The COMPLETE Witching Pen Series, Boxed Set

by Dianna Hardy

  Pueblo was in front of her in an instant, with his back against the tree, taking her arms and pulling them up around his neck. “Lean on me.” He kissed her forehead.

  Sweat dripped from every pore.

  “Now,” she pleaded. “I want to push now.”

  A hand rested on her back. “Child, just a minute more … wait just a minute…”

  “Oh, God…” She burst into tears at the intensity of it all.

  Soothing words were murmured to her, Pueblo held her and stroked her shoulders and neck, but all she could think about was the crippling urge to push.

  “Pant,” someone commanded, “like a dog.” And because she was a wreck, she obeyed.

  It did ease a bit of the urging, although if she didn’t push soon she was sure the baby would catapult out of her anyway. “Please, please, please…”

  “Hold on…” A mumble behind her… “Look…” What was going on?

  Pueblo went about as white as a sheet, which was saying something given the dark colouring of his skin.

  “What is it? What…?”

  No one answered, but she didn’t need them to. The scent of fresh blood, too much of it, hit her like an awakening – the very bad kind.

  “I’m bleeding,” she whimpered.

  “I’m here,” soothed Pueblo, although his expression looked anything but.

  Another contraction ripped through her, although not quite as intense as the last few had been. She felt a warm, wet towel between her legs, and when it was pulled away the smell of blood was even stronger. Oh, no…

  “Don’t push,” came Zaynolita’s strained voice. “Don’t push.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lucifer watched Abaddon disappear down the crack in the Earth. He’d been here a while, not wanting to mingle with others. After spilling his guts to Katherine and being cut loose by Morgana, he felt strangely empty inside, and a little too vulnerable.

  So he had stood and watched them from afar, which is what he was so good at doing. He’d seen Katherine and the Brujii go down, followed by Archangel Michael, followed by Paul who wore a protective amethyst charm, identical to Katherine's, around his neck. He had taken his sweet time getting here … oh, but what an energy he’d sported when he finally had: aggrieved, tortured … it was far too delicious a thing to witness, because he could sense that the man was at the brink of his enlightenment. It was always darkest before the dawn.

  An ache grew in the pit of his stomach, aligning with the base of his spine, and he tampered down that snake inside him, so desperate as it ever was to witness a little skin-shedding. Yes, Paul had had a layer peeled away – he wondered how Amy was fairing.

  But this was already distracting him.

  He pulled himself away from his paralysing need, and walked to where Abaddon had stood just a minute ago. He knew that Morgana and the fay were gone. It left him oddly bereft. No matter their differences, she had pulled him out of the blackest pit and set him on course again. She had been his companion for an age and a day.

  Now, standing at the very edge of a new dawning, that feeling of lack grew monstrous; the gaping tear in the planet threatening to swallow him whole.

  Something’s down there, whispered a voice, and he wondered if it belonged to his angel half or his snake half. Sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. Something’s down there that you’ve missed; something you aren’t expecting…

  Fuck. He hated surprises.

  Whatever was down there, there was one thing he was sure of, because he would do whatever it took to make it happen: that Dragon would rise with the sun.

  He jumped.

  ~*~

  This place was full of tunnels, and Elena was beginning to think it would be a small miracle if she ever found her way out.

  She’d been following Sophia for about ten minutes, wondering if this was really such a bright idea. She knew nothing about the demon, other than what Mary and Gwain had mentioned, which hadn’t been a lot. What if she wanted the Dragon dead and this was all a trap?

  “This isn’t a trap, by the way,” came the reply to her silent thoughts. “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “You can read minds?”

  “No. It’s just logical you would wonder – who wouldn’t? I am here to serve the Dragon, just as I said to Gwain and Mary the last time I saw them. I want to see it birthed.”

  “Even if it means the end of your race?”

  “My race are already dead. I’m the only one left – what am I going to do? Have deep and meaningful conversations with myself?”

