I was dead. This much I knew.
But I felt no pain and no sadness. I was filled with a sense of calm, lightness and peace.
I was lying in a field, the grass blowing in the wind, the sun shining down on me.
I sat up and rested my arms on my knees. There was a beautiful forest surrounding me, I could feel the magic dancing in the air. I breathed it in.
"Leina." An ethereal voice said, walking up beside me. I wasn't shocked to see the Goddess and the God standing there.
The Goddess was dressed all in white, a beautiful gown with flowers seemingly sewn into the fabric, her long brown hair blowing in the breeze. The God wore only pants, his muscular chest exposed and the horns on his head shone in the sunlight.
I smiled as I stood up. I expected them to formally welcome me but her words stopped me in my tracks.
"It is time." The Goddess said, her eyes somber but kind.
"I don't want to go to the underworld." I said, fear suddenly filling me. Surely I hadn't done anything so bad as to warrant a ticket downstairs.
The Goddess and God shook their heads and smiled then, calming my sudden nerves, reassuring me they didn't mean they were sending me to the underworld.
"You can choose to stay here with your friends-." The God spoke, his voice strong and musical as he gestured over my shoulder. I followed his gaze and my heart leapt.
Lucy, Zach and Miriam were sitting amongst the grass, having a picnic. Lucy was in her usual black attire, a beautiful black lace dress and her purple hair was out, blowing in the wind.
Zach and Miriam looked carefree and healthy, unbridled by fear; their skin was flawless, no scars anymore from what they endured at Severus' camp. Their laughter floated on the air to me and I smiled broadly. It was so lovely to see them- they were ok; they were happy. They were here in the Summerland with the Goddess and God.
"But there are others that will miss you." The Goddess continued, her face gentle, eyes twinkling. For a moment I was confused. Who would miss me? I was so happy here.
The Goddess took my hand in hers and I gasped as memories and people flashed before my eyes. Talon, Ava, Al, my parents, Bridget, my coven, Luke, Lavinia, Zara, even Elias.
"Or you can go back." The Goddess said, her voice gentle.
I felt my head spin slightly as I remembered my death. I had bled out, sacrificed to an ancient vampiric god that vowed to bring chaos upon the world.
"It is your choice." The God nudged, his kind smile supportive. "You have been through more than most." He said, his eyes earnest.
But we hadn't stopped Morgana. How could I leave everyone to fight the pandemonium that was sure to follow?
"I want to go back." I said immediately, my heart in my throat. What had happened to Talon? Was he ok?
The Goddess nodded, smiling and squeezed my hand gently. The light became blinding and I squinted my eyes, feeling like the ground had been pulled out from under my feet.
The blinding light dissolved into darkness and moonlight and fire danced across my vision. I was back in the forest, where Morgana had sacrificed Talon and I. I was standing back, looking at the scene before me.
It was a blur of chaos. All hell had broken loose.
With Severus dead, his followers were fighting the Ravenswood's vampires and witches, desperate and leaderless. Al had a camp vamp locked in a headlock. Ava was shielding Tyler as he summoned roots from the ground to hold a vampire down. The enchanted fire was still burning protectively around the altar.
Morgana was kneeling before the altar, her arms raised and chanting, her brows furrowed in concentration. The earth was still shaking violently.
Matthias, Camille and Alek stood around Morgana facing the flames, her line of defence in case someone managed to cross the supernatural ring of fire. I could see some of the High council trying to conjure water to diminish it but it didn't look like these red flames were affected.
My eyes found Talon then and I was shocked to see myself lying next to him, ghostly pale and bloody. I looked down at my hands and realised they were kind of transparent.
I was a ghost and that over there was my dead body.
Morgana's blood coils had disappeared from around our ankles and wrists and Talon had pulled me against him. He was carefully brushing hair out of my face. He looked like death himself, his eyes were black, but of course he was a vampire - he couldn't die from blood-loss. But it was his expression that worried me, he looked utterly broken.
