Unbound Retribution (Broken Ashes #8)

Chapter One

Neith

My gaze quickly takes in the situation just to make sure that I’m seeing what I think I am, and sure enough, there is absolutely no mistaking that House is being attacked.

It’s pretty obvious that’s what’s happening right now.

What I’m not sure about is what is attacking House?

Or hell, why? I don’t imagine that House manages to piss off that many people, considering it’s, you know, a house and can’t exactly go anywhere to piss someone off, at least I don’t think it can.

I’m not actually one hundred percent sure about that since it’s magical, but logically speaking, House shouldn’t be able to go anywhere to piss someone off.

Of course, someone could come here, and House could piss them off, but we’re pretty far out, and it’s unlikely that anyone would just stop in for a visit, and certainly not a visit that would last long enough for House to do something to make them mad enough to want to attack it.

“What am I seeing?” Coen asks, sounding as confused as I feel.

“I don’t know,” I mutter honestly, my eyes still scanning the creatures attacking House as I try to make sense of it.

“Wait a fucking second. Are they ghosts?” Raiden asks incredulously.

River yelps in what I can only assume is excitement, and then clears his throat, “It certainly looks like it. They don’t look like Ribit though.

They’re transparent and wispy around the edges, kind of like they’re slightly out of focus.

I don’t think any of them are from the same time period either, or at least not many of them.

They’re dressed in all sorts of clothes from various eras. ”

“We can’t just stand here, they’re trying to pull House apart,” Doc says urgently, pulling us all out of our shock.

“Well, okay then. I guess we’re fighting ghosts,” Griff mutters, his eyebrows drawn down in a frown.

“It’s not the weirdest thing that’s happened today,” I point out, as if it will somehow make this situation make more sense or become easier to deal with.

We don’t waste any more time as we head out of the trees and toward the attacking ghosts. At first, I thought they were just human ghosts, but I was so wrong.

There are wolves, foxes, dragons, and a kelpie, and as I get closer, I realize that even some of the human-looking ones aren’t human at all.

Some have pointed ears, some are clearly vampires, and some are either far too big to be a simple human or far too small.

It’s an eclectic mix, and all of them see through, and all of them are charging or attacking House.

I think it’s safe to assume that this isn’t part of Casimir’s plan, he wouldn’t be attacking House, and this isn’t really his style of doing things anyway. No, this is something else entirely. Although I have no fucking idea what it is.

“Get the fuck away from House!” I yell as one of them manages to pull off a shutter.

The ghosts turn to look at us.

“Why do they look so shocked?” River mutters out of the side of his mouth.

“They’re ghosts, we’re not supposed to be able to see them,” I remind him, trying not to laugh.

This is a serious situation, but damn, River is fucking cute.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” he replies, making my smile widen.

We take advantage of the ghost's shock, and charge them. I call on my fire, and when streams of black flames wrap around my arms and Asael, I decide to just go with it, even though I’m used to seeing my pink fire, and it’s the only one I’ve really practiced with.

I know that I have seen black fire in the past when I released my magic, and as far as I’m concerned, so long as it belongs to me, then it’s all good, and I’m going to use it.

As soon as my sword connects with one of the charging ghosts, who is definitely going in for the kill, I realize why my black fire is the one who has come out to play, because when the fire connects to the ghost, it wraps around the being and, for lack of a better word, consumes them.

I then watch in absolute fascination as my fire pulls back, and a small ball of glowing white light is left behind.

It dances happily in the air, leaving a light trail behind it before it dissipates in a twinkling rainfall of sparkles. Like a mini silent firework.

It's stunning.

I have absolutely no idea what it means, or what my fire did to the ghost, but it doesn’t feel like it’s a bad thing.

Unfortunately, I can’t enjoy the show for any longer, because the ghosts are now doubling down on their attack with renewed vigor, and standing here staring at the sky is just going to make me an easy target.

I am never an easy target.

Actually, scratch that, sometimes I have to pretend to be an easy target so that I can lure my target in and finish the job.

I pick up the pace, trusting that the guys are going to be able to protect themselves against the onslaught of ghosts who have now turned their sights on us.

At least they’re away from House.

