My eyes fling open and I gasp, pulling in shallow breath after shallow breath as I blink the world back into focus. My arms lie limp at my sides and my feet hover over the ground.
There’s a blissful and harrowing happiness brimming in my chest and tears slide down the side of my cheeks.
I wriggle my fingers and toes. I twitch them back and forth and dig my fingernails deep into my palm.
Am I out? Did I make it? Is this the real world or just another memory designed to torment me?
‘GODDAMMIT! LILLY! WAKE UP! LILLY!’ I hear the fire of a gun and the slash of a knife. ‘WE’RE GETTING OVERRUN OUT HERE!’
‘Gabriel?’ I try to find where his voice is coming from, but moving is painful and challenging. There’s a crushing pressure in my chest. One that makes it hard to both talk and breathe. When I look down, I see a giant fucking snake-like creature made of red smoke and bolts of lightning buried into my heart. ‘What the hell is that?’ I look up and see the Blood Moon high in the sky. ‘Where am I?’ My words are barely a whisper. ‘Oh my god…’ There’s a series of strong flutterings from my stomach. I manage to lower my head to see my belly. And what a belly! I have a bump! A real, actual bump! My sweet little girl is doing somersaults inside me, welcoming her mummy back. ‘I feel you, sweet girl. Mummy’s here.’ Joyful tears brim in my eyes as I feel her for the very first time.
She’s okay!
My Broken-self didn’t hurt her. But… this creature attached to me… what the hell is it?
‘GABRIEL!’ I call out in a terrified panic. ‘HELP US! WHAT’S HAPPENING?!’ I lift my gaze to find him. It takes a while because apparently, there’s a battle raging all around and a Mortem Wall encircling me. I turn to the snake and see that it’s protruding from a large Bloodstone. ‘The second spell…’ I realise. ‘I’ve taken back my body in the middle of the second spell.’
‘Lilly? Baby… is that… you’re back?’
Gabriel is watching me from beyond the wall with a look of stunned disbelief. He staggers back, dropping his gun so he can clamp his hand over his mouth instead.
‘Gabriel?’ I force myself to say through the pain of the magic constricting my core. ‘I’m scared. What’s… where am I?’ I look at the smoke-snake. ‘It hurts. The baby… is it – this thing – is it hurting the baby?’
My red hair blows across my face and sticks to my frightened tears.
I hear a scream and look to the raging blood bath just behind Gabriel.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Beautiful?’ he dares to speak. ‘Is that really you?’
The Bloodstone starts to glow. Brighter and brighter it becomes.
‘WHAT’S HAPPENING?!’ I yell.
‘It’s the second spell, baby!’ Gabriel calls over. ‘You’ve started the second part of the spell! Can you do it? Do you know how?’
I nod fretfully, my eyes glued to the glowing stone. I do know the spell. It’s ingrained into my mind, but I just wasn’t expecting to land right in the middle of the damned thing. The stone glows so brightly it begins to hurt and I know that it is demanding the words. The pain will only grow the longer I refuse to say them.
‘Hic est ianua,’ I speak. ‘Esse ostium unum. In semita et biberent cumeis.’ I summon my Elemental power and channel it through the funnel, just as I know I should. I feel the connection being created. A real, tangible link from our realm to the Arcane one. But it hurts. Every cell in my body screams out in pain as I create this link between worlds. I cry out, sobbing like a child. The light dims, and I know instantly that my Elemental power has receded. It’s barely a flicker inside me. Unusable and weak. The stone slowly begins to glow once more, readying itself for the next corridor. For me to send through the next realm of power by tearing it from my body.
‘One down, six to go.’
As it begins to ready for the next realm, I look back to Gabriel.
‘What’s going on over there? Where are the others? Are they safe? Are Connor and Collins-’
‘We’re fine!’ Collins shouts over from somewhere in the mass of fighting.‘You focus on the spell.’
