The COMPLETE Witching Pen Series, Boxed Set: The Witching Pen, The Sands Of Time, The Demon Bride, The Last Dragon and Wilted

by Dianna Hardy

  “Let Michael kill you, and the apocalypse will be averted and mankind saved from falling, but you will be separated; do it yourselves, and the apocalypse will take place, man will fall, but you will remain merged – forever.”

  What an utterly crappy decision to make. Maybe I’ll go ram some needles up my fingernails instead.

  Mary’s grip tightened on its handle. She looked at Gwain. “Better to have it than not, in case…”

  Fuck it, were they really discussing which way would be best for them to die?

  Determination burned fiercely in her eyes. “I swore I wouldn’t let you go again.”

  Then, the five Totilemi demons, and the old man – with some difficulty – fell to their knees in salute.

  Mary’s jaw dropped open, while Gwain muttered every swear word he could think of under his breath. He had no intention of becoming a God-damned martyr for fairies, demons, angels or anyone.

  Sophia stared at them both as if they were the key to salvation. Her big, child-like eyes welled up. “The Totilemi will serve you now, and beyond. Hail to the old Gods! The dragon will rise again.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Pueblo’s eyes snapped open, and thank God it wasn’t one of those instances where you took an age to remember what happened. They were back in Karl and Elena’s room, and his senses were sharp and clear. The trip into the Shanka dimension had been a huge success, mostly because the demons were fighting amongst themselves over who should be ruling their tribe. The Shanka hadn’t seen their little rescue mission coming, and guard over Katherine had not been organised. With a Brujii queen and the most powerful witch in the world sporting unrivalled don’t-fuck-with-me magic, an angel piercing their shadow world with light, and himself able to burn through anything that got in his way, they’d barged through all obstacles and reached Katherine within an hour. They’d been out of there in two, leaving the Shanka spitting with rage.

  They’d suffered nothing but scuffs and nicks, although the same couldn’t be said for Elena’s mother. The woman had lost years – literally. The Shanka had been gradually sucking the life out of her, and the woman, who could only be in her mid-forties, now looked like she was in her eighties.

  Pueblo jumped to his feet, and to full attention. Karl still had Katherine in his arms, Elena was guiding them both out of the room and into the spare bedroom, clearly trying to keep from sobbing so as not to wake her mother. Katherine was still sleeping since having taken one of the pills.

  Katarra was buzzing around the room like an annoying fly on heat. She’d managed to sink her teeth into one of the demons’ necks just before they’d gotten out of there – daft bitch. She was now without her magic for lord knew how long. They’d had to drag her out mid-orgasm, and he could do with getting that image right out of his head, thank you very much.

  “Hey.” A soft hand touched his arm from behind and he whirled, still on high alert and ready to pounce.

  “It’s me! It’s me…”

  “Amy? Oh, baby…” He swept her up in a bear hug, relief washing over him. God damn it, if it had been her drained of all life in that hell-hole, he didn’t know how he’d have coped. “I missed you.”

  She laughed. “You were only gone two hours.”

  “It was two hours too long.”

  “You’re all in one piece. Did everything go well?”

  “Yeah. They didn’t see us coming. We were in and out, with only a few bruises.” He pulled back, taking strength in the blue of her eyes which looked … apprehensive. “What’s wrong?”

  She studied him for a few seconds, then took a deep breath. “Stay calm, okay?”

  He frowned. “You know, when you want someone to stay calm, that shouldn’t be your opening line.”

  “I was attacked by Dessec demons.”

  “What?!”

  “Calm, remember? There were five of them. They had a shaman working with them.”

  “The Dessec hate shamans.”

  “That’s what I said. But there it is.”

  “They attacked you? Why? Where are they now? How did you get away?” Oh, shit. Don’t shift! He fought the impulse to change and tear after his own tribe.

  Amy fidgeted from foot to foot, and wrung her hands together. She took in another deep breath, and then she exhaled. “Okay, well…”

  “I knew it!” cried Katarra. Her eyes gleamed in triumph. “I knew it wasn’t ov—”

  “Evanescunt!” yelled Amy with a wave of her hand, and Katarra disappeared.

