Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4)

by Emma Hamm

  Lydia brushed ghostly lips against his beak and let herself fade back into her physical body.

  The door to her room opened, its creak a tell tale sign who it was. Louis would have wrapped his knuckles on the door and called out. Liam, when he visited, would wait for her downstairs.

  Pitch never waited for her response.

  “Everything is in order,” he said as he strode to her. “I’m glad we hired the boy. I think he’s going to do very well.”

  “There wasn’t really any doubt of that. He comes from a good bloodline.”

  “And I like investing in that bloodline.” Pitch pulled a footstool behind her, settling himself on the seat and reaching out to grab her brush. “You know I like to do this.”

  “I thought I’d save you the trouble this morning.”

  “It’s no trouble, my love.”

  He was gentle as he untangled her hair from around her horns and down the length of her spine. It had grown so long in the many years she slept.

  Lydia leaned back into him, sighing with pleasure. “Well, you are good at it.”

  “I know. Of all my many talents, I am most accomplished in hair brushing.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Pitch.”

  “I’m being serious. It’s a talent that is sincerely underrated, most people don’t know how many years of training is required.”

  “Pitch!”

  “Are you one of them? You haven’t noticed me practicing day in and day out?”

  Laughing, she smacked at his hands. “Stop it. You do not.”

  “No, I don’t.” He dropped the brush onto the floor and yanked her backward. His arms wrapped around her waist. The heat of his body sank into hers until she was melting. He pressed his lips against her ear, “Have you had a good morning?”

  “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”

  “Dangerous.”

  “I think it’s time to meet them.”

  He froze, stiffening against her. “Them?”

  “You know who I’m talking about.”

  She wanted to meet them. In person. For the first time since this had started, Lydia felt like it was finally safe to meet the people whose lives she had irrevocably changed. They deserved to know her face, to recognize her voice, at the very least to meet her.

  “Do you think that’s wise?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “That’s sweet of you to ask, but yes I think I am ready.”

  “All right then.”

  “Really?” Lydia craned her neck to see him. “Just like that? No argument?”

  “None at all. If you want to meet them, and you think it’s time, then it’s time. They are at Jasper’s family home on the edge of an enchanted forest. There’s plenty of open air and space in case something goes wrong. Of all places, I’d feel comfortable taking you there.”

  She hadn’t expected him to be fine with it. Stunned, she blinked at him in silence until he laughed.

  “What?” Pitch asked.

  “Who are you, and what did you do with the man I love?”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t bring you?”

  “I thought I would have to pull all your teeth out until you agreed to it. And then you’d bring an army with us.” Lydia furrowed her brows. “What’s the catch?”

  “There isn’t any catch.” He brushed strands of her hair behind her ears, cupping her face in his palms. “I happen to agree with you. I think you should meet them.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you want to. And because I think it will help you find the last piece of the puzzle. If you see them, speak with them, touch them, then you might finally see the end.”

  The “end”. The thing that had eluded her for over four hundred years, and thousands of years before that when Sil had held the magic. There was no clear ending yet, too many options and too many choices created a fog over all of their futures.

  Lydia could see it was there. She could see one thread growing stronger and stronger, but every time she tried to touch it, it electrocuted her mind and sent her body into seizures. She wasn’t meant to know that ending.

  “So we’re going?” she asked.

  “Yes, we can go anytime you want.”

  “Even right now?”

  “Are you ready?”

  Lydia nodded, her hair sweeping down her shoulder in a waterfall of pale strands. “I’ve been waiting for you all morning. I thought we would argue with each other for the rest of the day and we might make it to the house by supper time.”

  “Why supper time?”

  “Because Jiminy is planning on making lasagna, and that sounded good.”

  Pitch chuckled and stood. “What’s their breakfast like?”

  “Pancakes.”

  “I’ve always liked pancakes. Why don’t we see if Jiminy is as good at breakfast as he is dinner?”

  “Jiminy doesn’t cook the pancakes.”

  “He doesn’t?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Wolfgang does.”

  Pitch burst into laughter again, his frame shaking with mirth. He yanked her into his arms. “Wolfgang isn’t going to give us anything we ask for.”

  “No, but I don’t like pancakes that much anyway.”

  Shadows stuck to them. They tangled up her legs and twined into her hair. His shadows had taken a liking to her horns lately, stringing themselves between the tines in the same way she wore her jewelry.

  Stick tendrils yanked her from the room and flew between the shadows of the world. Her body splintered into nothing, protected by the bubble of Pitch’s form which was her shield. They could have traveled the world if they wished. Disappeared into the mountains or deep beneath the sea.

  Someday, she told herself. Someday they would do all the things they wanted to do. Today, they would meet the people who she trusted to make the right choices. To save the world.

  They materialized in the garden at the back of the house. Her bare toes curled in the green sprigs of grass and she inhaled the sweet scent of fresh cut lawn. White dandelion seeds bounced in the air, lazily making their way toward their new home. The warm-hued logs of the cabin framed white painted shutters and white lace curtains that blew through the open windows.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said.

