Chapter 24

The Dream Walker

Her wrist twists, and that sharp, lethal piece of wood aiming at Archie unfurls and snaps itself around his throat. He rises in the air several feet, gasping and clawing at it.

‘Let him go!' I yell.

Athir laughs deeply before I get a thump to my middle by one of his vines, and I'm encased in roots and dirt by the time I lift my head.

On her wrist, Poppy viciously hisses and goes to bite her. But Athir grips Poppy and tosses her with all his strength, sending the familiar straight over the dam and into the sea.

Athir faces the surviving witches and smiles.

‘You live under a great lie, witchlings. A great deception. You all believe we gods grant you power when, in fact, you steal and drain it from us.'

His vines tighten around me, and I start to hear my bones snapping.

Archie strikes at the bark around his throat with his lengthened claws. Athir doesn't even react, and he remains ensnared.

‘Your time ruling this realm is over,' she snarls. ‘Humans. Witches. You have killed, raped, butchered and destroyed nature. It ends now. This world will be green once more. It will be mine.'

Grass sprouts beneath her feet and spreads. Long and green, lush and vibrant. It covers the valley. Every patch of barren land and every brittle tree. All alive. All flourishing.

It's beautiful.

But when I see the poisonous plants begin to grow. When I see the heavily thorned vines and razor-sharp leaves.

I know what he means to do.

Precisely what he did to the last earth coven he attacked when he possessed Pixie.

Monstrous plants and deadly flowers come alive and attack the coven. They're lethal and unforgiving as they tear apart the living and drag them down to their soil depths. Screams fill the air, and in the very middle of it is my Pixie, eyes of purple and Athir's soul possessing her body. She watches the coven try to run. To protect themselves.

She laughs even harder, throwing her head back in violent joy.

Pixie will hate herself for this when she comes back. For killing those she has tried so hard to protect.

‘You call us your gods?!' she laughs maniacally. ‘You trapped us with spells you stole from us! From the grimoires we created! You locked me in the ground. In the dirt and the trees. In the roots of every plant, and dare channel my magic for your own? Well. Every spell was a prayer, and prayers gave me power. You have made me more than I ever was before. Now I am free, and your earth covens are all but gone. And without so many stealing my magic, I am strong. Strong enough to finally claim this vessel. This child I created and resurrected. My daughter will be your end!'

The air becomes toxic as everything green turns poisonous. It becomes carnivorous. The witches caught in it start to scream. Their faces begin to melt, or great boils grow on their flesh.

‘I will spread my poison over this world,' she declares. ‘And I will show you all what a true and vengeful god looks like.'

‘Pixie!' I call to her. ‘I know you can hear me. You have to take back your body! You can't let that bastard win!'

Slowly, she turns to face me, and I recoil at the monster looking at me through her purple glowing eyes.

‘She's in here, Dream Walker. Screaming. Clawing at her insides and wailing in misery as I kill her beloved witches. All your lies. Nothing hurts so much as these lies you tell her.' She laughs and shakes her head, her skin becoming more green and the dark veins throbbing harder beneath her skin. When she next speaks, her voice is dark and demonic. ‘She thought she was special. My daughter. Your lover. But no. I made her for this reason and this reason alone. Not for love. Not for the betterment of witches. Only my bloodline can hold my power. She was born to be claimed by me!' Her head tilts as if trying to read my expression. ‘And she is only loved by you for her blood. If she did not have the blood of a blood witch coursing through her veins, you would have ripped her throat out the first time you laid eyes on her. Isn't that right, Dream Walker?'

‘Let her go!' I growl, struggling against my bonds.

Archie screams as his wooden noose tightens.

‘Admit it, Dream Walker. Admit that if you had not smelled her blood that day, you would have killed the little earth witch who decapitated your pixie and insulted you in front of all you pathetic friends.'

I watch Archie struggle as his restraints tighten.

‘Admit it, or I will kill the Wolf. Will she love you still if you refuse to save him by doing nothing more than speaking the truth?'

A truth that will break her heart.

