Page 82 of Beneath the Watching

He wouldn’t listen to me, my not having grown up to be nearly bloodthirsty enough to bring him the glory he’d expected. But what did he expect marrying a human wife? Sure, I had a taste for blood, but I couldn’t turn myself into something I’d never be.

I’d try another time to force him to see reason when he came home.

“You have a point. As long as you’re certain.”

She grinned. “I am.”

Two days later, she was dead.

30

STEFAN

We foundMabel on the floor in the library, cradling Kiara on her lap, tears streaming down her cheeks. The vision of my sister, who I’d held in my lap in a similar manner, kept creeping into my consciousness.

I’d come to trust Mabel in a way I’d never trusted a woman before, letting her fully into my life, being honest with her, and treasuring her. It was miraculous, when I thought about it.

The night my sister had given me the little gold ring had been the last time I ever saw her and while the memory was painful, it was cherished. My fingers curled around the thin band of gold I kept in my pocket. I’d give it to Mabel. There would never be anyone else I’d rather see it on.

Both my sister and Kiara were victims of other’s greed and quest for power. I wouldn’t miss Kiara by any means, but I was concerned for Mabel. The woman had been one of her best friends and Mabel had her own magic—though thankfully she wasn’t a source of it.

“Get out of my way,” Ilya snapped, shoving me to the side.

Mabel moved, laying Kiara back down on the floor and coming to stand by my side, clutching me around the waist. “Shedidn’t want to be here anymore. She killed herself,” she said quietly, hiccupping.

Fully expecting Ilya to blame her, I said, “It's not your fault.”

He ignored me, examining the woman he loved. He checked for a pulse in multiple places and brought her neck up to his mouth before he shook his head. “She’s gone,” he muttered in disbelief. It was obvious she was gone, but I understood his reluctance to accept the fact.

Ilya turned to Mabel. “What did she say to you?” he demanded.

She swallowed. “She was upset with everything that happened. She was very upset. She said she was done, and she was leaving.”

“What else?” Ilya said, his tone stern. I expected him to be a lot angrier than he was but already, a faint resignation was evident in his posture. It was almost as if he’d expected tragedy.

Mabel raised her eyes to meet his. “That was it. She was a mess, really upset. She said she didn’t ask for any of this. I’m sorry, Ilya, but she really did seem like she was done here, as she said.”

Not once, in the entire time I’d known Ilya had I ever seen him cry but I swore his eyes glistened. I didn’t think he had it in him to cry. Demons just didn’t do that, no matter what they faced.

“I can’t go get her,” he told me. “She went somewhere we can’t reach.” He stared at her with a sad finality.

Mabel asked, “How do you know?”

“Suicide sends you to a different Realm,” he said, smoothing Kiara’s hair back from her forehead. “It's an act of mercy from the fates. If you can’t cut it here, you’re sent there, to a certain Realm. Far away from what troubled you.”

Ilya went down on his knees and picked the body up and we moved out of the way. He carried her corpse out of the library, leaving the space.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Mabel, “I know you tried to help her.”

She nodded. “I did.”

“Ilya’s gonna try and go get her,” I told her. “I know it.”

“But he’s the one who troubled her. She couldn’t take being used by them.”

This was nothing I hadn’t already known, having deduced as much through my conversations with him. “I know but there’ll be no stopping him. Once his mind is made up, that’s it. He doesn’t stop until he’s forced to.”

“Are you going to go with him?”

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