Yikes.
Okay, now I knew why the surfers were nowhere to be found. They didn’t mind cold or rain or choppy seas.
But apparently they drew the line at demon hordes.
My jaw dropped. I looked up and down the narrow strip of beach lined on one side by the ocean and the other by the jagged, dark rocks of the cliff, and all I could see was demons.
The thick crowd of them moved and shifted together in a weird sort of dance. Their skin tones were a rainbow of colors, and the horns, spots, tails and fangs added just the right note of festivity! Not to mention the rumble of their movements and whispered conversations sounded like thunder.
The first pale gold rays of the rising sun winked off the blades of hatchets, axes, machetes and some wicked-looking curved swords.
“Oh, crap.” Why the hell hadn’t the Faery supercharge Brady had given me come with a damn manual?
I don’t mind admitting that in that moment, I came as close as I hoped I ever would to peeing my pants. I’ve never been that scared and don’t expect to be again. Fear was alive and well and grabbing the base of my throat, shutting off my air.
My stomach did a hard pitch, and my hands tightened around the cold metal railing, squeezing until finally the damn thing snapped off in my hands. I glanced down at the short length of pipe I was holding, then threw it to the ground. The sun was rising faster now, and as it climbed in the sky the fear slowly drained right out of me.
Weird? Oh, baby.
But true. All of a sudden, I felt Brady’s power. The strength that had been humming through me all night came to blistering life inside me. And I felt him, too. His presence was so strong, it was like I really wasn’t alone anymore, and in that amazing moment I knew exactly what to do.
Below me the demons looked up, spotting me at the edge of the cliff. A roar of fury lifted into the air and sent a chill snaking along my spine. But I heard Brady whispering, Do it now, Cassidy. Feel the strength. Open yourself to it.
So I did.
Going on pure instinct, I lifted both hands, holding them high enough that the first rays of the sun seemed to balance themselves on my palms. And that was when it got really weird.
Electricity pumped through me.
I mean, serious electrical energy.
I felt it blasting its way through my body, spilling into every corner, every inch of me, racing from my legs up through my middle, down my arms, and when it hit my fingertips I remember thinking, Oh, this is really going to hurt.
And boy howdy, did it.
Whips of actual lightning shot from my fingertips. White-hot streaks of light and fire spilled from me, arced into the air and then dropped to the demons already trying to rush the base of the cliffs. For a second I felt like I was in the last episode of Buffy, with the gazillion ancient vampire things. Then I realized this was different.
Remember that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark? Where all the Nazis got burned up and melted by lightning bolts jumping out of the ark? This was just like that. Only with less melting going on.
The bolts of energy splintered, each of them forking into dozens, hundreds of new lightning bolts. I stood there quivering in my Keds, feeling the power slamming through me and punching out of my body, and watched as those ribbons of fire crashed into the chests of every demon gathered below.
A literal explosion of dust rose up. The demons winked out of existence as the energy ribbons sliced through their numbers as quickly as Thea and I sliced through a chocolate fudge cake. And we left fewer crumbs.
It was awesome.
In seconds clouds of dust were blowing out to sea, but I had only a second or two to hope demons were biodegradable. The lightning shooting out of my fingertips stopped as quickly as it had begun. I wasn’t sorry to see it go, either. My fingers still felt like they were on fire. But I was alive, so, good for me.
A shriek of outrage ended my inner celebration, though.
I looked down, and wouldn’t you know it? There was one demon left standing.
Yep. Vanessa was still there.
Royally pissed off, but all alone.
I shook my right hand and pointed it like a gun, trying to force a spit of lightning out of it. Nothing happened. “Well, for God’s sake, don’t stop now!”
“You bitch!” the queen shouted, her voice booming out around me. “You melded with my Faery! You took the power that was meant to be mine!”
“Oh, EW!” I shouted. “Could you just get a grip here?” You know, there’s just something nasty about somebody knowing you’ve had sex. The fact that it was Vanessa only made things worse.
