Red and Her Wolf (14 page)

His jaw clenched so tight, his molars began to ache.

“But I would do it again, if I had to. She is the key to
Malvena’s
undoing. Only she can stop the Black. Violet’s power can take many forms, some benign and useful, but most dark and terrifying. I doubt she knows most of what she can do. But her truest power and darkest art, is that she is an eater of souls. It is within her to devour the very essence of the divine...”

Brows lowering, he glanced back at the curtained door, gripped by a powerful urge to seek her out and hold her. His fingers clenched.

“I’ve followed her for years out on her treks, many of which she didn’t know. I can say that she’s only just discovered herself; her knowledge of what she can do is still very much in its infancy. That is why I’ve set up a test at
yer
next location. She must engage and defeat Hansel and Gretel’s witch.”

Blood spilled on his tongue and he winced, only realizing he’d been chewing on it. Breathing heavy, clenching his hands, on the verge of violence he attempted to slow his pulse by taking deep breaths.

“I’m aware ye must not like that, but it is the only way. We haven’t much time to train her, ye
canna
help her defeat the witch. But once she has, ye must extract the soul from her body. Ye are her mate, and that is
yer
duty…”

“Duty,” he snarled. Why hadn’t the damn fairies remembered that in the first place? Surely there was another way to harness her power than by forcing her hatred of him to grow like a slow malignant cancer. But the voice did not stop speaking.

“Let instinct guide ye,
ye’ll
know what to do when the time comes.”
He could almost picture the smile in her voice now.
“You are her perfect mate, and more than able to bring her back from the blackness I was forced to allow to fester. That is why the time is now; she is still at the brink, able to be redeemed. If Jana did one thing, it was to show Violet true love in the beginning. The child of darkness was brought up in light.”

He spat, Jana had tried to kill Violet. She’d done nothing good, and he for one was glad he’d butchered her traitorous body.

“Though we both know now she kept Violet in a happy state to suppress her powers so that killing her would be simple, in the end the lesson was learned. Violet is capable of love. She remembers the emotions and yearns for it again. If anyone can drag her back from becoming a monster of legend, it is ye. Her powers have been channeled, now refocus that hate, and she can be won. If however…”

He sucked in a breath, gut clenching, knowing instinctively he would not like what she was about to say.

“I never arrive at
Malvena’s
, should I die along the way, ye must kill her.”

“How dare you!” he roared, despairing at the thought. Uncaring if anyone heard
,
he’d never do it.

“Ye may think me cruel, but in fact I only want what’s best for her. She must not engage
Malvena
without me, because if she does, she may not kill the Black witch and then she’ll be haunted forever, she’ll never stay with you or anyone else. If, however, she does kill
Malvena
, that level of toxic power will destroy what remains of her sanity and reason. She will be forever lost and beyond all hope of redemption. Either way, she loses.”

Ewan slammed his fist into the wall and the dirt foundation fractured; sending a shower of silt to cover his bed.

A heart shaped pendant manifested from within the scroll and floated to him.

“That is the pendant of truth; I’ve spelled it to reveal the truth of the events of that night. She will need to see it to know the truth. She blames ye for all that happened that night, I deliberately blocked Jana’s deception from her mind. Violet will hate me, as I’m sure ye now do. But even so, I would ask
ye
to pray for our safe travel. I love my girl, and only want what’s best for her, and ye. May the goddess bless
ye
.”

The scroll suddenly caught in flame, the heat creeping off its green tinted hue burned his eyes. Within seconds, nothing remained of it save a fine black powder.

Ewan snatched up the pendant, heart racing, mouth dry, and wondering if any of that was true. But knowing deep in the depths of his cold, bleak soul that it was and he be damned if he’d let her die.

“I’ve only just found
ye
, lass. I’ll not let ye go, nay till I’m cold in the grave.” He curled his fingers around the dark purple stone and held it to his heart.

Sleep did not come for many hours.

***

A shadow stirred in his doorway. Ewan jumped to a crouching position, hearing the rapid breathing of a female.
His female.

She smelled of jasmine, rich and earthy and his blood stirred, heating his veins and making him instantly alert.

“Red?” he asked as gently as he could, but couldn’t disguise the need trembling heavy in his brogue.

“It was you,” she said in a voice as dead as the ghoul’s.

He frowned. “
Wha
--”

“That night.”

She stepped inside the door, and though in human form, his eyes were sharp. He drank in the sight of her like a man parched. Still dressed in red, she was as a lovely wraith with her pale luminescent skin and large blue eyes.

“You’re the black wolf.” Her eyes were vacant, cold. “You killed her.”

He touched the jewel resting against his chest; he’d fallen asleep with it on. “Aye, I killed her, but it’s nay what ye think, Red.”