  “It’s primitive.”

  Lydia elbowed him hard.

  “Primitive can be compelling!”

  “Primitive can be compelling,” she repeated with a snort. “It’s a cute little home in the woods. What isn’t there to love?”

  “I prefer stone.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s sturdier. If I’m going to build a house, then it’s damn well going to stand the test of time.”

  She rolled her eyes. This topic wasn’t worth an argument, but she desperately wanted to. Ridiculous man, not enjoying the appeal of such a quaint little place.

  But, Lydia would probably miss the splendor of his house. He didn’t need to know that.

  “Are we going in?” she asked.

  “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Are you introducing me?”

  “I can.”

  “What if they don’t like me?”

  “Are you going to keep asking questions or do you want to rip the Band-Aid off?”

  She sighed and gave in. “Band-Aid.”

  Pitch held out his hand for her to take. His grip was warm and strong, helping to control the shaking of her fingers. He lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss against the back.

  “They will love you.”

  She walked up the steps to the porch with him and whispered prayers to the wind. They might find her ugly. It was a real concern she had, considering the way she looked now. Lydia wasn’t like the other creatures which were so inhuman that their differences weren’t ugly but strange. She was still humanoid.

  They might resent all the things she had done to them. She had to tell them though perhaps not yet. Maybe she would tell them after t
hey already liked her after a friendship was forming. But then breaking that friendship would be even harder once she had a taste of what that would be like.

  She missed having friends. She missed that bone deep connection Pitch couldn’t provide. It wasn’t the same. A lover was one thing, but a friend who could judge and be judged without fear or reprimand? A Gorgon and a Wisp played through her mind, their voices teasing her for worrying about a crowd. Whispering that she would be fine, to remember all the times they had stayed up too late teasing each other.

  Pitch hesitated, hand pressed against the worn wooden door. His dark eyes caught hers, a question lingering in their depths. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

  “I won’t ever be ready. I’ve been dreading and wanting this moment for the greater part of two hundred years. There are thousands of endings to this moment, and I would very much like to know which one is the true ending.”

  “Then we will enter as ourselves. No more pretenses, no more secrets.”

  She could admit to peeking at the Future if only to calm the nerves in her belly. Even that future was uncertain with this group of people who were so vastly different that she couldn’t predict their choices. She would simply have to find out.

  Pitch nodded and shoved the door open so hard it banged against the wall.

  “Hello, friends. I brought you a gift,” he said.

  And there they were. In the flesh. Lydia’s eyes tingled with the threat of tears as she looked all of them over. They weren’t looking back at her, instead, they were all staring at Pitch who was larger than life. His shadows swelled around him, hooking around his throat and billowing backward through the door like a mantle of night. Lydia didn’t have to look to know his crown of mirror shards was seated carefully in his dark curls.

  There were fine lines around Jiminy’s eyes she had never noticed before. He stood with an arm around Wren’s waist behind the kitchen counter. There were fine grey hairs at her temple. When had they aged? Or were they aging because of the stress?

  Jasper turned from the sink, his hands covered in white suds. Mercy perched on the counter next to him. Ignes meandered across the window sink, carefully stepping over the specks of water Jasper had flicked at him.

  “What’s going on?” Lyra asked as she stepped into the room. Her long waterfall of dark hair fell to her waist, swaying with her movements.

  Blue electricity crackled along the floor, rising to form a shield in front of her. Lydia’s eyes caught upon the glowing runes. They sparked so bright it hurt her eyes.

  “Oh,” a ruined raspy voice muttered and the shield drop. “It’s you.”

  Wolfgang’s appearance was the final straw. There were so many scars lacing across his body, intertwining with black tattoos, that he looked like a patchwork man. A gasping sob burst out of Lydia’s mouth.

  They all froze and finally looked at her.

  She clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide as she met their gaze. Now, she understood what an ant beneath a microscope felt like. They were here! They were standing in front of her and actually looking at her. Not her magic. Not their creatures. Them.

  “You’re-” she choked on the words. “You’re all here.”

  Another sob echoed through the room and tears splashed from her eyes. Magic glowed at her fingertips. Each tear she caught stained her fingers gold.

  “I’m sorry. I just… It’s really you!”

  This was quickly becoming her nightmare. Wolfgang replaced the shield, isolating them from Pitch and Lydia. They stepped away from her as though they were frightened as though she was some kind of monsters.

  “No, no wait. Please!” she gasped.

  They didn’t wait. They continued to step backward until they were gathered near the door, staring at them with horror in their eyes.

  Her hands shook against her lips. Her tears darkened, bronzing with disappointment. The silver chains wrapped around her horns clanked as she shook her head. She desperately wanted them to like her. She wanted them to be her friends, her family. And now?

  Now they looked at her as if she were a monster.

  “That’s it,” Pitch growled.

  His hand slashed forward, cracking Wolfgang’s shield and shattering it into shimmers of blue magic. The door slammed behind them. Lydia heard the harsh sound of the lock turning from the other side. Each person in the room was dragged forward by inky shadows that slammed them to their seats on top of the counters or in the few barstools around the kitchen island.

