Umbra, p.24
Umbra, page 24
The very shape the Fomors had cut him into. Alba had been severed in two by the enemy. The enemy had condemned half of him to exist on Earth, sapping his vitality from him, so much so that he had no sense of feeling, so that he subsisted from the blood of others. The enemy had made him feel soulless. But he wasn’t.
Everything that he and Jess had sacrificed thundered through him. They would claim their shadow selves. They would be leaders. And they would defeat Queen Mara and the tide of darkness here and on Earth.
Rune let his sense of surety fill him.
My power is life-giving.
My power is healing.
Rune allowed that certainty to seep through him and the screams and shouts died away. The clang and wingbeats fell away. Rune blinked. Nothing more than white billowing mist swam around him.
He inhaled deeply, trying to examine if he felt any different. The wind seemed to have died down, too. The lack of movement and the white wall prickled over him with an air of oppressiveness and he knew then that that wasn’t all the fetches had in store for him. Knew from the way his heart lurched that fear still infected him.
The wind seemed to cry, but no movement whipped past him. Rune’s heart juddered into life again. The scream rent the air once more and he knew deep in himself that it wasn’t the winds grating along the cruel mountain crevices. The sound pierced him and drew out the spirit of self-loathing anew.
Before his gaze dropped upon the bundle in the snow-white blanket camouflaged against the powdery slope, he knew what it was.
It squirmed and its cry pierced the air and him.
A baby.
Horror pooled in his stomach as a shadowy silhouette shuffled up the slope towards it. Its huddled movements, its awkward mimicry of motion, making it clear it was an iron-tinged sluagh.
Revulsion roiled through him as he watched its proprietorial hands reach for the helpless babe. Rune stalked towards the thing, intercepting it with preternatural speed, but as he looked at the stooping figure, grasping for the babe, the only face he saw was his own. Disgust lashed him as he felt the truth of the vision. How many babes had he brought to the Shadowlands on Mara’s orders to preserve the alliance he’d made with her centuries ago?
Iron-tinged outlines mimicking life swarmed from the mists, but as their obscure faces became shaped with features, the shrieks that they let out were the cries of children. Their hands seemed outstretched in both a plea and in accusation.
You brought us here.
You brought us here to die.
You knew what the queen would do.
You knew what we’d become.
You killed us.
And each icy hand he let grasp him, branded him a murderer.
25
DARLING WANTS A PUPPY
“The world drowns beneath your touch,” Von’s sultry voice washed over Theo. Tulle pooled around her thighs, her melody lapping at him like a siren’s song. “We leave our bodies and rise as one.”
Theo had met Von, here, in Tuscany. In this crumbling villa in which Donna—the woman with the third eye—haunted. Von was a musician, the singer in a mediocre band, squatting in the villa while filming their music video. But Von was so much more than her day job. She was citrus-scented, juicy-lipped, velvet-skinned—
Theo groaned, his release threatening as Von’s heat sheathed his length.
“You’re my favorite place to hide,” Theo murmured. Her raven, heavy-lidded eyes drank him in like the first night they’d fucked. When he’d lost himself in her, his talisman against the cold fear drumming through him.
“Angel,” Von purred.
At the word, Von melted away and Theo blinked his eyelids open to find Bad Ju-Ju grinding on him. Disappointment flickered.
Theo rolled her over. “Have you started the birth control?”
She pouted. “What’s one more time?”
Theo pulled out. “The difference between getting stabbed in the back and not,” he answered, picturing the way Jorah had collapsed at Aaron’s hand.
I really have to get a vasectomy.
In frustration, Bad Ju-Ju threw a pillow at his backside as Theo strolled into the bathroom.
Following the successful claiming of Castle Nox, Theo and his followers had all discussed the far-reaching ramifications of their actions concerning their coven. They’d all agreed that the only witchlings and magelings to grace their coven would be those already in existence. They’d quickly taken said fledglings under their wings, giving them a masterclass in Tassology and blood magic. In this way, during the last two days’ siege of the castle, there had already been many success stories: fledglings killing their parents and claiming their own blood sluagh.
