Salem
For a moment, I knew where I was again: the soul cage at the bottom of the sea. The enchanted driftwood had weakened me, ripping my magic from my body.
I had a few moments of quiet, only the sound of the sea lapping gently around me…
Then the music of the spheres pulled me back to the heavens, ripping me through time. Divine music filled the air around me, and I burned in the sky with the colors of twilight. I was whole again—perfect in my completeness. My light blended with Shahar’s, the morning star.
The sound of drums boomed around me, and I began to fall, plummeting to the earth. Wind whipped over me; frigid air and darkness enveloped me. I didn’t exist anymore, not as I once had. In that void within me, my soul was growing warped and twisted. Corrupted like a sickness, a blight.
I was rushing toward the earth, falling fast to hell. The agony in my soul was indescribable. I couldn’t remember my name.
I slammed into the earth, cratering it, breaking through the crust. Rocks tumbled around me, burying me alive. Now, it was just me and the cave. Pure isolation from now through eternity.
A boom echoing off the cave walls thundered over my skin. So dark in here… I needed light. I needed everything to burn. And the hunger… the insatiable hunger was tearing me open.
I stood tall in my cave, power thrumming through my veins. Evil slid through my blood like poison. Divine on the outside, monstrous beneath the surface. A beast.
Here I was, in the darkest hollows of my memories. I took a step into my dark cave. A woman stood before me, chosen as a sacrifice. Charred bones littered the floor at her feet.
Through the cave’s mouth, I could see the setting sun sliding lower in a rusty sky, lengthening the shadows across a barren field. The sunlight interested me, but the woman interested me more. Human. A beautiful animal. As she fell to her knees, hatred burned in her eyes.
My lip twitched. They loathed me, the humans, but they gave themselves to me anyway. It was only fun if it was a sacrifice.
Bow before your god. The little woman was all mine.
The cave—my home—reeked of scorched flesh, and blood streaked the rock. I no longer burned in the skies as a celestial god, but the human bodies blazed for me, lighting up the rocks around me. They’d keep me warm, give me light. Their families beat drums to drown out their screams, and the rhythm pounded in time to my heart. It was the sound of my magic, of hell.
Some of them called me Moloch—king. Some called me Lucifer. I couldn’t remember my real name anymore. I could only remember blood, rock, flesh, and screams, only that my appetites drove me mad.
I’d fallen, and now I was the beast god. Lord of torment.
I didn’t burn everyone. If the women were beautiful enough, like this one on her knees before me, I’d keep them around for other pleasures.
From the ground, she looked up at me, fear flickering in her eyes. Ahh, that made my pulse race. She didn’t know what I was going to do. I breathed in her fear, her rage, and it exhilarated me. I slid my gaze down over her body, taking in the swell of her breasts under her thin dress. I crossed to her, grabbing her around the ribs. I lifted her up, pressing her against the wall, and her breath quickened.
She hated me, but my divine beauty was enough to make her heart race anyway. I traced one fingertip over her collarbone, and her breathing grew even shallower. Then I slowly slid down the top of her dress, exposing her. Her eyes grew heavy-lidded as she felt the warmth from my body. My divinity was an aphrodisiac to her.
Pulling her dress all the way off, I looked at her naked before me.
I frowned, bored with her already. Although she was beautiful, something was wrong with her. She was… the wrong person. Not for me.
I didn’t know what it meant, but my desire was quickly snuffed out, like fire doused with cold water. Wrong. She needed to smell like the sea. Like wildflowers. Hair the color of the sky.
My mate. That was what I needed.
Then, as if the world was responding to my desires, she began to transform, her hair shifting to a beautiful blue, her golden body perfect and glimmering with sea magic. She smiled at me, naked and mine. Yes. I knew her by her smell.
My blood pounded, red hot.
I moved for her, thrusting my fingers into her hair. I gripped her by her nape. She moaned lightly as I pulled back her face to kiss her deeply. Mine. Her body felt hot against me, breasts brushing against my bare chest. As her hips moved against me, I could scent her desire for me. We were the beginning and end. We were eternal.
