by Cate Farren
She looked up to find Callan standing in front of her desk. He was blushing.
"What can I do for you?" she asked, smiling.
The Fey tried to look commanding as he said, "I am looking for books on American history. I am eager to learn more about the country that I'm forced to live in."
"They have the internet for that now you know."
"The Fey do not use the internet."
He said the word internet like it was shit on the bottom of his shoe. She liked him even more now. She hated the internet too. It was good for things like watching gay porn, but it wasn't a patch on old fashioned books.
"What was that about gay porn?" Callan asked.
"Did I say that out loud?" She laughed nervously. "I watch the occasional gay porn. Some rimming, some orgies, you know. I like seeing men...do manly things." She turned away, feeling embarrassed. "Not that you want to know about things like that."
"I watch gay porn too."
Amelia looked up into his eyes. He was smiling. It was a nice smile, if a little creepy. The Fey always looked creepy when they smiled. It meant they were up to something.
"You're gay," Amelia stated, all her hopes crashing.
He shook his head. "The Fey are pansexual. We don't like using that word as we don't like labels, but for this situation it will do."
Amelia had never met a pansexual before. The short stuffy looking Fey standing in front of her looked like he didn't know the meaning of the word. Yet she was intrigued. If she didn't know any better she'd swear he was coming on to her.
"So you'll basically fuck anything," said Amelia, smirking.
"Not that I do," Callan mumbled. "My job is highly demanding and..."
"I have a back room and a condom in my purse."
Callan was opening his mouth to reply when he was suddenly thrown across the room by an invisible force. He crashed into a bookcase, sending books flying, causing a domino effect that knocked over a dozen more bookcases - bookcases which she'd meticulously tidied over the weekend.
Princess Toren marched up to her. "We need to talk."
Amelia backed away, almost tripping over her chair. The Fey looked murderous. There was another Fey, a hot looking male with a smile that could seduce the sun itself, standing behind her. He had a disappointed look on his face.
“Princess Toren?” Amelia backed away, preparing to fire a spell. “What are you doing here?”
Toren’s sly grin was predatory. “We need to talk about shape shifters and whether you...”
Amelia didn’t give her a chance to finish her sentence. She knew she was being targeted here, that her life was in danger. She created a fireball, threw it at the princess, and made a run for it.
THE BLACK FEY SHRUGGED the fast moving fireball aside. It hit a stack of books, setting the dry, brittle pages alight. Pretty soon the whole library and its precious collection would be a burning pile of ashes.
"You can't burn a library down!" Wynn protested.
She ignored him as he created water spells to put out the fire. Toren ignored him and stalked after her prey, heading through the door which the librarian had entered. The woman obviously knew something. Why flee otherwise? She'd get what information she wanted; one way or another.
Chapter 28
Amelia climbed through the window, trying to ignore the gloomy smell of burning paper coming from behind her. She couldn't focus on the library burning right now. She had to think about her own safety, even though the thought of all those books turning to ash made her feel sick. It was her job to protect them and she'd left them to the mercy of a psychotic Fey princess with fabulous hair.
She fell onto the grass outside the window, making her mind up to fight for her library and her precious books. She wasn't going to let it go down in flames, not now, not ever. It was time to put into action the magic she’d learned since she was a child.
Am I strong enough to fight Toren?
The Fey walked through the wall of the library like a ghost. Her hand shot out and grabbed Amelia by the neck and smacked her hard against the ground.
"Where is the shapeshifter?" Toren cried.
The Fey pressed her boot into the back of Amelia's head, forcing her face into the dirt. She could taste soil and grass. She flailed about with her hands, smacking Toren's arm so hard the princess fell over. Amelia crawled away as quickly as she could and jumped to her feet just as a mass of thick, plant like tentacles exploded from the earth, enveloping her.
"The Fey control plants," Toren announced. "Did you forget that?"