Theo turned the shower on, waiting for the hot water to come through before stepping under. Thoughts of those places of power beckoned to him as he savored the heat on his skin. In time, his coven would take the other Enodian strongholds, such as Abzu and Indra, in Iran and Tibet respectively. A smile tugged at his lips. He’d visit his dear mama in Abzu and many other fledglings would claim their blood sluagh, too.
But that wasn’t where his sights were set today. He’d only brought up the subject of fledglings because he wasn’t in the mood for fucking. Disquiet tumbled through him as the lilt of Von’s voice billowed through his thoughts like the smoke of his sluagh. Clearly, he’d spent too much time luxuriating in his victory over Jorah and the older generation of Enodians. He needed to move forward. That’s what this unrest was about.
Fortunately, he’d had an interesting message from Lorenzo this morning about Jess reaching out to a certain pair of Roms at Villa La Alba. Jess had persuaded her father and Matteo to go into hiding. To go somewhere that Theo couldn’t get to them. Yet, what Jess hadn’t counted on was that Theo had his own means of persuasion.
Yes—it was time to give some thought to what was happening in the Shadowlands. Theo needed to ensure he had leverage over Jess, lest she be successful in her quest to displace Queen Mara. The idea of her and Rune restoring the Umbran gods had once seemed laughable. After all, when Theo had first met Jess, she’d been a little lost pup. He’d almost come to like her little pokes and prods as she reached out to him through his sluagh in prison. Like a puppy pawing at him for attention and reassurance. A young, easily handled pup.
The problem was that Remi hadn’t been that for quite some time. What she’d managed to conceal from him, about her divided heritage and then about her and Rune’s being the vessels of the Umbran gods… It was far more cunning and conniving than Theo had expected. As loathe as he was to admit it, Jess unnerved him. Theo hoped that Queen Mara, who had been the dominant power in Umbra for three hundred years, would put Remi down. The queen and her court were shrouded in mystery—with the iron-tinged and Umbra’s many other obscurities. Theo had witnessed Jorah’s fixation on the queen’s magic and swore he wouldn’t overreach in the same way. No, Theo’s focus was on this world. He was at the top of the food chain here and intended to keep it that way.
Therefore, if, somehow, Remi was successful in restoring the gods, he needed leverage over her.
Something I already have, in part.
Turning off the water, he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He leaned against the doorframe, admiring Bad Ju-Ju’s bare frame emanating with that purple glow, her mind seeing, sensing, and delving into that blaze of power simmering beneath her skin. After the assassination of their parents, Theo and his followers had used their blood sluagh to easily defend the boundaries of the castle. This stronghold, strengthened with all of their blood sluagh, as well as the ancient sluagh tied to its ground, was unbreachable.
Surely?
As that unfamiliar disquiet threatened, Theo retrieved a phone from the chest of drawers. He opened a video and hit play. The gloomy catacombs of Castle Nox presented themselves. A growl rumbled, then a white wolf lunged from the shadows. Yet, as it touched down on the ground, it stumbled as if injured. Theo smiled as he watched the fierce wolf become a cowering ball; remembering what it was like to invade Piera’s soul; to watch Jess’s sister’s fears play out. He’d had the foresight to lay an ambush for Piera the last time she’d left Triodia’s headquarters. For the last two days, Piera had been a guest in the castle. The phone he held was hers. He’d had a vamp take the phone with the video to La Alba. Along with a short and succinct message: If Giovanni and Matteo wanted to see Piera alive again, they were to remain at La Alba until Theo got there.
When the vamp carried back the reply from the Roms, he appreciated that they had been to the point, too. Enough to allow him to immediately go back to bed and get some more shut-eye. Giovanni’s message read,
Understood. We will remain. We expect you to bring Piera to prove that you still have her and that she is unharmed.
Theo readily consented to the stipulation. His visit to La Alba would be most advantageous if paid this afternoon. Before dusk. Before word could reach Jess of what he’d done. By which time Theo fully intended to have Jess’s father and friend installed as additional guests at Castle Nox.
Theo introduced the subject to Bad Ju-Ju. “So, I’m anti-kiddos, but what would you say to getting another puppy, darling?”
