by Laken Cane
“Fuck.” He looked heavenward. “I forgot, sweetheart.”
“I do miss my monster,” she admitted. Then she hefted the shotgun. “But I have this. You should see what happens when it hits an enemy.”
He smiled down at her. “Rune. About Z…”
She doubled over in pain so abruptly he didn’t move at first.
“He’s forgetting me,” she said. “God, Strad, I found him alive and he’s forgetting me.”
He sighed and pulled her to him.
“He’s always going to be my Z. Always.” She looked up at him. “Do you know that?”
“I have always known that. Even when you didn’t.”
“Fuck,” she cried.
He ran his fingers through the tracks of tears on her face. “First time I’ve ever seen you cry real tears,” he murmured.
And that was just too fucking sad.
She took a deep breath and roped in her emotions. “Let’s figure out how to get to Abby.”
“How do you stand that constant noise?” Lex shouted, suddenly angry.
It took Rune a second to understand that Lex was referring to the booms, explosions, distant screams, and thunderous roars from things none of them could see.
“You get used to it,” she replied.
When she and Strad stood beside Lex, they still hadn’t figured out how to get back to the battle at the castle to look for Abby. At least not quickly.
Nighttime was nearing, and without the sun, the coldness became more than an annoyance. None of them were dressed for winter.
“Let’s hop on over to Death Shimmer,” Lex joked. “Get warmed up before we head back out.”
Rune smiled, relieved that Lex seemed to have bounced back. Of course, there’d been plenty of time for the little Other to get used to being possessed. “We mi—”
Shiv Crow dived from the sky, twirling straight for her like a shaggy black torpedo. His caws held a warning.
“Enemies,” Rune yelled.
The three of them stood back to back but barely had time to lift their weapons before two beasts ripped through the clearing. Part enormous, dog-like creatures, part man, they were the same nasty beasts she’d drank from when she’d first entered Skyll. Kelpers.
The kelpers would have been enough on their own to kill any group of people, but atop their backs sat the whip men—an even bigger threat.
“Don’t get hit,” Rune said. “The whips will cut you in half.”
She might not have her monster, but she would always be a fighter.
And then she knew exactly how she was going to get back to Abby. “Capture one of those beasts,” she yelled.
Strad understood immediately.
He threw his spear and sent it through the eye of one of the whip men, and Rune lifted her shotgun and blew away the other—and the beast he rode.
Strad’s jaw dropped.
“Uh huh,” she said, strutting a little. “This is one badass shotgun.”
But there was no time to enjoy the moment. The riderless beast struggled clumsily to its feet, dazed.
It seemed as though when they lost their riders, the beasts became disoriented. Rune had already figured out that their riders guided them, took them over when they climbed onto the beasts. The beasts were like ugly cars that could not drive themselves.
At least for a brief time—then it appeared as though they reset their brains and became dangerous monsters that wouldn’t hesitate to kill anything in their paths.
But Rune didn’t give the beast time to recover the loss of its rider. She slung her gun over her shoulder, launched herself into Strad’s arms, and he threw her to the beast’s broad, lumpy back.
There was no time to utter a single word because as soon as she straddled the beast, it reared, screamed, and ran.
She just had to hold on.
She shuddered with disgust when she felt the beast latch on to her mind—he knew where she wanted to go, and he had no problem obeying her.
He was hers to command.
And he was fast.
When she arrived back at the witch’s castle, she found a frozen field full of a few dead and dying people. The fight was done and the legislators were gone.
She rode her kelper over the abandoned battleground, shotgun ready, her desperate stare probing the few bodies upon the ground.
Finally, she saw a familiar person sitting against the ivy covered castle wall, and urged the beast toward her.
“Ellen,” she called.
“What the fuck?” Ellen pushed herself to her feet, blade held out before her.
