Chapter 31

The Necromancer

She's burning me alive from the inside out. An unyielding heat born of nothing but hatred, lust and a need to destroy. All that remains good in me is being vapourised, and it's a fate worse than death. I thought I knew pain. But being hung, cut and crushed is nothing compared to this. What Cole did to me isn't even close.

She's not destroying me. She's corrupting me. Soon, we will be one. We will be the goddess Hel. And I will relish in her blood lust.

The guys all face me, bloody and shocked, looking at me with a mixture of fear and relief. I don't know if they want to kill me or hold me.

And I remember everything. Athir taking possession. Neve killing him with the god-killing blade. My destruction of the coven. Of so many witches and humans as I was under Athir's control.

I killed Dorian…

Shaw strides quickly towards me and takes my face in his hands, making me look at him. His eyes search mine, seeking me out beneath the haze of darkness.

I cling to him, desperate to feel him. To anchor myself in something more than her darkness and lust for death.

‘Pixie,' he says. ‘You have to force her out.'

‘I can't, ‘ I whisper, too afraid to speak too loudly in case she hears and comes back. ‘She's inside. Scratching. Clawing. Burning.' I shake my head, determined to hold on. ‘She's too strong, Shaw. She's too powerful.'

I spent so long fighting for a life worth living. I find it, and now this? Now, because of me, she will destroy everything.

How I wish I could just crawl back to their castle. How I wish I could seal the doors to the world and live my days in their depravity and devotion.

I would rather die before I meet this fate. Before I unleash this death upon the world.

I look up at him. At the witch killer who stole me all those months ago.

‘You saved me once,' I tell him, a tear sliding down my cheek as I look into his beautiful eyes. ‘You saved me when you took me from my coven. When you claimed our first kiss.' I take a shaky breath. ‘Save me now.'

‘You have to force her out!' He takes off his coat and puts it on my shivering body. My teeth chatter from fear and cold, and I welcome this comfort. His scent. His grip tightens on my face as he steps closer, towering over me with desperation. ‘Force her out!'

‘I can't!' I cry.

When Archie and Dorian come closer, my blood magic surges and pushes them back. I scream, desperate not to let her retake control.

I stroke his cheek.

‘Kill me, Shaw.' The words hang between us, heavier than anything else spoken before.

‘No,' he replies through gritted teeth.

‘Please. She hasn't got control of me yet. Not fully. Destroy this body before she has time to take full control. Destroy it completely. Tear it apart and scatter the pieces. Without a vessel, her soul will be sent back to hell.'

He leans into me, his forehead on mine.

‘No.'

‘Damnit, Dream Walker!' I cry, sweeping the hair from his face as I take hold of his face. ‘I am not worth the world ending.'

‘You are.' He takes a shaky breath and shakes his head. ‘I can't kill you.'

Below, in the valley, the blood begins to seep up through the dirt I sent to smother it. It continues to pour from the gate, rebuilding its strength and power. It rises higher and higher, and with a blast, it spreads outwards. Below, all it passes withers and dies: all the trees, all the birds, all the animals. I feel their life ebb and flow and seep into the blood—into the blood and into me.

‘She will destroy everything,' I whisper sadly. ‘Including you. I feel it already. Her strength is too much. This land will fall, and soon, the world will follow.' She stirs, and I double over in pain. As I fall, all three catch me and fall with me. I'm surrounded by them all. Surrounded by love. ‘She's too strong. Now is the only time you will be able to kill her.' I take Shaw's sword and place it in his hand. ‘Do it.'

I scream again as Hel claws at my insides. Any second, she will return. And I will be gone for good. I will be one with her. Lost to her revenge. To her blood lust.

I place the tip of his sword at my heart.

‘Save me,' I plead.

He drops the sword.

And I scream, throwing them back and far from me.

I get up and run. I run to the arch. To the gate.

If they won't kill me, then I will save the world the same way I have done everything else in my life.

I'll do it alone.

I run hard and fast and leap up to the gate. My feet leave the ground as I soar towards it.

Only for Neve to slam into me and toss me back to the floor. She lands atop me, her hands in my hair as she slams my skull into the dirt over and over again.

‘You swore to return my coven! You promised me my sisters!'

I take hit after hit, unable to focus on both stopping her and keeping Hel from reclaiming my body. The gate is close.

I have to get beyond it.

Neve gets hit with a lump of horse shit slapping her on the side of her face. She looks back over her shoulder, more out of annoyance than anything else.

Thalia stands there, shaking from head to toe.

A perfect distraction. I call on the roots below and send one around both Neve's and my waist. It tosses us through the air, straight to the gate.

She screams in sheer rage, and I scrunch my eyes closed.

We go through the gate together, soaking ourselves in blood before we land on the beach.

The sight of the sea of blood flowing into the gate is chilling and grotesque. But not as much as the sight of the souls of the blood witches as they melt into the blood slowly, becoming one with its destructive power.

All that blood. Every drop used by blood magic.

Neve is up. We face one another.

‘Daughter.' She grips Shaw's sword in her hand.

‘Mother.'

‘You will bring back my magic. You will free my sisters.'

‘No. I will not. And you will never leave here.'

She strikes first, bringing down Shaw's sword on me.

