Chapter Twenty-Five

Farren

T hese Underworld beasts are fucking terrifying, not only because I never thought I’d see one outside of the Underworld but also because the fucking thing is eyeing me like it wants to eat me. Poca is as big as I have ever seen him and looking like a scary son of a bitch and that makes me weirdly proud.

I have seen one of these in action before, and there is no way in hell I want him to go up against it. If any of their victims ever survive, they are severely traumatised and end up having to be looked after for the rest of their lives. There’s only been a few instances, but in each one, the victims have ended up taking their lives to escape the memory of the horror that they’ve lived through. They have a poison in their bite that can make their victims relive the torture that the creature put them through, so it never really ends.

I expect Poca to step forward and stand next to Meri, but he remains steadfastly guarding us. Something tells me that he knows exactly how dangerous these creatures are, but that’s not surprising since he’s a hellhound and therefore originates from the Underworld himself. He’s just one of the creatures that can leave without any repercussions to his appetite or his state of being.

My attention switches to Meri as he roars, the sound sending a chill down my spine. In a split second, his magic engulfs him, and he becomes the same size as the Underworld creature, and suddenly the Freatrate takes notice of him, realising that actually he may be a threat after all. There is an almost joyful anticipation coming from Meri, and as the beast’s attention moves from Poca and us to him, he tries to make himself look bigger and even more threatening, most likely because Meri’s magic starts to let itself be known, no longer being hidden from detection. The feel of it is intense and has all of the hairs on my arms standing to attention, I’d look at the others to see if they are having the same reaction, but I don’t dare take my eyes off Meri. I know that he’s supposed to be this crazy creature that’s capable of killing everything in all the known worlds, but he’s also mine, and I love him. I don’t want him to get hurt, especially since I know the effects of a bite from one of these creatures.

The magic that surrounds Meri fills me with calm and strangely a sense of familiarity as well as I swear that new magic that’s buried deep within my normal magic stirs slightly before falling back into its slumber.

Without any sort of warning at all, the Underworld creature charges Meri, and I barely manage to hold in my shout of warning. Distracting someone in a fight is a sure way to get them killed. Meri doesn’t move, even as the ground shakes and the creature gets closer and closer to him. He suddenly disappears in a puff of magic, and I worry that the beast is going to run straight into us, but as its jaws snap mere meters away from us, he gets yanked back, and I catch a glimpse of Meri standing behind him with his strong jaws clamped down on his tail.

The creature screams in agony, and I’d assume that the scream of pain is because of the bite itself, but it seems to be in more pain than it should be. There is so little information on the kind of creature that Meri is, but it’s widely known that they can kill with a single bite. Meri still has a tight grip on his tail, and showing incredible strength, he picks him up and swings him around, bashing him into the trees and flattening them, dazing the Underworld creature when he finally let's go.

While the creature is still dazed and struggling to get up, Meri bounds over and, without any remorse, tears the creature's leg off, causing blood to squirt in an arc that almost reaches us, which is damn surprising since we’re standing so far away. What happens next is disturbing but impressive at the same time. Meri meticulously tears apart the creature bite by bite, tearing its limbs off and launching them across the clearing that has just been made courtesy of him swinging the Underworld creature around.

“Fucking hell,” Loki mutters from beside me as we watch the carnage.

I just nod because I have no idea how else to reply to that.

Finally, the carnage stops, and Meri starts licking his front feet and cleaning his face. It's super cute, which is an odd thing to think at this moment, I admit, considering the circumstances.

The creature is most definitely dead, so I move away from the tree slowly, testing whether Poca is going to let me pass. It will be a true test of whether I really am entirely safe around Meri if Poca does let me pass because that means he trusts Meri with me even after he’s just utterly decimated a terrifying creature.

Poca turns to look at me but doesn’t stop me as I walk past him.

“Farren, are you sure you want to approach him right now?” Mayhem asks, his voice quiet and cautious.

Glancing over my shoulder, I reply, “He’s not going to hurt me. Poca would never let me walk past him if he thought I was in danger. Besides, look how freaking cute he is right now. He needs to know what a good boy he’s been by protecting us.”

“Did you just call the fifteen-foot-high deadly Maradrache that we just saw rip apart a terrifying animal in its own right cute?” Zev asks incredulously.

“Yep,” I reply with a smile and then turn back on them, walking confidently toward Meri. He looks up as I approach and, if I’m reading him correctly, looks slightly wary, almost as if he thinks I’m going to fear him or reprimand him. As soon as I’m within reaching distance of him, I hold out my hand and wait for him to come to me, ignoring the ichor that still covers his face.

