“I totally got this,” I told Ginny, who looked at me from the base of the tree where she was napping. We’d made good time with all the running, but I’d need to get back on her to get across the remainder of Troll Village by nightfall.
I held the lighter in one hand, flame dancing in the afternoon light, while I grasped the steel rod with my nearly useless injured hand, letting the end heat up. I had wrapped a bit of leather around the end so that I didn’t burn myself, and now I was just growing the giant set of balls it would take to rip out the arrow and shove the hot steel rod into my wound, giving myself a millionth-degree burn. I think that one was way off the burn chart and into cauterization land. At least I hoped so. There was a small possibility Marmal left me this lighter for a fire and the steel rod just fell in here, but I was too far now to back out.
“I got this. I got this,” I chanted. The root was good but not Vicodin good; it was like Tylenol good.
Nervousness danced across my belly as I realized it was now or never. The steel rod was hot and I was wasting lighter fuel.
“I’m a fucking badass bitch who can totally handle this!” I declared to the woods as I felt bile rise up in my stomach.
“One. Two.” I clicked off the lighter before I could puss out and dropped it on the forest floor. With my hand free, I reached up and yanked the arrow out of my shoulder from behind, hating the sickening way that it moved inside of my body. It didn’t hurt as bad as I thought it might, but the spurt of blood that shot from the wound scared the shit out of me.
Note to self: I guess you do have arteries in your armpit.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
My survival instinct took over then and I just reacted. Dropping the broken, bloody arrowhead to the ground, I grabbed the red-hot steel rod from my useless arm and shoved it into the bleeding hole, crying out in pain as it hissed. The scent of burning flesh hit my nose. Agony like I’d never experienced seeped through my body, but I kept going. I pushed the rod all the way into the hole until it nearly disappeared, and then yanked it back out as the bile in my stomach surged forward.
Pain, unbelievable pain, rocked my body as it all became too much and I turned my head over to the side and vomited.
Ginny made a whining sound and I fell forward, into the cold creek water. The side of my face hit the water and I just let the water run over my face and into my mouth, spitting it out every few seconds. Rolling onto my back, I lay half in and half out of the cold creek as it turned red with my blood. I wondered if I would die like this. Was that blood from my clothes or the wound?
I didn’t care.
Everything hurt too much. I just didn’t care.
Reaching out with my good arm, I patted the creek edge until my fingers wrapped around the cholka root. Then I put the entire thing in my mouth and started to chew.
Could you overdose on this stuff? Maybe. But I had run out of fucks to give. Not wanting to pass out in the trickling creek, no matter how shallow it was, I rolled onto my side and then forward until I was sort of sitting up.
My chest heaved as dizziness washed over me from the sudden movement, and I knew it was time to do an injury assessment. Using my good fingers, I gently probed the wound and found that it wasn’t bleeding. The hole sort of looked closed, but I didn’t want to mess with it in case it broke open. It was puckered like a star and angry red. Reaching behind me, I ran my fingers over that hole and they came back slick with a small bit of blood.
Okay… still bleeding back there… but just a little.
I looked around; all I could see for miles were trees, no farms or anyone I could ask for help. Besides, they weren’t Marmal, they would surely want the two-million reward and turn me in to the vampires. Instead, I just grabbed a piece of cloth from the sack she’d made me and wadded it into a ball, shoving it into the weeping hole at my back.
A sob escaped me at the throbbing pain that caused, and my hands shook.
I was alive. For now, but I needed to get to the Light Fey City, where I could ask for Prime Minister Locke’s help and call Sawyer. Stat.
Grabbing the lighter, bloody steel rod, and arrow tip for memory’s sake, I packed them all up and stood slowly. Dizziness washed over me. Ginny stood as well, rushing to my side as I leaned on her. “I gotta get to the border before darkness.” I held her and heaved onto her back with what little strength I had left.
She started to walk and the full weight of the Tylenol root crashed into me as I drifted in and out of sleep. Every time Ginny went over a large rock or something, it would shift me and my eyelids would flutter open. Then the soothing back and forth motion would start up again and my eyes would close. We did this for several hours until Ginny came to a dead stop and chuffed. My eyelids sprang open as Ginny whined and started to back up. Night was falling. In fact… night was here. There was barely a sliver of light left through the trees. The woods were washed in a creepy orangish-blue glow, and my gaze fell upon the orange perimeter flags that demarcated the Dark Fey Territory.
