by Jayne Hawke
We weren’t the only ones that had or were hunting the dragon. Another group had been formed with the sole purpose of killing them, but they had been eradicated after they killed two of the dragons. Witches had banded together and tried to destroy them with magic to no avail.
Shaking my head, I stretched out my tight muscles and focused on the fact that the world was going to be a much better place once I had achieved my goal. The task looked to be more difficult than I had initially thought, the dragon more intelligent than a mere beast. The books said that they had learnt from each attack on them, and that made the final dragon a formidable foe.
Smiling to myself, I thought that he just hadn’t met me yet.
TWENTY-TWO
My mind had kept returning to Evander all day. The small fae disk pressed against my skin, tempting me. It would only take a few small thoughts, and I could ensure that I’d see him again.
When 3:00 pm came around, I spent more time yawning and re-reading sentences than absorbing the information. Sister Analise had put us through sleep deprivation training, and I could fight if I needed to, but I really missed my bed.
By some miracle, Sister Analise came in ten minutes later and took pity on me.
“Make yourself a simple lunch and retire. I expect you to show the others why you were chosen in the sparring ring bright and early tomorrow morning,” she said sternly.
I tried to hide my relief and stifled a yawn as best as I could.
“Of course, Sister,” I said with a small nod of my head.
“Your time will come soon. Mr. Anastas is speaking with fae lords to help us find this monster,” she said.
I didn’t miss the sparkle in her eye when she said Mr. Anastas’ name. I really hoped that she was celibate. I didn’t need those images in my head.
The other huntresses were in the main study room when I walked into the kitchen. It felt weird to have the space to myself. It was usually bustling with other women performing their part of the food preparation. Opening the old fridge, I realised I was going to have to get used to this. When I killed the dragon, I’d be living alone for the first time in my life. The quiet would be the worst of it, I was sure. The noise in the huntress house was constant, even in the middle of the night.
Closing my eyes, I breathed in deep and committed some of the little details to memory. The feel of the notch on the worktop where Sienna had gotten excited with a butcher knife when she was just six. She had been twirling it around like a baton and it had gotten stuck in the edge of the worktop. Sister Analise had made the poor girl train with that knife for six straight hours. She’d been panting and fell asleep in her leathers when she was finally released from her punishment.
I made myself a ham sandwich with a small glass of milk. The milk was a luxury we were only allowed twice a week. Some fae had an odd connection to milk that meant they stepped in and controlled the dairy market when they arrived on the earth plane. That had quickly made the price of milk skyrocket. Older generations had said that milk was a traditional gift for the fae back when they had been considered small folk, tricksters lost to myth and legend.
A glance into the study room showed Sienna struggling to keep her head up as she stared glassy eyed at Sister Analise. They were going back over herbal magic again. It was old ground, but some of the sisters were struggling to remember their antidotes and defences.
I headed up into my room and collapsed onto my bed, glad to finally have returned there. It was lumpy and creaked when I shifted my weight too quickly, but it was mine and had been since I was a little girl. Chewing on my bottom lip, I pulled the fae disk from my linen pants and gently placed it in the palm of my hand.
Would it be the worst thing in the world to see Evander again?
I’d need to sneak out. That was something I’d done plenty of times to run across the rooftops, but Emma was out for my blood. She would be waiting for me to slip up. Sister Analise would have to make an example of me. Her star huntress sneaking out wouldn’t go unnoticed. She had to keep the others in line. I felt the phantom pain of her whip striking my lower back. Three thin white lines sliced diagonally across my lower back where Sister Analise last saw fit to make an example of me. The scars would forever remain as a reminder.
Closing my fingers around the fae disk, I knew the pain would be worth it to see his smile again.
TWENTY-THREE
The disk was cool against my skin. I’d only read about them, so I hoped that I was doing this right. Closing my eyes, I formed the words in my mind. It needed to be simple, as I didn’t have the magic to wrap around something complicated.
My first thought was ‘can I see you soon?’ but that sounded needy and desperate. ‘Want to meet up,’ sounded cheap. I finally decided on, Does the offer of a date still stand?
The words solidified in my mind before they flared a brilliant white and I felt them ingrain themselves in the disk. A small spark of electricity made me jump when it connected with my skin. Then it was done. The disk was inert once more, and the words had fled my mind.
Now I had to wait.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected. I’d changed into my sleep clothes and was dreaming about sitting in an ancient oak looking out over beautiful rolling green hills. A sense of peace and serenity filled me.
Cold pooled in the palm of my hand. Words floated before me in the dream like small neon signs. Startling awake, the words pressed into my mind, slowly becoming coherent.
“I’ll meet you outside the Natural History Museum. Eight PM tomorrow night.”
Butterflies exploded in my stomach. A grin spread across my face as a giddiness threatened to consume me. I was going on a date with Evander. A real date.
