by Elle Lincoln
“So they want to be worshipped?” It seems stupid really.
“Not just them. But the Fae are a vile race. Full of ‘em selves. Snooty bastards,” Patrick grumbles with a grumpy frown. It’s slightly comical, but only slightly because of the conversation and all.
“So I’m guessing not everyone is on board with the god worship here? Since Mac, you are a god?” Still not buying it completely.
“I don’t need to be worshipped. I’ve made a life here. This era suits me. The women suit me.” He eyes me up and down, allowing the tension in me to break.
Balor growls which has me swallowing a laugh. Mac holds up his hands in a placating gesture, but his crooked smile is telling.
“Alright, so that is a lot.” I rub my face, thinking back to the dream I had while in Balor’s cabin. I don’t think it was a dream at all. The blood, the fighting. Humans would be slaughtered if it came to that again. I feel the darkness swell in my chest at the thought of a good meal. “Oh, that’s just gross.”
“What’s that?” Mac questions.
“She’s hungry,” Casseus supplies, a knowing smirk on his face. “May as well see what you can do.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” My voice squeaks with the question.
“It means it’s time we teach you how to hunt.” Casseus looks far too smug. I don’t like it and I don’t like where this is going.
“I’m good,” I state. Liar, liar.
It doesn’t even deter him. He steps into my space and I become all too aware of him. Didn’t he kill me? No, he actually didn’t, the Sluagh did for their own purposes. Ones I’m not quite ready to understand just yet. Even so, I’m drawn to Casseus, even though I’m not sure I want to be drawn to him. Yet of all the people in this room, he understands me on a level they can’t. He went through the same transformation, connecting us on a deeper level.
“How about it Little Raven?” he taunts.
“Why do you call me that?” I wonder.
“Because it’s only a matter of time before you figure out how to fly with the flock.” Those black eyes of his are now seductive, and I fall into their depths with the promise of the wind beneath my wings.
“I’ll turn into a raven?” Is that hope in my voice? Am I really accepting all of this? And so easily? I suppose I am.
“Yes. Now, do you want to go hunting?” His hands ease their way onto my hips and slide up to my waist. I know there are others watching, but it only turns on my inner whore as heat spreads through me. Heat for him, and dare I say it turns me on?
“What are we hunting?” It’s a fool’s question, as I already know the answer.
“The souls of the damned.” I can feel that the idea of me joining him turns him on. Perhaps we are just two very disturbed individuals for liking the idea of hunting men.
But that deep dark part of my tainted soul is already anticipating the hunt.
Chapter 17
Bette
A Hunting We Will Go
Try as I may, my brain was having a hell of a time keeping up. When Casseus suggested hunting, I was ready to jump on that bandwagon and set sail. Okay, so that doesn’t make sense. Either way, I needed the distraction. But here?
Here?
“Why the hell are we at a mall?” I was not a happy camper. Not only did he drive that rusty pickup, just the two of us, but he drives like a lunatic. There were several times I swore I saw Jesus waving at me from the side of the road. But by some miracle, and make no doubt about it being a miracle, we got here in one piece.
“Several reasons.” He hops out of the truck and actually opens my door like some gentleman. I snort, knowing he is no gentleman. “First, you have nothing to your name. That includes clothes. Second, hunting.” He casually hands me a pair of men’s flip-flops. Yeah, those aren’t going to fit my small feet. Either way, I slip them on because it’s better than nothing.
“Sure, but when you said hunting I thought...” What did I think? We would crawl through the woods in camo and black war paint? Okay, that is exactly what I thought and I was excited for it. Not shopping and people watching. Were we people watching. Oh hell.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like people watching. I guess a part of me was trying to detach from the person I was before Casseus came along. I should have known better, considering the Sluagh chose me because I people watched.
“Think about it Little Raven. Humans built these malls for shopping. All walks of life congregate here. It’s like a human corral. All just lined up and ripe for plucking.” The smile on Casseus’ face is disturbing, like we are at his favorite buffet. Only instead of steak or seafood, we get... people.
