Chapter 35

Echoes of her scream still ricocheted through me, the fury-filled wail having taken down every living thing within range. Even I was affected by the power inside her, and while there was no chance she could kill me, it still hurt like a motherfucker.

My brain felt a bit like it was dripping down the inside of my skull, or maybe more like Jell-O that hadn't quite set. I pressed an index finger to my ear, wiggling it around as if it might do something to mitigate the ringing.

"Fuck me, baby doll," I muttered, glancing up at my goddess, hoping she heard me. But when I caught sight of her, I realized she was lost to the rage, and I wouldn't get her back until she relinquished her hold on the zombies in her thrall.

I scanned the battlefield, looking for one particular form, when my breath punched out of my chest. No. Fuck.

Cerberus hadn't been unaffected by Dahlia's scream. My heart lurched at the sight of him, not in his towering three-headed form, but returned to his favored tiny white fluffball visage. He was so still I had to hold my breath as I watched him. Immortal he might be, but that didn't make him any more immune than I had been. I nearly cried out when his little belly lifted on a deep breath. Not dead then, merely unconscious. Thank fuck.

This had gotten out of hand. Dahlia had killed indiscriminately. She'd never recover from the guilt of it once she came back to herself.

"Dahlia, I need you to look at me, baby," I urged, desperate for her to snap out of it.

She didn't even spare me a glance as she held the zombie army at the ready, all of them focused on the quiet mouth of the property.

While she was distracted by them, I allowed myself the opportunity to cast my senses out to see if there were any other survivors. The sheer number of souls roaming the property overwhelmed me. They were confused, waiting for someone to explain what had happened. I couldn't pay them any attention, not yet. Not until I got my answers.

Ignoring them and their need, I searched for those whose deaths would truly destroy my love. When my mind brushed against Tor's and Kai's, finding them both unconscious rather than dead, I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

The soft sound of a woman calling out Dahlia's name called my attention away from Dahlia's other mates, and when I saw Kiki rushing toward us, Hook hot on her heels, another rush of relief hit me. Blood ran down her face from a wound at her temple, and Hook looked even worse, with rust-colored stains coming from his nostrils and ears. Given the injuries they'd sustained, it was obvious they both must've been unconscious when Dahlia loosed her scream.

Recalling a detail from Dahlia's story about the night her father attempted to sacrifice her, that was how Brother Sam had survived as well. She'd kicked him and he'd hit his head, rendering him unconscious before she screamed, which sparked his decades-long reign of terror.

So clearly the mind needed to be engaged and conscious in order for Dahlia to destroy it with that special gift of hers. Or be a god, I supposed. Good thing for silver linings.

"Baby, I need you to look at me," I urged again, but it was no use. Her eyes were clouded over, hair swirling around her even though there wasn't a single gust of wind in the air.

Kiki stumbled up to us, her breaths heaving, worry on her face. "Dahlia, what are you doing?"

"She can't hear you," I said, finally pushing my way to my feet. "She's lost to?—"

"Her rage, yeah, yeah. He already told me."

I glanced over her shoulder at Caspian. "Good to see you're alive."

"I very nearly wasn't." When his eyes met mine, there was a clarity there I hadn't seen in a long time, if ever. Whatever had happened while we'd been apart, it seemed that he'd turned some kind of corner.

"Oh, fuck, there's more of them," Kiki whispered, her attention trained on the flood of new enemies coming in through the gates. Armed, dangerous, and nothing to focus on but the zombies and us.

Their presence penetrated the fog Dahlia seemed to be lost in, drawing forth another hissed command. "Attack."

As a unit, the zombies turned toward the villagers and descended upon them. Terrified screams, wails of agony, and useless gunshots filled the once silent night.

"It's a slaughter," Hook said, shock heavy in his tone.

That wave of attackers was dealt with so quickly it was almost like they hadn't been there at all. And the zombies returned to their state of stasis.

"Dahlia, you have to stop this," Kiki said, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and shaking her.

Dahlia didn't respond. There was not so much as a twitch of her eye to indicate that she'd heard a word Kiki had said. Nothing except the whisper of her voice in my mind.

"I can't stop. Not until the threat is exterminated."

"Keep going," I urged. "She can hear you."

"Come on, Dee. This isn't you. You don't kill people. I know what your scream did, but you've undone it before." She grabbed Dahlia's face and tried to make eye contact. "You brought them back at the premiere, remember? All of us. We don't even remember it happening. You can fix this. It's not too late. You're not the villain of this story, Dee. You're the heroine. Come on. They don't deserve to die like this."

Dahlia blinked, some of the cloudiness leaving her eyes.

"You've almost got her," I whispered. "Don't stop now."

"Oh, shit, Tor's still alive," Hook said, his attention trained on the Novasgardian as he slowly got to his feet.

Tor stumbled a few times, dazed, and to my surprise, Hook ran to meet him and offer a helping hand.

"Come on, Dee. They're innocents. Most of them. A few, I think, might even be your friends, or on their way to it. I mean, no one is coming for my spot at the top, but it's never bad to have a backup in case you want to throw a dinner party or something one day."

I chuckled at the tangent, relief making my limbs heavy as Dahlia's thoughts grew even more aware.

"Why would I ever throw a dinner party?"

"Dahlia Moore, you listen to me right now. Do better than this. If you leave these people dead, I will be so ashamed of you. You'll be just like your father. Worse, because he only killed a few dozen. This is hundreds. Hundreds, Dee. All their blood will be on your hands. I know you don't want to do this."

"I... don't," she whispered, her voice hoarse as her attention locked on to Kiki's face.

"There's my girl. Welcome ba?—"

I had a split second to catch the horror in Dahlia's expression before everything went to hell.