Thread: Chained Souls: Night Ten {Book Two of the Chained Duet}

Night Ten

I gasped for air as I opened my eyes to a familiar place.
Rock walls surrounded me and there was one door with at least three cameras pointed around the room.
"You're awake," a familiar voice asked.
I looked up and met familiar eyes.
"Cult," I breathed.
Doubt blinked, startled, and dropped the clipboard he held. It clattered on the floor as Doubt widened his eyes.
"How do you know that name?" he demanded, his voice sounding almost...scared. "No one should know that name."
"Aside from Death," I replied. "And Signit, if she were still alive."
Doubt's eyes narrowed as he picked up the clipboard he'd dropped. He masked the hurt in his eyes with anger but I knew it was there.
"What am I doing here?" I asked, hugging myself. "How did I end up back here?"
"Death brought you here," he said placidly, looking over charts. "He didn't know how else to help you since Sun wouldn't bother to even look at you.
"All Sun said was that you deserved whatever had happened to you. And, of course, Death wasn't stupid enough to take you to the Carpathians."
Like he had no choice?
I was willing to bet it was because Doubt was his brother and he owed him. Big time.
That also answered why he didn't leave Tartarus in the first place. He could've easily left, being Death and all.
And it all rounded back to Doubt, Signit, and Death. Truth be told, everything that had happened to me dealing with Pain and Death--and even Helios and Epimetheus--all tied back to the three of them. If it wasn't for Doubt asking the evils to take them over, nothing would be as it was today.
In the end, I would have probably repeated history and fallen in love with Helios, had another Pandora, and, by now, been killed.
Everything happens for a reason, I suppose.
"Doubt?"
"Hmm?"
"Why were you so shocked that I knew your real name," I asked curiously. "I'm willing to bet that it's more than ust the name."
"Simply surprise," he said calmly, scribbling something onto the clipboard. "Nothing more, nothing less. And I doubt you'll be quiet about it."
"You'er right," I growled. "But I'm willing to bet that you don't know that I know that you loved your sister and Death killed her."
"It was his job," he said, pushing away from the subject. His careful facade was cracking ever so slightly and I could see it. "He is death after all. Death kills things. Everything and everyone is meant to die."
"Then why are you still alive?"
He was silent and the pencil in his hand snapped in half. It was the first time I'd ever seen his careful control quite literally snap. Well, in the present, anyway.
"That was an awfully long time ago--why are you still living? I mean, shouldn't you have died with Signit?"
"You know nothing!!" he roared, slamming the clipboard onto the table before he crossed the room to me, slamming his hand on the glass. "You don't know a damn thing!! I was supposed to die!! I wasn't supposed to outlive her!! She was supposed to be happy!! I was supposed to make her happy!!
"She wasn't supposed to die!!!"
The glass slit in tiny fragments, spider webbing cracks through it from the pressure of his hands. I couldn't help wincing.
"She wasn't supposed to die!" he screamed. "She wasn't supposed to die!! She wasn't supposed to die!!!"
He sank to his knees, head bent, as his voice returned to a whisper, barely audible.
"She wasn't supposed to die."
I pushed open the top of the case and climbed out before wrapping my arms around his shoulders, hugging me to him.
"I know," I whispered. "I know..."
Only when I felt the wetness on my shirt did I figure out what was happening.
Doubt was crying.
"Doubt?" someone asked gently from the corner. "Would you like me to escort her out of Tartarus? Death is at the opening gates."
Doubt stood silently and I saw his tear-stained face for the first time, in a new light. I knew I'd always see him this way from now on--as the small child who'd lost the thing that made him happy.
"Take her away," he said softly, his gaze meeting mine. "Thank you, Pandora."
I smiled and nodded as an evil--Obsession--walked me out, leaving Doubt behind as he fell back to the floor, clutching my glass case.
The way out of Tartarus was nothing but twists and turns that I would never remember later--even if I wanted too. The only familiarity I saw was the terrain once we reached the outside world.
Cold and snowy--exactly how I remembered it.
I met familiar green eyes and had to consciously tell myself not to run into him, throwing my arms around him.
Obsession stayed long enough to pass greetings to Death before we were left alone.
"I know," I said immediately. "About Signit...and Cult..." I met his gaze briefly. "And you--what you did to Signit."
His eyes stayed trained on mine, meeting my own when I tried to break the contact. Eventually I just closed my eyes. Seconds later I felt a gentle breeze before his fingertips brushed the line of my jaw.
"And are you afraid of me now?" he asked in the familiar, quiet voice. "Can you still stand to look at me, knowing that I killed my own sister?"
I met his gaze, voice sure as I spoke.
"Yes."
His lips tilted up in a half smile before he dropped his hand, opting to wrap his arms around my shoulders, holding me to him.
"I fell into the past," I said gently. "I watched you and Doubt and even Pain be taken over by the evils...it was painful, wasn't it?"
His hold on me tightened.
"All of you screamed," I whispered, tangling my fingers in the shirt he wore. "It had to hurt--even killing Signit. You made it look so easy."
"It was," he admitted after a moment. "She was a human--weak and defenseless. Something an evil must do after taking over a human body is experience its namesake.
"I killed Signit, fulfilling Death and Doubt doubted whether he could even call me a brother anymore."
"I can't believe that you felt no regret," I pushed lightly. "You're not that type of person."
He didn't say anything.
"Did you...love my mother?" I asked timidly, tightening the hold I had on his shirt.
"Yes."
There was no hesitation in his voice, no second thoughts. It was as if he was completely positive--that nothing had changed.
"I fell in love with her when she came to the Amazon," he explained. "I was immediately drawn to her. She was so free spirited and happy but I could tell there was something dark dwelling inside her. On her back she had tattoos of three dragons and a wolf.
"I asked her once if there was a hidden meaning behind them and she said that they kept her pure. Only after I met you did I really understand what she meant."
Silence hissed beneath us for several moments before I had the courage to ask the one question that could change everything I had with Death.
"Do you like me...love me...because I'm her daughter and you couldn't get her?"
I held my breath while the silence resumed, weighing down on me like bricks, pressing the air from my lungs.
"At first...yes," he said slowly. "I was drawn to you because you looked like her. But you are not her nor will you ever be. You are Pandora--no one else. I love you. At one time I loved your mother but that chapter has closed."
I nodded and Death slid an arm beneath my legs, lifting me into his arms with effortless grace.
"Helios and the others are at your house--along with someone else. I think it's time to try out some reconnaissance with someone you know very well."

P.S. I'm ba-ack!! Hope you guys enjoy and had a Happy New Year.
Katherynn