I am Sam
Chapter Thirty-Nine

SASHA

Standing before the star circle, I’m glaring at Lisbon as she grins wickedly at me. It's the very early hours of the morning; I wasn't able to sleep and nor was Atlas, so here we are, still trying to convince her to break the curse, but she keeps telling us that she can’t. The moment I hear the door open behind me, I swing around, and a shudder suddenly runs through me when I see him standing there.

Caleb.

My jaw drops as I rake him over, he’s clad in nothing but his jeans, and he’s covered in smears of mud across his chest, his arms, his face; where the hell has he been?

Atlas raises his brows as he smirks in response to seeing Caleb staring past us like he’s some hellhound here to collect a soul or something.

“Do I even want to know why you look like you’ve been wrestling with mud monsters?” Caleb merely narrows his eyes as he continues to stare past us at Lisbon before he leisurely begins walking toward us,

“No.” He responds in a stone cold tone; his eyes trained on Lisbon like he’s deciding what to do with her. Both Atlas and I step aside as he strides past towards the star circle; only then do I notice he’s gripping the handle of his sword firmly in his hand, furrowing my brows, I swallow down hard,

“Um, Caleb. W-what do you plan on doing with that?” I’m suddenly concerned and feeling slightly panicked by how threatening he looks. He doesn’t stop to look at me; instead, he merely continues slowly walking around the circle as his eyes roam down over it.

“How much longer do you two plan on fucking around with this witch?” He grumbles; his question has both Atlas and me looking at each other in confusion; Lisbon narrows her eyes on Caleb as she tracks his every slow and calculated movement.

“Um, we’re busy negotiating with her, aren’t we, Lisbon?” Atlas says in a low voice as he narrows his eyes on her; she swings around to glare at Atlas before turning back to face Caleb, and as I stare at Caleb myself, at this very moment, I’m terrified, and I don’t exactly know why.

“Negotiating...” He murmurs with a smirk, tilting his head towards Lisbon as his eyes become even darker than they were a second ago. Swallowing down hard, all I can do is stare at him. I’ve never been scared of Caleb, but right now, I am. The way he’s looking at Lisbon... I never want him to look at me like that; it’s the most terrifying look I’ve ever seen on his face.

Caleb suddenly stops and turns to face the circle as he slowly tilts his head to her. Lisbon’s glaring at him,

“And what do you want to offer me, something as well?” She sneers; a jet black and treacherous shimmer illuminates darkness in his eyes, so carnal and wild as he smirks menacingly. My soul shudders as I stare at him.

“I already have what I want,” He says as he grins, and there’s something in his eyes, a sudden shimmer of something I’ve never seen before; what is it? Lifting his sword up as he slowly inspects the blade, he sighs, “And now you’re going to give me what I ask for,” Tilting his head as he looks past the sword at her, shaking his head, the grin creeping up scares the living crap out of me. “And I am only going to ask you for it once,” He grumbles. Scoffing, Lisbon narrows her eyes on him,

“Is that meant to be a threat? I’m not scared of dying,” She smirks menacingly. It’s then that I notice a shimmer of Caleb’s element swirling around in illuminated green bursts as he smirks,

“Death to must be earned, witch, and you are very far from earning such a kindness from me.” The way he’s looking at Lisbon tells me he’s already thought of multiple forms of torturing her.

“You don’t scare me, dragon, witch,” she sneers at him. Scoffing, he furrows his brows, somewhat amused,

“Give it time.”

I watch as he raises the handle of his sword, the blade pointing down; my brows furrow in response; what is he doing?

“Are you sure about this, Cal?” Atlas grumbles beside me, and I’m giving him a questioning look; is he sure about what?

Before I have time to even ask that question out loud, Caleb slams the tip of the blade right into the floor. My eyes widen in shock as I watch the sword pierce through the concrete, instantly forming a thunderous long crack to start in the line of the circle surrounding the star.

Blinking back, there’s a second of silence as Caleb moves his eyes over to me. A loud swoosh of air explodes from the ring outward, nearly knocking me on my ass as Atlas grabs my arm to hold me up. My eyes widen in shock when I realize what he’s just done; Caleb’s broken the seal keeping Lisbon contained; he’s let her out.

