His words were cut off as I drew my knees up toward my chest and lashed out. I felt my feet connect with his chest—or at least I was certain it was his chest, but without actually seeing him, I couldn’t be certain. The sound of him crashing back across the room at least told me I was still in my bedroom.
Resisting the urge to pull at the silks, I drew my magic up from my core, allowing it flow through my arms and up towards the bonds holding me down. The smell of burning silk met my nose and my hands were suddenly free.
Something snarled on my left side and I rolled to my right as I scrambled to tug the blindfold off my eyes. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, flipping me onto my back once more as he climbed up over me, his bulk pressing me down into the plastic covered mattress.
Lashing out with my hands, I struck his face, and he laughed as though I’d done nothing more than tickle him. Dropping over me, his weight crushed the air from my lungs as I stared up into his bright violet eyes, his long golden hair framing his face.
“Little pig, little pig, won’t you let me come in?” he whispered, his breath warm against my cheek.
Power edged along my own and I fought to push it back. The last place I wanted him was in my head again. He’d been able to control me once before; if he got into my head again, what would I allow him to do?
The panic was enough to spur me into action.
I felt his magic dampen my own just as it had before and I let it, the metaphysical version of going limp in his grip. It made him cocky and I let him believe he had me in his thrall once more.
It took all of my willpower to slow my breathing down to a believable rate as I searching inside for the demon mark. It had worked before; it would work again.
The demon mark was a lot more difficult to find, its thick, black, vine-like tendrils wrapped and threaded through my own magic. But once I touched it, it was easy to follow it back to its core.
Bleak darkness pulsed at its core and for a second, I faltered. This was what lived inside me; the demon had done this to me and I still hadn’t found a way to get rid of it.
The Fae holding me down onto the bed smiled above me, one hand sliding down across my cheek….
“You’re very pretty, almost as pretty as my daughter,” he said, and at the mention of his daughter, I heard the sharp change in his voice. Pain swirled around me as his magic changed and clawed at me.
Gasping, I bucked up from the bed as his power threatened to smother me.
“She made one little mistake and they killed her for it,” he said, anger and sadness marring his voice.
“What did she do?” I asked, trying to focus his attention.
“Told a lie. The Fae don’t lie…” he said, and stared off into the distance.
Warm, panting breaths tickled along my arm and I carefully turned my head to the left and stared into the ruby red eyes of the largest black dog I had ever laid eyes on. “Dog” was probably the wrong word to describe it; the beast was closer to a wolf than a dog, but it was the pulsing red of its eyes that filled me with fear.
As though it could sense my terror, it whined, its long pink tongue lolling out of its mouth as it scented my skin. The intelligence in its eyes told me that it knew what I was doing.
Grasping the demon mark’s essence which twined itself around my core, I tugged it into the fore. The dog’s whine turned into a growl and before I could jerk my hand back, it lunged.
Pain seared through me as it sank its long and wickedly sharp teeth into my arm. Instantly, I was reminded of the vision I’d had back at the crime scene; the pain was the same, only this time it was all too real and no amount of crawling away from the creature would cause this bite to heal.
The Fae shifted on top of me, his violet eyes peering down into my own, and I could feel him sifting through my mind.
Fighting past the nausea and pain that threatened to wash over me and take me with it into oblivion, I grasped the thread of demon essence within me a little more firmly. It was eager and responded quickly, spreading up through my chest and outwards to the rest of my body. I visualised it as a web, coating me in its sticky darkness and forcing the invading Fae out of my head.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his magic pushing against me harder than it had before.
“Mine.” The voice that left my mouth was not my own, but I didn’t have time to panic. The phrase better the Devil you know sprang to mind, and it was true; the demon essence was a part of me, but this Fae was not, and I was not going to allow him to swallow everything that made me myself.
Lifting my arms off the bed took a strength I hadn’t believed I possessed, but I’d heard of demon possession giving people abilities and strength they couldn’t possibly have, so it wasn’t a huge leap. Either that or the demon mark was doing much more than helping me overcome my opponent, but that was something I would have to worry about later.
Grabbing his face, I stared into his violet eyes. The smile I felt curl my lips wasn’t my own either but it was what I needed to frighten him. “I will kill you, drink of your blood, and taste your flesh. You are not as strong as I am,” my demon half said.
“And you are not a true demon,” the Fae answered, regaining some of his arrogance from earlier. “I could purge it from you,” he said, slamming his hand against the mark on my shoulder.
The second his hand connected with the mark, several things happened, all of which left me more than a little confused.
Power so bright it was blinding erupted where the Fae touched me, the pulsing of his violet veins making the demon half of me hungry. The black dog lunged for me once more, but my hand whipped out and wrapped around its throat, crushing it beneath the strength in my grip. I watched the light in its eyes fade before returning my attention to the creature sitting on my chest.
Fae magic coursed in my veins, so much of it that I couldn’t fight the feeling of almost being drunk on the stuff. My demon side delighted in the feel of the magic but there was no doubt in my mind that it was a trap.
