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  Changing from Stringes to her smaller human form faster than she ever had before then allowing herself to be pulled through the magical façade, Pearl took hold of Gwendolyn’s arm, dragging her along. Falling into yet another alcove, both Ladies landed on their knees, covered from head-to-toe with what could only be described as stinky, gummy afterbirth.

  Struggling to her feet while still holding tight to her sister, Pearl was forced to push more enchantment into her preternatural sight to see anything in the total darkness. Searching the long narrow niche, the breath was stolen from her lungs as her eyes landed on the most horrendously grotesque sight she’d ever witnessed.

  “Good Goddess in the Heavens, is th-that…is that them?” She stammered, tugging on Gwendolyn’s hand while frantically pointing with her free one. “How c-could that…”

  “Holy shite! Whit tae fook has been done tae him?” Gwendolyn spat, pulling Pearl along as she stormed across the long length of the room, stopping just inches from the atrocity.

  Stuck like a marionette who’d been trussed up in his own strings, hanging on the wall of the cave like a ludicrous macabre work of art was the Berserker Zared. Emaciated and sallow, his skin hung off his bones like dried out leather. His stomach sunken so deeply each and every notch in his spine stuck out like a perfectly stacked carton of a child’s Lincoln logs. Fighting to breathe, his lungs scarcely inflating against the cage of his ribs, his death-rattle wheeze brought tears to Pearl’s eyes.

  Starting at his feet, refusing to look away until she’d assessed every inch of his body, her rage and fury burned bright, flaming within her as she took in the thick, muscular tentacles burrowed as deeply as they could go into either side of his neck. Constricting and expanding, a sickening sucking sound, reminding her of a child slurping soup, made her skin crawl as she watched the muscles in the Dragon’s neck falling to pieces right before her eyes.

  Reaching forward in unison, Pearl and Gwendolyn each wrapped their hands around one of the rippling, slime-covered appendages and working in tandem without uttering a single word, the Ladies pulled with the magnanimous sum of their tremendous strength. Sickening gurgles accompanied ear-splitting howls as foul-smelling liquid and bits of rancid gore flew from the sprawling mouths of the animated trunks. Tossing them aside as she forced magic into her nails changing them to the talons of her Strix, Pearl tore at the knotted and barbed vines covering Zared’s torso while Gwendolyn ripped away the ones holding his legs.

  Battling the ever-moving, constantly self-repairing organism while avoiding millions of sprawling mouths and sharp, deadly fangs, Gwendolyn growled, “Tis no workin’, Pearl. Tae wee bastards ere too fast.”

  Stepping back along with her sister, the Strix raised her hands and pushed her palms towards the squealing, squirming mass. Throwing back her shoulders and planting her feet, she called forth the God-fire inherited from her mother, and taking careful aim, incinerated the pod of the Obscured spawn, leaving Zared completely untouched.

  Racing forward, grabbing the Berserker in midair as he fell from the wall, she lowered him to the floor. In a flash, Gwendolyn appeared at her side, fell to the ground and began working to keep the Dragon alive. Shoving the remnants of burnt viscera and scorched slurry off his ashen skin, the Ladies laid their hands over his heart and together flooded his system with bursts of healing power and bits of their own life’s essence, forcing his heart to beat once again.

  Tenuous moments ticked by as both Pearl and Gwendolyn worked and monitored, praying to Morrigan and the Goddess of All that Zared would live. Almost giving up hope, the Strix felt the presence of her mother a split-second before the caw of a Raven echoed through the alcove. As if a switch had been flipped, the Berserker’s heart was jumpstarted, beating strong and steady as his breathing deepened and evened out.

  Getting to her feet, Pearl looked down at her sister, watching as Gwendolyn continued to blanket the Dragon with healing magic before announcing, “Hold down the fort, I’m going to get the others.”

  Turning back towards the wall where they’d just released Zared, she took several steps backward, winked at Gwendolyn, and pushed off the opposite wall. Sprinting at full speed, diving through the remains of the Obscured, Pearl’s feet hit the ground on the other side running, just as Gwendolyn’s voice sounded in her mind, “Watch ye arse. Tae Beasties an’ their momma will be lookin’ fur vengeance.”