The vines inched their way around Amelia's body, twisting tightly. She screamed in agony as she felt the bones in her left wrist snap.
"Where is the shapeshifter?" Toren asked again.
"I don't know!" Amelia cried. "Why would I?"
"There is a shapeshifter in town and the council knows about it. Either you tell me or I swear I will force these vines to hurt you in ways you couldn't possibly imagine."
Amelia tried to invoke a spell to free herself but it wouldn't work. The vines must be sapping her magic. She was defenseless.
“Do I have to ask you again?” the princess demanded.
Amelia laughed as the vines tightened further. “You’re not getting anything from me because I don’t know anything! You really need to see a shrink you psychotic freak.”
Toren slapped her so hard across the face she felt her entire skull chime. Amelia spat out a bloody tooth. It landed on the Fey’s right foot.
“You leave me no choice,” said Toren. “I will have to extract what I need another way.”
"Let her go!" a feral voice cried.
KARMA, THE TOWN'S NEWEST resident and refugee from the hell dimension, was standing several feet away. Her beautiful blended skin, a result of having several species of shifters in her DNA, gleamed in the sun. Amelia grinned despite her broken bones.
The past year had been a disappointment for Karma. She'd expected more from this new dimension, a new life. Instead she'd spent the first month locked up as she read about this new place and its customs, and the rest pretending she was human with some sort of genetic condition to explain the markings on her face. She was bored. She was a healer, and sometimes she helped some of the local supernatural population with their various maladies, but she was still bored. More than that, though, she missed Clover and Jared. They'd been such good friends and now they were gone.
"Let her go!" Karma commanded again.
Karma had spent quite a bit of time in the library. She'd grown to like Amelia, and the two of them had become friends. The witch was interesting, if a little kooky. They ate something called sushi every Friday evening and they drank wine and watched something on television called RuPaul’s Drag Race. It was fun. Amelia was her friend.
The Fey turned to glare at her. Karma saw nothing but anger and hatred in her eyes. It was a little jarring. Even Gable Trent, when he was in his true demon form, didn't scare her this much.
"Who the hell are you?" Toren demanded. "Are you the shapeshifter?"
Karma pulled out a serrated knife. "Leave her alone."
"Do you think you can cut me with that?"
The Fey grinned wickedly and threw a knife towards her head. Karma used her sharp reflexes to dive out of the way. The blade whizzed past her ear, cutting off a lock of her hair. She jumped to her feet as her opponent rushed at her, eyes wild and black. Karma screamed as they collided with a crash.
"There's no point in hiding them!" the Fey screamed, beating Karma across the head with her fists. "I'll find him eventually, but by then this town will be a stinking pile of ash!"
Karma growled, putting all her strength into the attack. Due to the many different strands of shifter DNA in her body she couldn't change her shape or commune with nature, but she did have a decent amount of strength compared to a normal human. She knew she could take on this Fey if she tried hard enough.
I didn't escape being blown up by a nuclear bomb to be ripped apart by this cre
ature!
"I am Princess Toren," the Fey spat. "The Black Fey."
"And I'm sick of you," spat Karma.
Karma sunk her teeth into Toren's arm, ripping out a huge chunk of flesh. The Fey screamed and Karma punched her in the face and knocked her back.
"Karma!"
It was Callan, the resident Fey in the town. He was pulling Amelia from the vines with the help of a tall, handsome man she'd never seen before. The vines were strong, though, holding the witch with powerful dark magic. They were having trouble.
"Let me help," Karma offered.
She watched as the Fey princess crawled away, leaving a trail of blood. Karma turned her attention onto Amelia. The vines were starting to crush her now. If they didn't save her in the next few seconds she was going to be killed.
"What can you do?" the strange man demanded.
Karma grinned and bit into one of the vines. She ripped it away from Amelia and spat a struggling piece onto the ground. Magic couldn't stop it, but the strength of her jaw was more than powerful enough.
"Hurry!" Amelia cried, her face going red.
