The COMPLETE Witching Pen Series, Boxed Set (55 page)

“You want to keep the baby?”

She reeled so far backwards, she almost fell off the step.

Does he not?

Getting rid of it hadn’t even entered her mind – she hadn’t really had much time to think about anything at all. Could you even abort a messiah?

Abortion?

She had no issues with any woman making that choice for herself, but the thought of abortion for her
own
child was never something that had sat comfortably with her. “Yes, I want to keep it,” she whispered, her hand already clutching her womb.

“Why?” he asked, harshly, angry fire lighting his eyes. “After everything he’s put you through, the way he
violated
your mind, stole your childhood...
why
would you want to keep a baby that has anything to do with him?”

She sat there, shocked at the hatred behind his words, even though she could see where they stemmed from. She shook her head. “Are you upset with the half of the baby that’s his, or the half that’s yours?”

Raging desperation contorted his features. “Amy, it’s going to rip its way out of you –
because
of me! What my father did to my mother … I’ve now…” His whole frame shook… “I’ve now done it to you.”

“
What?
” She jumped up to standing and gripped his face in her hands, forcing his head up so his eyes met hers. “Is that what you think?”

“I should never have made you drink my blood that first time—”

“I was there – I made a
choice
. I knew there’d be consequences, and there was no
making
me do anything. Have you ever
tried
to make me do anything? Clearly not, because you’d bloody well know it isn’t possible.”

He blinked, and his eyes glistened.

“Do you really want to know why I want to keep this baby?”

He nodded.

“Because it has no past. It has no history.
None
of what came before is the baby’s fault. Why would I pass the sins of the father onto the child? Every baby born has the potential to grow into a loving, decent person. To get rid of it is to take that potential away; to deny it the chance to shine because of a taint I chose to burden it with. I won’t do that to our baby. That’s why I want to keep it, and
that’s
why your mother kept you.”

He blinked again, and tears free-flowed down his face.

She was right there with him. “I can tell you right now that she made the right choice, because you
are
loving, and decent, and kind. You can hide it behind that growly panther of yours all you like, but I know you…”

A small smile took root on his face, but it didn’t have the chance to go anywhere because she was kissing him, and he was kissing her back, and for once, their kiss wasn’t passion-fuelled, all-consuming heat, but soft, slow and gentle, fuelled by her compassion, and a love for him which she felt beyond their blood bond.

They kissed like that for a few long minutes, at the foot of her stairs. When she finally pulled away, she could see that he was calmer. Not only that, but his shoulders were straighter, and there was a hardened edge to his jaw that signalled he’d come to a decision about something. Whatever it was, she was glad for it … and she hoped it was baby-positive.

“I have something for you,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace.

Amy stared at it, dumbstruck. Holy shit, it was beautiful! The stone that sat in the gold frame of the pendant looked like sapphire, and it glistened under her ceiling lights like nothing she’d ever seen before. She immediately wondered how it would look glistening under the desert sun.

“This was my mother’s. It’s the only thing I really have that reminds me of her. She was brave and strong, just like you. I’d like you to have it.”

Her eyes felt like they might pop out of her head.
Say something, you blonde bimbo!
“I … don’t know what to say … Pueblo, it’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”

He unclasped it, and she held her hair up for him as he placed it around her neck. Wowza. It sat just above her breasts, in line with her heart.

“I knew it would bring out the blue of your eyes,” he uttered, softly. “It looks stunning on you, Amy.”

“I feel like a queen,” she said, and then she laughed because it was a bit of a stupid thing to say.

He didn’t.

“What is it?” she asked, and suddenly she knew. Every facet of the puzzle she wasn’t aware existed, fell into place, and a new path, that hadn’t been there just seconds ago, paved itself in front of them. “No.”

“Sshhh…” He placed a finger on her lips, then kissed her again.

“Pueblo—”

“You, and now this baby,” he placed his hand on her womb, and she thought she might be melting from the waist down, his hand felt so good there – so
right.
 

