Birth of a Goddess (Reincarnation of the Morrigan Book 1)

by Renée Jaggér

  The back door reopened a moment later, and the dancing of the phouka ceased. A sense of fear settled over all of them, and over me too. I swallowed hard. The redcap emerged looking just as huge and muscular as he had in McAlpine’s office.

  Really, he looked like a gorilla, which would have amused me had he not been able to snap my body in half. If I had seen him in pictures with his expensive gold-colored clothing barely fitting him, I would have laughed my ass off, but as the real thing approached, my mouth went dry. His eyes glowed gold, and somehow, they looked more terrifying than the phouka eyes that were fixed on me. His blood-red fedora matched the one he had worn the first time I saw him.

  I would rather fight a mob of them than one of him, I thought. Finding the thought very unhelpful, I rose to my feet and steeled my expression. The phouka standing over me kept a firm grip on my shoulder. Redcap sauntered toward me, mouth opening to reveal dripping fangs. He crossed his arms over his massive chest, planted his feet wide apart, and gave me the longest, most vicious look I’d ever received.

  My heart thundered. I wanted to lunge at him with my knives. I remembered seeing him in McAlpine’s office and Mr. Money Man’s smirk of triumph.

  I’ll make you both pay, I decided.

  Before Recap said anything, his eyes narrowed on my red wig.

  Fuck, I forgot I was wearing it.

  He stepped toward me, and before I could utter a cry of alarm, he grabbed me and wrenched the wig off. Bobby pins sprayed in every direction, and my tightly braided dark brown hair was revealed.

  Redcap laughed, and I froze. His laugh sent more chills along my bones than the phouka’s at the council flats had. He tossed the wig away as if it were a dirty rag and stalked toward me until he was close enough for me to smell his odiferous breath. “Playing dress-up, are we?” he asked. A low growl reverberated through him.

  I gave him no answer, only a cold stare.

  Redcap’s head whipped from me to the three phouka who had dragged me here. He uttered a snarl that sent them skittering away from him. They huddled together, cowering as his voice rose. “You damned fools fell for this? For her?” His claws extended, and I felt rage rippling off him.

  Recap’s gold eyes turned back to me, flashing with fire. His cackle sprinted down my spine, making it lock up. He looked at me but still spoke to the phouka. “You shitty wankers brought me a fucking fake.”

  The word “fake” made my blood simmer. Didn’t he know I’d killed his cronies?

  Finally, I allowed a slow, knowing smile to cross my face. I shrugged as if this were a regular conversation. “Call me fake all you want, Redcap, but these are real.”

  My hands flashed to my boots in half a second, and before the goblin overlord in front of me could react, I had drawn my twin iron knives. I threw them without hesitating, and the satisfying sound of one thunking into Redcap’s meaty thigh reached my ears. I thrust the second into the chest of the phouka holding me, and its cry of pain filled my ear. I withdrew the knife and plunged it in again. Its scream sounded once more, then the smell of burning fur filled the air and smokeless flames appeared. The flames only danced for a moment before the creature was just ash on concrete.

  My knife returned to my hand, dripping black blood that smelled like rotten eggs.

  I had no time to be annoyed by bad smells. The phouka around me were crying out, but I paid them little heed as I stalked to Redcap. He had sunk to his knees, knife still in his thigh. His cry had filled the lot, making the phouka scramble back. His fury-filled gold eyes rose to meet mine.

  I was just going to demand from Redcap where to find McAlpine’s ogham tree when a sound from above caught my attention. About damn time, I thought as I watched the murder of crows flap into place above me. They flew in a circle, and though they were cawing now, I had not heard them arrive. How the hell did I not hear them? Then I remembered that the phouka had screamed right in my ear before turning to ash.

  I looked at Redcap again. His hand had gone to the knife in his thigh to pull it out, but when he touched it, he wrenched his hand away. We both gaped at his fingers, which were bright red from the burn of the iron hilt.

  Goblins couldn’t stand iron either. Thanks to Douglas’ research into old faerie superstitions, I had selected my weapons properly. We’d thought there was a good chance they would be effective on other mythical creatures.

