City Of The Damned (Darkly Devoted Series, Book 5)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Finally, we reached a cliff where my feet stopped. This was the end of our journey. I didn't know how I knew that. Was the Blood Star speaking to me? There wasn't time to reflect on how I knew precisely where Allison had to go in order to pass on from Mearnox.

"This is where the bridge will be." At least I hope so. . .

Allison didn't move. She reached out with one hand and cupped my cheek with it. I still felt the warmth of human flesh even as she was fading back into her ghostly form. She was always so vibrant and full of life that even the forces of Mearnox had a hard time forcing her back into her spirit firm.

"Come with me, Vivienne. Please."

I turned away from her. My hand reached into the lining of my cloak where I hid the Blood Star. Its power coursed through my veins as I wrapped my palm around it. Allison was right; Old Vivienne would have dropped this stone on the granite pathway and gone with her. Old Vivienne, the girl who looked upon the excess of Manna City and felt only righteous indignation and disgust.

Old Vivienne never wanted any of this.

But I had gone too far now to turn back. As I stared off into the dark abyss, a path of white stones appeared at our feet.

The Bridge of Eternity.

It appeared for Allison. We didn't have to look for it. It formed here beneath our feet because deep in her heart, she wasn't tainted by the Black Waters. She was able to let go and leave it all behind. Her soul would find peace.

I smiled at her even though it might have looked more like a smirk. I didn't even know how to smile without hinting at my inner madness anymore.

"Go on," I whispered. I didn't know why, but my voice suddenly trembled, and my throat began to hurt with the tears I held back. "Orienne's Grace will only wait for so long."

"Vivienne," Allison pleaded once again. She approached me again and threw her arms around my neck once more. "Please come with me. You know, have always known it is the right thing to do."

"Do I?" I laughed and untangled myself from her. My voice took a darker tone, and she heard the malice underneath. "Did I ever?"

Allison's pouty lips moved as though she was about to say something and then immediately regretted it. I knew what she wanted to say even though she didn't utter a word. She wanted me to think of the life I left behind with her and Daniel in Lewisville. I knew that she likely went back to my home after I had left that engagement dinner. She probably found that stupid abandoned wedding dress along with Blake's note.

Allison's eyes hardened. The pity within them melted slowly into acceptance. I had sold my soul, my sanity, my very life for those beautiful things. Yes, I had power now, but it had cost me more than anything a mortal should be allowed to pay.

"Come with me. There's still hope for you," Allison pleaded one last time. Her hand drifted down to mine, and she intertwined her fingers with mine. She wasn't afraid of being burned. She really should have . . been afraid. "Don't stay behind in this damned place, even if it is to rule it."

"I can't," I mouthed, even as the sound died in my trembling, emotion-strangled throat. "I love —."

"Vivienne," Allison snapped. "If he loved you, he would let you go. Look at yourself. Can you honestly tell me this is what love looks like? Is this what happiness looks like?"

I stepped away from the bridge and beckoned for her to go. A smile found its way to my lips somehow, but Allison wasn't convinced.

I wanted to point out to her that if I hadn't made the choices I had, hadn't been driven mad by my own mistakes, I would not be standing here today. Her soul would escape Mearnox because I stole the power of the Blood Star.

I, as horrible and as mad as I was, now offered her the path to salvation.

"Go on, don't worry about me."

"You goddamn idiot," Allison whispered.

Then, out of nowhere, her lips met mine again. She kissed me through the tears that we shed for each other. It was a kiss that I had often thought back to in my darkest moments, more so than the ones I shared with Julian. It was always Allison who lingered in the back of my mind when I thought about what might have been if I hadn't gone to Tercel that morning twenty years ago.

Allison parted from me and cupped my face with both of her hands. She tried to wipe my tears away, but her fingers were fading now. Even though our kiss had felt solid and real, she had used up the last of her strength. She no longer had the physical form to wipe my tears from my face.

"I'll see you on the other side, Vivienne."

I nodded despite myself. No, there will be no other side for me.

"Thank you," she whispered, and we parted.

It occurred to me that I had finally done what I set out to do when I went to Manna City that day before my eighteenth birthday. I hadn't gone there to seek power, fame, or even Blake.

I went there to save her.

In my heart a long time ago, there was an inkling of goodness, of selflessness. Now, I had finally accomplished what Vivienne Menthe wanted all along. I saved Allison.

Allison gave me one last look as though, deep inside, she still hoped I would walk over that bridge with her. Then she sighed and turned to the light. She straightened her back and stepped onto the Bridge to Eternity. Her long red locks glowed the brightest crimson in the divine light. There was a figure waiting for her on the other side of that bridge. Although I could only see part of her face, I could tell she was smiling. Was it Eirik who was waiting on the other side of that bridge? I never did get a chance to ask who that was.

The light grew brighter until it nearly blotted out the darkness of Mearnox. For a second, I dreamed of running up that bridge after her. My feet almost started to move. Oh, to be at peace, eternal peace. Was there someone waiting on the other side for me? My father, Gabriel? Or Lyra, the mother I never knew?

I knew it wouldn't be Blake, not even if he really were dead. Orienne would never allow that.

Perhaps if I crossed over, it wouldn't matter. I could have peace.

I could drop the Blood Star on the gravel by my feet and simply disappear.

It was then that I heard a voice in the back of my mind.

It wasn't Grismal.

Vivienne.

Whose voice was that?

Blake.

Was it all in my imagination again? Or was it the remains of the bond we had over so many years of being linked together?

I looked back at the direction of the palace. There were large black birds circling above its spires now. Were they ravens? What was happening? Was it an omen? What had suddenly changed to cause the haunted bird-like monsters to stir?  

Was someone here? Something new that these monsters had never seen before?

I turned around and ran back toward the caverns that marked the entrance to Mearnox.

My hand closed around the Blood Star, and I felt the reassuring warmth of power flowing through my body. The power to grant all my heart's desires. It was the sweetest sensation, even more delicious than human blood had been during the years I lived inside Villaris as a vampire. I couldn't leave with Allison. I needed to see Blake one last time. I needed to feel his arms around me. Yes, Allison was right. This mortal coil was nothing but misery. There was very little happiness in my cursed existence.

But I wasn't ready to die just yet. My heart leaped at the sound of his voice, even though it was merely an echo inside my mind. The Blood Star knew the way. It was leading me back to the portal where I had entered.

For the first time in a very long time, my face broke out in an irrepressible smile.

He was alive.

He was here.