Frosted Torment (Marked Mortals Saga #1)

Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

D awson inched closer and wove an arm around Nevaeh’s waist, his rifle now dropped to the side.

“Who is it, sweetheart?” His voice was low, but the concern etched on his face spoke volumes, a protective instinct flaring to life.

Nevaeh lifted her head. Her tear-filled eyes met his for a moment. Then, she buried her face in his side, her sobs muffled against his shirt. “It’s Sasha,” she whimpered.

“But that would mean—” Dawson’s voice trailed off as realization washed over him, leaving an unsettling void in its wake.

“Impossible,” Jossy challenged, standing close to Nevaeh as if his presence could somehow change the reality we faced.

My grandmother was alive .

Sasha wasn’t young, but she wasn’t old either. Frozen in time, wisdom flickered behind her once-bright eyes. Yet now, her eyes were fading—losing their light.

Blood seeped from her lips, painting a stark contrast against her pale complexion. Vincent situated one arm underneath her and pulled her close, his head hanging low in despair. He stroked her cheek with trembling fingers as if trying to soothe away the pain that refused to relent.

“I’m so sorry, my love,” Vincent cried, anguish lacing his words. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

Baz lowered his head close to my ear, making it look as though he was inspecting the scene.

“Noa, I know you need me and this isn’t the best time,” he said. “But stay close to Ena and Lex.”

Fear gripped my body like a vice, and I whirled around to face him as another one of the wolves got up and walked over to us.

“Where the hell are you going?” I asked in a terrified whisper.

“I’m taking Seraphina to gather help. I won’t be long.” They retreated backward into the woods, their movements deliberate and cautious as they slipped away without drawing attention. “Stay here,” he insisted one last time, then disappeared into the shadows.

The angels looked like they’d seen a ghost as they studied Sasha—faces pale and eyes wide with disbelief. The one wolf who remained let out a horrific cry of anguish that reverberated through the air before lying down beside her. Nakoma turned without a word and sprinted back toward the house.

The blood drained from my face as I fought to process what was unfolding before me. Dawson pulled a pistol from the holster on his hip, its metallic glint catching the dim light. He aimed it at the back of Vincent’s head with precision.

The danger dawned on him too late. Vincent’s gaze fixed on Sasha’s limp form, a haunting image I couldn’t take my eyes off .

“Wake up,” Vincent pleaded under his breath. “You can’t be gone.”

Dawson’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the gun tighter, ready to squeeze the trigger.

“Drop the gun, Dawson,” Jossy shouted in desperation.

Dawson didn’t move. He stood guarding a threat I’d yet to see. “Not gonna happen, son,” he replied with sturdy defiance.

A gurgling noise erupted from Sasha’s mouth. Blood gushed up like a crimson sea, and she choked.

“Turn her on her side!” My words echoed through the clearing.

Worry guided my hands as I carefully grabbed Sasha’s arms and legs to flip her over. I sat next to her and rubbed her back. Ena rushed to help make Sasha comfortable. Her brow furrowed as if willing life back into Sasha’s frail form.

Moments later, Nakoma arrived with a medical kit clutched in his hands. Ena checked Sasha’s vitals—her fingers dancing over the pulse points—then shook her head with a grave expression. Each shallow, ragged breath Sasha dragged in sounded like the last one she’d ever take.

Sasha strained to squeeze my hand. It was a faint warmth in the encroaching darkness, but her body was giving in to whatever fate awaited her. Nakoma drew up a syringe from a vial of clear fluid, its contents almost invisible in the fading light.

“It’s a sedative,” he offered as he injected a shot into her arm. A small act of mercy before rejoining Jossy by his side.

The end was coming for Sasha. But it felt too slow. Each moment was an eternity of dread and despair. My stomach knotted as tears spilled down my cheeks .

“How is she even alive?” I pleaded, searching for answers in the faces surrounding me.

Vincent’s face twisted in terror as he leaped up, ignoring Dawson’s gun trained on him. He grabbed fistfuls of his own hair in torment as if trying to pull himself back from some precipice of despair. I didn’t know if a gun could kill angels or if bullets had any power against them, but Dawson seemed convinced. His pistol never wavered from Vincent’s trembling frame.

“Start talkin’, Vincent,” Dawson demanded with an edge of fury. “Is what Maros said true?”

“Dawson, lower the gun, please,” Jossy begged. He stepped forward as if attempting to close an irreconcilable gap between them. “I’m sure Vincent can explain everything.”

Dawson’s eyes remained fixed on Vincent. “Oh, he’ll spill his guts,” he hissed, then pushed past Jossy, placing the gun against Vincent’s chest. “How’s a woman who killed herself the same night Scarlett died, layin’ here now?”

My head snapped up as a surge of clarity hit me. Lying protectively over Sasha’s lifeless body was the other wolf, and it dawned on me that he was her guardian. Somehow, he remained here while Vincent kept Sasha alive.

Vincent cursed. Strangled breaths escaped him as his eyes narrowed to slits. They were feral.

“You won’t kill me, Dawson,” he spat.

“Try us,” Nevaeh challenged. She drew her own pistol from its holster with practiced ease and pointed it at Vincent. “Sasha took her own life the night of the fire,” she said. “What is this blasphemy?”

Lex stepped behind me, expanding his wings wide enough to cast a shadow across where we all stood. “Vincent won’t touch you, Noa,” he assured me.

The Earth began to tilt as understanding set in that Maros was telling the truth. It was Vincent who’d wanted all the power for himself. With my friends watching my back, I pleaded in silence for some way to ease Sasha’s passing but found no answer. My words fell flat against cruel fate, and my hope shattered like glass.

