Land of Monsters (Savage Lands #8)

Chapter 18

The heavy army jeep left deep tracks on the road. My boots barely imprinted over them while running behind Raven, taking us farther out of town. The snow clouds tumbled overhead, snatching away any bit of warmth from the afternoon sun.

She sniffed the air, tracking her brother, moving faster than I could, but I pushed harder to keep up. I didn’t like being out of reach. I had watched her almost die. The necessity to protect her was always high before, but now it bordered on obsession.

With every step, I could feel her release coating my cock, knowing my cum pooled in her knickers, and it only increased my volatile emotions. It charged fire through me, a deep, fearful rage I could no longer control. Her blood was inside me, a tattoo under my skin. She literally marked my cock as hers.

Watching her being attacked from across the square, not able to reach her, was my worst nightmare, the epitome of hell. It snapped me back to Lukas and Kek, watching their lives being taken, and I was not able to reach them in time. Save them. Experiencing that with Raven had me losing my mind, ready to gut everyone there, whether innocent or guilty, I didn’t care. I was ready to litter the streets with bodies.

It made everything very clear. She was mine. And nothing would take her from me.

If they did… Well, for those who thought I had lost my way before, they would find me the embodiment of destruction. The image of death and ruin.

Warwick would have a rival in bending death to its knees.

I was there to watch Warwick and Brexley fall in love, the connection everyone could hear and feel from miles away. To undergo most of my friends finding their mate in the last year, to see the protectiveness coming out when their partner was in danger. I thought I understood, or could at least correlate to Lukas and Kek. Because I loved them. I loved them with everything I was capable of.

At that time.

I got it now. What mate really meant. What it felt like in your bones. It flipped me on my ass and called me its bitch. This level of connection was something I never could have imagined before it happened to me. My feelings for Raven weren’t even in my control. They were embedded in my DNA, wound in my very being.

I had doubled down, making sure of it, not even giving her a choice when I sensed what was coming earlier.

I had loved pushing inside her, drenching my dick in her blood, using nature’s response to us to heal her, but when I felt something shift, the blood acting as a conduit, I didn’t even want to stop it.

Blood rituals were not for the faint of heart. The gods and goddesses were a twisted, perverse bunch. This shouldn’t have been on their radar, yet they accepted it anyway. When her blood mixed with my seed, it burrowed our connection into the foundation of the earth.

If there was a second when I thought I could walk away and leave her to her life, that was over.

About twenty minutes out of town, a low rumble came from Raven. Her back curled, blades peeking from her already torn clothes.

“What?” My gaze darted around as we climbed a snowy incline, noting a sign to the First Romanian School Museum. Slowing my footsteps, I peered around, trying to sense any threat.

Why did they bring him here?

Fresh tire tracks drew us up the cobbled lane through an arched stone gate, taking us to an Orthodox church and school. Thick, white stone walls blended into the dwindling hazy daylight. Two army jeeps were parked in front of the school. A single guard stood at the doorway, his rifle set in his hands.

A noise coiled in her throat, a vibrating threat that sounded like death. Her nails extended into claws, her eyes flashing red.

The man was already dead.

A murmur of words rose in a chant, a spell pushing out toward the man. Immediately, I could feel the connection between us, sensing her body being drained. I knew I could have denied it, ignored the tug, but my response was embedded in me now. She needed me. My magic rushed up to help, letting her take whatever she needed from me.

The man dropped his gun, his eyes bugging as he clawed at his head. Raven stepped closer, Latin sliding through her canine teeth.

Red veins in his eyes started to pop, trails of blood dripping from his eyes. His mouth was wrenched open, but no sound could escape.

Her energy weighed heavier on me, a trickle of blood leaking from her nose as she pushed forward. I felt the link between us straining.

“Raven?” I muttered, but she continued, ignoring me, her obscurer locked on its target. “Raven,” I said louder, but once again, she did not recede.

The man’s mouth opened and closed like a guppy fish, while she spat out more guttural words. The obscurer took claim of its prey, while the dweller snapped at the fence like a feral, starving dog.

My head started to spin, energy being pulled from me and pouring into her, but it wasn’t enough. She still grew weaker. “Raven…”

I heard a pop and a snap before his body crumbled to the ground. Gore gushed from his ears, eyes, and nose, his brain melting out of his skull and into the murky snow.

Fuck.

