by Linsey Hall
We were still a few miles away, but this wasn’t going so bad.
“Incoming!” Cade shouted. “From behind.”
I turned to look.
Shit.
I’d spoken too soon. A horde of VDBs darkened the sky, hurtling toward us from the forest. As if someone had told them that a snack waited for them out on the planes, without even a tree for shelter.
The stench of their magic filled the air as they flew toward us, their red eyes blazing.
The ground rumbled, sending vibrations through my legs.
Then the ground in front of me dropped away, leaving a two-foot-wide crevasse. I leapt over it, fear chilling my skin.
But the ground kept rumbling, dropping away in sections as the bats gained on us.
Oh, we are so screwed.
I sprinted harder, but there was no way I could outrun the bats. And the crevasses in the sand were getting wider and wider.
“Hang on!” Cade stashed his sword and shield in the ether, and his magic flared around him.
He never stopped running, but a moment later, a massive wolf was loping along in his place. The beast was four times the size of a normal wolf, with rippling muscles and a sleek, silvery-gray coat.
It swerved toward me, green eyes intent on my face, and jerked its head.
Get on.
Holy fates.
The message was clear. Cade wanted me to ride on his back.
No way.
The ground dropped away in front of me, creating the widest gap I’d seen yet. Cade leapt over it with ease, but I barely made it.
Behind me, the bats shrieked.
I glanced behind.
They were so close now. And the ground rumbled.
“All right!” I called.
Cade slowed beside me, and I stashed my sword and shield in the ether. I jumped onto his back, grabbing the scruff of his fur and hauling my leg over his side.
He was so warm, his heat sinking through to my skin. I could feel the ripple of muscle as he ran, his great paws eating up the ground as he bounded over giant crevasses. I crouched low, hanging on for dear life, and he hurtled over the ground. My leg muscles burned as I clutched his sides.
Every time he leapt over a newly formed crevasse, I felt like I might tumble off him.
The scent of his magic wrapped around me, a storm at sea that was so at odds with this strange desert environment. The taste of fresh apples exploded on my tongue, and the sound of swords clashing in battle rang in my ears. It felt like I was within his magic shield.
A sense of goodness and honor flowed through me. It was him.
I could feel who he was—everything that made him special. This was the main reason people never rode Shifters. It was too intimate. Too personal.
The VDBs shrieked again, a cacophony that was like a battle cry.
I clung to Cade and turned my head, catching sight of the horde of them. They were hunting as a pack, and their hungry red eyes were on us.
Fight.
I could hear Cade in my mind. Not quite telepathy. More a joining of the souls—two people who knew how to fight and what must be done. Maybe the Shifter thing gave us a greater connection. I had no idea.
I drew in a ragged breath and let go of the scruff of his neck, slowly raising myself from a crouch.
The ground whizzed by beneath us, making my stomach drop.
I was going to have to turn around to fight the VDB.
Oh fates, this sucked. But the bats were coming from behind. As quickly as I could, I scrambled around, finally facing back toward the forest.
And the VDBs.
They were only twenty yards off now.
I clutched Cade’s sides with my legs as I drew my sword and shield from the ether.
Focus on those.
The cold steel was comforting beneath my hands. Much better than the sight of the ground and frequent crevasses. I could fall off any moment and plummet into the earth.
Yep. Better to focus on stabbing the VDBs.
The first VDB dived, shooting toward me like a missile. I swung, slicing across its neck and sending it tumbling through the air.
The next came from the left. I stabbed it in the throat with my sword, gagging at the scent of its rotten blood. A third bat came from the right.
Too soon.
I raised my shield as I yanked my blade from the throat of the other VDB. The monster plowed into the shield, sending me careening to the side.
I clutched hard with my legs, barely managing to stay on.
“Faster!” I cried.
Cade put on a burst of speed, racing across the plains like a beast possessed. I clung to his back as I fought off the VDBs, slicing and stabbing as the monsters attacked from all angles.
Sweat dripped down my face and stung my eyes, but the attack slowed as I took out more and more. Finally, the last VDB thudded to the earth.
I sagged on top of Cade, stashing my sword and shield in the ether and holding on to his back for support. My legs felt like jello, weak from clinging to him.
Behind us was a trail of broken ground and VDB corpses. Their blood soaked into the earth as they disappeared, leaving no trace that they’d ever existed.
Panting, I kept my arms wrapped around Cade’s waist. His fur smelled divine. Like his stormy magic and whatever soap he used.
Honestly, I probably liked this too much.
Finally, he slowed. I straightened on his back, looking behind me to see how close we were to the Fae settlement.
Nearly there.
It was the strangest place I’d ever seen. A city made entirely of packed sand, from what I could tell. It rose at least six stories into the sky, but the whole place was like some fantastic, jumbled high-rise. It was actually many buildings all piled on top of each other with stairs and passages winding throughout. Very maze-like. Very Fae. I’d forgotten to ask what kind of Fae they were, but maybe a desert variety.
Cade slowed to a halt at the edge of the city.
I leapt off his back, stumbling as I hit the ground.
He leaned toward me, and I grabbed the fur at his side, steadying myself.
