Page 8 of Haunted Hearts

She doesn’t answer.

“We’ve got to do it, Kwil, Death said—” Jonah yelps as a blast of magic hits just above his head. The tree rocks under the blast. I manage to grab hold of a handful of smaller branches inside the alcove. Jonah isn’t that lucky. He tumbles out of the tree and hits the ground with a loud ‘oof’.

“Jonah…” I flinch at the weak alarm in Willow’s voice.

I glance down to see him getting back to his feet. He reaches for a branch, ready to climb up again, but Fulton sends another blast towards him, causing the man to back away. He’ll have to fend for himself. I have a job to do.

One that I have to work up the nerve to complete.

Turning back to Willow, I lean forward, cupping her cheek with my hand and leaning forward so my forehead rests on top of her head. She’s starting to look like her old self again.

“Willow, can you hear me?” I whisper, my voice cracking right alongside my heart.

There’s a pause. It feels like an eternity but in reality, it may have only been seconds before she whispers, “Mystery Man.”

“Yes, Willow, I’m here.” I swallow down the lump in my throat as her body gives the smallest of shudders. Willow doesn’t look up, and other than her shudder, she doesn’t move. “We’re all here and we’re going to help you now, ok? Do you trust me, Willow?”

Again, there is a pause. As I wait for her to answer, I notice the color that has come back to her skin is beginning to fade and her skin begins to wrinkle.

“Unequivocally.”

Willow’s response is so soft that I barely hear it, but because I do, I don’t miss the pain in it either. Swallowing down the horror and repugnancy welling up in my chest, I brace myself.

No!The monster in me screams as I take her face gently with both hands. I ignore it.NO!

The creature slams against my mental restraint that I keep it wrapped up in, surprising me. It reaches for control of my body in a state of panic and rage. Taken back by the sudden and intense internal attack, my arms jerk away from Willow of their own accord.

I must!I struggle for control. My own voice inside my head sounds like a whine of denial. Bile climbs up my throat. I don’t want to do this. I can’t, I can’t… A choked sob slips out as I stare at Willow as she suffers.

MATE, MATE,MATE! It bellows in denial.

I shove the monster back, taking control over my body once more. I grab Willow’s face before the monster can stop me and whisper,

“I love you, Little Minx. Forgive me.”

With a hard jerk, I twist Willow’s neck to one side.

The sickening crack nearly has my insides turning out. My heart screams in wild protest and my body trembles violently. Tears well up, blurring my vision, and my breath stalls in my throat. Willow’s death is the quickest, and cleanest, kill I have ever done.

Yet, it will be the one that haunts me forever.

Chapter4

VIKTOR

Iknow the exact moment Willow dies.

The freezing bite of loneliness, grief, and despair that sinks into my pores nearly drives me to my knees, even as I swing my sword down and around to slice through a particularly large demon. The creatures I’m fighting must feel the absence of her life too, because they stop surging forward. They drop back, baring their fangs and snarling their rage, before tucking tail and heading back into the dark, vast wasteland around us.

Now that the immediate threat is gone, I focus on the gut-wrenching agony unfurling from my heart. Thankfully, before the pain can overpower my senses, it disappears. A rush of warmth and relief causes my body to tremble.

What’s happening?

I suck in short, sharp breaths of air as the shock of the pain wears off. As I attempt to handle the whiplash of emotions surging through me, I turn in the direction of the tree.

Without wasting a second, I start to run.

The clouds darken overhead until they are nearly pitch black and thicken over the blood red tree. A boom of thunder and a crack of green lightning that lights up the rest of the sky causes the tree to shake hard. In the center of the sudden storm, a hole forms. As I draw nearer, I watch as Kwil jumps down from wherever he was and runs. He puts space between himself and the tree just in time. A downpour of blazing green and white flames falls from the opening in the clouds. When the attack hits the ground, the earth is rocked from the impact. Everyone: Jonah, Kwil, Theodon, Brock and Fulton, are all thrown up a few feet into the air before they fall back down, hitting the ground hard. Luckily, none of them get close to the stream of fire that engulfs the unnaturally massive tree.

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