Looking around the room, I saw that Nicole and Sienna were both fast asleep. I wanted to tell them, we shared everything, but this was a date with a lord. If this went sideways, it could be disastrous. Slowing my breathing, I dug deep for my inner calm and tried to formulate a plan to escape Sister Analise without Emma ratting me out.
It would take me 30 minutes, or 40 on a high-traffic night, to get to Kensington. That meant that I needed to get out of the house by 7:20 at the very latest. We weren’t usually allowed to relax and unwind until 8:00 pm, and now I had that dragon training, too.
The thoughts ran through my head. They formed and I discarded them over and over, searching for the best method to get out and meet Evander. Finally, I settled on using the dragon hunt to my advantage. I planned on telling Sister Analise I’d like some quiet time to study. Then I could sneak out onto the roof, run along the rooftops for a couple of blocks, and I was free from there.
It was the getting back in that was going to be difficult. Nicole and Sienna would cover for me while I was gone. I made my muscles relax. I knew that I could handle the pain of the lashes if I needed to.
Sleep was slow coming. My mind was racing thinking about the possibilities and considerations of this date. I’d only been on a couple of dates. There hadn’t really been any opportunities. I kept telling myself that Evander was easy to be around; it didn’t matter what I wore or if I said something foolish. It still took almost two hours for my mind to settle enough to allow me to return to sleep.
TWENTY-FOUR
I hadn’t been able to focus all day. Emma had tried to take advantage of that fact and came after me during the sparring sessions. To her annoyance, I won every bout. After that, I was in the small study room looking through ancient books and scrolls, again. I had to read everything two or three times and found that my mind kept wandering back to Evander.
The books weren’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. Killing the dragon would come down to speed and cunning. Magic rolled off its scales, not that I could use magic anyway. There were no special weapons - that anyone knew of it. Everything hinged on my ability to slip a blade between its scales and puncture its heart, or on beheading it when in its human form.
Had I met the dragon? Had he been one of the lords at the bal
l?
Mr. Anastas came into the room.
“Miss Stormchild, how are you getting on?”
I smiled politely and tried not to grit my teeth. The strange man had been polite enough, but there was something about him that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Not badly, thank you.”
He nodded and looked down at the book I had open before me. It was a detailed look at the magical and physical composition of the dragon scales they’d been able to recover.
“The lords of the city are being a little more difficult than we had expected. We’re making progress, though. I’m sure we’ll have the location by the end of the month,” he said.
There was an intensity to his gaze, one that made me want to squirm or pull one of my knives.
“I’ll leave you to your study,” he said with a small nod.
I swallowed and steadied my heart. Sister Analise trusted him entirely, but I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. He was hiding something. The question was, did I want to know what?
Nicole and Sienna had been very happy to cover for me while I was out. I squeezed through the hatch and was upon the tiles of the roof. There was no time to pause and enjoy the view of the city sprawling out before me. My thin-soled shoes gave me grip as I fled along the apex of the roof and jumped the small gap over to the next. Adrenaline filled me and brought a grin to my face as I felt the soft warm breeze upon my skin and glanced up at the clear night sky.
This was it. My feet danced across the thin line of the rooves, knowing exactly where they needed to be. People were meandering along the sidewalk below wearing their leisure clothes of tight jeans and bright shirts. I was one of them that night.
Scrambling down a wall via the windowsills and guttering, I landed softly in an alley, where I changed into my heeled boots. I’d been running long enough that my red silk shirt and good jeans didn’t get in the way. My bus appeared in the distance, and I ran for the stop, not wanting to miss it. The next one wouldn’t be there for twenty minutes, and I wasn’t willing to be late for Evander. I wanted every minute to count.
The bus was loud and crowded. Commuters were crammed in with people heading out to the bars. A large space was left around the back seat, where two red caps sat mumbling to each other. The feral fae were very distinctive. There were laws in place that were supposed to protect everyone from them, but their bloodlust often won out. They were one of the most common things the Sisters of the Hunt were called in to deal with.
I was going to be on the bus for a few stops, so I took advantage of the four seats left barren by people not wanting to be near the red caps. They looked to be in their thirties with thinning steel-grey hair hidden beneath crisp white caps, each with a soft point. If they were allowed to indulge their instincts, those caps would be dipped in the blood of their victims. Thankfully, their yellow nails had been cut short and their small eyes were dark grey rather than red.
The few red caps that were allowed into the city were given jobs as security and guards. Their instincts very strongly leaned towards guarding areas. That was how they had originally come to the earth plane; they had protected precious portal and artifact locations. Over the decades and centuries, they developed a taste for human flesh and blood, and they became more bloodthirsty. That led to packs of them roaming the country hunting innocent people.
In the modern day, those bloodthirsty desires remained, but they at least tried to channel them back into their original purpose. When they were gripped by blood lust, their yellow nails were long and curved to form talons, and their eyes were a brilliant ruby red. Even in their resting guardian state, they made human instincts rise, telling them to flee. Of course, the sharp yellow teeth didn’t help things any.
