My mind flashes to almost sixty years ago when this bastard found out about my gem, discovered that the fae princess and her sires had activated the one thing I coveted more than any other and inadvertently changed my path. This horrible beast before me felt my soul as it was born, and just as quickly stripped it from me. He took it captive only to torture it every day since, but not without making a deal for it.
"You cannot change the deal,” I spit, my fists clenched at my sides. "It is done."
“Hardly." His eyes narrow to slits, then glimmer before he delivers his terms that will surely make me wish for death.
So I wait.
Wait for this vile monster to tell me how things have changed, how I will continue to pay for my selfish act in more ways than I already have.
"I have seen what you failed to mention for the last fifty-six years, seen what you tried to shield from me.” He grins wide to expose his many rows of fangs. "Her mate is vampyr. She will be reincarnated over and over until they are together again, much to the dismay of the vampyr king himself. He has made a deal with The Destroyer in order to fulfill a prophecy, which means your services are still required."
"I did what wasrequiredof me, added another thousand years of collecting souls to my work in order to attain what you have taken from me."
"It is not enough.” He steps closer, his seven-and-a-half-foot-tall body towering over my massive build. "You shall continue to hunt down the female in each life she lives, slaughter her on the eve before her twenty-seventh year just as the vampyr king did, just as you did this night, and you will do so until your blasphemous act has been satisfied."
"If I do not agree?"
He brings his face a mere few inches from mine. "Then I shall carry out The Caster of Shadows’ request myself without one millimeter of restraint, and your soul will become the property of The Destroyer himself. Your most coveted possession will be cast into eternal shadows without promise of ever returning to you."
Hate. More hate and rage than I have ever felt creeps into my bones, but I drop my head and avert my eyes in submission. "What are my instructions?"
His laugh is one of victory as he steps back. "As I said, you shall slaughter the female in each life she lives on the eve of her twenty-seventh year. In the meantime you must remain hidden, never make contact until you carry out your punishment, all while collecting the souls damned to The End as you were before."
"And if she finds her mate before I... before I fulfill my purpose?"
"Then that shall be between The Maker and The Destroyer.” He waves his hand dismissively. "They can work out the details when the time comes."
He says this all with a level of nonchalant boredom that crawls under my skin and makes me boil with fury, but I cannot fight back—not if I want to make sure no other hand harms my gem, make sure my soul does not wind up in a place I shall never find it.
"And what of the vampyr king?"
"You will only speak with him once the deed is done. He has his own ways of tracking the female and will need nothing from you except confirmation." Then he chuckles, the sound dripping with malice. "And until he meets his own gruesome demise, he will continue to create New Ones for The Caster of Shadows’ entertainment. You should be grateful that he has enslaved himself to The Destroyer, for surely his sick and twisted desires will pad your numbers greatly."
Oh how I wish I had never stumbled upon that scene in the woods, wish that the innocent boy had succumbed to death while I was trapped inside his sickly body so that none of this would have to take place.
But then… then I never would have experienced the things I had so desperately coveted in my centuries of life, the things I never allowed myself to long for because it seemed futile.
"I understand what I am to do.” I hang my head and try to quell my anger.
“Good," he hisses. "Because if you fuck this up intentionally, somehow find a way to avoid fulfilling your purpose, you will never see your soul again and I will step in to take your place. Then I will rain a wrath so great upon your head that even The Maker won't be able to stop me."
“Understood." I lift my eyes to meet his empty silver ones. "And what shall become of her?" I barely glance at my gem, my heart heavy over my new punishment.
"As I said, leave her. Let the elements and the animals take care of her."
I growl, deep and low. "I cannot,will notleave her to be scavenged like a dead animal, refuse to—"
"Enough!" he bellows as he gets in my face. "You will do as you are told. The female will be left like the trash she is, and will not be given the chance to do what all fae do when they return to the Earth. You will leave her exactly where she lies in this life and each that follows! Deny me and feel my wrath."
Then he is gone.
Gone just as quickly as he came, all trace of his presence disappeared with him.
And I am left with nothing but a gaping hole in my chest along with the silent promise to make sure the only hand that harms my gem shall be mine.
Until she is free, until she saves me, condemns me, and changes my path once again, I shall be the only one to harm my rare gem.
For as long as it takes, until fate intervenes, I shall murder my sister in every life she lives because I am bound to do so.