  Beasties? She fucking said Beasties, as in more than one. Yeah. Sure. Why not? It’s been a blast so far. The more the merrier. Son of a bitch! This is the last time I EVER listen to my mother.

  Chapter Four

  Running down one tunnel then another and another, traveling closer and closer to the throat of the volcano, the craggy rock reservoir that was quickly filling with molten lava. Sweltering heat beat at her skin, blasts of searing steam burst from every crack, crevice and hole of the stone walls blistering her skin and singing her long platinum ponytail, but still she pressed on. The compulsion to heal and the pounding of their heartbeats in her ears simply could not be denied.

  Speeding around a menagerie of huge stalagmites jutting from the floor like some kind of misshapen obstacle course, she zigged and zagged, around and around until she ran straight into a fork in the tunnels. Focusing left then right, picking up signs of life down both corridors, all she could do was follow her instincts and hope for the best. Walking instead of running, pushing her senses as far as ahead of her as they would go, she searched for what she now knew to be a male and female Berserker.

  Moving at an angle downward, the floor of the mountain shook under her feet as she moved closer and closer to the magma chamber. This wasn’t the first volcano Pearl had been unfortunate enough to be inside of, but she damned sure hoped it was the last.

  Sensing a darkness, a presence she hadn’t felt before and most certainly wasn’t thrilled to notice now, she pushed her Strix to the front of her mind almost immediately groaning when her alter ego instantly identified the intruder. Taking a single step forward, Pearl commanded, “I know you’re there. Come out of the shadows.”

  A fine mist, ominous but at the same time somehow beautiful in its perfect mix of ebony and silver, floated across the corridor and flowed up the walls, creating a hauntingly spectacular backdrop as the Goddess of the Underworld appeared from within the vapor. Hel, the ruler of Hel - appointed by the God Odin as ruler of a realm of the same name, located in Niflheim, the daughter of Loki and the Giantess Angiboda, stood head and shoulders taller than Pearl’s five-foot-nine height. Hypnotic in her appearance and grace, Hel’s eyes, one shimmering, swirling gray with fire in the pupil and the other nothing but a milky white sphere, stared at Pearl, the power of her gaze a not unpleasant weight rolling over the Strix.

  Waiting for the Goddess to speak, Pearl took a perusal of her own. She’d always heard of the Norse Goddess of the Underworld but had never seen her in person. It was not so much shocking as it was mind-bending to look at a woman who appeared to have been made from two equal parts of two others.

  Split right down the middle, one half a fair maiden with flowing blond hair and all the attributes of a true beauty shoved up against its direct opposite – an old haggard crone. Hair as dark as night hung in long tangled clumps, her face, hand, and foot skeletal, and her robe tattered and torn. Hel was a true dichotomy of the best and worse in mankind and the realm which she ruled.

  Holding out her maiden hand, her voice a hypnotic blend of scratchy and melodic, Hel softly inquired, “What is it you seek, Strix?”

  “The lives of the Berserkers.” Pearl’s answer was quick and direct, met with an uncontrollable, instantaneous flair of reprimand that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

  I think I touched a nerve…

  Retaining the façade of grace on the softer side of her face, Pearl couldn’t help but notice that the darker side of Hel was battling to remain control, her yellow and rotten teeth grinding in anger. There was something the Goddess wasn’t saying, something she wa
s trying to hide, and Pearl simply didn’t have time to play diplomat.

  Taking an aggressive step forward, letting the image of her Strix superimpose over her human form, the Demi-Goddess stood tall with her shoulders back, exuding all the confidence she could muster and challenged, “Is that a problem, most gracious and honorable Hel?”

  ‘Most gracious and honorable Hel’, my well-rounded, feathered backside, but Gwennie always says. ‘Ye git more flies wit honey’…

  Eyes trained on Hel, Pearl watched as the Goddess slowly turned to the left, completely hiding her maiden and let her crone side answer, “Not a problem for me, little daughter of Morrigan.”

  Hearing the unspoken ‘but’ at the end of Hel’s retort, Pearl took another step forward while letting the snap of her magic dance in front of the Goddess. Pausing for dramatic effect while sweat poured down her back, arms and face, she slowly nodded, “So what will the problem be for me, Goddess Hel?” She leaned forward and smirked, “And can we leave my mother out of this? As you can see, I’m all on my own.”