I throw myself out of the way. I don't dare use my blood magic. Hel's soul is still inside, screaming for freedom as I keep her buried.

So I take control of the black sand and knock the sword from her grip.

I wrap my hand around her throat and lift.

She's so light.

This darkness is intoxicating. It always was, but now… my gods, now… it's what I think consuming the heavens would feel like.

Nothing can stop me.

No man. No witch.

Not even the blood queen.

I pull her down to me and sink my teeth into her neck, and I rip. I tear. I drink, and I drink deep, consuming her life's source for my own.

When I drop her, she's limp. Her heart beats slowly. I hear it strain against the lack of blood. Her eyes flutter as they stare up at me.

I take Shaw's sword and stand over her.

‘Goodbye.'

I raise it high and slam it down, severing her head from her body. Her blood spray hits me, stirring the god within.

I drop the sword and focus all I have to keep Hel contained for just a few more minutes.

The blood queen is dead.

And I am here.

Here in hell.

I turn to the gate. To the blood still pouring into my world. To the souls of the blood witches.

If I can't kill the blood goddess, at least I can trap her.

I take a breath. My shoulders sag.

And I feel the sand around me. I feel the mountains. There's so little life here but enough to do one last thing.

I kneel and sink my fingers into the ground below. The sand swarms around me, caught in a gale of power I pull from every inch of life I find in this desolate landscape. It swarms wildly, whipping my blood-soaked hair around my face and drying the tears as they fall.

A witch does not get freedom. We are born cursed. Cursed to be owned. To be trapped. To be used. And then our souls are taken and sent to the gods we stole all this power from.

I had a few days in the sun. A few nights of pleasure.

A few moments of love. Of joy. Of peace.

That is more than most like me get.

My life meant little.

But my death means everything.

So bring it the fuck on. Because if there's anything I have learnt about myself, it's that I have never done as I am told. I have never given up without one hell of a fight.

With a determined scream, I channel all my will and desire into every grain. The sand shoots towards the arch of bones and chips away at it.

My scream is endless, and tears at my throat.

Cracks, splinters and chunks of bone fly in all directions, weakening the gate.

I give one last heave.

The bones shatter outwards into a million pieces. I throw my arms up to protect myself as it rains down on me. Then I look up.

The arch is gone. The gate between this world and that one has been decimated. All that remains is a faint shimmer of that bloody mirror slowly dripping down to the floor.

I release a breath. My final breath.

The river of blood above crashes down, and I close my eyes, waiting for it to hit.

I was always destined to end up here. At least now, my end serves a greater purpose.

Neve is dead. Hel is trapped.

And I did what no one thought possible. I fell in love. And I was loved in return.

Not bad for a little mud witch, huh?

My heart rate is slow as I watch the blood fall. A strange type of calm settles over me. A peaceful acceptance.

I think of those men of mine.

They relish in their darkness. They devour and feed. Kill and fuck. And I found myself drawn to their world like a moth to a flame, pulled in by the depravity, the lust, and the all-consuming power.

My men. My monsters. My loves.

This way, Neve will not be able to unleash her evil on the world ever again. With no blood goddess, there will be no blood witches.

I pull Shaw's coat around me, surrounding myself with his scent. Such a small thing, but such a comfort.

That's when I feel it. Feel its power thrumming from my pocket. I reach in and wrap my fingers around the cold, harsh blade. I pull it out and see it in my palm.

The god-killing blade. Dark magic ripples through it, straight to me. Hel feels it, too and turns rabid inside.

‘Everything happens for a reason, Hel,' I tell her. ‘And now you will die at the hand of the weapons you created.' I rest the blade on my throat. ‘Your blade. Your vessel. We're your end.'

My life started with a blade being dragged across my throat. It seems only fitting that it is how it should end.

I take a deep and final breath, a smile on my lips and peace in my heart.

I cut deep, slicing my throat wide open in a swift, final and determined move.

I hear Hel scream her final scream. The blood that spills from me is as black as her heart.

And I know she has died the moment she falls silent and her mark disappears from my arm.

I close my eyes and spread my arms wide.

The blood above falls and swallows me whole. I spin and twirl, caught in its turbulent motion as it becomes the sea of death it once was. Bodies knock into me. Spirits scream. The blood witches are with me.

And I am just like them. Stuck in this place. Trapped in the blood that held us captive all our lives.

They grab and scratch at me, pulling me down. And I don't fight them.

Arms firm around my middle and start to pull. I break the surface and hear the steady beating of wings.

Dorian…

His wings cut through the air at incredible speed and a slight silver shimmer where his eyes should be look at me in his arms. They see right through me.

His long fingers curl around my neck and rest firmly over the cut across my throat, trying to stop the bleeding.

My fingers slide beneath his hood and rest on his cheek. He's cool to the touch, and his skin is silky and smooth. I lower his hood, revealing his face.

I take in the sharpness of his high cheekbones. The piercing of his eyes looks like sparkling starlight. His flesh seems to move like mist on the surface of a cool lake, and there are markings covering every inch of him. Intricate swirls and spirals circle one another endlessly.

He's beautiful.

‘Stay with me, Poppet Doll,' he warns, beating his wings harder.

There's the slightest patch of the gateway left, and he tucks himself in small before soaring through.

And we leave hell behind for good.