“You’ve killed my army, Duster, but I remain. I will see you dead and bleeding for this,” the queen shouted, and let me tell you, she had no trouble at all making her voice carry over the wind and the ocean and even the hard thumping of my own heartbeat.
End her, Cassidy, Brady’s voice whispered through my mind, and I felt his fatigue as if it were my own. Well, hell, helping me shoot lightning had to have been exhausting. But he was right about finishing this with Vanessa. Long past time I sent the bitch queen off to the Dust Bunny Kingdom.
“Damn straight I will.”
Okay, I admit it. I was riding a little high on the whoosh of dusting, like, a thousand demons all at once! I felt like warrior woman. So, while I was so confident and Ms. Hot Shit, I jumped off the freaking cliff.
I can hardly believe it myself now. But I did. For one little moment I was flying, and then I was just falling and worried about the imminent crash.
I hit the wet sand hard and felt pain zing through my legs. But they weren’t broken and neither was I, so big plus. When I stood up I found Vanessa glaring at me through glowing red eyes. Her mouth was pinched, and her tall, regal body was practically vibrating with rage.
Good times.
“This is all your fault. I should have killed you that night in my garden.”
“Yeah, well,” I said with a shrug, “hindsight’s a bitch.”
“EEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!” She charged, hands outstretched, mouth open, fangs glinting in the morning sunlight. Still riding the Duster high, I rushed her right back. We met in the middle with a thunk that was probably heard around the world.
We bounced off each other like balls banking off the edge of a pool table. Staggering, we both recovered and went at it again. She hit me in the mouth and I stumbled backward, tasting blood and knowing it was mine. Gross. She smiled and took another swing, but I held up one hand to block it while kicking out with my right foot.
I hit her belly and she whoomped when all her air exploded from her lungs. She was pissed, but so was I. She’d tried to destroy the world. She’d tried to ruin Halloween. And mostly she kept trying to kill me.
My fist landed on her nose and I heard the crunch as it folded under my hand. Pink blood spurted. Very pretty. Especially when it was leaking out of her. “That damn reward you put on my head really pissed me off!”
“Fool. You’ve ruined everything,” she muttered, swiping one hand under her nose, streaking her own blood across her pale cheek. Then she hit me again under my chin, smacking my jaws together and making me bite my tongue.
“Ekthellent,” I said. (My tongue was swollen.) “And it wathn’t that hard, either.”
Okay, big lie, but why not make her feel even worse?
“That was my Faery,” Vanessa howled in fury. “For a hundred years he was mine! His power belonged to me!
“He doethn’t belong to you, you thtupid cow!”
“Cow!?” She jerked her head back and looked like that one word hurt more than my punches.
“I am a queen!” she shouted, lifting her arms, waving them around like she was waiting for a nonexistent crowd to start applauding.
Well, that ship had sailed. Her demon horde was blowing in the wind and getting snacked on by whatever fishies were out there. Brady’d given me his power, and she was just shit out of luck.
“How did you do it?” Her voice sounded like nails on a bl
ackboard.
“You want to talk now?” I was staggering. All I wanted was to finish this and get home.
Vanessa stalked closer, the wind pushing at her, whipping her hair into her eyes. “How did you get him to die for you?”
“Huh?” Die? Who died? What the hell was she talking about, and why wasn’t I just dusting her?
“My Faery sacrificed himself for you?” She was still screeching.
“Thacrifithe?” I scowled at the sound of my stupid voice while trying to get a grip on what she was saying. Brady had died? She was talking about Brady? Was that why I didn’t feel him anymore? Was that the sense of emptiness filling me? No. I wouldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe it. She was lying; that was all. Of course she was lying.
She sneered at me, her gaze raking me up and down in dismissal. “When a Faery gives away his power he dies. Everyone knows that.”
I blinked at her. I didn’t know that. Was it true? No. Couldn’t be true.
I was tired, bloody, battered and swaying unsteadily on my feet. I’d had way too much of this bitch, and all I wanted now was some coffee and a chance to find Brady and thank him for his help.
