Page 47 of Deadly Reckoning (Broken Ashes #7)

Ransom

“S ucks to be you, dude,” I chuckle. “Come on, let's go find the others and tell them what we’ve found out.”

The sound of the door banging open again echoes through the library, and I tuck the book under my arm as we all head to see who has come looking for us.

“Guys!” River calls.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Raiden asks, as we come out of the stacks and find a harried-looking River.

“Is Neith with you?”

I shake my head as worry instantly churns my stomach, “No, I haven’t seen her since she went off to tell Mael and the kelpies that we were going.” I look at my watch, “That was a couple of hours ago.”

River runs a hand through his hair, “Shit. That means that no one’s seen her since she went to do that. We’d better tell the others.”

He pulls out his phone and sends a group message.

“She could be with one of them?” Griff suggests.

River shakes his head, “Reed is in the gym, Coen is flying because portals make him twitchy, Van and Doc are in the office getting all of the files that we need, and you guys are here.”

“Shit,” Raiden curses.

“Let me check the wards to see if she’s gone out, or if anyone has come in,” I say.

My magic is already doing what I’ve asked it to do, and it only takes me a couple of moments to have my answer.

“I’m going to assume from your expression that no one has gone in or out of the wards?” River asks.

I shake my head, “Nope. Everything is exactly as it should be.”

“Did you call her?” Griff asks River, his phone already in his hand.

River nods, “Yep, no answer. It just kept ringing.”

The doors open again, and the others all come in looking as worried as we are.

Van looks around at everyone, “No one has seen her since she went to the kelpie lake?”

Everyone shakes their heads that they haven’t.

“I thought she was packing,” Reed says, with a worried frown.

Evander nods and does what he does best, switches into leader mode, “Coen and Griff, you go and fly over the kelpie lake and see if you can see her, see if you can get the kelpies to tell you how long ago she was there, or even if they’ve seen her today.

River head out into the woods and see if you can scent her.

Reed and Raiden search the house. The rest of us can fan out in different directions through the woods.

There are enough of us that we should find her in no time. ”

“Let’s go,” Coen adds. “Everyone, stay in contact and keep each other updated regularly in the group chat. Hopefully, we’re going to find her pretty quickly.”

“Agreed,” Reed replies.

We all head out of the library, and I put my book by the front door as I grab my jacket and head outside.

The weather is awful, and for a second, I wonder if it’s her that’s causing it, but it doesn’t feel magical, and it was pretty awful when she headed out earlier, so I’m pretty sure that this is natural.

Normally, we wouldn’t split up, but this is our land, and it should be safe, although Neith is missing, so it can’t be as safe as it should be.

Why does this sort of shit keep happening?

Heading into the woods, I pull my hood up and reach out with my magic. I’m hoping that it’s going to find her and that she’s going to be okay. It’s not like Neith to just disappear, not without telling someone that she was going somewhere.

I carry on walking for about ten minutes before my phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my pocket, trying to shield it from the worst of the rain, which is somehow just as soaking as it was when I wasn’t under the canopy of the trees.

Coen: She’s not at the kelpie lake, and none of the kelpies are responding.

Doc: That’s odd. They always respond.

Griff: We’re going to carry on flying over the property to see if we can find anything.

Van: Good idea, stay safe.

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I frown. A part of me really thought that we were overreacting and that Neith was still hanging out at the kelpie lake, maybe messing about with Mael or something, and had just lost track of time and had her phone on silent again.

It’s becoming increasingly clear though, that isn’t the case.

Heading deeper into the woods, I start to call out for her. I even try calling for any of her spirit guides, but none of them appear. Either that’s because they don’t hear anyone but Neith when she calls for them, or they’re all with Neith because she’s in danger.

I really fucking hope that it’s the first one.

Casimir is a big and unknown threat, and although I am almost one hundred percent sure that he couldn’t get through the wards, there is still a small part of me that isn’t sure. He did, after all, start a war and is after Neith because she can die and come back to life.

He either wants to drain her magic and her blood to use in his potion to create hybrids, or he wants to turn her into a hybrid.

I have seen what happens to hybrids. They die because the two halves of themselves are constantly fighting.

It’s excruciatingly painful, and it kills them.

At least that’s the very short version of the hell that they go through.