When the glow is at its brightest, when I feel it calling for me to release my power, I repeat the incantation a second time, this time channelling my Physical magic into it. Again, I send out an agonised sob into the air, feeling my molecular structure shredding and breaking. My realm of Physical magic abandons me too. The light from the Bloodstone dims, and I catch my breath, blinking through tears and swallowing desperate sobs down deep. The stone starts to glow once more. With each incantation, I feel the energy being sapped from me. Each realm of power I channel abandons me immediately and excruciatingly. I know that when this is done, my powers will all be drained and I will have none to protect myself with. Just as I did at the last stone, when I fell and couldn’t move, with no physical or magical ability whatsoever. But I trust that Gabriel will protect me. That those who came here with me will keep me safe.
I continue. The stone glows. I speak the incantation again, sending another realm of magic forth. And it dims, waiting for the next one.
My body tires. Dark spots start to emerge around my vision. My head throbs more and more, but nothing will stop this. Nothing will stop me. When I repeat the incantation a fourth time and release my Energy magic, I hit an odd state of euphoria, like my body is simply too spent to feel any more pain and is now cutting it off. Not only is my body floating, but I feel like I’m floating on the inside too! Perhaps I’m suffering from delirium. There is an odd ringing in my ears and my skin is now tingling. I struggle to summon the strength to repeat the next incantation.
‘Hic est ianua,’ I mumble, blinking slowly. Sweat trickles down my face and seeps into my eyes, causing them to sting. My hair is plastered to my face, and the heat from the stone is still emanating outwards. ‘Esse ostium unum. In semita et biberent cumeis.’ I release my Sight magic and whimper as any of my remaining strength disappears fast. I can no longer wriggle my fingers. I can barely move my mouth. I look at Gabriel. My rock. My strength. He watches me, gripping the arm of his equally horrified brother who looks on helplessly with him beyond the Mortem Wall.
‘You can do it, Beautiful,’ Gabriel comforts, nodding and smiling with as much encouragement as he can muster. ‘Get it done and let’s go home. When we get out of here, I’m going to kiss the hell out of you.’
I give a weak nod and ready myself for the next incantation when the strangest sensation comes over me. The hairs on my arms stand on end, and a sudden burst of dread and adrenaline sweeps through me. It gets stronger. It’s familiar. As I focus on it, I realise it’s the sensation of magic. But it’s almost acidic, corroding me. Like the feeling of licking a battery, but felt all over.
Something’s wrong.
The sensation intensifies. Then I notice the strange creatures are beginning to gather around the Mortem Wall, fighting and killing any Hunter that gets in their path.
Collins and my dad join Gabriel and Tobias as they face them, placing themselves between me and the army of whatever the hell those things are.
‘LILLY,’ Gabriel calls over his shoulder, not looking away from the oncoming threat. ‘WAIT FOR ME TO TELL YOU WHEN IT’S CLEAR TO FINISH THE SPELL. IF THIS MORTEM WALL FALLS TOO SOON, I DON’T KNOW IF I WILL BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOU.’ He twirls the knife in his hand and gets ready, bending his knees and tensing his entire body. ‘YOU HEAR ME?’
‘Protect me f-from… what?’ I call out. ‘What are t-they?’
He risks a glance over his shoulder.
‘I love you.’
‘Love… you… more…’ I say shakily.
The corner of his mouth hitches as he shakes his head.
‘Impossible, my lovely wife. You hold on just a little longer, okay?’
He turns just as one of those things launches itself over the heads of three Hunters, straight at him. Then another and another. One lands in front of Tobias and stands tall.
It’s a woman.
No older than twenty, I’m sure, with long blonde hair that falls over her shoulders. The ends of which are drenched in blood. She smirks at him.
‘Lorna?’ Tobias gasps. ‘What the…’
‘Hey, Master,’ she sings, smiling coyly and flashing him a deranged and disturbing smile. Her lips are cut to shreds and her teeth are chipped beyond repair. ‘What do you think? You like?’ She runs her tongue along them, cutting it on the jagged points.
‘What happened to you?’ Tobias asks, disgust clear in his voice.
