Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
T heodore clawed and thrashed and choked on water as Leon Marks’s goon tried holding him down.
He didn’t know how it was possible, to just lose one’s head like that, but what mattered most, what hurt the most, was his Ardruina was dead.
Every nerve ending screeched agony, cried for blood and vengeance. If only he’d the strength to enact his will.
His captor’s hold on him loosened just enough for Theodore to come up sputtering for breath. “What the fuck?”
Ardruina’s head still lay on the ground, her face thankfully turned away. But her body sat up, and rose from damp earth, a gleaming sickle in hand.
What the fuck indeed.
There was no hesitation. She slashed right, and then left, lopping off the heads of the men who’d held her—one brutal stroke each—as if she was born to do it. Before they could even process what was happening. Before Theodore could process what was happening.
As if she’d done it before.
Chest squared, and arms tensed for more slashing, she cut a rage-fueled path along the ground. He didn’t need the benefit of facial expression to know she was out for blood, and that the one holding him did not have long left to live in this world.
“Don’t come any closer,” the man stammered, pulling a knife from his boot. “Or I’ll slit his throat.”
Fuck that. Expending the last of his energy, Theodore grabbed the man’s wrist with one hand and jammed the heel of the other into his nose, jerking his head back. Abdomen on fire and utterly spent, he collapsed, water rushing over his mouth and nose, gravity and the weight of the other man working against him.
A silver blade flashed overhead, all sound muffled as metal met flesh. Blood sprayed across the water’s murky green surface, a streak of crimson just above his face.
The man, and his hulking weight, were wrenched away.
A headless, leather-clad figure came into view, visage distorted by a rippling, blood-speckled surface. It plunged a fist into the water and hoisted him up.
Theodore sucked in a great gulp of air. Whatever enabled this nature-defying feat, the timing was excellent for his screaming lungs, but maybe not his neck…
“It’s still me, Teddy. Don’t be afraid. You’re safe now.”
It was Ardruina’s voice but thrown funny, as if she were twenty feet away and not right by his side, cradling him to her body. Her headless body. It made no damn sense, but he believed her.
An engine revved.
“Leon Marks’s getting away,”he croaked, pointing.
The asshole had an ATV.
After situating him somewhere solid and mostly dry, Ardruina stood and whirled around, her tattered coat sweeping out behind her. In one fluid motion, she mounted Lady Crane and raced after Marks.
Scrambling to his feet, Theodore followed on foot. He had to see, had to know.
Through the trees, he saw Ardruina riding down the fleeing billionaire. Arm raised high, she swung with vicious force, decapitating him in one blow from behind. Marks’s head rolled and bounced to the side, fancy sunglasses flying. Without a living driver, the ATV crashed into a cluster of boulders with a sickening crunch.
As Ardruina circled back, riding at a steady gallop, sickle dripping blood, a voice behind him said, “I wanted to tell you, Teddy, but this is obviously a lot to confess.”
He spun around.
Ardruina’s fallen head, laying cheek down on a mat of pine needles, gazed up at him apologetically.
Shit. Damn. Fuckity. Fuck.
Get your act together, Theo, she needs you.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
“Are you okay?” he stammered, crouching down. Talking to an animated, decapitated head was not on his list of things to do today. “Do you have a concussion from the …?” He motioned the falling off part with his hand.
“It doesn’t feel good, but I’m alive in my own way.”
Right.
Her body reined in beside him and jumped down, retrieving its head.
“I know this is asking a lot.” She blushed, a cross between shy and embarrassed, as she aligned herself neck to…neck. “Could you help me with the ribbon?”
Ardruina, this unearthly being, that beheaded tech bros like it was nothing…
Needed him.
Shoving the part of him that wanted to scream and run away into a box, Theodore threw away the key. Then, he found the green ribbon near where her head had been, and after brushing pine needles from her cheek with a trembling hand, he wrapped the ribbon around her neck and tied it in a neat, tight bow.
God, how’s that gonna stay on?
He wrung his hands, certain they were both in denial.
When she let go, he shot forward, palms outstretched, ready to catch her head, but she just stretched and cracked her neck, full motion returned.
Thank Jesus. He never wanted to see her head fall off ever again.
“Better?” He meant to sound composed and suave. Instead, the question came out in a mousey squeak.
“Much.” She nodded, casting a look about, taking in the carnage.
They’d have to clean this up.
Bending down, Theodore lifted one of the decapitated heads. “Oh gosh, I forgot how heavy these things were,” he gagged, almost dropping it. Everything was weird and clammy and if he looked at it, he’d hurl, so he didn’t.
Ardruina smirked, joining him in body disposal. “You do this often?”
“Well, no,” he replied, chucking goon #1’s head into the bog. Splat . Sucking mud pulled it down with a loud, ugly belch. “I meant the trivia.”
“That seems truer to character.”
“You look like you’ve chopped off heads before.”
“Only those who deserved it.” And then after a moment, “I’m not going to chop your head off, Theodore.”
Cool.
“So, um, I don’t mean to sound rude or ungrateful—you did rescue me twice in two days, which wow, I’m shaping up to be a real damsel in distress, aren’t I?”
“Theodore,” she said softly, cutting off his rambling. “You can just ask. It won’t offend me.”
“What… who are you?”
“Have you ever heard of The Wild Huntsman? Or the Dullahan?”
“That’s Irish folklore, right?”
She nodded. “Mhmm. But the first one’s German.”
“Oh, I forgot about that. Like in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
“Just like that.” Her answering smile was playfully impish. “I was heading north, on my way here, at the time.”
Oh. Ohhh .
A bona fide, supernatural legend. He already knew Ardruina was way out of his league. This defied comprehension.
And then she blew him a kiss, and his hopeless heart melted into a puddle of goop.
Piece after piece, they fed the bog their feast of misdeeds, knowing Dead Man’s Hollow would hold onto their secrets and never let go.
Sabotage gone wrong. Murder. Almost dying, again . A centuries-old, sometimes-headless lover. There was so much to process, but one thing stood out, one feeling that outshone them all.
“I can’t tell you how glad I am you’re not dead.”
When Theodore took Ardruina’s hand, she smiled.