Seven
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Samkiel
T he forest broke apart, trees snapping and blazing as the wildfire
spread, thick smoke choking the air, casting the world into the
darkness that ate at her now. Fire danced in every direction, the force of the power she sent out scarring Onuna and blanketing everything in thick, black ash. Nothing survived in its wake, nothing. The trees sparked and exploded, releasing embers into the air. Heat came at me in waves, blistering in its intensity. This fire was born of rage and grief, and she was burning too hot and fast.
Opaque ashes lay near the front steps of the half-engulfed mansion, and I knew Ethan was no more. I moved toward the charred van that had held Drake. The door had been ripped off, but there were no ashes inside. I wondered if he had escaped to avoid the flames or if she had pulled him out.
One of the upstairs windows in the mansion burst, flames rushing out, seeking the air. The stone side had crumbled from Dianna’s assault while the frame creaked, holding on for dear life. The place would collapse soon.
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and took the blackened steps up to the destroyed home. The front door was no more, and I stepped through cautiously. The once prestigious and cumbersome interior reeked of charred wood and stone. Smoke rolled from the far right corridor, so that’s where I headed. I strode around one corner and then the next, hoping to find her before she killed him. I couldn’t let her, but not for the reasons she thought.
A part of me worried that if she did, I’d lose her forever.
It was dark and quiet, this part of the mansion still untouched by the chaos that reigned outside. I took one step and then another, my steps light.
The pretentious chandelier above me swung slowly from side to side, the only thing moving besides me. Darkness built in every corner, and I felt eyes on me as I moved deeper into the house. I opened my senses and listened, trying to track them down, but I heard nothing.
“I saw it.”
Her voice whispered into my ear, startling me. I spun, expecting to see her right behind me, but no one was there. Impossible.
“I saw how he tricked her.”
I turned slowly, searching the room for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Her voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, but it was still an intimate caress against my ear.
“When I fed from him, I saw how he lured her, what he said. Drake was always so elegant with his words, you know? She was happy to see him.
She believed him because I had told her he was safe. I told her a lot of things.”
I walked further into the mansion, the air growing heavier with every step. I stepped into another room, the large doors slamming behind me. The rings on my hands vibrated, sensing a growing threat. But it wasn’t a threat.
It was Dianna. My Dianna.
“It is not your fault,” I called out.
A voice of velvet and ice caressed me, raising goosebumps on my skin and flooding my subconscious, engaging my flight or fight instincts. “Isn’t it?”
I spun toward her voice, now solid and whole, and froze. She stood in the arched doorway to the hall, holding a bloody and bruised Drake by his collar. The large gash across his neck bled, soaking his mangled clothes. I stepped closer with my hands outstretched at my sides.
“Always the hero.” Her eyes roamed over me before she met my gaze.
“I always thought of myself as a monster, and I suppose now it’s true. You have no idea what I have done. All I will do. I used to hate that part of me. I didn’t realize how freeing it would be just not to care and fully embrace it.”
A slow smile crept across her face, her fangs glistening as she gripped Drake’s throat so tightly blood spilled over her knuckles. “I don’t hate it anymore.”
“Dianna.” I kept my hands open, showing her that I meant no harm.
“You know, that’s not even my real name.”
“What?” I shook my head, lowering one hand.
“It’s Mer-Ka. Ain made us change them when we first ended up in Onuna. A fresh start, she preached. They are from another stupid show she foolishly idolized. Dianna and Gabby, sisters in some small town, with lives, jobs, and everything she thought we could have too.” Vengeance burned in the depths of her gaze, so strong and pure it caught me off guard.
“But you and I know the truth. There is no normalcy in our world. There are no happy endings. We can’t even save the people that we love.”
That look was back, that harrowing, brutal look.
“I never told you I spoke to Gabby.”
She stopped and cocked her head, the movement alien.
“In this mansion, months ago. It was when we first arrived here.” I glanced behind her as Logan approached. His hands moved, runes appearing beneath her feet. I needed her eyes to stay on me, focus on me. “I called to check in on the others, but Gabby answered. She spoke of a time similar to this. How when you first changed, it was easy to pretend you were something you were not because of the guilt you felt. She also told me she never gave up on you. I will not give up on you either.”
“You’re not her,” she growled, holding Drake a fraction tighter.
I held that brutal, chaotic gaze steadily. “Of course not. The way I care for you is vastly different. The lengths I will go to for you are unfathomable. I refuse to let you hurt yourself, no matter how vile or mean you are to me. I know you’re in pain. You are mourning, and someone like you will grieve just as hard and deeply as you love.”