  Redcap released a snarl that shook the ground and screamed, “Kill her!”

  The phouka launched. I felt a claw scrape my leg as I wrenched my knife free of Redcap’s leg. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed something large and black bounding over the wall into the lot. The creature’s growl sent the phouka skittering away from me. I was not surprised or frightened to see the wolf this time. Nice of you to show up. The crows cawed in unison and dove.

  A flame of triumph sparked inside me. Let’s fucking finish this.

  I swung, my knives meeting flesh. A phouka screamed as my weapons hit their mark. The sickening crunch of my blade against bone filled my consciousness, and the smell of their fur burning followed. If I lost focus, I would black out from the nausea it caused me. I wasn’t trained for this. I had no fucking clue what I was doing. Guide me, I thought at the Way of Kings.

  A sound that wasn’t like the snarling and screaming of the phouka collided with my eardrums and I faltered. The wolf growled again before bounding into the circle of phouka that were trying to reach me with their claws and teeth.

  He’s on my side, I reminded myself. Still, it was hard to keep my focus now that he was in the battle. I whirled away from the wolf to find Redcap rising at last. Black blood leaked from his thigh, but he was no longer burning up from the inside. He snarled and swiped at me.

  I ducked and went to slash my knives toward him again, but they were stuck in the phouka I had just killed. Fuck. It didn’t matter, though. Redcap wasn’t going for me.

  Before I could wrench my knives free, he had bounded over my hunched form straight for the wolf. The wolf sank its teeth into the arm of another phouka as Redcap lunged. I cried out, a sense of possession consuming me. I scrambled to my feet, knives free from the last creature I had killed.

  “Don’t you fucking dare” was what I wanted to scream before I leapt upon him. Too late. His massive claw wrapped around the wolf’s throat and wrenched him up from the ground as if he were a puppy. He wasn’t dead yet, though. I pressed my knife against Redcap’s neck, and it took both of my arms to wrap all the way around it.

  “Hurt him, and I’ll cut you a new mouth,” I growled.

  Redcap’s laugh was low and bitter. The wolf yelped and thrashed as the goblin overlord squeezed. “Slice me open, and I’ll break his neck. Just a nice little twist.”

  I snarled. The crows had lifted off the ground and flew above us. The two or three phouka that were left screamed in terror before fleeing the lot.

  “I’ve killed your cronies. This is over,” I seethed, pressing my knife to Redcap’s neck.

  I felt a shift in him, something giving in. His voice was still cold and threatening as he said, “My life for the mutt’s. That’s the deal.”

  “Not. Good. Enough,” I retorted, though my heart thundered at the thought of the wolf’s neck being snapped. Black blood dripped out of Redcap’s neck. I felt him tense against the burning sensation. “I’ll let you live, and you’ll give me my wolf and your master’s ogham tree.”

  Redcap stilled. The wolf stopped thrashing as he released it. With the wolf free, I edged my knife back and slid off him. The goblin uttered another cold, dark laugh. “Why didn’t you just ask?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

  —Winston Churchill

  I kept from closing my leather jacket and folding my arms around myself. I clenched my teeth so they wouldn’t chatter with the cold. Where the hell had Douglas gone? My headpiece had been ripped out with my wig and probably trampled
by the phouka. Best-case scenario, he was wandering around, hoping he would stumble upon me.

  I shook off the thought. I’d deal with it later. Right now, I had to follow Redcap to the ogham tree.

  Redcap did not, as I had expected he would, climb into the van. Rather, he led us across the lot and down a side street. We wound through the urban wasteland beyond. The wolf walked at my side, eyes fixed on Redcap. His fur bristled. I glanced at him. Thank you, I told him silently. Without thinking, I reached out and brushed his soft fur with my fingertips. He was so large, almost reaching my waist. I couldn’t rid my mind of the image of Redcap throwing him like a rag doll, and I clenched my fists. Once we were done with the tree, I would make him pay.

  I imagined what it would look like to someone peering out their window to see a red fedora atop a male’s bulging form with a woman and a wolf following him.