I watched as Morgana stood up, still chanting and raised a stake over Talon. Talon didn't react, he didn't move. He must have sensed her there but he didn't seem to care.
"Move! She's going to kill you!" I shouted, but I was a ghost, he couldn't hear me.
He leaned forward and kissed my lips, whispering to my dead body. I jumped as I heard his words he whispered in my ear;
"I'll see you soon, sweetheart." He promised, a look of anguish in his eyes.
I screamed and ran forward, trying to grab Talon, but as a spectre I could not intervene on the earthly plane.
I watched in horror as Morgana plunged the stake into his heart.
I felt none of his physical pain as our blood-bond had presumably been broken in my death, but a horrible heart-wrenching agony tore through my chest.
He let out a terrible gasp and his body jerked and then went still, his skin turning a horrible grey. His black eyes returned to their normal piercing blue I loved and then became unseeing.
"No, no, no!" I sobbed as I watched on helplessly.
I heard a harrowing cry from across the clearing and saw that Zara and Elias had seen their son die. Zara's beautiful face was stricken, tears flowing. She would have dropped to the ground if Elias hadn't been there to catch her.
Elias held Zara, his own face stricken. I'd never seen him look so vulnerable and hurt.
Al must have clocked all of this because he stopped, letting the sword he had been wielding drop from his grasp to the ground. He looked like he didn't believe what he was seeing.
Elias walked over to Al, ignoring the chaos around them. He placed his hand on Al's shoulder, a hard look in his eyes as he gazed at his dead son and the dead witch that lay beside him.
Me. I had been the cause of his death, just like he had feared all along.
If Talon had let me go, he could have run, escaped Morgana.
I felt my own grief threaten to swallow me whole as I turned my gaze back to Talon. I wished I could touch his body; hug him and kiss him one last time.
I felt a soft hand on my shoulder, making me jerk in surprise. The Goddess was there beside me, sadness in her eyes.
"He can't be dead!" I exclaimed over and over, feeling like the world was imploding.
He's immortal, he can't die! was my mantra.
"You can return to your body and stop Morgana from releasing this god onto the world." The Goddess said then, her words soft but breaking through my inner turmoil.
"But I don't want to live without him!" I declared selfishly as even now Morgana had returned to her chanting, the spell reaching its apex.
This god would be free at any moment. He would be free to bring chaos and death to the others I loved.
That was a slap in the face. Ava, Al, my coven; they were all still in grave danger.
Of course I had to help them. I turned to face the Goddess, mind made up.
"I want to return, to stop her." I said, voice strong. The Goddess smiled a brilliant smile, like she had been hoping I would say this.
"And so you shall, my brave daughter. You have the power." She said squeezing my hand once more and then whispered:
"When Pure of Night and Elemental Unite,
Two futures appear:
Chaos will follow,
A bloody and terrifying sight,
All, death will swallow,
Or, a new world be birthed,
Changed with peace and ruled by Light."
My eyes widened at her recitation of what I assumed was the complete prophecy but there was no time to ask questions.
She kissed my forehead and I felt like I was being pulled backwards then, falling off the nearby cliff, my stomach left behind.
I hit the ground hard and I gasped as I opened my eyes.
I was back in my body, back on the earthly plane, no longer a ghost.
I felt more alive than ever.
The deep gashes in my forearms had healed completely, the only evidence of the wound was the blood staining my skin and the pool of blood I was lying in.
I was facing Talon whose lifeless expression tore at my heart.
I sat up, tears running down my cheeks as I fastened my hands around the hilt of the stake that protruded from Talon's chest.
Morgana was chanting furiously, arms spread to the ground now as a big, black mass looked like it was emerging from a deep crevice that had formed in the earth.
One chance, I thought.
I wrenched the stake from Talon's chest, hating the sound of his bones and flesh parting as I did so and stood up.
I held my breath and plunged it into Morgana's back with as much force as I could manage.
Her back arched and she screamed, her chanting ceasing.