He tilts his head to the side slightly and then gently nudges my hand, and I try not to jolt in surprise as his voice sounds in my head, sounding disjointed like Ryu’s does, “Not scared?”

I smile as a clog of emotion rises in my throat, “Never scared of you, Meri. I know that you will never hurt me. Thank you for saving us, you were magnificent, and we couldn’t have done it without you.”

He starts this cute purring noise as his magic consumes him, and he shrinks to the size that I’m used to him being. He flaps his wings and then nuzzles his way under my hair to settle on my shoulder again. I’m not entirely sure how he manages to stay up there practically weightless, but I’m assuming that it has something to do with his magic.

Poca bounds over to me, still, his giant size although no longer completely on fire and I give the same praise that I gave Meri before I remember what happened just before the Underworld creature arrived and ask him, “Can you and Meri communicate?”

He turns his massive head to look down at me, dislodging my hand from where I was giving him chest scratches, and the only reason he did that was simply just so that he could roll his eyes at me and nod at the same time as if I should’ve known that.

“Smart ass,” I mutter.

“I love how much attitude he gives you,” Loki chuckles as the others all join us.

“Me too,” I grin, “we better get going. Meri and Poca have stood down, so I don’t think there is another one of those creatures around, but we have no idea if some of Remiki’s men have decided to comb the forest.”

“Good point, alright I think it's,” Mayhem starts as he looks around, trying to get his bearings in the now destroyed and almost unrecognisable forest. “This way, maybe?”

I chuckle, “Hey Poca, can you lead us to where we’re going to call the horses?”

Poca yips, shrinks his size back to what we’re all used to seeing and then heads off in the opposite direction that Mayhem had suggested that we go, making the rest of us chuckle. We don’t get that far down the path that Poca is leading us until I hear a noise behind us, and I freeze as Poca does the same, and his ears perk up. The guys pause in their forward momentum, but when Poca doesn’t start growling or go into defensive mode, I relax.

“Holy fuck have you guys seen what happened back there? It’s total carnage!” Killian announces as he steps into view, the others moving through the bushes behind him.

Until the moment that I saw them all unharmed, I hadn’t completely acknowledged how worried I was about them, which is why I rush toward Kill, wrapping my arms around him and kissing him firmly before I move to Rival, Storm, Reaper and Grey and do the same. Although I kiss Grey on the cheek instead, I haven’t kissed him properly yet, and I don’t want our first kiss to be a chaste one that is done in front of the others. I do let my lips linger though, and when I pull back, I try to communicate with my eyes my reasoning for it; when he nods slightly, I think he understands.

“That carnage was Meri,” Zev tells them, sounding proud.

“Holy shit, is he okay?”Rival asks, worried.

I nod, “He’s fine. All of that blood and the limbs were from the Fratrate that wanted to attack us.”

“Fuck, they’re sadistic fuckers,” Grey mutters, his eyes wide.

“Meri was amazing; killed the fucker while Poca protected the rest of us and stood guard. The Underworld beast even paused when he saw Poca like he was questioning whether he could get through him or not.” Loki tells them all excitedly.

All their eyebrows raise apart from Grey’s as he frowns in contemplation instead, almost like something that Loki said doesn’t make sense to him. He sees me watching him and completely wipes the look from his face as he suggests, “We should keep moving. They must have woken up by the time that we got to your exit, and they sounded pretty fucking aggravated.”

“There were shouts and swords clanging. They lost their fucking shit.” Storm adds.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here then,” Reaper replies.

We’re silent for a while as we follow Poca, and thankfully, the path we’re taking is now looking familiar since we’re far away from the carnage now.

“I think we should check to see if we were correct and if the barrier has weakened,” Mayhem says into the silence.

“Good idea, the last faction is going to be the most difficult of them all, and if we’ve got this wrong and we really don’t have to go there, then I’d rather not risk it,” Grey replies.

I realise that I know absolutely nothing about the leader of the last faction other than the fact that he’s ruthless.

“We can go now?” Kill suggests.

I interrupt before anyone can say anything else, “It doesn’t make sense for all of us to go, and we already know that I can pass through using the Void, but no one else can. I’m not risking any of you, so I’ll use the Void to take me to the barrier and see if I can step through it. If I can’t, I’ll use the Void to take me to the other side and see if I can get through that way. If neither works, then we can assume that we were wrong.”

