Page 16 of Wild Ivy
I meet her gaze. “We can’t.”
Ivy grunts and slams her hands to her head. She drops to her knees with a keening sound.
Lunging forward, I crouch next to her, gripping her elbow. “Ivy?”
“Death… all of them… say no.”
“No?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“A collective and very firm no. It will rip Death out of me, and seeing as David is already gone?—”
“Death will be floating around?” Torin asks.
“Something like that,” she grits out, opening her eyes and fixing her gaze on me. “We can’t do this.”
“Then you tell those ancient fuckers to come up with a better plan. Any fucking plan, then,” I growl.
She nods, and I see movement in the trees. I look up to see Morrigan glaring at me. She is pissed, and I realise that was her plan all along, so she could what? Take Death’s power? She said Ivy’s power came from her. Fuck. This is a disastrous nightmare.
“You’re right,” I state, tearing my gaze from Morrigan’s. “We won’t do it this way. But we need to hurry and find out what we are going to do.”
“In the meantime,” Bram states coldly. “It looks like we’ve got company, and they aren’t here for tea and biscuits.”
I glance up and see that we are surrounded by an army of—what I’m assuming—are souls that are back from the dead.
“Oh, fuck,” Ivy snarls. “I guess you had better leave this to me?”
We both rise quickly as some axe-wielding maniac storms towards us with a battle cry that chills me to my bones.
8
IVY
I stareat the horde of not-dead warriors advancing on us, their battle cries sending chills down my spine. Fuck. This is not how I wanted to test out my new Death powers.
“Stay back,” I warn the guys, stepping forward. “I’ve got this. I think.”
Channelling the power of Death, I feel it swell through me like an icy river. I raise my hands, focusing on the approaching army.
The warrior swings his massive axe at my head, and I duck under it, feeling the whoosh of air as it passes inches from my scalp. As I come up, I press my palm to his chest and channel Death’s power.
The effect is immediate and much like what happened to Torin’s dad. I suck him into my palm, absorbing his essence and putting him firmly back where he belongs. “It’s not time for you to fight, and you definitely aren’t meant to be fighting me, you dickheads! Back in your box.”
I spin and slam my hand against another crazed lunatic lunging towards me. Death said this army was the worst of theworst. I believe him. The insanity in their eyes, the blood lust, is undeniable.
“Holy shit,” Bram mutters behind me.
Ignoring him, I whip through the horde of warriors, my hands a blur as I touch one after another. With each contact, their essence is absorbed into me, sending them back to whatever afterlife they escaped from.
“There has to be a quicker way than this!” I screech, hoping one of the Deaths will answer me.
They don’t.
Arseholes.
A massive brute of a man charges me, sword raised high. I duck under his swing and press both palms to his chest. He howls as I absorb his essence. A shudder goes through me as these terrible souls settle back where they were meant to be, and then a thought occurs to me.
“David, you utter cock. You knew they had escaped. This was onyourwatch!”