Rune yanked the beast to an abrupt halt beside the guard. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine as soon as you destroy the witch. If you don’t, then I’m pretty sure I’ll be tortured for being a traitor.” She grinned. “Ah well. Why are you here?”
“I’m looking for Wicked Abby. Have you seen her?”
“Yup.” Ellen pointed. “She went that way five minutes ago. Said she was going to find a nicer place to die.”
“Thanks. Want a ride to somewhere?”
“No. Go on. Go do what you need to do. When the real battle begins, I’ll be there.” Then she sank back down to the ground and crossed her arms. “I just need a little nap.”
Rune gave her a quick nod. “Thanks for your help.” Then she whirled the kelper and streaked off to find Abby.
It took only fifteen minutes to find the sick woman.
She was walking slowly along the dirt road, her head down.
She looked up when she heard Rune rushing toward her. “My, my. I didn’t expect to see you again, Princess.”
“I need your help,” Rune said, and leaned from the kelper to offer Abby a hand up. “Climb on and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter Forty-Six
“What is it?” Abby asked, her arms firmly around Rune’s waist. “What can I possibly do for you?”
Rune didn’t sugarcoat it. “I need you to pretend to be Damascus and allow a very, very bad woman to possess you. I need to get her the fuck out of someone I love.”
Abby was quiet for a long moment. “I told you I’m dying.”
“Yeah.”
“This woman is from your world?”
“She is. In my world, she’s very nearly the equivalent to this world’s Damascus. Not as powerful, but just as evil.”
“She will know the witch is powerful. How are we going to do this?”
Rune blew out a sharp breath of relief. “Attack us. Karin Love doesn’t need to do anything but leave one body and inhabit another.”
“First of all,” Abby said, “as soon as she’s inside me, she’ll know I’m not Damascus. But,” she exclaimed, before Rune could open her mouth, “I have a way to keep her inside me. It won’t be fun—at least not for me—but I can make sure she doesn’t leave until I’m ready to release her. And you’re going to need to do something terrible, because once I die, she’ll be released.”
Rune frowned. “What will I have to do?”
“You’ll have to bury me alive. When I suffocate to death, Karin will be trapped beneath the ground with no live bodies around to transfer her nastiness into.”
“Fuck,” Rune whispered. “You’re right. That’s terrible.”
She felt Abby shrug. “Remember when I said I needed to atone? That will go a long way toward achieving that end.”
“No shit.” Rune was silent for a few moments. Finally, she sighed. “I don’t want to put you in the ground alive, Abby. That’s…” She shuddered, her claustrophobia kicking into high gear just imagining it.
“I think you will.” There was a smile in Abby’s voice. “You’re going to always do what you have to do, aren’t you?”
“Still. There has to be another way.”
“There is, but it’s risky. If she’s powerful, she could end up doing something worse than possessing your friend.”
“What’s that?”
“Possessing you
.”
“Yeah. That would suck.”
Abby laughed. “Indeed.”
“What’s the other way?”
“We’ll need a stoppered jar. There’s an old crone who skulks about the castle. She’s been there forever and knows everything. She can touch the jar with a spell. In essence, I can release Karin to the jar. Cork it up, she’ll be stuck in there forever. And that’s a long, long fucking time.”
Rune pressed her lips together and tried to force her thumping heart to slow its thunderous beat.
Brain in a jar.
Fucking brain in a jar.
“What’s wrong?” Abby asked.
“Brain in a jar,” she whispered. “My biggest fear.”
“Is it something you would wish on your worst enemy?”
“Yeah. Fuck, yeah.”
“Then let’s go find the crone and beg her help.”
She urged the beast back to the castle.
“I know the woman you’re talking about. She put a cloaking spell on me once.” She gazed up at the castle. “Do you think she stayed?” Smoke still poured from tiny, open windows, and the place appeared abandoned.
“I don’t think she can leave,” Wicked Abby said. “I don’t think it’s physically possible.”
