Clarissa's POV

Anya was dying in front of us. Even though I didn’t like her, it was still hard for me to watch. I never thought that Damon would be the one actually to kill her. I thought he would never be able to do something like that.

“Anya!” Willow screams as she holds her head in her lap. “Please. No! No! No!”

Anya gently touches her cheek and gazes up at her. “Don’t cry.”

“You’re all that I have!” She screams. “Please don’t leave me. I beg you. Please don’t go.”

Dante drops to the ground next to her with tears in his eyes. Even Damon and Atticus seemed to be affected by seeing her like this. None of them wanted her dead despite everything she’d put them through.

Anya drags her gaze away from her sister to look at Dante. Her hands are shaking as she takes his hand in hers. “I know it’s too late to—” she coughs up blood but still tries to speak. “To apologize. I’m all that Willow has left. I know after I die, the spell I left on you will disappear also. But please, I beg of you. Please.”

“Please, what?” Dante asks her almost desperately as she continues to cough up blood. I can see the fear in his eyes. He knows that he’s losing her forever. I can’t imagine the pain that he must feel to know that he will never see her again.

“Please marry my sister.”

A dead silence follows.

We’re all shocked by her words. No one is making a sound except her. She’s crying, begging him now to marry Willow. She’s repeating herself, over and over again.

“Anya—”

“Don’t refuse me,” she begs. “Your love was never real. It was a spell. I know that. You don’t owe me anything, not after how much I’ve hurt and betrayed you. But please, I’m begging you, please marry her. She has no one. No one. She needs someone in her life. Out of everyone, I know you’ll protect her the most. I trust you the most to take care of her.”

Dante looks heartbroken as he listens to Anya. I don’t care what she says; he loves her, spells or not; Dante was in love with her. How could he marry her sister?

“She’s just a child,” Dante tries to tell her. “She’s too young.”

She wasn’t just a child. How old was Willow?

“She’s seventeen,” she disagrees. “You’re not that much older than her. I can only go peacefully if you promise to marry her, Dante. Please. Please do it for me. I’m begging you. I’m begging.”

It was hard watching this. Willow wasn’t even getting the chance to grieve for her sister.

“What if I promise to care for her without marrying her?” He asks her desperately. Dante didn’t want to marry her, I could tell. Why would he? Anya was the one he loved, and she was dying in front of him.

“No,” she cries. “It’s not enough. If you marry her, she will have a good life. Everyone will be fucking willing to accept her. Let her join the Academy with you. Please, marry her, Dante. It’s my dying wish. I know I don’t deserve anything, but please, I need to know that you’ll marry her.”

Dante looks at Willow, crying for her sister, and I watch the moment he decides to make her wish come true.

“I promise,” he whispers. “I promise to marry Willow.”

The promise for some reason has left a weird feeling inside my heart. Maybe it’s because I know the sacrifice Dante is making for her.

I can see the peacefulness his words have on her. She doesn’t deserve to die in peace, but Willow did deserve to see her sister happy before she died.

As soon as those words left his mouth, Anya’s eyes slowly closed, and she breathed her last breath before us all.

I closed my eyes as Willow’s screams echoed around us. You could hear the grief in her cries. I couldn’t imagine her pain. That was her sister. Her sister. No matter how bad of a person Anya was, she was still a good sister.

“We need to get back,” Atticus says as he touches Dante’s shoulder.

He was right. We couldn’t stay here.

We all watch as Dante lifts Anya’s dead body into his arms and walks with her to the jeep. Willow runs after him, still crying.

I didn’t want to look at Damon. I was scared to see him grieving for her as well. He was the one that had killed her. I knew he would feel guilty for the rest of his life even though she deserved it.

He was only protecting me. Like always.

The drive back home was an incredibly sad one. No one could form any words. We had a mixture of emotions.

“I can’t believe he’s going to marry her,” Atticus finally breaks the silence. “He loved Anya. He did. It had nothing to do with the spell.”

“I hate this,” Autumn says as she gently rubs Atticus’s shoulder. “It should have never ended this way.”

When the jeep stops, we all get out. Dante gives Anya to one of the maids, asking them to take good care of her body until he returns.

He surprises all of us when he grabs Willow’s hand and starts to walk with her.

“Dante!” Atticus shouts.

“Where the hell is he going?” Damon demands.

He wasn’t stopping for anyone. We all ran behind him, unsure of what else to do.

“Please tell me he isn’t going to do what I think he is,” Autumn says as she covers her mouth with her hand.

We watch in horror as he pulls her into the hall where Damon was supposed to marry Anya. Gasps were all over the room as the guests’ gaze fell on them. This wasn’t happening.

He wasn’t going to marry her, not like this. It wasn’t right this way. Her sister had just died. He’d just lost the love of his life. They weren’t even dressed appropriately, and they both had blood on their bodies!

The music starts to play, and everyone sits down despite the look of horror on each of their faces.

It finally sinks in that he was serious about this.

This was indeed happening.

Dante was going to marry Willow!