VI - part one

I counted down the seconds it took for Chante to simple slam the necklace into my face and be done with it. Five-Mississippi. Six-Mississippi. Seven-Mississippi…

It took him longer than expected. I’d heard the smooth voice interrupting us, of course, but at this point, I couldn’t be sure it was real, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to move my head to check. I couldn’t even open my eyes to look up at Chante to check on his reaction – not when one glance into those eyes could have me believing he was anything other than off his rocker again.

Unless it was God himself putting a stop to this circus, it wasn’t going to save me anyway.

Nine-Mississippi. Ten-Mississi-

“Aidoneus.” Chante’s smooth voice carried through the space, his fingers tightening around my neck. I felt his frame tense against my spine. “Kind of you to join us, but you’re a tad bit late, I’m afraid. Finley and I are well past the point of talking. Get out.”

There was a tenseness in the air that hadn’t been there before, and this time I was sure I wasn’t imagining it, the space was getting darker. Shadows reached everywhere but where Chante and I stood. If I hadn’t been trembling already, I would’ve shivered.

It didn’t seem to have any effect on the intruder, though. “I noticed”, he responded dryly over the sound of footsteps coming our way. “I would have been later still hadn’t I been tipped off by a lovely redhead. Very amicable girl, that one. I don’t think she liked you and your son very much, though.”

There had been a spark of recognition even before he’d said those words, but at the mention of a redhead I perked up, my eyes opening before I had a chance to think about it. Cal’s texts forced themselves to the front of my mind.

All she’d told Aides was that I was at the harbor, but if he’d known who I was with, it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to figure out where exactly. The Picard Cruises logo was right there on the front of the building.

It had to be him, right?

Which meant…

Ian.

“Chante”, I squealed from beneath the man’s still clamped fingers, fairly certain I was going to have a bruise or two. This time I risked looking up. “Chante, your son. I— Please, let me go check.”

I don’t know why I expected it to work this time, but miraculously, it did. The man finally let go of me. Rather than step in front and risk making contact with the necklace, I slumped down, crawling away on hands and feet. Only when I was at the other side of the table did I dare look behind me.

I’d planned to make a run for the door, but the guy stood right there, leaning against the frame with a sneer on his face that could only be described as right at home. Aides or Aidoneus or whatever looked down at me. When our eyes locked, I felt that same uncomfortable sensation again.

Darkness. Tranquility. Power…

“Stay”, Chante commanded at the same time Aides beckoned for me to move his way.

“Go on, miss Harlow. Step out. I promise you my men will do you no harm.”

The gunshots outside had stopped, but there were still voices, and they were gruff enough that I knew they couldn’t be Ian’s. I thought I heard Gabriel – one of Chante’s guards – groan.

“I—”

My head moved from left to right, alternating between the two men. Weighing my chances felt like an exercise in impossibility.

Rationally speaking, my odds weren’t great with either. My future-father-in-law was a crazy son of a bitch who’d just threatened to turn me into mush with nothing more than a necklace, but at least he’d been snapped out of it – for the moment.

Aides looked more collected for the time being. He was every bit the gorgeous piece of art Cal had admired over text, but if I allowed that to determine my fate, I was more stupid than that chick from 365 days. It’d been an entirely different story this afternoon.

Had that truly been today?

“Where is he? Did you kill him?”

I hadn’t meant for the words to come out accusatory, but they did all the same, and now that they’d left my lips I didn’t feel like taking them back. Just because I hated Ian at the moment that did not mean I didn’t heed his warning anymore. Aides’ threat had left an impression.

“Who, hon hon baguette?” The laugh that came from the male’s lips was nothing short of derogatory, the skip in his eyebrows indicating he sure had enjoyed his conversation with Cal. “No, miss Harlow. Your boyfriend, whatever you call him, is fine. He’s tied up outside.”

He nudged his head towards the empty warehouse. My cheeks heated at the same time Chante’s did, though for entirely different reasons.

Cal and her fucking nicknames. I wanted to argue that ‘hon hon baguette’ obviously wasn’t my doing, but that would be the most ridiculous thing to talk about, and I was well aware that it was also the most ridiculous thing to be worried about at this moment.