She bit and ripped at the vines until they could safely pull Amelia out. The witch was gasping for breath, and she was holding her wrist at an odd angle. She looked exhausted. She looked like she'd had all the magic drained from her body.
"Are you okay?" Karma asked, concerned.
Amelia nodded as Callan held her upright. “The Fey bitch is getting away.”
Princess Toren was already gone.
"I'M FINE, SHERIFF," Amelia complained, slapping away the hands that felt her forehead. "Stop fussing."
She countered that argument by vomiting into a bucket. Trent turned away, regarding Karma and the shapeshifter who'd carried a deathly ill Amelia to his house. It felt odd having these virtual strangers in his home. He was used to having Adrian, Rose and Carla to confide in. He was on friendly terms with Karma, but she still stared at him when he wasn't looking as if he were the god he'd pretended to be in the hell dimension. It was disconcerting, especially as he wanted to put that part of his life behind him.
"I hate seeing Toren like this," said Wynn. His pointed Fey ears twitched to indicate his stress. "She’s not the person I've come to know and love. We have to stop her before it's too late. She cried a bit after she found out Caleb died, but she didn’t even blink when all our shapeshifter friends were murdered."
He couldn’t focus on Caleb’s death right now. It was just yet another tragedy piled upon the ones that had gone before.
Caleb could have been the only one able to curb Toren’s impulses.
Trent couldn't believe he was standing in the same room as a shapeshifter and he wasn't goring him to death with his horns. It was unnatural. Yet he’d take all the help he could get at the moment.
"Why should I trust you?" Trent asked. “You’re a shapeshifter.”
The shapeshifter stared into him. "I...I love Toren, and I hate seeing her like this. I know she feels the same way too."
"She's going to destroy this town you know," the Prime Demon stated.
"That's why we have to stop her first - without killing her."
Gable didn't want to kill Toren, but if it came to it and he had no other choice he would. He couldn't allow his town and his people to be destroyed in her insane quest. He'd seen what the Black Fey was capable of in the past. The woman was a butcher. Killing her might be the only way to stop her relentless charge.
Yet the thought of a battle with her does make me shiver with anticipation.
Amelia said, "I can feel my magic coming back."
"Good for you," said Trent, as if talking to a puppy.
She clicked her fingers. A tiny spark of light appeared in the air in front of her before blowing away. She sighed heavily.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine in no time at all,” Callan consoled her.
THEY LEFT AMELIA WITH Callan, who seemed curiously concerned about her. Trent had been aware of Amelia and Callan flirting with each for over a year. He thought nothing would come of it. The Fey was straight laced and ordered not to fraternize with other supernatural races. He was the type to stick to that order, no matter his own feelings, and yet the tiny witch had broken his defenses.
"Where are the other shapeshifters that have defected?" Trent asked.
They had convened in the kitchen, drinking coffee. He felt Darin's absence severely, especially in here. When Darin was a teenager, before he became a vampire, the kitchen was his hub. He was always eating and talking with his mouth full, annoying the hell out of him. Trent could understand why Darin fled to Whitby to be with Sutton, but he still missed him.
"They're dead," said Wynn. "Or gone.”
“Oh,” said Trent. "Perhaps they were scared of me.”
Wynn nodded. "You have a ferocious reputation. They didn't want to end up ripped to pieces."
"I only rip to pieces those who betray me."
It wasn’t entirely true. There’d been a time when he’d kill for fun or because someone looked at him the wrong way. Fatherhood had changed him.
Karma was sipping her coffee, eyeing him cagily over the rim of the cup. Trent ignored her. He hoped she'd begun to realize he was just a Prime Demon by now. She knew he wasn't a god. She’s had that fact proven to her.
"So there is a shapeshifter in Chapel Green," said Trent. His own cup of coffee was boiling hot, just like he liked it. Any normal human would receive third degree burns if they drank it. “But the blood magic ritual couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it was because of the ambient magic in the air?”