“I’m done. Thith ith over, Vanettha,” I said, trying to sound tough despite my stupid Elmer Fudd accent. Best to just end this now before I had to speak much more.
“Nooooooo!” The wind lifted her long brown hair and twisted it about her head like live snakes. Nasty image. “You will not win! I will defeat you in spite of that treacherous Faery! I will have my crown. My legions will cover the face of the earth and you will all bow before—”
I’d had about all I could take. Come on. A demon queen with delusions of grandeur? I slapped my hand into her chest (and thanks to that burst of Faery power, I didn’t have a problem this time) and I went through her chest like Sugar went through popcorn.
Her eyes went wide, then she hissed a curse I didn’t quite catch, since she dissolved an instant later. The wind carried the last of her out to sea, and I hoped her demon-dust buddies were properly respectful.
“Thcrew you, Vanettha,” I said, then winced. Okay. I needed a latte and some ice for my tongue. Hard to be victorious when you sounded like an idiot.
“We did it, Brady,” I said.
When he didn’t answer, the first tendril of worry spun through me as I remembered what Vanessa had said. Had Brady really died to save me? I rubbed my hands up and down my arms to get rid of the sudden chill I felt and tried again to contact the voice in my head.
When he didn’t answer, though, I managed to convince myself he was okay. Probably just as pooped as I was. Vanessa was a lying bitch. But now, at least, she was a dead lying bitch. My work here was done. I blew out a satisfied breath. Then I looked up at the cliffside and realized the only way back up was to freaking climb.
I hit the first drive-through Starbucks I came across, got a cup of ice, a venti latte and a sackful of doughnuts, glazed and chocolate. Then I headed home as La Sombra woke up.
The town would go about its business and never know how close it had come to being overrun by demons. Halloween would kick off tonight, and kids would crowd the streets looking for candy. And I was alive to enjoy it all. Plus, my tongue felt better with all the ice. I’d tried out saying S a few times, and I didn’t sound like an idiot anymore.
Everything was good.
Except for the fact that I couldn’t feel Brady with me anymore. Ever since just before the queen blew out to sea he’d been silent, which worried me more than I wanted to admit.
I still had the power he’d given me, but the connection to him was gone and I felt empty without it. So I kept chewing on the ice in between latte sips, punched the gas pedal and broke every speed law in town to get home.
The house felt as empty as I did. Sugar was there, of course, but she only lifted her head to look at me and then went back to sleep. I raced around the house like a crazy person, opening closets, looking under beds and behind dressers. “Brady!” I shouted for him, but only silence answered me.
I didn’t find him. There was no Faery stretched out on the couch. No Faery making coffee in the kitchen. No Faery waiting to congratulate me on a dusting well done.
There was no Faery in my house at all.
Finally I ran upstairs to my bedroom, threw the door open wide and looked from the empty bed to every corner of the room. I checked the closet and the bathroom before giving up. He was gone, and my chest felt tight. I was shaking harder than I had on the cliff’s edge. This was wrong. Brady should be here waiting for me. Helping me celebrate.
But he was gone.
I felt like a kid whose best friend had moved away without saying good-bye. Tears were biting at my eyes when I spotted a glimmer of something shining on the floor beside my bed. I stumbled toward it and tried to concentrate on breathing—in, out, in, out. Then I dropped to the floor, dragged my fingers through the shimmer of what looked like glitter and felt my heart break.
“Oh, God…” I remembered Brady telling me once, At least when Faeries die we leave behind sparkling dust.
He was dead. Vanessa had been right. Brady had died to help me. The first tears streaked down my face. Without him I never would have defeated Vanessa. I’d accepted the gift of his power so easily, never guessing what it was costing him. When that thought hit, something else occurred to me: Had Jasmine known? She’d gone to her “sources” to find out about Faery power. Had she realized that Brady would die if he gave me his power? If she had, why the hell hadn’t she told me?
I had a few questions for my trainer—but that would have to wait. At the moment I just didn’t have the strength for that fight. I felt emptier than I had before, and I hadn’t thought that would be possible. “Brady’s dead. Gone.”