As I swing and slice, little light balls dart up into the sky, and I start having to chase after the ghosts rather than them coming for me. Well, it’s good to know that they see me as a threat, even if it does mean that I have to do more running than I usually like to.

Betty.

She hasn’t been able to do her thing for a while.

Most of the supes that we come up against need their heads taken off, which means that I have to use Asael, and while I love using Asael, I have really missed Betty.

I mean, it was her and me for years. I feel like I owe her some proper girl bonding time, and we haven’t been able to do that for far too long.

I should probably talk to a professional about my need to have girly bonding time with my shotgun, but she isn’t just a shotgun, she’s an enchanted shotgun, and I’m going to say that changes things and makes it less questionable.

The Voices mutter in what I can only describe as a scoff, clearly disagreeing with me.

I ignore them.

Plus, I haven’t gotten to properly test her newfound enchanted weapon status, and I wonder if she can somehow combine my magic and her bullets and make bullets that send the little light balls back to wherever it is that they come from?

Only one way to find out, I suppose.

My smile is huge, and when I catch Reed’s eye, who’s looking at me suspiciously, probably because of the giant shit-eating grin on my face, I decide to make it worse by winking at him.

He shakes his head and chuckles as he uses his magic to blast through the ghost that tries to attack him. Apparently, it’s just as effective as my black fire, at least it appears to be.

Focus.

Right, Betty.

Reaching behind me, I put Asael in the harness that appears on my back. I don’t think it would be a good idea to put him away completely, just in case Betty isn’t able to do what I hope she can do.

Betty immediately appears in my hands, and I grin. Oh, she’s ready.

“Come on then, beautiful, let's show these fuckers what you’ve got,” I say to her. I’ve never been shy about talking to her, but it definitely feels less crazy now that she’s sentient and can understand me.

I would argue that she could always understand me, and since no one can prove to me otherwise, I’m right.

Case in point, she clearly knows that I’ve gotten distracted because she gives me a short, sharp shock that makes me refocus.

“Oh, that’s handy,” I mutter.

There’s no time to waste because the ghosts that were running away from me have now realized that I no longer have my sword and are running toward me instead.

Stupid fucks.

Taking aim, I pull the trigger, preparing to send a blast of my magic after the bullet, just in case I’m wrong about Betty being able to create her own bullets.

I shouldn’t have worried. The bullet tears through the ghost, ending it and freeing the ball of light that then does its sparkly mini firework thing.

“Awesome!” Coen yells from somewhere nearby, and my smile widens as I keep taking aim and pulling the trigger.

Suddenly, the volume of ghosts seems to increase, and these ones seem to be not only angrier than the originals, but stronger too.

“Where the hell do they keep coming from?” Van shouts over the sounds of the surrounding chaos.

“I presume the other side!” I yell back.

“Smartass!” He retorts, his lips pulling up into a smile as he uses his water to pin a few ghosts to the floor while he fights with another.

Should he be able to physically fight a ghost?

There’s no time for any more verbal sparring, or even questions, because more and more of them appear.

I catch sight of the guys, all of them fighting to get to me, so that we can fight together and protect each other's backs. My smile is huge as I use Betty, and help to clear a path for them.

Eventually, we’re all in a circle, fighting back-to-back, and I have to admit I’m having a great time, although the number of ghosts appearing is starting to get slightly alarming.

In theory, we could be here fighting for an extraordinary amount of time. I don’t imagine the Spirit Realm is going to run out of dead to send. It’s where the dead go from all of the realms. My mind can’t even fathom how many dead there are, and who knows how many can get across.

“Enough!” A familiar and very angry voice shouts over the sounds of the battle.

The ground rumbles again, and the ghosts closest to us are grabbed around the ankles by some unseen force as a swirling hole of red and orange opens up beneath them, and they’re pulled downward, screaming, clawing at the ground for purchase.

It’s no good, and within moments, they disappear, the ground closing back up over the top of that.

“That was freaky,” River mutters.

“Oh, for sure,” Raiden replies, his eyes wide as he stares at the now normal ground.

As we watch more and more of the ghosts disappear down new holes of terror until those who are left have been successfully corralled by the still rippling ground, and the holes themselves form into a group, creating a huge hole of terror that appears underneath them all.