My eyes dart from Lisbon to Caleb, panic sketched across my face as my breathing picks up,

“W-what, why would you let her out?” My voice sounds just as panicked as I feel. Lisbon swings around to face me with a malicious grin; she’s about to come at me when Caleb suddenly grips her around her throat from behind, pulling her back towards him as he lowers his lips right beside her ear. She instantly freezes when he begins tightening his grip around her throat.

“What would happen if I stabbed you with your own dagger?” His low and dangerous voice has her eyes widening as she swallows hard,

“I would lose all of my powers,” She croaks. Smirking, Caleb looks up at Atlas, who immediately begins moving towards them; wait, what is he... the dagger? Is he going to give it to Caleb?

The moment Atlas does that, he steps back until he’s beside me. My brows furrow as I look at him, then back at Caleb again. He’s holding the dagger leisurely in his grasp as he toys with it, running the tip of the blade down Lisbon’s collar bone between her cleavage and dragging it lower until it’s right over her abdomen. Gulping, Lisbon narrows her eyes in disdain,

“You wouldn’t; if I die, then Sasha and her pathetic mate will never be free.” She spits the words as she glares at me. Smirking, Caleb starts to push the tip of the blade further against her stomach, which has her gasping as her body tenses in response,

“Who said anything about killing you? I told you that I don’t repeat myself, witch, now, what did I say about dying?” Gulping, she clenches her jaw in disgust as she lets out a low sigh,

“It must be earned,” She grumbles,

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that?” Caleb says sarcastically as he again pushes the blade further against her,

“Death must be earned,” She gasps as she blurts out the words; Caleb smirks, “And, have you earned the right to die?” Grinding her teeth, she again swallows hard,

“No.”

Keeping his eyes trained on mine, Caleb grins,

“What do you want from this witch, little one?” Swallowing hard, my brows furrow as I slowly step towards them, until I’m standing right in front of Lisbon, with Caleb tentatively looking into my eyes; I don’t look away from his eyes when I speak,

“I want her to break the curse she has on Wolf and me.” Smirking, Caleb fists his free hand through her hair as he pulls back, having Lisbon wince when he speaks in a low tone beside her ear again,

“Before you answer, make sure to think long and hard about where this dagger is pointing,” To make his point, he pushes the blade up against her even more, wincing Lisbon groans. I can tell that if Caleb goes any more, it’ll pierce her skin.

Her nostrils flare as she stares at me,

“I told you, to break the curse on you, someone close to your mate has to die, and that’s you; you’re the closest thing to him, aren’t you?” My brows furrow; I don’t like the way she just asked that question, like she’s implying that, in some way, it wouldn’t be me. The moment that girl I saw in the mirror comes back into my mind, I'm narrowing my eyes on Lisbon, I instantly feel shaky as I stare her down,

“The curse on us, it’s tied to you, isn’t it,” Narrowing her eyes on me, she keeps quiet, “So if you lose your abilities, then the curse will lose its power, won’t it?” It’s a complete shot in the dark, but there has to be another way of breaking it. She’s glaring daggers at me,

“You bitch, you...” Lisbon spews hateful comments at me when suddenly, Caleb unexpectedly drives the dagger straight into her stomach without warning. Lisbon gasps out loud as her eyes widen in horror; she suddenly chokes; at that moment, Lisbon suddenly begins rambling enchanted words at me, my brows furrowing when I realize what she’s doing; she’s breaking the curse.

“No, no, stop!” I snap at her to get her to stop chanting, but it’s too late; she’s already done it. I’m suddenly gasping, my eyes flying up to Caleb, and his eyes turn murderous as he pulls the dagger from her stomach; Lisbon instantly coughing up blood, and Caleb holds the blade of the dagger against her throat,

“If she dies, your blood will paint this fucking floor,” He growls, and Lisbon’s holding onto her stomach, blood pumping out of her stomach as the blade pushes against her throat.