‘Ya know? I can’t actually hear you,’ she laughs maniacally, pulling back her hair and revealing her ear. Blood, both dried and still flowing, trickles from it. She drops her hair and looks to Tobias. ‘Thanks to Gabriel, we had to shove a screwdriver into our eardrum so he couldn’t compel us.’ She tuts and shakes her finger at Tobias. ‘You abandoned us. You left that day, promising that you would return with the Arcane bitch. That she would join forces with us. That she would help lead us in the war against humanity.’ She stalks towards him, almost seductively, swaying her hips and pushing out her chest. Tobias seems too shocked to respond. ‘You left, promising that you would return with a weaponised Arcane witch and a guarantee that we would rise as superior beings. That humans would lay at our feet. Our slaves. Our victims. But no.’ She stops before him and taps his chest. ‘You failed. You failed to Break her and take control of her. You failed to return to us. Instead, you turned weak and fell in love.’
‘What have you done to yourself?’ He looks around. All the others have the same broken teeth. The same stream of blood oozing from their ears. ‘What have you all done?’
‘Still can’t hear you,’ she snaps. ‘Ever had a screwdriver plunged into your fucking ear? Hurts like a bitch. But he told us we had to. He insisted.’
Tobias looks straight at her. ‘Who?’ he asks.
‘Our new leader. Your devoted followers who worshipped you as a god have found a new messiah. And unlike you, he won’t turn his back on us and join the enemy. Unlike you…’ She bares her teeth and hisses. ‘He has already made us more powerful than we were.’ She lunges and sinks her teeth into his neck.
Furious, Tobias slams his fist into her face and knocks her down onto the floor. She laughs, wiping the blood away with the back of her hand, only to lick it clean as she returns to her feet.
‘I always did like it when you played rough,’ she giggles darkly. ‘Let’s see how you like it when I play even rougher.’
She attacks again, leaping on him like a feral creature, punching and biting and slashing wildly.
I look on uselessly, unable to move an inch as I’m stuck here, tethered to this stone by an energy vortex, literally sucking my strength and magic from me. Soon, the faces of my family disappear. But on the opposite side, to my right, the feeling of twisted and corrosive magic grows more potent. It takes an awful amount of energy to turn my head. But when I do, the two figures I see emerge from the brawling crowd has my breath catching in my throat.
Hendrix and Grayson.
How? Grayson should be locked up. Gabriel had him well in hand last I saw and Hendrix… he should be dead or at least desiccating in the cellar I locked him in. What on earth has been going on out here while I was tucked away in hell?
They stride forward, flanked by two large, muscular men. The fanged lunatics, with blood pooling in their ears, clear their path to me.
All four stop when they reach the Mortem Wall. Grayson and Hendrix look it over, lazily checking for any weak spots. But they know, just as I do, that there isn’t one. Their eyes rest on me, and there is a terrifying amount of hatred inside them.
Hendrix, the toothless vampire bastard, curls back his lips, showing me metal fangs before sliding his finger clear across his throat. His body is rigid, his muscles and veins protrude, and I can see nothing but loathing.
Grayson, on the other hand, he looks at me with an intense and unblinking stare and his trademark false smile on his lips, the one that doesn’t reach his eyes. Well, eye. The left side of his face sports a pretty hideous scar, the lid of his eye dips over the empty socket.
God, I loved gouging out that man’s eye.
He’s brimming with malice and a gleeful excitement of revenge as he gestures to the Mortem Wall with a nod of his head. The two men either side of him step forwards.
I watch in astonishment as they both reach out their hands and plunge their finger straight into the Mortem Wall.
I expect them to fall down dead.
But they don’t.
Their fingers slowly emerge through the other side. They scream out in torturous agony, falling to their knees as they continue to force their hand through. It’s slow. Like they’re pushing it through thick putty. And their skin isn’t coming through unharmed. It’s blackened and bubbling. Huge blisters form on their flesh and pop. Their fat spits and hisses. They claw their fingers into the ground and drag their way through, pulling their bodies past the glimmering death-wall. Grayson watches on, his eye twitches as he sneers in disgust, and he even gives a derisive snort, like their pain is an embarrassment. Remarkably and horrifyingly, his thugs make it through and fall into a barely conscious heap, convulsing and vomiting.
