Page 163 of Their Blood Rite

‘She reminded me of you!’ he insists as she goes to strike a deadly blow, his hand rising a little and his feet fighting the urge to charge. ‘Neve. We were good together. You know that. I know that. But you went too far. Killed too many. You started a war.’

‘You revelled in it. I was there, watching you bathe in the blood of those we slaughtered.’

‘You slaughtered everyone, Neve. Children. Women. Innocents. Our kind as well as humans.’ He shakes his head. ‘You were going to destroy everything. What would be left to enjoy in this world if all that remained was blood and death?’ He gestures to me. ‘Spare the girl. Start again. Grow your numbers, but do not allow your lust for death to destroy everything.’

‘Spare her,’ she scoffs. ‘So you can have her?’

‘She was a poor replacement for you, Neve.’ His lips move into his crooked smile. ‘You know we are destined.’

‘You killed me.’

‘Like death matters to souls like us. Betrayal is part of our passion. Do you think we would be content being anything other than what we are? She is powerful. So fucking powerful, you should see for yourself. A daughter to be proud of. Why waste a perfectly good witch?’

‘You want her for yourself,’ she repeats.

‘No.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

He looks at me. Then, calmly back to her.

‘I’ll vow myself to you.’

My mother stiffens.

‘I claimed her, Neve. She bares my mark. I’ll vow myself to you and command her. We will both belong to you.’

‘She has the death rattle,’ she sighs mockingly.

‘I know. I can hear it.’

‘She is to die, Ronan. Seconds, and then her spirit will become just as twisted and trapped as mine was.’

‘You do not want that for her.’

‘I do not want the competition. And besides. All I smell from you is love. For her, not me. And it makes me sick.’

My neck snaps.

A flood of warmth spreads down my spine.

‘NO!’ Shaw yells. He runs towards me, his eyes wide and devastation on his formerly calm face.

He takes me in his arms.

‘Pixie…’ he whispers. ‘My Pixie…’

My last breath is filled with blood.

I don’t take another.

Chapter 28

It’s strange. I’ve seen so many spirits in my life. Seen them lost and confused. Composed of nothing but pain, anger and fear. A small slither of a soul. The parts of them that perhaps heaven will not take. The part that would never allow a soul to rest in peace if it went to the beyond with it.

I look down at my lifeless body, cradled by Shaw, who actually sobs. Tears stream down his face as he cradles me in his arms. My eyes stare into nothing. The whites are bloodshot, and a small trail of red falls from my nose and ears.

My mother laughs, looking at him cry. Looking at him so lost as he holds her child in grief.

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