Jerking my hands down to the Fae’s chest, I thrust my hands hard against his chest, shoving him off my body and sending him sprawling away from me for a second time.
“The sorceress is mine.” The demon’s voice erupted from my mouth with a roar that I knew would leave my throat sore in the morning.
That was, if I even had a throat in the morning.
The Fae caught sight of the dead creature on the floor and a low, keening moan escaped him. He crossed the room fast enough that my eyes refused to follow him and then he was gone. The body of the dog remained where it had fallen against the wall.
“Mine,” the demon’s voice whispered in my head, and I struggled against it.
“Not while I can still fight,” I said aloud, gritting my teeth and forcing the power back with my own.
But once the genie is out of the bottle it’s impossible to completely put back, and I could feel the demon essence within me, stretching against its new, larger confines.
All it needed was time; the more I used it, the more it would claim. And the day would come when there wasn’t anything left of me to fight it back, and then….
I cut my thoughts off and stared down at the body of the black dog. At least I was still alive.
The bite mark on my wrist started to itch and as I stared down at it in the dark, I could see the red blistering of my skin that was beginning to slowly spread outward from the place where the beast had sunk its teeth into me.
Great, that’s all I need. I thought as the room began to spin violently.
Chapter 8
Graham’s arm on my shoulder was the only thing keeping me steady as I sat on the side of the bed and did my best not to give into the rolling nausea.
Victoria crouched next to me. The foul smelling poultice she was rubbing into the bite was about the only thing that seemed to slow the burning itch that threatened to drive me completely mad.
“This will slow it down at least,” she said, sitting back on her
heels.
“What is it?” I asked, speaking slowly as my head spun once more and I was forced to grip the mattress hard enough to rip the plastic.
“Heart Hound,” she said, saying the name as though it was supposed to mean something to me.
“What the hell is a Heart Hound?” Graham asked the question that had been hovering on the tip of my tongue and I glanced up at him gratefully.
The demon side of me growled and I crushed it down inside as far as I could manage. It was louder in my head now, closer to the surface, and I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about it all. It was simply waiting for me to screw up, to lose control, and then it would pounce.
“They patrol the forest around Faerie, sort of a way to keep the Fae in and wandering humans out….” Victoria trailed off.
“What is it?” I asked, noting the concern in her eyes.
“The Heart Hounds obey no one, so I don’t understand how he had one,” she said, casting a wary glance over her shoulder.
When she’d stepped into the room and noticed the dead beast I’d watched the colour drain from her face, fear setting her jaw. And despite the fact that the creature was dead, if I wasn’t mistaken, Victoria was still afraid of it.
“Is there something he could have used to control it?” I asked, pushing up from the bed.
The sudden movement set my head off again and the room spun violently enough that I contemplated sitting back down, but Graham’s hand on my arm steadied me.
Smiling gratefully at him, I slowly extricated myself from his grip and crossed the room to crouch down next to the creature. I needed to be able to stand on my own two feet. The Heart Hound venom coursing in my veins couldn’t be allowed to stop me from doing what I needed to do.
The creep had broken into my apartment, he’d tried to mind-rape me, and he’d let his dog take a big assed chunk out of my arm. There was no way in Hell I was going to just let him get away with it.
The beast lay on its side; its long pink tongue lolled out of its mouth and I could still see the blood on its teeth from where it had bitten me.
“Could a Heart Hound do the kind of damage we saw at the crime scene?” I asked, studying the sharp curve of its teeth.
“Not one on its own. You’d need a pack…” Victoria said.
Something in the way she said “pack” had me turning back around to face her.
“What is it? What did you just think of?” I said.
“Heart Hounds run in packs, but as I said, it’s impossible to control even one of the creatures never mind a pack of them,” she said.
“Victoria, I think we’re past the impossible. He was controlling this one, why would it be such a stretch to control a pack?”
She shook her head and the smile on her lips was more than a little patronising. “You’ve never seen a pack of Heart Hounds in operation. They obey only their Alpha. The only reason the Courts have allowed them to remain in the forests is because they rarely wander out of them, and the Fae know better than to go and hang out in the woods.”
“But you thought of something that can be controlled?” I prompted.
“The Wild Hunt,” she said, her words dropping ominously into the silence of the room.
“I thought that was simply a part of myth,” Graham spoke up.
Victoria shook her head. “Not myth, but not much is known of them. The Wild Hunt is rarely called upon. In times past, they often rode of their own accord, sweeping up unsuspecting humans in their frenzy. But like everything in this world, the Fae’s magic is beginning to fade and so, too, the Wild Hunt.”
“Why would the Fae’s power be fading?”
“We’re connected to the earth itself. The humans like to build using steel and iron, they cover the green lands in acres of cement, burying the earth beneath tons of the very thing most dangerous to us. And the less contact we have with nature, the more our power fades….”
“Even you?” I asked, and the question brought a smile to Victoria’s face.
