Blood Rites 5, page 24
“What are you going to do with that?” Lazarus asked, staring at the ghostly woman with a bemused expression on his face.
Gideon glanced at Rowan as he came to the same realization she was. “It might work,” he said, shaking his grizzled head.
“Of course, it will work,” Gisele said, giggling.
She thrust the twiggy arm into the orb of energy Aria held. The limb burst into flame as suddenly is if it had been drenched in oil and tossed in a blazing fire.
Lazarus shouted and jumped back as Gisele whirled the flaming stick-arm in the air. “See?”
Rowan’s eyes went wide as she felt the natural energy of the flames, freed from the unnatural prison they had been bound within. She didn’t hesitate to draw on her druidic connection to the fire, whipping it into the cyclonic weapon she had used against the bone-armored centipedes. Aria's discovery offered a glimmer of a solution, a way to turn the tide of battle in their favor.
With a cry of determination, Rowan and Gideon took action, using the flames to set the advancing golems ablaze. The fire spread rapidly, the dry wood of the golems serving as perfect fuel, illuminating the forest with a fierce, cleansing light.
As Rowan and Gideon set their enemies alight, Aria’s entire body began to glow as if she were pulling the orb of glowing energy inside herself. Rowan didn’t have time to consider what the healer was doing, but she had seen Aria glowing with a similar light before. She seemed to be sucking the lifeforce from their enemies—or in this case, the ones controlling their enemies, whoever they were and wherever they were hiding—and using it to empower her own magic.
The golems disintegrated under the onslaught of the flames. The soldiers, emboldened by this turn of events, redoubled their efforts, pushing back against the tide of wooden monsters with renewed vigor. Lazarus and Gisele dove bravely into the fray, until soon, there were hardly any of the twiggy monstrosities left standing.
But the victory was not without cost. Fire licked at the surrounding trees, threatening to engulf the forest in a conflagration. As the last of the golems fell to ashes, the forest grew quiet once more.
Rowan felt a momentary surge of triumph. But it was quickly overshadowed by the realization of the new danger they faced. The forest around them was catching fire, the flames greedily climbing the bark of the trees, threatening to engulf them all in a wildfire.
Rowan and Gideon, aware of the danger, worked hastily to control the spread of the fire, drawing moisture from the snow to douse the flames.
With the immediate threat neutralized, Lazarus gave the order to advance farther into the forest. They had no choice now but to run for the mountain pass, hoping against hope that they would not run into any more creatures like the wooden golems.
“Get them to safety,” Rowan shouted to Lazarus. “We will keep the fire at bay.”
“I will get them to safety,” Lazarus said, pausing in his duties to engulf Rowan in a warm embrace. “But I am coming back for you if you don’t join us quickly. Don’t get any ideas about being a hero.”
“What, you don’t like chivalry when it’s not you risking your life?” Rowan laughed, but she leaned into the embrace and tilted her head up to Lazarus for a kiss. When he obliged, she grinned at him. “Fear not, gallant knight. We will join you shortly. Just as soon as we ensure we won’t be toasting our arses all the way up the mountain.”
Lazarus broke away from her, somewhat unwillingly, but Aria and Gisele managed to get him moving. Rowan felt her love for the man tingling through her veins, far more powerful than the threat she had sensed from the presences of Sanguiana or Valka. Her connection to Lazarus rejuvenated her spirits and strengthened her magic.
Rowan and Gideon got to work, wading through the deep snow off the path as the soldiers marched past. They could not, in good conscience, leave the forest to burn.
Drawing deep into their connection with the earth, the druids summoned the moisture hidden beneath the snow, calling forth a mist that rose to meet the flames.
The heat was intense, the smoke thick, but Rowan could feel the fire yielding to their will. Inch by inch, they pushed back against the conflagration, the steam rising around them as evidence of their success. The flames that had threatened to consume everything sputtered and died, leaving behind charred wood and the scent of rain.