They climbed off the kelper and Rune looked around for a rope with which to tie him. “We’ll need him for a ride back to my friends,” she told Abby.
But Abby shook her head. “I know where the horses are. They won’t all be gone. Let this asshole go and we’ll get a better ride back.”
Rune pulled her blade and cut his throat. “Deal.”
Abby gave a surprised bark of laughter. “That’s one way to let him go.”
The castle was silent and already had an abandoned, eerie atmosphere. The air was dead and heavy with hanging smoke and only the occasional scream, echoing moan, and clatter of chains let them know there were still people remaining inside the walls.
They walked up the winding staircase to the hallway in which the crone had shown herself to Rune.
“Old woman,” Rune called, when they stood in the silent hallway. “Are you here?”
“She doesn’t like to be called old,” Abby murmured. “Her name is Ada.”
“Ada,” Rune said. She strode to the curtain-covered nook and pulled back the drape, but the crone was not there.
“She has to be here,” Abby said. “She’s always here. Tell her what you need.”
Rune cleared her throat. “Ada, I need your help. A piece of evil shit has hitched a ride to Skyll from my world. She’s possessed a friend and we need her out before...” She let her voice drift off and shoved her fingers through her hair. “What’s the use?” She looked at Abby. “As much as I hate to take you up on your offer, if you’re still willing to take on Karin Love—”
“Karin Love is here?” Ada was suddenly there, twisting her head to the side to peer up at Rune from tiny black eyes. “Karin Love?”
Rune drew back, shocked. “How the hell did you do that?” And then, “You know Karin Love? How can you possibly know Karin Love?”
But deep down, she wasn’t that shocked.
Skyll was Karin’s kind of world—at least it was while the witch inhabited it.
Ada’s wrinkles tripled when she grinned. “Not even I know the entire story, but Death Shimmer lord Ariessin visited your world over twenty years ago. He was warned not to go but he defied those who counseled him and went anyway.
“It is said that lord Ariessin lost so much of himself while there that he barely made it back home—and even when he did, he was never the same. He hid himself away and is rarely seen by anyone.” She lowered her voice, as though the witch might be listening and use the words against her. “It is also said that he left Karin Love with a baby in her belly.”
Cold chills shook Rune’s body. “Oh shit,” she whispered. “He’s a demon, isn’t he?
“He is. And is—or was—a very powerful one.”
“What did she do to him?”
Ada shrugged. “That I don’t know. He never told his story. But she broke him.” Her laugh was sharp and a little excited. “A powerful demon, broken by a pathetic human.”
But Rune was no longer listening.
The demon lord of the Death Shimmer was Lex’s father.
She knew it.
If Karin had been in love with a demon—and had been hurt by him, that would explain her excessive hatred of Others. A hatred strong enough to develop into COS.
One did not cross Karin Love. One did not scorn her.
Obviously, Ariessin, the demon lord, hadn’t been a match for Karin Love. Not in her world. Crossing over, he would have lost some of his power.
But if Ariessin were Lex’s father, and one of Rune’s makers, then she and Lex were…they were something of sisters. Just as she and Snow were.
Vaguely, arguably sisters.
Rune gestured at Abby. “Abby told me you can bespell a vessel so we can contain Karin Love inside it. Will you help us?”
“You have a vessel?”
“Shit.” Rune looked around, as though a suitable jar would suddenly appear. “I don’t, but surely there are some in the kitchen. I’ll be right back.”
“Never you mind,” Ada said. “I have something.” She ducked behind the curtain and reappeared in seconds with a small glass jar with a cork in its long neck.
Abby hung back against the far wall, looking curiously shy, but when Ada held out the jar, she hurried forward to take it. “Thank you, madam,” she said, and curtsied.
Ada nodded regally despite her bent back and lined face.
“Did you put the spell on it?” Rune asked.
“Of course, of course. Now hurry to get this task completed so that you might concentrate on the more important matter at hand.”