Oh, my God, we’re going to have a baby!

“—you both matter to me more than anything else in the world.” His eyes hardened, and his voice lowered to those threatening bass notes she always found so sexy. “My tribe tried to kill you. There is no way in hell I’m sitting back and watching them do it again. I’ve spent my whole life running from what I am. By default, that’s meant running from my tribe, and what’s rightfully mine. I’ve never cared what they’ve taken from me before. I care now. They can’t have my family.”

“Pueblo, please—”

“I’m going to be a dad.”

God help her, he lit up with joy as he said it. Her heart soared, but so did her fear.

“My child deserves a safe upbringing – apocalypse allowing – and its mother deserves a kingdom.”

Holy fuck…
“I’ll settle for the necklace—”

“Enough.” It was more of a gentle assertion than an order – the kind that said he’d made up his mind. “I don’t know how long it will take me, but I’m taking back my dimension, and whatever happens, I’ll be with you when our child is born. You’re not dying, Amy. Not because of my fear, and not because of my tribe.”

“They’ll kill you. How are you going to take on
all
of the Dessec?
And
that twisted-nut shaman?”

“I think I know where to find help.” He stood up.

Alarm bells went off in her head. “You’re going
now
? You’re leaving me?”

“I’m not leaving you,” he growled, then grabbed her and kissed her hard. “I’ll never run from you again, I swear it, but time isn’t on our side here, and there’s no way I’m going to try and bend it with an apocalypse imminent – God knows what might happen.” He took a deep breath, then looked her in the eye.

Goosepimples raced up and down her flesh. The Dessec she loved with the mischievous edge was still there, but the sea of shadows that had haunted him, now parted for him, and it was the Dessec King who walked through them.

“That man I detest is standing outside in your communal garden, pretending to find foliage interesting at four in the morning.”

“Paul?” she frowned. “I told him I wanted to be alone.”

“And I’m glad he didn’t listen to you.”

Her eyes widened. “You are?”

“I want you to go back to Karl’s, and he’s to make sure you get there safely.”

“But—”

“I know you want your own space, but it’s the end of the world, Amy.”

Silence filled the room.

Pueblo let out a little sigh. “Not that I think the world will actually ‘end’ as such…

“There have been lots of earth tremors tonight – not usual for this country. I logged onto the internet on my phone while I was waiting for you. It’s not just here – New Mexico, China, Iceland, Australia – there have been mini-earthquakes everywhere. I think it’s begun.”

She gaped at him, unable to form words.

He reached for her again, and pulled her into an embrace.
“The Earth will rumble and shatter, and all dimensions will bleed into one…
It’s killing me that I can’t be here with you, at the end of all things,” he whispered, “but next time the Dessec come for you, they’ll bring the whole tribe – thousands strong – especially if the dimensions fall because there’ll be nothing parting them from us, and they’ll have nothing to lose. I
have
to go, so we can all survive.”

She felt herself nod, numbly. She knew he was right – she just wished he wasn’t.

“Go to Paul, and tell him that if he doesn’t keep you and this baby safe until I get back, I’m going to string him up by his entrails the next time I see him.” And he didn’t look like he was joking.

“Are you sure?”

“I hate him, Amy. But you need him, and the baby needs him, and I need you both to be safe. I call a stalemate. But if he does anything to hurt you ever again, I’ll cripple him.”

That said, he kissed her, and this was it – she wondered if it would be weeks or months before she saw him again. Agony gripped her heart. She held onto him for everything they were worth, which was suddenly a hell of a lot.

“This isn’t goodbye, Amy; this is ‘see you soon’.”

She stifled a sob, and nodded. Crying wouldn’t help either of them.

Pueblo began to shimmer as the teleportation took hold.

“Oh, and Amy,” he said.

She managed to catch that playful grin of his as he faded…

“I love you, too, baby.”

Then, he was gone.