Lethargy washed over me, but I dug my boots deeper into the earth, asking nature for more. Raven’s legs bowed, but she didn’t fall, her hand gripping my arm for support until she pulled her shoulders back. “Thank you.” She didn’t say it out loud, but I felt it even stronger than if she had. Similar to how roots talk to the rest of the tree, we no longer needed words to communicate.

“Remind me not to piss you off,” I whispered. Both of us stepped over the dead body, and I kept my firearm ready while Raven peered inside the open doors of the school. I wanted to give her the only gun we had, but she was her own weapon. I just needed to be her bodyguard, protect her until she could unleash her rage like she just had.

“He’s here.” She sniffed the air, mumbling more to herself. Anxiety fizzed in my gut, the energy around us feeling off.

Voices lured us past rooms with naked mannequins, frames empty of artwork, and empty book shelves. Anything that could be sold or used had already been taken.

“We are risking everything.” Eve’s voice came from the back room.

“We made a deal for her , not him.”

Ice grew up my throat, the man’s timbre tapping at the back of my mind.

“Things didn’t quite go as planned.”

“Clearly,” he clipped. “She is not going to be very happy.”

“Neither is Vozhd .” Supreme leader . Eve snipped back.

“How do I know this is not a trick? You give me him, while you take her to Dimitri Kozlov.”

“It’s not a trick,” Eve replied. “And I assure you, he is just as powerful.”

What the fuck was going on? The mafia worked for Kozlov. Why did it sound like they were plotting behind his back?

“Can he mate with the Primul ? Carry their offspring? She wanted a breeder. A Druid breeder.”

She was Sonya.

“We’re not having a problem here, are we?” Nikolay’s tone threatened, the sound of guns clicking, other figures moving around the room. “You promised us a lot of money to get you a royal offspring. We did. Now pay up.”

“Such a simple task and you can’t even do that right.” The unknown man’s accent hit my ear, pumping my pulse higher.

“Pay or you won’t be walking out of here,” Nikolay spat.

A cold laugh barely hit the air before it was gone. “You think you scare me? You are nothing, Nikolay. I was trained to hunt and kill before you were sperm. There isn’t a time I am not a dozen steps ahead of everyone.”

“Really?” Nikolay sounded like a thug compared to the coolness of the other man’s voice. “Looks like you are surrounded with five guns pointed at your head. You’re the one who is behind.”

“You think so?” The man’s voice went low.

Hair rose on the back of my neck, an unnatural smell invading my nose, but one I recognized. Terror soaked into my muscles, feeling a presence come upon us, whipping me around.

A fist slammed into my gut before I could even react, the sheer force taking me off guard and dropping me to the floor.

Raven’s muffled cry filled my ears when someone else came behind her, knowing enough to cover her mouth with a cloth while cuffing her. I sensed the moment her energy was cut off, our connection muffled through the poison.

“Get up.” The man who hit me clutched my jacket, hiking me up to my feet with one arm, jabbing his face into mine. It took me a moment to get my bearings, my mind rattled by the impact. When my sight cleared, my stomach sank.

“Joska.”

He huffed, his face taking on more and more of a gorilla-like appearance each time I saw him, the human side disappearing, like he finally understood being human had been his weakness the whole time.

Balazs, the one with hyena qualities, held Raven, her wide eyes locked on me, the barrel of the gun pressing into her temple. Samu stood behind them both, his cat teeth bared at me.

“Your girlfriend’s brains will be on the floor if you try anything, fairy.” Joska sneered at me.

“It isn’t me you should be afraid of.”

Huffing, he dragged me into the room, where Rook sat in one of the pews. Eve, Nikolay, and other mafia cronies were scattered around the mock classroom, their weapons swinging to us with surprise.

My focus centered on the man in front of the room.

“Baszd meg …” Air caught in my throat. My pulse thrummed in my ears. An ache in my shoulder sprang up as if it still felt the fae bullet he put there over a year and a half ago. My throat bobbed, the shock dissipating quickly to realization.

“Kalaraja.” I addressed the Lord of Death, spitting onto the floor. “I should’ve known.”

His pitiless dark eyes stared into mine without an ounce of feeling. So many fae enjoyed the kill, usually someone who deserved it or to save someone they loved. Kalaraja was different. He thrived off torture and torment. He felt no difference in murdering a guilty man or an innocent child. They were the same to him. Cold-blooded and relentless, he worked for the highest bidder. As far as I knew, he had no family, no weakness to pull at. If he did have a mother, he’d probably watch her die without blinking an eye. And he was another one who escaped when Sonya and Iain had.

