Chapter 25

The Wolf

Blood burns my eyes as I stare at the spot where they disappeared. Panting and with a grip-like vice around my chest, I turn.

No words come to mind, and no thoughts can form a coherent sentence when I see Shaw kneeling beside Dorian's body. I let out a painful sob and stagger towards them both before falling to my knees at Dorian's side.

The Shadow Master. My friend. My brother.

Gone.

Pix's poppet doll is still in his limp hand, slowly being submerged in the falling blood rain.

Shaw is just staring at him, utterly devoid of any expression I can read.

Grief has sunk in deep and taken root. The loss is perhaps too much.

Neve has taken the only woman we have ever loved, and the earth god killed our closest friend.

I feel a little poke and look down. Poppy, That damned snake, slithers up my leg and peers up at me. Her eyes may be black and beady, but I see her soul beneath. And she is lost and desperately sad, looking for her mistress, who she failed to protect. I hold out my hand, and she wraps around my wrist.

‘We'll find her,' I say. ‘I promise.'

Around us, the surviving witches are helping those in need. They try to stop the bleeding from the fight with the unseelie. They try to help ease the pain of the burns and toxins caused by Athir's plants. The great big unseelie left from the water flop and gasp as they suffocate without the water to help them breathe. Looking around, it's a disaster zone. The earth coven witches are all dead. No amount of healing or resuscitation will undo what has been done. And any of the earth witches that came with us from the hidden coven sob and wail as they face the fact that they have lost their magic.

No trapped earth god. No magic to steal.

The leftover water from the burst dam begins to swirl around all three of us before rising up in a cyclone. I stand. It moves so fast that I know touching it will break bones or flay skin. I keep still and watch the crone and her remaining coven head towards me.

‘Shaw. Don't,' I tell him as he glares and growls at her. ‘This little coven is the last ally we have against Neve and our only form of help at getting Pix back alive. Killing them or making them even more of an enemy is the last thing we should be doing.'

He stays still and silent, remaining on his knees beside Dorian.

‘You will tell us everything, witch hunter!' the crone declares, stopping before us. ‘The blood queen is alive, and blood falls as rain from the sky. And the earth witch. Her powers were so dark and intense.' She looks at her hand and swallows the urge to cry. ‘My magic is gone. All earth magic is gone. What has she done?!'

She walks towards us and stands tall.

‘We will tell you everything,' I reply. ‘As soon as we are safe. You will take us back to your coven and quickly. We need to get ready.'

‘Ready?' she repeats.

‘We are at war.'

‘The blood queen and her monsters.'

‘The blood queen. Her monsters. And the goddess of Hell, herself.' I look around, but there's no one else but us. ‘We have to get Ashe back.'

‘That girl killed half my coven and even killed your friend!' she hisses hatefully. ‘All we need do is kill her before she strikes again!'

‘No,' Shaw snarls as he gets to his feet. He bristles with magic and darkness as all around the witches, their worst nightmares come to life. All except the coven leader. ‘Your earth god did that. Not her. She was willing to die to save this coven. To save all of you. She was only possessed by your demented earth god because she was desperate to save the covens who shunned and abused her. So. You will help us kill Neve and get Ashe back, or I will watch and do nothing as this world is destroyed by the Goddess Hel and the witches who serve her. And when you come, and you beg for my help as your friends and family die screaming in agony, I will laugh and walk away. Just as you did to me.'

The nightmares disappear, and the screams turn to frightened sobs.

‘The greatest witch hunters to ever live. Who has more of our blood on your hands than any other creature to turn against us. You will fight against them? For us?' she asks.

‘No,' he replies, shaking his head and taking another step closer to her. ‘I will fight against them for her.'

After a few seconds, the water surrounding us falls.

‘You really are in love with her.' Her gaze doesn't settle on only him, but me too.

‘And that is the only reason you may just survive this,' I tell her.

Shaw picks up Dorian's body, and we follow the witches back into the woods.

It took a couple of hours to reach the pond. The blood rain stopped about half an hour ago, much to my relief. We're all saturated in it as it slowly dries on our clothes, hair and skin.

Shaw's barely spoken a word this whole time. He's carried Dorian the entire way and follows obediently when the coven crone tells him to leap into the dark pond.

Below, he looks around and sees this strange little town holding such a variety of inhabitants.

‘All this time,' Shaw grinds out through clenched teeth. ‘They've gone unnoticed this entire time?!'

Humans. Witches. Creatures that belong in cages. All free of their confinements. All working together.

And all of them hate our fucking guts.

We follow her to the main building and step inside some kind of great hall. There's a round table in the very centre surrounded by chairs. They all sit, and the empty chairs are looked at with teary eyes.

