Blood Dream Read online

  “Come, you do not need to be concerned,” Lupa stepped closer to Hammer as he turned the pages back to a picture of a woman covered in snakes, “This was a witch that could control the animals that crawled upon the earth. She had the power to bind them to her and make them do her will, she even had some mild control over wolfbloods and the like. More of a… persuasion. A skill that has unfortunately been lost to my family. Known to your Organization as a Kontwolbet.”

  Hammer rested his hand on the back of her neck gently, turning the pages forward again. “And this is a Konyonya of my ancestors,” Lupa looked at the drawing of a naked woman pulling magick or something out of the people around her, “This was the most powerful one in my bloodline. She could not only absorb other’s magick, she could absorb their very souls as you can see. She perished rather young, the torment within her taking a hold and splitting her open. She birthed three daughters from the dichotomizing, one of them was my great, great grandmother.”

  Lupa looked up into Hammer’s face, he was smiling provocatively at her, making Lupa wish she could ignore the feeling in her body… “So all your family history is in here?” she asked, turning her gaze back down to the pages and trying to distract herself.

  “Oh no, some of it is, but not all, my sweet. These are just tales of our strongest witches, and of course our family tree. But there is much more than just that, wolf witch, intertwined with others histories amongst these shelves.”

  “Where’s your other son?” Lupa clamped her mouth shut. Fuck.

  Hammer smiled at her discomfort, closing the book, “He is elsewhere. His manner was displeasing to me, so he is somewhere where he can… learn to be a gentleman. Well, my glorious wolf witch, shall we leave this place and have a drink before we need to depart on our adventure?”

  “Umm…” Lupa didn’t really want to leave, leaving would mean they would be closer to the meeting with The Eastern Man… closer to man who’d made her feel things she had never wanted to remember… “Ok.”

  “You will be wonderful, my wolf witch, do not fear for the future. What will come is coming whether we leave here or hide amongst the tales already told. We need to make our own stories, Little Red, and I believe yours is only truly beginning.”

  Lupa smiled nervously at Hammer. How was he always so damn sure of himself? And how was he so fucking sure of her? Sighing, she followed him out, picking up her jacket and the paper with the spell upon it. He locked the door behind her and led her back to the jukebox room, Sledge was sitting on the couch smoking with a beer, quickly rising and moving for Hammer and Lupa to sit.

  “Thank you, Sledge, would you mind passing me the bottle of Pouvwa? Thank you.” Hammer indicated for Lupa to sit down and poured them all a drink before sitting next to her and crossing his legs, “Well, we do have an interesting evening ahead of us, my wonderful people, I do look forward to ending this man’s magickal hold on my territory. Then there shall be new things to discover, new places to explore after tonight. And for you, Little Red, I believe there will be new magick for you to find within yourself.”

  Hammer threw his drink back, Lupa and Sledge following suit. Lupa felt her stomach give a small protest to her emotions, but she ignored it. Pulling out her smokes and lighting one she leaned back against the couch. She would be fine, especially once the fighting began. It was what she was good at after all.

  “So… you all prepared?” Lupa asked the air in front of her.

  “That we are, wolf witch. Are you?”

  Lupa laughed nervously, “Sure.”

  Chapter twenty-one

  “Fight for your life, and for theirs…”

  Sledge pulled his car up at the end of the bridge, getting out and opening the doors for Hammer and Lupa. Behind them fifteen other cars were pulling up, various armed men were hopping out, looking mean and ready for a fight.

  Lupa peered anxiously at the river running under the bridge, positive it was at least fifty feet down to the churning water, the noise was louder than she ever would have ever imagined. Hammer was talking to the other men, but Lupa couldn’t take her eyes off the turbulent water below, that looked as though it wanted to swallow her up.

  “You a’right?” Sledge handed her a smoke and she took it gratefully.

  “Never been this close to the river before… it’s scary.”

  Sledge peered down at the water as though it were a puddle, “Aint so bad. Bet it bein’ cold though. You knowin’ how to swim?”

  Lupa startled and looked up at Sledge, “No, will I need to?”

