by K. C. Hamby
Anger flashes on Ash’s face and his amber eyes glow. “You mean to tell me if I don’t fucking accept your bullshit, I could basically be the reason Fal becomes…like…evil? Why the hell would you split our roles this way? What kind of bullshit choice is this? Accept or lose your sister forever?”
Silas takes a deep breath to center himself against Ash’s wrath. “I know it seems unfair. It wasn’t originally planned this way, I assure you. Your mother and I weren’t aware of Falen’s creation when I…” He stops, snapping his lips together as if he has said too much. “It doesn’t matter how it happened. The bottom line is it did and now you must make a choice. Either accept or refuse and damn your sister to an eternity of darkness. I beg you not to be selfish.”
Ah, shite. Not good.
Ash laughs, disbelief curling with the sound as it booms across the island. “Who the fuck are you to tell me not to be selfish? As far as I’m concerned, you are the most selfish bastard there is. Leaving me and Fal to go tweedle your fucking thumbs and be CEO of Death? Fuck off,” he snaps and takes a step toward his father, but I grab his wrist and pull him back to me.
“Dinnae do somethin’ you’ll regret, mo chridhe,” I whisper. “Facin’ off with Death would nae be wise.”
Ashy stares at his father for a long time, fury rolling over me like thunder down my skin as he seethes. “He’s not worth it,” Ash growls, deigning to pretend his da isn’t even present. He pulls away from me, but in the opposite direction of his da, so I let him go.
I look at Silas and he is angry, but mostly sadness pools in his black eyes. “He’s a stubborn lad. And you pissed him right off. Dinnae push him. It’ll just make it worse.” And with that, I follow my Mannie as he stomps away like a child.
Chapter 57
Ash
My phone rings, pulling me from my brooding retreat.
“Fal Pal,” I exclaim when I answer, the bullshit I just learned branded at the front of my brain and put it on speaker for Eddie to hear as she catches up with me. “I’m glad ole pop-in-law hasn’t shot you yet.”
“Ash,” she growls and I still. Asshole Fal or not, I know when she’s being serious.
This isn’t good.
“Nina wrote another prophecy.”
“Goddammit,” I sigh and shake my head. “When it rains, it pours and becomes a fucking shitstorm, and we all left our umbrellas at home.”
Now that was a funny analogy, but Fal doesn’t laugh like she usually would. She doesn’t even breathe hard out of her nose.
Acting like I didn’t even speak, Fal proceeds to tell us the prophecy which is clearly a warning of more shitty shitty bullshit to come.
“The inner chaos can be tamed,
When dark and light collide.
Humanity may be returned,
If by this, you shall abide.
Snakes of contract slither,
Uncovering buried lies.
Cut the head off at the source,
And the plan in motion dies.
If the Snake slithers past,
The War of all Wars will rise.
Death balanced by another.
A reborn Nemesis takes the skies.
A guardian will be stolen,
But a heart will be returned.
Dire choices must be made,
To discover who shall burn.”
“Ach, cannae we have a nice prophecy?” Eddie complains.
“Nina never writes prophecies for anything good. They usually mean someone dies. Or a few someones,” Fal tells us through clearly gritted teeth, her angered voice making the speaker crackle.
I press my lips together and look at Eddie. She shakes her head, telling me not to push it.
Fal is in a biting mood today.
Eddie clears her throat and speaks up, leaning into the phone. “I think the Snake mentioned is Raven. Vile snake in the grass, that one.”
“Could be,” Nina chimes in. “Fal said that too since those Poachers called their source Snake. But what kind of lies is she uncovering? And do we kill her to ‘cut off the head at the source’? What if it’s not her?”
The air changes, turning hot enough to sweat me out. I turn to my Mate and her eyes are ablaze.
“I can kill the wench and find out,” Eddie gives, smiling wickedly.
“Is no one worried about balancing Death?” I interject, wanting to stay off the topic of Raven as much as possible when Eddie is this way.