Wynn nodded. “Toren thought the council members might secretly know where it was. That’s why she went after Amelia.”
Trent pushed himself off from the table. “You should’ve warned me! Astrid and Duck Young are in danger. We have to get to them now.”
ASTRID'S FRONT DOOR was wide open. The paint was scorched black by some sort of fireball. Karma walked through first, sniffing. Trent and Wynn followed, alert.
"If Toren has hurt her I'm going to make her suffer," Trent spat.
The hallway was a mess. More fireballs had exploded all over the walls and ceiling. Ice spears were sticking out of the floor, slowly melting. There was a giant hole in the floorboards, leading down to a basement and a singed box of Christmas tree decorations. Faint wisps of magical energy, purple clouds, hovered near the ceiling.
Karma touched the ice spear. "Wolf blood."
"Is she dead?" Trent asked.
"No," said Karma. She held her head high, inhaling. "There's no other blood in the house apart from that. We can check, but she's not here. The werewolf and the Fey are long gone. I’m sorry."
They didn't bother searching the house. Trent trusted Karma. He only hoped they could get to Astrid in time before Toren killed her.
As they marched outside Trent asked, "Where could she go?"
"I highly doubt she'd head back to the bed and breakfast," said Wynn. "We were staying there."
"Then she's taking her out of town."
Trent stopped, noticing Astrid's car was missing. It had sped off quickly, driving over the lawn and smashing through the werewolf's carefully tended rose garden. He grinned, realizing the Fey princess had made a fatal mistake.
"Why are you grinning?" Karma asked. "I don't like it when you grin."
"I know how to find them," he declared.
THE FIRST THING ASTRID saw upon waking was absolute darkness. She could smell old gym clothes and rubber. She was in the boot of her car.
That Fey bitch!
“Let me out!” she shouted.
She screamed and transformed into her wolf form. She tore through the side, straight into the back of the car, chewing through the seats like they were made of paper. The speeding car swerved as Toren turned to temporarily look back at her. Astrid didn't care. She was full of fury and vengeance and she knew she needed to escape or her captor was going to kill her.
“What do you want with me?” Astrid crie
d.
Toren fired a spell over her shoulder. Astrid dodged the ice spear and lunged at the Fey's neck, sinking her teeth into the soft flesh. The car swerved and flew off the side of the road into a ditch.
No...
The vehicle rolled down an incline, spinning over and over. Astrid and Toren were smashed around like beans in a can. The wolf tried to hold on as she smashed through one of the car windows and collided with a tree. She leaped to her feet as quickly as she could, shards of glass sticking out of her body, as the car continued to tumble end over end down the hill.
THE THRONE ROOM OF the Fey King was well lit. Candles illuminated every alcove, lighting up the the pictures chiseled into the stone walls of previous monarchs. Crystal chandeliers, infused with magic, shone down from above, bathing the cavernous hall with an unearthly green light. There was even the odd placed electrical lamp. No part of the underground kingdom was in darkness any more. Nothing could hide from the light or the watchful, paranoid eyes of the Fey guard.
"Good morning," said the king.
King Lachlan’s vampire lover was standing before the throne, head slightly bowed. Daniel was dressed in human clothing, jeans and a dark jacket. He was ready to go out into the world and do the bidding of his ruler. He would miss his company, his touch, but this was necessary.
"Is it?" Daniel asked, his tone combative.
Lachlan said, "It's time. You're ready."
"I don't want to leave you."
Lachlan was touched. He hadn’t realized Daniel had such deep feelings for him. He knew they loved each other, but this was different. Did he feel such passion for this vampire, or was he merely passing the time?
He realized it didn’t matter. Lachlan loved him and that was that. Love was supposed to be everything.
"I appreciate your loyalty, but you have a purpose,” said Lachlan. “What is that purpose?"
Daniel nodded and said, "Destroy the Black Fey."