Fae magic drifted from the place, smelling of the forest and sea and desert. It brushed across my skin like a feather and pricked like nettles. It sounded like a crackling fire and the roar of wind.
“Lots of magic here,” I murmured. The place looked abandoned, but the magic belied that. There were thousands of places to hide, anyway. I could only see the outer edge of the city. There was much more within.
Despite it all, I could still feel Cade. So close and real.
Magic flared around him as he shifted back to his human form. He stood right next to me, his heat still reaching for me. I looked up, struck anew by how tall and broad he was. His pupils were blown out, darkening his eyes, which roved over my face.
Electricity prickled between us.
He’d felt it, too, that same intimacy I’d sensed.
I sucked in a ragged breath, resisting the urge to lean up and press a kiss to his strong jaw. Or his full lips.
Out the corner of my eye, I spotted his hands turning to fists. He drew in a slow, steady breath, then stepped back. Tension sparked in the air between us, remnants of one of the most intimate supernatural acts.
7
“Come on.” Cade’s voice was rough. “We should get inside before anyone sees us.”
“Yeah. Definitely.” I looked away from him, up at the city towering above. There were at least a dozen buildings stacked on top of each other, all made of pressed sand with several walkways and tunnels weaving through them.
The exterior was rough and worn, though it looked like it’d once been carved with decorative leaves and flowers. Now, it was crumbling and pockmarked with gray streaks. From the VDBs, or the dark curse?
All the same, it was truly fantastical. Something straight out of another world.
“This way.” Cade led me toward an opening at the base of the wall.
It looked like it had once been wider, spilling out onto the desert plain, but it was boarded up with wood now. There was just a narrow opening for a regular-sized person to fit through. No giant VDBs.
I ran my hand over the rough wood as I stepped between the boards. “This was added later, wasn’t it? After the VDBs arrived.”
“I think so,” Cade said.
I inspected the alley we’d entered. It was about ten feet across and lit by glowing yellow lamps. They weren’t electric or fire, but magic.
This whole place probably didn’t have electricity—the Fae were known for scorning modern conveniences. And when this place had reached its heyday a few hundred years ago, electricity hadn’t even been invented.
I looked upward. This alley rose all the way up—a full six stories—and terminated at a wooden roof. Light streamed through cracks, shining on dust motes that danced in the air.
“Yeah, they added all the wood to keep out the VDBs.” I shuddered. “Can’t blame ‘em.”
“Why don’t we see if we can find a bar or pub where we can ask around for information.”
“Great idea.”
We set off down the dark, narrow road. The buildings on either side looked abandoned, but noise came from higher up on our right.
A set of winding stairs caught my eye. “Come on.”
I gestured for Cade to follow, then climbed onto the sandstone stairs.
As I climbed up into the city, it became clear there truly was no rhyme or reason to how the rooms and buildings had been laid out. Pathways cut through at all angles and heights, along with more stairs going up, down, left, and right.
Generally, it was dimly lit—especially in the alleys that had sandstone for a roof instead of slats of wood.
“This place is a trip,” I muttered.
“Earth Fae used to live here,” Cade said. “They could navigate this type of structure easily.”
“I’m barely keeping my bearings. This must be why Jude’s map is so sparse.”
“There’s never been much record of this place. I’d only ever heard of it. The maze city in the desert.”
Pounding footsteps made me freeze. Behind me, Cade did the same. The hair on my arms rose as the footsteps came nearer.
Friend or foe?
“Oy! You there!” the voice sounded from my left.
I turned, searching the dimly lit passage.
A large man hurried toward us, hand raised. “What do you think yer doing?”
Foe.
“Run,” I whispered. I’d seen this sort of man before. Big, gruff, voice full of command.
He was either police, or he liked to act like it.
And he was hunting for trouble.
I sprinted up the stairs, calculating that we were roughly three stories up. Cade stayed close behind, his footsteps silent.
At the next landing, I darted left, running down a darkened corridor and taking the next stairs on the right. We passed by windows lit with pale yellow light and two older women sitting in a doorway. Up and down, left and right, I ran through the maze.
Finally, I stopped, panting. We were at a crossroads, with two of the nearby buildings spilling yellow light into the passage.
“We lost them.” Cade peered back down the way we’d come.
“Yeah.”
“How’d you know he was trouble?” Cade asked.
I shrugged. “Got a sense for it, that’s all. Didn’t you hear it in his voice?”
“He was trying to indicate who was boss.” Cade shrugged.
“Ha. Well, to someone of my size, that means stay away.” I looked him up and down, taking in the muscles and magic. “But I bet no one pulls that trick with you. Not when they get up close.”
“Not usually.”
“Hmm. Well, stick with me, buddy. I’ll show you the ones to avoid.” I might have some badass magic, but my desire to keep on the down-low had taught me how to stay away from trouble.
If there was going to be trouble, I wanted to be the one starting it.
The sound of music filtered down one of the streets. I tilted my head, trying to get a better sense of it.
“Hear that?” I murmured.
“Some kind of bar.”
“Let’s go find it.” I set off after the music, walking down the abandoned street.