I slid off of Ginny and pet her behind the ears. “You did good. Good girl.” Sticking my hand into her sack of pellet food, I came up with some and she nibbled it from my palm. “Wanna come with me all the way through the Fey Lands? I’m sure Marmal wouldn’t mind so long as I had you returned?” I grabbed the strap nearest her shoulder and began to yank, trying to pull her closer to the border flags, but she reared back and chuffed again.
Dammit.
I looked into the darkening forest; it was different than the troll forest, somehow darker as if light didn’t even go there. The trees didn’t move and there was an eeriness in the air.
I’d sort of made friends with Arrow. Maybe I could just cut straight down and across the Wild Lands. Take my chances with the Ithaki. Hope I ran into some Paladin and namedrop Arrow. But they hated city wolves. I doubted they’d let me cross if it meant I was going back there.
I pulled out and consulted the map Marmal had given me. Where I was, it would be twice as long to reach Werewolf City by crossing the entirety of the Wild Lands, and the Ithaki were probably hellbent on revenge for Bucher’s death. No. I just had to push through and do this.
I turned Ginny around, pulled my pack and shotgun off her back, and then gave her one final hug. “You probably saved my life today. Thank you.”
Yes. I talked to a donkey, because shit had gotten desperate.
With a light smack of her rump, she trotted back into the deep forest of the Troll Village, while I spun on my heel and headed for the Dark Fey Territory. I kept the shotgun in my good hand and only the strap of my pack over my left shoulder, careful not to put any stress on my bad right shoulder.
I could do this. This was fine. I had a shotgun and shotguns killed things. I’m pretty sure I killed that troll today, although I would process that when I was back at Sterling Hill in my dorm with my new therapist that I was totally getting. I peered up at the treetops and noticed there were no more treehouse lofts this close to the border. People were smart enough to not sleep near the dark fey. I needed to find a safe space to make camp but not sleep. No way was I even blinking for a long time in this territory. I’d stayed up for all-nighters before with Raven and I could totally do it again.
No matter I’d basically just got shot. I’d be fine.
I’m a badass bitch who doesn’t need sleep or stitches.
These pep talks really worked. I felt better already.
With a deep breath, I stepped over the orange flag line and flinched as Sawyer screamed in my head.
‘Demi, fucking answer me!’
Relief spread through me as his voice filled me up. I risked the pain I knew was coming to answer him back. ‘Just crossed into Dark Fey Territory. Can’t talk, it hurts. Got shot with an arrow but I’m okay… I love you.’ The electric shocks seemed to be getting stronger, or maybe that was just my perception, but damn, if we could get these off now, that would be great.
‘Demi! Oh thank fuck. I love you too, I’m going insane without you here.’ His voice was raspy like he’d been screaming for hours, even if just mentally. He sounded completely worn out. ‘The stupid troll leader is paranoid that the witches read their thoughts, so they put a magical shield over any mind-to-mind connections across their entire territory.’
A single tear slid down my cheek to hear that it wasn’t something I did to mess up our bond, or that he wasn’t off on some love ride with Meredith.
‘Demi, listen carefully. You have to be very cautious in the dark fey lands. Any amount of your blood that’s exposed will lead them right to you.’
Well, wasn’t that fucking great. I was covered in blood.
‘Don’t respond. I’m going to assume if you got shot that you are bleeding.’
That was affirmative.
‘I haven’t slept since you left,’ he rambled on. ‘I’m at the border of the Witch Lands with Belladonna Mongrave, the high priestess. She says that if you can steal a fey blade and cut off the cuffs while saying a special incantation, it will remove the magic of the cuffs and you can get your powers back and fight.’
Relief rushed through me, but then slowly turned into terror. Steal a fey blade? How the hell would I do that? And how would me speaking the incantation do anything? I wasn’t a witch.
‘Demi, listen, I had to tell her what you are. That you’re half Paladin. Because I know Paladins have witch magic. She said so long as the magic is strong enough in you, it should work.’
I’d never even tried a spell with Raven, it all freaked me out to be honest. I wanted to stick with being a shifter and not dabble in that stuff. But to be free of these chains, I could do it this one time.