  Sledge gave her what she presumed was supposed to be a reassuring smile, “Just don’t fall in then.”

  Fuck. Lupa turned her wide eyed gaze back at the bridge, it seemed to be shrinking before her, looking as though only two people could walk up it instead of being four lanes wide. She put her hand in her coat pocket and pulled out the pill box with shaking hands. Pulling out a small pink pill, she dry swallowed it, it was hard, her mouth was so dry… the thunder boomed over their heads making Lupa jump.

  “Don’t be worryin’, witchy girl, we be keepin’ you safe. You just doin’ what you need.”

  Lupa glanced up to see Sledge smiling at her like he had all the confidence in the world in her now. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She sure sounded like she would be.

  “Alright, Sledge, Little Red, let us start our way across, the others will follow behind and stop where they are supposed to. Are you ready, wolf witch?” Hammer gave her a serious look.

  “You betcha.” Lupa smiled wide, hoping they’d believe her.

  What the hell was making her so nervous? A bit of fucking water? Damn! She felt like she was going to throw up. She started walking with Hammer and Sledge, feeling a sense of doom once she realised they were over the river. Wolfbloods, sure, she could kill hundreds of them. But other witches? Shit.

  They reached the middle of the bridge, a sign showing one side to be Black City, and the other to be Serum City. Lupa nervously watched as three shadowed people were approaching. How long had it taken them to walk to the middle? Five minutes? Hammer better talk quick…

  “Good evening, Hammer, I see you have brought the witch along. How unfortunate, I was hoping she would heed my warning. We haven’t met, but we spoke on the phone, witch, I am Ahriman. And you are?”

  Lupa looked the man over, he was dressed in a completely black suit, his long hair hung scraggily over his thin shoulders, his face seemed like it was covered in in dirt, his eyes blackened with make-up making his curious blue eyes stand out. He looked as though he was just as tall as Sledge, but he was hunching himself over as though trying to hide his height…

  “I’m Little Red,” she said, hoping she sounded confident. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”

  “Little Red… I see. Yes, I believe my children mentioned that name. The girl found by the witch who runs The Organization in Black City. She will be sad to hear of your passing.” Ahriman’s voice didn’t sound particularly threatening, but it made Lupa shiver none the less. “Hammer, I thought you smarter than to bring her along, I see you are not willing to discuss anything. You are just telling me I have to fight.”

  “Not at all,” Hammer responded, his voice sounding just as charming as always, Lupa didn’t take her eyes off The Eastern Man, “Just an insurance. Will you ask your two people to stop cowering behind you? I do find it rather rude that you try to hide them.”

  Ahriman smiled and clicked his long filthy fingers, Layla and Madison stepping out from behind him. Lupa searched their blank faces, noticing their eyes didn’t look… quite right. There was something smoky moving within them, she realised she was stepping closer to Hammer and stopped herself, folding her arms over her chest.

  “Your witch shoulder recognise my children, do they not feel powerful now, Little Red?”

  Lupa had been too wrapped up in the fear of the water to realise the magick she could feel coming from the people in front of her. Ahriman felt just like the spells she had stepped
into; dirty, violating… the girls felt the same now too, making Lupa shudder against her will.

  “You see, don’t you, Little Red, my reach was much further than you realised.” He lay a filthy hand on one of the girl’s heads, stroking it intimately, “Little Layla will be having my child. Madison is yet to take a hold of my seed, but soon. And they shall birth children filled with all the magick and life I have taken from all of you.”

  Lupa glanced over to Hammer, why wasn’t he fucking saying anything? She didn’t have much longer before Gift would start to make her power grow, and then this disgusting man would notice… fuck. How long had they been here?

  “Are we going to discuss your proposition, Ahriman? Or are we going to discuss our children?” Hammer pulled out a cigarette and lit it, looking completely unfazed by how long this was taking.

  “No, I have changed my mind. I think I want Little Red’s magick. And unless you are going to hand that over to me willingly, we shall be making no deal tonight.”

  Lupa heard Sledge make a strange grunting noise, looking over to him she could see his eyes yellowing.