“That’s... a lot. I’m not really sure how to process that information.” Again he holds the door open for me to enter first. The scents of the food court blast me along with the air conditioning, yet it doesn’t ping my hunger. “Why am I no longer hungry?”
He places a palm on the small of my back to steer us through a department store. The warmth of his hand radiates through my dirty tank top, awakening nerves and lighting them up, his touch like a slow burn. It also reminds me I need a shower, something I wish I had the foresight to do before leaving. Oh well, beggars choosing and all that.
“You are, you just haven’t found what makes you hungry.” His sly smile isn’t lost on me. Actually, I rather enjoy his playful side.
“And what, pray tell, would that be?” I can’t help the tease from falling past my lips. His dark eyes look down on me with a mischievous glint.
“The souls of the damned of course.”
Of course, why hadn’t I thought of that? I roll my eyes at him.
“Come on.” We move into a wing of the mall that’s bustling with shoppers, determination set upon their faces. They pay absolutely no attention to me or my dirty clothes and my oversized flip-flops, which keep making an obnoxious tap tap.
“What day is it?” I ask, since I still don’t know.
“Saturday.” I actually wanted an actual date but okay, fine, I’ll leave it at that, and maybe we can get me a phone while we are here.
He pauses before a sporting goods store, I hesitate, my brow raised in question. “We aren’t going to be doing a lot of causal things like going to the movies or out to dinner. We’re going to be hiking, and yes, to sate your need hunting.”
I hum in response before following him in. I smile. Of all the guys Casseus seems the most adapted to the modern world. I don’t dare ask how old he is in case it’s some paranormal faux pas. Just like you never ask a woman her age. Though I could see myself being proud of that in a hundred years. Instead, I follow him in and watch while he picks clothing for me.
“What made you change your mind toward me?” I move up to him, the question nagging in the back of my head.
He glances down at me, a frown tugging at his lips. “I couldn’t kill you.”
“That’s not comforting.” I take a small step back and away from him.
He grabs my elbow and yanks me closer. Too close. On my next inhale I’m thrown back into the woods, the smell of earth envelops me with a tint of pine. My palms fly out to his chest and though he casually mentioned killing me, I know that’s that last thing on his mind with the way he’s looking down at me right now. He slides the back of his hand over my cheek, my ear, down my neck, and to the top of my breast. The rough scrape of his skin flicks over my nipple to below my breast, where he flares his hand to grasp my waist.
“I’m stuck with you, more than anyone else in this world. We are bound together by the Sluagh.” His deep eyes see far too much of me, but I refuse to back down, even when my body reacts to his touch in maddening ways.
“Then why were you so angry?” My voice is a breathy whisper.
“Wouldn’t you be? You live hundreds of years as their sole voice, the one who feeds them. In essence, you can call them my children. Then along comes this woman. She’s exquisite, mysterious, and yet her soul is as tainted and dark as mine. Then they
choose her to complete our little family and break the imprisonment on Balor.” He doesn’t look mad anymore except for the slight tightening of his mouth.
“How did that happen?”
“What?” He’s staring at my mouth. I lick my lips and watch his eyes track the movement.
“How did me entering the picture as step mommy release Balor?” How did I get so close to him? Why am I staring at his amused lips?
“I told you that, did you forget already?” I hum, still staring at his lips and watching them move. A strange haze overwhelms me that’s embedded with lust. “It takes two of us to lead the Sluagh.”
“Huh?” I had no idea what he just said or what I had asked. Shit.
“Come on.” He spins away from me, leaving me cold. I shiver and it has nothing to do with the air vents that just came on.
I follow Casseus to the register where he pays for clothing—hiking pants, thermal shirts, wool socks, sports bras, and a pair of hiking boots. I didn’t even see him pick all of that out. Nor did I try anything on. I even ignore the little black card he pays with. Must pay to live so fucking long.