Shaw lowers Dorian's body to the floor, taking extra care to rest his arms on his chest. When he stands, he faces the coven and tells them everything.

All of it. Athir. Hel. Neve. Even reveals the truth about Pix.

‘So why take Ashe if Hel is free?' the coven leader asks. ‘The spell is done. The blood queen has released her goddess. Why should we risk what remains of us to get back a blood witch of all things?' Her brow hitches in condescension.

‘We think Neve is planning to return her coven,' Shaw says, his words flat as he speaks. ‘Ashe is a necromancer, and the bones of the blood witches have been taken. Unless you want more blood witches-'

‘Then our goal should be to kill Ashe,' she cuts in. ‘No necromancer. No resurrection.'

Poppy hisses at her from my wrist. I'm tempted to do the same.

‘We will reach her before it comes to that. And if she dies, coven leader. I will haunt all your dreams and drive you mad until you die.'

She falls silent as she thinks.

‘If Hel is free, how do you plan on stopping her?'

Shaw pulls out the head of the spear Neve used against Athir and slams it down on the table.

‘By using a weapon made to kill a god,' he replies. ‘I just need to get close enough to use it.'

‘And that's where we come in, right?' she scoffs. ‘Your cannon fodder.'

Shaw shrugs.

‘If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears.'

They all mutter amongst themselves as we wait. My gaze keeps slipping to Dorian's lifeless form, and I try with all I have not to look at him completely.

‘We will help you,' she announces. ‘If killing a god means killing the magic of the witches who worship them, then blood magic should die with Hel.' Her fists clench. ‘Just as it did with us earth witches, so as long as Hel is destroyed, we will not seek to harm your witch.'

‘How can I know you will be true to your word?' Shaw asks.

‘My word is all I have to offer.'

‘Hold her familiar,' I say, nodding to the snake wrapped firmly around my wrist. ‘If you're trustworthy, she won't kill you.'

The witch frowns at the idea. Before I can scoff at her, she reaches out and takes Poppy. She slithers up her arm, around her neck, and stops to look the witch dead in the eye.

And she returns to me, leaving her unharmed.

‘If Poppy says she's good, then I trust her, Shaw.'

‘Fine.'

‘How did you kill the blood queen before?' she asks him.

‘Death by three hundred cuts.'

Many of them wince and recoil.

‘I will make it much quicker this time.'

‘And we will help you. For now, we are as one. You are welcome into this coven.'

‘I have no want to be a part of any coven, and I may trust your word, but there are plenty here that I do not trust.'

‘We all have a common enemy, so for now, that makes us allies. This coven is made up of runaways. Witches, creatures, and even humans. None here will seek out a fight with you.'

‘Speak for yourself,' a male mutters. His beauty tells of fae blood. His lack of wings screams vengeful. ‘You slaughtered my family back when you sided with the blood queen.'

‘We were prisoners of the blood queen,' I remind him. ‘And we switched sides to bring her down.'

‘Great job you did there. I didn't realise there was an expiry date on how long she'd be dead for. Seems like you should have mentioned that when you took all the credit for killing her and her coven and accepting the money, not to mention the women you feed from.'

‘I get it. You don't like us. We don't like you much either. But for now, we're stuck with each other.'

‘We are sending some friends to the palace,' the coven leader says. ‘See if we can discover what is happening with the prince and the soldiers. Discern if we have any allies there.'

‘Any witch you send will be killed,' I tell them. ‘The humans have never been your allies, and they never will be.'

‘We are not sending witches.' I look at the woman who speaks. She holds a witch's hand, but she is most definitely human. ‘Humans will go and see what we can find out. And just so you know, not all humans and witches hate one another. Some see past the inherited hatred. You should know that, witch killer. Seeing as you are in love with the very thing you spent years killing.'

‘There's nothing to find out from the palace that we don't already know. The blood queen is back. The prince is working with her, and the covens are compromised. We're on our own, and we need to strike quickly before Neve returns the blood coven!' I look at the leader again. ‘We don't have time for trips to the palace. They have Ashe, and every second they have her, they'll be hurting her.'

I feel sick even thinking about what could be happening.

The coven rises as they make their plans. I stand close to Shaw, and the two of us look down at Dorian.

‘I can't believe he's-'

‘We need to figure out where Neve took Pixie,' he says, cutting me off. He doesn't want to hear the words. The truth is, neither do I. He looks at Dorian as he speaks. ‘Do you recall what she said about the cottage?'

‘Cottage?' I repeat.

