Page 166 of Visions of Darkness

Every breath of my lungs fed from the oxygen she emitted.

My bleeding spirit sank to the pit of my stomach, and I fell to my knees behind her. I tightened my arms around her as I brought her back to my chest.

Holding her so fucking close there would never be any prying us apart.

I put my mouth to her ear. “Then we go together, and we end this thing.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Pax

We drove straight through, and we made the trip in just under twenty-four hours.

Exhaustion had set in hours ago, but it was the antsy kind. The kind where reality was skewed and you fought to keep your eyes open, but you knew even if you did let them drift closed, your heart would be pounding so goddamn hard there wasn’t a chance you’d be able to sleep because of the drumming in your ears.

Aria had slept on and off, fitfully, her body twitching in tumult and not allowing her to fully rest. We’d made our plan during the trip, and decided it was best that I didn’t sleep at all since I basically was going to need to go to sleep on command.

Now both Aria and I were wide awake as we took the exit off the freeway that would lead to the neighborhood where she’d grown up.

She itched in the seat beside me, sitting forward, clutching at the dash as she peered out the windshield, like sitting that way might get her there a second faster.

I reached over and wove my fingers through her hair, rubbing my fingertips into her nape like I might be able to soothe the riot insideher, which was probably faulty planning, considering the way I was vibrating like a beast released from its cage into an arena.

Ready for the fight even when it knew it was about to get slaughtered.

I didn’t like it.

This fucking plan.

Aria was the one who had insisted on it, told me it was the only way and there was nothing I could do to sway her from it. Truth was, she was the only one who was capable of seeing this through,ifseeing it through was even possible. She was the one with the strength.

But knowing that didn’t do shit to calm the piece inside me that wanted to wrap her in fucking bubble wrap.

I could barely stomach the idea of her putting herself in harm’s way like this. But I knew her loyalties. Knew what she would give, just the same as I would do for her.

“Left,” she rushed, gulping around her anxiety, and I slowed and made a left off the main street and into an older family neighborhood.

It was just after one in the morning, and darkness shrouded the modest houses that lined each side of the road. Not a soul was out at this time.

Everything was still.

Too still.

Bated.

Held.

A thin dusting of snow covered the long-dead front lawns, and the trees were barren in the winter cold. Their branches were so gnarled and twisted it was like looking at a distorted mirror of Faydor.

“Take a right at the next road,” Aria rasped as she pointed at the approaching street. My stomach was in knots as I followed her directions.

Our headlights speared across the vacancy, illuminating the obliteration that was to come.

I had to fight with all the willpower I possessed against the instinct to whip the car around, fly from here, and carry Aria away someplace safe.

But it’d become clear it didn’t matter where we went. The one who wanted to ruin Aria would only meet us there.

I could feel the weight of Aria’s swallow ricochet through the dense, crackling air, and she inhaled a shaky breath as she whispered, “It’s the second house on the right.”

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