‘Are you sure about this, Boss?’ Hendrix asks Grayson, eyeing me darkly.
‘Oh yes, Hendrix,’ Grayson replies, straightening the cuff links on his shirt. ‘I’m certain. The lovely Miss Hooper and I are long-overdue our reunion. Besides. The Mortem Wall can only kill what’s living. Technically, I’m not alive anymore.’
He steps towards the wall. Like the other two, he has to force himself through, but he remains on his feet, striding through it slowly and wincing, but refusing to scream out. His skin reacts just the same as the others, too. Blistering and sizzling. It turns red raw and black as it crisps over. Through every second of his slow torture, he never looks away from me. I’m still tethered here, to this damn stone.
Stuck. Waiting for it to call for the next realm of power so I can recite the incantation.
When Grayson’s through, he rolls his shoulders and neck, before his dark, malicious eye narrows on me.
With his chin up and his chest out, he saunters towards me, paying no mind to the apparent torment he must be in. He’s a walking barbeque.
‘Gabriel…’ I force myself to speak, the adrenaline from this development fueling my efforts. ‘G-GABRIEL!’
I don’t dare look for my husband in the crowd of fighting men and women… and monsters. Grayson is sealed in the Mortem Wall with me. With each step he takes, I fill with more and more dread.
‘Gabriel!’ I call out weakly. Like I’m screaming in a dream but can’t find my voice.
Grayson stops close, sighing smugly as he looks at me.
‘Well, hello, Miss Hooper. I have been waiting far too long to see you again. And you’re Unbroken? What a fantastic development. This wouldn’t be half as much fun if you were still a soulless monster.’
‘H-how did you…’
‘Get through the Mortem Wall?’ he asks, his eyebrows raised in fake interest. He leans in, smelling my hair and letting out a low, guttural moan. ‘After you and your husband branded and mutilated me, I had to find some way to gain more power. What do you think?’
‘What the hell are you? A vampire?’
‘I’m not a complete vampire no. And I’m no longer a full Witch either. But I’m more than I was. More than you left me. It was a brutal process to do this to myself I can tell you, but it was made possible through those notes I stole from your ancestor’s journal.’
The stone has started to glow once more, signalling its readiness for the next and penultimate incantation.
‘Hic est ianua. Esse ostium unum. In semita et biberent cumeis.’ The words spill forth from me in rapid succession and I channel my realm of Mental magic into the stone before Grayson has a chance to do anything. The light dims and the low groaning starts once more as the power is taken from me to create the corridor.
Grayson’s placed himself behind me. His hand slams over my mouth, and he presses himself against my back, wrapping his other arm across my waist. My belly.
‘Less of that,’ he warns in my ear. He moves my head so I’m looking him dead in the eye. His nose brushes against mine and he opens his mouth as he hisses at me, flashing his perfectly filled teeth. ‘I’m not going to allow you to complete this spell, Miss Hooper,’ he states plainly, amused at the idea that I ever thought I would stand a chance at succeeding. ‘Look at me. I’m a freak. You made me a freak. You took my magic from me. My eye. You took my Coven.’
‘And her husband took your balls!’ Tobias’s voice calls over. He stands on the other side of the Mortem Wall, and for the first time since I turned him back into his former self, I see a glimpse of Toby Smith. That danger. The threats he could issue with nothing more than a look. His deadly nature. Tobias points to Grayson. ‘Get your hands off her. You know that she’s not who you really came here to fight. Come out from the wall, and let’s deal with this ourselves. Brother to brother.’
Grayson scoffs. ‘Do not fret, little brother. There is plenty of me to go around and trust me when I say, what I do to this whore will be a paradise compared to what I do to you and Gabriel.’
‘Is this what you want? To be the type of man who hurts a helpless woman? One pregnant with your brother’s baby? Trust me. That kind of cruelty only ends one way. I know. I’ve lived it, and the consequences are higher and harder than you could ever comprehend. That’s your niece or nephew in there. Let her go. Your anger lies with us. Not her.’
