Vitality (Vitality Series #1)

Chapter 57 Eclipse of the Heart pt.5

The sun beat down hot in the sky while the clouds moved in, and Christian and Ella were taking forever in their ritual with Ava before they'd let Layton take her. The cover over the windows was not enough to block the power of the sun, and Layton could feel his muscles solidifying.

"As soon as the sun is covered, and the moon is full above, jump in. Not before. Not After. Go."

Finally, Layton was able to take Ava in his arms, took a deep breath, and opened the door. The bat-filled wind swarmed around him, the sun baked crushingly down, and he ran as fast as he could. He felt the sun tightening shreds of him, licking away the life that made him real by the shadows. The light was drying him up and bleaching him away.

His legs became more difficult to move with every step. He pushed through it, every second more difficult than the next. Layton looked at Ava. The sun shone down heavily on her, and he could see every bit of her. Suddenly, in that moment, he could feel the full extent of how much he did feel for her. But even though it was just a second, he remembered it, and nearly wanted it back, wanted to hold her forever. He had to focus.

Layton pushed harder.

His legs stopped flexing just before he made it to the hole, and he fell to the ground with her. His head was on her heart. He could hear her heartbeat. He broke his legs straight and tried to rise with her, pushing farther on his knees. They were so close.

Her eyes opened — her beautiful eyes with the colors of the world, of life, galaxies, and of love and strife — and all of the pain he'd ever had in the world. They expanded and then shrunk instantly from anguish; she was seeing his life-drained face in the sun. He was almost gone.

Above — the moon moved over the sun completely.

He took everything he had and stood with her. Held her tight in his arms, and dropped into the hole, into a cavern, and they were engulfed deep into the water.

The water swallowed them up like death, and in it, their hands clung to each other. The water turned to ice immediately, and they felt everything they were leave through their eyes and pause there. Still there. Stuck there. Between pain and nothing. No breath. No force. No future. Only past. Their bones cracked like insect legs across frozen glass as their organs swelled like orgasms at their climax.

Slashes suddenly ripped through his body, opening him up, and his body began draining; his soul was draining.

The blood melted through the ice like fire, melting it with severity. It moved through the ice. It moved through Ava, forcing breath in her, swallowing water, and burning in blood. The blood moved through the earth until it came out and rained in crimson, crying out their souls, taking from Layton, sucking him dry.

Ava was seeing past all veils now; he could see it — they had made the final connection, the truest bond; she would be his for the rest of her life now. And she was seeing more than that... too much — how? She greedily suckled away at his mind. This was it — the moment all masks came away; he thought he was prepared.

There was the little guy, Bupper, sitting on the rock with her. He was following her.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Bupper enjoyed and shook his head, liking her presence, pointing at her apple with excitement as if to communicate with no words, the communication deafened by the veil. The sun beamed and she hummed and he laughed, stretching out his feet and putting his hands behind his head to lean back on her, oh, yes, oh yes, then accidently knocked her in the water. There was another creature in the water, waiting. Bupper, not knowing what to do and yelling at her with no words, jumped in on the water sprite, even though he was no more useful in that than a jellybean, a silly Mr. Bean. A lonely Mr. Bupper Bean. He wanted to keep Ava.

The wolves' eyes. Freddy's eyes. The owl's eyes. They weren't the eyes of an animal. No animal was animal. No tree was a tree. There were other names and no names.

Ancient memories.

Layton being whipped. Layton laughing with friends. Running through the woods for dear life — the last life. She could smell it and hear it, but couldn't see it clear, though felt it all.

And more blood. So much blood — everywhere. Lithium. Dancing — blood all over the faces of those around them she couldn't see before. It was in front of her the whole time. On Layton...

And then she saw his blood. All the blood he took. All the faces — CARLA — And the screams. The world being ravaged by it. The silence. Layton on a throne.

The world he was to create... her friends... The empty horror left behind. His world.

What have you done to me, Layton?

What have you done?

And then, in the full light of the moon, before the sun washed it all away, her mother's voice came through.

"Babydoll..."

The water was on fire, and the ice was gone. Blue fire pulled away with the moon, and it all stopped. Layton's hand loosened from Ava's, and he began to fall away into the deep, the dark, the quiet.