She lit up at the promise of more power in Theo’s suggestion. “I say it would be a shame not to allow our caring nature to express itself, darling.”
By late afternoon, Theo and six of his followers took a hundred fledglings—ones who had tethered their blood sluagh—as well as Piera, on an excursion to La Alba. They came out onto the banks of the lake in the wintery light. A group of ten white wolves patrolled the vicinity, their howls raising the alarm. Soon, the unit of wolves was streaking across the lawns towards the glorified kennel that was La Alba.
Theo had deliberately gotten here before dusk to ensure he captured the Roms before they had the chance to retreat to Umbra. With the afternoon wearing on, he led the fledglings across the lawns without delay. Piera was kept at the rear of the group, guarded by some fledglings; they were under orders to bring her forward when it was time to exhibit. Striding past the encampment of tents dotting the grounds, the black-clad forms of the Enodians wended their way towards the villa.
Theo and his army marched in silence, only the crunch of frost-covered grass sounding underfoot. The watery light was drab. In the center of the ebony group, Theo kindled the first violet hue into existence, unleashing Lorenzo’s wolfish form ahead of their formation. He smirked, knowing the sight of the Rems’ once Alpha tethered to him would fuel both fear and indignation in the pack.
The white wolves encircled the house. Hundreds upon hundreds of wolves were amalgamating. Incredulity whipped through Theo. Did Dearbhla and Giovanni really think the pack could defeat him and his army? Theo and his followers had defended Castle Nox from hundreds of Enodians. And they now had the reinforcement of these fledglings, too; their blood sluagh, too, started to bathe the dull afternoon with an amethyst glimmer. Theo’s gaze strayed over his young-faced army, some no older than thirteen. He loved the contradiction of their fresh-faced innocence to the powerhouse of blood and soul magic that seethed through their bodies.
As the outer unit of Rems finished forming their ranks, two black wolves, either side of a white wolf appeared on the steps of La Alba, behind the battle-ready formations.
Giovanni, Matteo, and Dearbhla.
The three wolves stood alert.
A grin stole across Theo’s face. So, they intended to fight.
Fools.
Theo quickly shouted the command, “No one’s to harm the two black wolves. I will end anyone who does.”
A howl erupted from Dearbhla and the lines of Rems charged.
In response, Theo and his army marched forwards, blazing purple. The first line of bounding wolves was pierced as violently as if they’d been hit with a volley of arrows. Here and there, individuals within the line tumbled to the ground. Those still running towards the line of Enodians, who continued on, were soon brought down as the Enodians ferreted out the wolves’ fears.
As the witches and mages marched on, their fervor grew. Their amethyst soulfire ignited into real flame. The fledgling army fired at the Rems, setting fur and flesh aglow; the scent of burned meat and hair wafted through the air, smoky and pungent. The occasional shout or cry from Theo’s fledgling army spoke of the odd wolf burying its teeth or claws in young flesh. Some of the witchlings and magelings were over-awed by the white wall coming at them and had only their scians to wield against the beasts. But for every fledgling with their throat ripped, there must be ten wolves enslaved in fear or in fire. As Theo marched on within the center frontline, he felt satisfied with his army. The collateral damage was minimal.
With each line that came at them, Theo and his followers, led by example, opening the vaults of their sluagh horde and setting them upon the wolves like roaring tempests. Theo was the heart of that tempest. His power was so immense that tens of wolves were floored all at once, their souls blistered with such violent fear that most passed out within seconds. Within his sluagh horde, Theo could feel them all—Donna, Lorenzo, Sergio, and last but certainly not least, Jorah—all raging through the white wolves like a furnace. Satisfaction licked at him as he wielded Jorah like the coldest and cruelest of blades against the Rems.
Theo strode calmly past wolf upon wolf, cutting ever closer to La Alba and the oncoming line that held his prize. Meanwhile, the wolves fell around him, crawling on their bellies in subservience to him: Enodia’s new High Mage.