“You’re wrong.” Her nails dug deeper into Drake’s neck. “I’m beyond that now. Now? I just want blood.”
Her hands blazed, flames licking at Drake. He screamed so loud it blocked the sound of Logan’s approaching footsteps. He snuck up behind Dianna and wrestled Drake from her arms, dropping him at my side. Drake slumped to the floor, and Logan came to my other side, murmuring under his breath.
“Do not flee,” I barked the order at Drake, but he didn’t so much as lift his head.
Dianna cursed and stalked forward, her hands engulfed in flames. Her body hit an invisible wall as the last rune formed under her feet. She glanced down and back at us, sneering. Using an ablazed dagger, Logan cut his palm, speaking our old language. The light of her prison lit up, the column containing her rising to the ceiling. It encased her in a cylinder of
silver meant to hold. The ring sealed, fully locking her in, her scream making me wince. Her fists slammed and beat against it, her rage searing to her surface. She kicked and spat, every bit a wild animal caught in a snare.
She had consumed too much, and the prison would not just contain her but torture her while she was in it. The realization made my gut churn.
“She can’t stay like that.” I glared at Logan as he wiped his brow, trying to catch his breath. She was already in enough pain. I wouldn’t cause her more.
“I didn’t use an incinerating rune. It’s basic and only meant to hold.” He looked at the engravings on the floor, then back at her. “I don’t think she is in pain. I think she is pissed.”
The fire had reached us here, but at her glare, the flames scattered. They drew back, smoldering in the dark corner, waiting impatiently for her command. Clouds formed outside, rolling across the sky. No thunder, no lightning, only encroaching darkness.
“Samkiel. I swear I am not hurting her,” Logan hissed, assuming I had caused the sudden change in weather. It wasn’t me, and I realized it might have never been me. The rings on my fingers began to vibrate.
Danger! Danger!
I glanced at Logan, who looked at the rings on his hand, then back at me. He felt it too. Dianna went still in the center of the rune containment, her eyes meeting mine as her hands opened at her sides.
“You cannot contain me anymore. No one can.”
As soon as the last word left her lips, she slammed her palms into the floor beneath her. Fire bellowed from her, filling the circle with orange and red flames. It rose toward the ceiling, a column of destruction seeking a way out. I couldn’t see her anymore because the flames were so thick and heavy. Logan and I took a step back. We watched the runes on the floor burn out, one by one. They sizzled, smoke puffing from each mark as her power overwhelmed and extinguished it. The ring of containment faltered briefly, then reformed, but barely.
“Dianna, stop. I know this hurts, but think. Please. You go after him alone, and he will kill you. Look at what Tobias did to us. They are the Kings of Yejedin. It took gods to defeat one. Gods, Dianna. Plural.”
She didn’t listen, unleashing another thunderous roar. Wings whipped free as the circle burst, followed by that massive, deadly tail.
My heart stopped, and I didn’t think, acting on pure instinct. One minute we were in the ruined mansion; the next, we were half a mile away in the dense forest. Logan coughed behind me as I watched her massive form launch into the sky. She swooped down, breathing fire onto the trees before passing over the burning mansion to head toward the garden. My heart broke further at her determination to erase every memory she had of this place, even us. One last horrible roar split the air. Those thick, powerful wings beat against the wind, launching her into the sky and away from here.
I swallowed back the rush of sorrow and turned away.
Logan leaned over a crumpled form, flames crackling behind him. In the distance, the destroyed mansion imploded. Ashes billowed in a thick cloud, blocking the moon and stars.
I gripped the collar of Drake’s burned shirt and lifted him. “Do you see now? Do you see what your betrayal has cost me and the world?”
Logan grabbed my sleeve, stopping my tirade. I finally looked at Drake.
He was not fighting at all, burns marring his neck, the side of his face, and his torso. He wasn’t healing. I placed him on his feet, my anger subsiding and dread taking its place. His legs gave out when his feet touched the soil, his back hitting the tree next to him. He coughed and groaned, holding his chest.
“We have to move,” I said, the ash, smoke, and embers making it nearly impossible to see or breathe. Memories of Rashearim on fire flooded me. I knew the true power of an Ig’Morruthen, and the damage they could cause.
They could reduce even the strongest worlds to ash and ruin. I just never thought I’d see my Dianna succumb to the destructive urges. My aching heart reached out to her, hoping for an answer, but none came. I felt hollow and overwhelmed at the same time, unsure if it was me or if I was feeling her.
