Page 78 of Court of Heathens

“He’s above the city. Oh gods, no, he’s taking over the city. He’s killing them all.” My words end in a scream as he throws me from his body, his laughter following me.

He wanted me to see.

He wanted me to know where he is.

CHAPTER 41

“It’s a trap,” Phrixius points out.

“Definitely.” I nod. “But we have no choice. If we don’t stop him now, he won’t just end up claiming this city—he will devour everything until there is nothing left of the world.” I blow back my hair in annoyance, and Adder is suddenly there, his deft fingers working on tying it back for me. “It’s now or never.”

“We’re probably going to die,” Adder comments conversationally.

“Maybe,” I agree.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Sha asks.

Laughing, I turn when Adder steps back, eyeing myself in the mirror. Today, I’m dressed for business. Gone is the flowy dress, and in its place are skin-tight, black trousers. My boots are to my knees, with a dagger in each, and my hair is plaited up in horns to match Adder’s. When I look at my men, I see them nodding, also ready.

We know what awaits us and that we might not make it out alive, but it’s a risk we have to take.

“We are like the A-Team.” Adder grins. “Or Suicide Squad, just hotter.”

Smirking, I hold out my hand. “Let’s end this differently than they did. Either we all make it back or wedie trying.”

“I still think this is a bad idea.” Phrixius sighs, but he lays his hand in mine. “But I’m with you.”

“Until the end.” Sha nods, placing his hand over ours, and Adder covers them all.

“Let’s go kick some necro ass!”

Without another word, I conjure a portal and push us through since I was the one who saw him—we don’t need Phrixius’s magic this time. When we step from it, we stand in the middle of an empty, deserted street. The sun is high in the sky, the usually bustling cityscape around us devoid of life and sound. Cars lie on their sides or are smashed together, their doors open as if people just got out and walked away.

Lights flicker from green to red, sidewalks remain empty, and food, bags, and even coats just lie where they fell.

There isn’t a body in sight.

“This is not creepy at all,” Adder whispers. “I’m pretty sure this is how all horror games I play start.”

“Where are all the bodies?” I murmur, and then realisation hits me. “He’s gathering them.”

Rolling my shoulders back, I search inside myself for the pull, my eyes turning upwards. There, in the heart of the city, I see a silhouette upon a roof.

He’s tired of waiting. He wants to end this now.

“Welp, let’s do it, I guess.” Adder takes my hand and swings it back and forth as we start to walk towards the centre of the city. More signs of abandoned personal effects litter every street, and there still isn’t a body in sight.

It sends a shiver down my spine, and trepidation washes down my body. Whatever he did will not be good.

When we turn the last corner, reaching the road leading right to the skyscraper he’s on, we see them.

Like a blockade, facing every available street surrounding the building, are thousands of bodies.

The sun blazes down on them. Some are missing shoes and clothes, and others still have leashes and folders in their hands, as if they stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing and marched here.

We all stop, eyeing the massive crowd as a dog races past us, barking at a woman with a leash. It tugs at her, barking and nipping at her leg, but she completely ignores it, frozen bar his tugging.

“So creepy, yet I have the urge to run at them like a human bowling ball,” Adder whispers, and then the air fills with magic.

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