The Edge of the World

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The wind whistled and ruffled the boughs above them, and the air shifted ominously. There was a sudden cry of a dying nocturnal bird, and the ground seemed to vibrate. Eve looked horrified, searching the trees for any sign of what approached, before glancing towards Ian while raising the wax poppet high into the air, reminding him of his orders.

"Hurry, Adam! Kill her! Send to her to the bowels of Hell where she belongs!"

Trees bent from the weight of her power, and he snarled, a low ominous sound sending dread throughout Tatum's body. He moved towards her once more, stalking her through the shadows. His black eyes chilled her, no sign of recognition shown in them, only a blood-lust masked his beautiful features, a desire to kill whomever his mistress ordered him to.

Tatum shook her head in desperation, pleading with him with a desperate stare to remember who he was.

Who she was!

"Listen to me, doc," she cried, backing away from him, fearing if she moved to quickly it would startle him into attacking her.

"I know you're in there. Remember me. I am Tatum! I am Bethany! I am Amelia! I am Lilith, and I love you! In every life, under every name, I have loved you all this time! Fight this, doc. Fight this before we are both lost forever."

The last of her words were met with a growl and his hand shot out to gripe her neck, squeezing, cutting off her words.

But the words already spoken seemed to have sunk in for her paused once more, his lips part, his facial muscle relaxing. And the wind picked up, the night grew darker, and the ground rippled like waves from an ocean.

"Adam! Kill her!"

But instead of obeying the cries of the witch, he merely stared down into the pale face of Tatum slowly shaking his head.

"No," he said, shaking his head, dropping his hand from her throat.

"No," he said again, this time louder, stumbling from her, his back slamming into the thorny vines covering the mountainside, causing wounds to rip open down his back, blood mingling with the sudden rain pouring from the night sky. Tatum gasped as he reared against the pain the vicious-looking thorns caused, and moved towards him.

"No!" He shook his head, his tone begging her to stay back, fearing what he might still do to her. And just as his face contorted once more, the blood lust on the return, he pressed again, the poisonous tips ripped more of his flesh, his self-inflicted injuries keeping his consciousness in control. Through it all, Eve screamed her demands, her rage, her need for him to finish this.

"Adam! We can never be together if you don't kill her! We can have our life together back, blessed by the Father. Only we have such love from Him! Only our marriage is consecrated! Lilith is a whore. you're union with her is an abomination! Do you really want to risk the Father's wrath, Adam?"

Ian trembled in the rain, the night surrounding him like a cloak, is legs giving out from the pain and fight, and he fell onto his knees in the mud. But Tatum could see the whites of his eyes through the shadows, as he glanced to Eve, glaring at her through the wet strands of his hair.

"I don't care about His wrath. If I am to be sent to Hell, I only ask that I burn with Tatum. You were forced on me! Pushed into my life by The Father, and my foolish concepts of duty. But I don't have the desire to live a lie anymore. Every moment you and I shared was a façade, with Him pulling our strings from behind the curtain. I don't love you, Eve. I never have."

With every word uttered, his breathing grew more ragged, but despite the raging storm and the shifting ground, she'd heard everything. She stared at him, her heartbreak reflecting in her stare. She stood, the wax poppet hanging limply in her hand, her pose weak and pathetic. Had she not spent eternity making lives miserable, Lilith might have pitied her. But in that moment, she couldn't rouse the emotion to care for her. She was only relieved it was over.