| |
––––––––
BEFORE HER SHOWER AND coffee, Quin had a speech to make. Rudy had brought us to the yard next to the cottage where the tents had been set up. Surveying what was left of our army, she allowed her grief to show for how many we’d lost. Then she schooled her face back to its usual sternness. “You’ve lost many of your friends and loved ones during this war,” she began. The shifters were no longer segregated into their different species. They mingled together, were-creatures and true shapeshifters holding each other up. They listened to our leader in bereaved silence. “Without you, our entire world would have been lost to darkness. Its thanks to you and our allies that we prevailed. You will always have our thanks and if you ever need us, we will be there for you.”
She nodded at the shifters, then the leprechauns who were bunched off to one side. While she couldn’t see the reapers, she knew they were there. Instead of cheering in victory, our soldiers bowed their heads in respect, then began tending to the wounded.
One of the reapers drifted over to me. Although they looked identical, I knew he was the one who had been bound to Morgwen. “And so, after four thousand years of unwilling servitude to the mad witch, I am now free,” he intoned in a hollow voice. “I owe you my thanks, vampire.”
He bowed and I nodded in return. “I’m glad you’re no longer bound to her,” I said. “What will you do now?”
“I will perform the task that I was created for,” he said. “My brothers and I will return to reaping the souls of the fallen.”
With that, the reapers all faded away. I was a bit disappointed that Greg hadn’t said goodbye to me and felt stupid that I had to swallow down a lump in my throat. Seeing Jonah, Winston and Brandi still in their poltergeist forms, I pointed at them. “You three need to go to the cell and calm down.”
Jonah grinned at me slyly. “You don’t have the locket, remember? Jake has it, so you can’t order me around right now.”
“Can’t I?” I said in annoyance. Reaching for the link that had been forged between us all, I pushed some power into it. “Go to the cell and wait for me to release you,” I ordered. With startled squawks, all three phantoms disappeared.
With a wry smile, Jake fished the locked out of his pocket and handed it back to me. “Here you go, darlin’. I’m sure Jonah will be much happier with you pulling his strings than with me in charge of him.”
I took it and put the necklace around my neck. It would be safe there now that we no longer had a mission to embark on. For now, we could bask in peace.
Rudy sauntered over to speak to his kin, then they split up and began teleporting the shifters back to their homes. The rest of us headed inside. After taking showers, we found Roderick and Stephanie in the kitchen. Leaping to his feet, the Archivist looked hopeful. “Is it over?” he asked. “Did we win?”
“We won,” Quin confirmed, then gestured at Viper before she headed for the coffee machine. “With the help of our allies,” she added.
Stephanie and Roderick made us some food while the rest of us took a seat. Xavier sat next to his daughter. He put his hand on her shoulder and drew her in for a short hug. Quin was startled for a moment, then her usual aloofness eased as she leaned against him.
Viper took a mug of tea when it was offered and held it between her scaled hands. Her vivid green eyes with vertical slits for pupils darted from face to face before settling on me. “As you know, my kind were hunted almost to extinction. I am the only living Jaculus remaining in this dimension.” She shifted uneasily before continuing. “I felt it the moment you retrieved the dragon heart from the Deadworld. The blood you drank from me was linked to it and it called to me. I couldn’t resist its pull, which is why I poisoned Connor and forced you to steal the heart and give it to me.”
“We saw you eat it,” I said with a shudder of remembrance.
She grimaced as well. “I didn’t intend to, but when I saw the werewolf was about to catch the heart in his mouth, my instincts took over.”
“I saw you changing shape when you went through the rift,” I told her. “I didn’t expect you to turn into a dragon.”
“Neither did I,” she admitted. “The moment I ingested the heart, it fused with me. The last dragon put a spell on it. All it needed was a living creature that was distant kin to consume it and the enchantment became activated.”
“Why did you help us?” Jake asked.
“I was linked to Ari through my blood and the dragon blood she’d ingested,” she explained. “I knew she intended to sacrifice herself in order to destroy the mask and to save this world. No longer an afraid, frail Jaculus, I now inhabit the body of a fierce dragon. I couldn’t ignore my instincts to go to her aid.”