  Elena looked at her, perplexed. She couldn’t argue with that, but it didn’t relax her.

  “We’re here.” Sophia stopped in the middle of the dark tunnel. It smelt dank, but fresh, in that way the earth always did.

  “I don’t see anything.”

  “Change your vision.” She pointed at the left hand wall.

  Hesitantly, Elena made her way around her two new companions, staring at the wall as she stepped to their right. It was barely noticeable, but there it was: a shift in the shades of brown, as if two sheer veils overlapped each other. “It’s not one wall,” she said, “it’s two.”

  Sophia nodded. “Walk through.”

  Elena raised an eyebrow at the demon. “You first.”

  She snorted, and walked ‘through’ the wall, or, at least, that’s what it would have looked like to anyone seeing it from the side.

  Ri Tian followed, and Elena took up the rear.

  On the other side, a roomy chamber presented itself. In the middle of it lay some kind of effigy: what looked like a stone statue of a woman lying on her back, upon a plinth, either dead or in a deep slumber. Elena counted another seven dragon eggs surrounding the statue, illuminating the darkness with their crystal glow. “Is this a tomb?”

  “Yes,” replied Sophia, her voice hushed in reverence. “Of sorts.”

  “I can’t believe there are so many eggs. How did one dragon produce all these eggs?”

  The Totilemi tenderly touched one of them, and her face grew solemn in concentration, as if she were reading some story relayed to her through her touch, which, it turned out, was exactly what she was doing. “The eggs are older than time. They have always been here, and when the worlds changed by God’s hand, they became hard like stone, seemingly void of life, but in truth, the stone-like feel was caused by the shells hardening, protecting the foetuses. A dragon can hold its breath for an eternity, and can breathe a world into creation on an exhalation that can last just as long. These eggs hold live baby dragons that have simply been waiting for the right time, which is now. When the last Dragon awoke, their shells became normal again. When the last Dragon rises, breaking through the Earth, so shall all the eggs break.”

  She removed her hand and sagged a little. “Sorry … that took it out of me. I don’t have much time left. Come. I need to show you now.”

  They made their way to the tomb.

  The statue was beautifully carved, with the face of an angel, so to speak. Long strands of hair had been chiselled to perfection, every finer detail of her features, masterfully cherished. “Wow,” said Elena, entranced. “She’s beautiful.”

  Sophia said nothing. She sat down at the side of the long plinth, and Elena followed suit. “Look,” said the demon, pointing to the length of it.

  Symbols that Elena could not make head or tail of had been carved into it. They looked a bit like the ones that Karl had translated from the angelic scrolls. “Is that written in the Old Tongue?”

  “No, even I can’t read this language. The Old Tongue was taught to the angels by the fay so that they would be able to communicate more freely amongst each other. This is what came before the Old Tongue – this is the language that God brought with him, but was never used, maybe deliberately, or maybe it just died out from non-use over time.”

  “Is there any way to know what it says?”

  “I will understand some of it through touch.” She wheezed and then c
oughed a little, but shrugged off assistance and placed her finger in the groove of the first symbol, tracing it slowly as she went from left to right.

  Somewhere above them, the planet rumbled, and Elena realised for the first time that down here, in the core of the Earth, they had been protected from the quakes.

  “Oh … I can see words… Beloved mother, brave lover, beautiful Goddess.”

  “This was someone’s mother?”

  “And a Goddess, it would seem.” She suddenly hissed in pain, and reached her hand out in search of Elena’s. “My hand! Take my hand!”

  It was the panic in her voice that had her grasping Sophia’s hand without any further thought. A sharp agony tore through her, and then, there was blissful peace.

  She opened the eyes that she had squeezed shut, and saw herself in a field of grass, greener than any green she had seen before. The air was cool, but bright. Twin suns shone in the sky. “Sophia?”

  “I’m here. Sorry about that. I couldn’t hold the story on my own, it was so strong. I’ve never received an image so strong before.”

  “Where are we?”

