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Perrie
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Perrie sat on the edge of the Galveston Seawall—her feet dangled and swung back and forth, lightly tapping the stone as they came down.
The night had already fallen, but lampposts lit the unbusy street behind her and August. They’d settled on a portion of the Seawall that wasn’t too high from the ground, yet still enough to make her stomach flutter.
Waves crashed into the sand, and each time gravity hauled them back, it felt like her life. The sounds relaxed her as she closed her eyes. It was almost as unwinding as when she and August played cello together. August’s leg pressed against hers, and he leaned back with his palms propping him up—his blond curls scattered in all directions.
Perrie watched him for a moment, something she didn’t normally do, but he really was beautiful. He was more than that, though. August looked off in the distance, and if she could read his mind right now, she would want to know every minuscule detail that was there.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“Hmm?” He lazily slid his eyes from the darkness toward her. “Oh, I was just thinking about things.”
Perrie lightly kicked her foot against his. “Like what?”
“The world.” He smiled.
Perrie thought about the world all the time, too. The future. How when she was younger, she knew what direction her life would go in, but a child’s mind was a dangerous one. Thoughts were innocent, and life wasn’t. “The world is a pretty damn big place, August.”
“Then we will conquer it.” His smile grew wide, and he leapt from the wall.
“August!” Perrie shouted as he fell through the air.
His feet slapped the sand, and he spun to face her, laughing as he said, “Your turn.”
She peered down at the long distance. It wasn’t far enough where she would break anything, but a dizzy feeling still swam through her. “No way.”
August chuckled, then jogged over to the stairs and went up them. Perrie watched as he rounded the rail and strode up to her. He hovered above her while she gazed up at him, and she shook her head. She knew he wanted her to leap, but she wasn’t going to.
“Come on, doll face. Just do it.”
“Is this peer pressure, August? You know I stay away from those situations,” she teased.
“Give me your hand.” He reached his out for her to take, and she hesitantly put hers in his, feeling the comforting warmth.
Pulling her feet from the edge of the Seawall, she faced him, and he helped her to stand. They walked right to the edge, and she gazed over. “I don’t know about this. It’s still a rough landing.”
He turned her face to his and murmured, “Together?”
Chest heaving, Perrie looked back down. It didn’t seem as daunting with his hand in hers. “Fine. Together,” she agreed. Then they jumped.
Perrie shot up in bed, her chest tightening. “August? We have to leave.” She turned to August to tell him they needed to find a way out of the Glass Vault, but no one was beside her.
Maisie crashed through the door with Nev at her heels.
“What are you shouting about?” Maisie asked as she hurried to Perrie’s side of the bed.
Perrie’s heart slammed against her rib cage, beating on overdrive. She didn’t know if she could get it to slow down. Maisie crawled next to her and pulled Perrie to her chest. August wasn’t here. August didn’t exist. Perrie wanted to rip out the memory—all the memories of him, and bury them somewhere in concrete.
“Nothing. It was only a dream.”
Nev watched them with his arms crossed, then moved toward her. “It sounded like more than a dream to me.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” Perrie told herself more than them. The dreams or nightmares she could handle, because that was what they were. She could separate the two—she had to think about it in a different way. It was as though August was dead, and Vale would be fucking dead, too. And Perrie was the one who was going to end this, end him.
“Do we need to stay here a little longer?” Maisie asked.
“No,” Perrie said. “We’re going to head to the Glass Vault now.” She would shatter every inch of it until it was completely destroyed.
“Let’s go then.” Nev unfolded his arms and waited for Perrie and Maisie to follow him into the living room.
As Perrie went to hand Maisie her purse, a loud knock at the door rumbled through the house, shaking her bones. She froze, Maisie’s eye bulged so wide it might pop out, and Nev scowled at the door.
Maisie was the first one to shake off her shock and tiptoed toward the door.
“What are you doing?” Perrie hissed.
Maisie threw her head to the side to look at Perrie. “I’m going to see who it is.” When she turned back around toward the door, Nev was already there, peering through the peephole.
He whirled around to face them, his expression bewildered. “No one’s at the door.”
