Page 44 of Branches of the Willow

Asriel didn’t hesitate. He ran forward with greater speed than I thought possible of our kind, and dove for Malachi, tackling him before his blade had the chance to drop even an inch towards its destination. Sounds of a woman crying carried on the wind and dulled the cracking sound I heard in the background. I saw just a little further off, a blond woman tied to a tree. At first, my heart went out to her, and I closed ranks on her position. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help since I was basically a spirit walking around, but I went anyway.

I turned back long enough to see Asriel helping Mikael up off the ground. Malachi’s still form was next to them in the grass, and neither man seemed worried about it. I figured I knew what that meant. The blond woman was still crying, but she seemed relieved as she noticed that Malachi wasn’t getting back up. I heard skirmishes taking place a little way off, but I didn’t bother paying attention to what was happening over there.

Something was on the ground beside the girl who was tied to the tree. I moved a little closer, almost afraid of what I’d see. I was thankful that I was in the spirit realm as I glanced down and noticed the river that I was standing in. That wasn’t right. It wasn’t a river, it was too dark, and thick for that. Blood. I was standing in someone’s blood, and the thing I had seen near the girl was another woman’s body. I bent down to take a closer look and realized that there wasn’t a head attached. There was only a stump of a neck with blood crusted bone sticking out of the top. The woman’s head had been severed clean from her body.

“Please, help me.” The girl who was tied to the tree started calling out. At first, I thought she was talking to me, but then I turned to see Mikael walking up behind where I stood. He glanced down at me and frowned. Of course, he could see that I was there. I wonder if he had heard me call out to him too.

“I had to see that you were okay.” He didn’t seem to hear me as his attention was now on the woman tied to the tree. For the first time, I looked up and saw more than the blond hair that framed her face. It was a face I knew all too well.

“Clarissa?” Evan’s question came from behind me. I turned to see the anger painted there, until he looked down and noticed the body I was kneeling beside. “Who was this?”

“Leanna.” Clarissa sniffled. Malachi got so mad when the notice about us being fugitives, and him having no claim to his father’s throne, came out. He screamed and cursed at her, wanting Leanna to tell everyone that it was a lie, but she didn’t. She admitted that he was her son, and he…” Her eyes widened with shock as she looked back over her shoulder beyond the body, and the tree she was tied to. “Her head… it’s back there.”

As morbid as it was, I had to see for myself, and make sure. Unfortunately for me, it was face down in the grass, so I couldn’t tell if Clarissa spoke the truth or not. Asriel walked over and moved the head slightly with the tip of his boot. “It’s her.” He growled out.

“My sister…” Clarissa was crying again. “He told me she ran off one night, but all I’ve thought about is, what if he did that to her too?” Funny how she cared about her sister now, but not when she was trying to steal Annabelle’s mate. Unfortunately, I was just a spirit observing so I couldn’t say that out loud and have it count.

“Your sister is fine, for now.” Evan stated, keeping emotion from his voice, and his face neutral, even though he stood mere feet from his own mother’s dead body and severed head.

“Please, take me to her,” Clarissa begged. Still, no one had bothered to untie her. I watched as the men seemed to all be having an internal debate about what to do with the woman.

“Should we bring her back to her sister?” Mikael was the one to speak out loud, and he wasn’t looking at the others. He was watching me for my answer. I tipped my head down and back up again, deliberately signaling a ‘yes’ to him. They could both rot together in the locks.

My father, being the astute man that he was, looked at the void he must have seen, and back to Mikael again. “She’s here?”

“Yeah.”

“Damn it, Jess.” My father growled out. “You shouldn’t have to see that.”

“She wants us to bring Clarissa back too.”

“Can you hear her?” Asi asked.

“No. I can see her though.”

“What of John Freedman?” Asi asked, looking between the void where I stood and Mikael.

It was my father who answered. “He’s dead, as is his number two man. The rest of the pack can choose a new leader and fall in line, or we can come back and scatter them to the wind for their betrayal.”

I nodded in agreement with my father. “Jess agrees with you.” My father smiled as Mikael told him that. Dimitri strolled up behind them with a man who was bound and gagged.

“That’s my girl.” My father smiled slightly, before turning to face Dimitri. “What’s this?” He motioned towards the bound man.

“Hunter.” Dimitri stated simply. “I thought you might want to have a word with him when I found him trying to slink off into the shadows over there.” My father looked towards Asi. “Can you take care of that until we get back?” Asi nodded while Jameson St. Marks put his command voice to use, and told what remained of the Freedman Pack, in no uncertain terms, that we’d be back to take care of business if they didn’t get themselves together and fall in line. He then gathered his pack, and my mate, and they all got ready to come home with their prisoners.

“Get some rest now, Jess.” Mikael said to me as they all started walking by. My vision dulled as the gray mist settled in, signifying the end of my time in the astral-dream realm. When I woke, I hadn’t expected anyone to be leaning over me, so when a face was within inches of my own, I let out a blood curdling scream.

I was greeted with a similar scream in return as the face backed up. My eyes adjusted, and I realized it was Ashley. “Holy shit, Jessica!” Ashley clutched at her heart. “You almost gave me a goddamn coronary.”

“Me? Why in the hell were you all up in my face like that?”

“I was making sure you were breathing, you idiot.” Ashley plopped down to sit on the floor in front of my Papasan Chair as my mother came running into the room.

“What is going on? Are they okay?”

“They’re all on their way back, Mom. Sorry, Ashley scared the crap out of me when I woke up.”

“Likewise,” Ashley countered without hesitation.

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