Her heart beat louder, a drum echoing off the walls. I’d claim her here in my cave, two beasts twined together until the end of time.
But this was hell, and heat closed in around us, sacrificial fires encroaching…
Aenor looked up at me, green eyes now burning with lust. I gripped her by the hair, running my hand down her spine. But the rock was growing too hot beneath my feet, and the flames were moving closer, licking at my skin. I shielded my mate, and she kissed my neck. She didn’t seem to understand that we were about to burn. I wanted to warn her, but I couldn’t remember how to speak.
When I looked toward the mouth of the cave, it was an inferno.
A hollow roar was rising in my throat as I scrambled to think clearly, but I was too much of an animal. She kept kissing me, moving against me. I lifted her by the waist, trying to move her back to the far wall of the cave. The fires were moving closer. Why didn’t she notice?
Fear gripped my mind as the flames roared into the cave, filling it. It surrounded us now, inches away from me, the heat unbearable. I tried to shield her with my body, pressing her against the wall. Panic crushed my chest like rocks.
As the fire started to consume our skin, the scent of burning flesh filled my nostrils. Now, her screams pierced my eardrums. The sound was worse than falling. I remembered who I was now. I was Salem.
Her body disappeared from the cave, turning into smoke, and I was holding nothing. It was just me—a fallen god dying alone.
The fire scorched me, burning every nerve ending until I could see my skin charring, cracking open.
In the heavens, the gods had no corporeal forms. We were simply consciousness, able to perceive the birth of stars, the expansion of the universe, the vibrations of the cosmos. We lived in the music of the spheres. In the heavens, there was no flesh to char. Pure souls, nothing more.
On Earth, we lived as monsters and beasts in a broiling crucible. A soul couldn’t burn, but a body could—burn with lust, burn with fire, with hunger or rage. A body tormented us. We burned to fuck, to kill, to conquer. We were incomplete and broken, and there was no peace.
As we hunted the thing we desired, we turned to ash, skin flaking off, cinders caught in the wind. That was what it meant to fall.
The flames here in this cave, they were my punishment—mortification of the flesh. But I wasn’t purifying. No, I was growing more depraved. Even as I burned, I thought of blood, ripping open throats. I dreamt of women moaning with animal lust. I was devolving here. I wanted them before me, the human bodies splayed out. Heads blazing like torches. I’d use them for my most base impulses, like an animal.
Now, as I looked around the cave, I realized the flames were inside of me. Not around me. They would always be with me. Evil under my skin—but it had always been there, a hissing and crackling inside my mind.
I was a dormant volcano, a slumbering Mount Vesuvius ready to unleash. But even when I looked calm, under the surface, the molten heat still raged.
Now, that ancient, fiery wrath was ready to erupt again, and to take down anyone in my path.
4
Aenor
One of my hands still gripped the table, the other a knife. I tried to marshal calm, but I could still feel a strange sort of rage rising in me.
Thankfully, Gina had made herself scarce.
When I glanced at Ossian, I saw him staring at me, fury contorting his features. Dimly, I wondered if I could take him in a fi
ght. I thought I probably could.
I stared at the floor as a shadowy mist billowed into the room, roiling over the wooden floor. Around us, the air grew even darker. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Now, my blood lust began coiling with something else: fear. I rose from the table, the knife still in my hand. As I searched the room for the source of the threat, my legs shook.
She arrived to us in a haze of red magic from near the doorway, her body as insubstantial as smoke. But I could see her shape—her naked body strapped with weapons. Red hair snaked and writhed around her head.
A goddess.
In contrast to her insubstantial form, the lion by her side was very much solid—a muscular creature. When he roared, the sound trembled through my bones.
I dropped my knife onto the bloody floor. Then I fell to my knees so hard that I was sure I bruised them. Gods demanded worship, and my body obeyed her desires.
