The Scale Empire

by Cate Farren

  I sat down to listen.

  ***

  I stood on a small hill overlooking the settlement. I watched as my clan, my family, settled into their normal everyday routine. Things were uncertain, especially with whatever political situation was going on in this world, but they could handle it. My family could handle anything.

  “Are you still coming after me, after all I did?”

  I couldn’t help but grin. I’d been hoping Leviathan would contact me one day. How lucky was I that he’d intruded upon my thoughts this soon? Circe and I had come up with a plan.

  “Of course. What else would I do?”

  “You’re going to be chasing me for a million years.”

  “I’d chase you for a billion years. I’m going to find you and I’m going to end you.”

  “How are you going to do that? You failed to stop me last time.”

  “That’s for me to know and you to find out. I’ll be seeing you.”

  He vanished from my mind.

  I couldn’t help but smirk as Circe’s plan worked perfectly. She’d enchanted the necklace she previously gave me to latch on to Leviathan’s thought patterns. I could track him now, just like I could before.

  I would find Leviathan. I would work hard, learning more and more spells, learning all I could about him so I could kill him. It wasn’t just my family that was in danger anymore, it was the whole multiverse. I was the only one who could stop him now.

  I thought about Bram as I opened a portal and slipped quietly away.

  Chapter 26

  I studied the area where Leviathan had teleported away. I could sense where he’d gone next. He’d left some sort of psychic trail that I could literally see with the power of the necklace. The trail was dark purple and thoroughly malignant. It made me feel a little sick.

  I looked up at the scaffolding on the walls of the palace. I couldn’t see much in the night but it looked as though rebuilding was going well. I was glad. The Scale Empire palace was a beautiful slice of architecture.

  I heard footsteps behind me. I didn’t turn to see who it was. I knew.

  “You’ve returned,” said Bram.

  I said, “I had no choice. I need to follow Leviathan’s trail.”

  “You just wanted an excuse to come and see me.”

  “Arrogant bastard.”

  I felt his arms snake around me. His lips sought out my neck, kissing me, making me feel warm.

  “I have news,” he whispered.

  “I can’t stay,” I insisted, though I didn’t bother pushing him away. Why should I? “You know that.”

  He pulled me around to face him. It had only been half a day since I’d last set eyes on him but it felt like years.

  “I’m coming with you,” he stated.

  My heart leapt with hope, but I pushed it aside. He was being idiotic. He couldn’t come with me.

  “What about the Scale Empire?” I asked. “They need you.”

  “I’ve abolished the monarchy,” he explained. “The former states of the empire are electing their own council and President. I’m no longer needed. I was going to tell you last night but we had other things on our mind.”

  I felt like I was in a dream. These were the words that I’d been waiting to hear. I didn’t have to be alone in my quest. I could be with Bram. I could be happy. He’d die one day—but, for the time being, he would be mine.

  It was too good to be true.

  “Do you truly want this?” I asked him. “It’s going to be rough. There are wonders and evils out there.”

  “As long as I’m with you I don’t care,” he said. He paused before continuing, “Besides, I owe him a painful death. I’ll always love Lana, just as you will always love Leopold, but I’m seriously falling for you. It’s just that…”

  “Leviathan killed her and your unborn child. He took my brother, an event which caused the death of my parents and forced me to give up my daughter.” I stroked his cheek. “I understand. He took away our lives. He needs to pay for that.”

  “And we need to stop him from reuniting with his other parts.”

  “Together, then.”

  He winked at me. “As colleagues, friends.”

  “With benefits, obviously.”

  “For now.”

  I nodded my head. “For now.”

  ***

  After a tearful goodbye with Tina, Sini and Nile, the two of us created a portal in the courtyard. I could tell Bram seemed a little hesitant. It was his home, after all. But he was confident his world could get along without him, though we did promise to check back every now and then, just to make sure.

  “Is it always this hard leaving everything behind?” he asked.

  “Every time,” I admitted. “But you get used to it.”

  “As long as I have you I think I’ll be fine.”

  I took his hand in mine. It was time.

  “So how does this work?” he asked.

  “We follow Leviathan’s trail across the dimensions until we find him. It’s as simple as that.” I clutched his hand harder. “But I have to find and learn new spells along the way. There’s no point in catching up to him if I can’t kill him.”