Yellow lamps lit our way. On either side of the road, there were apartments or houses or shops. I couldn’t tell which, since the window glass was frosted and only allowed light to escape. For every set of lit windows, there were at least ten darkened ones. This place was definitely down and out.
“Just outcasts and outlaws living here now,” Cade murmured. “Only the sorts willing to live with the VDBs.”
I was all too familiar with that. Back in Death Valley, there was an underground mountain city called Hider’s Haven. Ana and I had delivered outlaws to the city so they could hide out from whatever hunted them.
But we’d never wanted to live there ourselves—no matter what hunted us or how close it got.
I loathed this type of closed-in living. This was barely tolerable, and only because it was above ground.
Music spilled out of a doorway up ahead.
I sidled up to it and glanced inside, spotting a bar or nightclub. The walls were covered in glittering green leaves—magic, not real leaves. Glasses of neon liquid in all the shades of the rainbow sat on blue glass tables, around which sat surly-looking individuals. Most of them had the dusty tan skin of the Earth Fae. Their hair were all shades of browns, as were their eyes. There were a few other species here and there, though I couldn’t identify most of them.
On the tiny stage in the corner stood a woman with blue skin and fabulous wings, belting her heart out to some tune about Vampire Demon Bats stealing the one she loved.
I glanced at Cade. “Ready?”
“Let’s go.”
We entered and wound our way through the crowd, headed toward the blue-glass bar. Several people shot us suspicious looks, but I averted my gaze.
No doubt they weren’t used to new people. It was going to be tricky to find someone to talk to about the dark curse hanging over this place.
We found an empty spot at the bar, and I eyed the many bottles of jewel-toned liquor. They were right up my alley—I didn’t need to taste them to know I’d like them—but now wasn’t the time to get tipsy.
I leaned my back against the bar and surveyed the room for potential targets. There was a group of women giggling at the end of the bar. Nope. A rowdy crowd of guys around a card table. Nope again. A drunken couple in the corner who were sucking on each other’s faces. Definitely nope.
But that left a few loners hanging out around the place—men and women both.
“What do you say we split up?” I asked.
“And try our wiles separately?”
A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “I’d like to see your wiles.”
His brows rose.
Whoops. I’d meant that to be a silly joke, but it was actually a bit too honest.
“Whatever,” I said. “Just split up. Try to find something about the cause of this dark curse that’s seeping into the Protectorate, then we’ll reconvene.”
“Good plan.”
I watched him amble off toward a woman who sat alone near the stage. She had a red bouffant and a dress that was seriously flattering on her curvy figure.
I didn’t love the tug of jealousy, so I turned from them, scouting the end of the bar that wasn’t staked out by the supernatural hen party.
And it looked like my luck was about to pan out.
A youngish guy was approaching me. Barely twenty, if I had to guess, with a skinny frame and a peacock’s flare of blue hair. He was cute, if you were into teenagers.
My gaze strayed back to Cade, who now sat next to the pretty woman.
Yeah, I wasn’t into teenagers.
But I pasted a welcoming smile onto my face and tried to make my eyes twinkle at the would-be suitor. From his falte
ring step, it probably came off as a bit manic.
I cleared my throat and toned it down, leaning against the bar in what I hoped was a seductive pose. When I started to keel over a bit too much, I stiffened and straightened.
Yeah, intentional flirting was not for me.
The kid stopped by my side, a few inches taller than me. “Hey, I haven’t seen you around here before.”
“Not my usual place.” I tried a smile.
He didn’t wince or back up, so it must have looked pretty normal. Jackpot.
This undercover stuff wasn’t so hard. The Academy would be proud of me.
A slender female bartender approached us, her small horns peeking out from her black hair. A demon. Though what kind, I had no idea.
“What can I get you?” she asked.
“I have no idea.” And it was true. I didn’t recognize a thing on the menu above the bar.
“Try a Fae Fancy. My treat,” the kid said.
“Is it pink?” I asked.
“Sure is.” The bartender grinned, revealing four sets of fangs. She turned and went to make the drink.
I turned to the kid. “How’d you know I like pink drinks?”
He shrugged. “Don’t most girls?”
Well, no. But I didn’t correct him. I smiled instead, though it was more like baring my teeth. “I’m Bree.”
“Emrys.”
“Nice to meet you, Emrys.”
The bartender returned with the Fae Fancy, and I took a sip while Emrys paid. The flavor of raspberries and the bite of liquor exploded on my tongue.
I grinned. “It’s great.”
“Good.” He smiled.
Should I just jump into the questions or flirt a bit more? I was about to lead in with a comment about the weather—super exciting!—when a gruff voice sounded from behind us.
“I think this pretty lady wants a real man.”
Ew.
I turned. The man who stood behind me was a hulking bruiser of a guy. A couple inches over six feet with muscles stacked on top of muscles and not much neck to speak of.
Call me crazy, but I was partial to necks.
“I know what I want.” And it wasn’t this dude.
“You’re not from around here.” The man leaned closer, giving me a whiff of way too much cologne. “Don’t normally like outsiders. Except you, pretty girl.”