Part 23 (2/2)
”Perhaps you should be asking me what you are.” His long finger traces my cheekbone and a dark hunger flares in his eyes, dying to feed. ”You really are amazing, yet you've been blinded by the fear of death and have never noticed all the possibilities in front of you. If you'd just accept it-”
”I won't.” I interrupt. ”I'm not giving in to Death.”
”You shouldn't decide your answer until you understand everything.” He takes my hand and helplessly, I follow him to the tree.
My body is no longer my own and I speculate how long my mind will remain mine.
He nestles us down next to the trunk, wraps his arms around me, and leans me back against his chest. He sweeps my hair aside and puts his lips against my ear. ”Never having to fear or experience death. Imagine writing about immortality, instead of death like everyone else. You could be the first.”
”Walt Whitman and Emily d.i.c.kinson already did,” I smart off. ”And so did Spill Canvas.”
”Spill Canvas?” His tone tickles with intrigue.
”It's a band, you a.s.shole.” I force out a scream, but it harshly cuts off before it reaches my lips. ”Cameron, let me go. Please. If you're a Reaper, I thought you couldn't possess me.”
”I'm not supposed to... and I can't possess your mind completely-trust me, I've tried. But I can possess your body.” He kisses the tip of my ear and moves his lips down my neck. ”You were such a fascinating child. Usually when they sent me to mess with a child's head, it was the most droning time of my existence-which says a lot, because I'm old. But you-you were so full of fire and were determined not to get rid of me. But then you told me to go away, and I had to follow the rules.” He sucks on my neck, pa.s.sionate kisses, and then his breath is hot against my ear. ”You know I broke the rules for you. I tried to warn you about your dad, even though I wasn't supposed to. And then you ran away with me... Admit it-that was probably the most fun you've had in your life. You and me hiding in the woods, while I listened to you ramble to yourself, trying to pretend I wasn't there.”
”You're that Grim Reaper. The one who's tormented me since I was four,” I say, enraged.
”But you never did meaningfully tell me to go away, except when your dad made me. But you were just a child and your mind was bendable.” He pauses, grazing his hand down my thigh. ”I tried to warn you about your dad so you could help him. Do you know that? Do you know how much I love you?”
”You tried to force me to kill my mom,” I seethe. ”That's not love. And you don't even know me.”
”I only did that to your mom to help you,” he whispers mellifluously in my ear. ”I just want you to quit fighting who you really are. If you'd just give in to the insanity, instead of fighting it, life would be so much easier. And we could be together.”
”I almost killed her,” I growl. ”I stole my mom's life to save my own.”
”Don't be ashamed of it. It's in your blood and your dad did it many times. Trust me.”
”Do you know where my dad is?” I ask sharply. ”The detective-or the Reaper-whoever the h.e.l.l she is, said he gave in to insanity. Does that mean he's dead? Or is he one of you? I need to know. Please, Cameron. Please tell me.”
Ignoring me, he angles my head back and looks deeply into my eyes. ”We're perfect for each other. Imagine it, alive in death, writing beautiful words together... And I promise I'll never hurt you,” he whispers, slowly laying me on my back. ”I just want to help you.”
”No one can help me,” I say. ”Especially...”
He covers my body with his and my words evaporate. I no longer know what I want-what I feel. His hand travels up my shoulders, up the side of my neck, and resides on my cheek, while his other hand explores the bare skin on my hip. ”I could help you, if you let me. I could make all that sadness go away.” He licks his lip as he presses his body against mine, converging with every part of me. ”Let me take it all away forever.”
My arms fall helplessly to my sides. Tell him to get off!
”Ember,” he purrs, sliding his hand through my hair. ”Let me in.”
My knees fall apart, allowing his body closer, and a moan escapes from my lips. ”Cameron, don't.”
He tips my chin up. ”What if I told you I could take away every ounce of pain you have and would ever feel? Think about it. You could have the perfect life.”
I shut my eyes as he kisses my neck and my body arches to his will. ”That's not possible. Death is pain. And death exists everywhere. Besides, nothing is perfect...”
