Page 47 of Death God

I held his exasperated gaze, a trace of my death power rolling off me. “You don’t need to guard me. I’m way more powerful than any of you even with this pair of fucking cuffs binding my ability.”

My family had all gotten out of the van and gathered around me. They stared at the cuffs around my wrists, worry in their eyes.

I smiled at them to comfort them. “Don’t worry. This piece of shit will eventually come off.”

“You’ve said many bad words, Aunt Pip,” Jacob said.

“Aunt Pip is being bad today,” Sam said. “Don’t learn from her.”

My sister tried to stare hard at me, like Mom used to do when I’d done something naughty. A wave of heartache rippled over me, thinking Mom and Dad were gone forever. I shoved the deep sorrow down. I couldn’t deal with my grief now while I was on a mission and had a duty to protect my family.

“I’m sorry, Jacob. Your mom is right.” I smiled at him. “Don’t learn from your auntie. I’m having a bad day, but I’ll try to cuss less in front of you.”

“We all have bad days sometimes,” he said seriously. “Do you want a hug?”

“Yes. Can you hug me before I go to bed?” I asked, and he nodded.

I turned to Duck Shit. “You and your buddies take good care of my family, and I’ll owe you a favor. I’ll make no trouble for you.”

DS sighed and barked orders at his team of five and assigned two of them to guard Sam, two to guard Dylan and Phoebe, and the last one to bring up the rear. He parked himself beside me.

I tilted my head to give the mages and witches, who trailed us several yards away, a savage warning grin. They knew that if they crossed me, I wouldn’t show them mercy. Yet they didn’t go away. I bet the Alpha King ordered them to watch my every move and report back to him.

Still, I felt the need to make a statement, as there were so many mages and witches on the castle’s ground, staring at me with hostility.

“I’ve issued a warning in front of the king,” I said, letting my voice carry. “If anyone dares to harm my companions, you’ll be more than sorry. Not even the king can stop me from slaughtering any of you, no matter how high your rank is.”

The menace and viciousness in my voice made everyone shudder. Good. They got the message. I let my death power vibrate in the air before I jogged toward the portal while easily carrying my nephew in my arms.

“If that’s what you’re thinking, Lady Pip, I’d suggest you don’t do anything stupid,” Duck Shit said beside me. “No one can get out of the castle without bearing the Alpha King’s blood symbol. And it’s impossible for even the strongest mages to breach the ward.”

“Maybe we should go back, Pip?” Sam said as she walked on my other side. She still treated me as her big sister, even though she looked like my big sister now. “I have bad goosebumps all over my arms.”

Dylan and Phoebe murmured their agreement. I could see that my little brother was the quiet and sharp type. He’d probably thought he’d brought his girlfriend for a vacation and adventure, only to swallow the hard fact that they weren’t exactly honored guests but prisoners to be used as leverage to make me do whatever the Alpha King desired.

“I have to do this,” I whispered to my family as they shuddered.

I had to risk it to keep them safe.

I handed Jacob back to Sam. This was as close as they could be to the portal. “Stay with the guards. I’ll be right back.”

“Even I feel chills whenever I’m near the ward,” Duck Shit murmured. “And I’m no coward.”

None of the shifters realized that the ward was infused with tens of thousands of trapped souls. They didn’t know a lot of the dark secrets in the castle.

I stalked toward the ward, which shimmered with fuzzy lightning. If anyone looked at this place from the other side, they would see only a range of cliffs.

A new wave of doom came over me. No way could Marlowe find me here. Even if he could get to this portal, how could the three light mages break down the ward put up by a horde of powerful dark mages? How could they tear down a ward running on the energy of tens of thousands of damned souls?

This was the darkest magic at play, using the souls’ agony to fuel the spells. I could feel the collective shudders from my powerful spirit allies on my cuffs. It could have been their souls that were made into the bricks and batteries.

I needed to find a way to free them or they’d be in eternal hell, and no one else could help them.

As I stepped closer, I could see the endless phantom skulls piling up, stretching to the sky and extending to enclose the entire castle.

Spartoi used the army of the dead for his defense, bound them, and forced them into this unbearable, eternal slavery. He might have done a marvelous, evil job, but he forgot that he wasn’t the angel of death. My father was, and I was Death’s daughter.

My mind touched the souls on the ward, not deeply, but feather light, since the last thing I wanted was to engage them prematurely and be sucked in. Yet instantly a bridge of dark light formed between us, and souls reached out toward me from the churning dark water under the bridge. More of them swarmed toward me from the other end of the bridge, screams tearing out of the depths of their throats, carried by the sound of flapping wings.

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