Chapter Fifteen

The dawn was breaking, and it looked spectacular over Canary Wharf. The tall, London office buildings glinted with sharp hues of pinks and yellows as the emerging sun took hold of the day, as if it was cleansing everything in sight. How strange, that now the apocalypse was imminent, the night’s storm had passed … or maybe this was the quiet before the storm. Or maybe this was the way the world looked now he’d taken all sin from it – who knew.

They had to leave now, or they’d never make it.

The small earthquakes hadn’t stopped since he’d performed his own special brand of expurgation – one he didn’t even know he was capable of.

And he shall take all sin from the world…

He’d assumed that would mean finding some way to kill Abaddon, or at the very least, destroying Hell. He’d thought that actually
bringing on
the apocalypse was something he would be able to avoid through thought and caution.

“Really?” asked Mary, as she laced her fingers through his. “Thought and caution? But you’re so thoughtless and reckless…”

He turned, and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. “Ha bloody ha.”

She beamed at him, her wings still out.

Fuck … those wings!

When she glowed, she still glowed that sexy indigo colour – and it
was
sexy (everything about her was sexy) – but her new could-have-been-washed-in-Persil wings were something else. They were so white, they were practically luminous. “You make my wings look old and grey now.”

“You are old and grey,” she teased.

“And you’re never too immortal for a spanking,” he shot back, then inwardly groaned at
that
delectable image.

She made a little purring noise with her tongue, clearly enjoying the image as much as he, and God damn it, his hand actually twitched.

“Down, tiger,” she soothed. “We have to go.”

That, they did. “It’s just to drop the Pen off. I want to be in and out of there. The longer we’re with everyone else, the more danger we put them in.”

“They’re going to have questions for us.”

He shook his head, sadly. “We won’t have time to answer them.”

“Gwain.” She placed a hand over his heart. “Don’t hurt so much – they’ll forgive us.”

“For starting the apocalypse, or for ending it?”

“It hasn’t started yet.”

“Portents are like keys that unlock doors. The door to Armageddon just needs a little push now, that’s all. The earth’s rumbling; I already shattered it when I went into Hell to find you, and when I flew us back out; we’ve merged…” He glanced down at the sheathed dagger Sophia had given them, which Mary wore on the belt that held his jeans up on her. “Now we’re just waiting—”

“For all dimensions to bleed into one,” she finished. She took his hand and placed it around the dagger’s handle, with hers on top of it. “We both know that the only thing holding us back is the safety of mankind. Do we choose a forever for us, over their salvation?”

He had no answer. He’d like to say no, but as much as he loved his fellow human beings, everything he had done for most of his existence had been for her, not them.

“I don’t know, Mary … I just don’t know.”

~*~

It was six-thirty in the morning, the sun had just risen, the coffee pot was gurgling, and Amy was chewing at the bit because, technically, coffee was a no-no if she was pregnant. Well, sod that. It was the end of the world, and she was going to have a bloody great big mug of the stuff. The foetus was some kind of holy baby, so it could just deal with it.

Yeah, you
are
a great mum,
sneered her inner-voice.

Fuck off
, she replied.

“Is there enough in that pot for everyone?” called out Elena from the living room.

“Yep!”

“Good,” she said as she walked into the kitchen. “I’m magicking us all a breakfast feast: sausages, bacon, eggs, fruit, cereals, the lot. If it’s the last breakfast before the world ends, it may as well be the best, and using magic frivolously is hardly a problem right now, is it?”

“I’m down for that. I’m famished.”

Everyone was being overly cheery, as if that could ward off the inevitable. The quakes were getting bigger, and now they had made the News all over the world: what was going on? What did all this activity mean? Tsunami warnings had gone up across coastland countries, and everyone inland was braced for falling buildings and electrical shortages. Volcanic activity was also being monitored. Evacuation had been discouraged unless fatality would be imminent within the vicinity – because the earth was fracturing everywhere. There was nowhere else to go.

Elena squeezed her arm. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m worried sick about Pueblo. And my mum – Elena, she’s all alone in the Cotswolds.”