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17
Atlas charges throughthe Púca, crushing the bastards under his hooves, his antlers spearing through any close enough to get in his way. Nick swings his sword, taking out the stragglers who don’t fall, coating himself and the reindeer in bright purple blood.
Still no sign of Scarlett and that’s worrying him.
He grunts as a Púca gets in a lucky shot, scraping its talons across his back as it brushes past him on the back of a black horse. He spins, decapitating the bastard, the purple blood spraying over his face as it falls to the ground. Ignoring the blood dripping down his face, he targets the next one, raising his sword over his head.
He turns Atlas around, ready to take another run at them, but the reindeer rears back, then crashes to the ground. Nick pulls his leg free from under the fallen reindeer, checking the animal for wounds, but there’s nothing he can see.
‘He’s just asleep.’ Nick freezes as the tip of a blade digs into his side, under his ribs. ‘Don’t move. I don’t want to kill you... yet.’
He looks over his shoulder, not quite believing who’s holding the knife. ‘Reve? What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
‘Give me your sword. I’m not fucking around, Nick. Give me your sword.’
He lowers his weapon, passing it back to Reve. ‘Now what?’
‘We’re going for a walk.’ He nods ahead of them to the trees. ‘Walk, or I’ll have to ask my friends to tear Scarlett to pieces.’
Nick tenses, but Reve pushes the knife into his side, drawing blood. ‘I know you probably don’t give a damn about your own life, but you care about her. You’ve hardly been subtle about it. Do you really want to be responsible for the death of someone else you care about? Now walk.’
Nick does as he’s told, his mind racing as they disappear into the thick forest, leaving the fight behind them. ‘This has all been you?’
Reve laughs from behind him. ‘Bravo, Santa. Now shut up and keep walking.’
Nick’s head spins and he stumbles into a tree.
‘Having a bit of trouble, huh?’
Nick straightens, throwing a hard look at Reve. ‘Your fault too I’m guessing?’
Reve shrugs. ‘You can blame Damon for that. He’s the one who wanted me to get into your head to wake you. I guess I couldn’t resist temptation. Once I was in there, I had to mess with you a little.’
‘Mess how?’
Reve shoves him in the back. If he was in control of his own body he’d kick Reve to the other side of the fucking planet, but he’s not. Whatever Reve did to him is making putting one foot in front of the other a challenge. ‘When you’re tired, it plays with your mind, with your body. I just made sure that effect was exaggerated.’
Reve slams Nick against a tree trunk, reaching up to pull some chains down from the branches. Bastard has everything all ready to go. After chaining Nick’s arms over his head, he stands back, Nick’s sword in his hand.
‘You planning on killing me now?’
Reve shrugs. ‘Not directly. If I kill you, your magic dies too. I need to take it from you which means, unfortunately, that you have to live. For now at least. But I wouldn’t get too comfortable. I do plan to take your power and we both know what that’ll mean for you.’
‘So you’re going to leave me here until next Christmas? Not sure that’s your best idea.’
‘It’s actually tragic how little you know about what you are. You were so drunk and high, you didn’t bother to read the small print of your contract. I, on the other hand, took the time to find out about our new leader. I wanted to figure out what was so special about this drunken lout who was put in charge.’
‘You trying to hurt my feelings or something?’
Reve paces in front of him, keeping Nick’s sword in his hand. ‘You honestly haven’t got a fucking clue what’s going on, do you? I tracked down your predecessor. He was privy to some information you weren’t. Apparently it was decided it would be best to lose this information between his signing and yours. Before I drove him to suicide, he was quite vocal about another way to strip you of your power.’
‘You killed him?’
‘Technically he killed himself, but yes, I may have had a hand in it. So,’ he continues, not in the least bit bothered by what he just said. Reve lifts Nick’s sword, examining the blade in his hand. ‘According to what he said, if I stab you with this while you’re weak, as you are right now after the run, it will drain you of your magic, and I can take it.’