What the hell was I even doing? It had to be the necklace. I needed to get the fuck away from this situation, and I needed to do it without either of these assholes following me.

“Great. The girl is staying, and you can give me my son back right now. Don’t forget that I’ve got this.”

Chante sneered as he held the chain up, his fingers still protected by the piece of cloth he held it by. I didn’t want to look at the jewelry. Damn it, but I still wanted it.

“You don’t have shit, old man. Let go of it while you still can. I am done playing this game.”

Aides took a step forward, and Chante responded by taking a step back, his blue eyes shifting to me for a moment. “You are too late, Aidoneus”, he warned again in that tone that bordered on sardonic. “She doesn’t understand it, but I saw how she reacted to it. It is hers now. You cannot take it.”

Aides rose one perfectly arched eyebrow, and I completely shocked myself by pushing myself to my feet.

Chante was right.

If I had felt even the tiniest bit reasonable at the moment, I would’ve wondered if it was simply the voodoo shit making me do things again, but deep inside I knew it wasn’t, and I wasn’t going to fight it either way, tiredness and a sort of surrender fueling my steps.

I was about fucking done. The necklace was the problem? Then I would take it and me out of the equation all together. I grasped.

The sensation was something I never would be able to put into words. There was a burning just like I’d expected, but then there was something else, and that something was a balm to my very soul. I experienced the power as it surged through me. It was tranquility and freedom and desperation all at once. It was a sense of nothingness that ran so deep I felt like I was falling within myself. It was pain, restricted to a point somewhere inside my chest.

And then it was all gone again.

And I felt… complete.

“Am I—?”

I’d wanted to ask if I was dead, but the answer was right before my eyes, my hands still looking like fully functioning limbs. Not a single blister. Just the sight of gold and black against the tan of my skin.

It looked good.

“Gamóto”, Aides cursed towards my side, but Chante laughed over it, the sound having a touch of manic to it.

“See?” Ian’s father’s rung in my ears. “Like I said, Aidoneus, you are too late. She is already mine. Nothing you can do about it.”

He beckoned for me to step to his side, but I didn’t move – couldn’t, when all I wanted to do was stare into that black stone again. I couldn’t believe it hadn’t killed me. Seconds ago I’d felt scared shitless, and now I couldn’t have felt more content had I bagged the moon and hung it above my bed to make love to myself beneath it all night long.

“She, is losing her fucking mind” Aides pressed over the backdrop of my own humming, a sort of drunkenness taking over my body. “Look at her. How stupid do you have to be to compel her right before forcing her to take something in her hands that she shouldn’t be holding in the first place? Need I remind you about the accords? You know just as well as I do that human minds have a limit.”

Now there was a growl, and that reminded me of the sound I’d heard when Agnese had crumpled into a bloody pile, my heartbeat picking up in speed again. There was a ringing in my ears that vaguely registered as worrisome.

“She doesn’t need to live, Aidoneus. I just need to be the one to kill her.”

The necklace was knocked away from my hands again, tossed towards the other side of the room. A shrill scream escaped my lips. My view of the room became a horizontal one.

Aides snarled out loud, and Chante roared right back, the latter putting all his weight on me as his fingers struggled to get a hold of my neck again. Both – if not all three – of us had lost their shit.

And all that for a stupid trinket.

“Kill the girl, and you will be next.”

I couldn’t see past the blur, but I felt Aides’ anger, and somehow that was enough for my fight or flight instinct to kick back in. I swung my arms in harmony with the ones that grasped at Chante’s back. The weight of the two men was enough that my lungs felt deflated.

“Let me go!” I screeched at the top of my lungs.

I could still feel the draw of the necklace that lay at the other side of the room. From my view on the floor, it was right on eye level, but I couldn’t get my eyes to create a sharp image.

Soon, love, I whispered to the part of me that had settled comfortably inside my chest. Soon I wouldn’t have to let go of death ever again.

“She is mine.” Chante warned once more in a tone that didn’t sound even remotely human.

“Suit yourself”, Aides sneered right back, and then I watched the shadows close in, their whisps dragging at my limbs.

They were the last things I saw before I allowed myself to finally succumb to the darkness within.