She knew exactly what I meant. As a changeling, she wasn’t fully Fae, but that didn’t mean that iron and steel wouldn’t still hurt her.
“Even me,” she said.
“So you think it’s the Wild Hunt?” Graham asked, crossing the room to stare down at the creature lying at my feet.
“I know that when it rides, the Heart Hounds join. They will obey the call of the Hunt. If someone had a found a way to tap into that, then perhaps….” She shrugged and gave the beast another wary glance. “It sounds impossible but it’s still the best I’ve got.”
I nodded. She was right, it was about the only thing we had. I’d seen the Fae responsible, but none of that made any difference. The only thing I could identify about him for certain was the way his voice made me feel. Despite the fact that he had spent time lying across me, I wasn’t entirely convinced that I could pick him out of a line up if I needed to.
“So where do we go to find out about this Wild Hunt?” I asked, cringing as the bite began to itch once more. The urge to tear at it was overwhelming and I curled my hands into fists to try and stop myself from doing the exact thing I knew I definitely shouldn’t.
“Well, there really is only one place, but I’m not sure if you should,” she said.
“And?” I asked. “When have you ever seen me doing the things I should?”
Victoria smiled and shook her head. “Never, but I think you misunderstood me.”
I waited for her to finish, watching her eye the creature on the floor with an intensity that had me thinking this really wasn’t her first encounter with a creature like this.
“The only ones who would have the kind of information we need are in Faerie, but I don’t think they’re going to allow you in there.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re human, and Faerie business is Faeries business. They really don’t take kindly to people sticking their noses in where they don’t belong.”
It made sense, but I didn’t have to like it. The idea that the Fae could do something like this and get away with it by hiding behind their veil, well, it more than rubbed me the wrong way. No one was supposed to be above the law of the land and the Fae should have been more than happy to help us uphold our laws.
“So what? We’re supposed to just let them carry on murdering humans and turn a blind eye to it?”
“No. The Fae will send an enforcer, and when they do, you can ask them all the questions you’ve got…” Victoria said, glancing down at the bite on my arm. “It still itches, doesn’t it?” she asked.
Nodding, I gritted my teeth as a particularly nasty wave of itch rolled over me. All I wanted to do was scratch and tear at it until every last inch of the biting, burning itch was gone.
“You do know that….”
I cut her off. “If you tell me that scratching it is a bad idea, I will end you,” I said, my irritation evident in my voice.
Victoria grinned again and I contemplated wiping the smug look off her face, but I didn’t.
“So why does it itch so bad? I’m not going to turn into one of those things on a full moon or anything?”
“Not that I know of, but Heart Hounds aren’t really my area of expertise. I’m pretty sure that now it’s dead, you won’t have other nasty side effects other than the one you’ve got until it wears out of your system.”
Her words didn’t exactly fill me with the confidence I was looking for, but I smiled anyway.
Moving back across the room, I crawled up onto the still plastic covered bed and dragged the sheet over my head.
“What are you doing?” Graham asked.
“Going back to sleep. Unlike you, I didn’t exactly get a proper night of rest, and if you expect me to be in tip-top shape tomorrow then you’ll both leave me alone.”
Neither of them answered me, so I took it as a sign that they agreed with me. I knew I was being grumpy, but I couldn’t help it; my arm hurt, and if I thought for a second cutting the bite out of me would get
rid of the itch then I’d have done it. But it was more than just that; the act of expelling the Fae had taken all the energy out of me. I felt as though I should sleep for a month and not just a couple of hours.
The sound of the door clicking shut told me I was alone, and as soon as I realised that, darkness borne of exhaustion washed over me.
Chapter 9
The grass smelled sweet under my feet and I knew without looking that nearby there was the biggest blooming rose bush I had ever seen in my life. The tinkling sound of water met my ears, and for a second I could have sworn it was the sound of laughter.
Following the rushing of water, I walked until I came to a halt next to a fast-flowing river. I didn’t need to touch the water to know it was icy.
The sound of laughter met my ears once more and I jerked my head up, staring across the river at two of the most beautiful creatures I’d ever laid my eyes on. Their gossamer, violet, and crystal web wings arched up over their shoulders. Her hair hung down her back in a shimmering curtain of gold and she stared lovingly up into the face of her companion.
He was tall and slender but from the way he scooped her up and swung her around, I could tell he was strong, his muscles moving and bunching beneath the light shirt he wore.
Their laughter was interrupted by the sound of snarling and I turned to see other Heart Hounds approaching. The very earth itself seemed to boil before it split and creatures I didn’t have words for burst forth, their tentacled bodies both terrible and beautiful.
Drum beats filled my ears and I found myself unable to resist; the Heart Hounds raced toward me and then passed me, leaving me to trail after them as other creatures joined the Hunt.
The girl screamed, her terror etched into her face before she broke free of her companion and started to run.
The man stood and watched as we leaped the river in one easy bound; his fear filled eyes slowly filling with a blank hunger before he, too, turned and joined the pack.
Wild Hunt Page 4