Hell Upside Down

Chapter 31

Chapter 31- Preparation

Point of view Ashton Rex

We arrived back on campus and parked in front of the main building where Lilith was standing, with her two reptiles on each shoulder. Three other guards surrounded her but as soon as I stepped out of the car, and nodded my head, she understood that we were going to go through this ceremony. She quickly dismissed the guards.

"Go back to your room and get ready for the festivities. The ceremony will be happening tomorrow night." I indicated to Alena.

She nodded before heading towards the dorms. For the next twenty-four hours, I wasn't going to see Alena. It was bad luck, and I had much to do.

Lilith came forward. Her pale skin was slowly gaining back its glow. She didn't comment that we had disappeared for that long. Alena and I would have been dismissed from this place in normal circumstances. But these were not normal circumstances.

"I invited Nikita. I thought you would have wanted him here. He'll be staying with you in the guest room."

I nodded my head once again. While I was turning towards the motels, where the guest stayed, Lilith grabbed my shoulder.

"Keys." She indicated while showing me her hands.

I cracked a smile before dropping the keys to the stolen BMW. As she rolled her eyes, she closed her hands and walked away. I did the same and headed towards the motels. It was very close to the main campus and not that far away from the forest and the Shadow Dorms. I was so tempted to join Alena and taste her skin again, but I couldn't do that. It was not the place.

I walked through the front doors of the old motels. The furniture and the paper paint have been unchanged since the mid-1960s. However, everything still looked brand new. This is what magic can do.

I asked the front desk where I could find a room for Nikita. They indicated me to room 209, which was on the second floor. I was a bit nervous to see him, but as I walked through the door to see a tall man with blond hair, he grabbed me into a hug.

"I missed you, bud." He tapped my back before putting his long blonde hair behind his ears.

After my grandma had died, my parents barely even took the time to check on me. They weren't ready to move back to the United States. When Cookie died, they were still living in Costa Rica and had no attention to changing their lives for the mistake they had made nineteen years ago.

Nikita was my best friend in high school. At that time, I had many friends and even admirers from the crazy humans who followed me. However, I always found peace in Nikita. We met while playing sports. When I arrived at Cookie's house, she fought the chubby side of me and put me into ice hockey. The first year, I met Nikita at the rink. He stood out right from the get-go with his strong Russian accent and ability to always be clueless. He also stood out because we were very similar. Partly because he was crazy good at hockey and the only other guy at the school who could pull girls and gets people's attention just by being good at what he did. However, we both weren't interested in that kind of stuff. We didn't care about girls. They were a waste of time.

The days spent at the rink were my years of normalcy. I was living among the humans, and besides a few fires and nightmares, in my opinion, I made it alright. And even though I was done with hockey after my senior year, and Nikita was already playing hockey in college, we never lost touch.

Hellia University was dying to have Nikita. He would have been part of the Shadow Cast as well. Nikita's body was different they all of us. He could breathe under the water and survive in crazy temperatures. Especially the cold ones. His body was crazy fast. No one could ever skate as fast as him.

But here he was, at the start of his hockey season, Nikita was not on the ice. He was here, right with me.

We sat down on the two beds, facing each other. This reminded us of the many nights on the road, playing for different teams all around the country. Nikita's build was still very athletic, while mine changed differently after I picked up boxing and other combat sports with Mrs. Rose.

"I can't believe you're here," I say, still amazed at seeing the only person I have left in my life.

He laughed it off. "I was supposed to pick you up for Thanksgiving break anyways. So, might as well come a bit early for the most important day of your life."

We cached up for the rest of day. He talked about his university, and his experience while continuing to be among humans. While I talked to him about Alena. I told him everything, the day we met, the night we went to the nightclub, our first kiss, all the way to last night.

We ordered food and watched movies. Nikita loved movies. He always commented on them after they were done. Nikita always analyzed every single detail of almost everything. He loved art, and music, and always had something to say about movies.

***

Today was the big day. Nikita and I moved to the main hall. The chapel that has been here since we can remember. This building was older than some of the buildings in Paris older than the cathedral Notre Dame. This building always left everyone speechless.

This is where everything started. This is where I felt the tingling in my skin where everyone was present. This was the first sign that my soulmate was not far away. This was the first time I had heard the prophecy that changed my life. Everyone knew that I had the mark of the moon. A mark that Gramma Cookie always loved and was proud of. If I knew it would link me to this, I probably would have tried to hide it more.

Today, we were going to end the chaos and the deaths.

Nikita was with me in the groom's room dedicated to his ceremony. He was already wearing a suit. Something he was very familiar with, with his hockey games. He looked cleaned and had put gel in his hair to pull it back. It reminded me of the time when he had much shorter hair and would always gel his hair is like a porcupine way. I always made fun of him for that.

I got into my navy-blue suit and got my hair ready as well. It wasn't Nikita's hair, but it slowly getting there.

Nikita pulled two shot glasses out of his pocket and poured the bottle of Vodka that had appeared from God knows where.

"This is for you." He said while lifting his glass. We drank together. I had a slight facial expression after the strong taste of the alcohol, but my best friend didn't. It looked like he was drinking water.

"Your life is about to change forever." He added.

I rolled my eyes before hugging him one last time. "I know, I know," I commented.

I didn't want to think about it. Shivers went up to my spine. It was true, the soulmate link was strong, but it was nothing compared to once the link was complete. Our thoughts, and sensation would sometimes merge. We no longer live for ourselves. Gravity was no longer pulling us down to earth. Once the bond was completed, I was going to live for her, and Alena would be the one to keep me on this earth. After this ceremony, I will no longer fear hell, but rather a life without her.