Rune took her hand and shook it gently. “Thank you, old—er, Ada.”
“What will you do now?” Abby asked.
“The same as everyone else. I shall await the witch’s demise and see what the new world brings.” She looked suddenly at Rune. “We will need a new ruler appointed. If you decline to take the seat and would neglect your position, you must name your replacement. You must select a worthy ruler.”
Rune opened her mouth but couldn’t think of a single thing to say but, “Goodbye, old Ada. I may see you again when I return.”
Ada frowned, her eyes nearly disappearing in the folds of her wrinkles. “You will not return.”
“I will. Someone I love is here. I will come back.”
“Princess. When you set things right, the fates will give you one chance to leave us. The portal will not remain open. You cannot come back.” She nodded at the shock on Rune’s face. “Make your choice before it is too late.”
“Fuck,” Rune whispered. “That can’t be right.”
“Take heart,” Ada said. “There is no wrong choice. Now go. You have work to do.”
Rune and Abby, jar in hand, fled the ruined castle.
“I wonder if Ariessin is aware she’s here,” Abby murmured, once they’d procured a mount and were on their way back to Lex and the berserker.
“How could he be?”
“Wouldn’t you think you could feel the person who’d had such an impact on your life? Karin Love sent a powerful demon into hiding. I’d think he could somehow feel her.”
“Yeah,” Rune said. “Karin Love had an impact on a lot of people, but not in a good way. She’s like Damascus.”
“One more thing,” Abby said.
“What?”
“Your mother is a soul eater.”
“Yeah, I know.” And she wanted to throw up every time she thought about it.
“As her daughter, you have likely inherited that ability. If anything happens and you need to take her out quickly, you can eat her soul. I know it’s a horrible thing, and you wouldn’t want to do it…”
“I wouldn’t do it,” Rune said, her voice flat.
“Still. You might have that o
ption, should you need it.”
“I won’t. I’d rather die than have that nasty fucking bitch’s soul swirling around inside me for the rest of forever.”
“It wouldn’t be a possession. It’d be a capture. You’d feel her there, but she’d be your prisoner. Not an occupant taking control of your body. She’d just be a captive in the universe inside you.”
Rune swallowed the bile that rose into her throat. “No. I can’t do that. Besides, if I could eat souls, I’d know it by now.”
“Maybe.”
They traveled in silence for a few minutes. Rune’s mind was too full of dread and worry to speak. But finally, she broke the silence. “I need your help with one more thing.”
“Of course.”
“Damascus has my friends. One of them is a man named Z. He died in my world.” She ground her teeth, unaware she was doing it until a sharp pain brought it to her attention. “I want him the fuck back. I need to know where the witch’s other castles are.”
“You’d be better served by concentrating on the witch instead of her ploys and sneaky games. She’ll manipulate you until you barely know who you are. Don’t play, Rune. Find her, fight her, and hope like hell you can destroy her.” She tightened her arms around Rune’s waist. “You can free your friends by killing the witch.”
“Every second I’m not there, she’s torturing them.”
“Don’t let her dictate your actions,” Abby said. “I know her. I’ve been with her in one way or another for many, many years. Do what you have to do. Stop wasting time.”
Rune nodded. Abby was saying everything Rune knew she needed to do but wasn’t sure she could do.
No more chasing down people or trying to save prisoners before she did the one thing she could do that would fix everything. But…
The sooner she killed Damascus, the sooner she might have to leave. And if Ada told the truth, it would not be possible for her to return.
That was enough to make anyone procrastinate.
She might have to leave Z.
And that was another fucking thing she really, really didn’t think she could do.
Chapter Forty-Seven
“Just up ahead is where I left my people. Are you ready to do this?”
Abby slid off the horse and grinned up at Rune. She had a sparkle in her eyes that she hadn’t had before. “I know the witch well. I can certainly be her for a few minutes. I’ll give you time to prepare your man before I appear.”
