Chapter 68 Sixty Eight

Chapter 68 Sixty Eight
  \[FLASHBACK\]
   KAZIEL
           "See? Nothing happened. We completed the bond, and we're both perfectly fine," Vanya tells me with a giggle, her naked body snuggling against mine. She traces lazy circles over my chest, her smile dreamy.
   For the first time in a long while, I feel whole.
   "Fine," I murmur, brushing a kiss to her forehead. "Maybe you were right."
   "I'm always right," she teases sleepily.
   Her breathing steadies. Mine does too.
   We fall asleep tangled together, her heartbeat syncing with mine. A sharp pain in my chest drags me from my slumber. Dazed and confused, I reach for Vanya. But her side of the bed is empty. I listen closely for the sound of her heartbeat, but I hear nothing. I'm all alone in the house.
   "Vanya?" I call out, wondering if my ears are playing tricks on me. But she doesn't reply, and the pain in my chest worsens.
   I squint at the wall clock. It's been two hours since we fell asleep. Where would she go by this time? It's almost one a.m.
   My phone rings aloud, and I drag myself towards the nightstand with a grunt. I don't feel right. What's going on?
   The light from the screen of my phone causes me to wince, and that's weird because it's not even that bright. The call is from an unknown number. A slight frown creases my brow. Nonetheless, I proceed to answer it.
   "Lakewood," a distorted voice says. "If you want her alive, come now."
   My blood freezes in my veins. Vanya?
   What the—how—
   "Where is she?" I snarl.
   "I've sent you an address. You have thirty minutes. Thirty minutes, or she dies."
   Then the line goes dead. Terrified, I stumble out of my bed, pushing through the pain. Then I hurriedly get dressed. My head is spinning, I feel like I'm going to puke. What is this?
   No, Vanya...
   I need to get to her. Right now. I don't think, I just rift-slip. My surroundings snap apart and reform, then I land in an abandoned warehouse. It's dark, but I can see clearly. Worse, I can smell it. The smell of her fear.
   I turn around, and there she is.
   Vanya is tied to a metal chair in the centre of the room, breathing hard, her wrists bleeding from where the ropes cut in. Her eyes widen when she sees me.
   "Kaziel—!" She cries out.
   I take a step towards her, and in that instant, a piercing unnatural frequency hits me. It feels like needles stabbing through my skull. My knees buckle, my vision blurring. The sound torments every part of my being. I'm in agony. Blood bursts from my ears, my legs giving out.
   "STOP!" I choke, collapsing to my hands.
   The sound intensifies, drilling into bone, into marrow, and into every supernatural thread binding me together.
   Vanya screams, struggling. "Kaziel! Kaziel—please—!"
   I try to move or stand, but every attempt sends waves of white-hot torture ripping through me. My claws scratch the concrete. My fangs cut my own lips. And even my wings strain to burst free.
   Every part of me is being torn apart. Still, I drag myself forward, inch by inch towards my mate. Because I promised her I'd protect her. Even if it kills me.
   The sound drills deeper into my skull. I try to focus on Vanya, on her voice and on her fear, but suddenly, I lose control like a rabid dog.
   "No...no...NO—" I try to force my body to obey me, but I can't even hear my own voice over the shrill vibration tearing through me. My muscles jerk, my claws extend and my fangs elongate.
   I stumble towards Vanya because every instinct inside me is being dragged towards her like prey.
   "STAY AWAY!" she screams, but I can't stop.
   I can't even slow myself.
   I can hear her screaming. The sound ricochets in my mind. It sounds muffled and distant, like she's underwater.
   My claws swipe across the air, just inches from her face. She jerks away, the chair tipping over. The barbed wire tears deeper into her wrists, blood splattering on the floor.
   "NO!" I roar, but the sound comes out in a distorted, monstrous snarl.
   Her sobbing is the only sound not swallowed by the ringing.
   "Please, Kaziel, please—stop—" She's begging me, and I'm fighting so hard because I can't lose her. I can't hurt her.
   STOP. STOP. STOP.
   My last shred of consciousness grabs onto something, anything, and I do the only thing I can think of. I plunge my own claws into my abdomen.
   The pain turns me half crippled, but I don't stop. I rip into my own stomach until I can feel my organs bleeding out. Blood pours on the floor in a hot mess, but I don't dare stop. The shock of the pain breaks through the haze just enough for me to lift my head.
