Palindrome

“Babe, he`s messing with you. He just wants you for your powers, no way he will ever kill Noah.” William let his right-hand glide through his unruly hair with a sigh. “You must listen to me; I will take care of him. If what I heard is true, you need to stay the hell away from any of the other Beasts, so they don’t use you.”

Even now, with Ophidian and his revelation, Noah and his plan to end humanity, Belinda`s pregnancy, Oscar`s injury and William`s attitude towards me – I couldn’t help my heart beating faster at the sight of him, the way his muscles bulged when he lifted his arm. He looked tired but determined. How had we ended up here? Where would we be tomorrow night? I was close to immortal, and William could only be killed by another Beast, that would mean are chances were good, right?

I stood close to him and touched his face with one finger.

“Why did you leave me?”

He met my eyes briefly but pulled away. I followed closely.

“You know I love you. I know we have a lot to talk about, but if there`s a chance we can come out of this on the other side alive … Then it is the two of us for many, many years to come.” I tried to sound convincing, and it was working, because he closed his eyes hard and shook his head.

“No, I will help you, but you are a witch. Look at what my family has done to yours. If it hadn`t been for us, your parents would still be alive.”

There was a small sting in my heart by the memory of them, but I had to be the bigger person. It wasn’t William who had killed them. In fact, it was the jealous soul of a plain person who had caused their accident. I watched silently as he pulled the shirt over his head, his tattoos screaming at me.

“William, let me decide if I want to hate you or not, ok? Don’t just push me away because of something your mind has made up. I believe that things happen for a reason. Everything happening has led up to this moment, us two together. I am the way I am right now because of you. If we hadn`t fallen in love, and I hadn`t gotten the Holy Oil, your family would still be out there torturing and killing witches. I was born to do this, whether your ancestor wants to take advantage of it or not.”

I walked up to him and took his face between my hands and kissed him fiercely. At first, he kept his mouth shut, but it didn’t take long before he surrendered with a groan. My hands were all over his body, trying to get closer while he still had some control left. It wasn’t until I bit his upper lip to blood that he gave a guttural sound and lifted me up against him.

“Big mistake, love. BIG mistake.” His voice was almost as low as his Beast voice, lighting me even more on fire. Instead of nails, I felt claws against the skin on my back, and in a flash my sweater was ripped in two. The cold air hit me, and I sought refugee against his warm body. Instead of pulling away from the violent behaviour, I embraced it, knowing we both needed it. His lips kissed every bare spot it could reach, his teeth nipping at me where the skin was soft. I was only wearing sweatpants, and it didn’t take much of his strength to rip them to shreds. His nose glided along my neck, and he took a deep breath. “You smell like flowers, lavender, sulphur, moonlight… I can`t get enough of you. I hate it, but you`re right, I couldn’t have let you go even if I want to. You`re in my dreams, you`re dancing around in my mind every minute I`m awake and not with you. Your voice could bring me back from the dead.”

His tirade made me dizzy. I thought I had to persuade him to come back to me, but he gave in all too willingly. It was almost like I felt a little disappointed. Did I want to fight him?

“Oh, could I? What will it take to bring your body to life then?” Need dripped off my voice, the cold night forgotten. I moved against him, the thin underwear creating just enough friction for me to catch my breath. He laughed slowly as he used one hand to slip my panties to the side and open his fly. Without further ado, he rammed into me – holding me up while I squeezed my knees around his waist.

“Does it feel like I`m dead?”

I couldn’t speak, I was all sensation and movement.

“Answer me, Hannah.”

His purple eyes x-rayed me, seeing every emotion. I shook my head, too overwhelmed.

“Witch. Five hundred years, and I have never been more alive.”

I found my voice, “Remember it, so you don’t pull that fucking bullshit on me ever again.” I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head backwards savagely. His laughter turned into a slow growl, and we didn’t speak any more.

I stood looking at the remnants of my poor clothes and wondered how I was going to explain coming home naked. William saw my frown and gave me a half-sided smile. “Sorry, I got caught in the moment.” He came over, shirt back on, and let his hand glide down my back, creating goosebumps on the way. “Can`t you make some, like in Eden?” Right, I kept forgetting that I wasn’t a normal witch anymore. I closed my eyes and concentrated really hard. In no time I was dressed in comfortable jeans and a warm sweater, this was kinda handy. William applauded me, and I bowed with a smile on my lips. “Ready to go home?” I took his hand in mine, but he wrinkled his nose. “We are not staying at the same house as him. Sorry, I know he`s my ancestor, but I don’t trust him near you. It`s only one thing that`s kept him alive this many years, and that is self-love. He cares only about himself, and damned be anyone who comes in the way. You heard him; he is willing to kill his grandson just to get the dead body of Eve back.”

I snorted, “I would take that trade as well.”

The night was dark and cold, and I glided into William`s arms with a sigh of contentment. He kissed my head, but then he pulled back abruptly. He sniffed in the air, turning his face from side to side, eyes scanning the surroundings. My heart sped up, “What`s the matter, is someone else here?” He didn’t answer, just turned and pulled me behind him, shielding me from something or someone.

“WILLIAM? What is it?” I didn’t hear anything, nor did I see anything. We were right by the road, so we would have seen a car come up. “Shhh.” He hissed the word, bending his knees. I could almost see his ears turn, like a dog, and he swirled around and crushed me against his chest, keeping me safe.

The attack came from behind, I felt the blade glide through me and into William. It had to be a sharp blade; it went through like a hot knife in butter. Our bodies were close as lovers, helping the sword cut deep into him when it had gone through my organs. I screamed from the pain, but to watch his pain was far worse than experiencing my own. I couldn’t turn to see who it was, but the horror in William`s eyes echoed through me. We were fine, it was going to be fine. I was immortal and William could only be killed by one of his own, we would survive. I said the words over and over, feeling my blood mix with William`s. It was so much, should I try to pull away from him? I moved slightly, but William held on to me, his eyes fixated on the person behind me. Was it a zombie who hadn`t gotten to rest yet? I saw a reflection in William`s eye and recognized the blond hair with confusion. William locked his stare on his sister, red tears overflooding.

“I said he couldn’t be trusted. How did he get to you?”

Belinda didn’t answer, I just heard manic crying. I had my arms around William, we had gone from him holding on to me, to me holding on to him, trying to keep him standing.

William lifted the left side of his mouth, giving me a pale version of my favourite smile. “It was worth it, you know. Five hundred years of waiting for you, and then to be allowed to love you. Goddess. Witch. My witch. Your bones will sing to me beyond death.”

The sound of his body falling to the ground echoed from the trees. I saw the tip of the sword protruding from my stomach, covered in red. The blood blossoming from William`s lower chest took the shape of a rose, looking black in the dark. Belinda`s crying annoyed me; she wasn’t allowed to cry. She had done this.

With the sword still in me, I got down on my knees and leaned over William. He didn’t breathe, his body was still. Because of me. The Prophecy had been right.

The Beast is stilled by Magic`s touch.