Heartless (The Heartless Series) (26 page)

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Authors: Kelly Martin

BOOK: Heartless (The Heartless Series)

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Lucien's eyes don't leave mine. I can tell he's saying goodbye to me. Our whole lives are probably playing before his eyes. I've had decades to think about it. He hasn't. He forgot all about it. All about me. But now he has me back, his little brother, and I'm leaving again. It can't be easy. Then again, when has being dead ever been easy.

"Besides, a purified soul can't enter Hell. That's sort of the rules. That's what Seth said. I'm the only one of us who can actually do it. No matter how much you might want to."

I take a deep breath and smile at my brother one last time. I hear the screams of the deeper souls, the horrible ones I don't even want to look at. The ones I'll see soon. They are crawling toward the top. I'm fixing to fall down. It'll be for the best. It will. My soul, this thing, isn't worth saving anyway.

I hear her before I see her. "You always were my second favorite…" I know that voice…
No… no… not her.

Not Amelia.

Wind blows through my hair as she emerges from the pit. Her eyes meet mine for a split second, then she disappears down the cave opening without a second's hesitation. She doesn't even stop. Not even for us.

More souls escape. The wind is becoming too hard to stand up in. But I have to do this. I have to finish it. Amelia is bad enough. She made me what I am—taught me everything I know about the art of torture by getting inside my head while she had me tied on the rack for what seemed like an eternity.

The things she did to me…

The things she made me do…

I can't look Lucien in the eye.

This is over. I'm making it over. I'm doing one good thing in my sorry miserable life.

The world won't end today.

Lucien doesn't seem to recognize Amelia. That's good. He doesn't need to know. Such a Mama's boy.

This is it.

I smile at my brother. "Take this. In case you want to have something to remember… just in case you want it." I reach into my pocket and pull out the picture. Old and faded. It's the only picture I have of us, taken when the traveling photographer came to town. Father, Mother, Lucien, and me. It is the one thing I went back to the house to get after I got out of Hell. Something to remember my brother by. Something to fuel my hatred.

Lucien takes the picture. It shakes in his hand as he looks at it.

All of us. A family. Torn to shreds over a stupid war—over a stupid lie.

I stand at the top of the pit. This is it. My last second on Earth.

I deserve this.

I should do this one last thing first. "I'm sorry about Colleen." And I am. I truly, truly am. "She deserved better. She deserved you."

A screech so loud I cover my ears echoes though the cave. They're coming. The things in the bottom. All the things. They will be out soon.

This is it."Lucien, I'm sorry." I close my eyes and start to fall.

A hand catches mine, and a blade slices the skin of my arm. I open my eyes and see Lucien. His hand is on my cut. When he raises it, I see he's cut too. He mixed his blood with mine. He…

"Not sure I'm such a purified angel anymore, brother. Got demon blood in my veins. I'm a damned soul."

"No!" I yell and try to push him back. But when Lucien is determined, he's determined.

"I couldn't save you then, but I'm saving you now. Make it count, brother. Don't you dare let me do this for nothing." He slams the photograph back in my hand and pushes me hard out of the way. I trip over Gracen's leg and fall to the ground. Then I watch as my big brother, the man I've hated all these years, the one I loved so much as a child, opens his arms, stretches out his white wings, and falls into the pit of Hell.

Screams like I've never heard in my life fill the cave. Not the screams like before. These are angry. Mad. Full of rage.

The cave starts to rumble and shake. Rocks fall from the walls, and the souls who have made their way to the top start for the exits fast. Some make it, while some are pulled back in the pit. Poor bastards.

I force myself up and run to the rim, yelling for Lucien. But he's falling. Falling until I can't see him anymore. Until the glass forms back over the top. Until everything is quiet again.

I've lost everything. My revenge. My reason to go on. My Gracen. My brother.

The wind has stopped. The screams. All of it.

Dozens of angels are dead around me, their white wings falling to the ground like dove feathers.

I fall next to the pit opening.

And I cry.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

GRACEN

E
VERYTHING HURTS.
E
VERYTHING.
H
URTS.

The light hurts my eyes, and I wish someone would just close the curtain. At least I'm somewhere soft, although not as warm as I was before. Beyond warm. Hot. Burning hot.

I remember climbing.

Screaming.

Lots and lots of screaming.

People, things, trying to climb over me. All going up. All going toward the light, because we all knew it was our only chance.

Then, somehow, I was out. Back in my body.

I saw Lucien fall.

I heard Hart cry.

That's all I remembered until I woke up back at home.

He sits on the bed next to me, fumbling with an old photograph and watching me like someone watches a rabid dog.

"You all right?" he asks. Hart in the body of Sam. He can't be himself unless he's close to a Hell gate. Weird, weird rules.

"Did I climb out of Hell?" I try to sit up, but the world sort of spins around me. Bad idea. Bad… bad idea.

"I'm not sure. Maybe. It was open. Other things crawled out."

"Other… what happened to them?"

He shrugs. "No idea. They flew through the tunnels. Wherever they go, trust me, it won't be good.

The way he says it—the way his shoulders slump and he won't look at me—I know there's something he's not telling me. Something bad. I can't imagine—don't want to imagine. Hell, even my small time there, was horrible. The others that had to crawl out of there… I shiver. I can't think about that now. There are more important things. Things I have to know. "Lucien fell."

Hart swallows hard. "He did."

"He was your brother. The one you hated?"