‘Yes,' I admit. ‘Yes. I would have killed her if I had not known what she was.' Athir remains silent. That's not enough of a confession. And the fact he wants me to say more means Pixie is still there and listening. He wants her to suffer. To weaken her so he can secure his possession of her body. ‘But I have never been more thankful that I didn't. I didn't love her when I first saw her. But I wanted her more than I had ever wanted anyone in my life. The feisty little earth witch who stood up to all three of us without thinking twice? The determined woman who knew what she wanted and was willing to leave behind everything she knew to try and get it? I had never wanted a woman more. It didn't take long to realise that whatever heart I still had belonged to her and her alone. Do you hear that, Pixie? I fucking love you! I love you, and I always will. We all do.' I yell as the roots tighten around me, but I refuse to be silenced. ‘So be that strong and brave girl I first met and tell that prick of a god to get the fuck out of you. Because we love you, and you love us. We will fight by your side, and we will ravage you every night. But you have to take back possession of your body now!'

Her eye twitches, and Athir's grip on Archie and me lessens.

Behind her, a swarm of shadows are descending from the direction of the ridge. I refuse to look, determined not to give Dorian away.

But she turns and grips them with her hand before they can collide with her back. The shadows become solid. They become Dorian. And she has him in her grasp.

‘Shadow Master,' she growls. ‘You once served my dark sister. How is she? Still drowning in the blood of the innocent? Still screaming like a savage animal?'

Dorian takes hold of Pixie's poppet doll and snaps her arm. Pixie screams in pain as she drops him, her arm completely broken and bending the wrong way.

‘You dare…'

‘Come back to us, Poppet Doll!' Dorian pleads as he looks deep into her eyes, desperate to get her back and stop the pain he's inflicting. ‘You're stronger than he is. You're-'

‘You want to save your little witch?' she spits back, panting heavily against the pain. She grips her broken arm and violently snaps it back into place. ‘Then keep her company in hell and try to protect her from your dark mistress.'

Her hand slams into his chest. All the way inside.

He gasps with wide eyes.

And when she pulls it back, it's dripping red.

No… Fuck… No!

She's holding his heart in her hand.

Dorian's mouth falls open as he looks down. As he sees his organ in her small fist.

I'm screaming. I don't even know what I'm screaming, whether they're words or just the sound of my grief spilling out from the depths of my soul.

She leans into him.

‘Goodbye, Shadow Master.'

His arms fall limp at his side. His eyes become grey. His shadows leave him as black dust drifting into the air.

And she drops him to the floor.

Dorian falls in a heap, and she looks straight at me with a cruel and twisted sneer.

‘Look what you made me do,' she pouts, her lower lip sticking out. Then she giggles. ‘Your turn.'

Before she takes a single step, a blast of red mist slams into her, hurling her backwards. The red mist swirls and becomes solid.

Neve stands tall.

There's a sadistic smile on her lips as that same red mist dances around her one remaining hand and up her arm. Her crown of bones sits atop her head, and her black dress trails behind her. She throws another blast at Pixie, making her scream.

‘Get the fuck out of our daughter, Athir. You worthless little parasite!'

The restraints around Archie and I weaken enough to allow us to break free, and we grab each other, lost in the choice of what the hell to do!

Dorian lies dead before us. He's fucking dead!

And Neve is attacking Pixie, seemingly trying to get Athir out of her.

From Neve's hand, more of that deep red mist spirals downwards, creating the form of a long-bladed spear.

Without breaking her stride, she pulls it back and brings it down on Pixie's neck.

‘MOVE!' I yell, knowing it's a deathly blow.

Pixie rolls out of the way and returns to her feet.

‘So. My sister has sent her favourite disciple to destroy me?' Pixie scoffs. ‘You will need more than a pretty little spear.'

‘Oh, this?' Neve says, nodding to the spear. ‘This is a special spear made just for you by Hel herself. It's a god killer, Athir. And it will end you just fine.'

‘She is mine,' Athir says darkly.

‘No. She is mine.'

What follows is a brutal battle between a blood queen and an earth god.

That weapon Neve wields is something else. Something from another word. It spills out darkness and death, and I know Neve is true to her word when she says it is a god killer. The magic Neve possesses is back to the strength I remember. A stream of solid blood shoots from the stump where I took her hand the night she returned, forming long and lethal whips. She screams in determination as she attacks, slamming them down on Pixie with enough force to break bones and cleave flesh. Pix screams as one finds her arm, snapping it so badly her arm dangles and hangs by muscle and broken bone.

But Pixie… Athir… snaps it back and laughs. Her sickly green flesh stitches back together, and her eyes narrow on Neve.

‘I am a god!' she roars. ‘You think you can defeat me, witch?' Athir begins his own attack.