As I looked down, Sasha’s eyes overflowed with ceaseless tears. “Please. Somebody help her,” I begged again.

“We can’t, honey.” Nevaeh’s voice wavered as she spoke to me over her shoulder, but her eyes never left Vincent. “If Vincent did what we suspect, there is only one way to release Sasha from this.”

I swallowed against the lump forming in my throat and shifted my gaze toward Vincent.

“What did you do?” I sneered.

Nevaeh stepped closer to Vincent and looked up at him, determined to get answers. “You gave her your essence, didn’t you?” she accused him.

Vincent wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “What of it, human?” he snapped back with contempt and spit on her shoes.

“There are rules here, Noa,” Dawson said to me, sympathy filling his voice. “If you wanna end Sasha’s torment, you have to do it.”

“No.” I shook my head in denial. “No,” I said again. It was the only word I could manage to get past my lips.

“Yes, you do,” Vincent stated, devoid of warmth as his body leaned into Dawson’s gun. “It’s called a blood kill, Noa. Once a human receives an angel’s essence?—”

“An already dead human, defiled by a dark fallen angel,” Dawson remarked with contempt.

“If the angel dies or rejects the human,” Vincent continued, “then the only way for the human to die is by the hand of another in the same bloodline.”

An unbearable weight seemed to crush my lungs. “You’re a monster,” I seethed. “You did this, so you finish it!”

Before anyone could react, Vincent released a dagger in my direction. Lex caught it in his hand before it delivered a lethal strike to my heart. Vincent’s lip curled back, knowing he didn’t expect me to die yet.

“You asked too many questions this morning, and Maros knew you’d be a problem,” Vincent snarled.

My lip quivered as I looked up at Lex, betraying my effort to keep my emotions in check. I found myself trapped in an abyss of despair.

My body pulsed with an ache that consumed me, and I cried, “Why would you do this to her?”

He peered down at me, his husky voice cutting through me. “Sasha, not you, should be the one harboring the secrets.”

“No,” Jossy added, surprised by Vincent’s admission. “None of them should.”

Vincent scoffed with mocking laughter. “Always a good little soldier boy, aren’t you, Jossy? Sasha and I were destined to rule over this godforsaken place and the cesspool of humans. I did what was necessary.”

I blinked back hot tears pooling beneath my lashes. “Did she know that, you piece of shit? ”

Vincent pointed at Sasha, whose eyes now begged for someone to end her suffering. “I helped her see reason as she died! I saved her from going to hell because she was mine.

“And once I arrested Vallen,” Vincent proclaimed, shoving Dawson aside and pointing at me, “I made a deal with Maros for Sasha to take half my essence.

“He and I would divide the secrets. Then he would drag your sorry ass away for the rest of eternity.”

Jossy helped Dawson regain his balance, then hung his head in disappointment. Vincent laughed maniacally at the sky while his honor crumbled around him. He was too far gone to care about the consequences.

“All three of you plotted to steal this world, but you cheated your brother,” I wheezed as my senses overwhelmed me. “And Ivy. How did she get caught up in your bullshit?”

“She loved you,” Vincent criticized as anger painted his face. “But as the selfish human trash that we all know you are, you would never love her back.

He crossed his arms as his eyes narrowed on me, then paused, savoring one final moment of power over my life.

“When Ivy grasped the fact you’d never choose her, the decision for her to join us was easy.”

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms, trying to calm the fury boiling within me.

“I’m straight!” I yelled as I squared my shoulders. “But I loved my friend with everything in me, and you fucking destroyed her.”

Lex shook his head and lifted his chin in defiance. He handed me the dagger, which I took willingly now .

“There’s no way Ivy went along with this,” Lex said. “You threatened her and used her love for Noa against her.”

“Believe what makes you feel better,” Vincent chided with a smirk on his lips. “But it’s the truth. Convincing Noa to do that reading on her birthday was a work of art by Ivy.”

“You love my grandmother,” I whispered and brushed back Sasha’s hair. She began to lose her youthful appearance, transforming into a grandmother.

“Loved,” he stated, stressing the last syllable. Vincent stomped his foot, enraged, and the ground shuddered with the impact. “She’s no good to me now. What are you waiting for, Noa?”

“Fuck you!” I screamed, then stabbed the earth with the dagger.

Scooping Sasha into my arms, I gently rocked her back and forth as reality swallowed me.

Dawson reclaimed his place in front of Vincent with his finger ready to squeeze the trigger. “What does Maros have planned?” he demanded.

“It seems you’ve mistaken me for someone who actually cares.” Vincent unfurled his wings and struck them against the earth with rapid force.

Dawson had no choice but to retreat and shield his eyes from debris as the wind picked up.

As Vincent ascended into the air, he roared down at me. “I will take back what’s rightfully mine, Noa!”

Vincent’s eyes remained fixed on me with a flicker of temptation, as if he might snatch me away, but he wavered.

“And in case you were curious, Noa, Maros and I lit the fire to kill your mother. But it was Vallen who finished her off,” he confessed, his tone cold and lifeless.

Then, he launched into the sky. At that moment, Dawson and Nevaeh fired their guns. A barrage of gunshots filled the air.

“Go on,” Vincent yelled over the sound of gunshots, using his powerful wings to deflect the bullets. “End your grandmother’s suffering!”

Then he was gone, leaving me clutching Sasha’s hand as the truth sank in. She gasped for air, coughing up more blood. I searched around, praying for deliverance from anything in the universe that would listen.

In that moment, Baz appeared from the trees, carrying a mysterious figure dressed all in black. Once close, the stranger dismounted and knelt beside us.