When my eyes could see again, I was standing somewhere unexpected. The first thing I noticed was my feet standing amongst the brush of a wild and unkempt area. But when I looked up at my surroundings, I saw a sprawling, overgrown house that hid in the dark of the trees. It was Martin’s safe house. Why did the entity send me to my home, and not straight to Peter? However, when I looked down at myself, I was glad he did.

  As I walked forward towards the house, I realized that the clothes that had appeared on me before I went with Entity-Jon, to see Annabelle’s death, were gone. Whatever that was in the space between worlds wasn’t physical. I guess it would be too much to ask for him to materialize clothes out of thin air. I didn’t think he would perform such trivial tasks for me, even if he could.

  I walked up the cloaked porch and gripped the doorknob, powering through the latch mechanism without care for damage. I was on a mission, and nothing would stop me.

  A few short minutes later, I was clothed. I plowed back through the front door, bounding out into the surrounding woods that cradled my current home. I was running, but I wasn’t panicking or worried about my family. I had a calmness about me that I didn’t usually have when I was given a name and the vision. I felt the heat inside of my flesh as the monster pushed on the borders of its cage. Deeper within my mind, I felt stillness. There was a certainty in what I was doing that made me so focused and free of any fears for my friends. I felt the cool air of approaching winter whipping past my face as I bound toward Peter. His Primeval was dead… and Peter was just a lingering ember of its corrupted power.

  For a few moments, the noise of the world around me fell away, and I felt like I was moving through a void where only I existed. Everything that was happening to me seemed to be finally coming together. Things that happened, things that were said, and things I had seen were all converging and sorting themselves in my mind in a way that let me see things from a higher perspective. As I moved, the only sound that filled the silent void around me was the slow and steady beating of the thunderous heart from the fields. The heart of Myordrakien… the Primeval of Annihilation.

  Before, I was always under the impression that I was just some kind of monster. I thought that I was alone in a human world where I’d rip and destroy the people until only I was left, so I hid. I was unique and unexplainable; so was the being from the fields. Now… with the revelations about the Primevals… and the power that dwelled within me, and the connection to the massive grave of Myordrakien’s still-beating heart… I knew. An answer had finally been uncovered. But more remained to be found.

  After everything that happened with Mercy and her coven, as well as Phineas, I knew that the Entity that gave me my monster and summoned me to do his bidding was beyond me. Even still… he was beyond Myordrakien. His power made my own strength pale in comparison. Yet, I always trusted it… him… whatever the entity was. When the time came to be summoned, I followed. There was something about the dominating power that he emanated, even from just his voice, that felt like a storm overtaking me. When I was within his power, I felt utterly helpless, like the monster within me was nothing but a pet on his master’s leash. Even though I couldn’t understand him or find any answers about him within the Chasse’s vast library of knowledge, I trusted that overwhelming power in those few short moments when he’d reach out to me. The moments he spoke to me were solid pieces of time that always brought me to understand and accept a little bit more of the dark part of myself.

  It was only in the times in between contact that I started to doubt. Other ideas would pop into my mind the longer the time went between our interactions. Once Eleanor remembered her time with me in the fields and being near the cloaked figure, the family had ideas that gave me doubts. Again, when I told Autumn and the rest of the family about my interactions with Entity-Jon, they gave me new ideas that pulled me away. My mind would start to understand, and then I’d hear something else that made me doubt. What if he were some kind of witch or necromancer like Peter Grimwood?

  I had my suspicions once the necromancer idea came up. What if everything they had told me, Jon and the Entity, was just to get me suckered into being the monster? Many different versions of this deception manifested in my suspicious mind. What if they told me whatever they needed to get me to stay as the monster? What if it was all a lie? That’s what I used to think in my darkest days… that I was a ruthless killer who thought he was doing some kind of good, only to be blinded to the truth; that I was the physical hand of an evil human soul that found the darkest of powers. I feared that I wasn’t balancing anything and that the people I escorted to their last breaths were actually innocent. What if the images I saw were lies?

  That was then, but now I had an insight. It was the moment my black eyes connected with the burning orange irises of the Unseen. He was a being from another dimension that made mortal men and women the foundation of his kingdom. He collected dark and twisted souls of the living world to do his bidding. He used them… and their victims to build and spread his power while he hid in that place. Hiding from Myordrakien… or maybe the entity.

  However, when he saw my strength, saw me pull the blade from the hidden realm it was kept in, and realized what I was… he was scared. That was the moment things started coming together for me. Why would a titan from another plane of existence fear me? But it wasn't me he feared ultimately, it was the power I had within myself… the authority that the entity said he gave me to command more of Myordrakien’s power and form. The Entity… that’s what the Unseen Primeval truly feared.

