The Demon Girl

by Penelope Fletcher

  He couldn’t have killed anyone; he hadn’t had the time to.

  “We found her body, Rae,” Conall said and knelt down in front of me. Maeve was a step behind him, her eyes wide and sorrowful. “Her throat was mauled and her blood drained.”

  “There are shifters around. The fairy wylds border a Pride, don’t they? And the blood, if she was mauled she would have bled out.”

  “His trail led from her body to the place in the Wall Breandan took you. We guess it is here you met him?”

  Denial at Conall’s explanation died on my lips when Tomas’ own words came to me as a distant echo. “I have already eaten, a skinny girl, bitter.” Was I really to believe a starving vampire would come across a lone fairy and not bite her?

  It didn’t matter. The thought stoked the fires of my anger, and I rolled onto my hands and knees. It didn’t matter because he was mine. I gained my feet and ignored the fact the floor rippled.

  As I spoke, I staggered forward. “I am sorry for your loss, but you need to let him go.”

  “Bind her,” Lochlann ordered.

  Chains appeared in Maeve’s hands, which I now saw were wrapped in cloth, and she looped one around my neck and snaked the other around my torso. I dropped like a stone. Was I really so predictable they had prepared the one person who I would never see as a threat with chains? I stared up at her, horrified.

  She looked away in shame and turned her back on me. “I’m sworn to him, Rae. I have no choice.”

  I looked to the east and saw the tip of the sun kiss the sky. We were still shaded by the trees. There was time.

  Conall was still on his knees, trying to comfort me, but he preempted my plea, “I too am oath sworn to Lochlann, and I do not think this creature should live.”

  I looked him in the eye. “You say you’re my brother.”

  “Always.”

  “Then help me,” I said. “Just take him down so he can hide.”

  He looked away. “I cannot.”

  My eyes spun round, but even as I thought his name, I realized the folly of my hope. The fairy-boy I was bonded to, and supposed to mate for life with would save the vampire-boy who I had a blood tie to and who shared half of my heart? Still, I looked to him. Hoping he would find some compassion for a fellow demon and save him. Breandan was no longer bound to Lochlann’s will and could act as he chose. He avoided my gaze and turned his back to me. No word or other gesture could be so bold a statement.

  The first rays of the morning warmed my arm and splayed across my face. I locked gazes with Tomas, who breathed hard, eyes wide.

  “I am not afraid,” he told me. “But I regret–” He groaned and gasped in pain.

  I battled with the chains, tears of frustration and pain sliding down my cheeks at the realization I could not break them on my own.

  “Be still, Rae,” Conall urged. “Can you not see the evil you have tied yourself to? This is for the best, little sister.”

  I couldn’t do it. I could not watch another person die for me. If I had listened to him we never would have been captured, and I never would have watched Devlin steal the life away from the most beautiful and vibrant person I’d known. I closed my eyes against the coming horror. Gods, give me strength. A prickle of power radiated outwards from my chest. The amulets! I had forgotten all about them. Maeve had made a mistake. The iron around my neck and torso drained my strength, but this time I could move my arms and legs.

  Sunlight touched Tomas face and he started to burn. His fangs ran out and his eyes glazed over black. His skin looked awful in the light, translucent. As the daybreak grew it blackened and peeled away.

  It was a struggle, but I stood, keeping my eyes on Tomas. He needed me, now was not the time to be weak. I slipped my hand into my pocket pulled the amulet of protection out.

  Lochlann lunged for me and I sent him flying with a pulse of energy. He landed on his feet, but seemed winded. He hesitated before trying again. Good, because I didn’t think I had much control left in me. The next people to get in my way were in for a rough ride.

  “Stop her,” he commanded.

  Maeve came next and I dodged her easily enough, she wasn’t even trying. Conall tried to grab me, but the look I sent him had him over-shooting his aim by a mile. Lochlann went for me again, but Breandan wheeled round to plant himself between his brother and me.

  “Move,” Lochlann said. “You risked everything by defying me, and I allowed it because you are my brother. I will not let you unleash another danger upon our kind.”

