Where We Ended

by Ashley Munoz

For those who stare at the darkness fully aware it’s staring back. Keep looking. Become the monster you always feared, the one who once controlled you. Step out of that inky mass as a new creature with teeth and nails and an appetite for fear.

“Light falls across the pans of my heart, wh—whis--whispering of all the darkness you draw up--on.”

“I have land to build my ho—home upon but my soul has no roots. Apart from you, I’ll be forever without a place to dwell.”

“Are you a dream?” I whispered, nearly in awe with how she seemed to glow. She looked like she was made of starlight.

Her eyes slid down in confusion. “I’m a Natty.”

“Who do you belong to?” I whispered, feeling her warm arm next to mine.

“I’m scared.”

I looked over at her in the dark. “I’ll protect you.”

“What’s your...

“Silas.”

I was just a fraud, a little girl riding the coattails of a boy who wanted to keep her.

“Guess you really will burn the world down for her. You’re about two seconds from striking the match…I hope Fable understands the devastation he’s about to cause. For all of us.”

All I wanted was Natty in my arms again. I’d waited long enough; Natty belonged to me, and even if this ended in both our lives being forfeited, at least in the end, she’d be buried with me. Safely cradled in my arms.

“Nomen est Caelum.” My name is Heaven.

Natty let out a sigh. “Silas, you’re not beyond hope. You never will be.”

“Because you have me, I’ll be your hope. I’ll be your sun, your moon and anything else good in this world. Give me your dark and I’ll hand you all my light.”

I let Natty take my hurt, my demons, and I trusted that she was bright enough to keep them all at bay.

“You’re the closest I’ll ever get to heaven, to redemption or being found worthy. I look at you, and I see hope. Isn’t that all heaven is? Hope, eternity spent in the one place we can’t imagine living without? You’re that for me. You’re my religion, Natty. My place of worship and devotion. God wants nothing to do with me, but for some reason he still gave me you.”

Alec’s gaze stayed on Natty as I entered, but hers immediately jumped to me, her gaze prodding and searching me for any damage. I saw relief flitter through her gaze when she realized I was fine.

“Get the fuck out,” I said to my brother while slipping out of my boots and cut.

He laughed, shaking his head. “How about, ‘thank you, Alec, for watch...

Turning toward him, I smiled showing my teeth. “That patch on her back make it seem like she’s just my friend? She’s mine, and I think you fucking know that. She has been since we were kids, and I won’t thank you for doing something I knew you’d enjoy.”

“You belong to me, Silas Silva. No matter what you do, no matter how he tries to indoctrinate you with his darkness, at your core, you’re pure light. I’ll be here reminding you of that for as long as you want me.”

“Forever, Caelum. I’ll want you for that long, and then longer when the devil demands my soul.”

She kissed my chest. “He can’t have what belongs to me.”

“Caelum,” was rasped and broken, like he’d finally found the one thing on this planet that was precious to him.

“Brother, please do explain to me why the fuck you’ve cuffed yourself to my wife?”

“I’m going to allow you the chance to choose, Alec. I’ll either cut high enough so that tattoo of Artemis, which we all know you got for Natty, is removed from your body completely. Or you can lose your hand. Personally, I think you should choose the arm, make a big statement since that’s what you originally intended by getting this fucking piece, right?”

“Choose!” Silas roared his eyes going wide, his lips twisting angrily. “Your hand or the tattoo you had created because of your obsession with my fucking wife!”

“I didn’t know you were married,” Alec stammered back.

Silas laughed. “You knew she was mine, Alec. She’s been mine from the first moment you saw her. Don’t pretend...

“I’m losing my patience and the longer you’re cuffed to my wife, the more violent my thoughts are becoming.”

I heard Silas speak over the yelling, “Do not ever touch her again. She does not belong to you; she is not your toy, and she certainly will never be your girl. Next time, I’ll take your heart.”

Silas tossed something and bent down into a squat in front of Alec. With his finger, he pushed against the tattoo on Alec’s arm, making him seethe in pain. “She was never a huntress or a goddess. She was none of those things.”

Giving one last glance to his brother, he said. “You locked her up, thinking you could make her love you…but you can’t force the sun to shine, just like you can’t stop it from setting. I hope betraying her trust was worth it, Alec.”

“We’re going to ride like we used to, Caelum…come crawl into my lap.” That deep voice was a rope catching around my frayed mind, pulling me back to shore.

Silas met my gaze. “You’re safe now, that’s all that matters.”

I’d been hiding behind the walls of another club for two years, waiting for Silas to come and get me and I still didn’t feel safe. I felt hunted. I felt disposable. I felt forgotten.

“You called me your wife,” I whispered, my voice shaking.

The space next to his eyes crinkled as he pushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. “It’s still true, isn’t it?”

“Anything happens to you, Caelum, and my brain won’t matter. Nor my heart, or anything else that allows me to breathe. It’s you or it’s nothing, my love.”

“I’m supposed to head over there…I don’t want to make anyone come looking for me, which would bring them here.”

I stepped forward, until I was directly in front of him, feeling my heart burst with tiny sparks. “Okay. I’ll see you later then.”

“Fuck it, if they come looking, I’ll remove their ability to see.”

“You’re shaking,” he rasped, slowly dragging the tip of the knife along my thigh, until it was gliding right at the edge of my thong. “I know it’s not from fear, Caelum…no this is something much worse. You think you want me to push against this perfect skin, draw blood and swipe it up with my tongue?”

With a hiss, his free hand held my opposite hip in place. “You’ve missed me.”

“More than you fucking realize,” I choked out; a gasp caught in my chest as desire writhed low in my belly.

“You know I’d rather use this knife to carve out my own heart than mark a single piece of you. So you’ll have to stash that little fantasy away because I’ll never be able to take the look of blood on your skin. Not while there’s a heart beating in my chest and air expanding in my lungs.”

“I will, however, let you play with my knife.”

“I’ve wanted to make you my wife since I was seven years old. Whenever you’re ready to carry my last name, you’re welcome to have it.”