  Then the short moment with Annabelle was the cherry on top. She died and was in a place between life and death. I saw her body on the ground, but I spoke with her there like she was still alive, only she was passing on. I saw Jon there behind me, but Annabelle saw someone else. She saw her husband. Annabelle called him Michael right in front of me, and he took her arm and led her into the beyond to be with her loved ones.

  Everything was coming into view for the first time. All of the individual facts and circumstances were pulled together in my mind to form one big painting that told me a story. Thinking back, I had thoughts before about what he could be. They were fleeting ideas that didn’t stay long due to the insanity of it all. Even now, in the moment of realization, I could feel my rational mind pushing back against what I was inching towards. However, it was this realization that kept my mind calm. As the thoughts became more tangible and real, the more the calm demeanor flooded throughout my body. The truth gave me clarity.

  In only moments, I made it to the Chasse property under the cover of night. My legs slowed to walk through the last few feet of trees. Sounds returned to my ears, and the thunderous beat of the Primeval heart subsided. I could see and hear precisely what was happening in the backyard of the great Chasse property. I felt like I passed through a fog as soon as I left the trees. It felt familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Whatever it was, it was not of my doing, but it didn’t deter me. I knew what I’d do, and that Peter wouldn’t leave this place alive.

  Everyone was there: all of our friends, family, and even Charles’ two cohorts that had been sent from below the city. They were all there in an aggressive state. All the hunters, attuned, and monsters looked into the middle of the grassy area at two individuals. Shelta stood high above a kneeling Peter, looking like she was exerting herself to the highest degree. Peter looked like he was resisting her efforts as much as he could, but he couldn’t stand.

  The fight had already happened; I missed it… again. Everyone looked beaten and bloody, but they were all still standing. On the ground at their feet were the bodies of more disgusting devourers, and a few creatures with chalky white skin and faded red eyes. They looked like some kind of vampire, especially since I saw Alex pinning one to the ground with her indomitable strength as she sucked the life from it. She only fed on vampires, so this was definitely what they were. Through my focused intent, I scanned the field for Autumn, Eleanor, and Carter, only to see them catching their breath over a pile of eviscerated creatures that had attacked and failed. Autumn had scratches and cuts across her arms and face, but she was okay. They all were okay, just as I knew they would be.

  Autumn was dirty and covered in blood, but I could still see the same beautiful face under it all. Her dark hair was tied back in a slick ponytail, and she was dressed in the same tactical fighting gear that she usually wore into hunts. I didn’t see any ranged weaponry on her, only knives and handguns like her father was typically equipped with. They must have had to improvise for whatever they had planned out. I wanted to go to her and see her up close, touch her, and make sure she was okay, but I had to finish this.

  Whatever their plan was, it had worked up to this point. There were no creatures left standing that meant my friends any harm, only the overpowered Peter.

  I felt like I was having déjà vu when I saw it all, but then I remembered Annabelle’s words. She said that once she transferred her power to Shelta, she would have enough power to contain Peter. However, I would be the one to ultimately finish the dark-attuned. Everything was as she said, even me being there in her dying moments. Only I wasn’t there in a physical sense, but I was there to meet her spirit.

  Everyone was worn out and distracted from the carnage and chaos of the fighting. Jane, Alan, and Eloise were all side by side and looking feral as ever, while Frank stayed close but armed with a silver machete. The bodies piled around them were numerous and ripped to pieces. Most of them were devourers, but I saw a few more human-looking bodies, which I sensed were vampires.

  Charles and his two friends from the pits lingered close to Shelta, but far enough away that they would be out of reach of Peter. I think they all feared that if he got too close, he’d steal their life just as he had with Zeke and Bartley.

  The fighting was over, and Peter was down, but they seemed to be caught in a standstill. They didn’t seem like they knew of a way to kill Peter, and we’re relying solely on Shelta to keep him in place. I began to wonder if Annabelle told her I would come, or if she was standing there, hoping to figure out a plan.

  No one realized I was there. They all must have been too caught up and distracted with everything else that they did not see the shadow that crept through the darkness of the yard. The way I moved and entered the area felt different, almost like I wasn’t physically there but still in the place between the living and the dead, like when I saw Annabelle. I couldn’t tell the difference in Shelta’s home, so I didn’t think I would be able to tell now, but I had been physical again. That’s how I got dressed in the safe house… unless I slipped back into this state-of-being again somehow. Yet it seemed like no one could sense my presence, which was incredibly strange since the wind was at my back, and there were multiple werewolves present. I used this to my advantage and came upon Shelta and Peter slowly, just in case anyone became aware of my presence. Once I was a foot away from Peter, it happened.

