All Chapters of Ghost on the highway : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

CHAPTER 33 – THE HEART OF THE SERPENTThe rain had finally stopped, leaving a misty, cold haze that clung to the shattered walls of the highway church. I stood there, heart hammering, staring at the figure before me—the mask removed, revealing a face that haunted me. Someone I had never thought I’d see again. Someone I had buried in memory and grief, thinking their shadow gone forever.“Riven,” the voice came, smooth, calm, deadly. “You always did rush into the fire without thinking. Some things… you can’t outrun.”I clenched my fists, my eyes flicking to Luca. He sat on the floor, rigid, glowing faintly, hands twitching as if waging war against an invisible prison inside him. His eyes, once warm and familiar, were cold and calculating. But there was still a flicker of him—tiny, fragile, like the last ember in a dying fire.“Luca…” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”The masked figure smiled, a cruel, sharp twist of lips. “Oh, you do, don’t you? But the heart of

CHAPTER 35 – HEART OF FIREThe abyss beneath us roared, jagged edges glowing like molten veins. I clutched Luca to me, every pulse of his energy burning through my arms, my chest, my soul. The heart of the Serpent had awakened. I could feel it—it throbbed beneath us like a living entity, a presence older than any of us, powerful enough to devour the world.“Riven… it’s pulling me,” Luca gasped, his voice layered, fractured. Part of him, part of the power inside him, was screaming.I gritted my teeth. “I’m not letting go. Not now. Not ever!”The blue energy surrounding him flared, casting jagged shadows across the crumbling walls of the church-turned-abyss. Each pulse sent tremors through the floor, shards of glass and debris raining down around us. Wolf and Tessa had somehow landed nearby, weapons ready, faces pale but determined. Bishop and Vex groaned in the shadows of the collapsing abyss, barely conscious.The masked figure floated above the edge, arms spread wide, feeding the hea

CHAPTER 37 – INTO THE SERPENT’S HEARTThe abyss waited.Every step I took toward the edge felt like walking on thin ice, a frozen thread stretched across an endless void. Luca’s faint blue glow pulsed below, trapped in the shadows, and with each pulse, my heart hammered harder. He was alive. Somehow alive. But the pull of the Serpent’s heart beneath him was relentless, unforgiving.Wolf and Tessa had tried to stop me. “Riven, this isn’t just about courage,” Wolf had yelled, gripping my arm. “It’s a death sentence! ”I had ripped my arm free, eyes locked on the faint glow. “I don’t care,” I had said. “I won’t let him die. Not like this. Not ever.”Now, I hovered at the edge, staring down into the twisting abyss. The shadows writhed like living snakes, slithering around jagged stones and blackened beams. The air smelt of sulphur, metal, and fear. Every instinct screamed at me to turn back—but I couldn’t.I jumped.---FALLING THROUGH SHADOWSThe darkness swallowed me immediately. I fell

CHAPTER 39 – BLOOD AND ASHESThe first screams came before I even saw them.The night was silent, deceptively calm, the kind of silence that always comes before chaos. Then—smash—glass exploding, engines roaring, and the smell of fire curling through the air. The Serpent had struck.“Bishop,” Wolf growled, gripping his gun, eyes scanning the shadows. “He’s here.”I grabbed Luca’s hand, yanking him into the garage. His chest heaved violently, the shard inside him pulsing in warning. “Riven… It’s reacting again… the shard…”“I know,” I muttered, tightening my grip. “We’ll control it. Together. Always together.”The flames reflected off the walls, turning the night into a hellish dance of fire and shadow. Figures moved like smoke—serpents, armed and merciless, descending on the clubhouse.“Take cover!” Wolf shouted.We dived behind overturned tables and engine blocks, the air thick with heat and the metallic tang of blood. Luca’s energy pulsed faintly beneath his skin, the shard tugging

CHAPTER 41 — ASHES, PROMISES & THE SOUND OF A LAST BREATHRIVEN – The gunfire still echoed through the trees long after the last bullet hit the dirt. Smoke curled through the night air, carrying the sting of burnt rubber and the metallic scent of spilt blood. Riven’s pulse hammered in his throat as he pulled himself behind what remained of the rusted guardrail. One side of the metal had melted from the blast. The whole damn forest trembled with the aftershock.Somewhere in that smoke, Luca had been here. Riven could feel it in his bones.He wiped the blood from his brow—not all his—and scanned the demolished clearing. The ambush had been too precise, too fast. Someone had known exactly where he was going. Someone had known exactly how desperate he was.And desperation made him predictable.“Come on,” he whispered to himself, pushing to his feet despite the screaming pain in his side. “Where the hell are you, Lu…?”The forest answered with silence.Then—A crunch.Soft. Barely there.