Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 125083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Wynter grimaced. “The thing is … you’re not exactly people whose word will mean shit to me. One of you killed me, and the other had no issues with abetting my killer. Plus, well, I’m feeling a little vengeful right now. The cool thing is I don’t need to kill you to send you to the netherworld. I can open a path to that dimension and trap you both there for as long as I like. You’ll be wandering through it with no chance of rebirth because you won’t be truly dead.”
Bowen blanched but shook his head. “You’re lying.”
“Nope.” Wynter smiled. “An interesting thing about the netherworld … is that its timeline isn’t parallel or even in sync with that of this dimension. A minute here can be like a month there, or even a year, or maybe a millisecond. Fascinating, right?”
Annette began to shake, scratching at the wall behind her.
“It ain’t a nice place. All cold air and dark mists. It’s almost impossible to see anything, but you can hear everything. Screams. Snarls. Growls. Roars. There’s so much fear and pain. It’s all about beating souls down as part of the purification process; breaking them and then building them back up to cleanse the soul of sin, making them fit to be reborn.
“Now, as you both won’t actually be dead, you might be spared the pain—I really can’t be sure. I can be sure that, in any event, the experience will be worse than whatever the Ancients might have put you through. That makes me feel better about what you two fucks just did.”
Bowen’s breaths began coming hard and fast. “You’re lying, you can’t really do that, you can’t—”
The floor beneath them darkened and began to ripple like black water.
Annette whimpered. “No.”
“Uh, yeah,” said Wynter. “I’d tell you to just be glad I’m not going to kill you. But, as I think you’ve figured out, there really are worse things than death.”
They sank into the water like hands had yanked them down, along with Annette’s sword. Then the floor returned to normal.
Wynter exhaled heavily. Well, that had been unpleasant. And now it was time for damage control.
She left the shed and walked through the back door of the cottage. Anabel looked up from her cauldron and muttered a quick hey. Slicing vegetables, Hattie tossed Wynter an absent smile. At the table, both Delilah and Xavier offered her a brief nod.
Seconds later, they all froze. And then everyone’s eyes snapped to her bloodstained tee.
“I need a rejuvenating potion, and one of your special bleach brews,” Wynter said to a gaping Anabel.
“What in the world happened?” demanded Delilah.
Wynter lifted her shoulders. “I died. Again. Now, about those potions …”
Everyone started talking at once, firing questions at Wynter. She told them how Annette had attacked her from behind and stabbed right through her heart … at which point Hattie snatched the largest knife from the block and demanded, “Where’s the little bitch?”
Wynter cleared her throat. “Um, the netherworld.” Silence fell. “Well, I couldn’t let them go blabbing, but I also couldn’t kill them—”
“Wait, them?” interrupted Xavier.
“Oh, Bowen was here, too,” Wynter explained. “He wasn’t in on it, but he witnessed what happened and planned to do nothing about it. He intended to help her escape and cover for her. Look, I’m feeling super dizzy, and I have evidence to clean up, so can we maybe get—thank you, Anabel.”
Wynter drank the rejuvenating brew while her crew cursed the berserkers to hell and back. Then, gratefully taking the cleansing potion from Anabel, Wynter returned to the shed and tossed the majority of it over both the pool of blood and the footprints left by both berserkers. Once the floor was completely clear, she dripped the last of the potion onto her tee. The rip remained, but the bloodstain vanished.
“People are going to notice they’re missing,” said Hattie as she and the others entered.
Wynter sighed. “I know. Sticking them in the netherworld was probably shitty, but I didn’t know where else to hide them. And like I said, I couldn’t kill them. This way, if Cain touches her soul or Azazel touches Bowen’s, the Ancients will sense that they’re alive.”
“Which means no one will suspect foul play and, as such, not come knocking on our front door,” said Xavier.
Wynter nodded. “Exactly. Annette actually packed a bag and had a car ready. She told Bowen she left it outside the tunnel. Maybe I could drive it off a cliff or something.”
“I’ll take care of that,” said Delilah. “I can sneak out of the town as a cat. No one will spot me. People might assume that Bowen left with her.”
“Possibly,” said Wynter.
Glancing around, Anabel shuddered. “I can feel the rage in here. Your deity was pissed, huh? I’m surprised your monster didn’t surface and go AWOL.”
“The deity stayed its hand,” Wynter explained.