Page 142 of Her Blood Revenge

She laughs even harder, throwing her head back in violent joy.

Pixie will hate herself for this when she comes back. For killing those she has tried so hard to protect.

‘You call us your gods?!’ she laughs maniacally. ‘You trapped us with spells you stole from us! From the grimoireswecreated! You locked me in the ground. In the dirt and the trees. In the roots of every plant, and dare channel my magic for your own? Well. Every spell was a prayer, and prayers gave me power. You have made me more than I ever was before. Now I am free, and your earth covens are all but gone. And without so many stealing my magic, I amstrong. Strong enough to finally claim this vessel. This child I created and resurrected. My daughter will be your end!’

The air becomes toxic as everything green turns poisonous. It becomes carnivorous. The witches caught in it start to scream. Their faces begin to melt, or great boils grow on their flesh.

‘I will spread my poison over this world,’ she declares. ‘And I will show you all what a true and vengeful god looks like.’

‘Pixie!’ I call to her. ‘I know you can hear me. You have to take back your body! You can’t let that bastard win!’

Slowly, she turns to face me, and I recoil at the monster looking at me through her purple glowing eyes.

‘She’s in here, Dream Walker. Screaming. Clawing at her insides and wailing in misery as I kill her beloved witches. All your lies. Nothing hurts so much as these lies you tell her.’ She laughs and shakes her head, her skin becoming more green and the dark veins throbbing harder beneath her skin. When she next speaks, her voice is dark and demonic. ‘She thought she was special. My daughter. Your lover. But no. I made her for this reason and this reason alone. Not for love. Not for the betterment of witches. Only my bloodline can hold my power. She was born to be claimed by me!’ Her head tilts as if trying to read my expression. ‘And she is only loved by you for her blood. If she did not have the blood of a blood witch coursing through her veins, you would have ripped her throat out the first time you laid eyes on her. Isn’t that right, Dream Walker?’

‘Let her go!’ I growl, struggling against my bonds.

Archie screams as his wooden noose tightens.

‘Admit it, Dream Walker. Admit that if you had not smelled her blood that day, you would have killed the little earth witch who decapitated your pixie and insulted you in front of all you pathetic friends.’

I watch Archie struggle as his restraints tighten.

‘Admit it, or I will kill the Wolf. Will she love you still if you refuse to save him by doing nothing more than speaking the truth?’

A truth that will break her heart.

‘Yes,’ I admit. ‘Yes. I would have killed her if I had not known what she was.’ Athir remains silent. That’s not enough of a confession. And the fact he wants me to say more means Pixie is still there and listening. He wants her to suffer. To weaken her so he can secure his possession of her body. ‘But I have never been more thankful that I didn’t. I didn’t love her when I first saw her. But I wanted her more than I had ever wanted anyone in my life. The feisty little earth witch who stood up to all three of us without thinking twice? The determined woman who knew what she wanted and was willing to leave behind everything she knew to try and get it? I had never wanted a woman more. It didn’t take long to realise that whatever heart I still had belonged to her and her alone. Do you hear that, Pixie? I fucking love you! I love you, and I always will. We all do.’ I yell as the roots tighten around me, but I refuse to be silenced. ‘So be that strong and brave girl I first met and tell that prick of a god to get the fuck out of you. Because we love you, and you love us. We will fight by your side, and we will ravage you every night. But you have to take back possession of your body now!’

Her eye twitches,and Athir’s grip on Archie and me lessens.

Behind her, a swarm of shadows are descending from the direction of the ridge. I refuse to look, determined not to give Dorian away.

But she turns and grips them with her hand before they can collide with her back. The shadows become solid. They become Dorian. And she has him in her grasp.

‘Shadow Master,’ she growls. ‘You once served my dark sister. How is she? Still drowning in the blood of the innocent? Still screaming like a savage animal?’

Dorian takes hold of Pixie’s poppet doll and snaps her arm. Pixie screams in pain as she drops him, her arm completely broken and bending the wrong way.

‘You dare…’

‘Come back to us, Poppet Doll!’ Dorian pleads as he looks deep into her eyes, desperate to get her back and stop the pain he’s inflicting. ‘You’re stronger than he is. You’re-’

‘You want to save your little witch?’ she spits back, panting heavily against the pain. She grips her broken arm and violently snaps it back into place. ‘Then keep her company in hell and try to protect her from your dark mistress.’

Her hand slams into his chest. All the way inside.

He gasps with wide eyes.

And when she pulls it back, it’s dripping red.

No… Fuck… No!

She’s holding his heart in her hand.

Dorian’s mouth falls open as he looks down. As he sees his organ in her small fist.

I’m screaming. I don’t even know what I’m screaming, whether they’re words or just the sound of my grief spilling out from the depths of my soul.

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