Chapter 36

"All their blood will be on your hands. I know you don't want to do this." Kiki's voice broke through the haze of vengeful energy controlling me, hitting me where it hurt.

She was right. I didn't want to be like him. I wasn't a cold-blooded killer. I'd only wanted to protect Tor and Kai. I was supposed to be one of the good guys, not the baddie.

It was harder than I wanted to admit to let go of the fury storming through me. I wondered if this was what it felt like for Tor when his beast was in control. Was this something I'd taken on from him, or was this all me?

"I... don't." My words were just a faint whisper, but I knew she heard them when her lips spread in a smile.

"There's my girl," she said, her voice warm and filled with relief.

I wanted to hug her, but I was still coming out of the trance-like state I'd been in. I blamed that for what happened next.

Out of literally nowhere, Masterson—the alive impostor version, not the once evil ghost—materialized. Her eyes met and held mine while her lips twisted up in a malevolent smirk.

"Welcome ba—" Kiki's words were cut off as blood bloomed across her baby pink T-shirt.

"I think that's enough out of you," Masterson crooned as she ripped the dagger out of Kiki's back and laughed.

"Kiki!" I screamed as my best friend fell into my arms, blood already bubbling out of her mouth as she choked.

Hades was off and running, shadows snaking out ahead of him to latch on to Masterson. But it was too late. She vanished as if she'd never been there at all.

"Keeks," I breathed, sinking to the ground with her limp body against mine. "Hold on, don't leave me. I can fix this."

Once we were on the ground, I pressed my palms to the wound in her chest, trying to stanch the blood loss. Cas and Tor stood over us, and my gaze flicked frantically from one to the other.

"Do something! Help me! Go get a healer, something!"

But there was no healer. I'd killed them all. The healers and everyone else.

Caspian tore off his shirt and handed it to me to help with stopping her bleeding. "Here, use this."

"Gem," Kai breathed, his human form bearing all the injuries he'd taken as a dragon. But he was alive. All my men were. I'd be happy about that later. Once I knew Kiki would be all right.

"It's going to be okay, Keeks. I've got this. We'll get you to a doctor, and you'll be good as new."

Her lips trembled as she tried to form words, more blood—far too bright a red—bubbling out of her mouth.

"It's okay. You don't have to talk. Just think about your cool scar and all the stories you'll be able to tell. Maybe you'll get a hot doc of your own."

"Dee..." she gasped. "Stop."

"No. I won't. I can't do this... w-without you. You can't... Keeks, you have to get through this."

Tears were streaming down my face because I knew the truth. My hands, her clothes, the shirt Cas gave me, were all soaked in her blood.

"Th-this isn't y-your fault, Dahlia," Kiki managed to force out as she shivered so hard her teeth chattered. "Don't b-blame yourself."

I hated that she was wasting her energy trying to comfort me at a time like this. But that's who she'd always been.

"Keeks," I whispered, my heart fucking breaking as her eyelids fluttered. "Please don't leave me. I need you. You're my best friend."

"Al... ways..."

And then she was still. So still I had to hold my breath so I could try and register hers. Except none came.

"No. No. No. This can't be happening." I stroked her face, staring down at her and willing her to open her eyes. "She's cold. Get her a blanket, a coat. Something. Don't just stand there." I glanced around me at all of my men, who stood like solemn sentinels. "What are you doing? Help us!"

"K?rasta—" Tor wrapped his hands around my biceps and tried to lift me.

"No, stop," I shook out of his hold, not ready to be parted from Kiki. I shot Hades an imploring look. "Bring her back. Please. I'll never ask you for anything else, ever. Just please, give her back to me."

"You know I can't, baby doll."

"Fine," I growled, hating my men in that moment. "I'll do it myself."

I still wasn't one hundred percent sure what I'd done the night of the premiere, but like Kiki had said, I'd brought everyone back to life before. And I'd done it in the greenhouse with those plants, so clearly this was part of my gift. I just needed to do what I always did. Grab hold of the spirits I wanted and send them where they belonged. It was Kat all over again, but on a mass scale.

Easy peasy.

Closing my eyes, I held tight to my friend and let my power flow as I called back every soul I could. I felt each and every one of them hovering around like they'd been waiting for this very thing. It was surprisingly easy. Almost second nature. Some souls I recognized by feel alone. Sorcha. Oz. Bruno. Kiki was there too, but I couldn't seem to grasp her as easily as the others. They all returned to their bodies, standing and looking around in confusion, readying themselves for another round of fighting. All of them but Kiki.

"No. Dammit. Kiki, come back! Come on."

I must have messed up. Tried to do too many at once.

Closing my eyes, I tried again, calling out her name. Hades's hand was on my shoulder, giving me a little shake. "Stop, baby doll. You don't want to do this."

"What the fuck do you know about what I want?" I snarled, grief making me vicious. He was the god of the fucking underworld. He could help me if he wanted to; I knew it. He'd made all those deals in the stories. This wasn't beyond his power.

In a flash, the lord of the dead was in my face, crouched down at my level, his eyes blazing blue fire. "I know you don't want her to end up like Nautica. I also know you are desperate. Don't do something you can't take back. I'll forgive you anything, but you won't forgive yourself."

I shook my head, rejecting his words for no reason other than I needed him to be wrong.

"The others came back just fine. Look at them," I said, flinging my arm out to indicate all the people milling around. They didn't seem to realize what had happened and sounded as if they were regrouping before the next attack. Others were trying to figure out where the zombies had come from.

"About that..." Hades started, his eyes scanning the field before returning to me. "Did you notice that only those you reaped were returned?"

"No?"

How could I notice something like that? I hadn't been aware of who I'd... reaped. If that's what it had been.