  I hadn’t thought ahead as to how I would learn all these new spells. Yet I’d done exactly that over the last 150 years. I’d picked up the odd spell from one world or another. This time I had to look deeper. Finding spells had to be just as important as finding Leviathan.

  “When I came to your world with Sini I felt a little…nauseous,” Bram said hesitantly. “It’s not always like that, is it?”

  I laughed. “It can be hard on your stomach the first time.”

  I laughed again and ran into the portal, pulling Bram along with me. I felt excited to start this new chapter of my life. I was scared, too, but I was also happy.

  * * *

  If you plan to continue with this series, there’s an epilogue…but I suggest you stop here if you don’t like cliffhangers and don’t plan to continue.

  Thanks for reading!

  Epilogue

  We emerged onto a derelict street. Litter and dust swirled in the soft wind, bringing me the unmistakable odour of blood and death. The houses all around us were boarded shut, their gardens overgrown. Parked cars were either burnt out or smashed up.

  “What the hell happened here?” Bram asked.

  I walked over to a red car, parked half off the driveway and half on the weed-infested garden. The windscreen was smashed in, revealing the remains of what appeared to be several corpses. They’d been torn apart, the flesh and sinews literally chewed from the bones.

  “These people have been eaten alive,” I whispered.

  I shuddered. I’d seen far worse in my travels, but I was still human. I was still disgusted.

  I turned away, concentrating on finding Leviathan’s trail. It was weak here, which told me there was a massive concentration of magic in the area. It didn’t concern me. I could still track him.

  “Do you know how long he’s been here?” Bram asked, looking around us suspiciously.

  I hated the quiet. It was eerie. I’d ventured into post-apocalyptic worlds before, but this one was different.

  I grinned. “He’s still here.” I charged forward, following the trail. Bram ran to catch up with me. “He’s still here!”

  I stopped, finding a splash of blood on the cracked road. It was a few days old at most. I used a spell to make sure, but I was proven right; the blood belonged to Leviathan.

  “Something attacked him,” I said, following the trail of blood. “He was injured. We might have an advantage here.”

  Bram grasped my shoulder, forcing me to stop.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “We’re being watched,” he whispered.

  I felt tension rise up in me like bile. I stepped closer to Bram as a feral-looking werewolf emerged from behind a wrecked car. Its black fur was filthy and matted, and it watched us with such hunger I actually felt a little sorry for it.
>
  “How can one werewolf injure Leviathan?” I whispered.

  I heard low growls behind us. I turned to see more werewolves, their fur a multitude of colours, emerging from behind houses or across the street. There were hundreds of them.

  They were all hungry.

  The End

  * * *

  Continue the Portal Witch series in book two, Big Bad Wolves, available soon.

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  About the Author

  Cate Farren is from Sheffield, England. She writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy and steamy contemporary. She loved Dr. Pepper, spaghetti Bolognese, and dreams of retiring to the Italian Dolomites. She has one cat, a Russian Blue called Gracie, who runs her ragged with her excessive feline demands.

  * * *

  [NJA1]I’d recommend expanding here. If the vampires strike en masse, fighting them one by one seems unlikely; ‘en masse’ suggests descending as a mob.

  [NJA2]Again, I’d like to see this expanded, so the reader can experience some of these one-on-one moments as they happen. Detail feels more dramatic than what is essentially, ‘In five minutes I won’.

  [NJA3]I cut ‘seemingly’ here due to redundancy, repetition.

  [NJA4]Repetitive; replace with synonym.

  [NJA5]Inconsistent with immediately previous emotional state.

  [NJA6]Kezia used this specific phrase previously too, regarding ripping Queen Victoria’s head off. To facilitate characters having unique voices, it’s possibly worth cutting ‘literally’ here so it remains a part of Kezia’s lexicon, differentiating her voice from Bram’s.

  [NJA7]Gender was swapped here. I’ve changed all ‘shes’ to ‘hes’ as necessary to fix it.

  [NJA8]Repetitive; rephrase.

  [NJA9]Feels repetitive as it’s fairly close to ‘moved closer toward us’. Consider cutting.

  [NJA10]Missing word—insert as appropriate.

  [NJA11]Reworded to remove repetition.

  [NJA12]See Additional notes – Grinning.

  [NJA13]Repetitive; consider replacing with ‘blinked’.

  [NJA14]Repetitive; rephrase, or add ‘too’ to the end of the sentence.