Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Kellan

The hill to the valley was steep.

My boots slid down the rocky slant until I had to brace my palms behind me to keep from falling backward. A swampy bayou surrounded her castle.

I could only imagine the danger that lurked there.

She wouldn't let anyone get by without a fight.

It was a good thing I'd come to fight. Over the years, I'd learned enough to fight to protect myself. The little magic that I welded was for protection, never for evil.

The man who taught me was long gone. That was a story for another day. He'd tell me how stupid I was for facing off with Deidamia, which I'd not argue against.

This is stupid.

Once I made it to the bottom of the hill, I stared out at the boggy swamp and the mossy grass surrounding it.

There wasn't much life here but that grass screamed snake hotel to me.

Just because I couldn't die didn't mean I enjoyed the pain.

Wading through the grass, I let the moon guide me around the bayou. I wasn't sure if there was a path directly to the castle but maybe a place with shallow water.

The wind picked up bringing in the smell of brimstone.

One lone light shined in the castle. I knew there wasn't any electricity, so it had to be from candles.

Something heavy pierced my chest.

Did Deidamia have Josephine in that room? From the outside, it looked like the second or third floor. Heat scorched down my spine. Deidamia wouldn't hurt her before she found what she was looking for.

Which brought up another round of questions.

What did they take from her that was so important?

Her father and mother knew about other realms, but neither seemed to know how to get there on their own.

It didn't matter.

I planned to kill Deidamia.

Whatever they had of hers was of no importance to me.

I took another step, noticing a track in the mud beneath my foot. Bending down, the size of the paw print gave me chills.

It looked like a wolf or a dog. Some type of canine and with it being in this realm the possibilities were endless.

Standing up, I followed the tracks until they veered up the valley.

I wouldn't go looking for trouble.

I stayed on the path to make it around the bayou. No crickets or bugs sang to me as they did back home.

Everything seemed dead, or afraid because they knew what evil lived around them.

The bayou became shallow several feet away and I ventured into the water. The bottom attempted to drag me down, but with each step, I pulled harder and pushed myself toward the castle.

Several yards into the water, I sank deeper into the mud, sinking to my knees.

You've got to be kidding me.

Slowly I felt vines begin to slither up my pant leg and pull me into the water. Groaning, I opened my palm and my sword appeared in my hand. Using what leverage I had, I sliced the vines with my sword until one by one they disappeared into the water.

Slowly, because the mud felt like drying cement, I proceeded through the bayou.

The closer I got, the more aware I was of the feeling of being watched.

It wouldn't surprise me if the crow sat on the front awning as an alarm system for Deidamia.

But what awaited me was much worse.

At first, I thought the darkness was playing tricks on me. Shadows were moving out of the corners of my eyes.

Then the moonlight hit him.

A monster of a wolf.

His silhouette was frightening since I was knee-deep in a bayou that was determined to drown me.

Red-rimmed eyes stared back at me.

It looked like he sat on dry land, which was where I needed to be if I wanted to fight this monster.

Not that I wanted to fight him.

He was twice the size of an average wolf and didn't look afraid of a fight.

It wasn't until he chuckled that I knew he was Deidamia's pet.

"You're the savior here for the girl?" he asked, but I didn't see his mouth move. "Cute."

I held in my groan of frustration as I attempted to take another step. "You're Deidamia's pet. Normally, I like cute ones, but to each their own."

He didn't budge or move.

Even when I grew closer, he seemed at ease.

It was either a strategy to throw me off or he was not worried about me making it to the castle.

Something about his eyes told me he hadn't always been this way.

"You look smarter than an average wolf," I said, picking up my thigh and swinging it forward. "Have you always been stuck in a wolf's body, or did the demon put you in there?"

His demeanor became stiff.

Ah, I have struck a nerve.

"Her lover? Did she trick you into sleeping with her? I'm dying to know what's under that robe myself. For scientific reasons, of course. Those horns throw me off everything—"

"Stop it," he hissed.