She dropped to her knees, the blood-fire circle that surrounded us, flickering, weakening.
I stumbled backwards and crawled back onto the stone to hold Talon.
I inhaled sharply when I didn't feel the familiar spark run through me when our skin touched. I never would again.
I pulled him into my lap, holding him tightly, my hands shaking, tears falling silently as I wished he would come back to me.
This really is a Romeo and Juliet ending, a voice nudged somewhere in the back of my mind. I closed my eyes focusing;
"Spirit I invoke thee, please bring peace to Talon." I managed to get out through the sobs, channeling all my energy and love into it. Tell him I love him, I silently intoned.
I could feel the element respond, swirling and filling me with a sense of lightness and love. I breathed in shakily and opened my eyes. I leaned forward and kissed Talon on his cold, lifeless lips.
Somewhere in the back of my mind a voice was shouting for me to move, to get out of there. I hadn't killed Morgana and she would be pissed as hell I had ruined her blood sacrifice. But I couldn't get my body to respond; let alone flee.
All that mattered was Talon. I couldn't leave him like this.
I gently closed his eyes and brushed some of his hair out of his face, wishing I could see his smirk again. His skin was stained with his dark blood and his bare torso now bore the god's symbol as well as the hole where the stake had pierced his heart.
I felt like I had a gaping hole in my own heart.
It felt like I had been torn in two, like half of me had died with him.
I would never be complete again.
Then he gasped, his eyes flying open. They were their normal piercing blue and looked around wildly, like he was struggling to discern what was happening. Some colour returned to his skin.
I cried out in surprise and joy, placing my hands on either side of his face. His eyes turned black and I knew what I had to do.
He was alive, I had no idea how, but he was. And he needed blood.
Adrenaline coursing through my veins, I leaned over to grab Severus' dagger that had clattered to the stone when Morgana had killed him. I took the dagger and quickly drew it across my wrist, barely feeling the pain.
Blood surfaced from the wound and I hastily placed it against Talon's mouth.
I knew when he tasted my blood because he tensed and grabbed my wrist tightly, holding it in place as he sucked. He bit down then, drawing more of my blood into him. The pain was nothing compared to the pain I'd felt comparatively in my heart moments before. I watched, transfixed as his wounds began to heal before my eyes.
When the gaping chest wound was almost healed, Talon released my wrist, his grey eyes meeting mine.
"You were dead!" He said breathing hard, his voice gravelly as he sat up and I laughed through happy tears.
"So were you!" I said kissing him, my heart fluttering. All the unbearable weight on my chest lifted. He was ok.
"Well isn't this sweet?" A deep voice drawled, making us both freeze.
It was then that we became aware of the pandemonium around us which we'd failed to notice while we'd been in our own little bubble.
Matthias, Alek and Camille were on the other side of the fire, fighting off those that were attempting to approach us and breach the flaming circle. For a moment I was confused; why were they protecting us? But then I realised; it wasn't us they were protecting.
Morgana was breathing hard and was crouched before Severus who was back on his feet, looking as alive as ever. Talon and I hastily got to our feet, Talon still a little shaky. He stood in front of me protectively.
How was any of this possible? Talon had just come back to life, and now Severus too?
But as I took in Severus, I realised there was something very wrong about him. A darkness seemed to visibly radiate from him and his eyes were completely white.
I noted that the earth had stopped shaking, like whomever was trying to crawl out of it had succeeded.
Stabbing Morgana had interrupted the ascension of the god, barring him from manifesting in a corporeal form and so he had possessed the closest vessel instead.
"Who are you?" I breathed, eyes wide, knowing I would not like the answer.
"I have many names." He said and the power in his voice could not be mistaken; his words chilled me to the bone and his white eyes made my skin crawl.
"Crnobog is one." he said, a sinister smile creeping over his lips.
"Morgana almost succeeded in freeing me..." his trailing off and pointed stare gave me the distinct impression he knew I was the reason the sacrifice ritual was not completed.