  “Did you just call her a cu—”

  “No! For God’s sake … it’s Latin. Look – there’s so much to … I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it.” She blinked back tears, and he suddenly had the sensation he was standing at the edge of a cliff.

  “It was Paul that helped me fight the Dessec. He saved my life. We sent them hurtling away somewhere – not sure where, sorry – and … and … oh, God…” She swiped at her tears with the palm of her hand. “I’m pregnant.”

  He wasn’t quite sure which part of him was in control: the cat, the fire or himself. He had almost shifted as soon as Amy had uttered that man’s name, and he had no idea what he was about to shift into. Not that it mattered now, because the second ‘P’ word she’d spoken froze everything his body was trying to do.

  “You’re … pregnant?” Surely that was something he’d have been able to sense… “But we’ve been careful. When … how—”

  “It happened when I was stuck in the time loop.”

  Oh … Oh! The desert dream… Yeah, that had been out of this world…

  And then a very wrong seed took root in his mind. He stared down at her.

  Her eyes begged him for some kind of understanding, her eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly, and then she looked away, unable to hold his gaze.

  And Paul had been here.

  Pueblo shifted. Suddenly and ferociously, his angry fire consumed him from head to toe. “Amy…? ” He didn’t even need to ask the question.

  “It’s yours!” she cried. “The baby’s yours, but…”

  “But?” Fuck! Don’t hurt her, don’t hurt her, don’t hurt her…

  “Only … partly.” Her voice cracked over the last word, fresh tears streaming down her face, and it occurred to him that he hadn’t seen a day go by since she’d disappeared into the past, when she hadn’t cried. And it was that fucking bastard that had wrecked her. Now there was this.

  “Partly? Partly? It’s either mine, or it isn’t!”

  “It’s not that simple!”

  “Here’s a simple question…” Fuck, fuck, fuck… He was losing it! “Did you sleep with him when you were in that time loop?”

  She stood there, chest heaving, eyes streaming … a whimper escaped her, “I … er …”

  “Yes or no?”

  There was so much apology in her stare, he already knew her answer. Nevertheless, it hit him like a barrel in the gut when she gave it. “Yes … but—”

  He was already halfway out the door, and thank God, because he couldn’t trust himself around her, not with the way he was feeling. The rage was barely controllable, but it was the pain tearing through his heart that was inconsolable. She may as well have hung, drawn and quartered him.

  He blanked out her pleas to stay and listen – blanked them so much he wasn’t really looking where he was going, and barged straight into Katarra who was back from wherever she’d been magicked to.

  The Brujii shoved against him as hard as she could – which was pretty damn hard – then glared daggers at Amy. “Bitch! You are so dead!” Then she glanced straight at him, a flare of victory in her yellow eyes. “Almost as dead as that wizard waiting in the living room downstairs.”

  “No!” screamed Amy, but Pueblo was already leaping down the stairs, taking the bait and taking it gladly, because if his pain and anger didn’t have an outlet, he was going to cause damage to people he loved. He couldn’t live with himself if that happened. He had no problem inflic
ting damage on someone he hated.

  Pueblo smelt him before he saw him, the man’s scent taking him back to 1956 and that house he’d landed in to rescue Amy. His anger heightened into sharp focus.

  His panther fought for reign over the fire, but neither guise would back down, so he flew at Paul a fanged fireball.

  The man didn’t even look surprised to see him, and he didn’t put up any magical resistance when Pueblo closed his hands around his neck, slammed him onto his back, and pinned him to the floor with his knee in his diaphragm.

  He was vaguely aware of Amy throwing herself onto his back; screaming in his ear for him to stop, yelling something about magic… “We can’t use our magic to fight you!”

  That suited him just fine. The sick fuck would be easier to kill.

  His growl reverberated around the room. “Do you enjoy coercing vulnerable women, old man? And kidnapping little girls?”

  Of course, he couldn’t reply because he was choking to death.