I’d seen demigods, of course—Lyr was one of them. And I thought I’ve even seen the sea god himself in the distant waters when I’d sacrificed to him. But he was an earthly god, limited by time and space like I was. This divine being before me? She was a heavenly goddess, not of this world.
My brain was hardly equipped to comprehend her, and I felt my mind and soul ablaze in her presence. My thoughts were racing, screaming. From the ground, I stole another quick look at her. White plumes crowned her head, and an ankh hung between her breasts. But she was too glorious, too awe-inspiring for me to behold.
Her voice rang in the hollows of my mind. “I am Anat, goddess of war. Mother of the dawn and twilight—known to you as Salem and Shahar. My daughter is awake again, after you drowned her. But my son? He has trapped himself like an animal in your rotten sea cage.”
Fear shook my body.
“When you drowned Shahar,” she went on, “she felt nothing. Her time passed in the blink of an eye. It was not my concern. But Salem?”
My hands were pressed hard to the bloodied floor. I was on all fours, unable to look at her directly anymore.
“My Salem suffers. He is tormented by the heat of a million suns. He burns in there, roasted like a sacrifice. I can feel his pain even in the heavens. So, hear my promise. If you do not get him out immediately, I will start destroying every one of your kind. Every fae. I will begin with you. First, I will split you open with my sword, then winnow you like wheat. Then I will burn your flesh, grind you with a millstone, run you through a sieve like grains, and toss your remains into the sea. I will wade in the blood of the dead.”
“This is not good,” Ossian whispered.
I could feel her attention burning into me. “You—animal—are his mate. Get him out. Then set him free. He is not destined for a life rutting with a pig like you. He is destined for greater things. Get him out. Now.”
Slowly, the dark mist thinned around us. My heart was slamming against my ribs, and I dared to look up again. But now, her image had disappeared, and some of the light had returned to the room.
I remained kneeling. The blood had started to recede, but a thin layer still coated the floor and my hands and legs.
Fire. I’d known it. I’d felt it. That fiery bond I’d felt was real. He was in hell.
I stood, shaking.
Ossian looked dazed. “That was… a very specific sort of threat. I just have so many reactions to what just happened.” He closed his eyes. “We did just see Salem’s mum’s tits, for one thing—”
I sank down at the table. “Not the important part of this.”
“Did she say she would crush the fae with a millstone and wade in the blood of the dead? And what the fuck is a winnow?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “but it doesn’t sound good. She was going hard on the wheat-harvesting metaphors, I think.” I felt as if a hand were pressing my throat shut. “And Salem is in pain. You heard that, right? He’s on fire. I have to seal up the chasm as fast as possible, then he’s free, and no one gets winnowed.”
Gina opened the door, and she winced at the sight of the floor. “What the hell is happening? Whose blood is this? Can you two stop doing creepy shit for, like, two hours?”
“It wasn’t us,” I said. “Visit from a celestial war goddess who wants to grind us with a millstone and throw our dusty remains into the sea. We need to free Salem immediately, or I think we might end up being the blood on someone else’s kitchen floor.”
“Fucking hell,” said Gina. “This is all mental. You know that, right?”
“Oh, I know.”
“Okay, here’s another thing.” Ossian lifted a finger to his mouth. “Salem is your mate?”
“What?” Gina’s cry came out high-pitched. “You have a mate? Wait—what is a mate, exactly? I’m going to be honest, I’m a little overwhelmed by everything right now.”
“It’s not important,” I said quickly and somewhat inaccurately. Forgetting that my palms were coated with blood, I let my head drop into my hands.
“Now that is a lie,” said Ossian. “It’s an instinct, like desperation to protect someone, to keep them safe.” He pointed at me. “Which is why Aenor is quietly losing her mind. Then it changes into real love, like souls mingling together. Except… their mate bond is broken. I’m not sure Salem has a soul, and he can’t love.” He toweled off some of the blood on his feet. “Anyway, we need to get him out fast, because his mum is bloody terrifying.”
I crossed to Ossian’s sink and rinsed my hands under the warm water, watching the blood spiral down the drain. Then I leaned down to wash my face. When I closed my eyes, I thought I could hear Salem screaming.