He steps closer and lowers his voice. ‘When Pix spoke to Sinthia, she said something about a cottage. "In the Dark Woods where the birds won't sing and the sun never rises." She said that's where Neve would be.' We need to figure out where it is before they do something to her she'll never recover from.'

‘Neve was furious that Cole hurt Ashe. She said that losing his magic was punishment enough for trying to defile her.'

‘You're saying these words to try and make us both feel better. But you and I both know Neve does not care about Pixie. She does not care what happens to her. And she will not care if Cole tears our girl to pieces. They both know her trigger word, so she is helpless against them. Cole has lost his magic, and I have spent weeks… more… walking his dreams and providing him with nightmares so disgusting that he hasn't been able to get any real rest this whole time. He's going to be even more vicious to her than he ever was. And we saw what happened when Pixie resurrected Neve and her sisters. She suffered all of their deaths, one by one. Every minute. Every day. Just think what she'll be left as if she experiences the entire fucking coven's deaths. She'll be deranged or catatonic if she even survives it. As long as Neve gets what she wants, she won't care what happens to Pixie. So don't be so foolish as to think she's okay. She's not. So get to work. Take Dorian somewhere safe and then find Leo. I want those fuckers who abandoned us to get their arses back here and pay off the debt they owe us for protecting them all these years. You threaten Thalia if he proves difficult. He knows where they went.'

‘And what will you do?'

‘I'm going to try and walk with Pixie. Or Cole. Or with anyone who can help me figure out where the cottage she spoke of may be.'

He leaves the room, slamming the door so hard it breaks into splinters.

I look down at Dorian and sigh heavily as I pick him up. The lump in my throat is unbearable as I walk out of the room with him.

Poppy slides up my neck and rests herself on my cheek. A sense of comfort oozes from her.

‘Thanks, Pops. We'll get her back. Just you wait.'

Outside, I head towards the same house I took Pixie to before.

A lump of mud hits the side of my head.

Slowly and brimming with a murderous rage, I turn. Now is not the time to piss me off.

Thalia is leaning out of a hut's door, waving me in.

Oh yes. Killing her will cheer me right up.

Leo peers around behind her and gestures for me to hurry as he looks around.

I follow, and he closes the door.

‘This better be good.'

Leo takes Dorian from me and rests him gently on the floor before guiding me to a table. On top of it is a cage with a single fire pixie thrashing around inside.

‘And I'm looking at a pixie because?' I ask.

‘Because I have a kindred,' Leo says, pulling up his shirt and revealing the markings on his stomach. ‘One that I can use to help you. But if they knew I brought a pixie here, they'll probably kick us out.'

‘Yes. Seeing as Pixies are Neve's spies and can report back to her on where we are!'

‘It's a fire Pixie. It needs fire to commune back to Neve. There's no fire in this room,' he argues. ‘And we'll kill it when I'm done.'

‘What's your kindred, Leo? And it better be good, or I will kill you.'

Thalia frowns and steps closer.

‘Oh, what are you going to do, huh? Sit your magicless arse down before I put you down.'

Leo clears his throat. ‘I'll help you find Neve. On one condition.'

‘I'm listening.'

‘You leave Thalia alone for good. All of you. And you never come looking for her or me again.'

I frown. I had every intention of killing the bitch, and he knows it. For what she did to Pix? It's the least she deserves. But needs must. And I'm not sure Pix would be thankful if I murdered her former friend.

‘Fine,' I groan. ‘Only because I like you. Now tell me.'

‘I can travel the air that others have travelled.'

‘Meaning?'

‘Meaning, if I take the air in the lungs of this Pixie into my body, I can see every road it's travelled. And if it's been to where Neve is hiding, I'll see where it is.'

‘And if it hasn't?'

‘Then you and I will go out and find another. And we won't stop until we get hold of an Unseelie that has breathed its way to Neve's location.'

‘Why? Why would you help us if you're fucking that one?' I nod at Thalia, who scowls at me.

‘It's Thalia asking me to do it. She wants to help her friend.'

‘Friend?' I scoff. ‘I wouldn't call any of us friends.'

‘I call you my friend,' he replies, looking offended at my words.

‘I meant them, Leo. The girls haven't exactly been BFF's.'

‘Thalia did wrong when she did what she did with Cole. And you did wrong to Thalia when you cut out her tongue. But Ashe didn't do anything. She didn't choose any of it. Thalia knows that. And she wants to help. Let us help.'

I nod.

‘You have a deal. But you also need to come with me to recruit the creatures that ran off and convince them to fight with us.'

He looks unconvinced.

‘Shake my hand, Leo. Or your girl is fair game.'

We shake, and he faces the Pixie.