“I can’t.” Drake coughed, trying and failing to sit up.
“You have to,” I snapped, hauling him back up. “I don’t have time for this.” The alternative was Drake dying, and I did not want that. He was her last hope, the last flicker of life in her, and I needed him alive for her.
He pushed off my arm, catching me by surprise, sliding down the tree until he sat with a thump.
My hands went to my hips, my frustration growing. Logan stepped around me and leaned down to grab Drake, but he swatted him away. “We can rest when we get to Silver City. Now, get up.”
Drake gave me a bloody grin and removed his hand from his bleeding chest. “No, I really can’t.”
I saw it then, and my hope died. A half-broken forsaken blade protruded from the middle of his chest, wedged deep. Dianna’s last-ditch effort because she knew I would try to save him, so she’d ensured he would die, regardless. I was on my knees in an instant. One hand splayed on his chest
while I tried to dig the piece out.
No, no, no!
“Dianna likes to keep tiny daggers on her.” Drake smiled, blood bubbling with every breath. His hand caught mine. “It’s too late, World Ender. I can feel it. The final death is what we call it. Not as bad as I thought, really.”
“No!” I bellowed, the silver lines running up my arm. If I could concentrate, I could remove it and repair as I went. I just needed to focus.
“I knew you liked me,” Drake said, his smile followed by a wet cough that only lodged the blade deeper. Fuck.
“I cannot lose you. You are my last hope.” My voice cracked as I
lowered my head.
“Trust me. I’m not.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, my fingers slick from his blood and ash. Something in me snapped, tears stinging my eyes. “How am I supposed to get her back?”
“You don’t need me for that. I betrayed and lost my truest friend.” He shook his head, the effort causing him pain.
“I can’t lose her.” My voice broke this time.
“You won’t.”
I glanced up at him. “What do you mean?”
“I saw it when she first stepped out of the forest, a flicker in her eyes as if a part of her tried to crawl to the surface for you. I thought Gabby was the last tether, but you are. You are her only link to whatever mortality she has left. So don’t let Kaden win, no matter what she says or does. Trust me. You are the only thing she cares about now.”
He tried to sit up and winced in pain. The light from the flames behind us played shadows across his bloody and charred face as he looked at his ruined home. “I should’ve tried harder. You’re right. I wanted to help my family, but she was my family too. It sucks that I realized that too late.”
Drake’s yellow eyes gleamed with tears, one after the other, spilling down his cheeks. I knew he felt some remorse for what he’d done. Logan kneeled beside Drake, his face seeming to soften.
Drake turned back to me. “Dianna is stronger now. Every Otherworld creature felt it when Gabby died. The world shifted, but she is still Dianna.
She is still the girl I saved in the desert who cared so much about others that she followed a stranger into a terrible world. She is still the girl who likes flowers and pretty gifts from overbearing god kings. She is sweet, kind, funny, and loves with her entire being. That’s why she is like this. She’s hurt. She’s in pain. If you love her, truly love her, don’t give up. True love is worth it. It’s worth fighting for. Remember that.”
I nodded, hearing the rhythmic beat of his heart stop for a moment too long. His amber eyes dimmed slightly. He was no longer the prankster vampire prince but a man who knew his actions were wrong.
He smiled, the tears running down his cheeks sizzling as lines of orange and gold cracked through the skin of his face. Pain twisted his features, the flesh of his arms splitting.
“Just don’t give up on her.” His voice was a broken wound now.
“Gabby wouldn’t.”
“I won’t. I swear it.”
Drake struggled to turn his head and look at Logan. “I’m sorry about Neverra, but she is alive.” Something eased in Logan’s expression, and I realized he’d needed to hear it said out loud, even if the mark on his hand remained. “Kaden has her. You just have to find him. Look where the world opens.”
The words left his lips wrapped in a cracked whisper. It was the last thing he said before his body crumbled to ash, his remains joining those of his family and home on the wind.
“W hat the fuck happened ?” V incent ’ s voice was the first we heard amongst the chaos when the doors opened on the top floor of the guild.
Logan and I stepped out, covered from head to toe in soot and blood.
We headed toward the main conference room. There was something I needed there. Celestials ran around in circles with phones held to their ears.
A red banner flashed across the many screens hung throughout the room, a distorted image of Dianna’s Ig’Morruthen form flying away from the devastation of a burning Zarall plastered on each one.