“It’s capitalized. And last time it was like that, Death referred to you, Ash,” Nina answers. “Maybe you decide to…”
“Please, don’t,” I grunt, not ready to have that conversation after just talking to Silas.
I hear Fal growl because I interrupted Nina, but Nina takes it in stride.
“Nemesis is capitalized too.”
Eddie’s brows furrow when I look to her, but she says nothing.
“So, this reborn Nemesis turns into a newborn bird and we have a war worse than all the wars ever happen if we try and fail to find a fucking snake hiding in grass. Super understandable. We solved the case,” I snap.
These prophecies have never ended without someone we know dying. Nina, Nathan, Fal….
“Well, we need to figure out who the Snake is too because I, for one, don’t want to find out what the War of all Wars is,” Nina insists.
“Me either,” I agree. The War of all Wars sounds really really bad. “Any new developments on your end?”
“Sort of,” Fal grumbles, but doesn’t explain her annoyance.
She could just be annoyed all the time now, though.
“My, uh, mother showed up,” Nina whispers in the silence.
“Your…ma?” Eddie asks and glares at me, confusion clear in her scent and the raise of her brows. “The one you refer to as your ride into the world and that’s it?”
“Yep. And she is…well…she…”
“Nina’s mother is Hecate’s sister, Selene,” Fal finishes for her. Always blunt. Always to the point.
My mind chooses this moment to remember how, when Nina passed out after she defeated Klythios, a blue crescent moon shone on her forehead.
Huh. It wasn’t just my imagination, then. She’s the daughter of the moon goddess.
Eddie coughs out a laugh. “Well, hit me with lightnin’ and call me Franklin, ‘cause I’m shocked,” she barks and slaps her knee.
“….What the fuck,” Fal whispers and I can hear Nina barely breathing from laughing so hard in the background.
“Ed,” calls from behind us through Nina’s cackles.
The laughing quickly ceases and Eddie roars, spinning toward the voice.
So much for staying off the topic of Raven.
“Uh, sorry guys. We have to go,” I relay, taking the phone off speaker and holding it to my ear. “We’ll watch for…snakes.” I eye Raven as she walks up to us with that infuriating gait. “See you when you get back.”
“Cut off the head at its source,” Fal mutters and hangs up.
When I turn to Eddie, I can almost see the hackles of her wolf raising under the surface of her skin.
Ooooooh boy, she’s pissed.
She takes a step toward Raven. “I fuckin’ told you…”
“That you dinnae wantae talk to me, aye. I heard you well and good the first five times,” Raven mocks, rolling her eyes.
Her bright blonde hair flaps in the breeze as those alarming blue eyes fixate on my Mate.
A growl rumbles in my chest.
“Then you best gettae fuckin’ off,” Eddie snarls. “Get to skippin’, Sally, before I kick your arse right off the island myself.” She stomps up to Raven before I can grab her, latching a clawed hand onto Raven’s upper arm. She starts marching Raven to the entrance to the island, basically dragging her behind. “You’re nae welcome here. You or your twally cacan, Angus.”
“There are a few Council members and a goddess who disagrees with you, Ed,” Raven cackles, attempting to yank her arm out of Eddie’s grip to no avail. �
��I wonder what they’d say if they knew you were rough with Hecate’s Prophetess. But I understand if you needed a reason to touch me, lassie. I ken you want me more than your little pup over there.”
Eddie roars at the whispered taunt, snatching Raven toward her face. Her canines lengthen and her eyes dilate. She opens her mouth to say something or literally bite Raven’s head off, but snaps it closed, staring down at Raven’s bared skin beneath her clawed fingers. Eddie’s eyes widen and she turns Raven’s arm to me, exposing the skin of her shoulder.
And there, inked in black, is a snake coiling up her arm.
I clench my jaw. Well, that didn’t take long.
Eddie throws Raven to the ground and pulls her machete from the sheath at her side.
Shit.