The ground around Neve is alive and murderous, launching up in razor-sharp points. But Neve giggles as she dodges them and turns to mist before she materialises beside a dying fire witch. With a flick of Neve's wrist, a river of blood leaves the witch's chest and goes to Neve. She absorbs it, shuddering with pleasure as she takes it in. She creates a stream of dark flames.

Pixie protects herself with a green barrier, grunting in effort as she's pushed backwards.

‘Neve is going to kill her!' Archie breathes, watching these two powerful creatures battle and glancing painfully at Dorian's corpse.

‘No,' I reply, looking at that long blade in Neve's hand. ‘She's trying to kill Athir. She still needs Pixie.'

‘Do we help her?'

‘We help.'

Archie shifts.

I withdraw my sword.

And together, we attack side by side with Neve.

I can't see Athir's nightmares. I'm unsure what a god would even fear.

But I have to do something. Restrain her. Try to get through to her. Anything!

‘NO!' Neve screams, slamming us with a solid flow of blood and hurling us both back. ‘I will get him out,' she insists. ‘She is mine to save!'

Her words take me aback. Not only that, but the emotion she says them. Like she cares. As if she were actually afraid for her child.

From the treeline, unseelie slowly emerges, watching with salivating lips and bared teeth. Talons dig into the darkened grass. Horns point to the sky. Beady eyes watch. Scales shimmer. They stand ready to attack us if we try to intervene, and the remaining coven is no help, fleeing into the trees to save their arses.

As Neve attacks Athir, with every blow she lands with that strange spear, the trees wither and die. The leaves turn black and wilt. The bark rots and crumbles. Tree after tree falls, and their attack on the witches with poison and thorns ends.

But Athir soon gets the upper hand and slams his fist into Neve's face. Dark vines grow from Pixie's skin and quickly wrap around Neve's throat, squeezing and squeezing until her eyes bulge. Where the vines touch, her skin turns black. Poison seeps into her pores.

‘If the plague of man is to end, it will end at my hand. With the earth soaking up the blood, bile and bonemarrow from all who dared destroy my forests! A debt is owed. A debt of blood. And they will pay. You will all pay.' Pixie's skin darkens even more. ‘This land is mine! It is mine to control. Mine to rule! Hel will stay where she is. She will-'

Neve shoves her fingers into Pixie's mouth and roars. Blood pours down her throat and streams from her nose and ear. As Pixie screams, she drops Neve. And with a mighty swipe, Neve slices Pixie straight across her chest with that glistening spear.

Time slows as I watch it cut from her hip to her shoulder. As her body slices open, black blood spurts out, coating Neve in its wetness.

‘Fuck…' I whisper, grabbing onto Archie, who stumbles beside me. We both look on in horror.

Pixie staggers and blinks before looking down at her body.

Neve laughs as Pixie falls to her knees, and with the tip of her god-killing spear, she tilts up Pixi's chin so she can look into Athir's eyes.

‘This child is mine, Athir. I made her for my ends. Not for yours.'

‘You swore to let me have her,' Athir groans. ‘So I could return and end my enemies. You promised me a child.'

‘No,' Neve laughs. ‘I needed a powerful witch with the blood of a god running through her veins so I could return you to this world and do precisely what I have done. Because to break my goddess free of her final manacle, I need to kill a god. And you are by far the weakest of them all.'

I yell as Neve buries the spear clean through Pixie's neck.

When she withdraws it, the purple light in her eyes flickers out. Her skin becomes pink once more.

And she is herself.

Pixie falls back. Her eyes close. Her body is limp as she groans in pain.

All the dark earth magic dies in that second, and the ground is as it was.

Before I can breathe a sigh of relief that she is now free of the vengeful witch god, a terrible rumble shakes the world. The sky darkens in an instant as black clouds blot out the sun. Neve laughs, watching the churning sky. Then blood starts to rain down on us. Neve's arms open wide as she relishes in her win.

She has killed a god.

And the last of Hel's manacles has been broken.

And Pixie… she groans and rolls over on her side, her lashes fluttering as she tries so hard to open them.

Neve faces us, her bloodstream dancing warningly in the air between us.

‘You have done what you wanted!' I call over to her, blinking the blood rain from my eyes. ‘You used her body to kill Athir, and your Goddess is free. Let me have her back.'

Neve's eyes narrow on me and the malice I see in them tells me she has no intention whatsoever of letting me walk away from here with her daughter.

‘Dorian is dead! You will let me keep her!'

