heartbroken beast when he sees the unicorn’s body. He runs to its side, dropping to his knees.
‘Who… who could do such a thing? Why? Oh, you wonderful, beautiful thing.’
Its eyes stare at me lifelessly. Its fur is stained red with old blood. The life that once flourished around it has decayed so much, it’s all but crumbled.
I look around uneasily, very aware that the last time I was here, so was the killer.
‘Can you see what was taken?’ Gabriel asks, his eyes scouring every inch of the forest as he grips my hand in his.
‘I… I’ll need to look inside,’ Connor replies, shaking his head and lost to grief for the poor creature.
He looks up at Bias standing beside him. A pleading look swims in his eyes. To carve up this creature, even dead, is more than he can bear.
Bias kneels at his side.
‘I’ll help you. Just tell me where to cut.’
Bias pulls out a knife and gives Connor a reassuring nod. From inside Connor’s collar, a small, scaled head with little black eyes peer out.
It’s the baby dragon. He whimpers as he sees the unicorn. And when Bias presses the blade into the wound site, reopening the cut I sealed, he retreats into the safety of the collar.
I admit I struggle to watch.
Gabriel takes my hands and turns me away so that all I can see are his eyes.
The squelching and Connor’s pained groans are nauseating, and I wince as I hear them.
Gabriel never flinches. He refuses to break our gaze.
Moments pass. Connor continues to grimace and grunt as he seeks out his answer.
He goes quiet.
‘What in the…’ he finally whispers.
Gabriel peers over my shoulder. I follow his lead and turn to Connor. His hands drip with congealed blood as he slowly turns to face us.
I have never seen him so pale.
‘What is it?’ I ask.
‘She was erm…’ Connor clears his throat. ‘She was pregnant.’
‘W-what?’
He looks back at her. A tear slides down his cheek. ‘This unicorn was pregnant. A couple of months or so. He… the killer took her unborn baby.’
‘What does that mean? What does that point to?’
‘Bloodlines. To take something like this… it’s bloodlines. Genealogy. Tapping into traits handed down from mother to child, tapping into DNA and manipulating it.’
‘Why? Why would anyone do that?’ I ask.
Gabriel shuffles as he looks at Bias. The two share a look.
‘Josiah…’ Gabriel whispers as Bias nods.
‘Who?’ I butt in.
‘Centuries ago,’ Gabriel starts. ‘Back before magic was stolen and the Veil was put up, Josiah Theydon was a Coven Leader. He practised Dark Magic and started teaching it to his people. He basically invented it.’
‘Why?’
‘Same reason as always. Power. To take what he had and make it more than anyone else’s. To have more wealth. Control. To be feared.’
‘Josiah found a way to awaken other magics in his bloodline,’ Bias continues. ‘He tapped into every realm of power that his ancestors had passed onto him. Those dormant realms from long ago. If his great great great grandfather had Elemental magic, he could tap into that.’
Gabriel looks at me. ‘He managed to awaken four realms of magic. All through Blood and Dark Magic. He took the life force and body parts from others and wielded his own brand of twisted magic over them. By taking the unborn life of a magical creature and consuming the life force of those who had access to the magic he desired.’
‘He could do that?’ I gasp.
‘Our grandfather, along with several other coven leaders, gathered together and killed Josiah,’ Bias says. ‘They knew this unnatural magic had to be extinguished. It messed with the order of nature.’
‘How do you mean?’
They look at the rotten vegetation around us.
‘It was like a poison spreading across the land. Turning everything it touched to ash. To decay. To sickness. Creatures of peace turned vicious or were born deformed and twisted. Our grandfather and the others had no choice. Josiah’s Coven needed to be stopped before their darkness spread.’
‘Stopped?’ I dare ask.
‘They wiped out his entire Coven,’ Gabriel says simply. ‘But clearly, someone here knows Josiah’s secrets.’
‘So, maybe this isn’t about opening the Veil,’ I ponder aloud. ‘Maybe this is just about gaining more power. Either way, they have to be stopped. This world is ours. I will never let them take it and turn it rotten. Never.’
When the brush starts to rustle, everyone turns, ready to fight. Ready to kill.
But it’s a friend who explodes into the clearing.
‘Clara?’ I gasp, watching her stagger towards me with blood seeping down her face. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Y-your cottage!’ she pants, pointing into the distance to where my home lies. ‘It’s under attack. Men with cloaks and knives… they broke in!’
Gabriel and I look at each other, each with sheer terror on our faces.
‘Callie…’ I whisper.
As we share in our moment of horror, from behind, there’s a thump. We both turn to see Bias and Connor on the floor, smothered in the same black smoke I saw last time when the hooded man attacked.
The next thing I see is the same black smoke exploding at Gabriel’s and my feet, smothering us completely.
One breath, that’s all it takes for me to fall unconscious and hit the ground hard.