“You almost died fighting Von Hades,” I said. “You would have if I hadn’t given you the unicorn blood.”
“My sacrifice wouldn’t have been in vain,” she replied. “This world needs creatures like you and your team who are willing to step up and fight for those who are weaker than you.” Sweeping her eyes across us all, she lingered on Jake longer than the rest of us. “You have a destiny,” she said. “Your battles aren’t over yet. I see danger ahead and you will be called on to fight again.”
Jake held her gaze, somehow unsurprised to hear this. An uneasy feeling swept down my spine at their unspoken communication. She seemed to be implying that whatever was coming would impact on my foster father rather than on the rest of us.
“What did you do with the mask?” Jake asked Quin.
“I put it in the fireplace in the living room and used a flamethrower to burn it to ash,” she replied. “No one is ever going to be able to resurrect the long-dead demigod’s power now.”
Connor nudged me in the side. “The ghosts are probably getting impatient to be let out of their cell,” he said. He made no move to hand me Roderick’s watch. He would give it back to Roderick now that our battles were over. I didn’t need it to imprison or release the phantoms. I could just use our link.
Finishing off my coffee, I excused myself from the table and headed downstairs. Making my way to the cell at the far end of the hidden chambers, I still couldn’t believe it was over. The sense of doom that had fallen over me had lifted, leaving me feeling free once more.
As I neared the cell, a reaper manifested in front of me. I came to a stop a few yards away, watching him warily. “Hey, Greg,” I said in greeting. He inclined his head and regarded me from beneath his hood. “Are you here to reap my soul?” I asked in trepidation, worried that he wanted revenge for being bound to me against his will.
“It is not your time, Arienna Austin,” he intoned. “You have a long, eventful life ahead of you, as do your friends and companions. When the time eventually comes, know that I myself will usher you to your next destination.”
“Wow, that’s a real comfort,” I said dryly. “Did you just come here to say goodbye?”
He inclined his head again, then hesitated. “While I never wished to be bound to anyone or to become their servant, I am glad that you were the one I was forced to obey. Reapers do not have the capacity to care, but I would call you my friend, if you will have me.”
Unexpectedly touched, I swallowed down the lump in my throat and nodded. “I’d be glad to call you my friend.” He began to fade, but I could still feel his faint presence. Something told me he would always be there to watch over me and to make sure I didn’t die before my time. Somehow, in my usual fumbling fashion, I’d won Death over. Shaking my head in wonder, I went to release my friends from captivity.
Opening the door, I was confronted by three extremely proud spirits. “Did you see us?” Jonah crowed. “We kicked ass!” All three had shed their poltergeist forms and were back to normal.
“We certainly did, my boy,” Winston said and attempted to high five Jonah. Their hands passed through each other and Brandi rolled her eyes.
“We sent the demon’s entire army through the veil to the Deadworld,” Jonah said, impressed with himself beyond words. “We’re the most badass ghosts in history! No one is ever going to be able to top this.”
“Can you please let us out of here?” Brandi asked. “I can’t stand listening to these two patting themselves on the back any longer.”
“Get used to it,” my bestie said with a snigger. “We’re going to be bragging about this for the next century or so.”
“I can leave them in here,” I offered.
The pink-haired spirit thought about it while the other two made sounds of horror. “Nah, you’d better let them out,” she decided. “You never know when we’ll have to save the world again.”
With a wave of my hand, I released them from their prison. Listening to them going on about how brave they’d been, in the back of my mind I remembered Viper’s warning. Something was coming that would need more heroes to step up and face it.
While my heart was heavy that my foster father could very well soon be in danger, I knew he could withstand anything that came his way. He was a half-fae hunter with untried strength and potential. If anyone could take down the new threat, I knew it would be him. Of course, the Hunter Elite would be happy to step up and help him out if he needed us to. We might be from different species, but we all shared the same creed; no hunter is left behind.