”It is possible, all you have to do is say yes.” Keeping his body sealed to mine, he finds my hands and pins them above my head, rendering me helpless. ”Give me permission.” His lips touch my cheek, the corner of my mouth. ”Please, give me permission.”
My lips part open, and I feel my willpower crumble to dust as I realize it might be easier to give in. ”You have permission to do what you-”
”Ember, don't.” Asher's voice jerks me back to earth. ”Don't promise him anything.”
A grin spans Cameron's face. ”Asher, my dear friend, you're just in time for the feast.”
”Get away from her, Cameron.” Asher demands. ”You have no right to be touching her like that.”
”And neither do you.” Cameron looks like he's enjoying himself.
I force my gaze sideways to Asher, storming across the cemetery ground with his hands clenched into fists. His face is bruised, his knuckles are sc.r.a.pped raw, and the scar beneath his eyebrow ring is more defined.
”What's... what's.” My lips. .h.i.tch shut.
”Get off of her.” He's so close, but still so far away. ”Or I swear to G.o.d I'll-”
Cameron leaps off me, leaving me paralyzed on the ground, and meets Asher in the middle. ”Or you'll what?”
”You've broken rules,” Asher growls. ”A lot of them.”
Wrath thunders in both their eyes and they charge for each other. The sky rumbles and the ground quakes. Like mist rising from a lake, a black cloak forms around Cameron and swallows him up. Asher lets out a derailing screech, springs in the air, and black-feathered wings snap out from his back, sending pieces of his s.h.i.+rt flying. The collision of their bodies is like a train wrecking with another train.
Suddenly, my legs bound to life and I waste no time jumping to my feet. A tornado of feathers and mist swarm the cemetery as Cameron and Asher move like lightening, moving so quickly my human eye can barely detect them. For a second, I stand stunned underneath the tree. An angel and Grim Reaper? An angel and a Grim Reaper?
”Ember!” Raven's voice draws me back to my other problem.
She's back in the shadows of the cemetery, curled up next to the angel statue. I run across the gra.s.s toward her, waving for her to run. ”Raven, we have to get out of here-” I fall face-first into an open grave. Cold skin touches mine and my insides quiver. I push up and blink down at Mackenzie Baker. Her blonde hair is covered in dirt and red lines track her neck and wrists. It hits me like a shove off a cliff. My mind races back to Cameron's house, the bands on her neck and wrists.
”Oh my G.o.d,” I breathe. ”You were dead the whole time... I can see the dead.”
Dirt sprinkles down on me and I flip over to my back. Raven looms above the shallow hole, with blood in her hair, blankness in her eyes, and a handful of dirt in her hand.
”I love you Em, I really do,” she says. ”But you can't save me anymore. I have to give in.”
A shovel of dirt rains down on my head. s.h.i.+elding my eyes, I struggle to my feet and press my fingertips into the dirt.
”Please don't make this harder than it already is, Em,” Raven pleads, with a shovel in her hand. ”If you would have just given up back at the fire, I wouldn't have to do this to you. You could have saved me from this burden.” She scoops another shovel full of dirt and drops it down on my head. ”But now you're going to be buried alive, and remain there until you break.”
”Raven.” I hurdle onto the side, burrowing my boots into the moist dirt. ”Think about what you're doing for just a second. You don't want to do this.”
She plucks out a twig from her hair and drops in down into the hole, watching it fall all the way to the bottom. ”Of course I don't. What I want is a happy life, with a mother who isn't crazy and a friend who can't get near anyone. What I want is to go back in time and never leave that party with Laden, so I could erase what it felt like when he had me pinned down to the ground... erase the feel of his filthy hands on me...” she trails off, staring up at the sky.
Extending my arm as far as it will go, I stretch for the edge of the hole. But my feet slip out from under me and I collapse back onto Mackenzie's body. Forcing myself not to lose it, I push off her and stand back against the wall. Gradually, I clumsily climb upward. Finally, I heave myself over the lip and roll onto my back on the gra.s.s.
Raven bounds on top of me and pins my arms down to the side. I whip up my knees and vault her off. She slams against the angel statue and lets out a groan. ”What's happening to me?”
”Nothing. Just stay here, okay.” I pat her shoulder and race through the headstones toward the Reaper and the Angel of Death.
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