  Throwing back her head, Hel’s maniacal cackle filled the tunnel, “You are just as I was told, brave and posturing with the brains and brawn to back up your words, but I wonder…”

  It was hard for Pearl not to scream for the Goddess to continue as Hel stood sneering while tapping her fetid teeth with the tip of the bone of her index finger. Working hard not to move, not to blink or even breathe, the Strix’s muscles shook with the need to lash out and remove Hel from her path.

  If only…

  “Don’t do anything stupid. I’m right behind you.” Kayne’s voice whispered in her mind. “Keep Hel busy. I’ve located Zaira and Arie.”

  “But…”

  “But nothing.” He asserted. “Do as I say and run when I tell you to run.”

  “I’ll do what I like when I like you arrogant…” But he was gone, had severed their connection. The jerk was absolutely exasperating and overbearing, and Pearl hated that she actually liked it.

  Ignoring the effect her Dragon had on her, she instead countered Hel’s unasked question. “What do you wonder, Goddess Hel? What must I do for you to grant favor on my request?”

  Turning so quickly Pearl saw only a blur, Hel spoke with a pleasant, almost calming tone from the maiden side of her face. “And humble, too. You are a most pleasant opponent, Pearl, daughter of Morrigan. Your mother has much to be proud of.”

  Knowing when she was being baited but still wondering what Hel was up to, Pearl relaxed her posture and bowed her head in faked reverence. “Thank you, Goddess Hel. My mother will be pleased to hear your compliment.”

  “I didn’t say to kiss her ass,” Kayne scoffed.

  “You didn’t say not to, either,” Pearl countered. “Besides, you were supposed to stay with the others.”

  “Yeah, fat chance.”

  Once again, her Dragon was silent, and Pearl was able to give Hel, who was once again talking, her full attention.

  “I think a challenge would be nice. We, the gifts from the stupid Fairies and myself, have after all had these Dragons, the ones you call the Berserkers, for such a long time. They are, how do you say, thought of as members of the family.”

  Whipping to the other side, once again showing the old hag, her voice gravelly with the unholy rasp of the undead, Hel continued, “I could not just let them go.” She strummed her skeletal fingers on the shaft of her staff made of the backbone of a giant. “This is a crucial time in the children of the Obscured lifespan. Nourishment is most important.”

  Right then and there, Pearl had confirmation of what she’d already been sure of, Hel was not going to let the Dragons go, and if she got her way she was going to keep Pearl as well. The prophecy she’d seen when first entering the cave was the machination of the Goddess of the Underworld. It had been her plan all along to use the Obscured and its nasty little Beasties to tunnel her way into Hell, into the heart of the Devil’s Lair, and to somehow join forces with the Fallen One and bring death and destruction to the world.

  There had to be something Pearl could do. Had to be a way to stop Hel and the Obscured. She was a Demi-Goddess for fuck sake. That at least meant she could keep Hell busy for a minute or two. Maybe it would be the time Kayne needed to get the other two Berserkers and that Gwendolyn needed to get Zared back to his brother.

  Removing the lid she’d put on her magic and letting it fill every fiber of her being, Pearl continued to talk to Hel, trying to keep the Goddess unaware of her plans. “So, your plan is to have me battle one of your warriors for the right to save the Dragons and if I win, your man becomes dinner of the Obscured, but if I lose I’m the Beastie Chow?”

  Cackling once again, pounding the bottom of her staff against the stone floor, Hel nodded, “You are a smart one, little Strix. Do you agree to my terms?”

  “Noo, she does not agree tae anythin’, ye daft hag.” A deep Scottish brogue and a whip snap of powerful magic flew through the cavern. “Tis ye whoo shall feel tae cold steel of me blade.”

  Appearing on yet another blast of mysticism that damn near knocked Pearl on her ass, Arawn, the Celtic God of the Underworld, Terror, Revenge, and War, and also her uncle in a weird, roundabout way, made his grand entrance. Standing between Pearl and Hel, facing the Goddess, his seven-and-a-half-foot frame blocked everything from the Strix’s sight.