  “This has nothing to do with you anymore. You may not touch her.”

  “Young fool. She chooses another and you stand by and let her.”

  Breandan shrugged and the defeated slump of his shoulders was heart wrenching to see. I didn’t have time to reassure him, or thank him.

  I pulled the amulets of wisdom and power that hung from the leather cord around my neck, and slipped the amulet of protection into the last place. The air stilled and then crackled with a zing of electricity you could reach out and touch. My hair was swept up in a cyclone of wind, and I breathed in the scent of soil and sunlight that reminded me of Breandan. He was close and he was on my side. His strength and dedication to me helped me see who I really was. I was Rae. The last pure fairy who could wield the power of the key and who was destined to be a Priestess. It was my purpose to lead these demons from the darkness.

  I was not afraid. I was strong and I had magic.

  Drawing deeply on the Source, filling every nook of myself with power and energy I called to the forest then flung myself at Tomas. I crashed into him and the tree bough cracked, almost like it gave way for me. It seemed like we fell forever, entwined, gazes locked. The tree groaned and swept down, its branches twisting and curling into a shroud around us. We landed hard, me straddling him, and the ground rumbled and shook in a tumult. In an explosion of mud tree roots shot up from beneath the earth to surround us. I glimpsed the bright and beautiful dawn as the tree roots and boughs smashed together, encasing us in a living tomb. Then it was dark.

  Tomas trembled beneath my body. He felt hot as I ran my hands over his face, and I winced. It was cracked and rough. He smelt foul like, well, burnt flesh and I gagged. Easing off him, I steadied myself and placed my wrist over his mouth.

  “Tomas,” I said, breathless. “You have to feed before you die for the day.”

  He didn’t move. I rubbed my wrist over his mouth and then instinct took over. His teeth sunk into me and I lay there as he drank himself better. It was not long before he moaned and then his head hit the floor with a solid thunk. I ran my hands over his face. He felt cooler and his face smoother.

  “Was that enough? Will you wake up again?”

  He was quiet for a moment. “I believe I will.”

  I touched his cheek and the skin slowly healing blackened under my touch. I jerked away. “I’m hurting you. My skin, it’s glowing, I– I think it’s sunlight.”

  At any other time or with any other vampire, sunlight seeping through my pores would be crazily fortuitous, but my voice was horrified. Eyes closed, his fingers searched for mine. Again his skin burned the moment he touched me, and I tried to pull away, not understanding why I was causing him more pain. There was no off switch, and though my light was dimming, I didn’t want to risk hurting him.

  “Don’t pull away from me. I will heal.”

  My skin looked dark next to his. He looked deader than usual and it scared me. The glow of my skin had cranked it down a notch and he held on tighter.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Yes,” he said slowly, and sounded like if he had the energy to make fun of me, he would. “Rae, promise me something?”

  “That depends. The last time I agreed to something before knowing what it was, it caused me a lot of trouble.”

  He coughed and laughed. It was a wet, horrible sound and I grimaced.

  “Go ahead then, tell me.”

  His eyes sparkled like shiny rocks before the lights in t
hem went out, and they slid closed. He died for the day.

  “Tell me,” I said loudly, panicked.

  It was in vain. He was beyond me now and would not be within my reach until the sunset. I watched as my blood healed his body, faster than if it had been human blood. For once I felt relief that I was fairy, being this way had helped him survive.

  I was tired and sad, but the silence and stillness was not welcome. I was worried about what would happen when I stepped from the living shroud. I ran my palm over the earthen roof above me, and blinked when dirt fell in my eyes. The walls and floor were soft and hard. A mixture of leaves, mud and bark. There was a root dug into my back and I shifted closer to my slumbering vampire-boy. He was cold again and though it made me shiver, I scooted closer and rested my head on his chest.

  The best thing, I figured, would be to wait for sunset. Tomas would hopefully be better and he could have more of my blood if he needed.

  Breandan was going to be mad.