“Hey, I’m talking to both of you,” Vincent said, falling into step with Logan and me.
“I had to extinguish a forest fire,” I said.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” Logan said, jerking his head toward a screen as we passed. “You would be lying if you said you would protect them over someone you care about.”
“What?” Vincent practically yelled over the chaos of everyone talking at once. “What happened?”
“It’s insane to be upset with her. I’d do the same thing. I’d kill anyone who hurt Neverra. So why do we care if they live?”
I pushed the large doors open with a little more force than I meant to.
“We don’t.”
“Who are we talking about? Why was all of Zarall on fire?” Vincent demanded.
I tuned them out as Logan filled Vincent in on the last few hours. We reached the main conference room, and I headed straight to the pile of books and scrolls on the table. I sighed and began digging for the one I wanted.
Vincent hovered at my side. “Samkiel, if she is killing—”
“I know.”
“Know what?” Logan said. “As I said, she is killing the bad guys. That’s what we want, right?”
My heart ached as I found the one text I wanted. Cadros: The History of Many Wars. I opened it and flipped through, looking for what I needed. “I do care about her, not them. But killing them will not be enough. You and I both know that. She will need more power, especially if she is going after Kaden. In our time together, she never fed on mortals or blood. She is now, and that will make her spiral even further. What happens when an Ig’Morruthen consumes too much?”
They went quiet as the text suddenly flipped open, the pages expanding out in a diagonal line, exposing the words across the top. The First Rule of
Pharthar. Created when the Ig’Morruthens first appeared, it depicted exactly what I feared may happen.
“Pure and absolute desolation. That’s what I fear. I may be the World Ender, but they were the first destroyers of worlds.”
I took a step back, my hand running over my eyes. My head throbbed, flashing back over the last hour, seeing her but not her, feeling her but not her.
“Okay, but this is Dianna, not a ravenous beast,” Logan said from behind me. Vincent made a low noise in his throat.
“I know, but there is a myth. One I remember from when my father and I first besieged Jurnagun. He told me I had the ability to feel Ig’Morruthens.
Although we may have our differences, we are all made from the same floating chaos of the universe. When gods experience traumatic events, they petrify and turn to stone. Every molecule hardens as if it wishes not to exist any further. Ig’Morruthens are different. Blood lust can consume the cognitive function of the Ig’Morruthen brain. They consume in more ways than one. Overindulgence in blood can lead to massacres, mood swings, and erratic behavior.”
I ran my hand through my hair as I tried to remember every single bit of my training.
“It’s as if a switch gets flipped, anything mortal in them snuffed out like a flame, only the beast remaining. My father said the truly nasty ones are starved of light and love, reeking of absolute havoc. He said some of the oldest and most powerful even feared the sun. There are stories of Ig’Morruthens being burned by sunlight as if the dark power used to create them despises it. Dianna follows no one, but she is on the path Kaden set out for her. I will not lose her because of a tyrant. I refuse.”
The room grew silent.
“From now on, you are completely with me, or you are not. And if you are not…” I said, holding their gazes.
“I am,” they both said without hesitation.
“The Council of Hadrameil remains oblivious to this subject. Blame Zarall on a rapid thunderstorm and terrible lightning. A slip of my power,” I said.
“Okay.” Vincent stood a fraction taller. “I’ll get all the guilds and
ambassadors on the same page.”
I nodded.
Vincent left, his mission clear, and I knew he would accomplish it.
Logan stayed, as always. He glanced down at the mark on his finger.
“He released them.”
“What?” Logan asked
“Kaden released the ones responsible with no protection. He wants her to kill, to feed until she is no more, and then I feel his hope is she will have no one to turn to but him—another sick way to have her back. He is hoping I will be the king of legends. The slayer of monsters and beasts, protector of realms and worlds, but she is my…” I stopped, unable to say the words.
“I know.”
Of course, Logan knew. He knew me better than most and was the closest thing I would ever have to a brother.
“If you knew there was even a slim chance of saving the one you cared for, you’d take it too, correct? Any means necessary? Regardless of title?”
Logan glanced at me as if what I’d said was absurd. “Of course. No second thought.”
“Vincent may agree now, but… No matter what happens, what I dictate,
you have my back, correct?”
“You never have to ask. Never.”
I nodded once more.
“If there were even a fraction of a chance to save Neverra, I would take it.”
I swallowed, placing my hand on my forehead, a headache growing behind my eyes. “We will. We can do both. Save Neverra, Dianna, and the world.”
Logan managed to force a smile, even if I could not.
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