32. Ash
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ash
“ I don’t understand,” Lorraine said.
I gritted my teeth, irritation flaring up inside me. It wasn’t fair of me to be irritated with her. She didn’t know anything about this world, she’d only just become aware of the magic that lived here. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t know, didn’t understand.
Gods, I wasn’t good at explaining any of it.
Especially not the things I didn’t understand either.
Like why the fuck whatever was coming at us now had magic. The guys who were after her were human. They were low-life scum, fuckers who didn’t care about anything other than what they wanted out of life, but they were still just humans and they did what humans did—they destroyed, they were selfish, they did what they had to do to gain something.
They couldn’t be more than they were, and they didn’t have any magic that helped them. It was what had put us at an advantage so far—I’d been able to protect Lorraine, to keep her hidden with the help of magic, because those sons of bitches didn’t have magic to work with.
This thing that came toward us had magic—and a lot of it. I felt the power in the air, crackling like static on my skin. When I focused on my own magic and watched the vale from the vantage point of my tree, I could feel the power coming toward us, rolling like a thick cloud promising a storm.
I walked to the living room to find my clothes and got dressed quickly.
“Where are you going?” Lorraine asked.
“I’m going out there to see what the fuck we’re dealing with,” I growled. “Get dressed. You don’t want to get caught naked in the middle of a war.”
“War?” she asked in a small voice.
I didn’t have time to explain. I marched out of the cabin and onto the porch. It would have been better to get Lorraine out of here, but it was too late. Whatever was out there was already here.
The magic crept in. Thick, dark clouds moved before the sun, blocking out the light so that everything had a dusky feel to it. The wind picked up, blowing in a different direction than usual, and an ominous feeling filled the atmosphere around the cabin.
I heard footsteps—the first non-magical thing I could hear since the moment I’d become aware of the magic.
A man appeared at the entrance to the clearing where I’d built my cabin.
I frowned. He was nothing more than a human.
Behind him, another man appeared, and then another and another. I recognized two of them as the men who’d taken Lorraine, and the third as the guy I’d fucked up when I found him snooping for her around the forest.
They had weapons with them—guns and bats, and one of them had a medieval-looking spiked ball that he must have dug up from around here somewhere. Shit like that didn’t really exist in the human world anymore.
They were all human, but the magic that surrounded us wasn’t human at all. And it was coming from them.
Where the hell had they found magic? Somewhere, a magical creature in our realm was helping them.
“Took you long enough to get here,” I said in a tone that was almost bored. “I thought I would be in for a fight, but getting Lorraine back was a piece of cake, so… are you going to make it a little more fun for me now?”
“Give her back, and no one has to get hurt,” one of the men said, and he loaded his gun.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you know by now that bullets and bats don’t do anything to people like me.”
“No, you’re right,” another said. “Which is why we came prepared.” He flared the power I felt, and it pressed against me like a giant hand. So, they didn’t only have magic, they also knew enough about using it to threaten me.
“Well, we’ll just have to get this shit out of the way, then,” I said and stepped down from the porch. “I’m getting sick and tired of you pieces of shit snooping around my territory.”
The men glanced at each other and laughed.
“Look at him, a drus who thinks he has any kind of leverage beyond caring for the trees.”
I bristled. They knew what I was and what I did. Who was feeding them this information? They were human—humans didn’t know anything about any of this. They’d somehow managed to not only get into my realm, but to find magic, and knowledge, that could cause some serious shit.
Lorraine appeared on the porch behind me. The men all looked at her, and their faces turned from snarls to looks of hunger. They wanted her for themselves.
“Get back inside,” I barked without looking at her. I wanted to keep my eyes on them. I couldn’t fight these guys and look after her at the same time.
“I can help,” Lorraine said.
“Dammit, Lorraine, get back in there!” I shouted, looking over my shoulder at her.
The moment I did, the men stormed toward me as one. A gun fired, the bullet burning as it burrowed into my skin. Lorraine screamed.
I gritted my teeth and fought against the burn. A bullet wouldn’t kill me—I was immortal—but it still hurt like a bitch.
I hit the guy with the gun with the back of my hand, and he flew across the grass, landing with a thud and a crack. The other three were on me, hitting me with their bats and chains and spiked balls. It hurt like hell, but I fought back. I knocked one guy out, and he collapsed to the grass. I nearly tripped over him when I attacked the second one, the spiked ball raining down on me.
Magic pressed in on us. The men were using the magic in the air to attack me, along with their physical onslaught. It was just me against the rest of them. I wouldn’t lose—eventually, I would kill them and it would be over—but the guy with the gun I’d hit got up. Instead of attacking me again, he turned to the cabin. To Lorraine.
Shit.
I should have kept him close so I could keep an eye on him. I should have been more careful instead of using brute force.
He lifted the gun. What was he aiming at? I tried to spin around, to see if Lorraine had gone back inside, but the attacks rained down on me. I realized what was going on. The magic, the weapons, none of it could kill me, but they didn’t want me dead. All they wanted was to keep me distracted until they could get to her.
They wanted to take her away again.
“She’ll die if you take her away!” I shouted.
“What’s it to you if she does?” one of them asked and hit me again.