“Eddie…” I warn and take a step toward her.
“What the fuckin’ hell are you doin’, Ed?” Raven asks, trying to joke, but fear blankets her scent as she crawls backward on the ground, pulling out grass in her struggle.
“Cuttin’ the head off at the source, you snake.” Eddie lifts the machete over her head.
“Babe…” I try again, taking a few more steps, but she pretends not to hear me.
She brings the machete down.
“Stop!” someone screams, and Eddie’s machete meets the blade of a samurai sword.
The blow from Eddie knocks Hida to her knees, but she holds strong against Eddie’s rage, protecting Raven’s almost-chopped-in-half face.
“Get the fuck out of my way,” Eddie screams and pushes her machete down hard against Hida’s sword.
Hida grits her teeth and pushes back, but Eddie is going to overpower her in a few seconds.
“If you kill Raven, you will be executed for killing your own kind without proof or a fair trial,” Hida pushes through her teeth, glancing to me and telling me with her eyes she will kill Eddie.
Or she will try.
“Fuck,” I snarl and run over to Eddie. I grab her around the waist and yank her away.
“Let me go!” she yells and thrashes against my grip.
“Eddie, stop,” I grunt. Her elbow slams into my ribs. “Stop!”
“She’s the Snake! She’s the fuckin’ Snake!”
This isn’t working. I have to reach the humanity under the rage of the Fury in her blood.
Edelina. Please. Stop.
She pauses thrashing long enough for me to carry her farther away from Raven and Hida.
Hida is right. Even though we know Raven is the Snake, we don’t have undeniable proof to give to the Council. They will call you a traitor to our kind and, even if we flee, they will send assassins from all over the world to find you. I will not lose you because of this bitch.
After a moment, Eddie sags in my arms.
“You will regret this, Hida!” she snarls, pointing at the panting woman, and wiggles out of my arms, stomping in the direction of the ocean.
I swear steam drifts from her balled fists tucked tightly at her sides.
I turn around and Hida is righting herself, looking down at Raven with disgust. Raven offers a hand so Hida can help her up, but all the woman does is look down her nose and walk toward me.
“I’m not saying I don’t agree, Ash,” she tells me, whispering low. “But that’s exactly what would happen to Eddie and, despite what everyone thinks, I do care about the Lupi on this island.”
She sheaths her sword at her side and walks away, giving Raven one more sneer.
Chapter 58
Falen
Burning beneath my skin wakes me.
I’m immediately annoyed.
“I’m never going to get good goddamn sleep again, am I?” I mumble to myself. I attempt to roll out of bed, but I get caught in the fucking mosquito net hanging over the bed. It tears from the hook in the ceiling, and I fall, becoming a Fal cocoon on the floor.
“Fucking decorations,” I mutter to myself, mesh-covered cheek pressed against the hardwood floor, and wiggle to the nightstand to grab my knife.
After an awkward minute spent trying to grip my blade, I cut myself out of the dumbass prison I managed to catch myself in. The net is in tatters on the floor, but I’ll have to worry about it later. If I stay here much longer, the burning pull is going to consume me.
I slide on my clothes, kiss Nina’s forehead, and Move to wherever I’m needed.
The switch to the Monster changes in me as soon as I leave Nina’s side and my humanity is stuffed into a dark corner in the back of my mind.
When I land, I’m in…a forest? Listening to the air, I hear water. It’s loud crashing water against weather-worn rocks. Probably a cliff overlooking an ocean.
Where am I anyway?
I tune into the area around me. I’m still in Oregon. Hm.
What the fuck could be so important in the middle of the woods?
Footsteps running through fallen leaves are my answer. There are two sets. One is a small person, maybe a child. The other is a heavyset man by the sounds of the grunting breaths accompanying his footfalls. A man who clearly doesn’t enjoy exercise in any form as a pastime.
I blend into the darkness of the trees when the steps move closer.