  As I looked closer, however, I noticed there was something off about the air close to us. It was shimmering as if a thin wall had built up around us. Glamour, I realized. We were being hidden and shielded by Redcap’s power. That’s how they work, I thought. They hide when they don’t want to be seen. I wonder how much damage they do this way? I’m in a dream right now. That’s what this is. Some fucked up dream. As I glanced at the sagging porches and bent street signs, I remembered why this was important. Eventually, the people here would be driven out so McAlpine could come in and erase it like it had never been.

  Rage simmered within me. “We almost there, Redcap?” I demanded.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me, and I saw the fury in his gold eyes. After saying, “Why didn’t you just ask?” he had taken off with no further explanation.

  I was supposed to believe we were not walking into a trap. The wolf stayed with me, and I had my knives in my hands should Redcap try anything funny. Hopefully, he had learned his lesson after most of his phouka turned to ash.

  Redcap did not give me a verbal answer, but after another few minutes of traversing the urban decay, he halted. I saw that the shimmering air of the glamour wasn’t around us anymore but in front of us. A wall of it rose higher than I could see. Redcap reached for it and his hand vanished in midair, leaving his forearm visible.

  I gasped. Redcap glanced at me and smirked, then shook his head. “Amateur,” he muttered.

  I stiffened, wanting nothing more than to drive both my knives into him. I had felt satisfaction while watching him limp all the way here. Don’t do it now, I told myself. We need to finish this first. I looked once more at the almost invisible wall in front of me. “A veil?” I asked.

  Redcap nodded. “Between the worlds.” His tone sounded airy and almost whimsical. If he weren’t such a brute, he would look like a wizened being wearing a fedora instead of a pointed hat. All I could see beyond the wall was an empty field with trees in the far distance that formed a small wood. The sky overhead was clear. Moon and stars shone brightly, illuminating the land.

  Perhaps on a darker night, the veil was far less noticeable. Then I remembered how I could always hear the electricity in my house, as if my hearing were heightened. Are my senses sharper because of my power? That had to be it. Redcap stepped through the veil and vanished.

  This better fucking work. If this is a trap, he’ll have something else coming to him. With those thoughts, I stepped through the veil after him, and the wolf followed at my heels. It felt like stepping through a thin sheet of water, but I came out on the other side dry except for the phouka blood on my clothes.

  My mouth dropped open as my eyes landed on the tree. It grew in the middle of the field. Its trunk was as thick as Redcap’s body, and the branches reached high and out. They twisted around one another and were heavily laden with silvery leaves.

  I circled it in awe. I reached out to touch it, but instead of bark, it felt like stone, though it wasn’t that at all. A tingling sensation passed through my fingers and ran up my arm. It felt warm and inviting, as if the tree were calling me into it. I glanced down at my knives as the thought of carving my name drifted into my mind.

  I shook my head. Why the hell would I do that? This isn’t my tree. I looked into its branches, brow wrinkling as I considered something else. The tree was an odd reflection of the creature who was bound to it. Twisted and wizened, I thought. Ancient and hard as stone but not undefeatable.

  I clutched my knives, my knuckles white beneath the blood caked on my skin.

  I had forgotten Redcap and the wolf until I had circled the entire tree and again stood before them. Redcap’s arms were folded over his corded chest. He addressed me in a dull tone. “I’ve gotten bored, playing McAlpine’s game for him.” He shrugged, and a wicked smile quirked his lips. “He thinks he can sit around and order me to do everything while his precious tree protects him.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Redcap. I was not buying it. I glanced at the wolf, and given that he was hunched as if to launch into an attack at any moment, I knew he wasn’t either.

  Redcap shrugged again, his gold eyes simmering with some scheme. “I can outlast my so-called master, but that’s just too tedious, don’t you think?”

  I lifted my chin. “You don’t care what I think.”

  Redcap’s laugh was low, dark, and full of misguided intentions. I raised my knives so they glinted in the light of the moon, a reminder to tread carefully or get burnt.

  The goblin spoke again. “Maybe I don’t, but I do care about my time. Why would I be loyal to some human when I can use it better by playing my own games?”

  I fixed the goblin overlord with a cold stare. “I didn’t know we were children playing games. Enough of this shit. How do I destroy the tree?”