"This body will have to do...for now." he continued, confirming my suspicions as he adjusted his suit. I couldn't tear my eyes away from him; his white eyes held me like a prisoner. There was no misunderstanding, this was a god.
We were screwed.
Finally I was released from his hold as he turned to face the clearing. Everyone had ceased what they were doing and seemed to be frozen in shock.
"Now, my children, kneel." He commanded the vampires. I watched in horror as all the vampires suddenly went rigid and then dropped to their knees, like it was involuntary.
They looked at their forgotten god with bewilderment, confusion and horror. Talon beside me also kneeled but more delayed than the others. I met his eyes, concerned, and they were locked on me, serious, like he was trying to tell me something.
"How exhilarating!" Crnobog, exclaimed, the full moon shining down on the dark god. His sinister smile widened as he raised his arms, breathing in the night air and enjoying the moment.
"How long have I waited for this day!"
The witches in the clearing had stopped and were watching dumbfounded. Now, some spurred into action; half of the council advanced forward towards the vampiric god that was possessing Severus, the still burning fire circle the least of their problems.
Crnobog regarded them, more curious than concerned. His head cocked to the side, the witches raised their magic and prepared to wreak magic warfare on him.
He gestured to the charging witches and Matthias, Alek and Camille rushed at them, attacking them in a fury of hisses and growls. Their eyes had also turned completely white and seemed to be under Crnobog's control. They seemed to be stronger and faster now.
Some of the remaining witches jumped in to try and fight off the super-charged Matthias, Alek and Camille. The god spoke again, his diabolic voice ringing out across the clearing:
"Tonight marks the dawn of a new time. My time to rule over earth. You have forgotten me and for that there will be consequences..." He admonished. Vampires watched on, fearfully.
"No more will we hide from humans or play nice with the children of the goddess. The world is ours. We will bathe in blood, death and chaos." He declared, his words echoing out in the clearing, making my blood run cold.
He offered his hand to Morgana who was still crouched at his feet, looking pale but a victorious smirk on her face. She took it and rose to her feet, standing before the god. She looked weak, like the sacrifice had taken its toll and I had exacerbated this a whole lot more when I'd stabbed her. She gazed at the god, an expression full of reverence for her master.
"Make them pay," Morgana urged maliciously, her eyes glinting, enraged. Crnobog placed his hand on her cheek and she rested into it, a crooked smile forming on her lips.
"They will choke on their own blood and beg for death, my wicked one." Crnobog promised as he ran his hand down her arms and to her waist, pulling her closer to him. Morgana gasped, completely enthralled in the god's presence and touch.
"Now, my children, attack these witches." The god commanded turning to address the vampires in the clearing.
Talon and I watched in sheer panic as all the vampires, Severus' followers and those loyal to the Ravenswood family alike, rose, their eyes glossed over and began to attack my coven and the High Council.
There was a terrible and ominous thunder crash and lighting as the Merlin-looking elder fought off Benjamin. Tyler was barely fighting off a rabid-looking vampire from Severus' camp. Camille ripped a council witch's heart from her chest. Al had his hands around Ava's neck, his eyes far away.
Spells and growls, blood and screams filled the air as the witches and vampires fought each other to survive.
"No!" I shouted, the elements around me responding as the nearby flames shot higher and the wind began to blow harder. This snapped Crnobog's attention to us and Talon from his place kneeling on the ground, tensed.
"You, little witch, are meant to be dead." He said, sounding annoyed, "And so are you." he said as Talon raised his eyes to meet him. Talon's eyes went black as he glared at the vampiric god.
"But a pureblood could be useful to us. That kind of power by our side..." Crnobog mused as Morgana smirked, a manic look in her eyes.
"I'll never join you." Talon gritted out from his kneeling position.
"You needn't. You are my son, and like all vampires you must obey me." The god laughed cruelly then and my already racing heart began to thump louder and faster.
Do something! The voice at the back of my head yelled.
"Earth, I invoke thee!"