It didn’t seem possible, and I lifted my head to look around the room, as if I were hoping to prove myself wrong—that Brady wasn’t dead, but hiding behind a chair. Or the dresser. But he wasn’t, and I knew it. He was never coming back. He’d sacrificed himself to give me what I needed to defeat Vanessa. He’d given his life for me, and I couldn’t even say thank-you. I couldn’t tell him how much Thea and I would miss him.
“Cassidy…”
“Oh, God. Now I’m hearing things.”
Brady laughed, and I knew I wasn’t hallucinating. He sounded too delighted.
“What the hell is going on here?” I stood up, and my gaze hit the mirror across the room. That was when I saw him. He was there—in the mirror. But when I spun around to look behind me, I was alone in the room. Slowly swiveling back around, I looked into the mirror again and directly into Brady’s eyes. “You’re inside a mirror.”
“Yes. It is odd to me as well.” He frowned. “So far it is very strange here on the other side. But I am not in your world anymore, and this is the only way I can speak to you.”
“Okay,” I said, walking closer to the mirror hanging over my chest of drawers. Seeing him made me feel better somehow. I knew he was dead, yet here he was. Still himself. Still talking. Smiling. Existing.
I saw tear tracks on my own cheeks as I reached out and touched my hand to the glass. On his side of the mirror Brady did the same. I think I felt a tingle, but it might have been wishful thinking. “Weird, but better than nothing.”
“You did well, Cassidy,” he said.
I gave him a smile. “We did well. Thanks to you, the queen’s dead.”
“I know.” He lifted those amazingly broad shoulders in a shrug.
“But you shouldn’t have done it,” I told him, laying my hand flat against the glass now. “You shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself like that.”
“As you had no choice in the battle, I had no choice but to help you succeed,” he said, then added, his voice coming a little faster now, “I could not allow Vanessa to threaten you and Thea.”
“But you died, Brady. How can I repay that? Ever?”
“There is no payment required,” he said. “You and Thea gave me much in my time with you. I will always r
emember.”
“We’ll miss you,” I said simply, because really, what else could I possibly have said?
“Thank you.” He smiled, then added, “I do not have much time, Cassidy. I can speak to you this way only once. It is a rule. So you must listen to me.”
“One time?” I muttered, and he frowned at me. “Fine,” I said. “I’m listening.”
“The gift of power I gave you will remain with you. Always.”
“Seriously?” Whoa.
“A male Faery may give up his powers to anyone he chooses. What you call the supercharge will remain with you. I trust you to use it wisely. But others of my kind may not.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
Brady glanced over his shoulder into mirrorland. “It is not. Maab, the Faery queen, will not be happy with the gift I’ve given you.”
Oh, man. Just what I needed: A big battle. A friend dying. Now more trouble. My stomach did a quick lurch, and I wished for chocolate. “What do you mean, ‘not happy’?”
Brady’s smile faltered a little. Then he looked back at me. “Maab will probably try to reclaim the power I’ve given you. She is very picky about Faery powers remaining in our realm.” He shrugged. “There are rules.”
“Rules?” My head was spinning—not in a good way. “Brady, you can’t just die, dump all of this on me and then disappear into a mirror.” Boy, did that sound weird.
He flattened his palm against the glass, lining it up with mine. “Have a good life, Cassidy. Say good-bye to Thea for me. Please tell her to be a good cheerleader.”
“Good-bye?” Have a good life? Say bye to Thea? “Wait a damn minute. You have to explain this. Where is this Maab? What’s she like?”
“I must go now. It is a rule.”
“Screw the rules!” I shouted as Brady started to fade away. “You can’t go—”
“Beware the queen.” Even as I watched, his smiling, familiar image grew fainter and fainter and fainter.
I slapped my mirror over and over again, waiting for him to come back. He never did. It didn’t stop me from shouting though.
“ANOTHER FREAKING QUEEN?” He was gone and I was still hitting the mirror. “Damn it, Brady,” I shouted, “get your Faery ass back here!”
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