  Peter's eyes flashed green, and a force of power shot out from him in all directions as a scream escaped his throat. He was using all the power he had to fight back against the superior strength of the Wicklow family. Shelta fell backward at the shockwave as well as everyone else, stumbling out of their recovering stances. Peter stood as they all fell to their knees.

  “You think you’ve won? You cannot win against my power! I grow in strength with every kill while you all slowly fail,” Peter yelled at them angrily. His devilish grin was replaced by snarling hatred. His eyes burned with the same green power that he used when he stole a life. “I’m going to take you all! None of your families will be left standing. I’m going to tear you down like your family did to mine.” Peter's eyes burned greener as he stepped towards Shelta.

  Shelta tried clawing away on her hands and knees. One of the strangers that Charles brought attacked Peter, turning into the same translucent ghost-form that he had struck him with before in Martin’s parking lot. The intangible creature flew across the grassy field over the dead bodies and tried to rip Peter's throat out. Yet, the poor man was ripped out of the air by Peter’s grip. He somehow pulled the ghost back into its physical form and clapped both of his hands around the strange ally’s neck. Peter’s eyes pulsed instantly as he made contact with the stranger. In an instant, and only one touch, the fighter's body went limp and was cast down to the earth. Peter had killed him and stolen his life and power.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It was a shock to everyone in the expanse. Even I had to admit that I did not see that coming, especially with that man’s strange ability. He seemed powerful, but he was just snuffed out like a small flame in the wind against Peter’s unnatural power. Yet, I still knew how this would end. It didn’t matter to me how much power Peter attained. I knew that it would be me who ended this corrupted man’s life… to annihilate him.

  As Peter turned back towards Shelta, and everyone else tried to regain their footing and composure, I felt the fog clear. It was a quick change, like I had just walked through the border of something paper-thin. As soon as I passed through the strange feeling, my presence was detected. I was only about five to ten yards behind Peter, in full view of all of my onlooking friends and adoptive family. Nobody spoke a word. As soon as I stepped through, I felt the dominating power rolling off me in waves like it did when I first saw the Entity in the fields. It was pouring from me and filling the area, affecting everyone's mental state. Nobody else could speak; all they could do was stand locked in place and watch.

  Peter found the strength to speak, “You… how?” he was at a total loss. “You cannot be here…”

  “This is where I’m meant to be.”

  “How did you escape?” Peter asked feverishly. “No living thing can escape that hell on its own. My master should have consumed you with his power!” Peter actually stumbled back at the feeling of my force as it washed over the area.

  “Your master was weak.” I raised my hand to look at my fingers, where my own lengthy talons were now starting to protrude. “He fell… just like you will.”

  “No…” Peter was scatterbrained as he tried to make sense of it in front of me. His small mind couldn’t comprehend what I was finally coming to understand. Then the same overconfident smile spread across his face, ear to ear. “Maybe he’s losing his power… maybe I’m stronger than him now! If that’s the case…” Peter looked up at me. His eyes were wide at the possibilities running through his brain. He was genuinely losing his mind.

  “You think you’re strong enough now?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Peter answered, “that’s exactly what I think.”

  “Well, why don’t you try it?” I calmed the power that emanated from me. I wanted him to regain his composure and find the strength to come to me.

  “Sam!” Autumn yelled out through the area. “Sam, don’t let him touch you!” She was frantic and running. She was coming straight for us.

  Thankfully, Carter sprinted and slammed into her, crashing down to the ground where he pinned her from continuing towards the soul-stealing necromancer. She fought and struggled against her dad to get to me.

  “Let me go,” Autumn begged her father. “Please, Dad!”

  Eleanor ran over to them, “Autumn, don’t! He’ll kill you! He’ll take you from us!” Eleanor helped Carter pin Autumn down, who was still fighting with all of her might to get loose. She was trying to protect me.

  I was thankful that they were there to stop her. If she were alone, she would have most definitely made it to us, and Peter might have been able to take her from me forever. It was for her own good. I couldn’t lose her… I needed her for what I felt was coming in my future. The more I realized the truth about what I was, the more I knew I needed her to be with me. I just hoped she would want me once she knew the truth.

  Peter ignored what was happening with the Chasse family and stepped up to me without hesitation once I let my dominating presence subside. “Your power will be mine, and then I’ll kill them all,” he barked as he smashed his hand around my throat. Peter’s eyes burned even brighter green than before. He stared into my human, blue eyes as he attempted to steal my inhuman strength and lifeforce from me. I could feel his mental strain and effort against my own being, but it was fruitless.