  The horns jutting from either side of his gleaming helmet cast wicked shadows in the glow of the volcano’s flames with his long black hair flowing from his muscular frame like a cloak. Fire danced in the silver of his armor, but it was the blade of his sword, forged by Giobhniu - God of Weaponry – infused with the power to never miss a target that made Pearl smile.

  Of course, her excitement was short lived when Kayne’s shout cut through her mind a second before she was hurdling through time, space, and stone. “Change of plan. You’re coming to me.”

  Chapter Five

  “You have got to be kidding me.” She jumped to her feet, doubled up her fist and swung it at Kayne’s head. Sadly missing the melon she was now sure contained no brain at all, she continued to scream. “You had the ability to teleport us all the whole damn time and waited until now to use it?”

  Ignoring her as he grabbed her hand and dragged her into a long thin room that could only be described as a mausoleum, Pearl tugged at her hand, slapped and punched his back as she ranted, “And now you’re manhandling me. What. Is. Wrong. With. You?”

  Stopping short, dropping her hand and spinning around, he grabbed her by the shoulders, picked her up, and shoved her in front of him. Refraining from kicking him in the crotch, she fought to pay attention when pointed forward and demanded, “Shut up and look.”

  Dumbstruck, everything she’d just seen, heard, and thought running on rewind through her mind, Pearl started to slowly shake her head as everything suddenly became vividly clear. “There’s more than just the Dragons in here?” She pointed at the rows of holes cut into the stone, sadness filling her heart, as her next whispered question floated through the sweltering air as she looked left and then right, unable to fathom the sheer number of compartments lining the wall in front and behind her as far as the eye could see. “Every one of these has someone in it?”

  “Sadly, no longer,” came Kayne’s abrupt reply. “But they did.”

  Mourning the loss of his touch as he lifted his hands from her shoulders and took a step back, she spun around, took hold of her frustration and anger with both hands, and poked her Dragon in the chest. “Are your Berserkers in here? Are there any others we can save? What are we waiting on? Do you just like sweating your ass off? What the hell is wrong with you? We gotta move.”

  Watching the shit-eating smirk Kayne had been wearing every single time she’d laid eyes on him spread across his supremely handsome face both infuriated and excited Pearl, but when he waggled his eyebrows and chuckled, “Whoa, Babe, give a guy a chance to speak,” Pearl once again happily entertained the idea of punching him in the nose as he c
ontinued to smile.

  However, before she could come up with a witty retort, she remembered where and how she’d left Gwendolyn and once again poked him in the chest as she snarled, “And what about Gwennie, huh, Hot Shot? Did you just zoom right past and leave her to deal with your dying kin on her own? Leave her to the mercy of the fucking Obscured?”

  Doing an about-face, Pearl made it exactly three steps before Kayne whooshed by and stopped right in front of her effectively blocking her path and stopping her grand exit. Returning his hand to her shoulder as his cocky grin turned to a seriously unhappy frown, he retaliated with more than a little disgust in his voice. “Of course, I didn’t leave her. What kind of asshole do you think I am?” He shook his head before continuing, “Damn, woman, you sure know how to crush a man’s spirit.” Sighing with so much emphasis his shoulders rose and fell before he continued, he rolled his eyes, “She’s important to you and therefore, important to me. Ya’ gotta know that. Besides, Sadie, Phryne, and the rest of your Sisters would’ve skinned me alive. They had the look of a lynch mob gleaming in their eyes when I said I had a plan to get you and the Berserkers out of here.” Stepping so close her senses were overwhelmed with the scent of an open fire and fresh morning sunshine almost making her forget she was thinking of skinning him alive, the Demi-God teased, “And, believe me, Pearl, my lovely mate,” the sound of her name on his lips did awful, horrible, wonderful, magical things to her heart. “I need all that skin for when I finally get you alone.”

  Listing forward, her libido kicked into overdrive and her body wholeheartedly made plans to betray her. Looking into Kayne’s deep blue eyes, watching the way his long blond hair caught the light of the flames, and the feel of the electricity of their connection zipping and zapping its way through her body, all thoughts of saving anyone was pushed from her consciousness as she dreamt of kissing her mate until neither one of them could remember their names.