by Cate Farren
Except for Ziibi. He looks smug.
“I’m not here to fight,” Loki explained calmly. “I’m here to bargain.”
“I will never bargain with you,” raged Toren.
Loki nodded and walked over to Roberta. He smiled down at her as she continued to sit on the couch, staring up with terror. He tapped her head.
“I remember you,” he reminisced. “I remember all of you. You were among the first batch I created. You may think you were just one among many, but I know you. I can still feel you just slightly inside my mind.” He smiled serenely and stroked her face. “A part of you still wants to come back to me.”
“I don’t want that,” Roberta stated.
“You betrayed me.”
“Take me back! I swear I’ll be good! I swear I’ll...”
Loki held his hands close to Roberta’s head. She screamed in agony as she simply fell to dust.
The Lord of Chaos sighed. “I regret that.”
“I’m going to kill you!” Toren raged, though she didn’t feel it. Roberta had betrayed her right at the end.
He ignored her and walked over to Anton. Loki dismissed him and instead regarded Ziibi. The shapeshifter didn’t appear scared, not like the others. Toren suspected something. Was he the one who had given Loki their location?
“We were friends once,” said Loki. “I respected you and your opinion.”
“Then listen to me and realize that what you’re doing is wrong!” Ziibi spat. “How can our race live in peace when we’ve murdered all the others? I know you know that! The Loki I loved had a conscience.”
“I will let you live.”
Ziibi’s eyes widened in shock. “Why?”
Toren struggled against the dark magic pinning in her place. She knew she could escape this. She was The Dark Fey now and she knew all about dark magic. The blackest of magic flowed through her veins. Did Loki think he could hold her? Did he think he could best her with his knowledge of everything dark and arcane?
Blood magic will help me escape this.
Except she didn’t know any spells to get her out of this. Blood magic required actual blood, and she was stuck. Actual dark magic required her to recite spells orally. She knew plenty of spells that could be spoken inside her mind, but none of them would work in this instance. But what about soul magic? She could perform soul magic. She’d only ever tried it once and it had burned her, literally and figuratively. But what if the only way out of this, to save herself, Wynn, and the world, was to try it?
I have to sacrifice a soul to do this.
“Wynn, my friend, my comrade.” Loki kissed Wynn on the cheek. “How good it is to see you again! You look well.”
“Kill me,” said Wynn. His eyes radiated defiance. “I don’t care.”
“But you’re in love with the princess here. You’ve got something to lose now. You want to be happy, right? You want to spend the rest of your life with her? I sense children on the horizon! I always thought you’d make a great father.”
“Hold on!” Toren screamed.
She looked towards Anton and Ziibi, the only allies besides Wynn that she had left. She had to sacrifice one of them. She had to take one of their souls
It’s not as if I care about them. I won’t miss them one bit.
“I pity you,” said Wynn. “You have nothing and you want to take your pain out on the rest of the world.”
“Tell us, Wynn, what you did in the shapeshifter war. Tell your princess what you did and maybe she’ll forgive you, maybe she won’t.”
Toren turned her eyes back to Wynn. She hadn’t asked him what he did during the war. She just assumed he didn’t want to talk about it.
Loki continued to stare at Wynn as he said, “No. I won’t reveal it. I’ll let you both die with your dishonesty intact. I’m not that cruel.”
The Lord of Chaos continued to pace, eyes switching from Toren to Wynn to Anton. The Fey princess struggled with all her might to remember the spell that would allow her to use soul magic. It was on the edge of her mind, blocked somehow. The sheer malevolence of the spell had disgusted her so much at the time she’d used another spell so she couldn’t remember it.
Push past your block! It’s there somewhere!
“This is getting boring,” said Loki. “I have things to do.”
“What things?” Wynn demanded.
Loki ignored him and turned to Toren. “You’re being very quiet. What are you up to?”
The soul magic spell exploded into her mind in all its malignant, fetid glory. It almost made her vomit.
I’m sorry, Anton.
Anton’s eyes glazed over as his soul left his body. Toren grasped it with her mind as the spell worked its evil ways, rending it, breaking it apart into pure magical energy. Toren felt her whole body infused with such glorious power that she felt like she could engulf the world.
Loki’s spell on her broke. She felt like she could breathe again for the first time in her life.
“What have you done?” Loki demanded.
Toren laughed and fired every ounce of magic she had left in her body towards him in once continuous beam of light. Loki screamed as the attack consumed his body.
“Does that hurt?” Toren demanded.
Loki fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Toren held her sword aloft and swung it towards his neck. He vanished before the blade could take his life.
“No!” Toren screamed. “No!”
She shouted her rage, lashing out against the walls and the furniture. Wynn watched as she totally wrecked the room, using her sword and her magic. After less than the minute the place looked like a bomb had gone off.
Toren collapsed to the ground, totally spent. The one side effect of using soul magic was that she was going to be depleted emotionally and physically for days.
“I had him,” she whispered, collapsing to the ground. She laid her head against the carpet. “I had him.”
She pushed Wynn away as he tried to comfort her. She didn’t deserve comfort. She’d sacrificed one of her allies for nothing.