She didn’t even flinch. “I can’t even hurt you. I stood here in the door for an hour and you’re magic wouldn’t let me enter. Want to know why?”
Such a sweet, soft voice.
So at odds with its deadness.

Lifting the pendant over his head, he tried handing it to her. “This was given to me by
Miriam,
it’s the truth of that night. Come here, Red. Come.”

He beckoned her; an uneasy tension slithered up his spine, made the back of his neck tingle.

“For years I’ve thought of you.
Obsessed about you, drawing your picture over and over.
Always your eyes, they haunt me the most. And I knew when I met you, I’d seen you before. And I was right.”

He blinked. “Lass… please.”

“I hate you. I came here to kill you, to end your miserable life.”

Her words chilled his blood, froze the breath in his lungs. “I would never harm ye, lass. I vow it. I’ve searched for ye, loved ye then and now...”

She didn’t acknowledge his words, only pulled her hands from behind her back. Opening her hand, she showed him what she held. A thin silver hairpin, innocuous, and yet he knew it was more than a hairpin to her. It was long and sharp looking at its tip.

“Lass, what are ye--” He twitched, every muscle screaming at him to pounce on her and throw it away.

She looked at her palm. “What hurts you the most, Ewan?”

Her name on his lips, first time she’d ever called him by his birth name, he should have rejoiced. Standing, he inched toward her. Slowly, like one approaching a wild, scared animal. “I’ve the proof, lass. I can show ye what happened that night. Let me.”

Violet’s eyes blazed, the first time she’d shown any type of emotion. “Answer my question.”

He searched her face, every line, every lash seared into his brain.
“You.
Nothing could hurt me, but losing ye.”

She closed her eyes. “You took my ability for revenge, but you gave me another instead.”

Moving faster than he’d expected her to, she raked the pin across her wrist. He was on her, wresting the pin out of her fingers, but it was too late. She’d cut deep, blood welled from her pale skin like a dark bloom.

Ewan’s heart seized. He grabbed her by the shoulders, crashing down to the floor with her, his brain unable to comprehend what she’d done. Why she’d done it.

“Red,” he stuttered, pain caught in his throat, threatening to claw itself out, “nay, nay.”

“Hate… you… so… much,” she sobbed and her tears became his.

Grabbing her wrist, Ewan brought it to his mouth. Wolves could
heal,
they weren’t fast at it, or very good, but good enough. He licked the blood, savoring the sweetness of her, even as his tears mingled on his tongue. Rocking hard, covered in blood, he licked and licked, passing whatever healing he could to her, praying to whatever god might hear him.

“I love ye, lass. Please don’t leave. Don’t leave me again.”

Chapter 8

Dreaming, Violet roamed somewhere between awake and asleep, haunted by images she couldn’t understand.

Her grandmother Jana, standing inside the doorway, alive and aged.
Her wrinkled hand beckoning to Violet with hurried gestures.

“My, what big eyes you have, grandmother.”
A ghost of a voice whispered.

Jana’s grin widened, the sharp rows of fangs glinting with a coat of something clear, yet thick.

“My, what big teeth you have, grandmother.”
The same voice, soft and unsure.

Jana’s eyes were black, full and alien like. So different than the kindly green they’d once been.

“The better to kill you with, my dear…” A sharp, brittle laugh punctuated the small hut and then two wolves jumped out.
One red, one black.

The red stalked her, slowly, methodically. Licking its muzzle as its eyes blazed with hunger.

Violet stood, a specter in this vision, watching her past self huddle and cower in the corner; screaming with a bottomless pit of terror that’d blinded her to the truth.

The black wolf wasn’t moving. Its belly heaved as its
slitted
pupils dilated, then its hackles rose and it jumped Jana, tearing her limb from limb. The red wolf had turned, growling and moaning, as if seeking to understand what’d possessed the black wolf.

Over and over the vision played and she was helpless to its thrall. Wetness coated her face and soft moans rumbled through her chest, for hours she lay, replaying the past, seeing what couldn’t possibly be.

He hadn’t saved her. Ewan had killed her grandmother. But then the visions swept in like a tidal wave and each time she watched it, she knew it was true.

The mystery of that night was finally solved. The last piece of the puzzle she couldn’t remember, her soul accepted and believed, her mind screamed. Everyone had lied to her.
Her aunt, Jana, everyone.

But not him.

No!

She trembled, something strong and firm gripped her hard. It was comforting, warm, and she was ashamed and confused.
 

“Wake up, Red,” the thick brogue whispered in her ear, a caress so soft and sweet. “Open those big blue
eyes,
look at me. Ye can hate me all ye want, just live, Red. Please.”

The last word was choked out and strained, scratchy and full of something deep and profound, but she couldn’t make sense of it.