2. Draven
2
DRAVEN
One moment, I’m watching Tilly unleash hell, feeling her pull on the magick inside me, and the next, everything stops. The fire freezes mid-blaze, debris hangs suspended in the air, and even the dust motes are motionless.
“No.”
The word rings with absolute authority. A small figure appears between Tilly and Anu.
Even frozen, I can feel Tilly’s power straining against whatever force is holding us in place, spiking as it senses the ultimate power in her.
My mother glares around the clearing in utter disgust in her designer heels with her feet on fire, but her presence fills the clearing like a supernova. Her eyes blaze with infernal power.
“Mom,” Luc mutters when she unfreezes us. Just us.
Annabelle spares us a quick glance, her expression exasperated, and I groan. Luc matches it. We are in so much shit.
She turns back to Anu. The temperature in the clearing raises several degrees until I am sweating. Luc appears comfortable for the first time since we arrived here.
“This ends now,” she says, her voice carrying that edge of power that gods fear. “You will not use my sons or their mate in your petty bid for power.”
“You have no authority here,” Anu snarls, straining against the Hell freeze, but there’s a tremor in her voice that betrays her uncertainty.
“Don’t I?” Annabelle’s laugh is musical and deadly. “You’re trying to use my subjects to create your army, which, if I’m understanding this shitshow correctly you require my sons’ girlfriend to power it up. That makes it very much my jurisdiction.”
“Your sons chose to bind themselves to my daughter,” Anu grits out. “They made themselves part of this.”
“No, you manipulated events to force those bindings,” Annabelle corrects softly. “Just as you manipulated everything else. But here’s what you failed to consider...” She pauses, and even in the unnatural stillness, power ripples around her like heat waves. “You’re not the only one who can play the long game. And you’re certainly not the only one who’s been watching.”
Anu’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”
Annabelle’s smile is razor-sharp. “The Dark Oracle is quite chatty with the right motivation. All of this has been foreseen. Admittedly, a little later than it should’ve been.” She glares at me and Luc. “You two have been busy.”
“You sent us here,” I accuse. “What did you expect?”
She smiles. “Well, I can’t argue with that. However, I did not expect you to let it get this far.”
“Meaning?” I growl.
“Meaning, you should have brought her to Hell where we could’ve protected her.”
“She doesn’t need protection,” I argue. “She needs to be rid of this cursed, fucked-up situation.”
“And you don’t think I could have helped with that? That fucking hole in the fabric of Hell’s veils is causing your sister some serious shit.”
“Gaia can handle it. She’s Hell’s Guardian,” Luc snarls.
“She is, but she isn’t the Guardian for wormholes that are buried through the dimensions by ancient divine magick that feeds on everything around it,” she snaps. “What on Hell’s scorched earth were you two thinking, not coming straight to me? And you ,” she adds pointing at Blackthorn with a sharp, shiny black nail. “You were under instructions.”
Blackthorn doesn’t reply, so she snaps her fingers in irritation. He unfreezes.
“Annabelle,” he says smoothly, but I can see the tension in his shoulders. “We had this under control until about ten minutes ago. ”
“Humph,” Mum mutters rudely, pissing Blackthorn off. “Ten minutes where you could’ve called for me. All of you.” She glares at me and Luc again.
“Don’t blame us. Anu decided to use her own daughter as a battery for her Hell army,” I point out. “We were trying to stop it.”
Mum’s eyes flash dangerously. “Don’t get smart with me, Draven. I’m still deciding how to punish you both for this mess.”
“Us?” Luc splutters. “What about her?” He gestures to Anu. “She’s the one trying to be the goddess of the universe!”
“Oh, she’ll get what’s coming to her,” Mum says sweetly, and the temperature spikes another few degrees. “But first, we need to deal with that gateway and the army waiting on the other side. And you two...” She points between me and Luc. “You’re going to help clean up this mess. Starting with getting your girlfriend somewhere safe before she burns herself out trying to channel both divine and infernal power through that ancient magick she’s carrying.”
