“I wish Beast could be here,” Laurent whimpered when blue lightning ripped the sky apart yet again, and a sob tore out of his chest no matter how much he fought against it. “He might never know.”
He might be dead, a vile little voice suggested in his mind.
“At least you got to see our children,” Laurent whispered, and grasped Magpie’s hand. No longer was this demonic creature something to be wary of. Magpie did care. He really did, so maybe throughout the long years of his existence, he had become human after all. “It is a great privilege to be with family as death approaches.”
Magpie stared back and squeezed his hand in return. “I’ve been excited, curious of what will grow in this shell, but it’s so much more than I imagined. I never even hoped for what I now know is true. I...” A strange vulnerability appeared on Magpie’s face. “I’ve never understood love before this.”
Laurent just listened, cradling the child in his arms, because there was nowhere to run. He got choked up when he stared down at his flesh and blood, knowing that he’d selfishly brought them into a dying world.
He shut his eyes and kissed Marcel’s head when the child started whimpering again. The ground shook, warning them of things they couldn’t stop, but when Magpie’s warm hand slipped out of his own, he clutched at it in a frantic grasp.
“Stay,” he begged, opening his eyes to look at the creature who had given him this wonderful and terrible moment.
Magpie shook his head, his face perfectly neutral. “Give them a good life.”
Laurent didn’t understand. But now that he’d opened his eyes, it was impossible to ignore the gash in the ground nearby, already growling and releasing the pale blue light that meant death.
“Where are you going? Have you come up with something? Can I help?”
But Magpie stretched, watching Laurent from behind streaks of wet hair. “No. You need to stay. Those children? They are me, so take care of them. I could never truly understand humanity, while always wanting to be a part of it. I think… that I’m now one of you,” he said softly and pinned Laurent’s silver brooch to his vest.
Laurent choked out a sob. “Take it, I want you to keep it.”
Magpie smiled at the boy held by Malachite. “Give it to him and I will.”
Malachite moved as if he intended to follow, but Magpie stopped him with a gesture.
“Master?” the man croaked in a raspy voice that sounded as if it hadn’t been used for years. Laurent only then realized that he’d never heard him speak. This was the first time.
“The child with my eyes. He will be your master once he is of age,” Magpie said, pointing his long finger Laurent’s way. “Until then, you will obey his father. Do your duty until the end of your contract, and you will be rewarded like I promised.”
Understanding hit Laurent like a stab to the heart. “Thank you for being their godfather,” he choked out.
The violent wind combined with thunder caused Laurent’s ears pain. It would have been right to try to stop Magpie from what he was about to do, but Laurent knew better. The sacrifice Jasper was going to make was an act of love, not empty courage. So he lay on the damp robe to hold all the children close when another tremor shook the earth and made the infants squeal. The goo that had surrounded them in the egg was now dampening Laurent’s clothes, but all he wanted was to keep the babies warm
Magpie hesitated, squeezing his hands and taking slow, laborious breaths as he faced the upcoming destruction. “Thank you for letting me be a part of this, for making me understand,” he said. His body remained rigid, but he eventually looked at the widening hole beside the collapsed wall and approached it in silence.
Dust floated into the red-tinted air, and for the briefest moment, Laurent saw a tall shadow with horns and long claws reach for Magpie as he descended into the abyss.
Chapter 25 - Beast
The howling wind pulled threads of fire off the tree, sending kindling particles into the air. In the infernal chaos of scorch, howling, and fumes that bit into noses and throats, the burning wooden fingers elongated, reaching for Beast’s aching flesh. The dust flew into his eyes like hail, but despite the all-too-familiar panic, this time, Beast knew he couldn’t run from the fire. For Laurent. For Marcel. For all his family and friends.
He still flinched when the tree turned into a giant torch. Jake’s gargoyle form was only a dark figure above, but so was the surge of liquid from the canister he was holding. Gasoline combusted the moment it splashed the inflamed branches and soared, reaching Jake just before he dropped the container, but there wasn’t a fire in this world capable of penetrating his stone skin. If any civilians had stayed behind and were now witnessing the creature in action, Beast refused to care. It wasn’t like police mattered anymore when the end of the world could swallow them all.