Fated Insurrection (Book 3)

Chapter 10

"Run your smooth fingers
on the jagged cracks
of my soul, and then tell
me you love me."

~~Daniel Saint

****************

~Dominic~

I'm such a piece of shit., I thought to myself as I sped down the long winding drive and watched my kids fade into the distance. It didn't take long for them and the large house to disappear behind the thick canopy of trees tunneling above the gravel. A lump tried to form in my throat as I left my children for the second time in their lives, hoping to the gods they wouldn't come to hate me again.

I wouldn't blame them if they did because a part of me already hated myself for what I had put them through and for what I was doing now. Nova and Nevada deserved better than what I had given them thus far and I could only pray that one day I would have the chance to make it up to them. But they didn't need me, not right now, and I wasn't leaving them forever or at least I wasn't planning on it.

Alana was the love of my life, the piece of my soul that I didn't know but had craved for centuries until I finally found her. After everything we had gone through, the pain and constant struggle to survive, I couldn't leave her behind. Without her, I was nothing but a violent, merciless monster and for a long time, I had been okay with that… until her. That part of me still existed but she was the only one that could calm the beast that dwelled in the darkest parts of my mind.

"What are you doing, Lana?" I muttered under my breath as I turned onto the highway and flew down the road. "What's the end game?"

The day Alana and I had left, we knew what we were giving up and had accepted our lives would never be what we had once thought. She had hated leaving her baby sister behind and I had offered to take her with us, but Lana had turned it down. If Avrilia had gone with us, she would have lived in constant danger and always afraid of what each day would hold. Those had been some of the same reasons that had led us to make the decision to send Nevada away. We were dangerous, toxic to those we loved, and they all deserved better than a life of blood and fear.

I clenched my jaw, knowing that the one thing we had tried so hard to keep from happening had eventually happened anyway. It had been inevitable and if I was honest with myself, I had always known that it would be. Avrilia was dead, slaughtered viciously in her home and she would never know the true beauties of the world. Nova and Nevada were so young, innocent to so many of the true horrors of life, but had still been ripped from their lives and cast into a major role in the war. Death was inevitable, even for the immortal.

My thoughts drifted back to the conversation I had with August as I loaded the car with my few belongings that I had managed to cling to over the years. After saying my final goodbyes to my children, they damn near fled from my presence like they couldn't get away from me fast enough, all but running from the room. Who was I kidding? I was lucky neither of them had punched me as a parting gift.

●●●●

"How long have you known about the stones?" August had asked as he watched me.

I had kept my back to him as I stowed away my things, buying as much time as I could before facing my best friend. He hadn't sounded accusing or angry, which I was grateful for, but the lack of emotion almost bothered me more. We had heard the myths over the years, as bedtime stories when we had been mere children and as a legend of twisted truths as we had fought side by side on countless occasions as adults.