‘Now the fey blade. It won’t look like a knife they cut meat with, it would be a decorative handle or ornate type with engravings. Every fey has a fey blade they are given at birth from their fathers.’
Damn, he knew a lot. I nodded as if he could see me. Okay, steal a fey blade from a psycho dark fey that turned so evil their own people made them separate and split their lands … no biggie.
My gaze scanned the darkness and found a glow off in the distance that indicated it might be a fire. Maybe I should wait until morning…
‘It must be dark there by now, do you see any cabins or tents or anything that shows someone is living inside? Best to do this at night while you have the element of surprise.’
Damn. He really had thought this out.
‘Once you cut them off…’ He paused as if he’d rehearsed this, ‘Your scent will become stronger and they’ll hunt you.’
Well, wasn’t that the fucking bedtime story I needed.
‘But I’ve weighed the odds and calculations a hundred times, and you’re safer using your powers and having your wolf than if you are trying to hide with the cuffs on, especially if you’re bleeding. There’s just no way you will make it to the Witch Lands without getting those cuffs off.’
I stopped walking. Witch Lands? Last time we spoke he said I only had to get to Light Fey City. Maybe that’s what he meant. He was just with the witches now and he would meet me in Light Fey City with Prime Minister Locke.
He didn’t speak, and his mention of meeting me in the Witch Lands started to bug me.
‘Witch Lands?’ I whispered mentally, hoping that without speaking too loudly, I wouldn’t get zapped. No such luck.
He was silent a long time. So much so that I was debating enduring the pain of asking again.
‘We’re at war, and the light fey have joined the other side. It’s just us and the witches now.’
I stopped dead in my tracks, hoping I hadn’t heard him right.
War? I’d been gone a few days and he’d started a war?
My mother said that if one side ever joined the other, making it four on two, the smaller side would be decimated. I started walking toward the campfire again, if only to keep moving and not freak out too much.
‘No. Why? Me?’ I hissed as the cuffs burned into my freshly healing skin, but I didn’t care. I had to know.
Silence again. I was closer to the fire now. I could see two hulking shapes hunched over the fire and talking softly, so I froze and awaited Sawyer’s reply.
‘When I went to Vampire City to retrieve you, Locke stopped me and said I had no legal ground to be there. He put an ankle monitor on me and said that I needed to remain in Wolf City until the murder investigation was over.’
An ankle monitor. Holy shit.
‘So I killed him.’
Oh. My. God.
‘Sawyer! You didn’t!’ I hissed at the pain from the cuffs.
I could feel his anger threading through our imprint, raw and unbridled. ‘Oh yes I did. We found out he’s been in league with the vampires since the night he met you. They both want you and are willing to work together to get you. He tried to keep me from rescuing you so I took him out of the equation. No one’s going to come in the way of my bringing you home safely, Demi. No one.’
My boyfriend went on revenge murder sprees more than I liked to admit, but it was kind of sweet.
‘Demi…’ His voice broke. ‘I’ve tried everything I can think of. Our helicopter was shot down … this fucking ankle bracelet electrocutes me if I try to leave Werewolf City. We’re working on getting it off, and I sent Sage and Walsh to try and find you, knowing you would be along the dark fey border but…’ His voice broke and my heart pinched. I just wanted him to hold me. I just wanted to erase the past few days and start over. Poor Sage and Walsh were tied up in this now, and everyone was at war. This wasn’t right.
He sighed. ‘But all of this is a longshot… I think you’re going to have to make it to me on your own.’
My heart thundered in my chest to hear that I might be alone all the way to the Witch Lands. That was two more territories over. I’ll be honest, I’d been hoping for a helicopter rescue, but hearing that one got shot down… that option was gone.
‘Can you do that? Can you be strong and make it back to me?’ There was an ache in his voice that I felt in my bones. ‘Because I’m not sure I can live in a world without you.’ He mentally sobbed. ‘And I definitely can’t live with myself and how I treated you the last time we saw each other.’
Silent tears slid down my face and I nodded.
‘Don’t answer,’ he added. ‘These things hurt like hell if it’s anything like my ankle bracelet. When you get home, I’m banishing them forever. And I’m bringing your parents home and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.’
A sob escaped my throat, but I swallowed the noise for fear of alerting the two giant figures sitting around the campfire. How had everything gone to shit so fast? It was so nice to hear him back to his raging jealous murderous self.