“Too bad my bullet didn’t take you out the first time.” He folded his hands in front of him, nonplussed by all the weapons pointing at him. “I will make sure to remedy that today.”

Raven thrashed next to me, drawing his attention to her, twisting my gut in knots.

“The princess.” Kalaraja’s soulless stare made me shiver. “So you are what the fuss is all about?”

Rook grunted behind his gag, his head shaking. He tried to stand, but Nikolay shoved him back down, putting a gun to Rook’s head, forcing a cry from his twin.

Kalaraja gave him no heed, his attention completely on Raven. When he took a step, the entire room turned on each other. A stand-off between groups. Yet the Lord of Death did not stop, methodically moving towards Raven. Everything he did felt empty of emotion, of any empathy. He stopped in front of her, his gaze moving over her. I felt Raven’s fear, tasted it on my tongue, but she held her chin high under his scrutiny.

“Take them.” Kalaraja nodded to Balazs and Samu. The hyena pulled Raven back, while Samu headed for Rook.

“Wait. What is going on?” Nikolay’s head bounced between the twins. “The deal was only for one!” He stepped in front of Rook, his gun pointing at Samu.

“That was your mistake.” Kalaraja calmly turned to him. “I don’t make deals.”

I heard the click of Nikolay’s pistol.

It was a breath, a millisecond, and Kalaraja yanked a gun from the heavy black cloak he was wearing.

POP! A bullet drove through Nikolay’s head, blood and brains bursting out in a spray, dusting Rook and Eve in a red mist. Nikolay’s eyes went wide, taking a moment to register he was dead before his body crumbled to the ground.

Eve let out a scream, about to go to her lover, but stopped when Kalaraja’s aim focused on her. The other Mafia members weren’t so smart, firing at Kalaraja.

POP! POP! POP!

The three men left dropped in sequence, their lives already forgotten by the Lord of Death.

“I told you,” Kalaraja said evenly to Eve, like he was enjoying coffee instead of murdering mafia members. “I am always ahead.”

Eve gulped, her face staying neutral, but I could see the fear in her eyes. If Nikolay the Bloody, the notorious mafia leader, and his men could be taken out so quickly, so could she.

“Now it’s your turn.” He turned back to us, leaning into Raven. “Say goodbye, princess.”

“NOOOO!” My reaction was explosive, hitting so hard that the trees outside whipped into a frenzy, their branches beating against the roof as I thrashed against Joska. “Don’t fucking touch her!”

“You mistake me.” Kalaraja smirked. “It’s you she’s saying goodbye to.” My mind hadn’t even registered the modification before Joska swiped my feet out from under me, my knees hitting the stone, a gun shoved into the base of my neck.

Raven’s garbled cry howled through the room, her dark dweller and obscurer beating at the cage that kept them back. Balazs struggled to keep hold of her. I sensed the push of our bond trying to connect, but it was like looking through glass, her touch just outside my reach.

“I won’t miss this time.” Kalaraja pressed the hot barrel of his gun between my eyes. Joska’s bullet waited to enter the back of my head just in case that one didn’t kill me.

“Nooooooo!” A muffled wail sounded against her gag. Raven strained against the metal keeping her crippled, her body bowing as she tried to push beyond it, only draining her powers more.

“ Dziubu?. ” My eyes lifted to hers, my eyes watering. I knew she could read my expression, the apology for not being strong enough, for leaving her like this, the plea for her to live.

“Don’t stop fighting. Ever. You live, you hear me? Live a beautiful full life for me,” I whispered to her. Her head wagged, tears spilling down her cheeks, a sob racking her chest. “ Kocham ci? .” I love you. I said in Polish, switching to Hungarian. “ ?n a lelkem.” You are my soul.

Raven howled, trying to reach for me, her legs giving out on her, forcing Balazs to hold her up.

I grit my teeth, not wanting to leave her, understanding something deep in my core. I had always felt like I let Kek and Lukas down, that I failed them. I deserved to live in hell, to punish myself.

Being on the other side, my life about to end, I realized I was wrong. Love didn’t make you want the other to suffer. I didn’t want the burden of revenge and anger to hang on Raven like it had me. I wanted her to be happy, even if it meant falling in love with someone else someday.

Keeping my eyes on Raven, telling her all I could without words, I watched her wither and wail, shoving at her captor, trying to get to me. Sound felt far away, but she was what I held on to, her beauty… as I prepared for the darkness to come.

