I’m back there again. In the midst of the flames, dragging my body through the rubble trying desperately to get to them. Sharp metal scrapes against my torso, forcing an animalistic sound from my throat as I try and fail to push it away. It cuts me deep, and flames lick along my clothing, singeing my skin. The smell of burned hair and flesh nauseate me, but I have to keep going, for them.

Footsteps move past me, echoing across the floor like heavy artillery.

"Get back!" someone yells.

I try to see through the smoke. The flames. The pieces of bodies around me. But I never can. A cough explodes through the air and sweat drips down my neck as a familiar voice calls out to me.

"Take her outside."

Heat seeps into the fibrous tissue of my scars, deepening the ache. The itch. My brother and father aren't here anymore. I can't see them. And when reality yanks me back, it's Ivy standing in front of me, wide-eyed and horrified.

"Take her outside!" Marco yells, shoving her in my direction. "I'll put this out. Go!"

It takes me a moment to find my balance and re-orient. And slowly, the pieces start to fall into place as I dissect one nightmare from another. My fingers curl around Ivy's arm like an iron trap, and she cries out as I drag her from the chapel out into the fresh air.

She yanks away from me, coughing and trying to catch her breath as I blink at her, trying to understand. Chest heaving, venom filling my veins, souring any sweetness there may have been between us. My traitorous fucking wife.

"What did you do?" I growl.

She wipes her face and shakes her head, refusing to answer. Refusing to look at me. She may as well have poured accelerant on my already volatile mood.

"What. Did. You. Do?" I snarl, capturing her around the arms and shaking her.

Her mouth falls open, the picture of horror as she looks up at me like she doesn't recognize me. And I suppose she doesn't. She hasn't met this monster yet. She hasn't known a rage like she's just provoked.

"Answer me!" I roar, my breath whipping strands of hair across her face.

"Let me go!" She hurls her words back at me, shoving against me with all her might.

"Let you go?" I mock her pathetic words. "Let you go? Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm not letting you go until you're fucking dead."

"I hate you!" she screams. "I would rather die than stay here with you."

"That can be arranged," I answer darkly.

Her lip trembles as she looks up at me, eyes shining in the moonlight. "Then do it. Quit threatening me and just do it."

I grab her by the throat and drag her forward, forcing her onto her toes. "Don't tempt me."