Chapter 56

Cole

Ciomadul, Carpathian Mountains, Romania

H is eyesight came back slowly. His hearing followed. Rational thought never returned. He couldn’t remember his own fucking name, much less why he was here. The only thing he remembered was his Angel. His heart seized in pain and fury.

His witch was fucking gone . One minute she was holding his hand, the next the world burst into flames. And then his Angel was gone . He heard her scream, felt her hand rip from his. They fucking took her from him .

He was lying on the ground, a roaring in his ears, his vision lit with the familiar blue of his magic. Blood trained down one of his arms, pooling along his fingers and into the dirt beneath him. His leg sat at an awkward angle with bone jutting out of a sharp gash. Broken? Perhaps. But he couldn’t let that get in his way. The women who took his witch from him were going to pay for what they had done.

He didn’t know whether his Angel was dead, but he couldn’t detect the warm, comforting feel of her existence in his heart. They fucking took her . Rolling to his stomach, he tried to push himself to a stand, but his broken leg wouldn’t support his weight, and he fell back to the ground just as quickly as he had risen. A long, low growl rolled from his mouth.

Almost as if in response to the sound, magic surged from far down the pathway leading under the volcano bank, slamming into his chest. He couldn’t help the snarl of pain that emerged from him as he watched his leg snap into its proper placement, the bone slipping back in through the gaping wound. All over his body, he could feel skin knitting together, soothing the burns out of his skin, repairing his broken leg as the magic smoothed along his body until it had put him back together again.

Standing up silently, he strode back along the muddy path between the parted waters. He curled his lips back, baring his teeth in a feral smile that shone through the sticky remains of the blood still coating his face. They would pay for this. They will die bloody for this .

From the field in front of him, he could sense human bodies, buried deep under the earth, some still in early decay, some long since rendered to just bone. Ah, it seemed this was a killing field, some sort of unsanctioned burial ground. His lips spread wider, his mind turning over the options available to him. He could work with this unusual cemetery.

A howl sounded behind him, and he heard loud pounding, but his focus, his entire self, was narrowed in on the women staring at him from the edge of the lake. They took his fucking Angel . He was almost off the pathway and past the parted waters when something barreled into him from behind, hard enough to make him stumble but not fall.

He whirled, hands raised preparation for an attack, but the only thing behind him was a massive, black three-headed dog with six glowing ruby-red eyes all laser focused on him. A tongue lolled happily from each mouth. The dog chuffed at him, a blast of hot breath on his face, and then dropped its chest to the ground, wriggling its lifted backside and single tiny tail excitedly. You came for me!

He stared at the dog in confusion, his thoughts slowing to an almost controllable buzz at the sound of a voice that wasn’t his in the mix.

You came home!!! I’ve missed you! The dog shoved one of its heads under his palm, one of the other heads swiveling excitedly while the third head had turned its attention to the women on the banks. Where’s Lady! I want to see Lady!

Was this dog talking to him??? That, more than anything else, forced his focus because dogs didn’t fucking speak. His response scraped out of his throat. “Lady? Who is… do you mean my Angel?” He could think again, breathe again through the uncontrollable fury.

Beautiful, red-headed Lady! Where is Lady!

“She’s… ” His breath caught in his throat and his heart shattered. His witch was gone . When the words poured out of him, his voice was brutal and dark, ending on a snarl. " They fucking took her from me .” His focus blurred as he said it out loud. They’ll die fucking bloody .

The dog lifted from its sploot on the ground, its heads rising above his own as it raised to its full height. They took Lady? At his sharp nod, the dog’s red eyes darkened to a bloody crimson, glowing like fire, and a threatening growl rumbled from deep in its barrel chest before it poured out through each of its bared teeth. The rough fur along its back bristled, standing on edge.

He placed a hand on the dog’s neck, turning back to the women who were still standing at the water’s edge. With absolute certainty, he knew that this dog would follow his lead. His voice was distorted when he whispered in one of the dog’s ears, “Let’s make them die bloody.” The dog snarled in response.

Lifting his hands, he scattered his power across the field, digging it down into the dirt surrounding him. “Answer my call,” he shouted to the bodies surrounding him. Magic crackled around him as corpses long buried crawled from their places deep under the grass to follow him into battle. Gnarled hands broke through the surface, their owners dragging themselves from the ground.

The ones still formed and capable of standing ranged around him and the dog. The others were crawling along the ground towards the women at the treeline.

“Destroy them,” he ordered. The bodies silently followed his bidding racing towards the group with bloody-minded intent.

Magic rolling through him, he followed his dead army into the fray. Ash exploded around him as he laid his hands on the first woman, the second, the third, over and over until he lost count, forcing decay to overtake them, dissolving them into nothing. Their screams of pain filled his ears, a symphony of death that brought glee to his racing mind. A dark smile rose to his grimy face as he watched the dog rip one of the women into shreds.

Through it all, only one thought echoed through his mind. They will fucking pay for what they took from him .