She lets out a scoff.

Pixie's breathing is laboured as blood continues to seep from her wounds. The hole in her neck makes each one of her breaths fill her lungs with blood, and I know she has seconds of life left.

‘Feed her your blood, Ronan,' she commands. ‘Heal her. Or I will kill the Wolf, and you can bury two brothers instead of just the one.'

The blood seeping from Neve's fingers becomes a solid point and rests at Archie's forehead.

We share a look, and Archie nods.

‘Save her,' he says.

I go to Pixie, and I feed her my blood. She swallows from my wrist as I pull her into my lap. One by one, her wounds close, but she's still barely conscious and utterly out of it. I hold her tightly as the hot rain continues to fall, smothering us all in red.

‘Step away,' Neve orders.

‘Neve. She is your daughter. She has done what you wanted. Let me take her.' I hold her tighter. My girl. I can't allow myself to think of what Neve will do to her. What she will inflict on her as she seeks her revenge against us. ‘She doesn't deserve-' I stop speaking when the blood moves closer to Archie.

‘You murdered my sisters, Ronan. And your dog destroyed Sinthia's skull, so I can never resurrect her.' She steps closer and holds her cruel smile. ‘And you think I will give her back to you? You think I will satisfy any plea for mercy from you?' She takes another step towards us, and I cling to my girl. ‘You should have destroyed every bone of every blood witch that you killed, Ronan. Not succumb to the whim of a weak human king. A king who thought displaying our bones would show his strength when all it did was preserve us all… for later. A suggestion I sowed the seeds of many years ago. Nothing I do or have ever done has been by chance. Not a single death. Not a single step. I needed the blood coven to die to give my goddess all her strength. And I needed their bones for something extra special. So I will be taking my daughter now. And you can either hand her over and die with dignity. Or we can take her, and you can die screaming.'

She glances over my shoulder, and Neve's lips curl into a sadistic smile.

When I look up, I fill with a fiery rage.

‘General,' Cole grins. ‘I'll be taking my fiancé back now.'

‘You touch her, I'll shove your remaining hand up your fucking arse,' Archie warns.

‘Oh yeah?' Cole snorts, blood rain dripping down his face. ‘You and what army.'

He's slammed with a blast of fire and hurtled through the air just before the remaining coven and their human companions leap through the trees. And all hell breaks lose as water, air and fire witches, as well as humans, attack.

I grab Pixie as Archie dives out of the way of the blood dagger, and when I get to my feet, I face Cole.

‘That's my whore,' he snarls before reaching out his hand to the ground.

But no magic comes. The earth doesn't move. And he looks utterly stunned. All around us, earth witches are trying to fight with their magic, but there's none to be found.

Cole looks at Neve with a horrified expression.

‘I have no magic! I… I have no magic!'

‘Of course not. I killed the earth god. Without him sealed up and trapped so you could steal his magic, how did you think you would still be able to have magic?' She shrugs as if that's obvious. Neve finds nothing but amusement in Cole's suffering, and if it weren't a life-or-death situation, so would I.

‘That's not what was agreed!' he roars. ‘You never said this would happen! I need my magic!'

‘A queen does not need to explain herself to a peasant.' She looks him up and down. ‘Consider it your punishment for trying to rape my daughter. She may be nothing but a tool, but she is still my child, and you attempted to defile her. Consider the payment of your magic sufficient, Cole. Or I will reconsider it and demand your life!'

She throws back her hand, and I'm smothered in blood. It whips around me and throws me back.

Pixie slips from my fingers, and I fly through the air, slamming into a group of unseelie who start attacking before I can blink the blood clear from my eyes.

I'm blind as I fight them off, throwing punches and stabbing with my sword in the dark.

‘NO!' Archie yells. ‘NOOOO!'

By the time I reclaim my sight, Archie has broken through the lines of unseelie and is sprinting towards Pixie.

She's in Cole's arms. Neve rests her hand on his shoulder and smiles, watching as Archie shifts and launches himself at her.

But Neve turns to blood mist.

So does Cole.

And so… to my horror… does Pixie.

The unseelie run, laughing and roaring in victory.

And all that's left is the sound of the blood rain.

I stagger a few steps before falling to my knees beside Dorian's body.

Archie howls at the sky.

Dorian is dead.

Hel has broken free of her manacles.

And Pixie is gone. Lost to Cole and Neve.

Lost and alone, surrounded by monsters.