My mouth is tongue-tied and the lusty haze slowly clears from my eyes. I follow Casseus out of the store where he hands me the bags.
“I didn’t even tell you my size.” I’m frowning as I peer into the bags and note all the correct sizes.
“You didn’t have to.” His lips twitch and I’m wondering what spell he’s cast over me when he takes my arm, and steers me to the center of the mall and a bench seat. “Sit.”
Who even am I? I sit. No fucking questions asked. I don’t know what bothers me the most. That they have flipped my life upside down or that these men show up and slide into my life as natural as breathing. Even Pat and Mac, who I only met today—they just feel right.
It’s been a weird fucking day. The skylights show that the sun is finally setting. Casting the busy mall in hues of orange and reds. I watch as the sunbeams strike and highlight all the stores I once loved to shop at. But now? It feels odd to be here. Among these people whom I feel no kinship toward anymore.
Casseus sits beside me, his long arm stretching out along the back of the bench. His hand plays in my hair, twirling the strands around his fingers. Sitting here with him feels so easy, at least until he speaks.
“Look at someone, concentrate, and see if you can feel the stain on their soul. You aren’t looking at the soul per se, but the deeds they’ve done to mar it. You aren’t a being of light, you are a being of the dark now and like calls to like.” His words make me pause, it’s an odd feeling sitting here speaking of people as though they are nothing more than their actions.
But aren’t they?
What makes a person, a person? Their actions. I realize he is right.
I look around the mall’s center. It’s full of teens gossiping about who is going to ask them out. I dismiss them. I watch the men. Most of them eying up the teens. That could be naughty. I think about reading them. But they don’t stir my hunger. I huff out a breath.
Casseus’ hand on my shoulder somehow grounds me. “You read people well Little Raven. Read them here. What do you see when let your own darkness awaken? It will know when it sees what it wants.”
I lean into him, taking comfort in his odd words. But he’s right. I watched people to learn who had secrets. I observed until I found that tick, that slip of a mask. Then like I dog, I sniffed out the mystery. See everyone has secrets, everyone. It just depends on how deep it’s buried.
And now, those secrets will feed me, and in turn feed the Sluagh.
What even is my life anymore?
I peer at the people striding before me. Watching. Waiting.
There.
A mom walks with a stroller. Not odd at all, except the stroller is empty. I look at her body, she’s slim and her midriff is showing. She’s young and holding a new phone against the bars of the stroller. Her clothing is unstained. I’d bet my left ovary she isn’t a mom.
Inside me, my darkness stirs. It stretches like a lazy cat waking from a long nap. In my mind’s eye I see a sleek panther yawn, its jaws wide as it gulps air. Then they snap closed. It sniffs and stalks its prey.
“That’s it. Now stay calm.” I wonder why he says to stay calm.
That’s when I realize that the panther is an ethereal mist that floats out of me and to the woman. Whatever it senses, it likes. It takes everything in me not to move. Not to freak out. Not to realize this is all about to go down here in front of hundreds of people. I’m not a fan of public murder. And I know with everything in me that is exactly what is about to happen.
The dark mist coils around the woman and dives deep, latching onto the black sludge covering her soul. There it strikes, biting into the sludge like a juicy steak.
I’m blinded as visions of this woman’s dark deeds flash before my eyes. Casseus pulls me close to him, preventing me from moving. His arms are like a vise.
I’ve done some fucked up shit in my life. Even going so far as to get blackmail on my best friend. Who I haven’t even thought of until this moment. Yeah I’m a shitty friend. I’ve blackmailed my bosses. I’ve dug up shit on those closest to me. And I’ve fucked whoever turned me on. Single or taken. It didn’t matter.
But the images that flash in my mind’s eye enrage me. Yeah I’m a manipulative bitch with a fucking conscious. Because the shit this woman did to children leaves me infuriated. That stroller? It’s to kidnap children.
Fucking child trafficker.