A little blonde girl, probably around seven or eight, flies by my spot, running full out, arms pumping and face set in determination. Her heart is pounding loudly in her chest and she is barefoot. There are raw ligature marks around her wrists and ankles.
Hm.
The man is not too far behind, running with a rope in his big hands.
Interesting.
I follow the pair, keeping to the shadows, until we all make it to the edge of a cliff.
I was right about being near the ocean, but I didn’t think the cliff would be so high up and far away from the angry, black water below.
It’s roaring now; the water, I mean. Almost loud enough to drown out all my senses.
The little girl skids to a halt and almost falls over the edge. She nearly loses her balance, pinwheeling her arms to keep her from a sure death. Small rocks shift underneath her feet and slide off the cliff, plummeting down until they are lost in the churning waves.
The possibility of such a violent death for her aches in my bones. A wrongness of sorts…a knowing vibrates in my being, whispering its secrets to me. The girl’s Death is not planned this way, it seems. It would overturn the balance so fragile between life and death in the universe.
That’s an interesting ability: knowing when Death shouldn’t occur.
The girl’s deep brown eyes are huge and terrified when she turns to glare at the man, surely realizing she has no way out now.
“Now, Sarah. I told you what would happen if you tried to run away.” The man’s voice is patronizing, disguising itself as a worried adult. He snaps the rope between his hands and the little girl flinches back.
One thing I can’t stand is a patronizing man.
The wind whips my hair around my face as I grit my teeth, fury building in my chest.
“My name isn’t Sarah!” the girl screams. “It’s Charlotte! Leave me alone! I want my mommy and daddy! I want to go home!”
The man laughs, further fanning my rage. “You’ll never see them again. I’m your daddy now,” the man grunts and lunges, grabbing the girl by her upper arm.
My lip lifts, releasing a ripping snarl from my mouth.
The man immediately freezes before turning in my direction, searching for the danger causing the fear written all over his disgusting face.
“Pardon me,” I purr and step out of the shadows, walking toward them both without hurry. “You don’t exactly seem like father material.”
He seems to be relieved I’m not a bear or something equally as feral, but he senses I’m a threat, nonetheless. It’s potent in his foul scent.
At least he’s not a complete moron.
“Who the fuck are you?” he hollers once he squints his eyes at me with a sneer.
Beady things, those eyes.
“Why does everyone ask me that
question?” I ask, back to annoyance in my nerves. He’s wasting my goddamn time and driving my bloodlust ever higher. I take small steps toward them with every word from my lips. The pair are precariously close to the edge of the cliff. “It’s not as if my name will matter to you for long anyway.”
The little girl peers at me warily, but she seems to reason I would be safer than the man holding her when she attempts to take a step toward me.
“You should release the girl,” I suggest, darkness swirling in my words. The air thickens and the man’s shoulders sag as if they become burdened with weight. “Pick on someone your own size.”
I make sure to show my all my teeth in my predator’s smile when his eyes widen and he flinches backwards, closer to the edge.
“You should mind your own goddamn business, lady,” he snaps and pulls Charlotte back away from the edge.
“Ah, see, I am minding my own business. Unfortunately for you, tonight you are my business.”
“You’ve got the wrong address,” the man grunts, giving me a hungry onceover. “But I can sure give you a place to sleep for the night.”
I blink away my death stare, appalled at his audacity.
I fucking hate dipshits like him. Thinking he can take me to his bed. He could try, but he would lose what’s sure to be a small part of his anatomy in the process.
“Charlotte,” I say, ignoring his pathetic attempt at a come on, and the girl looks up at me. Her hopeful eyes pull at my humanity. “Do you want to go home?”
She nods ferociously and steps in my direction again.
“Oh, my fucking god,” is sighed from beside the man. “Why are you worried about her? Just get the guy and go.”
The Monster.
Her hair flies from the wind around her glowing amber eyes as she stands beside the two. Her frown is more annoyed than anything, like she’s tired of playing these games with me.
Funny. Because I’m tired of playing games with her too.