Chapter 140 - Impact

[Evander].

There’s a rush of fear, followed by a strong sense of vertigo right before I feel something akin to being slapped into a hard wall. My whole body shakes with the impact even though physically I am standing still.

And then nothing. Less than nothing. It is the absence of feeling all together.

The three of us, Axel, Gideon, and myself, all look up.

“Rosie,” we say in unison.

Nothing else needs to be said. We all have a deep connection to her and even when we are not trying to eavesdrop on her feelings, something that strong will make its way through.

“Did either of you feel your connection sever?” I ask, looking at the other two men. They both shake their heads. Good, that means she’s alive, at least for this moment.

We don’t hesitate for a moment longer. I pull out my coin and flip it, the other two men falling into the shadows with me.

Crumpled on the ground in the center of a crater is our beloved Rosie. She looks like a fallen star, her body still intact, the blacktop bowed beneath her as if her body were made of something heavier and stronger than flesh. She must have fallen.

Or jumped.

Looking up, I see a young face peering down, her white hair whipping in the breeze.

“She didn’t jump,” are the only words of warning I give the other two before flipping my coin and disappearing again, transporting myself to the rooftop in the time it takes to blink twice.

When I open my eyes and step out onto the roof, I see the back of her still peering down at the scene below.

Slone.

As she turns to face me, she doesn't make it the full rotation before I am standing next to her, my soul sword burning a hole through her center.

My hand holds a fistful of the hair at the nape of the neck as I force her face to tilt toward mine. I want her to look at me, to see her end in my eyes. "You tried to kill her," I twist the sword and she screams as it burns her. "You did not succeed but I cannot have you live to cause her and those I love any more pain."

"She hurt me first," is all she manages to say through what must be excruciating pain. "She will never really love you, you know. She doesn't know how. She never really loved me either."

"That's where you're wrong," I contradict her as she struggles in my arms. "Rosie loves you like a sister. She'll mourn you like one as well. But don't worry, we'll be here to comfort her."

"Please, spare me. I'm..."

I don't listen to her pleading words. Her time for redemption is past. I only hope that Rosie can forgive me when she learns that I am the one who held a blade while watching the light fade from her eyes.

Sweeping my sword through her abdomen she screams in pain as I burn a path through her liver, stomach, lungs, and finally her heart. She stops fighting as she looks down at the gaping mess I've made of her midsection. I can sense that she wants to scream, but with both of her lungs punctured and her diaphragm cut to ribbons there is no way for her to get enough oxygen. While I watch the fear as it creeps into her eyes, I pull the sword the rest of the way through, cutting her spinal cord and letting her fall to the ground at my feet. I leave her there, a crumpled mess, her eyes staring into the void.

I know I should be sad. She was a person I once considered an acquaintance. But all I can feel at this moment is a profound sense of relief. Slone deserved better in this life. She was seeking love and acceptance just as much as Rosie had been before she found us. The two of them were likely drawn together due to a mutual need for someone to love. The only difference is, that Slone never learned to love herself enough to find true happiness--Rosie did. And while much of what turned out differently between the two could be blamed on situation and fate, in the end, it comes down to choices that were made and choices that were not made.

Stepping over her, I flip my coin, step over the edge of the building, and take the quick way down.

I wasn't here when Rosie needed me. I should have been at her back. And now she is broken and fallen, dying, her soul in limbo.

"All is not lost," a soft voice speaks envelopes me as I fall through the cold darkness of the shadow routes. "She will need your love now more than ever."

"I do hope so," I say to nobody in particular. Faerie doesn't need me to vocalize what I am thinking, but I say it out loud anyway. "I hope she survives to need me."

"It will need to be her choice," I feel rather than hear. "Give her a reason to stay."

Gideon is on the ground, his usual impeccable suit dirty and torn as he weeps by her side, afraid to touch her and cause her more pain. The paramedics have arrived and Axel is directing them to her as they make their way into the crater with a gurney. The story they are telling the authorities is that she accidentally fell into a sinkhole as it formed in the street. It was the story that made the most sense, considering her body is not showing the level of injury and distress that it should be showing from a fall of that height. Not to mention that when a human falls to earth, they don't create craters.

Gideon rides with her to the hospital while Axel goes inside to discuss what is happening to his father. That leaves me here to clean up the mess, to erase any trace of my wife falling from the roof of my casino.

When I return to the roof to take care of Slone's body, there is no sign of her. Not a drop of blood or an article of clothing. I go into the staff room to ask security about it and they seem as baffled as I am.

"Sir, we went up there to clean the mess, as you instructed, but there was another man there," they blink. "He said he was sent by you to dispose of the body 'properly'." He shakes his head as if trying to shake some image or thought free from his memory. "I'm not sure why I did what he told me to. I had your instructions and they were very clear, but as soon as he started speaking, I felt compelled to follow his instructions."

"That was Victor Vex," I explain. "A grand warlock. You're fortunate he let you get away with your life. Let the rest of the staff know. We need to be vigilant, especially now that my queen has been injured. That was this warlock's attempt to take her. We need to protect what is ours."

"Do you think he's going to come back, My King? The grand warlock."

"Oh, I know he will," I confirm. "He hasn't gotten what he came for."