  I reached up and grabbed his hand on my throat. His green eyes shot around, looking up and down from my obsidian orbs to his hand. He was struggling and confused. He was so confident in what he would do to me that this was never an outcome that could have happened in his mind.

  I felt the fog wrap me back up in a smothering haze as soon as I grabbed Peter’s hand. I think I was starting to understand what that feeling was. I didn’t feel like I was totally in the living world anymore. I think the Entity was allowing me to walk between the planes of the living world like we did with Annabelle. The family couldn’t see us anymore; to them, we had disappeared out of thin air as soon as I touched Peter.

  “Thank you,” I told him. “I hoped I could do this without letting you escape. You walked right in on your own free will.”

  “How? How are you not falling?” he spat through his rage as he couldn’t understand.

  The calm around me was still as present as it had been since I was given his name. “I have no life to take, Peter. My life was given away to save someone else,” I said, looking back towards the silent Eleanor. The three Chasses searched intently from the ground as their own fighting had stopped. They had no clue that we were right there, just on the other side of life. “Even if I still had my life, you wouldn’t be able to stop me. I’m not alive… but I’m not dead either. I’m powered by something that lives in between the living world and what lies beyond.” I smiled at Peter as I slowly twisted his hand away from my throat, straining and cracking his bones in my vice-like grip.

  Peter screamed under the slowly building pressure that overcame his own structural integrity. “Stop! It doesn’t matter. You’ll kill me, and I’ll just keep coming back. If I can’t kill you, then I’ll just kill everyone you care about… Sam Roberts.” He said my name.

  How did he know that name? The way he said it was like he knew something about my secrets; it through off my composure for a moment.

  “Yes… That’s right. I know about your family and where you come from. I’ve seen your brother… and might I say, you two are very identical. I’ve seen Vicky and Ben, and I’ve smelled the head of that precious little Caydee,” Peter’s creepy smile returned. “You see, Sam, I do my research. I know people… real close, and they help me find out things. When you slaughtered Darry and freed Allen, I knew I had to come meet you. Everything I had heard was too good to be true. I knew your power would be mine; I just had to figure you out. Once I saw the power for myself, the monstrosity of that beast within you… I knew I had no chance against you, not until I grew much stronger. Still, I’m not a match, not yet. I had to find some kind of weakness, and I did. I know exactly where all of your family sleeps at night. I’ve placed my hand on that little girl of yours.”

  I was in shock, still maintaining control over Peter with his arm, but my mind was somewhere else. Thoughts of his evil power anywhere near Caydee, Seth, Vicky, or any of them made my blood boil. He was so close to them, and I had no idea.

  “What did you do to them?” I ordered him to answer, twisting his arm a few more degrees past the break.

  “Ahh!” Peter screamed in pain, huffing heavily as he regained his composure. “Nothing yet, Sam. But don’t worry, I will. It doesn’t matter how many times you kill me, I will come back, and I will get to them. I will take everything from you, just as I will take from them,” Peter snarled towards the collective family watching from a distance. “So, go ahead, turn into that thing. Turn into that raging beast and snuff me out, because the quicker you do it, the quicker I can return to torment you and your family. It doesn’t matter what you are… I will keep coming back.” He spoke the purest of facts from within his evil mind.

  But he didn’t understand… the Unseen was dead.

  The calm returned to my thoughts, reassuring me of the truth that was already set in motion, “No… You won’t.”

  Peter’s smile dissipated slowly, unsure of my own confidence. I think he finally understood that I knew something he didn’t.

  “What is this?” He looked around, feeling the strange atmosphere of the place we now stood. He started to notice all the others as they moved and spoke after we disappeared, but they made no sounds. The world was utterly silent, except for us two, as the living were trying to figure out what exactly had happened to us. They had no clue where we had gone.

  Autumn finally broke away from her parents and ran to the place where we had stood. She passed through Peter and me, actually running through our bodies like a ghost, totally disconnected from our location. Peter’s eyes grew wide at the sight of people passing through his body like he was already a lost spirit that hadn’t passed on.

  “Where are we… what did you do?” he ordered me to tell him.

  “I didn’t do this, Peter,” I said as I motioned around us. “But this is it. There’s no coming back after this one.”

  Then, I felt a power unfurl around us… but it was not my own. I saw in Peter’s fading green eyes that he knew what I said to be true.

  “No!” he screamed as I snapped his arm entirely in two before letting him go. The pain didn’t deter him as he tried to escape. He tried to turn instantly as I folded up his arm to flee through a fiery portal, but he was already dead.