I sensed the bullet leave the chamber.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!

My body went flying into the air, my brain spiraling, trying to understand what was happening. The explosion shook the school’s foundation, flipping and rolling everyone like we were dice in a cup. I hit the ground in a brutal roll, slamming into a pew with a choked groan. My head swam with confusion, understanding one thing—I was still alive.

“Raven…” Pain sliced through me, but I pushed myself up, the room still spinning. Dust and debris choked the air, my ears ringing from the blast. “Raven?” I called her name out stronger, crawling through the rubble. Only a few feet away, I saw her body against the wall, blood oozing from her forehead. “Raven!” Glass from the windows cut through my knees, but I felt nothing. I gripped her face, turning her to me, her body limp. “Baby…” I ripped down the gag, wiping the glass and plaster off her skin. “Please, wake up.” Relief exhaled through me when her lids blinked open, her blurry eyes staring up at me.

“Ash,” she croaked, tears filling her eyes, her hands trying to reach up to touch my face, but her heavy cuffs dropped them back down again. “You’re alive.”

“Yeah.” I pressed my forehead to hers, needing a moment to feel her warmth, bask in her life. “I’m here.”

Voices and commotion shuffled around us in the hazy chamber; it wouldn’t be long before they came for us again.

Booooommm!

Another explosion shook the ground like an aftershock, sounding like a car exploding in front of the school, pulling the focus outside. Sonya’s men rushed for the door.

It seemed like it was meant to lure them out. To get them outside.

“Oh. Holy. Fuck,” I muttered. There was no way. Yet the nagging sensation tugged at me. “A distraction,” I whispered to myself.

“What?”

“We need to get out of here.” I stood up. “Can you stand?”

“I think so.” She nodded. “Where’s my brother?” She gripped my arm as I pulled her to her feet, the feel of the goblin metal cuffing her soaking into my skin. “We need to find him!”

I squinted through the haze, trying to find the prince, tripping over a dead body.

Nikolay the Bloody lay under my boot. Half human/half Vampir, a feared top solider of the Russian mafia, and he was taken out in seconds by the Lord of Death.

I stopped short. Bloody locks of blonde hair spilled from under debris next to Nikolay.

Eve.

Raven paused, seeing Eve’s noticeable hair, her jaw locking.

“Raven.” I said her name softly, not sure what I was going to say beyond that. I’m sorry felt strange after all Eve had done, but no matter what, Eve had once been her friend, someone in her life who she trusted.

Raven quickly hid the pain, swallowing back the hurt and betrayal, and turned away from her.

“Rook?” Raven called out for her brother. “Rook?” We scoured through the remains, not finding her twin among the deceased on the floor.

POP! POP!

Gunfire went off outside, voices barking and yelling, reconfirming someone new had joined the discord. My gut sparked with understanding, an instinct drawing me out the front doors.

The back end of the museum was crumbling, and one of the jeeps was on fire, the heat of the flames scorching my cheeks, the smell of gas watering my nose. A jumble of forms made their way toward the surviving jeep, shooting toward the back of the museum at the new assailants.

Joska and Samu shoved Rook into the back of the army truck, his body limp and unconscious, as Balazs climbed into the driver’s seat, Kalaraja slipping into the passenger side.

“No!” Raven hobbled down the steps, the jeep tearing away. “Nooo!” She tried to run after them.

“Raven!” I grabbed her, pulling her back into my arms as steady gunfire came from behind me, pinging off the bumper. The jeep squealed around the corner, disappearing.

A whimper cracked her chest, devastation sinking her into my embrace. The jeep engine drifted farther away, giving over to the sound of crackling fire and melting snow.

The back of my neck prickled with awareness, sensing people behind me.

“This reminds me of our time in Belarus.” A deep voice jarred my head to the side. A massive figure stepped around the burning car. “So once again, you’re welcome, motherfucker.”

I stared, my brain registering the two figures moving in closer, yet my mind still felt like it was hallucinating.

“Fuck the gods,” I whispered hoarsely, my gaze jumping from the man and woman, Opie and Bitzy perched on the woman’s shoulder.

“Funny, that’s what he wants me to call him at night.” The dark-haired woman lowered her weapon.

“I don’t need you to call me a god, princess,” he responded, his arms folding. “You’re already fucking a legend.”

They were not a mirage.

The Wolf and the Grey were here.

Warwick and Brexley had found me.