Chapter 21 #2
Have you forgotten my mark on your bloodline or that I hold your blood contract? Shall I kill you and collect your sisters instead?
No! Leave them.
Then live up to our agreement.
What do you want?
Follow the wolf back to me, and you shall find out.
The wolf’s eyes lock on mine, then it turns, leading me deeper into the trees. I’m going to die. I’m alone and can’t fight without putting my sisters in danger.
My mind is spinning, but I can’t see any way out of this. He owns me, and he knows it.
A bolt whistles past my head and strikes the wolf in the front shoulder. It reels backward, twisting.
“Your Red Riding Hood moment is over, Poppy. Time to go back inside.”
The demon’s seduction call seems broken with the attack of the beast, and I manage to turn around.
Asher is standing in his Scooby-Doo onesie, hair mussed, and his compound bow raised. “That is one freakishly horrifying wolf.”
He releases another bolt, and relief and horror collide in my chest.
Asher, no!
He lunges forward, grabbing my arm. "Poppy, wake up. We need to get inside!"
The wolf snarls and launches between us, refusing to let me go.
"Back off, Cujo.” He fires another bolt, and it sinks into the wolf’s flesh with a thwump. “I can do this all night. Prepare to become a beastly porcupine.”
It doesn’t seem to affect it, other than to piss it off more.
Is it even alive? Can it feel pain? If it’s a demon wolf, maybe it likes pain. Honestly, I have a sickening feeling that nothing we do will take it down.
A fourth metal bolt embeds into the wolf, and that seems to be the last straw. It lunges, and Asher is washed with wide-eyed panic.
No! Asher, run! But of course he can’t hear me, and even worse, I can’t help him.
The wolf attacks, teeth snapping, then it's on him.
Teeth sink into his shoulder, claws raking across his chest. He screams. The sound is raw, and cleaves my heart like a dagger.
I try to move.
Try to breathe.
But I'm frozen, watching as the wolf drags my best friend down into the dirt. Blood spreads across his shredded onesie, dark and wet.
“ASHER!”
No, this can’t happen. I can’t let this happen. After all the sacrifices he’s made for me, I won’t let his life be the last.
Fuck you, Tharuzel! The darkness inside me rears its ugly head, but I don’t try to keep it locked in the jewelry box. Instead, I let it out.
I let it feed the anger and hatred I feel for Tharuzel and everything he’s done to me, the people I love, and the people of Emberwood.
All the manipulation.
All the damage caused.
Something inside me breaks.
The forest snaps back into focus, and the shadows don’t haunt me anymore. I am the shadows. I am the darkness.
And Tharuzel better watch out for me.
The terror of seeing Asher taken to the ground ignites a white-hot, all-consuming fury in me. It burns with more intensity and with more conviction than anything that’s come before.
I am fire and I burn through Tharuzel's hold like flame to paper. Magic floods my veins, wild and untamed.
I scream, throwing everything I have at the wolf.
Spirit fire erupts from my hands—blue flames roaring through the air. It hits the beast square in the ribs, and it shrieks, stumbling back.
The flames don't stop. I’m a fucking flamethrower.
I catch the beast with a swath of flame, and it doesn’t have a hope in hell of escaping. I burn that demon wolf.
The beast that has haunted me.
The beast that thought to take me from my home.
The beast that dared to hurt the brightest light that has ever shone in my life.
The flames torch my living nightmare in an incredible bonfire, devouring shadow, the stench of char and burnt hair making me gag.
The wolf dissolves.
It’s a puddle of black ooze seeping into the packed earth, and I’m standing there, barefoot and shaking.
Asher is on the ground at my feet.
The damage is…
My eyes are seeing, but I don’t understand. The heap of torn flesh hemorrhaging from everywhere all at once can’t be my Asher.
This must be the real nightmare.
I drop to my knees beside him, trembling hands hovering over the gashes torn through his chest.
The side of his neck is ripped open…
Three of his fingers have been chewed off…
His face is so badly shredded, I don’t even know if he has a face under all that blood.
"No, no, no—"
A vile gurgling sound wheezes out the side of his neck, and I don’t know whether to press my hands against the hole or if that’s how he’s breathing.
The world spins and I fight not to pass out. "Don't talk. Just hold on."
Blood soaks my hands, hot and slick.
Too much. Way too much.
I hold my hands over the worst of the wounds, magic sparking at my fingertips. But I’m not a healer. Spirit magic affects the dead, not the living.
I can't fix this.
Tears blur my vision. “Asher, hold on. I’ll get help.”
But my phone is back at the house and up in my room. I’ll never get there in time.
“Rowan!” My scream echoes through the trees, but I know she’ll never hear me.
We're alone. Just the two of us at the back of the property, the last of Asher’s life soaking into the earth.
The standing stones.
The thought crashes through my panic like a lifeline.
I look toward the clearing where they stand, ancient and powerful, humming with Hallowind magic. I've channeled spells through them and connected to my ancestors.
Could I use them to portal us out of here?
I have to.
"Hold on." My voice cracks. "Just hold on, Ash. I’ve got an idea."
I close my eyes, reaching for the stones with everything I have. My magic floods outward, connecting to their power, weaving through the ancient ley lines that pulse beneath Hallowind soil.
Goddess Mother, please. Give me the strength and the skill needed to save him. Please.
The stones hum.
Energy ripples through the air.
I open my eyes.
Nothing has changed. We're still here, and Asher's breathing is worse. It rattles, shallow and wet.
I slam my fist into the ground. "No, no, no—I can’t lose him! After all this fucking life has taken from me, give me this. Let me save him!”
The stones remain silent.
My chest heaves, tears streaming down my face. I press my forehead to Asher's, his skin cold beneath mine.
A sob rips through me. "I can't lose him. Please. Please, Goddess Mother, I'm begging you—"
My voice breaks.
"I won't survive without him."
The words hang in the air, raw and true.
And then—
I’m filled with power.
Pure. Ancient. Infinite.
It floods through me, lifting every hair on my body. The standing stones blaze with golden brilliance, and the ley lines beneath us sing.
The world dissolves.
When it snaps back into place, cold tile presses against my knees, and fluorescent lights buzz overhead.
We're in the hospital.
"Help!" I scream, lungs burning. "Help us! Please!"
Footsteps thunder toward us. A nurse rounds the corner, her eyes widening.
"Oh, good lord—" She hits a button on the wall. "I need a gurney in the ER bay now!"
More people rush in—doctors, nurses, moving with practiced efficiency.
“He was attacked by a wolf.” The words barely escape past the emotions clogging my throat.
They lift Asher onto a stretcher, hands pressing gauze to his wounds. I barely register what’s going on. The urgent voices dropping to a hollow buzz.
I try to follow, but a nurse catches my arm. "You need to wait here, honey."
I pull against her grip. "No, I have to—"
"—let us help your friend. You got him here. Let us do our job. Is there someone I can call for you?"
They push Asher’s gurney through a set of double doors, and I lose sight of him. The doors wing shut behind them, and I’m left shaking all alone.
I stand there, staring at the empty bay.
At the blood pooling on the tile.
My legs give out and my knees hit so hard my teeth clack together. I ache to the marrow of my bones, to the depths of my lungs.
And somewhere in the dark, I feel it—Tharuzel's satisfaction curling through the bond like smoke. There are consequences for defying me, Poppy Hallowind. The sooner you accept fate, the better.
Oh, I know my fate. It’s to destroy him.
He drew first blood, and it’s on.
This is war.