I look at Tilly, still frozen mid-attack, power crackling around her like lightning. Even suspended in time, I can feel how close to the edge she is.
“And where exactly do you suggest is safe?” I ask. “Because right now, nowhere seems particularly secure.”
Mom’s smile is pure evil. “Where do you think, darling? It’s time Matilda came home to Hell.”
“Oh, no,” Blackthorn says, shaking his head. “Not a chance are you taking her anywhere. She stays here. We need to contain this situation. The curse stays intact for now. It’s the only thing keeping that gateway from fully opening.”
“We need to focus on stopping Anu and securing that gateway,” I say. “The curse, complicated as it is, it’s actually helping contain things right now. Breaking it would just make everything worse if Ellie is sacrificed. That is her whole role in this nightmare.”
“I see,” Mum says, surprising me. She turns back to Blackthorn. “I assume you have a plan for keeping our little would-be sacrifice safe from her ultimate job?”
“Several,” Blackthorn responds. “But first, we need to deal with the immediate threat.” He gestures to Tilly’s frozen form, still crackling with unstable power. “She needs to regain control before she burns herself out.”
“And you need to go back to Hell and figure out if you can close that hole from your side,” I say, risking the wrath of the Devil, but fuck it. We are at the point now where mincing words will get us all annihilated.
“Don’t you think we’ve been trying?” she snaps. “We need the girl.”
“Matilda?” I ask cautiously.
“Who else?” she asks.
“No. You will have to contain it then until we can close it from this side. We can only do that once the curse is broken, and right now?—”
I’m cut off by an explosion that rocks the forest and sends me, Luc and Vex, flying backwards .
The blast of power that comes from where Tilly was frozen nearly blinds me. As the dust settles, I see her standing there, rainbow light warring with, what we now know is Hell’s darkness around her like a storm. Her eyes are pure white fire.
“Enough,” she snarls, her voice echoing with multiple layers of power. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here. I make my own fucking decisions.”
Mum actually looks impressed. “You do have some power, don’t you, Matilda? My sons chose well.”
“Chose? You knew she was coming here. You sent us to align with her,” I snarl, getting to my feet as Luc and Vex, now unfrozen from the blast, do the same.
Unfortunately, it also means Anu and Ellie are free as well.
“You have no idea,” Tilly says coldly. “I’m learning. Growing. And getting really fucking tired of everyone trying to use me for their own ends.” Her gaze sweeps over all of us before landing on Anu, who is recovering from the blast. “Starting with you.”
The power crackling around her intensifies, making my skin prickle. Through our bond, I can feel her rage, her determination, but also her absolute control. This isn’t the unstable surge from before. This is pure, focused intent. She blasts Anu, showing more power than I’ve seen her use before. The chains of magick wrap around Anu, holding onto her tightly.
“No more manipulations. No more plans. We deal with this now, my way.” She turns to Mum. “You want to help? Fine. But I stay here. That curse has to be broken now. There is no choice. It will unleash Hell on Earth, literally, so perhaps you can have something in place on your side to draw your subjects back. The less carnage on Earth, the better for all of us.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that.”
Tilly’s eyes blaze with power as she faces down the Devil.
“You heard her,” I say, moving to stand beside Tilly. “We do this her way.”
Mum’s eyes narrow, but there’s a hint of respect in her gaze as she looks at Tilly. “Very well. I’ll prepare Hell’s forces to contain the breach when the curse breaks. But make no mistake—this is far from over.”
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” Tilly replies coldly.
Anu struggles against Tilly’s magickal bindings. “You can’t possibly think you can control this,” she snarls.
“Oh, but I can. You made one fatal error in your plan. You didn’t count on the power that I needed to be your little generator would actually want to be with me. It has bonded to me, it has meshed with the powers of the men I love and you, you godawful monster, you don’t stand a chance.”
Love .
She said it. I wonder if she knows she did.
She turns to Ellie. “As for you, you’re not getting sacrificed today.”
Ellie laughs, a chilling sound. “You think you can stop what’s already in motion? The gateway grows stronger by the second. Soon, it will tear reality apart, and nothing will stand in our way?—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up, will you?” I growl and throw a stream of death magick at her, which effectively kills her, while keeping her alive.
