To His Hell and Back
Chapter 244: His Loss-I

Chapter 244: His Loss-I

Under normal circumstances, vampires turned into remnants never returned to themselves, not even for a fleeting moment. Once stripped of their soul and made into one of those mindless puppets, salvation was a myth, even for a pureblood.

But Marissa... Marissa was different.

It wasn’t her blood that resisted the pull into darkness, it was her will.

For the briefest instant, she managed to claw her way back. Her body no longer obeyed her, her movements stiff and unnatural, but her mind... it surfaced. Her eyes, once bright, were now murky pools of black, barely able to make out the silhouette of her brother standing against the storm drenched sky. Yet she could feel him.

She could feel the fury, the despair, the helplessness rolling off Cassius like thunder.

And she knew what would come next, what must come next.

If she lost herself again, she would kill. And if she killed, it would shatter him. He had more to protect now. Not just her.

"No," Cassius said, voice low, shaking. "You won’t die. I’ll find the antidote- I’ll save you."

Marissa coughed, a jagged sound, and offered him a fragile smile. "Even with an antidote, you know I’m dying. The wound- it’s fatal. Even if I returned to myself completely, I wouldn’t last another minute."

He clenched his jaw. "That doesn’t matter. We’ll find a way—"

"-I don’t want to hurt anyone else," she whispered. "Especially not you."

The shadows inside her were rising, thickening, dragging her down. She could feel herself slipping and the fear of being something she couldn’t control horrified her.

"Please," she choked, rushing him with her voice cracking. "Just end it. Let me go. I want to find Hans."

Cassius froze for a moment and in realization he squeezed his eyebrows into a pained frpwn.

Her lips trembled as she looked past him, to where the sorcerer who had worn Hans’s face, the fake Hans. "He was killed... by his own brother. Because he loved me. He died for me, and now I want to die for him."

Once, Cassius might not have understood. He would have yelled in anger, demanded that she fight for her life and refuse to let her surrender into her loss. But not now. Now he understood what it meant to love so deeply that life without them felt like a punishment.

He understood how painful one would feel to survive another day without the person they care, the pain so wide in their chest that made them hollow for the rest of their life, wishing for death like it was mercy.

"You should live," he said instead, gripping her hands with trembling fingers. He understands her pain, understands that she wanted to give up but how could he let his only sibling to leave and meet death? His raven hair clung to his face, soaked from the rain, and Marissa wondered was it just the rain, or was he crying?

"You still have more to live for," Cassius tried to convince her.

"I don’t," she said softly.

Her hands found his, and she placed them over her chest. She smiled, not in fear, but with peace, as though she had finally seen the light beyond the storm. In contrary to her serene expression however, was Cassius’s face that had grown several hues darker than any inkiest color in the world. His expression was wrapped in anger and pain, unable to find a way out of this tragedy that had rolled into his life once again, uninvited.

"Thank you, brother," she whispered, a single tear slipping down her cheek from her red eyes. "Thank you for being my brother."

Cassius shut his eyes tight. Thunder cracked behind him as his fingers slowly sank into her chest, pressing deep until he felt the dying thrum of her blackened heart. He could feel the nausea settling in his stomach, not from the guilt but from the emptiness. The emptiness of a man who had to end the life of his one and only sister.

When it was done, his hands were soaked in scarlet.

And his expression was hollow.

Head tilted to the heavens, Cassius stood unmoving beneath the endless sky, as sorrow screamed inside him and the storm wept in his place.

He stared at the sky, unable to shed the tears and as if the sky knew of his sadness had taken place to help him shed the tears he couldn’t force.

When the dawn breaks, Cassius had returned to the castle’s entrance, causing a chaos that shook the entire castle into mayhem. The servants, the royals, everyone who had resided in the castle was brought to the castle’s entrance upon the news of Marissa’s passing.

Arabella who had waited for him was in shock to what she found. On his arms were Marissa’s body, cold to touch and blue in appearance. He had held her tight in his arms as if to make sure she wasn’t uncomfortable.

His expression was far too empty... far too unnaturally bleak.

The physicians rushed to bring her a place to rest and for Cassius to put her body down. Despite the stretchers being brought, he didn’t immediately bring her down to rest. He stood still, holding her tight before finally he released his hands, placing his sister to her final rest.

Eyes red, Arabella could only stood still and watch as Cassius put her final prayers and closed Marissa’s eyes with his hands.

He then made his way to leave the place, allowing for Aunt Genevieve and everyone else who had known Marissa to cry beside her lifeless body.

Arabella rushed to follow him, moving away from the crowd of people who was far too shock to understand what had took place.

When she reached him, Arabella raised her hand, holding to his fingers that had turned bright red. Just like a doll, Cassius stood still, allowing for her to hold his bloodied hands without resistance.

Her tears fell from her eyes, large like water drops filled to its fullest.

She cried and silently Cassius watched her.

He didn’t utter a single word as she held his fingers, crying for him as though she had turned into his tears.