  “Sit. Everyone.” Pitch raised a hand and rubbed between his eyes. “Gods save me from these ridiculous humans. Wolfgang, stop fighting me.”

  “Then stop trying to cage me.”

  “I will not until you calm down, so stop it!”

  He then wrapped a hand around one of Lydia’s horns and yanked her against him. A squeak escaped her as they collided. His arms wrapped around her and shadows coiled around her legs protectively.

  Thankfully, he didn’t turn her head away from them. Even though they pulled away, she wanted to drink in the sight of them. Her memory would make their expressions fuzzy, their fear softer, their anger quiet.

  “Now,” Pitch began. “We’re all going to sit down and have a nice conversation. This is Lydia. Everyone say hello.”

  Shadows flowed from the floor, wrapped around their jaws, and yanked them open. She couldn’t understand a thing they said, but they all spoke.

  “Good. Now, Lydia has waited for a very long time to meet all of you. You will give her the respect she deserves. Is that clear?”

  No one responded.

  Pitch sighed. “I can force you to agree with me. So if you wouldn’t mind answering that would be easier for all of us.”

  Wren was the first to speak up. “Pitch, you know we won't hurt her.”

  “Really? It didn’t seem like that.”

  “You startled us. You both startled us, walking in here with all that power riding your shoulders. What did you expect us to do? These are dark times.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lydia said. “That’s my fault.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I- I started all of this. Or, well, I brought all you here. Malachi was going to exist no matter what I did, but you were all the people I needed to fulfill my prophecy.”

  She could have cut the silence with a knife. Their eyes bugged out and she could smell their fear.

  Burke struggled against the shadows. “You’re the oracle who told the Five about the prophecy?”

  “Um,” Lydia looked up at Pitch for a moment before responding. “In a way. I was the one who told the Oracle about the prophecy. It’s mine, you see. The prophecy itself was something I made up to get you all here.”

  “Why?” Wolfgang asked.

  “I can see the future in a way no one else can. I can manipulate it. Change it. Distort it. And I saw this ending for your world thousands of years before the creatures inside you even thought about a war that would end their dimension. My entire life, the power inside me, was all created to stop your world from ending. A prophecy was required to save us all. So I made a prophecy.”

  She watched the shadows slither from their forms. Pitch released his magic, and they remained in their seats. They didn’t look frightened anymore, they look intrigued. It was a start. That’s all she could ask for.

  “I’m sure you have questions,” Lydia said. “I’m here to answer them and to help.”

  “Help?”

  “Malachi must be stopped. You are the army I have chosen but now the real work begins. You’re finally all here together.”

  “We’re still missing the last piece of the prophecy,” Mercy said. Her eyes were sunken hollows, her voice a mere whisper.

  “Oh, Mercy. You were only meant to find three. The last piece of the prophecy was with me from the start.”

  “Excuse me?” Pitch asked.

  “You were the original piece of the puzzle, my love. From the beginning, you continued my work until I could be here ag
ain. You never wavered. You never doubted.”

  He looked as though she had swept the rug out from under his feet. “Why didn’t I ever put that together?”

  “You never tried to.”

  Jasper cleared his throat. “So, you’re a Goddess then?”

  “Yes.”

  “But not one of the Five?”

  “No,” Lydia chuckled. “But Pitch is.”

  Jaws dropped all around the room, and they turned to stare at the man whom they had known for years.

  “You?” Wren asked. “You’re one of the Dark Five?”

  “Always have been. And I created E, so you could say I have a vested interest in you.”

  Stunned silence rang in her ears. She had known this would be a hard conversation to have. There was a lot of information for them to process, and she didn’t want to ruin the moment by explaining just how far the Light Five had fallen.

  Jasper leaned forward. “I’m putting it together now. Your voice is so familiar, I know I’ve heard it before. You helped me get to Mercy when she was entirely lost in the Phoenix.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Wait,” Wren’s eyes flipped backward and stared at her through milky white. Her voice echoed with thousands of others. “I met you in a dream. You were kind and apologetic for causing any pain.”

  “That was also me.”

  Wolfgang traced a rune into the table, blue magic sparkling under his touch. “Pitch spoke of you as I was growing up. He said you were a Goddess, but also that you saved me. That true?”

  “I couldn’t leave you in that house. You didn’t deserve to be locked away for losing control. None of you deserved what fate had in store for you although I worry I’ve made it worse.”

  Burke snorted. “Right. So you’re both deities and you’re here to help us? What about the Five? Isn’t that their job?”

  Lydia glanced up at Pitch not knowing whether or not this was the time to answer that. She desperately wanted to talk to everyone. To get to know them, hear their stories and their laughter.

  There wasn’t enough time for her selfish desires. Pitch nodded, and she took a deep breath.

  “No. No, I’m afraid they won't help. You see, the Five are behind all of this. They’re working with Malachi and were holding you close to distract you. To keep you running along a path while searching for each other, but limiting how quickly you would.”