“Dray!” Tilly yells. “You can’t kill her! The curse!”
“She’s not dead. Just playing it,” I say, taking her hand. “But she was getting on my nerves. Vile creature.”
Tilly snorts and kisses my hand. “She always was.”
As Blackthorn moves closer, with Morrigan at his side, I glance around to see that Laurent has disappeared. Great. There’s an Angel on the loose, and we have no idea where she went.
“Time to secure our problems,” Blackthorn says. “Annabelle, if you would be so kind as to return to Hell and prepare for the inevitable breach? We’ll handle things here.”
Mum gives us all one last measuring look, lingering on Tilly. “Fine. But if this goes tits up and I have a bunch of Hell subjects running rampant over Earth, you can bet your fucking asses, I’m going to hold you all personally responsible. And you two,” she jabs her fingers at me and Luc, “don’t think we won’t be discussing this later. All of it.”
With a flash of Hellfire, she vanishes, taking the supernatural heat with her. The temperature in the clearing plummets, creating a short rain shower that drenches us all thoroughly. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear I heard Mum’s laugh echo around the forest .
“Vex, Morrigan,” Blackthorn commands, “help me transport these two. Make sure they’re secure.”
“Where?” Tilly asks, her voice tight.
“The vaults in the east wing,” Blackthorn says. “They are veritable prisons. They won’t be going anywhere with Draven’s hex and your magick binding them.”
Vex nods but grabs Tilly, pressing a kiss to her lips before he pulls away with a smirk, “That was fun.”
“Too much fun,” she says weakly. “Go and meet us in the dining hall. I’m famished.”
“This isn’t over,” Anu hisses as Blackthorn starts to drag her away, with Morrigan holding her suspended off the ground. “The gateway will open, with or without my help. You’ve only delayed the inevitable.”
“Maybe,” Tilly says coldly. “But you won’t be around to see it.”
Once they’re gone, Tilly sags slightly against me, the rainbow light finally dimming around her. “Your mum is amazing.”
I snort. “She’s okay.”
“No, really. I expected her to dominate this situation and make us do everything her way.”
“Do not take her backing off as being amenable,” Luc says. “She is waiting for the fallout so she can come back here, kick all our asses and blame us for unleashing Demons on Earth. It’ll be a fucking funfest.”
“Well, in that case, she is still amazing, but let’s not give her the satisfaction. We need to eat, sleep and then not rest until we find a way to close the hole the Praxian opened and break the curse so this can finally be over.”
The ground rumbles, causing us to stagger over the roiling ground.
“The sooner, the better,” I mutter. “And where the fuck did Laurent go?”
“Back to Heaven, I bet,” Luc says as we turn to head the same way Vex, Blackthorn, and Morrigan went.
“Which is not good,” I mutter.
“Speaking of Heaven,” Tilly says idly. “What’s your problem with Vazna?”
“Apart from him being a massive dick?” I reply. “We clashed over a soul. It wasn’t pretty. We’ll just leave it at that.” I don’t want to relive it, and I don’t want to think about Vazna. It makes me seriously pissed off.
“Fair enough,” Tilly mutters, sensing the dark cloud over my head. I love her for not pushing, and because of that, I blurt out the short version of the story. “The soul was my best friend. A human who shouldn’t have got involved with me. My power was too great for him to be around, and it eventually killed him. He was on the list to go up, and I tried to get him to go down. Vazna was sent to kick my arse. He won. End of story.”
Luc gapes at me, as he had no idea and Tilly’s hand tightens on mine. “I’m so sorry, Dray. That must’ve been awful. Your friend must’ve been a good man, though.”
“He was. He saw the best in everyone. Even me.”
Tilly cups my face and brushes her lips over mine. “I’m sorry for your loss. ”
Luc punches me on the arm, his version of offering condolences.
“It’s fine. Let’s go eat,” I say, brushing it aside. We have bigger shit to deal with right now, and regretting the past doesn’t get me anywhere anyway.