  “Still in the cave, but we have brought the story to life in front of us. We’re projecting it into our surroundings… Ri Tian, can you see it?”

  A “yes” sounded in reply, although Elena couldn’t see the old man, or Sophia for that matter. She couldn’t see anything except this new scenery.

  “It will play out like a memory,” came Sophia’s voice. “It will be the memory of the person who carved the words, and we are looking through that person’s eyes and within their thoughts.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Watch, and learn.”

  The air smelled amazing – truly amazing, as if she were breathing in oxygen for the first time. It filled her lungs in a way that made them feel they had been unused all her life. “What place is this?” she asked, enthralled.

  A woman appeared from the woods that lay across the field, carrying a small basket of firewood and Elena immediately recognised her, so intricate was the carving of her. “That’s the woman on the tomb.”

  If Sophia heard her, she didn’t reply.

  And then she was travelling towards the woman through the eyes and body of the person who owned the memory. “Mum!” called out a voice that wasn’t hers, in a language she shouldn’t have been able to translate.

  The woman – by God, she really was stunning – looked straight at her. Her eyes were literally the colour of the night: black with flecks of blue. Her hair hung down her back in raven tresses, and her creamy skin was simply flawless. Huh. Must be the super-oxygen…

  “Sweetie,” smiled the woman, “where’s your brother?”

  “Around.”

  “Good. Stay close – things are not as safe as they used to be.”

  “Mum, we’re both adults – we’re all grown-up now.”

  “So am I – do you see me taking risks?”

  “I’m not taking—”

  “Really?” scolded her mother, lightly, although her eyes held a spark of amusement. “Tell me, out of you and your twin, which is the one always taking the accountability for the other’s decisions?”

  No reply. Although Elena sensed a little bit of guilt radiating off their host.

  “Yes, your brother has a heart of gold,” continued her mother, “and you need to temper your adventurous spirit; these are dangerous times – unpredictable.”

  A sigh. “I know, Mum. Sorry.”

  Her mother paused, and then promptly dropped her basket and swept her in for a hug, unknowingly taking Elena along for the ride. “Don’t be sorry. I hate this. I hate to quench your spirit – you’re so much like your father: ever the pioneer, ever the scientist, ever the optimist… Aaaah! Speaking of whom…”

  They both turned, and saw the man Elena assumed was ‘the father’, making his way towards them. An uneasy feeling grew within her. He looked startlingly familiar, although she couldn’t immediately see who he reminded her of. But he was just as ‘pretty’ as the woman, although his hair was a very light brown, and his grey eyes held a sharp intelligence. When he smiled, he lit up the scenery. Weirdly, his smile reminded her of Karl’s, and that intensified the uneasiness tenfold.

  “Causing trouble?” he said, looking pointedly at his daughter.

  She laughed, albeit sheepishly. “I don’t go looking for it, you know.”

  He turned to … his wife? Lover? Partner? Clearly, she was the woman who owned his heart, whichever way it worked in this world. His eyes softened completely, his entire demeanour relaxed and he leaned in towards her, cupping her face for a kiss.

  The daughter dutifully looked away. Unfortunately, that meant that Elena lost the same line of vision. Instead, they both jumped when they spied another man running towards them at break-neck speed. “Adam…” whispered the girl, and Elena instinctively knew that this was her brother – felt it in the girl’s thoughts and heart. He had the same look as his mother; the only difference was his eyes – they were grey like his dad’s.

  “Adam!” called his dad. “What is it?”

  Adam looked to be about twenty, which would make his sister the same age. He stopped in front of them and doubled over, out of breath, but forced his words out, regardless. “It’s coming. Now. We have to leave… NOW.”

  “No,” gasped his sister, and suddenly, everything stopped but for a distant, crackling noise. It was a noise Elena had never heard before.

  They all stared at the direction Adam had come from – where the noise was coming from – and Elena recoiled in horror … or tried to. She wasn’t going anywhere if the daughter wouldn’t move.

