneered, my voice as cold as my stare.
“I’m an immortal. If there’s one thing I have in abundance, it’s time–and lovers. You? You were just a brief distraction. Maybe I gave you three years of my heart, but I’ve long since reclaimed
it.”
“You and Elizabeth ended up here because of your own greed. Don’t you dare pin this on me. You tried to snatch what you couldn’t handle–now you’re choking on it.”
“We’re done here. I’ve already lived the life you once dreamed of for yourself.”
Santiago’s face darkened to a furious gray.
Before we left, I handed him a sealed envelope from Elizabeth, instructing him not to read it until
we were gone.
But patience was never his strong suit.
As soon as our backs were turned, he tore it open–and within seconds, a broken, guttural scream tore from his throat.
He stumbled out of the house, flailing toward our car, slamming both palms on the glass to block us from leaving.
Trembling, he held up the contents of the envelope for Elizabeth to see–pressing a hospital slip against the windshield.
It was a miscarriage report.
“You were pregnant?!” he howled. “You were pregnant and you didn’t tell me?! You killed our child without my permission?!”
It was the rest of that one fleeting moment of intimacy they had a month ago.
Only
as
Stadech decovered the pregnancy. But during a recent storm–the same storm not rigger Sizabeth’s experience of my first death–the trauma overwhelmed her body and
By the time she made it to the hospital, the miscarriage was already complete.
That suggested she keep it quiet. Better to avoid adding fuel to an already burning mess.
But Sestern didn’t want silence. She wanted Santiago to suffer.
She printed the report herself, folded it neatly, and made me deliver it.
“This is his faut shed told me. “He gave me this pain. Why should I let him off so easily?”
Now, she sat calmly behind the wheel, staring blankly ahead as Santiago begged for her
She didn’t say a word, and laid on the hom
Sizacemi Don’t you have anything to say?!”
She didn’t even finch. She started the car, and we drove off, leaving Santiago in the rearview minot screaming like a madman.
That was the last time we saw him.
The women who was once my rival in love was now my unexpected companion.
To protect the secret of Elizabeth’s immortality, and to minimize the storms that would trigger
her pain, I began teaching her everything I’d learned over my endless lifetimes.
We moved to a place with stable weather–dry, with little rain or lightning.
Somewhere far away, where no one knew us.