I shouted, fuelling my fear into my magic as I conjured tree roots to spring from the earth and entangle around Morgana. She cried out furiously as the roots twisted around her body, pulling her to the ground as she tried to claw herself free. Thankfully she seemed to be too drained to conjure her blood magic.
Crnobog laughed, the sound making my skin crawl as he appeared in front of me. I forced myself to stay and hold my ground, meeting his cold, white eyes.
With the full force of them on me, it was hard to breathe and hard to concentrate. It was like my body instinctively recognised him as a superior being and wanted me to drop to my knees in his presence.
"You, though, are too much trouble. Tell me, do you think you can cheat death again?" His deep voice challenged me as he reached out and brushed his fingers along my face. I jerked my head away, trying to glare at him but also maintain control over the tree roots which were fighting to keep Morgana restrained.
"I have a fitting end in mind." He drawled, his white eyes narrowing, making my heart thump in my ears.
"My son," he barked at Talon.
"I command you to kill this witch, feast on her blood and throw her corpse to the fire."
My stomach dropped and I almost lost control of the element as Talon obediently rose from his feet and turned to face me, his black eyes locked on mine. Crnobog watched Talon expectantly, cocky and arrogant. He then gave me a hard shove towards Talon.
I stood between them both, surrounded by the blood-fire, hands raised towards Talon.
"Talon, it's me, Leina. Don't listen to him! You don't serve him!" I urged desperately. But as Talon grabbed me, I didn't feel fear. His black eyes seemed to be trying to tell me something.
He was brought back with the Goddess' magic, he does not serve the Vampiric God, a voice whispered at the back of my head.
And I realised as Talon roughly pulled me closer to him, he subtly squeezed my shoulder in reassurement.
He was pretending to be under Crnobog's control.
This was our chance.
But we had to keep up the theatrics if we were going to catch the god off guard.
"Please let go of me, it's me, Leina." I pleaded, playing along, hoping the god had not seen or sensed my realisation. I pushed and thrashed trying to free myself from Talon's grasp but really I was looking around for a weapon.
How does one kill an ancient god?
We didn't have time to brainstorm as Talon had to keep up that he was obeying his master's command. Talon yanked my head to the side, exposing my neck but I knew exactly what he was saying. Over there.
The direction he had turned my head: Al's sword was lying on the ground, forgotten a couple metres away.
I was sure I heard Tyler yell "Get off her!" from amongst the fray of battling witches and vampires. There was of course no way or time to tell him I was fine, that I was safe with Talon.
As Talon bit down into my neck I gasped in pain, trying to focus. I concentrated on the tree roots expanding and reaching for Crnobog while Talon growled and roughly moved us so his right hand was in the direct line of where Al's sword lay.
The god laughed, satisfied with my impending death and turned to wrench his arm from the tree roots that had begun to feebly entwine around his limbs.
Now! I tried to send the telepathic message to Talon as I dug my fingernails into his bare back as I invoked;
"Aeris et ignem!"
I conjured wind to pick up the sword and send it hurtling towards Talon. Talon released me and caught it and lighting fast as he lunged towards Crnobog, who was still preoccupied with my earth invocation.
I sent fire to the sword and as the blade caught fire, Talon plunged it into the god's chest.
Immediately Talon stepped back and I reached for him, one hand clutching my bleeding neck. We held each other as the god's white eyes widened in shock and then contorted in rage.
"No!" Morgana screamed as she finally wrenched free from my tree roots and raced over to Crnobog's side.
The ring of fire that surrounded us extinguished and everyone stopped. The vampires were no longer forced to obey his command as the god stumbled, pulling the sword from his chest as black blood began to pour from his wound.
Witches and vampires surrounded the god and centuries-old-witch, swords raised and magic ready.
The god looked to Talon and I then;
"This is not over." He promised, seething.
He motioned with his hand and a black void-like-tear appeared in the air. He stepped through it, Morgana with her hands around his waist.
Then they were gone.