I know from what Raiden said when he crossed over the soul of the hybrid that we found in Ireland that it also damages their souls, and although I don’t know for certain, that can only have catastrophic consequences.

If Casimir succeeded in getting his hands on Neith and injected her with the hybrid serum, then she would die over and over again. God knows how many times she can die and come back. Each time would be excruciating.

I need to work on a cure, just in case.

I’ll start on it as soon as we get to Ireland. It would be better if I had a sample of what he’s using, but I think I can create a restoration and healing spell combined with a potion that might override everything, especially if I put everyone’s magic into it.

Now there’s an idea.

My mind is spinning with ways that I can make the potion and the spell to go alongside it, so much so that I’m not paying as much attention as I should be.

Something moves in the corner of my eye, and I stop, glancing in that direction.

Before I can do anything, I feel magic pull me, and I suddenly find myself in another realm entirely. I’m in the middle of some kind of woods, but these aren’t filled with any plants that I recognize. I also seem to instinctively know that I’m not in the Earth Realm anymore.

Awesome.

This is just what I fucking need right now. I need to find Neith.

Wait, maybe that’s why I’ve been pulled here, maybe she has been pulled here as well?

If that’s the case, then I'd better find her quickly. My eyes are still scanning my surroundings, and as of yet, I haven’t seen anything that’s a threat. I have a sneaking suspicion about where I could be, and if I’m right, then I’m definitely not in the clear.

Pulling out two of the daggers I have on me, I briefly wish for my swords and then wrap my magic around my daggers.

Tilting my head slightly, I still as I listen for any sign of movement. To the left of me, and slightly in front, I hear the unmistakable sounds of fighting. I take off, keeping my footsteps silent as I quickly move toward the fight.

What I see when I get there surprises me in more ways than one.

Firstly, it’s not Neith fighting but a supernatural that I have never met before. He's big, scarred, which shouldn’t be possible, has horns, deadly looking fangs, a tail, and quite frankly looks feral.

He looks like a demon of some kind.

He’s fighting barefoot.

The second surprise is that he is surrounded by at least twenty of those backward-knee walking creatures that Neith told us about, which confirms my suspicion that I’m in Luesidious.

Twenty of them, not including the ones that he’s already killed, and not only is he holding his own, but his blood splattered face has a sharp and quite frankly scary as fuck smile on it.

He’s loving this.

The last surprise is that I want to help him. I don’t want to leave him to his fate and find my way out of here and back to finding Neith.

So when I see one of the creatures jump into the air, I launch one of my daggers, hitting it in the temple, and the magic within the dagger ensures that it dies.

The guy looks over at me with surprise and suspicion, still fighting for his life, he nods in thanks and then refocuses on the fight.

Well, now I know that he’s not going to mistake me for an attacker.

I throw myself into the fight, catching another look of surprise as my dagger slices the throat of one of the backward-kneed walking things, splattering me with ichor and making me grin.

The dark part of me stirs and revels in the pain I’m causing.

It's not normal to love the fight as much as I do.

Using my magic and my remaining dagger, I slice through the creatures. Fighting surprisingly well alongside the unknown supernatural. I’m even more surprised when he takes out a creature that was coming up to attack me from behind.

I nod in thanks, and he narrows his eyes slightly.

He’s a little bit prickly this one, although to be fair, in this situation, I think I would be too.

It doesn’t take very long between us until all of the creatures are laid scattered around us in pieces.

I twirl my dagger and grin, “That was fun.”

The guy lets out a surprised laugh and then looks utterly shocked that he’s laughed in the first place.

When he speaks, his voice is harsh, rough, like it hasn’t been used for decades, and there’s a distinct Irish lilt to it.

Fucking coincidences, I don’t believe in the word anymore.

“Who do I have to thank for helping me out?”

I grin, “Ransom, and you are?”

Confusion flashes in his eyes briefly before he replies, “Ah, now isn’t that an interesting question?”

His head tilts, his tail swishing behind him as he listens to something that I can’t hear yet. Only a few moments pass before I hear the sound of a horn blaring.

“What the hell is that?” I ask.

His dark purple eyes meet mine, turning burnt amber as he answers, “The Hunt. You should go.”

“Fuck that,” I grin. “That was barely a warm-up anyway. I’ve got your back.”