‘I prayed,’ he went on, probably finally elated he could speak to me again. And to be honest I needed the human contact, and needed to hear everything he was thinking. It was nice to just listen for once. ‘I’m not even religious and I prayed you would return to me unharmed,’ he said.
I smiled, imagining Sawyer with clasped hands sending up a prayer for me. He really was a catch, but I did wonder one thing…
‘Meredith…?’ My arms were going to fall off at this point. I’d never been consistently electrocuted so much in my entire life, but I had to know. I had to know if that bitch just got a slap on the wrist for her stunt.
His anger bled through our bond, ‘She’s been banished from Wolf City forever at my request. She’ll be enrolled in Delphi University tomorrow.’
Shock ripped through me. He… banished her for that? I didn’t know what to say. Was she cuffed? Was she all alone? I kind of suddenly felt bad for her even though she totally tried to ruin my relationship.
‘I should have believed you, Demi, I should have known. I feel you in my soul. I know what you are capable of and what you aren’t. I should have known better even through a stupid spell.’
You can’t just see through spells though, that’s not how they work. We just sat there in silence for another few minutes, breathing and just being. I wasn’t going to hold it against him. He had been under some magical love spell, and it did look like I’d kissed another guy. Well, I had kissed another guy, but that whole situation was fucked, and if I ever saw that douchebag again, it was a kick right to the nuts.
I was ready to move on from this and get my life back, my boyfriend back. If we broke up over this, Meredith won.
I was also ready to get these damn cuffs off. Eyeing the two figures by the fire, I worked slowly to pull off my pack, and set it at the base of the tree I was leaning against, making sure to be quiet. The two figures ahead were talking softly, and muffled, so that I couldn’t understand them while cooking something on the low fire.
What did Sawyer say? Every fey had a fey blade? I wondered if I just walked up and asked to borrow it for two seconds if they would let me… yeah, right. These were dark fey, fey that did such evil shit their eyes turned black from the magic and they separated from their light fey kin to run their own sick territory. The horror stories that they told at Delphi about this place gave me the creeps. They’d put the Ithaki to shame if they were true. My gut feeling said that if I wanted to live through this night, I’d have to wait until they fell asleep. The shotgun was nice, but it wasn’t going to work well on two people. Two dark fey of all people. They’d have me frozen in place with magic by the time I could reload.
There were very few dark fey at Delphi; they didn’t usually banish their kind that broke the rules, they just killed them.
I slowly slid to the base of the tree and clutched the shotgun on my lap. I just wanted my wolf. If I had full use of my powers, I wouldn’t need to be so afraid. I’d still be scared shitless about sleeping the night here, but not this overwhelming helpless feeling I had now.
I spent the next hour or so tapping a soundless rhythm on my thighs. I wasn’t prepared for the cold wind that blew through the trees at night, and had to keep my teeth clenched in order to keep them from chattering. This was a waiting game and I had to win in order to get the blade. I was initially afraid of falling asleep while waiting, but it was so damn cold there was no way that was happening. Also the Tylenol root had worn off and the pain of my injury was coming on strong.
Once I felt enough time had passed, I stood and slowly stretched my legs. They were stiff, but nothing like the throbbing pain in my shoulder. I needed to find more of that root, and I prayed I could get these cuffs off and heal before any permanent damage or infection.
I stared at the small dying embers of the fire and was glad to see the two huge figures seemed to be lying down, hopefully asleep. They didn’t have a dog or anything like that with them, which was good, because I heard the fey had familiars of all kinds, and I couldn’t deal with killing anything more than I had to right now. The two dark fey I knew of from Delphi had their familiars killed before they were banished.
I shivered.
Leaving my pack at the base of the tree, I slowly cocked the hammers back on the shotgun. I wasn’t going to ask questions. If either one of those giant bundles of sleeping cloth moved, I was shooting.
Fey blade. Fey blade.
Focus. Just get the blade and get out, I told myself.
As I crept closer, I relished the warmth of the dying fire. Maybe I could sit here for a minute and warm up. My eyes immediately went to the large packs that lay just a few feet from the sleeping figures. There were two places I would keep a special dagger. In my pack or on my body.
I was going to check the pack first before groping a sleeping man.