  The thought alone was enough for me to want to be entombed there for the rest of my days. In the end, he had helped me save Tomas, but I knew he was not happy. I could feel he was not happy. He was also close by, so close if I was to stand he would probably be sitting less than a few paces away. Guarding me. I was proud that he had chosen to do the right thing, even though he knew it might mean losing my love to another. It made me love him more. Gods, how selfish was I? I loved Breandan but was too afraid to tell him. He was already crazy possessive and I was not okay with that. I was bonded to him by magic and that was commitment enough as far as I was concerned.

  A further problem was that Tomas was a part of my being now. As much as I needed air to breath, I knew I would need him around. Just being next to him was dangerous. He was a starving vampire who was disconnected from his humanity, and unscrupulous in his belief he had to kill to survive. Yet I found him endearing and worth saving.

  Conall would be pissed too, not that he had a right. I was going to have words with that brother of mine and none of them were going to be nice. He had failed me. I could understand why he could not save Alex; his main concern was recuing Lochlann and Breandan so they could fight.

  Tears I thought I had already cried out ran down my face as I thought of my friend. She had been so brave, in the end. She had not looked at me with hate and disgust, but told me she loved me. Gods, as much as I hated it, I could accept it because she did. I had tried to save her, to reanimate her body using the voodoo practices of her bloodline, but it hadn’t worked. I’d been stopped. There was nothing else to do but take her body back to Temple and back to Ro. He would hate me too, for he was smart and would figure it out. The easy thing would be to bury her out here so no one knew of her death, but I couldn’t do that. Her life deserved to be celebrated. All I could do was try to explain and hope Ro could forgive me, as she did.

  I felt a stirring of anger. Lochlann, he was a problem. I thought he was going to be the good guy. He would continue to try and justify his actions by saying Tomas had killed a fairy. I would not let him take his life. Tomas had to make amends for the life he had taken – I was not sure how I would get him to do it, but I would – and I did not give a damn what power Lochlann thought he had to condemn my vampire-boy to death.

  Breandan’s reluctance to go to the Grove made sense now, as did the fairies reaction to news that we were bonded. The fairy Priestess were usually the life-mates of the fairy-lords. Lochlann was trying to overthrow Devlin, who definitely needed overthrowing, and that would make him High Lord of all fairykind. The Priestess kept the spiritual balance and the High Lord kept physical order. Breandan had not wanted to see me, because he knew we would be stealing his brother’s future mate. Yet, he could not help but seek me out, knowing that the white witch had seen we were to be together.

  Anger became rage as Devlin, skewering Alex, flashed across my memory again. He would die, and I sent a fervent wish it would be by my hand. I was going to become so powerful just hearing my name would stop his heart. I would find him and destroy him, laughing as I did so.

  Guilt I would never be able to shake, crept over me and memories of Alex bombarded my vision. I sobbed. Again, I tormented myself with the depth of my failure. It hadn’t worked. I had tried to save her, and it had failed miserably.

  I lay down beside my vampire-boy, the one I had been able to save, and cried for the one I had lost. Lying in the dark with death itself had me wallowing and sinking deeper into a place I did not need to be. I needed the sunlight. I needed Breandan.

  Tomas was going nowhere, and this shroud was nice and tight. I called on the Source and asked the forest to bury him deeper. The ground rumbled and more roots emerged from the cool earthen floor to wrap around his lifeless body and cocoon him. Happy he would be safe from the sun; I dug a small opening for myself and crawled out. A hand gripped my forearm tightly and pulled. I emerged from the shroud and blinked rapidly at the bright sunshine.

  I looked around tentatively, on guard for any attack, but the camp was empty. The fire was now a smoldering pile of ash, and the only evidence of the nightmare at dawn was the fresh trails in the undergrowth. My gaze settled on the stone slab, still awash with blood. I trembled.

  “Where is she?”

  Breandan rubbed my arms, soothing me. “Maeve is tending to her body. We are going to burn her, a queenly funeral.”

  “No. I want to take her back to Temple.”

  The soothing caress stopped. “You know how the humans will react.” His voice was calm, as if he knew that was what I had wanted all along.