“I’m not keen on the idea of you going by yourself.” Storm says, and when I give him a look adds, “Even if we can’t get through.”

“I’ll go with her,” Zev offers, and I smile.

“There you go. I’ll take Zev, Meri and Poca can make his own way there like usual, and I’ll leave him guarding Zev at the barrier while I do my thing and take Meri with me, we all know what he is capable of, so we will be fine, and then we will meet you back at the castle.” I reply, not leaving any room for arguments.

“Fine,” Storm replies, not looking that pleased by the turn of events, his horns starting to spark.

“Great. Zev, don’t let go of my hand. I’m tired, so I want to get this done quickly.” I order him, and the others chuckle.

Zev immediately grabs my hand, threading his fingers through mine. It’s amazing the sense of peace; I guess you could call it, that flows through me; it’s the same feeling that they all give me, just a knowledge that everything will be okay.

Calling on my magic, I double-check that I’ve got a secure grip on Zev’s hand and motion Poca to go ahead, he somehow always knows where i'm going to end up. I step into the Void, my whole being immediately wants to linger the longer that I’m here, but we don’t have time for that so I hasten my pace not really giving Zev a chance to look around as I spot the door that will lead to the barrier a few feet in front of us and step through. For the first time, it seems like the Void doesn’t want to let me go, and I have to fight it and myself in order to step through; it’s concerning, to say the least.

“Wow, did you know you glow when you’re in there?” Zev asks me.

I pause, “I do?”

“Yep, kind of like you do when you get super mad or when you start talking in a strange language that none of us understands,” Zev replies with a comforting smile as he squeezes my hand.

“Huh, I guess that’s new,” I reply and then add, “Alright, I can hear my bed calling me, so I want to get this over and done with.” Turning to look at Poca, I say, “Stay with Zev and guard him while I walk through the barrier.”

Poca nods and moves to Zev’s side as Zev smiles down at him and then looks back at me, his face becoming serious, “Stay safe. I will be mad as fuck if something happens to you, got it?”

His words make my heart beat a thousand miles a minute as butterflies swarm in my stomach. He said them with so much conviction that I step closer to him, and his head dips to meet mine as he kisses me like I’m his fucking air. His tongue moves against mine, and heat builds in my core; a spear of clarity hits me, and I realise that we aren’t exactly in the safest place right now and we shouldn’t be kissing like this. I think that Zev realises at the same time because he kisses me wants once more and then steps back.

With a wry smile, he says, “Fuck, sorry, I lose myself in you.”

“Same,” I mutter. “I’m going before I get distracted again.”

He nods and moves to stand near Poca. I waste no time in approaching the border and hoping it doesn’t bounce me back on my ass, it doesn’t, and I end up on the other side; I have a quick look around just for curiosities sake and to see if anyone has posted guards outside the border, I don’t see any, but I don’t want to linger out here any longer than I have to. Since I managed to make it out this way, I am fairly certain that I won't be able to get back in from this side. It appears that the first object breaking allowed people who travel via the Void or, I’m guessing, other means of astral travel could get in and out; the second object has allowed us to get out using the barrier, which means anyone can get out. This means that when we break the last object, it should completely destroy the spell holding the Shadowlands hostage.

Because I’m reasonably certain that I’m going to bounce straight off the barrier if I try to walk through it, but I need to test it just to make sure that we’re right, so I hold up my hand and push against the barrier just as I expected I meet resistance and there’s no way that it's going to let me through.

I use my magic to pull myself into the Void and feel the same urge to linger, and if I’m being completely honest, it scares me. I spend even less time in it and step out in front of Zev, who grins, although his smile falls as he studies me.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” he asks.

I realise that I must not have wiped my worry about the weird behaviour of the Void off my face before I step back out. I force myself to smile softly, reaching for his hand as I reply, “Yeah, I’m tired. Let’s get back to the castle.”

“Sounds good to me,” he replies, watching me with concern.

I really don’t want to step back into the Void but we’re going to have to use it in order to get back to the castle, we have no other means of transport, and if I call the Fae horses, then the guys are going to have loads of questions, and I really don’t want to talk about it right now I just want to go to bed it’s been a long fucking day. In fact, it's been a long fucking week, and not just because we’ve been non-stop, that I’m used to. I actually tend to get super bored if I don’t have anything to do. No, I think it’s the emotional stuff that is causing me the most turmoil because I have no idea how to fucking deal with it, and now the Void isn’t fucking behaving itself. I just want to get back to the castle and my bed.

It’s a really good fucking bed.