I tried to make as little noise as possible, but still a few leaves crinkled under my feet and I froze each time, staring at the two sleeping men. They wore animal skins, pulled over their heads so I couldn’t see their faces.
I inhaled. Deer. Deer furs, freshly skinned. I could still smell the blood on them and it made me sick. It also masked their smell, which was smart.
Get the blade and get out. My eyes roamed the packs and excitement bubbled up inside of me at the sight of a glint of steel.
Tiptoeing over to the pack, with the two sleeping figures and the warm fire at my back, I crouched down ever so quietly and grabbed for the glint of steel that I’d seen. As I was pulling it out, I heard movement at my back. Not a small rolling over while asleep movement. Someone had awoken and was launching across the rocky ground to grab me. As the sound of scrambling feet filled my ears, I brought the shotgun up and spun around.
My finger was on the trigger, about to pull, when a shock of red hair tumbled out of the hood of deer fur.
It made me hesitate because it reminded me of Sage.
The deer-fur-covered person froze, yanking her hood back, and a strangled cry flew from her lips. “Demi?”
Everything in me shut down then. I’d been running for two days purely on adrenaline, and upon seeing Sage, upon knowing I was no longer in this alone, I just ran out of steam, ran out of strength. Lowering the shotgun, I fell to my knees, sobbing. Sage crumpled to the ground beside me and wrapped her arms around me gently, seemingly unsure how injured I was. She started to rock back and forth slowly like you would if you were holding a child.
I’m not alone. That’s all I could think. I’m not alone anymore.
“We’re here now. It’s okay. We got you,” she whispered.
Movement passed behind her and she looked up. “She’s shaking with cold. Get the extra fur,” Sage barked to the second figure, who I assumed was Walsh. I couldn’t see through the blurry landscape of my tears.
Two seconds later, a warm fur was thrown over me, bringing that nasty freshly killed smell with it.
“It hides our wolf smell from the fey. They hunt our kind for use in spells,” she told me.
Great. Hunted no matter what I was. Just freaking great.
I didn’t stop crying. I couldn’t. I felt so fragile and broken and embarrassed. But neither of them said anything. She just held me while Walsh kept the fur draped around my shoulders and no one said anything about my nervous breakdown.
It was a few moments before anyone spoke. “I smell your blood, Demi,” Walsh’s deep voice called behind me. “Are you injured?”
I sniffled, pulling back from Sage and wiping gently at my eyes, wincing when I hit the injured socket the queen had punched. I just nodded, unable to be strong anymore knowing I had others to lean on. Sage looked beat up as well, bruises on her cheeks; her hair was matted in parts with mud, and her nails had dried blood under them. She probably had a story to share about getting here as well.
Walsh crouched in front of me, strong and silent Walsh, here for me. Sawyer’s best friend. I felt so emotional I reached out and pulled him in for a hug. His arms were limp at first, as if I’d shocked him. Then he gave me two quick pats on the back and pulled away, clearing his throat.
“Where are you bleeding? I have a med-kit,” he asked again.
I nodded and pulled the fur back to show him my shoulder.
He hissed. “We need to get these cuffs off so your werewolf healing can kick in.”
Sage scurried to her pack and produced a piece of paper. “Sawyer said if we found you to give you this. It’s the incantation to remove the cuffs. We just need to find a fey blade.”
I looked down at the steel I’d dropped when going through their packs to find it was a regular old hunting knife.
I nodded to her, taking the incantation and folding it up before shoving it in my pocket. “I can’t… believe you’re here.”
Sage grinned. “It’s that or I go to Magic City Jail for murdering Meredith. Sawyer thought sending me on a recon mission was a better idea.”
More tears spilled from my eyes. She was a good friend.
“I would never cheat on Sawyer. Ever,” I told her.
She nodded, eyes going watery. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything right away. I was… so shocked. I mean, it all happened so fast, and by the time I started to question things you were gone. I chased after you and Eugene, but lost your trail.”
I nodded and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. We were all tricked.”
She looked guilty as hell, and I wished I could take that feeling from her. It wasn’t her fault.
“When I finally got to talk to Sawyer, he was so sure Meredith was the one… his love. He kept talking about the stupid necklace. I knew everything was wrong then, that magic was at play.”
I nodded. I hoped it was currently at the bottom of a lake somewhere or bashed into a billion pieces.
I smiled. “He said you punched him in the face?”