TWENTY-FIVE
Somehow the bus was running early, and I had fifteen minutes to make the ten-minute walk to the museum. Not wanting to appear desperate and overeager, I tucked my hands in the pockets of my jeans and enjoyed the walk. The area had mostly been claimed by fae, but there were some very rich humans present.
Bars and cafes catered to all species that could afford the high prices. It was a place for people to meet supernaturals and get a thrill from that. As I walked past a small cafe serving delicate fae cakes and fragrant teas, I noticed a man enthralled with a stunning raven-haired woman. He leaned towards her with a goofy smile on his face as he stared into her eyes.
I shook my head. She might as well have been wearing a neon sign saying she was a leanan sidhe. Everything about her was too perfect: the flawless porcelain skin, long hair that fell down her slender back, the way she stroked her elegant fingers up over his forearm. Leanan sidhe were like muses. They gifted creative types with incredible inspiration, which pulled arrogant and desperate creatives in. What those people conveniently forgot was that the leanan sidhe fed off their essence. No one lived more than a month past the leanan sidhe getting her claws into them.
Given the hollowness of the man’s cheeks and slight hitch to his breathing, I betted that he had no more than two days left. He might have created some beautiful work during that time, but it would be meaningless now. Then I noticed that a man was watching them over his cup of tea. A clean-cut man with dark hair and golden skin. His eyes glittered like molten silver. Snorting, I turned away.
Some people were known to work with leanan sidhe. It was a vile business model, but no one was willing to outlaw it. The creatives knew what they were getting into. The man watching them would go in and collect whatever art the victim created and sell it on for a very nice profit. They always wove some story into the pieces and often had magic that allowed them to weave through words.
I continued on and re-focused my mind on Evander and the date ahead of me. Butterflies were fluttering around my stomach, and I had to keep my hands in my pockets to stop myself from fidgeting. It was just a date. I kept reminding myself that it was one date.
My breath caught when I saw him casually leaning against the black railing outside of the striking museum building. The stripes in the old brick work had always caught my attention. In my opinion, it was one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. The heavy dark wooden doors were closed for the night, but I had spent a couple of free days wandering the cavernous space enjoying the exhibits.
Evander smiled when he saw me, and he pushed off the railing to begin approaching. My mouth went dry, and I fought to find that inner calm. He wore well-fitting pale jeans and a beautiful heather-grey sweater that gave my imagination plenty to work with. Everything about him screamed predator, and yet I wanted to run into his arms.
“Iona, you look beautiful,” he said as he held out his hands for me to take.
I squeezed his hands and smiled, trying to make my mind remember what words were.
“Thank you. That’s colour’s gorgeous on you,” I said, nodding to the sweater.
Heat flushed my cheeks. I immediately felt like an idiot and mentally kicked myself. Sienna would have known how to handle this with grace and sexiness. I was clearly showing my inexperience dating.
Evander’s eyes shone with happiness, and he moved to wrap his arm around my waist. I leaned into his strong grip, and we walked down the sidewalk towards an expensive black car that had been parked up by the ice rink. That had been a winter-only thing when I was a little girl, but the fae delighted in it and maintained the ice all year round.
“I’m taking you to my home in the country. I’m going to cook for you,” Evander said as he opened the door of the car for me.
“That sounds wonderful,” I said.
It sounded intimate and thoughtful, something I appreciated. Ducking my head, I got into the car and sank into the warm soft leather. The interior carried his scent, which wrapped around me, making me breathe deep. My heart was skittering in my chest. I stilled my hands in my lap as Evander got into the car.
I had no idea what to say to him. My mind had gone entirely blank, leaving me floating in a sea of increasing horror and embar
rassment. This was what I’d been looking forward to, and I was coming across like a complete fool.
TWENTY-SIX
“Did you get a chance to read the book?”
I looked over to Evander and smiled.
“Only a few pages so far. The description is stunning,” I said.
He grinned.
“If you enjoy that, I have ten more books that you’ll enjoy.”
I returned his grin. Sharing books was a blissful experience that I hadn’t had much chance to indulge in with anyone else.
“Have you read Into the Forest by Liz Blackwell?” I asked.
Evander’s face scrunched up in thought. His brows furrowed and his mouth tugged down, slightly more on the left than the right.
“Is that the one with the wolf shifter and the vampire?”
“Yes! The mystery is so gripping, I’ve read it three times and adore it more every time,” I gushed.
“The villain is so well drawn, have you read her other works?”
“I haven’t been able to find them in the stores I go to,” I said.
“I’ll loan you my copies,” Evander said immediately.
He drove us out of the city, past the old buildings and suburbs into the rich green countryside. Small hills grew up around us, each covered in dense forests that I knew hid deadly predators. A howl cut through the night air, and somehow it was relaxing. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, but that sound had come to mean something soothing.
Evander’s home was a stunning old mansion formed of pale-yellow stone with large French-style windows evenly spaced across the sprawling frontage. Neatly maintained lawns ran alongside the pale driveway that led us to the small fountain. It took my breath away. I’d never seen a house so large in person.