“Don’t open it,” Perrie whispered. The hairs on her arms rose as the electricity inside her crackled to life. Something wasn’t right. And that something may have to do with a certain vicious demon from the Underworld.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” he replied.
Maisie pushed past Nev and glanced through the peephole. Perrie rushed to her, sliding Maisie away so she could look. From what she could see, no one was there, only a brick porch with potted plants.
Perrie wasn’t going to linger around, and Nev and Maisie seemed to have the same thought as her.
“Backdoor,” Maisie and Perrie said simultaneously.
“Start running now,” Nev whispered.
They booked it to the door. Maisie reached it first, throwing it open and leaping over the patio. Nev passed through next with Perrie right behind him.
Maisie and Nev were a few feet ahead of her, and she was trying to keep up. Nev had his running experience with basketball, and Maisie was just ridiculously fast. The two of them swiftly leapt over the short iron fence. Perrie’s hands gripped the top bar roughly and she hopped across, but part of her dress snagged on something sharp. Heart in her throat, she gave it a hard tug and ripped the material free.
They entered a lush green field, and not a single soul seemed to be in sight. Perrie chanted silently to herself, Don’t look back at the house. Don’t look back at the house. But she did. No one was behind them. She smiled to herself in relief and continued to run.
After close to a minute of hauling ass, Perrie must’ve been lagging, because Maisie yelled, “Keep going!”
Nev slowed his pace and glanced back over his shoulder at her to make sure she hadn’t fallen too far behind. The Glass Vault hadn’t improved her running skills by much because cramps were already churning in her stomach. Nev’s determined expression switched to one of horror.
“What are—” Perrie started.
A hand jerked her back by the hair, wrenching her body to a hard chest. A raspy cry of pain escaped her throat. Perrie knew this particular type of hair pulling. An image of her being dragged down a hall by only her hair flashed through her head. This time she bucked her head as hard as she could, not caring how much pain shot through her scalp.
“Ah, you didn’t think you could hide forever, did you?” Vale’s hot breath struck her ear.
Despite his rough grip, Perrie kicked her feet at the demon and attempted to elbow his ribs. She focused on her power, unable to summon a single spark to electrocute this monster.
Nev and Maisie darted their way, but Vale didn’t move an inch. He only grabbed her by the jaw, squeezing with enough pressure that she feared he would rip it off. “Oh, you did? How sweet.” He smiled, baring his teeth.
“Let her fucking go!” Nev charged full force, and with his strength, he could tear Perrie away from Vale’s clutches. It would give her enough time to try and gather her electricity.
Vale lazily tossed up a hand. Nev flew back about fifty feet, landing in the grass with a heavy smack.
Maisie looked at Nev, concerned, then dashed toward Perrie, her expression turning fierce as she tried to sing with her immortal ability. Vale’s amused laughter echoed around Perrie as he threw up his hand again, flinging Maisie farther back than Nev.
“Stop!” Perrie shouted.
Maisie and Nev were off the ground, once again rushing toward them, but then Vale lifted that fucking hand of his once more. This time, they still raced in her direction, yet they were going no farther, as though running in place.
Vale spun Perrie around, a murderous gleam dancing in his emerald eyes. “Listen to me, now.”
Perrie didn’t listen. She didn’t want to listen. She would never listen to him. Not now. Not again. Not ever. If he wanted to slit her throat a hundred times, a thousand times, then so be it. She would always try to escape.
“You will return my Bride to me!” He shook her roughly, and her head bobbled, sending a jolt of sharp pain shooting through her neck.
Perrie peered into his green eyes, holding herself steady, remembering him and his Bride. The way he touched her, tasted her, made her shout his name in pleasure, how he’d done the same with hers. She would never give her back to him again. “No.”
“What was that?” He crushed Perrie’s arms and tilted his head, bringing his ear closer to her, as if the fucker didn’t believe what he was hearing. As his fingers dug into her flesh, her eyes fluttered, but she held them open.
“I said, no,” Perrie said, gritting her teeth. “I made sure she’s gone, and she’s never coming back. I killed her.”
He then gripped the sides of her skull in between his hands—his nose rubbed against hers. “Then I will make it so you can’t come back, and she does. We both know she wants to stay here with me.”