A slow grin pulled at her lips. “‘No, don’t touch the necklace, it’s my special present.’” Sage mocked Sawyer’s deep voice and clutched at her neck as if re-enacting the scene. “Homeboy was brainwashed. I knew then I had to get that thing off of him.”
Walsh chuckled and pointed to my eye. “You and Sawyer have matching shiners.”
Okay, I totally forgave Sawyer, because it wasn’t his fault, but somewhere deep inside of me I felt a little spark of joy at Sage punching him.
Walsh pressed lightly on my shoulder and I hissed. “Your back is still bleeding. I need to suture it.” Walsh probed my wound further and I whimpered.
Sage looked at me sadly. “Can’t we wait until we find a blade to cut off her cuffs?”
Walsh shook his head. “That could take us all night, and she’s lost a lot of blood. Her whole back is crusted with it. She needs sutures now.”
Oops…
At that comment, dizziness washed over me. How much blood had I lost? How long until we could find a blade? Was this going to hurt? What could possibly hurt more than sticking a hot poker into the front of my shoulder?
“Were you?” He paused. “Shot or…?”
I nodded. “With an arrow, and then I burned it with a hot poker to stop the bleeding.”
Both of their eyes widened.
“Damn.” Walsh appraised me with pride.
“Just do it quickly please,” I said through gritted teeth.
Walsh nodded. “Sawyer sent a morphine patch, but I’m afraid with your cuffs on it might hit you too hard, like it would a human, and you won’t be alert enough to—”
I shook my head. “Is there Tylenol?”
He reached into a small red canvas med bag and gave me two pills with a bottle of water. I greedily gulped them down.
“Want me to wait twenty minutes until it kicks in?” he asked.
I chuckled. Two Tylenol weren’t going to do shit for the feeling of being sewn up while awake. “No. Let’s just get it over with.”
He appraised me with pride and nodded.
Sage reached out her hands and clasped them with mine, looking up at my face. She smiled dryly. “You almost shot me. Where did you get the gun?”
I chuckled, welcoming the distraction when I felt Walsh’s cold hands pinch the skin in my back together. “Met a friend in Troll Village. She gave it to meahhhhhh—” I screamed as sharp shooting pain sliced through my shoulder. Sage’s hand yanked from mine and clamped it over my mouth as sweat beaded my brow.
“He’ll be quick. Just breathe through your nose,” Sage cooed with her hand still over my mouth.
Another sharp pain stabbed into my shoulder and I half screamed, half sobbed. I didn’t think it would hurt this bad, but I was so wrong. It was like getting a lip ring torn out and then getting it re-pierced the same day. Too many wounds in one already sensitive spot.
“I thought you were a Paladin with that blue paint,” Sage commented. “Did your troll friend help you with that too?” she asked as two more short stabs entered my shoulder.
I just nodded, unable to focus on what she was saying, trying to keep conscious and as quiet as possible. Talking about Arrow right now was not a good idea.
“Done,” Walsh said. “I’m going to put some disinfectant on it. Shouldn’t burn too bad since I’ve already closed it.”
Oh hell no. The word disinfectant always meant burn like a motherfucker. Sage’s hand tightened over my mouth as cold liquid washed over my shoulder and trickled down my back. It felt like someone had poured gasoline on my back and lit it on fire. I had no more strength to scream, so I just huffed and groaned into Sage’s hand while squeezing her other in a death grip.
Sawyer suddenly surged into my brain and I whimpered as the pain in my shoulder finally eased. ‘I fell asleep by accident. Why does it feel like you are being skinned alive! Talk to me, Demi!’ I lay forward on Sage’s lap, breathing in and out softly as she stroked my hair. I felt sick, like I was going to vomit.
“All done. You’re okay now.”
I couldn’t take any more pain, but I also couldn’t let Sawyer think I was dying.
‘Sage. Walsh. Stitches,’ was all I managed as the cuffs lit up and shocked my arms, causing me to whimper again.
‘Oh thank God! They found you! Demi, that’s amazing. I’m so sorry you’re hurting, but Walsh is a trained field medic. He will take good care of you while I can’t be there.’ There was relief and sadness in his voice. I knew as a pre-med student he was probably aching to do the stitches himself, but also that he just wanted to protect me.
“What the fuck was that!” Sage looked at the cuffs on my wrists with wide eyes.