An hour later, as she and Gideon made their way back to the army, Rowan felt a sense of pride in what they had accomplished. Only a few short months ago, she would have believed it impossible that she would ever master the druidic arts well enough to accomplish half the things she now did with ease.
The path ahead was fraught with danger, the shadows deep and the magic dark. But what remained of their journey now was a fraction of what they had overcome together. Rowan knew their forces were ready to face whatever horrors Sanguiana and Valka could conjure against them.
Together, they would face whatever lay ahead, their spirits unbroken, their resolve unshaken. Nightwatch Forest, as corrupted and vile a place as it was, was but one step on a longer journey, a journey that was almost over.
In that moment, with the twisted trees steaming and sizzling behind them and the thick haze of smoke in the air, Rowan felt nothing but pride and determination. They would prevail against all evil as they had against this.
For the forest, for the land, for each other.
Selunath would rise from the ashes like fresh, green growth after the cleansing heat of a wildfire.
And she would be there to nurture it as it grew.
26
Blood and Silver
In the quiet of dawn, Selena stood at the window of the tower room in Blackwood Manse, leaning against the windowsill with her gaze fixed on the horizon. The first light of day was beginning to breach the night’s darkness, and in that moment it seemed to be more than just a sunrise. The glowing sun, the fading shadows, the warmth that spread across the Ashwood with the golden rays of light, all felt symbolic of her new life.
Since Lazarus had tamed the demoness inside her, Selena had hardly had a moment’s peace in which to reflect upon the changes she’d undergone in the past weeks. It struck her, suddenly, watching the sun rise above the wintery horizon, just how lucky she was—not only to still be alive, but to have the love and support of a man like Lazarus, and the friendship of the women in his harem. Against all odds, Selena felt more at home, more accepted, as a demi-demon than she ever had as a human woman.
The past weeks had been a whirlwind of change. First, the transition from being Duchess Talon’s prisoner to being the guest of a woman who was her sworn enemy. Then the transition from Countess Selena Shade into the succubus monster, thanks to Duchess Talon’s curse. Then, just as she was getting used to her succubus form, she began to lose herself to the dark, demonic urges that came from the beings of the realm to which she was now linked thanks to the transformative spell, her punishment for abandoning Duchess Talon, Queen Desdemona, and Sanguiana when she realized the true extent of the goddess’s evil intents for their kingdom.
Selena had been so afraid when she felt herself losing control. She’d worried that everything she had begun to establish—the trust she’d built with Belladonna and the other women, the pride she’d had in her ability to fight for Lazarus—was going to be lost if she allowed herself to be overwhelmed by the demoness. But she needn’t have feared.
Lazarus had not been afraid, nor had Sylvia or Belladonna. Not only had they supported her, but they had helped her even when that meant sharing Lazarus with another woman. Selena hadn’t had many friends in her lifetime, and such companionship and sacrifice were so foreign to her that she couldn’t have imagined the baroness and her doppelganger servant becoming her friends and allies.
Selena was acutely aware of the monstrous form her body had assumed and the raw, almost uncontrollable power that surged within her. She still felt the demoness within her, like a shadow of her soul. The transformation had left her feeling alienated from herself, yet it also provided a strange sense of liberation.
She wasn't just Selena anymore—the politically powerful, physically weak woman who had ruled Silvergrass Steppe simply because she was born into the right family. Now, she had no land, no political power… and yet she was something much greater than the woman she used to be, something formidable. What’s more, she suspected she could unleash that demon-self if she needed to, so long as Lazarus was there to subdue her in the end.
Gods, it might be worth trying just to have him take her like that again.
It had been many years since Selena had been with a man, as her husband had died only a few years after the birth of her youngest son. She realized with a dull, empty feeling in her chest that she had no family left anymore. Her husband—whom she had never loved, but who had been an advantageous political match—was dead. Her children, who had treated her with much the same disdain as she’d had for her husband, had either been killed due to failed political machinations or had abandoned her over the years. It was as if that version of herself—the woman she didn’t even recognize anymore—were dead as well.
