Page 79 of Her Blood Revenge

All that matters to me is grasping the life I have lost and never letting go. The life that was stolen.

That Neve took.

The need consumes me, and my head is thrown back as the darkness rips through me in beautiful euphoria. My blood magic consumes me.

And it is delicious.

I feel them all. Every living and dead thing. And they are mine to save or destroy.

I laugh. But the laughter is not mine. It’s inside me, spilling out of my mouth.

‘ASHE!’ Dorian roars. ‘STOP!’ He reaches out for me as something inside me yanks hard, pulling me back. Dark shadows explode from his back and soartowards me, smothering me and enveloping me completely. I spin wildly in the swirling mass of shadows as that unyielding tug roots in deep and drags me back.

Until…thud.

I land face down.

The swirling blackness is gone. Everyone is gone. The castle. The hall. The guards. Gone!

When I push myself up, my hands sink into the blackest sand. And when I take a breath, I cough and splutter, choking on sulphur and ash.

My snake rises up from where she settles around my wrist, her head poking out and her tongue tasting the magic so palatable in the air. It makes the hair on my arms stand on end.

Danger…

It was like a word whispered into my mind.

My familiar looks up at me, and I know that overwhelming sense of danger is coming from her.

The ground shakes. I stumble to my feet, looking at the endless dunes of midnight black sand stretching on and on until they meet a colossal mountain that steams and smoulders. Above it is a sky of deep purples and reds. Storms rage in the sky. Clouds move as if in turmoil, and lightning streaks across the dark sky.

A low and terrifying growl rumbles through the air, and a sloshing sound from behind has terror coursing through my veins.

Slowly, I turn.

An endless sea of blood stretches on and on. My hand slams over my mouth as I watch the countless bodies thrashing in the blood, wailing and clawing as they trydesperately to stay afloat. Their sobbing is desperate and so full of despair.

Thousands of them. Men. Women. Children.

None of them seem to swim towards the safety of the sand. They just tread the blood and release howls of pain and torment.

‘What the hell is this place?’ I whisper.

The ground shakes again, and the sound of clinking metal rings out. From beneath my feet, a thick length of chain tears up the ground. The links are bigger than me and thicker than a tree trunk. I follow the chain as it trails into the sea of red.

A hand rises. A fucking massive hand a hundred times bigger than any hand I have ever seen. Its fingers grip the iron chain attached to a manacle around its wrist, and it pulls. The chain is connected to the great mountain behind me, and it creaks and spits fire as the chain is tugged. The ground shakes harder, and the top of a head emerges from the sea of blood.

A woman.

She opens her eyes. The brilliant white and piercing blue is a stark contrast to the deep red coating her hair and skin.

Her gaze falls on me, and her eyes narrow. Those in the sea wail harder and more desperately at her appearance.

‘What the…’

Fear has me rooted to the spot.

The woman continues to rise, her hand reaching out for me and dripping gallons upon gallons of blood from her body. I stumble back, unable to pull my gaze away from her, and land on my backside. Even as her giant hand reaches for me, terror has me stuck firm. Her body is jarredbackwards, and she releases a raging scream that has me slamming my hands over my ears.

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