   And that's when I see Vanya staring at me.
   Her ropes...are loose. She could have run. But she doesn't run. She just stares at me, her face drenched with tears.
   She shakes her head, trembling hard.
   "You're a monster..." she whispers, stepping back.
   "Please... don't come closer."
   "I—I'm not moving." I choke out, barely able to breathe, choking on blood, my claws still buried in my stomach. "Vanya... I'm not moving. I'm—"
   But she's not even looking at my wound. She's looking at me like I'm the thing that tore her life apart.
   She stumbles, slipping on my blood until her knees hit the ground. And that's when I see the silver knife. I didn't even know it was there.
   "Vanya, don't..please—"
   But her eyes are already dead with despair.
   "I can't... I can't... you're not him anymore..."
   Before I can crawl towards her, she drags the blade across her own throat. A scream rips out of my throat. It sounds monstrous. I lunge towards her, ignoring the fact that I'm still bleeding from gutting myself. I catch her body as it collapses, my hands slick with her blood and mine.
   "Vanya—NO—no, no, PLEASE-STAY WITH ME—"
   But then, the high-frequency shriek hits again. My eyes roll back, and I seize, collapsing over her lifeless form.
   Through blurry vision I see figures emerging from the shadows. They are masked, wearing red robes that are covered in strange black markings.
   I try to rise and protect my mate. But my body won't move. The last thing I see before darkness swallows me whole is one of them prying Vanya's limp body out of my arms. And I can't do a damn thing to stop it.
   ...
   I open my eyes with a groan, only to find that I'm lying on stone. It's cold and sticky with my blood. My arms are bound by metal restraints that are covered in glowing runes. My legs too.
   I can barely breathe.
   Torches crackle around me, illuminating a circle of the cloaked figures in red. Their masks are large and looming.
   "The tribrid is weakened," one of them says.
   "Proceed. Before he regenerates."
   I try to turn my head. It barely moves an inch.
   One of them steps close, placing a hand on my chest. A sigil burns through my skin, searing inward. My body convulses.
   "He becomes unstable when his emotional tether dies," the figure murmurs with cold fascination. "It is the perfect moment to extract his core."
   Extract. His. Core.
   They killed Vanya to break me on purpose.
   My chest rises in a ragged breath. "I'll kill you," I rasp.
   But I don't even sound like myself. They ignore me, continuing their preparations.
   A bowl of black liquid is placed beside my head.
   Runes circle my body, and then the frequency starts again. I writhe from the pain, gasping for air.
   One of the figures lifts a curved blade made of obsidian. He presses the blade to my sternum.
   But I don't fight.
   I let my head fall back, staring at the ceiling.
   Maybe dying is better. Maybe she was right. Maybe I am a monster.
   My eyes begin to close, and the blade digs deeper, my bone cracking.
   "Take it," another chants. "Take the core."
   Suddenly memories flood my mind.
   Vanya laughing as she falls into snow. Her telling me she wants to see the world with me. Her smile. Her warmth. Her joy. Then, her dying in my arms.
   Her blood on my hands.
   Her voice calling me... monster.
   A burning vengeance ignites inside of me, and my eyes snap open.
   "Impossible—" they murmur.
   I inhale, and the restraints tremble.
   "Get away from me," I snarl, my healing ability kicking in. The blade clatters as my chest pushes it out and my restraints crack.
   My captors stumble backward.
   "He's regenerating! Stop him! Stop the frequency —"
   Too late.
   ...
   \[Back To The Present\]
   "Oh my god," Danika gasps, holding her hands to her mouth. Tears gather in her eyes, slipping down her cheeks as she stares at me in horror.
   I look away from her, trying to breathe through the crushing pressure in my brain and ears. She doesn't know that when I told her that it hurts to think about Vanya, I meant...literally. It’s the kind of hurt that drives me to my knees.
   "I can't believe you went through that," my mate croaks, sobbing softly.
   I turn away from her, wincing as that same frequency echoes in my mind and in my head. It always produces the same reaction. And suddenly my chest is heaving, my hands shaking.
   "Kaziel?" I hear Danika say as she slips out of bed. Panic smacks me as my claws elongate, a violent surge stirring inside of me.
   Horrified, I storm into the bathroom and slump against it, squeezing my eyes shut as I try to fight it. But no matter how hard I try, it grows louder and louder and louder.