  Amy still screamed at him, her arms around his own neck, tugging, although he couldn’t make out a word she was saying above the roaring of pure rage in his blood.

  It was Karl’s angelic light, suddenly blinding him, that shocked his body into loosening its grip on Paul’s neck – that, and the spell from Elena’s mouth that had him hurtling backwards through the air.

  But he was still in shifted form, and still powered by the bite of betrayal. He flung himself at Paul again, only this time Amy hurtled into his path, and damn it, she’d done that before! He barely managed to miss her, but she came at him again, and this time, her screaming got through.

  “This baby’s a cub!”

  He stilled and blinked, unsure if he’d heard her right.

  Everything she said next came out in a stream of shouted words. “It’s of your bloodline! The Dessec law that forbids humans from entering their world carried through in your seed, not just in your dimension. This baby’s growing as a panther cub, and it will only shift into human form once born into the human world!”

  His fire burnt out as quickly as it had risen, a stone cold fear taking its place.

  Amy took a tentative step towards him, her voice now calmer. “Pueblo, please, just listen. This baby was conceived when we were in the desert, but from three gene pools: mine, yours and Paul’s. And before you go saying it isn’t possible, just take a look at the madness we live every day…

  “The time loop was fixed. The whole thing was planned by fairies.”

  Fairies? Oh, God. The fairy in the desert… The cold spread throughout him. His fear wrapped itself around his body like a vice.

  “Elizabeth was tranced by fairy magic to walk into her garden one night, with a knife in her hand, and kill herself. That’s why she – I – can’t remember it. And I remember everything about Elizabeth’s life, Pueblo. That’s what I was keeping from you. I wanted to find the right way to tell you.” She let out a weak laugh. “Guess this isn’t it…

  “But Elizabeth wasn’t killing herself – she was unknowingly helping the fay to make a time loop. The purpose of the time loop was to create a child; one that existed as the result of both a blood bond and a soul bond. Turns out that Paul and I are soul-bonded. That … elation … you and I experienced in the desert after we … well, that was all the bonds forging. That was the conception.

  “The baby and I need both you and Paul here in order to survive the birth. Your blood will ensure I don’t haemorrhage, and that the baby and I have sustenance; Paul’s presence, and his magic, will ensure the baby won’t…” she paused, and softened her voice. “That it won’t claw its way out of me – that it will emerge a human child instead of an animal.”

  Paul sat up a bit. His voice came out raspy. “I’m here to see she survives the birth. After that, I’m out of time. I’ll be left in peace to die. I’m not here to take her from you.” Huge purple marks were beginning to show around his neck.

  Pueblo tried to summon up his hatred of the man – yeah, it was still there – but it was hatred for himself that ate him up. Christ! The baby was going to tear its way out of her. And it was his fault. His mother had died because of him, and now Amy would too. All this time, he’d thought of himself as the good guy. Turned out the child abductor was the knight in white armour, and the demon was, in fact, nothing more than a demon.

  The walls closed in around him. What had happened to the air? He couldn’t breathe…

  “Don’t go,” whispered Amy, pleading…

  Go? Oh … he’d backed right up into the hallway, the front door to his left promising him the air he couldn’t seem to find in here. He spied Katarra midway up the stairs with a smug smile on her face. If this had been any other time, he’d have gone for her, but he was numb now … numb. Karl and Elena stared at him in stunned silence … and suddenly, everyone was staring at him. The whole damn world was staring at him.

  “Please … Pueblo … I love you.”

  Her words crashed down on him like a landslide. How he’d longed to hear her say them … and what a crying shame that now she had, all he could see was his baby ripping its way out of her. He knew how it would be. His uncle had told him over and over again what his mother had endured – what she’d looked like, nothing but a mass of blood and guts as Pueblo had come mewling into the world.

  This was too much.

  Somehow, he managed to move.

  He couldn’t breathe … he couldn’t think … he needed to get out…

  He heard Amy weeping behind him as he yanked open the door, almost taking it off its hinges; he heard Karl soothing her. He uttered a silent apology to the woman he loved, and then ran out into the rain.