I looked up at her, wondering if she really wanted to know. “Every time… I try to shift or do anything magical, including talking to Sawyer, it electrocutes me.”
Her eyes widened and she and Walsh shared a pitying look.
“Well, don’t do that anymore. He’ll be fine now that he knows you’re with us,” she assured me.
Walsh scoffed. “He won’t be fine until she’s in his arms and every last vampire in connection with her kidnapping is burned alive.”
I was about to respond when we all heard it. A twig snapped to the left and we all went stock still, not uttering a single word. The only sound that could be heard was the snapping of Walsh’s bones. He tore off his deer furs and shifted while I sat up from Sage’s lap and grabbed for my shotgun. Sage sprang into a standing position and pulled a giant katana sword from behind her. I’d never seen her actually protect anyone from harm. I mean, I knew she was studying security at Sterling Hill, but seeing her hold that katana in a crouched stance, I wondered how badass she would be in action.
Three cloaked figures stepped into the moonlight; dark hoods obscured their faces. I stood on wobbly feet and held my gun up, resting it on my good shoulder.
“We’re Paladin traders, just passing through. We don’t want trouble,” I told them as my thumb fidgeted with the hammers on the shotgun, only to find they were already cocked back from when I almost shot Sage.
One of them pulled back their hood and terror ripped through me. It was a woman. A woman with translucent pale skin and a network of… black glowing veins. It was hard to describe what I was looking at, but it wasn’t a person. It was a creature. She had the stereotypical pointed dark fey ears and black eyes, but everything else about her screamed something else.
“The demon speaks,” she said to her friends, and my blood went cold. That’s what the Ithaki called me.
My blood, they must smell whatever I am in my blood.
Walsh’s wolf peeled his lips back and gave a low growl, while Sage stepped in front of me protectively. The fey opened her mouth to speak, but instead of words, a black blob flew from her lips and opened like a net about to catch a fish.
What the fuck?
It was headed right for Sage, sickly black and… alive looking. As it arced through the air I could see it… moving. The rope in the netting was squirming.
I didn’t think, I just reacted. Stepping out from behind Sage, I jumped in front of her just as the net reached me. With a smack it slammed into me and molded around my form like shrink wrap, oozing onto my skin like a glove. A sickly feeling fell over me and I panicked, pulling the trigger of the shotgun. It blew out the tip of the net, which only caused the blackness to clamp down on me harder.
A hiss shattered the night air, and I looked out through the netting that was now over my face to see I’d blown the dark fey’s left arm clean off.
Score.
“Put your arms out like a starfish!” Sage barked at me randomly, and I did as she asked, wincing as the net clamped down and tried to force my arms at my side.
Sage pulled her katana and held it low, near my feet. I was confused until she brought it between my ankles and then sliced upward, shredding the net that held my legs.
“Nooo!” the fey shrieked and my gaze flicked to see her holding her bleeding shoulder stump, the place where I’d blown her arm clean off. But that didn’t seem to be what bothered her, because her gaze was on Sage cutting the net. She cried out in pain as if Sage hurting the net hurt her. The two other fey had been seemingly frozen in shock at my shotgun blast, but they now rushed forward and Walsh leapt from the shadows in wolf form, taking one of them down to the ground.
“Incoming!” I warned Sage of the fey running at us as she hacked away at the black net, trying to free my good hand, the one that held the shotgun.
She spun just in time to confront the black, hooded figure. He pulled a matte black sword, something I could barely see in the dying firelight, and they traded blows back and forth. I scrambled to free my arm and wiggle out of the squirming net, horrified to see that it left black trails of ink on my skin. That smell… was that blood? Was this net fucking made of dark fey blood?
Bile and panic rose up inside of me as I scrambled to reach into my pocket where I’d shoved a few shotgun shells. This fucking net was clinging to me like a squid, wet and suctioning, but my bigger worry was the one-armed bitch walking over to me with murder in her eyes.
I opened the gun with shaking fingers and shoved two shells inside, snapping it shut just as she reached me.
Pulling the hammers back, I raised my arm, ready to blow her head off.
She looked at me, black blood spurting from her limbless shoulder, and grinned like a crazed maniac. Her teeth were razor sharp, and translucent. She was basically my worst nightmare. Why was she grinning at me? Maybe she wanted to die.