With those words, he took a step back and slammed her head to the ground. It bounced slightly, hit again, then she fell to her stomach. Perrie’s skull rattled, her brain shook, and the veins throbbed. She was dead. She had to be dead. This was what death would feel like, even worse than having her throat slit.
Before she could stand to spit in his face, Vale yanked Perrie forward by her hair. Can he quit with the fucking hair already? She wanted to stop him, retaliate, but her entire body was weak, exhausted.
“We are going inside to tuck you away, by any means necessary.” The grass prickled her arms as he dragged her through the field. He began to hum, a soft melody, and Perrie recognized the tune—they’d always played it together on their cellos, back when she thought he was August.
A roar rumbled through her veins, and she gathered that inner strength, letting the anger fill her. As her head pieced back together, she geared up to make a move. With his casual strides, she could do this. Perrie’s gaze became predatory while watching each leisurely step he took. He moved as if he had an eternity with her. Well, he doesn’t.
She quietly brought her arms up from her sides, attempting to block out the pain at her scalp. Thanking the grass that he had her on her stomach and not on her back, Perrie picked her body up by her hands, lifted herself to her knees, and shot forward. Perrie’s body collided with Vale’s back, and she knocked his ass to the ground.
He released a loud grunt, and she beamed with satisfaction as she leapt onto his back. She raised her hands and tried to ignite the spark, but her electricity still wouldn’t come, so she pummeled her fists against his muscles. Hard, harder, wanting to tear him apart like he’d done to Nev.
Vale moved with his inhuman speed, flinging her from him. Perrie landed on her backside, and she ignored the throbbing. But before she could jump to her feet, he pushed her back down, holding her by the arms.
“Enough!” he roared as heavy breaths hit her cheek, his voice seeming to shake the entire field. Rage filled his eyes and his mouth twisted into a harsh sneer. “You don’t want to go inside? Fine! I’ll break you apart right here with my bare hands. I need her and she needs me! Give her to me!”
He took hold of Perrie’s left arm tightly and with one swift, forceful pull, she howled in agony at the loud snap. Her arm had to be gone. Numbness and burning soared through her. Perrie’s head fell to the side, finding her arm there but out of the socket. Tears pricked at her eyes at the pain of it all.
Then Vale grasped her arm and brutally shoved it back into place—hot tears streamed down her cheeks as she screamed. And then, the masochist did it again to her same arm—nausea swirled in her stomach and bubbled up her throat. She was going to vomit—she was going to puke all over his damn face. More powerful than before, he shoved it in place, and she didn’t think she would ever stop screaming. She would not become her again, no matter how many times he did this. He would never accept that his Bride was gone.
“That was only practice. Now, I’m ready to truly begin.” Please no. Perrie didn’t even want to think about what he would do to her next. So she focused, harder than before, letting determination fill her more than she ever had. His grip on her right arm loosened. Please work damn it.
Yanking her arm away, Perrie pushed her palm against Vale’s chest and prayed the electricity would come. In answer, a flash of white light shot out, igniting the world around her in sparks. The explosion of her power barreled into his chest, sending him backward.
As he stumbled, Vale’s gaze fastened on hers, a true look of pain on his face, before slumping to the ground. Perrie believed the pain wasn’t even from the spark, it was because he knew his Bride was gone forever.
She shakily stood, inhaling deeply as the throbbing lessened in her arm. Perrie frantically searched for Maisie and Nev, then sighed in relief when she saw they’d escaped Vale’s invisible hold and were headed her way.
Perrie’s body relaxed as she studied Vale resting on his side, his eyes shut. Did her electricity work? Was he dying? When she stepped closer, a loud piercing shriek escaped him and she jumped back. Vale’s hands cradled his head and his body curled into a tight ball. Fat tears rained down his cheeks while he howled in desperation. She should’ve moved forward to do to him what they’d done to Catherine, but she took another trembling step back. Maisie and Nev halted beside Perrie. She sparked up as Nev tightened his fists.
With Vale’s hands still pressed against his skull, he slowly peeled open his lids. He settled his bright green irises on her. One word softly slipped from his lips, and it wasn’t Bride. “Perrie?”