And after being dead for so long—emotionally, sexually—the shock of being loved so passionately and thoroughly by a man like Lazarus was like an electric shock to the brain. It restarted parts of her mind that she’d never opened or had forgotten about if she had. The girlish tremble of excitement when she saw him, the heat in her loins when she thought about his hands on her body, the punishing ache of need when the demoness took over.
Selena could barely imagine how she’d survived so long, being as cold, lonely, and loveless as she had been.
For the first time in her life, she had a family. A real family, rather than a collection of politically motivated people who happened to share a bloodline. She flushed to think of it, feeling her body respond instantly to the excitement that welled inside her every time she thought of Lazarus and his harem.
I belong here, she thought. This is my home now.
With her eyes on the horizon, Selena was the first to spot the silver winged glint of Sylvia in her majestic dragon form, returning from the reconnaissance mission in the mountains. The succubus felt a thrill seeing the dragon woman’s approach. She suspected she would always feel that way in Sylvia’s presence, unable to forget the way she’d bound Selena in chains and held her down while Lazarus ravaged her. They shared a bond more intimate than any that Selena had ever had with a friend. It was almost as if they were lovers by proxy, even more so than Selena felt with Belladonna, who had also been there for her initiation into the harem.
Selena shuddered with pleasure at the memory, then focused on the incoming dragon. She should go and tell the baroness of Sylvia’s arrival—Bella had been nose down in a book, working tirelessly with Lothoss and Yvila to create a new variation of the banishment spell that promised to rid Selunath of the dark goddess and her minions for good.
But what was that, trailing behind Sylvia’s glinting silver figure? A dark line fluttered behind the dragon, as if she were carrying something in her talons. What could it be?
Selena didn’t have long to wonder as Sylvia pumped her massive wings and soared quickly for Crimson Keep. She seemed to be heading straight for the tower in which Selena now stood. Selena debated if she should run to tell Bella now, or wait for Sylvia’s arrival. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she watched the dragon looming larger.
When Selena saw what Sylvia was carrying, she stepped back from the window quickly. It was a chain of monstrous, severed heads, tied together with lengths of blood and ichor-stained ropes. Sylvia dove straight for the tower window, transforming even as she fell, her silvery body shrinking, her wings becoming human arms with gliding leather stretched between them and her torso. Her legs remained dragon-like and clawed, still hanging onto the chain of battle trophies.
Selena admired Sylvia’s confidence, watching with bated breath to see if the dragon woman would survive her landing. But she needn’t have worried. Sylvia launched straight through the window and landed in the center of the room with the grace and poise of an exotic bird.
If exotic birds carried around ropes of enemy heads, that is.
Watching Sylvia transform back into her human guise, Selena felt a kinship with the doppelganger. They both harbored forms beyond their human shells, both wielded power that was otherworldly.
“Sylvia,” Selena gasped, rushing forward to embrace the half-dragon woman. “I’m so glad you’re all right. What… what is this?”
She glanced down at the macabre collection with uncertainty.
“My trophies,” Sylvia said proudly, quickly transforming the rest of the way, so that she looked like a lithe, muscular human woman, dressed in a skin-tight leotard made of silver dragon scales. “Help me hang them up, will you? I’ll be bringing back more when we return from Castle Ravenhold.”
Selena bent to pick up one end of the rope, which was far heavier than she expected and smelled awful. She wrinkled her nose and gave Sylvia a wary look. “What are these creatures?”
“Some kind of bug monsters from another realm,” Sylvia said with a shrug. “You should have seen the big ones, but Rowan killed those, so I guess she gets to keep the heads. I wonder if she collected them…”
Sylvia trailed off as if lost in thought as she took the opposite end of her rope and began stringing them up around the tower room.
“There, that should do it,” she said as they finished. “Now, what did I miss?”