He sucks in a breath and looks away. He gets up and heads to the door. "If you need anything, water, coffee, cupcakes, let me know, okay? I'll be downstairs. But I can be up here in… just let me know."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you helping me?"

He scoffs. "I've lost… everything else. Everything. You have every reason to hate me, and that's fine. I deserve it, but I'm the one taking care of you now. When you're better, when I do whatever I have to do to make you normal again, you can tell me to go to…" He stops and lowers his head. "You can tell me to leave, but for now… now, you are stuck. Sorry. Suck it up."

Hart Blackwell. My hero.

Epilogue

"
H
ELP!
H
ELP ME!"

He's lying on a table. He's strapped down with brown leather straps with symbols on it. When the knife stabs him, he screams, not like it'll do any good. He can't escape. Never can escape. Never.

The hot poker goes toward his eye, and he doesn't even flinch. Doesn't seem to matter, does it? All the yelling in the world won't help him. Won't keep the pain from coming. This was what he signed on for when he jumped in for his little brother.

Sometimes, when he can't handle it anymore, he doesn't think he made the right choice. He just wants it to end.

To go from paradise to this. It's unbearable.

That's Hell, unbearable.

He looks up at her, defeated. Wanting it all to just be over. She opens his mouth and pours dark red liquid inside. Blood. Demon blood. Tainting him further. Making him even weaker.

"Sorry, angel. You're ours now. How's the blood treating you? Notice anything yet?"

What he was supposed to notice, he had no idea. She smiles—Gracen smiles—the girl he was supposed to save—the one who died so the Hell gate could open. Guess her soul went to Hell. Guess she was stuck there, too. Except now she tortures him. Day and night, she stays with him, cuts into him. Eats his organs.

Seemed as fair as any of this. The demon who used to be Gracen Sullivan puts a mirror in front of Lucien's eyes. They aren't blue anymore.

Red.

Demon red.

"Welcome to the family," Gracen tells him before she sticks the knife into his heart.

Lucien doesn't even scream.

Author's Note

F
IRST OF ALL,
I
WANT TO THANK YOU
for deciding
Heartless
was a book you wanted to read. I don't know if it was the blurb, the cover (by the awesome Laura from P.S. Cover Designs), or maybe you saw me at a signing and thought, "Hey, that book looks interesting," and that made you want to pick it up and read. Whatever the reason, you've made it this far. For that, I thank you.

If you want to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, or anywhere else, I would appreciate it. If you want to email me at [email protected], I'd love to hear from you.

I have lots of internet dwellings. The easiest way to keep in touch would be by joining my newsletter on my blog: www.kellymartinbooks.blogspot.com. The newsletter is in the tab section.

Again, thank you!

Much love,

~Kelly Martin

12/6/2015

Acknowledgements

I
CAN'T GO ANOTHER SECOND WITHOUT
thanking God. Now, if you've read Heartless (and since we are at the end, I hope you have) you may think that is ironic. I know some of the characters in
Heartless
don't really have the best opinion of the Almighty. I, however, as a person, do. :)

Second, I need to say a HUGE thank you again to Casey, Tia, KD, Enika, Angie, Kathy, and Laura for all their hard work and enthusiasm for this book. It is a different sort of creature, and it might never have seen the light of day without you. Seriously. You gave me the confidence to let this little book that means so much to me into the world. You mean a lot to me.

To the wonderful 'Nerd Team'. I love you guys!

I also want to say a BIG HI and THANK YOU to all the members of the
Heartless
release team on Facebook! You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for all the fun times, having my back, (the random Jensen Ackles pictures you've sent me at different times of the day #motivation), and working really hard because you believe in the
Heartless
series as much as I do. Ashley, Monique, Amy, Paige, Kathy, Belinda, Julie, Madelynn, Angie, Leslie, Samantha, Charlene, Casey, Cindy, Louisa, Tia, Belinda, Enika, Emily, Sara, Karen, Elizabeth, Cheyenne, Ashley, Danielle, Rachel, Christine, Tawnya, Cheryl, Megan, Deborah, Kim, and Jackie-- THANK YOU SO MUCH! You have no idea how much you all mean to me.

Finally to you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read this book and hopefully falling in love with Gracen's journey. It is a bit 'different', but I love it. It will continue in
Soulless
(Feb. 14th, 2016) and
Breathless
(Sept. 4th, 2016). Her story isn't always pleasant, but it is very human (you know, besides the angels and demons…). I'm so glad to have you along this journey with me. It's a roller coaster, and I don't want to get off.

Love you guys,

Kelly

Embrace Your Weird

If you loved
Heartless
, here are some other books you might enjoy:

Frenzy
by Casey L. Bond (Feb. 2016)

The Dark Ones Series
by Rachel Van Dyken

Tala Prophesy Series
by Tia Silverthorne Bach

About the Author

K
ELLY
M
ARTIN
is the bestselling author of contemporary, historical, and YA romance. By day, she is a preschool teacher. By night, she has her hair in a messy bun and her fingers on the keyboard. Her favorite reviews are from the people who 'know' they aren't going to like her books… but end up loving them. :)

You can find her at kellymartinbooks.blogspot.com/

She's also on Twitter: twitter.com/martieKay

And on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KellyMartinAuthor

She is also on Instagram (kellymartin215), Pinterest (KMBooks), and Tumblr (martiekay.tumblr.com).

Other books by Kelly Martin

Paranormal

The Afterlife of Lizzie Monroe

The Heartless Series:

Heartless

Soulless

Breathless

Fairy Tale Series