I want to shut away the images of precious babies screaming for their moms, their dads, before being drugged into complacency. Sure, this is how she was raised, and sure, her choices are few. But in the face of a decision, there is always a choice. Her handler is walking several steps behind her and I want nothing more than to take them both down. Because in the end you can always say no and she chose not to.
At least today I’ll end one. I won’t even waste my breath when she falls.
And I fucking don’t.
I consume her darkness, her soul faltering as I take bites out of the holes her taint has caused. Even if I consumed all of the darkness, she wouldn’t get a reprieve or a fresh new outlook on life with fucking morals. No, she can’t survive without all of the pieces. I wouldn’t let her anyway.
I feel them then. My connection to the Sluagh is invisible, like nothing more than a spirit that floats through the air. Invisible to all but Casseus and me. Through us we sate their hunger. I feel no remorse as her body falls.
Shoppers scream, one attempts CPR. But it’s too fucking late for her and I only hope that her end feeds my little ghosties for a long time.
But I’m not done yet. I get up, shaking off Casseus and the damn flip-flops. I stride like a bitch with a purpose, weaving in and out of shoppers. Casseus already knows where I’m going. What I intend to do. Like my connection to the Sluagh, my link with Casseus is impenetrable. I feel him like no other, and if I chose to, I could dive inside of him and learn all of his delicious little secrets.
But I don’t have time for that. Her handler is already breaking into a jog through a department store. I follow, quick on my feet. I don’t need to see him to feel the evil his soul contains. It’s deeper than hers. His light has never shown, not even as a child. I reach out. I’m so close.
Casseus hold’s me back. “Not yet.”
I growl at him. How dare he? Is he not aware of what this vile human has done?
“I understand, but hear me now Little Raven. Two deaths are always suspicious, always. Follow. Wait.”
I don’t want to hear his logic. But I do and I growl again at myself. I haven’t lost him yet. But I follow the trail of malicious deeds.
I break free into the dusk. The encroaching darkness an appropriate tribute to how I feel about this fucker. I step onto the crosswalk in the parking lot. Casseus hot on my heels.
The criminal gets into his car.
Not today Satan.
I push my hungry Sluagh
into him. His screams coat the air in a delicious wave of icing. I shudder as they peter out, I went too easy on him. The choice was taken from me due to the delicacy of the timing. If only I had a room where I could extend his punishment. Where I could slowly draw out his pain.
His screams die off into the night and everything calms. I’m left standing there staring at a dead man in a car. I can’t even look at his memories, and I feed them directly into the hungry Sluagh. A black soul feeds them and strengthens them. Something truly needed after years of inactivity. I’m sure Casseus took care of them but still, their famine strikes me.
I stare for far too long, and clipped taps have me turning and walking away. Let him rot and bloat in the sun for all I fucking care.
Once he’s out of my sight I turn on Casseus. “Why? Why me?”
My throat chokes up and he looks at me with sympathy. I don’t want his fucking sympathy.
“There are two types of criminals in this world Little Raven. Those with a conscious and those without. You just happen to have the right balance of good and evil. Amoral and moral.” He reaches for me and I back away. His face falls at my retreat.
They chose me because I have a line I won’t cross. Yet I’d do anything to destroy those who deserve it.
“The Sluagh?” I ask, tears threatening to spill from my eyes.
“Criminals and yes, some murders with the right balance of morals.”
“Why are they not standing here then?”
“They are nothing more than soldiers, our soldiers. Our army.”
Well isn’t that fucking swell. I guess we all have our limits, and I just reached mine for the fucking year.
Chapter 18
Bette
Truckin’
My chest aches. As each new revelation unravels, my world splinters more and more. I’d like to think I’m resilient. Adaptable. Yet I know each of us has a limit, a limit born of consequence and experience. I’ve pushed past what I’m able to deal with. And yet, I know I’ve only breached the surface of what’s happening around me. I’m caught in a storm, blind. I can hear the coming tornado, the sound deafening and consuming. But I can’t see a fucking thing. Hell, I don’t even know where I stand.