  “That is unfortunate, the little wolf witch is not an option.” Hammer turned to Lupa with a smile on his face, “You may begin.”

  Lupa nodded pulling out her wolfblood blade and the herb stick Hammer had given her, lighting it with her bloodfire, “Ferrum hoc cum omnia magicae, hoc ferro effundam omnes vitae furatus” she felt her arm vibrating down to the bone blade, Ahriman giving her a surprised look, “Terra hac virtute praecipio tibi esse potero. Omnis magiae liberemur!”

  Layla and Madison screeched, running at Lupa with their hands outstretched. Sledge stepped in front of Hammer and knocked both the girls down. Lupa could hear Hammer’s men running from behind them, and she could see more shadows emerging across the bridge. She looked quickly to Ahriman as he started walking away from them, hands in his pockets like he had no cares in the world. Fuck.

  Lupa ducked around Sledge and Hammer, running for The Eastern Man. A large wolf jumped on her, knocking her to the ground. She heard her head make a cracking sound as it hit the asphalt, her eyes going dark for a moment, and her wrist splitting open. She looked up into the blue eyes of the wolf like creature she had seen before. Lupa gripped her blade and plunged it into the side of the creatures head, blood splattered down on her face as the wolf changed back into Sadie.

  Lupa felt someone lift the girl off her, she jumped to her feet and gave the man, who was one of Hammers, a nod, and then searched to find Ahriman. Seeing his back disappearing into the fog, the sky roared above them, lightning flashing across the angry clouds. Lupa could feel her fingers starting to tingle. Good. The more help she had the better, she could hear people fighting but she couldn’t worry about that now, she needed to get to the filthy witch. No longer did she didn’t bother with the smoking herb stick on the ground, she needed to get to that stinking fucking witch before he escaped.

  Someone threw a punch at her, but she was in the zone, she barely felt it collide with her face as she thrust her knife into their stomach. Looking down to see her fingernails were claws. Fuck it, plenty of time to think about that later.

  Lupa turned and ran towards Ahriman, ducking under punches and avoiding people trying to get near her. Why wasn’t she getting any fucking closer? “Ferrum hoc cum omnia magicae, hoc ferro effundam omnes vitae furatus” she could feel the power growing now, looking down in… shock, her black lightning was… white…? “Terra hac virtute praecipio tibi esse potero. Omnis magiae liberemur!”

  The Eastern Man turned, smiling at her as she rushed towards him, suddenly skidding to try stop, her ass hitting the ground. Scrambling backwards with her eyes wide…. He had one of the spells on the ground. Fuck. She could feel its filthy magick trying to ooze onto her skin.

  “Did you not fucking listen, witch? I told you not to try and challenge me. What are you going to do now?” Ahriman stretched himself out, standing much taller than even Sledge was…

  “Are you too scared to fight me?” Lupa growled, standing up out of the magick.

  “A fair fight? If we were to do that, you would need to throw that blade away.” He slowly pulled out a cigarette packet, lighting one and placing it back in his pocket, “I do not believe you actually want a fair fight, you would not be involved with a person such as Hammer and be looking for a fair fucking fight, my dear.”

  Lupa glanced behind her, but she couldn’t see the fighting, just hear it. Fuck. She looked back to the man. She had two options, wait and hope someone would come over and be able to grab him out… or step into the foul magick and hope she could get to him before she blacked out. She didn’t like either idea. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the man’s grinning face briefly.

  “Why did you kill everyone in Blackmoars?”

  “Simple; you were getting too close to the truth. And I couldn’t have The Organization getting involved too far.”

  Lupa bit her lip, feeling the magick starting to swell inside her, “And what exactly is the fucking truth? You used a bunch of kids to kill cows? And then kill their families? For what!”

  “You don’t get it, do you? Let me enlighten you while we play stand-off. Penny and I were in love. Well, I was in love with her. She told me she would leave her husband for me. Then I found out she was pregnant with a stinking wolfblood! I gave her the spell to hide the child, so long as when that child was old enough she would hand it over to me,” Ahriman took a couple of steps closer to Lupa, but not close enough, “She refused. And the rest, will be history.”