She took one more step and I pulled the trigger.
But nothing happened.
Panic surged inside of me as my gaze flicked to the gun for a millisecond to see the black net had crawled up my hand and was holding the hammers back.
Shit.
When I looked back at her, she was already too close. With a maniacal scream, she slammed into my chest and knocked me backward.
I could only think of one thing as I fell backward and my head cracked the ground: How is she still alive with one arm and bleeding like that?
Pain exploded in my skull, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Bitch was coming at me hard. This was life or death, fight or flight.
My wolf wanted free, she wanted to show this demon what we were capable of. But I would have to do instead. The dark fey barreled at me and I kicked both of my feet right into her stomach as she tried to crawl on top of me. She grunted as my feet rammed into her gut, and then crumpled to the ground as I pushed her backward.
I popped onto my knees, using the shotgun like a baseball bat and swinging, cracking her upside her temple. Then I tore the black netting away from the hammers and brought the barrel to her forehead.
Bye, bitch.
I pulled the trigger and the gun kicked back into my shoulder as the force of the weapon blasted into her face. Bits of her brain exploded onto the ground. My ears whined at the loud bang and I stepped back in case she was going to pull some Terminator shit and regrow a brain or something. When the black netting started to disintegrate and fall to the ground in ashes, I knew she was finally dead.
Looking up to see if Sage and Walsh needed help, I was relieved to see their kills on the ground as well. Both looked at me, wide-eyed. No way would I have survived all three of those dark fey without Sage and Walsh’s help. Thank God I’d run into them.
“Are all dark fey like that?” I asked them both as I tried to get my heartrate back to a normal rhythm.
Sage shook her head. “Those were Munai, the dark fey high priestesses. It takes decades of dark magic studying to become a Munai.”
Well, that was horrifying, but also a relief. The Denai were the dark sect of witches, and the Munai were the dark sect of fey. The names were familiar, and I wondered if it were coincidence. Probably not.
I shivered thinking of the black netting and how it had flown from her mouth and seemed to be alive and connected to her. Gross.
“Get her fey blade and let’s move. Anyone within earshot will have heard that shotgun.” Walsh was human again and throwing his furs back over him.
Fey blade.
My eyes went to the dead body of the Munai. There at her hip was a small, dark gray metal dagger. It wasn’t a shiny silver, it appeared more like titanium; the hilt was heavily decorated and ornate.
Did I really want to use the dagger of a dead dark fey high priestess? No. Did I have a choice right now?
Also no.
Reaching down, I pulled the dagger from her hip and immediately felt the magical power from it. I could smell it as well, as if I were holding an electrical wire. The buzz of magic thrummed through it as the scent of hot wires reached my nose.
I swallowed hard and pulled out the incantation Sage had given me from Sawyer.
Please work.
Please. Fucking. Work.
My wolf surged to the surface in excitement and a jolt of electricity shot out from the cuff, causing me to whimper. She retreated and I felt her shame at causing me harm. I wanted to tell her it was okay, but mental speak would earn me another shock no doubt.
“We gotta move. Get those cuffs off.” Walsh doused the fire and hefted my pack as well as his own onto his back.
Without ceremony, I took the tip of the dagger and ran it down the cuff on my right arm like Madam Harcourt had that first day at Sterling Hill. It cut into the hard steel like butter and the cuff fell to the ground.
Relief surged through me at the sight of seeing the broken cuff by the fire. I switched hands, slower this time, as it was not my dominant arm. My poor arms were so red and bloody, I didn’t want to injure myself further. When the second cuff fell to the ground, I half sobbed in relief.
Slipping the dagger into the back of my belt, I pulled out the piece of paper from my pocket that Sage had given me. I knew it was going to hurt, I’d nearly passed out when Eugene had held me in place when Madam Harcourt had removed them before, but I just had to push through a little bit more pain.
Without wasting any time, I rattled off the witchspeak: “Entora dilumin wolven forchesto.” I sucked in a short breath as searing pain wove through each limb. I clamped my teeth shut with a crack and swayed on my feet. Sage stepped closer to me as I panted, breathing through the sharp stinging agony, black dots dancing at the edges of my vision.
“Wolven risenoto becara.” A yelp left my throat, and I knew it was just too much. Too much trauma too close to each other. The black dots became bigger and then everything went black.
