Latch

Ch. 22: Betrayal

(Y/n) awoke in Felix's guest room wrapped up in blankets. Panic was overwhelming her as the fresh information crowded her mind. Anti was not with her but against her. That was the only reliable truth to work with. She didn't want to die, and she didn't want to believe that Anti wanted her dead either. These thoughts and more poured into her heart as she silently gathered her items.

Although what Anti said stuck in her mind, so did Dark's words. Doing this alone seemed much better than dragging Die and Sean into this, and possibly dying from Anti in the process.

For the last time she ventured out, alone and on the hunt for Dark. She pulled out her phone and Mark's contact, texting him as she left Felix's house.

"I'm tired, and I want this to be over. Please, let's negotiate." She hit send and ventured onto the city streets to pass the time.

Die woke up from his slumber, but too late. He rushed to the room only to find blankets jumbled and left on the bed.

"Oh, no.." He breathed.

"What do ye mean 'Oh, no'?" Anti spoke up.

Die turned to see Anti looking less than pleased.

"Where's (Y/n)?"

"I—I don't know.."

Before Die could blink Anti had him against the wall by the neck. "What do ye mean ye don't know?"

He held Anti's hands, trying to push back the pressure to talk. "I said I don't know!"

"You were supposed t̷͎́ơ̸̢ ̷͔͝w̷͖̋a̷̠͘t̶̤͑c̵͛͜h̸̰̓ h̴̡̧̥̗̀̇ë̸͓̹̻̓r̸̨͓̺̪̖̀!" Anti slammed him back, creating a small hole in the wall.

Die clenched his teeth and decided to turn it around on him. "Why did you lie to her?"

"What are ye talking about? I didn't—"

"We found it, Anti. We found the center!" Air forced out of his lungs.

Frustrated and astonished he released him, letting him fall to the ground.

"Ye found the center, eh?" Anti repeated, his face falling emotionless.

Die rubbed his neck staring at the floor, "I was so sure— I was... I don't understand...The blood healed her..." He paused, then looked up at the green-eyed demon. "You're going to go out of your way for what— just too— kill her in the end?"

"It's not for ye to understand." He took a step towards Die, reaching down to help him up. "I'm not going to kill her."

Die accepted his help, "Then I don't understand. She sees the truth."

"And it is the truth, Die. Look at me," He extended his arms presenting himself, then shoved them into his hoody pockets. "Look at yerself! We're demons. We were born to kill, we were born to be the balancing act in this world and have the tools and skills to do it. What do ye expect, eh? Do ye expect me to just stop these thoughts? I can't control these fookin' thoughts, Die. That's not how it works." Die was almost toe to toe with him. "Being a demon doesn't define me, it's what I do about it that does, and fer once in me pathetic fookin' life I can't bring myself to do what I've been doin' for hundreds of years."

"You can't kill her, can you?"

"It's worse than that, I don't even fookin' want to." He grabbed his hair, pulling at it. "I don't know what to fookin' do!"

"Well,—" Die placed a hand on his shoulder. "We can start by going out there and finding her because she needs to hear this more than I do."

"Where do ye think she went?"