  Redcap’s brows lifted. “Didn’t your little writer friend tell you how?”

  I froze, then spoke in a voice as cold as ice. “What did you do with him?”

  Redcap’s eyes glinted with fire, but he did not give me an answer about Douglas. “I’ll tell you if I must. There are wards of the strongest magic protecting the tree. Druids really don’t like to take chances.” He shot me a poisonous smile. “There is only one way through.”

  I took the bait. “How?”

  Redcap answered me by smiling wider. Then, like a flash of lightning, he moved. I had no time to throw my knives. I had no time to cry out or jump out of the way to avoid it happening. Redcap grasped the wolf by the neck, and as it yelped, he hurled it at the tree.

  A flash of light filled my vision, and the stars wheeled. I stumbled back, blinded. I tripped over something and landed on the hard ground as the wards around the tree flashed red. The wolf yelped once more before falling in a heap at the base of the tree. Something sizzled, and tendrils of smoke rose from where the wolf lay. Red flashed again, this time in an arc over the tree.

  My burning rage brought me to my feet. I whirled on Redcap, who was laughing maniacally. I gripped my knives, but his amusement did not fade as I stalked toward him, eyes flashing. He did back away with his hands held up. The air started to change around him, folding him into invisibility. A glamour. He was going to fucking hide from me.

  He uttered a dark, cold laugh that sent chills up my spine. My rage quelled them. “Only way, love. Something’s got to pay the toll.” His gold eyes glimmered with ruthless intent. “Now, you can come after me and risk the ward coming back, or you can do what you came to do while I go on my way.”

  “I injured you. You won’t get far,” I snarled.

  Redcap shrugged. “I have a trick or two up my sleeve.”

  I flashed my teeth as if I had fangs and snarled, but he was right. I looked back at the tree and the wolf lying beside it. When I whirled back to Redcap, he was gone. “Fuck,” I muttered. Everything was going to utter fucking hell and fast. Douglas was missing and maybe not even alive. There were no crows to be seen, and my enemy was gone. Could I even make it out of here?

  I can do one thing, I thought as I launched toward the tree. The ward was still down, a small mercy. If there were gods, maybe they were on my
side, or maybe my damn luck hadn’t quite yet run out.

  As I stepped closer to the tree, I found it wasn’t just wood and silver leaves. Ancient letters appeared in the moonlight, carved deep. I could feel their magic in my bones. This is real, I told myself. The tingling warmth coursing through me could not be denied. I glanced down at my knives, which were still covered in blood. They had not failed me yet.

  I plunged them into the tree, and instead of the iron breaking against the stone-hard wood, they entered seamlessly. It was like slicing a veil down the center.

  A splitting sound started from the top of the tree, as if it had been struck by lightning and was separating down the center. I dug my knives in deeper. Then, like an insane person, I withdrew both blades and plunged them in again. I began hacking at the tree, and my cries filled the air. For the wolf lying dead beneath me. For my brother, who I hadn’t gotten to in time. For the children beaten in the council flats.

  The tree began to bleed like a wounded animal. From the first puncture I had made poured dark-red sap. Tree blood, I thought. What the hell? The leaves, which had been silver a moment ago, were turning black and falling to the ground. A second later, hundreds of dying leaves were scattered around me. A soft wind brushed through bare branches. The wood, which had been white in the illumination of moon, was also turning black.

  I stepped back, panting and covered with phouka and tree blood. The tree looked burnt. I glanced at my knives once more. One final sob escaped my mouth, and I sank to my knees before the wolf. “No, don’t leave me,” I told him in a choked voice, but there was no response, not even a faint whimper. I stroked my bloodied hand through his smoky fur.

  The air shifted around me. First, it was a soft change in the wind. It had been a gentle breeze just a moment ago, but it turned into something wilder. A slight shimmer caught my eye. The moonlight touched the veil just right, revealing a sliver of it. I gave my own low, cold laugh. “You should have played your games somewhere else.” I lifted my knife one last time, quick as lightning, and plunged it into the invisible creature behind me. A sickening crunch reached my ears, followed by an ear-wrenching cry and a moan. “Because I don’t play games.”