‘God,’ Grayson groans, looking at me. ‘The effect you have on men, huh? You turn them into weak fucking idiots, so ready to die to save you!’
‘Let her go!’ Gabriel’s voice calls over.
Grayson goes rigid. I feel his muscles tense, and his grip over my mouth gets firmer.
‘And why would I want to do that?’ Grayson asks.
‘Let her go,’ Gabriel warns. ‘Or I swear-’
‘Unlike me, you can’t pass through the Mortem Wall.’ Grayson lets out an evil laugh. ‘Not without shredding a good portion of your humanity and replacing it with a vampire’s poor excuse of a soul first. Only the dead can pass through a Mortem Wall. And you, little brother, unlike me, are very much alive.’
‘Want me to kill ’em, Boss?’ Hendrix asks as he watches with clenched fists.
Before Grayson can respond, Gabriel reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out my ancestor’s journal.
‘Let her go, and I will hand this over to you. You stay there-’ He tosses it to Tobias who catches it with ease. ‘And he will turn it to ash.’
I feel Grayson tense as his desperation to get his hands on the book starts to wrestle with his primal urge to make me pay for all that has been done to him.
‘Think about it. Think of all you have learnt from the few pages you managed to steal. And think about what you could achieve with what Tobias holds here now. We have a way to translate it and I will give it all to you I swear. Just let her go.’
Gabriel briefly glances at me. I don’t want Grayson to have that journal. The damage he could cause with it would be incomprehensible. But also, I don’t want to die here. I don’t want my baby to die. For the spell to fail and leave all our kind trapped here in this world forever. Powerless.
The stone is starting to glow again. The swirling speeds up and I know that it’s almost ready for the final incantation.
Feebly, I lift my hand and try to prise his away so I can speak the words. I even bite into his half-cooked skin, but he doesn’t even flinch.
‘Toss it over,’ Grayson says. ‘And I’ll let her go.’
‘Let her go, and then I will give it to you,’ Gabriel counters.
‘You know,’ Grayson says, stepping even closer to me. ‘Even though you took half my manhood, the other half still works perfectly fine. I could show you if you like? Right now?’ He cups me between the legs aggressively. ‘Give your wife a good fuck before I take her and turn her into what I am? Before my little creatures and I take that book from your bloody and broken body? Don’t worry. I won’t turn her until after that little baby of yours has been born. I’ve always wanted a daughter.’
I keep watching the stone, urging the glowing to peak. For it to be ready so I can complete this spell and let the Mortem Wall fall and for them to get this fucker off my child and me.
With a yank, Grayson exposes my neck and runs his vile tongue up the length of it.
I can’t believe I fought my way out of hell only to land in this nightmare.
‘GET THE FUCK OFF MY WIFE!’ Gabriel roars.
‘Sorry, did you say “get the fuck off my wife?” or “fuck my wife?”’
Gabriel goes to lunge forwards. Thankfully, Collins holds him back, stopping him from coming into contact with the Mortem Wall.
Grayson returns his focus and his taunts to me. His hand slowly slides upwards, gliding the tips of his fingers beneath my top so his palm lies on my flesh. The little life inside me flutters and he laughs darkly, feeling its little flurry of motion.
‘GIVE HIM THE JOURNAL!’ I cry. ‘FOR GOD’S SAKE!’
I hate the deep laugh that resounds through Grayson’s body.
‘Give me the journal and the way to translate it and I will let her go.’
‘We’ll give you the journal. Let her go and then we’ll give you the means to translate it,’ Dad offers.
God, I’m so glad to see him!
As if it’s an easy trade, Grayson shrugs.
‘Fair enough. Toss it over.’
Reluctantly, Gabriel throws the journal at our feet. Carefully, and making sure not to let me go, Grayson retrieves it and places it in his coat pocket before returning to his prior hold on me.
‘Now let go of her, Grayson. You promised!’
But Grayson doesn’t even acknowledge Gabriel.