“What’s it to you if she does?” I countered, parrying a blow from a bat that shot a sharp pain into my shoulder. I winced, then kicked the asshole with the spiked ball in the gut. He doubled over and struggled to breathe for a beat.
“He wants her dead, so we’re doing what he wants,” another said.
“Who?” I asked.
Someone wanted Lorraine dead. Someone had given these guys magic so they could outnumber and outweigh me with their magic, and it was all for the sake of killing Lorraine. It didn’t make any sense.
I heard another scream, and more shots fired. My body ran cold. Glass shattered, and I heard a grunt.
Lorraine appeared from the side of the cabin. She ran, her tunic trailing behind her like a veil as she ran toward the orchard. My body flooded with relief. She’d gotten away so far, but out in the open, she wasn’t safe. And then to my horror, I saw the guy with the gun tear after her.
“Artemis!” I shouted. Dammit, the goddess was a pain in my ass, but I needed her. Where the hell was she when I needed her? She was always in my way, but now she was nowhere to be found.
Philotes appeared a moment later. “Where is she?” Philotes asked.
“The orchard,” I bit out. The magic threatened to press me into the ground.
“I’m on it,” Philotes said, and she ran after Lorraine.
I didn’t know what the goddess of friendship was going to do. She wasn’t a hunter and warrior like Artemis, but someone with magic looking out for Lorraine was better than nothing. I hoped to the gods that it would work out and Philotes could help protect her.
Finally, I managed to grab a hold of one of the men’s heads and snapped his neck. He fell to the ground and looked up at me with lifeless eyes. The magic already lessened, and the guy’s friends froze, staring at their fallen friend.
The shock lasted only a second, but it was long enough for me to realize each of them only had a certain amount of magic. Collectively, it was a problem, but with one down, the ones who were left weren’t nearly as strong.
I grabbed one of the two men, wrapping a thick arm around his neck until he kicked and squirmed. He was much shorter than me, and with my arm around his neck, his feet barely touched the ground. The other tried to attack, hitting me with that spiked ball, but I jerked his friend into the path of the weapon, and the man I held onto took the blow instead. He howled in pain.
“You fucking asshole!” he bit out in a hoarse voice. “You hit me!”
The last man standing hesitated. He looked at his friend, then looked at me, unsure of what to do.
“Who gave you magic?” I demanded.
The guy with the spiked ball hesitated.
“I’ll kill him,” I threatened, tightening my grip on his friend.
“Tell him,” the guy choked out, but the one with the spiked ball shook his head.
“Do it,” he said. “I’m not telling you shit.”
I shook my head, squeezing the guy’s neck so hard, I was sure his head was going to pop off.
“What the fuck, man?” he gasped, his face turning red. “Tell him.”
The guy with the spiked ball shook his head and took out a gun. I hadn’t realized he had one, too. He aimed the gun at me and shot his friend.
When I dropped the dead body, I stared at his buddy, the only one still on his feet aside from the one who’d gone after Lorraine.
“A gun won’t kill me,” I said.
“No, it won’t. It will slow you down, though. By the time you get to her, it will be too late.”
He shot me in the chest. I jerked back, and he shot me again, planting five bullets in my chest. I gasped for breath as blood blossomed on my shirt in various places. He planted more bullets in my legs.
I let out a roar of pain and fury, and took a step closer. Two more bullets jerked me back before I reached him.
When I grabbed the gun, the last shot backfired, and the man screamed. I cut his scream short when I ripped out his throat.
The dead body crumpled to the ground, and I shook my hand off, splattering blood everywhere.
A scream sounded from the orchard, and I spun around.
The bullets in my chest were already headed toward the surface, my body rejecting them as it healed itself. I took one step toward the orchard, wincing in pain as my muscles rippled around the bullets still buried in my thighs. I dug in my chest, looking for the bullets, digging them out as they came closer to the surface.
I took another step and another, ignoring the pain, the burning. The bullets worked their way out as I started running, and as my body healed up, I could move faster and faster.
When I got to the orchard, Philotes stood before Lorraine, blocking her with her body. She glowed brightly, her skin on fire, and her eyes were like a fiery bottomless pit. The man with the gun was terrified. I could smell it in the air, an acrid stench that always reminded me of how weak humans really were.
I let out a roar and ran toward the guy. He spun around and fired a shot at me.
“No!” Lorraine shouted and jumped out from behind Philotes to come to me—she thought I would be injured or killed.
“Lorraine!” Philotes and I cried out at the same time when the gun turned back to her and a shot fired.
The bullet hit Lorraine. She fell backward, her blond hair streaming behind her in a cloud before she fell to the ground.
I let out a deadly war cry before approaching the man. I grabbed him and ripped his head clean off his body, tossing it to the side as the headless body fell to the ground.
I breathed hard. The power faded completely now that they were all dead, but the damage had been done.
Philotes was already kneeling over Lorraine, muttering something. Her face was twisted in a mask of sorrow.
“No, no, no,” I muttered, running toward them. I skidded onto my knees and grabbed Lorraine. The bullet had gone into her chest, right into her heart. Her head hung back, and her eyes were closed. She was still—she didn’t breathe, she didn’t move.
Lorraine was dead.