  From within the developing power around us, a dark, cloaked figure arrived in the in-between. The Being that I served stepped forth into the silent world about twenty yards from us, and the force he brought with him was inescapable. The whole world around us kept living completely unaware, but on this side of the veil, the world as a whole was shaking. Peter stumbled back as the earsplitting hum pierced our senses, falling to the ground below. He tried pushing up from the dirt, but his broken arm didn’t allow him much ability to raise himself from the ground. Even if he could stand and flee, it wouldn’t matter; there was nowhere he could hide from what was coming.

  Peter fumbled and crawled away from the menacing power that the cloak of shadows brought with it. It was useless. There in that moment was Peter Grimwood’s last breath. He didn’t fall by my hands… he died by the hand of the most powerful presence I had ever felt; the Entity.

  The surrounding darkness grew so large that Peter and I were both surrounded by shadows. I could still see him through the darkness of the umbral storm that the Entity developed around us. Peter’s eyes were terrified. I could barely stand in the presence of such power, but I knew it wasn’t my own body that allowed it. My monster’s creator was permitting me to continue to use my legs. That was the only reason. He wasn’t here for me, but for Peter.

  “Please… I’ll do anything. Just let me live,” Peter’s last plea could barely be heard through the raging power that surrounded us. We were in a literal storm of darkness that raged around us like a hurricane.

  The being spoke, “Peter Grimwood.” The voice overpowered the ambient noise of the storm.

  Then, the shadows overcame him. Peter disappeared out of sight, swallowed up by the swirling darkness that filled the in-between. I tried to watch, but my eyes were filled with the blackness of the raging shadows. Through the storm, I could hear a faint scream that called out for help… he’d find none.

  In those moments in the in-between, wholly enveloped in the Entity’s dominating power… I felt at peace. I just stood in the darkness that consumed Peter and realized the truth. It was the slow truth that I came to realize over the two years of this life. I always had the questions, and deep down, a part of me always had the answers. I felt it in the darkest parts of my mind where the monster hid… where the Primeval was caged. I knew what I was. I knew what Jon was before me… and I knew what the Being from the fields was. Everything about me was sure now. I had no more questions about my identity; that chapter of my story was closed. Everything that came next was only how I would live with it.

  I started speaking to the shadows, knowing that he could hear me. I wanted him to know that I understood now. I knew who the Entity was… and it was terrifying.

  “I was turned into this monster by you… I’ve never craved flesh, or blood, or anything from the bodies of my victims, but I was satisfied in some way. The Primeval of Annihilation craves death… and it made a deal with you after the others turned against it. The blade is from you… and it feeds the Primeval… keeps me in control… You send me names of those that have unnaturally extended their lives; gained more power than they ever should have had.” I lightly chuckled to myself for being so blind before. “That was just another way to say it, wasn’t it?” I asked the blackness that swarmed me. “They cheated you, and now I know who you are…”

  The shadows swarmed violently to one area in front of me, collecting into some kind of towering mass. The black tendrils of shadow whipped past me forcefully as they all grouped into one form. No longer was the storm raging around me, but it was pushing past me to one location. It was like a massive windstorm blowing past as it all grouped into one spot.

  I looked down as the darkness faded from my surroundings and collected in one area. The ground where Peter last stood was now vacant, with no sign that he was ever there. I felt no other life in that place. Peter Grimwood was no more.

  The shadows grew taller, thicker, and darker as they came together. The form was massive as I craned my head up to look upon it all. It formed a towering figure that took on the similar shape of the cloaked being that was there the night I was killed; that lingered in the distances of the fields, just on the horizon.

  The world around us faded, and I stood as an insect in the presence of something far more significant than myself; even Myordrakien mentally lowered its head within the cage. He was so gigantic that if he could have cast a shadow in this blackened world, it would have stretched for miles. Standing in front of me was a mountainous being of inescapable doom. It was Death himself.

  “Now you see, Sam,” his thunderous voice vibrated my entire body. “This is the truth. I am no mortal. I am no necromancer. I am Death, and you are my hand in the physical world.”

  The power was devastating as I basked in it. I had no power against him… nothing I could do to resist him. Yet, I was at peace in the raging shadows that this unfathomable being cast out from himself. In those moments that would be seared into my memory for the rest of my life… I felt calm. I knew who he was, and I knew who I was to him. I was just as Jon said, ‘De Manu Mortis’… Hand of Death. But… I was so much more than just that. The first Hand of Death was inside of me… the Primeval of Annihilation; Myordrakien.

  The blackness turned to white, blinding my eyes from the visage of the timeless entity. I caught one last glimpse of Death’s towering form before I was utterly blinded, and I faded from that veiled world.