  The land that they could see in the horizon began to disappear right in front of their eyes.

  “I can’t get my head around this,” and Elena wasn’t sure if it was the girl, or herself that uttered it, not that it mattered, because all at once, maybe owing to heightened panic, their joined thoughts and feelings no longer felt separate.

  The edge of the Earth, or whatever this planet with the twin suns was called, was falling away, giving the world the appearance of being flat. The edge was just … crumbling … turning black before it fell off, and everything beyond that was darkness – just darkness.

  The girl screamed, Elena screamed, Sophia screamed.

  “Let’s go! Now! Eve!” Her arm was virtually wrenched from its socket as she looked up at her dad, his face reflecting all hope lost.

  “Eve! This is the end!” he cried again, and that woke her up and she was now running, still screaming, away from the darkness eating everything away.

  He pushed them all ahead; Adam took the lead.

  Her mother tripped and fell, and Dad was pulling her up and dragging her along… “Don’t look back, Lilith … don’t look back…”

  Elena was still screaming when the vision faded in front of her, and she could literally see it fading like a hologram that had filled the cave and was now ending transmission.

  “What the hell…!” she yelled, freaked out of her mind, and then turned to Sophia, who had collapsed on the floor. She hurried over to her small form, along with Ri Tian, who had witnessed what they had witnessed, although she’d hazard a guess he hadn’t gotten the sensory overload that they had.

  “Sophia…”

  No reply. She was lying too still – far too still.

  “Oh, no…” She didn’t have to check for a pulse – she could feel no life force within her body. Recalling that scene from the depths of the tomb had taken everything she had.

  Elena stood up, shaken, not knowing who she was addressing, but she had to speak aloud to get her thoughts straight. “I don’t know what I just saw. It makes no sense. Adam and Eve? Brother and sister? What was that place?”

  “It was home.”

  She couldn’t help the small screech of surprise that escaped her as she turned; she was still a wreck from experiencing Eve’s memory.

  Karl – no, God – stood at the entrance to
the chamber, wearing his long, dark trench coat buttoned up at the front; his sword covered in thick blood.

  Oh, shit! If he’s killed the Dragon…

  But his focus was not on his sword. In fact, it hung loosely by his side as he stared at the air that still tingled from the faded past, the look on his face, one of sheer torment.

  He saw. He saw what we saw. Except, he’d more than seen it, hadn’t he? He’d lived it.

  “You were Eve’s father. Adam and Eve.”

  He stared at her, but she didn’t know if he even saw her beyond the memory that cut him up anew. The cruelty, detachment, and coldness that she had experienced from him the past few days, were gone from his expression. In their place was an ancient agony.

  Before she could talk herself out of it, she reeled herself into his mind, to touch just a piece of it, so she could ascertain his intentions; so she could see if he’d harmed the Dragon; to try and find any trace of Karl.

  She didn’t get far. She saw that awful blackness swallowing everything up, overwhelming panic; neverending, high-pitched wails that were laments for a hearth destroyed… She couldn’t venture in, and careened herself back out of his thoughts – the amount of pain was nothing she had thought possible.

  “Yes, I was.” His intonation was flat – a sharp contrast to what Elena knew was going on inside him. “They were my children … back home.”

  “Home?”

  “Where we came from … before we arrived in Tír na nÓg. Our home was beautiful. It was very much like Earth as it was before; like Eden.”

  Eden is mine…

  “I thought we would make it, but the trip was hazardous. I cheated.” His words wavered. “I looked back, even though I told her not to, and do you know what I saw? Nothing. Our world gone, and absolutely nothing in its place, just a mass of darkness. Our ship barely made it away.”

  “Ship?”

  “That is the correct word in your language, isn’t it? Spaceship?”

  “Space…” she faltered, her voice simply not working anymore. She’d come down here to face a God, birth a Dragon and save her boyfriend. She hadn’t expected … what on earth was he?