“You hurt him,” Ziibi stated. “You actually hurt him.”
“It was probably a pinprick to him,” she said bitterly.
“Oh, it was,” said Loki.
He appeared before her, standing tall, erect, as if nothing had happened. She wanted to laugh but just couldn’t summon the energy. If he wanted to kill her right now he could. She couldn’t stop him. Neither could Wynn.
“But I applaud you for your effort,” he said. “If I hadn’t transported myself to another dimension to recuperate for a year you might have actually hurt me. I say hurt, not kill. Not even your vile soul magic could kill me.” He looked across at Anton and sighed. “A pity about Anton. He was weak and pathetic. Not one of my best, though his intelligence on your location was much appreciated.”
Wynn bunched his fists as Toren continued to laugh hysterically. It was all she could manage.
“And do you want to know the funny part of this wasted trip to Ireland?” Loki asked her. “Ziibi’s child isn’t even here. He’s someplace else. The shapeshifter I have in the Fey palace is one of my newer creations. He pretended to be Ziibi’s child to lure you all here. The plan worked a treat, hmm? He’s a little too eager to please, judging by the way he killed Caleb, but he’ll learn.”
Toren stopped laughing. Her stomach felt empty.
“You lie,” she accused him.
“I’m honestly saddened by his death, but it’s true,” said Loki. He patted Toren on the head like she was a lapdog. “And by the way, Ziibi’s child is in a small village in England called Little Chipping. That’s my little gift to you. It should keep you occupied for a while.”
“No, no...Caleb...”
Loki vanished, leaving Toren to weep for her lost friend.
Chapter 12
"I've never been outside the States before."
Lovisa smiled and patted his hand. "You'll love England."
Adrian and Lovisa were in a
small black taxi heading to the airport. He hadn't really started to think about what this would mean until their vehicle was half a mile outside of Chapel Green.
I’m going to go on a plane...
Adrian looked out of the window. "The thing is..."
"Are you afraid of flying?" Lovisa asked. She sounded surprised. "Really?"
"I don't know," Adrian admitted. " I might be. I'm thinking about it right now and my palms are starting to get a little clammy and my chest is tightening and..."
He realized he was having a panic attack. He tried to control his breathing and to think about anything other than planes crashing or being shot down by terrorists. Even thinking about fighting Loki made his nerves calm a little.
"Hold onto me," Lovisa urged him, taking his hands, squeezing. "Look at me. You'll be fine."
"I feel stupid – a big, bad wolf like me afraid of flying..."
Lovisa grinned. "It's cute."
He thought about the first time he met Lovisa and how she took his breath away. He'd imagined growing old alone, never meeting anyone. Chanda had been the love of his life and she'd been ripped from his arms. Who's lucky enough to find more than one love in a lifetime?
His hands were trembling. He was feeling better, but not even his love for Lovisa could stifle the sheer terror that was making the wolf inside him want to tear free and howl.
SHERIFF TRENT SMILED as he watched his daughter playing, carefree, in the garden. Her new Xaphan demon mentor, Gabrielle, was with her, one eye on the girl. Celia was a new person now. She could partially control her powers and she was learning every single day. He was proud of her. Demonic abilities could be hard to control, especially when you had a temper.
She takes after her father.
Darin had returned to being restless over Sutton since their camping trip. The silly boy hated being parted from her. Trent didn't see the attraction. Sutton was a spoiled Daddy's girl who thought she could get away with anything because she was Dracula's daughter. He knew she'd been framed by a shapeshifter for massacring that family, but she was still a liability.
"What's wrong now?" Trent asked.
He was still pissed over Deputy Morgan and Toren, and then came the call from Adrian that he was heading to England on a personal mission. The werewolf hadn't even asked permission to leave. Sometimes Trent wished he didn't have a town council. All they did was bicker and cause more trouble than they were worth. Besides, a Prime Demon would always be the superior species.
"Sutton hasn't answered my last dozen texts," Darin complained, stalking around the room. His face was full of anger and resentment. "What if she's found someone else?"
Trent sat down and rested his feet on the coffee table. He closed his eyes and willed the moaning to go away.
"She's essentially a prisoner on her father's estate in Whitby," said Trent. "When would she find time to cheat on you?"
"I trust her. I really do. It's just..."
He ignored him and closed his eyes. The war was about to heat up. He needed to rest. Who knew when the world would erupt into flames?
ADRIAN FINISHED READING the document Lovisa's detective had prepared on the witch. It was certainly an enlightening read, and it took his mind off the upcoming journey. The woman who had cursed Lovisa had certainly led a colorful life. The weird thing was there wasn’t a single report of her performing dark magic or cursing anyone else. The woman had been a normal, everyday witch until fate intervened.
"So what do you think?" she asked.
The taxi was nearing the airport terminal. He could already hear planes taking off and landing.
"Why would she change her identity?" Adrian wondered. "Does she think you want her dead?"
"I'm not sure I could kill her," Lovisa admitted. "She is a powerful witch after all."
"Then that could mean more dangerous people are after her."
"We could use that to our advantage if she won't remove the curse."