  Lupa shook her head, “Why do people get so fucked up over love?”

  “You are but a child, you would not understand. Have you never loved someone?”

  Lupa took a small step forward, making sure not to step into the spell, “And so… that was unrelated to Hammer?”

  “Nothing is unrelated.” The man’s face contorted, Lupa noticed his eyes getting smoky like the twins had. “If you were to survive this, perhaps you can ask Hammer about it. Although… you will perish and I will take your magick for my own, so it probably doesn’t matter how much he knows and hasn’t told you.”

  Lupa ignored the implication and gritted her teeth, she couldn’t hold the magick in anymore. She needed to use it, needed to get rid of it. She glanced down at her body, bright with the white lightning jumping over it.

  “That isn’t enough to take me on, witch, I have a hundred life forces in my veins, and more magick too. I have seen your Organization’s magick before, it is but a drop in my ocean of power. You have nothing that can kill me. Your pretty little words mean shit.”

  Lupa let her now white lightning dance down her blade, shooting out towards the man, but he stepped back and it couldn’t reach him. No matter, at least she had managed to get some of it out. She knew she was going to have to step into the spell. And that she was going to have to be the quickest she had ever been. She took a deep breath and bent her knees, slowly inching her feet forward until she hit the edge of the magickal circle.

  “So we will have a fight then?” The man pulled out a long, silver knife from his jacket, “Tell me… does silver hurt you? No, I suppose not if you have a bone blade…”

  Lupa held her weapon ready, unsure of what to do… “I killed Isabella. And the child she was carrying.”

  The man took three steps towards her, his eyes blazing, “You’re lying!”

  Lupa smiled. Right. She had something that worked. Make the fucker angry. “You know I’m not. I pierced her with a rib from her dead father. Was it you who killed him?”

  “You didn’t! You didn’t kill her!” The man was closer now, his enraged eyes turning black, “You wouldn’t!”

  “I would. And I did. She squealed like a fucking pig, she even looked like her father. A stinking fucking wolfblood.”

  Lupa watched the man’s eyes grow larger, he roared, she ran at him. The magick pulsing up her legs, the screaming in her head threatening to take over. Ahriman threw a
punch at her, but she was too fast now with the Gift flowing through her body. She sliced upwards across his arm and ran back out of the magick, panting and trying to push the thoughts away, feeling a slight pain in her side.

  Lupa watched the man scream as he grabbed at his arm, black filth pouring from it instead of blood. “What have you done? What was that spell… you are stealing from me! Trying to steal my magick, you filthy fucking hybrid!”

  Ahriman turned, his eyes blazing as he ran at her, she readied her weapon but she wanted to run, the power emitting from him making her stumble as he tackled her to the ground. He punched her in the face while on top of her, Lupa let her lightning go into his body, making him roar and climb off her. The lightning looked the same as that from the sky, not her lightning. Not it’s familiar black forks leaping from her body.

  “What the fuck is that?” He yelled, eyes glaring.

  Lupa had no idea, but it fucking worked. She scrambled to her feet and held her blade out in front of her. She needed to kill him, the quicker the better. And it seemed he got particularly angry about Penny and Isabella, good, she had something to work with.

  “Penny never would have loved a man like you, you are filthy. She used you. And you fell for it, and you have nothing to show for it.” Lupa waited but the man just laughed.

  “Of course she did, but that was almost sixteen years ago. I have had my revenge when my children tore her open. How did you find my presents?”

  Lupa felt her skin getting hot, the power in her was growing too fucking quickly, “Why did you need the spearhead? And why did you kill Hawk’s dad?”

  “I didn’t kill him. Lyon did that for me. Though he wouldn’t remember. And the spearhead was for Isabella. It had the blood of her father and her mother upon it. It was what kept her looking… human, not that she knew that. And you took it all away from us.”

  The man lunged at her, his filthy hands touching her skin and making her scream, all those memories flooding into her mind, screaming and screaming, she let her pain stream out into her magick, Ahriman jumped back roaring. Lupa was on her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes down, slowly focusing back on the present world, her body shaking.