"Anyone that was slain by someone else's hand is still down. I think you can only return those you purged. Because it wasn't a natural death. Their bodies didn't actually die. Not like Kiki's did."

"That... that's stupid. You have to be wrong."

"No, baby doll, I don't. I watched it happen with my own eyes."

"We all saw it," Cas said, Kai and Tor nodding along in confirmation.

Tears swam in my eyes. "She's right there. Can't you see her?"

Hades nodded, stroking the back of his hand down my cheek.

"Kiki!" I shouted. "Keeks, it's me!" But the spirit of my best friend didn't acknowledge me. She just stood there, staring off into the distance with a bit of a wistful expression. "Why isn't she talking to me? Spirits always want to talk to me. Usually they don't shut up."

"She's waiting for you to release her so she can take her place in the underworld."

"No. Please. Not Kiki. Don't take her from me."

"I'm not doing anything, Dahlia. This is the natural order."

"No," I whimpered.

"You have to let her go, sweetheart. If you try to force her to stay, it will be Nautica all over again. Or Nellie. She deserves better than that. She deserves to spend her afterlife in the Elysian Fields."

Asshole approached us, nuzzling my knee with his fluffy little snout.

"Cerberus has volunteered to be her escort. He'll take care of her, Dahlia. I promise." Gentle blue eyes met mine. "Please, baby doll. Trust me. This isn't goodbye. You have my word. You'll see Kiki again. I'll make sure of it. One of the bright sides to being mated to the god of the underworld is unlimited access to his realm."

Heavy tears rolled down my cheeks. I wanted to sob. To rage. To demand that he make her come back, but I knew I couldn't. I couldn't risk Kiki's soul, not for my selfish whim.

Kai knelt down and scooped Kiki from my arms, and this time, I didn't fight. "I've got her, gem."

Asshole yipped and approached Kiki's faint spectral form, wagging his tail as she followed him without even looking back. I understood why, though. She wasn't meant to stay on this plane. All her business was finished. A portal just like the one I'd seen with Nellie opened and together, they walked through. My Kiki, my best friend, the woman who'd gotten me through the hardest parts of my life, was gone.

I curled in on myself, sobs breaking free as grief unlike anything I'd ever known slammed into me. Nothing would ever be the same again. Who would I call when I got good news? Who would tease me about donkey dicks?

"Dahlia..."

"Gem..."

I forced myself to suck in a breath as Tor and Kai called for me. This was not the time or place to fall apart, but I couldn't exactly help it. My entire world had just imploded.

"Um... are they supposed to do that?" Caspian asked, his worried voice stealing my attention.

I followed his gaze to the fight that had broken out between the zombies—my zombies—and the rest of the living creatures on the battlefield. Unfortunately, they weren't under my control any longer, and it was painfully clear they were attacking without prejudice. Villagers and Blackwood residents alike.

"I can't control them anymore." My voice was tight and frantic as I tried to send my power into the zombies.

"Lovely," Cas said, sarcasm thick in his tone.

"They're coming this way. Fuck," Kai said, carefully placing Kiki's body atop a stone bench and readying himself for a fight.

A horde of at least fifteen of the undead pressed closer, most of them fairly well preserved, all of them covered in ichor from those they'd already consumed. They snapped their teeth and reached for us, faster than I expected.

"Fuck!" Hades shouted, sending his shadows to dispose of a few of them, but grunting in frustration when they simply rose again and kept coming. He shifted to his fire, shooting out jets of blue flame. That seemed to help, but it didn't stop more from taking their place.

Not even Tor seemed to be able to rip heads from bodies fast enough to make a dent.

"We need Dahlia safe!" Tor called as he shoved a zombie away.

"Go, baby doll. Go inside and lock the door." Hades sent a blast of shadow fire into one of the approaching corpses, the body continuing to approach even as it burned.

"I don't want to leave you," I protested, the loss of Kiki still raw and painful, bringing to the forefront the understanding that if I were to also lose any of them, I might not survive it. I felt a bit like one of those people who was convinced that they couldn't fall asleep on a plane because it might drop from the sky. If I was here, if I could keep my eyes on them, then they'd be all right.

I knew it was a stupid fallacy. My being here before hadn't done a damn thing to protect Kai's dragon or stop Tor from being taken out. But my heart was struggling with the idea of willingly leaving without them.

"Gem, go. We'll be fine. We can fight better if we're not fearing for your safety."

Kai's words hit me with the force of a freight train. Hades had said it before; I was a distraction.

"Please, darling. Go inside. We will be all right. I swear it." Cas shoved me toward the door, his eyes filled with anxiety.

I nodded, not able to push out the words I really wanted to say, so I thought it instead.

"I love you. All of you. Don't you dare leave me."

Then I ran inside the enormous estate, hoping with everything in me that I'd be able to help somehow. I slammed the door closed, resting my forehead on the glossy wood as I tried to calm my racing heart.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, Dahlia," a sweet voice I recognized whispered in my ear.

I spun around, my mother's spirit standing inches from me. "I have. Too many of them."

"There is quite a conflict raging outside. It's a shame. Are your mates all right?"

I nodded, my hand pressed against my chest as if it could do something to soothe the insistent ache. "For the moment."

"What if I told you I know a way for us to stop it all?"

Interest sparked at her words. "You do?"

"Yes, my sweet daughter. I do."

"This is not the time to be coy. Tell me what to do."

Her smile stretched, her eyes flashing with something I couldn't name as she held out her hand. "All you have to do is come with me."

I placed my hand in hers out of pure reflex. The warmth of her skin against mine drew me up short. I shouldn't be able to touch her, let alone feel her warmth.

"Wait. You're not dead."

Her hold on me tightened to the point of pain, the tips of her fingers digging into my wrist hard enough to draw blood. "No, darling. I'm Death."