Adrian nodded, agreeing with her. He had no compunctions about blackmailing a witch who made the woman he loved suffer. Why should he? The witch was the bad guy in this situation after all, even if she did feel justified in cursing Lovisa in the first place.
“I have thought about killing her,” Lovisa admitted. “A lot.”
“I know,” he said.
“But I’m not a killer. It’s okay if I punch her teeth out, though, right?”
The taxi came to a stop. Lovisa paid the driver and they got out. They were in front of a huge hotel with a badly flickering neon sign.
"I thought we were going to the airport?" he asked.
"Our flight doesn't leave until the morning," she said, helping the driver take out their cases. "I did tell you. I think you were too busy imagining plane crashes to hear me."
Adrian heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God."
"That will leave us some time to work on your nerves." She grinned mischievously. "And I booked us the honeymoon suite. I thought we could celebrate."
He grinned and pulled her into a hug. He was about to kiss her when he felt the wolf inside him stir. Something was wrong. They were being watched.
Lovisa noticed his worry. "What is it?"
"Someone is watching us," he whispered in her ear. "Don't react."
"Agents of Loki?"
Over the past year Sutton hadn't been the only supernatural being to be framed for crimes. Several prominent persons from all species from Fey to water sprites had been seen killing people on camera. They'd hoped it was over as Toren hunted down the final remaining shapeshifters. They knew Loki was making more, but had he sent them out already? Had Toren's missions ended up being utterly pointless in the end?
They headed into the hotel, pretending as if they hadn't a care in the world. When they got to their room Adrian phoned Sheriff Trent and told him about being watched. He urged caution but told them not to worry.
Lovisa opened the curtains, looking out onto the street. She seemed tense.
"The air feels different," she admitted. "Wrong."
"I know what you mean," said Adrian. He was sitting on the edge of the bed. "We all feel it."
"This must be what the humans felt when they knew World War 2 was coming."
She started to cry. Adrian joined her by the window and wrapped his arms around her waist. He wanted to feel her close to him at all times. He never wanted to let her go.
Chapter 13
Jared woke, the last remnants of his nightmare fading away. He could still see Clover's mother, looming over him with a stake in her hands. Her madness and hatred was almost a physical thing. How had he never seen how much she despised him? How had nobody seen it? The could have done something if they’d known. They could’ve helped her or at least prepared for the worst.
"What happened?" he asked. He yawned, feeling tired. He supposed it was a by-product of coming back from the dead. "Mom?"
"You passed out," said his mother. She was in the same place she was before, sitting by his bedside, her hands folded on her lap. "Are you okay?"
"I can't process this." He turned away from his mother, thinking about Lydia and Clover again. "It's just too much."
He needed to know what happened to the world and everyone he cared about after he died. He had to know. Being in the dark was killing him.
"Try guarding a pile of ash for thousands of years," Jane remarked dryly.
He almost gasped. "I was ash?"
"I used a spell to pull your ashes out of the fire and I left. Over time your ashes started to reform back into a flesh and blood body."
"And that took thousands of years." Even now he couldn't comprehend such a vast time frame. He laughed to cover his unease. "We must be living on the moon by now, or on Mars, or..."
"Sounds like a wonderful utopia. Things aren't that simple."
He knew what that deadpan, bitter tone meant.
"Loki won," he stated.
She nodded. "The initial war depleted our ranks, and in a short time the other supern
atural races and the humans were picked off one by one. There are no humans left, or supernaturals, just shapeshifters. There's just Loki and his empire."
Jared felt sick. After everything they'd been through it was for nothing. Loki won.
"I can't believe we lost," he admitted. "The world must be hell on Earth."
"Depends on how you look at it," said his mother.
"What do you mean?"
She didn't answer at first. He took the time to take a sip of fresh blood from a dirty glass. It made him feel instantly alert and stronger, but he still felt an ache inside. For 3,000 years he'd been a pile of ash as the world was taken over and everybody he knew and loved died.
"Explain," he prompted her. "Now."
He didn't regret his strict tone with his mother. He didn't know her. She may have brought him back to life but he still resented her for leaving him with his despotic father for all those years. Maybe the resentment might never go away, he didn't know. All he felt when he looked at Jane Donovan was betrayal. The betrayal of a virtual stranger, but still betrayal.
She sighed. "Despite his genocide of anything that wasn't shapeshifter, Loki has been a benevolent ruler. Believe it or not his people now live in paradise, a utopia for shapeshifters."
"At the expense of everyone else!" Jared shouted.
"Humans and other races are all myths and legends now. Most people don't believe they even existed."
It was a sad way for all those magical species to be remembered, but at least they were remembered. It made him sad to think that a species as magical as the Fey were now akin to a fairy tale. Did shapeshifter children tell stories about werewolves and Fey and succubae?
"Loki has swept his empire across the stars, colonizing hundreds of planets, exterminating many alien species," his mother continued. "He's literally trying to control everything."
"There's aliens?"
His mother stared at him as if he were an imbecile. "You'd have to be an idiot to believe every planet in the universe is empty of life apart from our own."