Selena shook her head in bemusement but told Sylvia about the work they had done on Lothoss’s banishment spell. As the women descended the narrow, spiraling staircase from the tower room, she explained how Yvila had helped translate the spell and how the upiór woman had hinted that her kind wished to banish all gods from the mortal realm, not just Sanguiana.
“Now that’s something I can get behind,” muttered Sylvia. “I know Bella is excited to have Lothoss back after feeling neglected by him for so many years. But I can’t help but think we’d all be better off without their interference in our world.”
Selena nodded slowly, her lips pouting as she considered her words carefully. “I cannot be certain,” she said. “But I believe the baroness may be coming around to your way of thinking. She had a conversation with Lothoss that… changed her, somehow.”
Sylvia’s shoulders stiffened and she stopped in her tracks, just as the door to the tower staircase slammed shut beside them. Soft light from the torches glittered across her scales, making her appear to be made of liquid gold. “Did he do something to hurt her?” she said, her unsettling yellow eyes narrowing at Selena. “If he did, I swear I’ll—”
“No, no,” Selena said, shaking her head quickly, alarmed at the dangerous transformation that overcame the dragon woman. She lifted her leather wings and ruffled them, trying to shake off the tension in the air. “Nothing like that, Sylvia. I don’t think so at all. You should talk to her, though. She seems conflicted about something, and I don’t think she feels comfortable enough with me to disclose what is bothering her. She and Lothoss continue to work together very cordially, but I believe he’s revealed something to her that has made her reconsider her family’s connection to the gods.”
Sylvia turned and began stalking more quickly toward to room where Bella was working. “I should hope so,” she said, barely under her breath. “It was Lothoss who bound me to the Blackwoods in the first place. Or the one who taught them how to do it. While I do not resent Belladonna for the centuries of slavery I endured, it is difficult not to resent the ones who thought it would be a clever idea to bind a dragon soul to their family.”
Selena bit her lip and hurried after the dragon woman. She didn’t know the history between Sylvia and the Blackwood family, only that she’d been a servant for many years. If she had been bound to Crimson Keep against her will, Selena could certainly understand her feelings of animosity toward the god who had allowed, or perhaps encouraged, that to happen.
But by the time they found Bella in the shrine room, most of Sylvia’s outward hostility had abated. Bella was seated at the foot of Lothoss’s shrine with her eyes closed in meditation. She seemed tense when they first entered, as if she didn’t wish to be interrupted. But when she saw who it was, the tension immediately melted from her shoulders.
“Sylvia,” the baroness sighed. “I’m so glad you’re back. What took you so long?”
Sylvia related her news—the fact that the Blackspine Mountains were shrouded by an unnatural fog similar to that which had encroached upon Crimson Keep, blocking her view of the pass and anything further up the mountain.
“It’s as if they were prepared for my aerial surveillance,” she said. “I suppose someone who survived the battle at the shattered citadel must have warned Queen Desdemona that there’s a dragon fighting for her enemies. But that’s not the most surprising thing that happened.”
She continued to tell them about the battle at Red Redoubt, Lazarus’s discovery that Valka had been accepting blood sacrifices in the fortress, and that the goddess had sent an army of otherworldly monsters after them—which the soldiers from Crimson Keep had handily defeated with Sylvia’s help, and that of Rowan, Aria, and Gisele.
It seemed Valka had used her knowledge of Lazarus’s magic against him, making her army immune to his attacks and even causing his magic to drain if he touched one of her monsters.
Selena and Belladonna listened to Sylvia’s story with awe as she described the way Lazarus had thrown his power into supporting the others, and how the old druid, Gideon, had shown up at the last moment with two Grenvuul fighting at his side.
“It sounds as if we missed quite a battle,” Belladonna said, her dark eyes wide with admiration. “I am pleased that you were able to be there to help them, Sylvia. I find myself urgently anticipating joining Lazarus’s ranks as soon as we are finished here.”