I gasped, standing upright to shut off the water. There was no air left in my lungs, and I could feel myself scorching. Desperation and panic were rising in me. Despite the very specific horror of what Anat had just described, for me, the worst thought about it was that Salem was already burning.
My mind whirled as it came back to me—my plan. The one I’d been thinking about before Anat had showed up.
A bigger sacrifice. Something greater than a few drops of my own blood. The idea was buzzing inside my skull.
I turned to Ossian and Gina, a ray of hope lighting up my mind. “I had an idea. When I sealed over the chasm last time, I was able to trap the Fomorians for just a little while. But the ice started to melt. It wasn’t enough magic. What I need is more power. I need to freeze them completely, to snuff out their fire. Forever. I need the strength of a god. I need a greater sacrifice.”
“Okay, let’s put a pin in that thought for a moment,” said Gina. “When I talked to you last, you could hardly handle the power you have now, let alone a god’s magic. And I’m a little concerned by the word sacrifice.”
“I’m getting better at managing it,” I said. “Salem taught me how to channel it better.”
Ossian cocked his head. “But how exactly would you increase your power, Aenor? There’s no easy way to do that, or everyone would do it. We would all be gods if that was a thing.”
I took a deep breath. “Last time, I made a little blood sacrifice to increase my power. I cut my skin open, let my blood drip into the seafloor. I made a bargain. But it needs to be more. I need to sacrifice someone’s life. Someone important.”
The two of them stared at me.
“You’ve gone a bit dark with this, Aenor,” said Ossian.
“Says the guy who pals around with Lucifer,” I retorted. “Look, I don’t mean someone nice. A monster, perhaps.” I sighed. “Do you know how many bad men I’ve killed in my time? It’s what I do. I kill the wicked.” I lifted my shirt, showing off my scars. “The demons who carved their names into my skin? They’re dead now. I’ll make sure it’s someone truly evil, someone who deserves death. And I will get their power, release Salem, and no one gets turned into flour.”
“Who do have in mind?” asked Gina.
“I don’t know yet,” I said. “The sea god wants a life. And look at it this way—it’s the death of one to save many. It’s simple morali
ty math.”
Although Gina still looked doubtful, Ossian was staring at me with intensity, and I could see the gears working in his mind. “If it’s a monster you want, I do have someone in mind. I’ve been waiting for the chance to bring it up, actually.”
I straightened. “You have?”
“Someone completely vile and destructive,” he said, “with no redeeming qualities. The Ollephest killed my mate years ago, and he nearly killed you. I spent a hundred years trying to discover a way to destroy him, practicing spells over and over. And I thought I’d found one—something specific to him. It’s something that works with his particular biology. I found a way to dehydrate him completely. So, I hunted him down, and I used it. He withered like an old corn husk, turning to dry dust before me.”
“So why isn’t he dead?” I asked.
“Because he just recovers. He came back to life. It’s literally impossible to kill him.” He leaned forward, eyes bright. “Unless you come from his line.”
My eyebrows shot up. “So, do you know any Ollephest offspring?”
“He was created by Caradoc of Cornwall through his dark magic. He used his own blood.”
My jaw dropped. “Caradoc was my ancestor,” I said. “First of the Meriadoc line.”
“Precisely.” Ossian seemed to be warming to the idea, as I was. “Your magic can affect his like no one else’s can. I can drain his body, and you can deliver the final blow.”
I started pacing, now certain that this would work. “I damaged his eyes, so he’s already at a disadvantage. I think we can do this.”
Ossian leaned back against his counter. “Except, when I was going to propose that we kill him, I hadn’t imagined it as a sacrifice.” He crossed his arms. “Sacrificing someone else’s blood isn’t the same as sacrificing your own. It’s dangerous. Like, you could unleash a dark force.”
Gina started pacing too, literally wringing her hands. “Is there something else the sea god might like, besides a life sacrifice? A Starbucks gift card or bath soaps?”
Rising Queen Page 2