  “It’s the right thing to do. I won’t burn her like a dirty secret.”

  “Alright.”

  We were quiet for a while. He seemed serene and I could sense no anger bubbling under the surface.

  “You don’t hate me?” I blurted, unable to contain myself.

  “Never. Though, I wish you were simpler.”

  I snorted and rubbed some mud out of my hair. I flexed and extended my wings and sighed in relief.

  “Where did everybody go?”

  “Back to the Grove. Lochlann cannot stay here until he is High Lord. This wyld is for the ruling family.”

  “Where has Devlin is gone? Will we be able to track him and his followers?”

  Yes. But he is still High Lord. There are rules, Rae. Devlin must be tried against the laws of our people and the lordship removed from him by popular vote. Only then can a new High Lord be chosen.”

  I sighed, hearing between the lines. “For Lochlann to rule, Devlin must live.”

  “Oh yes. That is the way it must be. At least, until the power has been transferred.”

  “I will kill him,” I said bluntly.

  “And I’m going to stop you.”

  Again, we were at opposite ends of the spectrum. The truth was, I didn’t care what he wanted, or what Lochlann wanted. I wanted Alex to be avenged. Nothing was going to get in my way.

  “He murdered Alex, and for what? She was an innocent.”

  “I know you are grieving.” Breandan stroked my face temple to jaw. “I will help you to heal.”

  I went into his arms then and let him hold me. The hurt in me was an ocean I thought would never run dry. All I could do was protect what I had, and avenge what I had lost. There I stood, in the arms of my fairy-boy, standing over the resting place of my vampire-boy, and worried about what I was to do.

  Conall stepped from the trees, cradling a girl shaped bundle wrapped head to toe in leaves and flowers.

  The body twitched.

  Letting Breandan go, I set my two feet apart and spread my wings until the golden tips were in my line of sight. They shone a brilliant gold, and felt glorious in the sunlight.

  I readied myself for the day to come.

  *

  Author Bio

  I, Penelope Fletcher, love to read and want to write something worth remembering. Simple as that. I hope you liked reading THE DEMON GIRL, if not, I’d still like to hear from you. I’ll take the go
od with the bad.

  Curious about A DEMON DAY, sequel to THE DEMON GIRL? Want to rave about Rae Wilder’s antics, or have a chat about writing in general, come on over to www.fictionfierce.blogspot.com and say “hai”. Or tweet at me www.twitter.com/Miss_Fletcher.

  A DEMON DAY will be out SUMMER 2011.

  Read on for a sample of the first chapter.

  Chapter One

  I ran. There was the forest, the gasp of my breath, and the pound of my mate’s heartbeat as he raced beside me. Nothing more. The forest teeming with life, hushed reverently as we blazed past, in awe of us, in fear.

  Devlin was less than a day ahead, and his trial was erratic. Appearing suddenly then becoming deceptively faint, or weaving in odd directions. It was clear he was trying to throw us of course, using magics and distractions to slow us down so he could escape. Each time I was sure he had changed course or had gone another way, Conall had disagreed and pointed out the way. At times we had to stop so he could read the trials, listen to the wind and press his ear to the earth.

  I hummed with passion. Hate. I wanted Devlin’s head on a pike. I wanted to dance manically around his corpse, and give in to the dark whispers in the corners of my heart.

  We had begun the hunt as the dew from the dawn soaked into the understory. I had left my vampire-boy, Tomas, slumbering in the earthen tomb I had made to keep him safe. He was dead, and would not rise until the sunset. I was pleased, because it meant I could focus on the task at hand. Catching Devlin, getting the grimoire and ripping his heart out before Breandan, my life-mate, could stop me.

  Irritated and grumpy I waited; hand on hip for Conall to tell us which direction to take. I plucked a few leaves from the mess of inky-black that was my hair, and felt Breandan come up behind me. His hands gently rested on my shoulders then slid down my bared back to pass over my wings. They twitched and fluttered at his touch. He continued, lazily wandering to my waist then lower, gripping my hips.