‘There are perks to this bastardised version of vampirism,’ he whispers in my ear. ‘I have phenomenal strength and speed. I can see in the dark. I can smell everything for miles. I can hear a heartbeat from the other end of a street. And… I can screw for hours. I also have the immortality spell, which helps me heal much quicker than your average vampire. But…’
The stone is almost there. It’s almost ready.
‘This hunger… it’s all-consuming, you know?’ He buries his nose into my exposed neck, inhaling lustfully. The tips of his fingers press into my belly, further and further, until his nails break my skin. A terrified whimper escapes my lips and I shake as tears tumble down my cheeks. ‘And pregnant women… they really do taste incredible. The last one I tasted…’ He moans and licks his lips. ‘I bet you’ll taste even better.’ He looks at Gabriel. ‘Thank you for the journal. I’m sure it will be very informative but for now, Hendrix and I can both create an endless amount of these fun little monsters without the Arcane Realm. We’ve already made hundreds. This world will become mine. The humans and the Descendants will become my creatures. My slaves. And I will live forever as their master, feeding on anyone I fucking want. Starting with your wife.’
Without another word, he sinks his teeth into my neck. I scream, but his hand has stolen my voice. As he drinks and laps up the blood freely flowing from my neck, the rest of him becomes frenzied. He’s consumed with his lust. His blood lust. His hand moves from my mouth and instead wraps in my hair which he tugs and yanks, curling it around his fingers so he can expose more of my neck. He lifts his mouth, takes a deep breath, and then bites down again. Now I can scream. My wails echo through the air, clear over the sound of the fighting continuing beyond the wall.
Gabriel is going insane. He tries to compel the vampire monsters to go through the wall to save me, but they’ve all made themselves deaf and instead they try to overpower him. He’s too busy watching me to focus entirely on protecting himself.
Warm, thick blood is tumbling down my body.
Too much blood.
And the little life inside of me is growing weaker.
‘Grayson… please! Stop!’ I implore. But he’s a monster possessed. ‘Y-you’re killing us! ARGH!’ My words only spur him on, and his bite goes deeper.
Then, as if fate is playing a cruel trick, five helicopters appear in the sky, hovering over the carnage and circling the Mortem Wall. Their doors open and masked men look down below.
Hunters.
And in one of them, Theodore Kendryk.
Guns are readied as he points out Gabriel, Tobias, Connor and Collins, gesturing adamantly that they are not to be harmed.
The stone glows its brightest, signalling its readiness for the final incantation.
Guns start firing. Flame throwers hurl deathly flames below. Everyone on the ground is fair game. Hunter and vampire die side by side.
Tobias shoots streams of fire to the helicopters, sending one plummeting to the ground in a swirling fireball. Collins delivers deadly blow after deadly blow. And Gabriel battles those who continue to try to neutralise him while watching his eldest brother slowly drain the life from his pregnant wife.
Gabriel’s too distracted and I watch as a Hunter injects him with something. He slumps and a bag is thrown over his head before he’s dragged away from us and soon lost in the crowd. Collins sees and charges after him.
‘G-GABRIEL!’ I scream. ‘Don’t… don’t take him! Gabr… ri… el…’
Soon, I see only the enemy.
Amidst the blinding pain and panic, the final corridor has formed. I speak the words with what little strength I have and the light in the stone grows dim as it pulls the power of Sensativa from me.
The spell is complete.
The Mortem Wall explodes like an atomic blast, smashing into the Hunters, vampire creatures and worst of all, the helicopters. Grayson and I both see it as he holds me in his arms, covered in my blood.
There are bombs attached beneath the hull of the helicopters.
Grayson and I watch them spiral out of control, beeping and whirring wildly as they go from left to right.
‘Oh, shit.’ Grayson hurls us both to the floor, just as one of the helicopters crash right on top of us.
‘SAVE US!’ I scream at the universe. But the words don’t come out in English.
They come out in Arcanian.
The Arcane Realm hears me.
It obeys.
And I’m yanked away from this place with a blinding flash.