“Why?” he asks, studying me unnervingly.

I shrug, “I don’t know.”

The sound of the horn gets louder and is now interspersed with shouts in a language that I don’t understand, and the growls of big animals.

“Last chance,” his harsh voice mutters as he stares in the direction I’m assuming that they’re coming from.

“I’m good,” I reply, my smile sharp.

I fucking love this sort of thing.

Raiden wasn’t wrong when he told Kar that some of us had to join SID to assuage our violent tendencies.

Very few people realize that it was mostly because of me.

A group of ten supernaturals crests the hill, all of them riding creatures that I suppose would be the equivalent of the Earth Realms horses, but they look nothing alike. These are giant beasts with sharp claws, cavernous eyes, and though vaguely shaped like a horse, that’s the only similarity.

The supernaturals sat atop them are as equally unfamiliar to me. The most familiar thing about them is the fact that they’re carrying swords.

Their skin is dark green, their hair varying shades of the same color. Their limbs look as if they have been stretched out, and their faces are stretched into snouts, snarls revealing sharp teeth and black gums, while four eyes watch us with malice.

They’ve brought with them twelve creatures, all of them snapping, snarling, hissing, and growling. Some are in the shape of snakes, bright purple, and covered in spikes.

“Those are poisonous, don’t touch any part of them,” the guy mutters.

“Got it.”

“The blob-looking things spit acid. The only way to kill them is to hit them with their own acid,” he continues. “The things with six arms obviously like to grapple, so do not let them get their hands on you. You won’t escape.”

“And the riders?”

“Leaders of the Hunt, they should be beheaded, but leave them to me, they are notoriously impossible to kill,” he replies.

I nod, I grin, “Understood. You take them out, I’ll kill the rest.”

He chuckles and shakes his head, “Crazy fucker.”

“You have no idea,” I mutter as I take off running toward the approaching threat.

I’ve never been very good at standing still and waiting for something to attack.

Once again, I wish I had my favorite curved swords.

My magic buzzes, and I push away my shock as replicas of my swords appear in my hands, made purely out of my magic.

A grunt of surprise from beside me shows that the unknown supe has caught up to me.

When I glance at him, he narrows his eyes, “Ready for some fun?”

“Want to bet who drops the most?” I chuckle as I slice through the neck of one of the snakes and then stab it through its head, instinctively knowing how to kill it.

I’d question the knowledge, but it's not a new development. Whenever I’m up close and personal with an enemy, I just seem to know how to kill it.

Most of the time, it doesn’t work all the time.

The guy shrugs, “Sure. I bet I kill more.”

“I’ll take that bet, loser buys the other one a beer. There is beer here, right?”

“Mead,” he grunts as he takes out a blob.

“That’ll do.”

We stop talking as we find ourselves surrounded and end up fighting back-to-back.

I haven’t ever trusted anyone but the guys to fight back to back with me, and it confuses me why I’m so comfortable with this stranger to do it. I can’t exactly question it now though, so instead, I fight. Making sure that neither of us fucking dies.

Honestly, it's what I do best.

Not potion making, and everything that comes along with it, although I do love it. No, I do that to keep the more violent part of me entertained, it keeps me calm, and I learned at a young age that it was vital that I remained calm.

Fighting is my happy place.

Killing shit is what I love to do, as fucked up as that is.

One of the riders jumps off his not-horse and comes flying toward me. I don’t think, I just react.

Ducking the dagger he’s thrown in my direction, which seems to surprise him.

I catch the ball of magic that he throws in quick succession after throwing the dagger and launch it back.

He’s so surprised that he barely ducks out of the way in time.

I use his distraction to my advantage, and I rush toward him.

One of my swords stabs him in the stomach, and I pull it up, his insides spilling out, as my other sword swings and takes his head. Blood covers me, and I grin as he falls to the floor, kicking his head away from his body and watching as his own not-horse eats it.

That’s slightly disturbing.

My distraction costs me, and one of the creatures with six arms and apparently claws slices my arm, as another creature catches my leg.

The pain fuels me and makes my smile widen even more as I swing my swords, taking off several of the attacking arms and causing the creatures to screech.

Shit, that is not a pleasant sound, and I make quick work of taking their heads so that I don’t have to hear the sound anymore.