  ~*~

  Mary was handling being worshipped a hell of a lot better than he was, but then, to be worshipped was a woman’s prerogative, wasn’t it?

  And what the hell was it about a woman wearing a man’s clothes that was so damn hot?

  Gwain sat at the edge of his bed, and watched his would-be Goddess tighten his belt around the jeans that he’d loaned her, his stretchy T-shirt sitting just a little too loosely on her, which meant that every time she moved, the material rubbed against her braless breasts and hardened her nipples … and he was just fine with that.

  “You have sex on the brain,” she scolded him with a smile.

  “Can you blame me? You’re gorgeous, I haven’t seen you for over ten thousand years, and orgasms are bloody awesome.”

  She grinned at him, with not even an inkling of how alluring that grin was. “That, they are.”

  Oh, shit, there went his cock again.

  She gave him a hard stare. “But we definitely don’t have time for that now … no matter who you tell about my fabulous blow jobs.”

  Oh, shit. “Ah…”

  “Ah? You paint Mikey a pretty picture of our private sex life, and all you can say is, ‘Ah’?”

  “Um…”

  She climbed onto him and pushed him back onto the bed. Then she straddled his chest and tugged her belt loose, having just done it up, her eyes glinting with mischief. “I think your punishment should be to give me a fabulous blow job.”

  That certainly caught the attention of his lower half. He licked his lips.

  “Then again,” she paused, doing the belt up again, “maybe not.” She levered herself off him.

  He grabbed her, threw her down and pinned her under him, which had her squealing in laughter.

  “Minx.”

  “Git.”

  “If we’re gonna kill ourselves, we should die fucking.”

  Her laughter increased, which shot fire straight to the insatiable part of him, but not because he wanted to do her. No. It was because he wanted to make her laugh forever, and forever would be over in a few hours.

  “You want to love-fuck me to death?” she grinned.

  “I can think of worse ways to go,” he teased.

  And then neither of them were laughing.

  “I don’t want to plunge that dagger through you
r heart, Mary,” he said, softly.

  “I know. But I don’t want to end up apart from you again, in Abaddon’s keep, and that’s what’s going to happen if Michael beheads either one of us.”

  “How can you be all right with this?”

  “I’m not. I’d rather not die – not now, after everything… But do you think I’m scared of death? I’ve stared into its face every time I’ve dreamt, and twice in real life. The only thing I’m scared of is losing you again.” She sighed. “And that little issue with mankind going to Hell.”

  He let out a sharp breath. “All this time I’ve been helping humans with their fight for freedom and choice, and here we are, backed into a corner.”

  “We have choice,” she insisted. “This is it. We don’t get to choose our choices, Gwain, we just get to make the ones we’re given. If it weren’t for Lokoli stealing that Pen; if it weren’t for angels like you keeping it out of the wrong hands, we wouldn’t even have this.”

  She kissed him gently.

  He fought the urge to unzip the front of her jeans and stroke her ‘til she came. Okay, so maybe he did want to do her a little. Yeah – she was being all end-of-the-world romantic, and he just wanted inside her. You’re the embodiment of sophistication, Gwain. Instead, he patted her backside, then hauled them both off the bed. “Come on, let’s get going. The sooner we get to Karl’s, the sooner—”

  Her hand rubbed the crotch of his jeans, and he lost all notion of what he was saying. How on earth could one woman have this affect on him? She got him hard just by breathing. “I thought you said—”

  “I lied. Five more minutes?” she all but begged, her eyes glazed over. “I don’t think Karl and Elena will have a welcome committee waiting for us at three in the morning, and this could be the last time we ever—”

  He consumed her last words with his mouth (that wasn’t a sentence he wanted to hear the end of anyway), and undid all that hard work she’d spent putting his clothes on, in about five seconds. He hoped that Totilemi demon stayed the hell away this time.

  “Door,” gasped Mary, as his teeth gently scraped her neck. “Lock the fucking door.”