Panting, I step back, bracing myself as I swing around to face Atlas, his eyes wide as he closes the gap and takes me into his arms, crushing me to his chest. My entire body trembles, all the while I’m whispering, “I love, I’m so sorry, I love you,” I sob as I push my face into Atlas’s chest; Wolf’s face is right there in my mind as I shut my eyes; every part is in such detail, his eyes, his nose, his mouth; tears are welling up in my eyes as I continue to think of every little inch of him I’m going to miss the second I die, the moment he dies.

A second turns into two, then five, then ten... lifting my head up to look at Atlas, he’s looking down at me, and I can see the confusion on his face; I’m still alive, wait, how am I still alive?

Sniffing, I pull away as I swing around to face Caleb and Lisbon, the look of confusion on her face tells me she’s just as surprised that I’m still standing, and she confirms it the moment she says,

“How are you still alive?” Swallowing down hard, my mouth goes slack, but then Lisbon smirks wickedly, “I guess you’re not the most important person in your mate’s life because someone just dropped dead somewhere, and if it wasn’t you, then maybe he’s moved on.” Gulping, I’m suddenly wiping away more tears as small gasps have me turning back to look at Atlas, his brow furrowing as his jaw clenches.

“Sasha,” The look of sympathy telling me all I need to know, he believes it too, Wolf moved on with someone else, most probably that blonde girl I saw, and now... she’s dead, and it’s because of me.

I’m about to say something when the door behind Atlas flies open. There’s suddenly a hell of a commotion going on outside that door as Asher storms in, his eyes wide as he takes in the scene before him.

“What the...” His jaw goes slack when he looks over at Caleb, who’s still holding the blade against her throat; he’s just about to say something when both Malvessa and Perseus barge in the room, and by the infuriated looks on their faces, something is definitely wrong.

Malvessa tilts her head, her eyes fixed on Caleb as she saunters closer, her eyes narrow as she glares at him, and I’m assuming she’s pissed over Lisbon the moment she speaks; however, that’s clearly not the case.

“Where is she?” She seethes, slowly tilting her head from one side to glaring daggers at him.

Wait, where’s who? What is she talking about?”

Caleb keeps his eyes zeroed in on her, the look in them even more threatening than it was with Lisbon, a leisurely smirk creeping up at the corners of his mouth as he watches her every move with stealthy precision; it looks like he’s calculating something in his head, the moment I focus on his lips, my brows furrow in response; wait, is he softly counting? Slowly tilting his head at her, his smirk turns into a grin when he shoves Lisbon aside so abruptly she falls, skidding as she slides across the floor.

Caleb moves so fast that I swear I almost miss it; grabbing his sword, still pinned to the floor, he spins back to face Malvessa, leisurely swinging his blade as his eyes light up with something so dark he suddenly looks like something between a god and hell.

Malvessa’s entire body tenses in response to Caleb’s hooded darkness,

“I should have known,” She sneers, “Pretending all this time, like you didn’t know when you knew all along.” I turn my head to give Atlas and Asher a questioning shrug; what is Malvessa talking about?

Smirking, Caleb slowly tilts his head at her. Still, he’s merely silently observing her while she continues to seethe venomous accusations at him. Perseus slowly walks over to stand beside Malvessa, glaring daggers at Caleb; what the hell is going on?

“Where is she?” Perseus grumbles, “Where is my mate?!” He shouts, and that one word, mate, has Caleb’s eyes snapping up towards Perseus as a deep growl reverberates through his chest, his dragon dangerously close to the surface,

“Call her that again, and I’ll cut out your tongue,” He growls, and the look on Perseus’s face as he takes a step back from Caleb, wait, is he scared of Caleb? Smirking, I can’t help replaceing this a little too amusing for words. Malvessa, on the other hand, snarls at Caleb as she screams in his face,

“Where is she, Caleb? Where is Vanya?!” And Caleb doesn’t even flinch. Wait, did Caleb take Vanya? Why?

“She’s somewhere you’ll never replace her,” He grumbles; Malvessa scoffs as a sinister grin creeps up at the corners of her mouth,

“You think you can just come into my home and take something that belongs to me?” Smirking, Caleb narrows his eyes on her,

“That belongs to you? Vanya has never belonged to you, she was mine the moment she was born, and you kept her from me, cursed me with a fake mate to stop us from being together.”