Reaching forward, I grabbed the edge of the ground and pulled myself onto the land.

Exhaustion waved through me.

This wasn't going to be an even fight, I knew that, but I had to pull some strength out of the air if I wanted to walk into that castle with any chance of saving her.

And I did.

My body urged me forward. This was an invisible force linking me with her. I couldn't explain it. I'd never met her. Though, it was there, and it was slowly wrecking me that it took me so long to get here.

Deidamia could be hurting her.

I didn't know her plan. Guessing it would drive me crazy.

"You're overthinking things," the wolf said.

I put my hand out into the air and pulled my sword from it. "You don't know what I'm doing, Dog."

Hell, I don"t know what I"m doing.

He bared his teeth at me, which was very impressive.

I bared mine back at him, which he didn't find as funny as I did, and launched through the air.

His body was long, and his ebony fur shimmered in the moonlight, but it was his teeth coming at me that drew most of my attention.

I wielded the sword outward, nipping his shoulder, but he easily rolled like someone out of a martial arts movie.

Before I could turn, he leaped forward and took my shoulder into his jaw. I bit back the pain as I turned, his teeth digging deeper into my flesh, and slammed my elbow onto his back.

He jumped away, shaking his head and whimpering slightly at the force of the blow.

It pissed him off. He leaped so fast that I stumbled backward onto the ground, and his teeth clamped inches from my face.

Kicking upward, I pushed him off, pulling that strength I needed in time to slice him in the shoulder with my sword.

Sticky liquid oozed out of him and matted into his fur.

He didn't seem bothered by it.

"Did you get on Deidamia's bad side too?" I asked, bracing my sword in front of me and watching his footsteps as he paced back and forth. "Did she turn you into a dog for stealing? For breaking her nonexistent heart?"

He jumped toward me but kept his distance.

"Brother? Did you grow up with the witch—"

"Stop it!" he said as he jumped forward, and I nipped him with the edge of my sword.

He tucked his paw toward his chest and wobbled on three legs, still protecting the castle while I easily sliced him with every attempt at biting me.

Until he stopped.

For a brief moment, I felt the urge to kill him.

Put him out of his misery.

Then he laid down and rolled over onto his back in surrender. I kept my sword at my side.

I didn't trust anything that Deidamia called a friend.

Maybe she didn't call him a friend.

Maybe this was his eternal punishment to protect this godawful piece of real estate.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, feeling sorry for the beast.

"Don't apologize. Deidamia won"t let you leave this castle. You'll regret coming here."

I slid the sword back into the air and glanced at the castle behind me. "I regretted this the moment I agreed to come. Though," I said, turning to face away from him, "I'm not afraid of Deidamia. She made me immortal, and she's going to regret the day she met me."

I walked toward the front gate of the castle.

Moats circled the castle, and a brick bridge led me toward the front doors. She'd be stupid to leave them open, and I knew that Deidamia was not that, so I walked alongside the building, my fingers touching the brick and eyeing each window as I passed.

The lowest one wasn"t that low.

I wedged my fingertips into the breaks in the bricks and began to pull myself up. That strength I pulled from the air was slipping. It took more time than I ever imagined to get to the ledge.

Swinging my leg upward onto the platform, I looked into the oval-shaped window and realized it looked like a dining area.

The wooden shutters were easy to pull open.

I swung my leg over and plopped down into the room.

Being in this place again had my body on high alert.

There was no guessing her moves or if she knew I'd made it inside. I would expect and prepare for the worst.

A flowery scent caught my nose amid the brimstone.

Josephine was here.

That unfamiliar flood of heat swarmed me from head to toe. I prayed Deidamia couldn't pick up on emotions because mine were all over the place.

I swallowed down the heavy lump in the back of my throat, opened my hand for my sword, and started toward the grand staircase.

The darkness in the room didn't bother me.

It was the monster I knew that waited in it that did.