The clang of metal and shouting behind Theo was the first thing to disturb him. Distracted, he whipped around, catching sight of fighting at the back of his army. Astonishment rang through him as he saw Dearbhla, Jess’s second, sat upon a horse, swinging a cloidem. How had she snuck up on his army? The fledglings guarding Piera had been cut down. Jess’s sister, now free, clambered up behind Dearbhla, as other fledglings, too late, rushed towards the escaping prisoner.
For a few split seconds, Theo didn’t know which way to turn. Shock and fury pounded through him. His disbelief grew as he watched Dearbhla’s horse unfurl its wings. It took off in a flurry of powerful strokes.
Panic whipped through Theo. With a jolt, he realized Dearbhla had a pucca. Understanding dawned. If Dearbhla and Piera reached the lake, the pucca would be able to take them through to Umbra. Pucca could enter the Between at any time, their magic didn’t require dawn or dusk to portal.
As Theo took stock of his surroundings, he saw two black streaks bounding across the lawns towards the lake, too: Matteo and Giovanni. As for the Rems—they scattered across the grounds, making for the tree-line. Their attack had been nothing more than a means to distract Theo from Dearbhla’s ambush. Theo’s army of witches and mages were, likewise, scattering as they pursued the various Rems.
In a roar of heliotrope flame, Theo’s sluagh horde scorched and fizzed. Through his sluagh, Theo followed the pounding wings of the pucca and the paws of the black wolves. They were all rushing towards the lake.
I will not suffer to lose them.
The entirety of his sluagh horde rushed forth like a river of blood. Theo sprinted, the few Rems still in his way parted like storm-buckled trees. His blood sluagh flew across the lawns, leaving a corridor of carnage for their master to run through. Even as Theo ran, he let his sluagh horde fly onwards towards the target.
Theo’s heart thrummed in his chest as he tore across the grass, his long cashmere coat whipping out around him like a cape.
The moment his blood sluagh impacted with one of the black wolves, it was sent flying, before hurtling to the ground. Theo allowed himself a smirk of satisfaction. Careering on, he strained his muscles with all his might. Through his sluagh, he knew that Dearbhla, Piera, and one of the Roms were mere feet away from the entrance of the lake.
Theo needed to get closer to use his horde upon so many. Anger and panic beat through him. If Dearbhla and the Roms held onto the pucca, it could transport them to Umbra. And who knew where in Umbra.
Theo concentrated on the Rom his sluagh had succeeded in flooring. Theo’s sluagh horde prickled over and through the black wolf on the ground, torturing Alpha Giovanni with waking fears.
Delighting that he’d picked off the most valuable target, Theo continued racing towards the lake, his soulfire pervading Giovanni like a toxin. The Alpha’s fears were transmitted to Theo as clearly as if he were watching a movie. Theo took in Jess, fighting alongside Piera, her brown-plaited hair and petite features so dissimilar to Jess’s, yet sharing the same determination.
Theo smirked. They were all so predictable. So weakened by sentiment. Glee simmered through him as he saw through his blood sluagh that Piera was, currently, trying to get off the pucca, while Dearbhla was trying to keep her on it. Already, Matteo was bounding towards his Alpha. Coming back. They wouldn’t leave Giovanni. They cared too much. It was going to be their undoing.
Giovanni shifted into his human form, but otherwise, he was paralyzed by the fear stealing through his mind.
I’ll have them all yet.
Theo was still about two hundred feet away from his targets. He felt his power increasing, the capability to wield his sluagh on multiple targets becoming achievable the closer he drew.
In Giovanni’s waking nightmare, his two daughters continued to fight all manner of assailants. Theo saw purple soulfire shooting around the two young women, ironically, a scene similar to the very one playing out within the grounds of La Alba. But other opponents bore down on Giovanni’s daughters. An Unseelie fae fought cloidem to cloidem with Jess, while Piera ducked and thrust a scian through an iron-tinged sluagh that scattered as her weapon found its mark.
Theo brushed up against the nuances of the Alpha’s fears. He watched the dangers tightening like a noose around Jess and Piera in the vision. But Giovanni didn’t worry about Jess as much. She was fierce. But Piera…he wanted to protect her. Needed to protect her. The daughter more comfortable and closer with humans than paras.