My eyes suddenly widen as my jaw drops, and I’m not the only one; Atlas and Asher look just as shocked as I am. So Vanya is Caleb’s... real fated mate? Scoffing, Malvessa shakes her head at Caleb,

“Give. Her. To. Me,” She snarls, and this only has Caleb’s jaw ticking in response,

“You want to play, let’s play,” He drawls out, a sinister smirk on his face; which suddenly sends Malvessa right over the deep end; she’s about to lunge at him when a sudden loud crash from somewhere in the castle has her and all of us swinging around and staring at the doorway,

“What now?!” She grumbles, suddenly making her way towards the doorway, snapping at Perseus to keep us here until she returns. When Malvessa is out of view, everyone’s energy shifts to Perseus, and we’re all glaring at him. Have you ever seen someone try and look big and evil, but the truth is they’re actually scared out of their minds? I think that Perseus is absolutely nothing without Malvessa in his corner. The boys are all glaring at Perseus; when Lisbon groans, she’s still lying on her side against the floor, spluttering up blood as she looks up at me; she looks faint, and she’s losing a lot of blood.

Don’t ask me why I do it, but I suddenly make my way over to her, kneeling beside her as I go to inspect her wound. She slaps my hand away, but she’s too weak to even put much effort into it, and it feels strange to see her like this, so vulnerable, especially after what she did to me; I was nothing more than an innocent girl then, a lot has changed in just a few months it seems.

I waste no time tearing the rest of the fabric surrounding her wound so that I can get a better look at her injury, grimacing when I see how deep it actually is. Lisbon looks up at me, her jaw clenching as her body tenses, but I don’t pay her any attention; instead, I gently place my hands over her gushing wound.

“W-what are you doing?” She pants,

“What does it look like I’m doing; I’m healing you.” Narrowing her eyes in confusion, she smirks,

“Why would you do that? I tried to kill you.”

“That’s you; that’s not me. Like it or not, we’re related to each other; you’re still my family, even if you are completely insane.” She chuckles, which has her instantly wincing in pain. “Stay still,” I retort as I finally close my eyes, focusing all my energy on her wound healing, knitting itself together as I feel my element illuminating through my body.

When I finally open my eyes and lift my hands away from her stomach, it’s completely healed. Looking over at her, she’s giving me a look I don’t recognize; it’s like a seize fire moment between us; when she suddenly diverts her eyes away from me,

“This doesn’t mean we’re friends; I still want to kill you,” She mumbles; smirking, I sigh in response,

“Of course,” And when she looks back up at me, a small smile forms against her mouth when she mumbles, “Thank you,” I’m about to say something when Malvessa barges into the room; she looks furious.

She suddenly begins chanting as she closes her eyes, and we’re all giving each other concerned looks when the entire room begins to blur and shift uncontrollably; what the hell is she doing?

~

The moment everything stops moving and spinning, I gasp when I notice we’re no longer in the room we were just in moments ago, we’re all standing in the Unseelie desert?

Atlas comes up to me and immediately takes my hand in his,

“Are you okay?” Nodding, I swallow hard as I look around, trying to figure out where we are. “Malvessa teleported us all here,” He mumbles as he looks around, his brows furrowing in response to our surroundings. There’s a lake nearby, and when I turn back around, the castle isn’t too far away from us. Why would Malvessa bring us here?

The sudden commotion in the near distance has Atlas and me turning our heads; only then do we see Malvessa spewing venomous words at Caleb; she’s shouting and screaming, her arms flying up in the air as she continues her verbal assault on him,

“She was here; now, where did you take her?” She snarls, but before Caleb can respond, a large shadow suddenly flies overhead, and I’m instantly looking up into the early morning sky. The moment an enormous dragon lands a few feet away from us with a loud thud, it immediately roars at us, and I'm blocking my ears in response as I grimace at how terrifying this monster is; gasping I stumble back as I fall right against my butt; the dragon is giant, even more significant than what I’ve seen so far, it’s red and full of sharp horns coming out most parts of its body, even its eyes are red.

“Ronan,” Atlas grumbles as he narrows his eyes on the beast.

I’m still staring at the terrifying monster when a girl slides down from the dragon; narrowing my eyes, they instantly widen when I realize who it is.

"Eris."