Demon Day (4 page)

Thinking of my vampire always made me
confused and wary. He had a numbing, drug like affect on my senses
I was beginning to equally love and hate. I needed to be sharp and
definite not fuzzy and indecisive. I snorted at myself. I would
think on my blood tie with Tomas, and my promise to help him later.
I didn’t even know what it meant … and if I did know what
difference would it make? Could I break it? I knew my bond with
Breandan was thrown into doubt because of my tie with Tomas. Devlin
had made that perfectly clear when he had tried to claim
me.

I glanced overhead, past the dense
tree canopy, and saw we had nine hours of sunlight at best. When
night fell he would come after me. I knew this like I knew the
hammering of my heart when he was near was taboo.

Tomas was no fool, and so I knew not
to worry too much about what would happen when he woke.

He would have to spend most of the
night catching us up, and even if he did manage to gain on us – and
catch us before the sun rose – he would hang back. He was wary of
Breandan, and for good reason. Breandan would tear him apart the
moment he had a chance.

Distance from Tomas was good. I would
have time to decide what was best for him and me. Please, gods, let
me find an answer.

As I had lain beside him in the
earthen tomb, I’d wrapped my arms around him and wallowed, slipped
deeper into despair until my heart had called for its other half.
My heart, despite its anguish, had told me what to do and who could
help me. And he had been there waiting for me when I crawled out.
Breandan’s touch was as soothing as the sun’s virgin light on my
skin. He had held me in his arms – when I would let him – and let
me wander around the fairy Wyld when I had needed space to
move.

In my heart, I knew who was right for
me despite the fact I craved the love of another.

Crouching, I rested my temple on a
root and dragged my fingers, tipped with talons, along the bumpy
surface.

“
I have to go. I know
you’ll follow me when you wake, so be careful. Just … don’t do
anything foolish, okay?” I knew Tomas couldn’t hear me, but saying
the words out loud made me feel better. “I will help you, Tomas.
Give me time and I’ll find away to help you and your
Nest.”

Breandan came up behind me and pressed
his legs into my back. “We must go if we are to have any chance of
catching Devlin.”

Standing, I patted the tomb once
before turning my back on it. “Conall?”

“
I am here, little
sister.”

My brother stepped into the clearing,
geared up and ready. He glowed, brighter than any other I had seen,
except when Breandan and I suffered the effects of our bond. Conall
was beautiful, a face of hard angles and smooth planes. His eyes
were gold, a family trait it seemed since mine were the same only
lighter. His long hair was pulled into a low ponytail that reached
the middle of his broad back. In leather pants and soft-soled boots
like Breandan he was always topless, and bore sword – latched to
his back by a thick leather strap that ran across his
torso.

“
Devlin will not make this
hunt easy,” he rumbled. “The High Lord is cunning and most
dangerous when prepared. Devlin will head to the sea fairies at the
tip of the region. They have always been sympathetic to his cause.
We must reach him before he reaches them. We must travel well out
of the way of the Temple and slip through the shifter Pride. I do
not think he will be foolish enough but he may try to cut through
the outskirts of the vampire city. Pray he does not.” Conall
focused solely on me. “Rae, if you become tired tell me. If you
think you hear, see, or feel something wrong tell me. If you need
to eat or drink tell me. If–”

“
If I breathe too loud tell
you,” I said cheekily and rolled my eyes at him. “I get it. Tell
you everything.”

He nodded once. “And try to keep up.”
Moving around me he touched my shoulder briefly then broke out into
a swift run, blurring into the distance forcing me to use my fairy
sight to see him before Breandan nudged me and I took off behind
him.

For most of the day there was the
gloomy, damp forest, my ragged inhalation as I struggled for
breath, and the footfalls of the one who called himself my
life-mate as he raced beside me. I ran through the forest teeming
with life, yet all hushed reverently as we blazed past, in awe of
us, in fear. Shaking my head at how my life had changed, I sped up
leaving Breandan a pace behind so we ran single file, Conall in the
lead. The air was overly crisp on my skin signaling the coming
winter and the last of the sun’s rays were sluggish.

Devlin was less than half a day ahead,
and his trail was erratic. Appearing unexpectedly then becoming
deceptively faint, or weaving in odd directions. He was trying to
throw us of course and used magics to slow us down so he could
escape. Each time I was sure he had changed course Conall had
disagreed and pointed out the way. At times we stopped for him to
read the trails, listen to the wind, and press his ear to the
earth.

It had not taken us long to pass out
of fairy territory, and I knew the moment we did. There was a
subtle change in the air as we ran, a cool ripple rolling over my
skin, and a bubble of pressure popping as if we had broken through
a containment of some kind. Rather than a crisp sweetness, the
scents of the forest became harsh and syrupy. My nature sulked at
the loss of connection with Wyld land. The forest close to the
human Temple side of fairyland was bright and spacious with an orgy
of vivid evergreen flowers and shrubs. But as we passed out the
other side of fairy territory the plant life dulled, became
mundane, and the thick glossy leaves withered into spindly brown
spokes. The evergreen trees – bases covered in bright yellow lichen
– were twisted into tortured formations. Bark lice and rotten fungi
spiraled up devouring the dead bark. Silken webbing from the lice
hung from the tree branches in wispy clumps, and when I batted some
out of my way the secretion stuck to my fingertips. The dense
canopy swooped lower, blocking out the light until everything took
on the electric blue tinge my fairy sight used to see in the dark.
This part of the forest had not seen care in some time, and when I
sent a nauseated look at Breandan his responding look was
sad.

The decayed smells of the trees faded.
The wild, spicy smell of animal reached me before it became clear
we had passed into the shifter’s Pride. The air was heavy with
hints of hay and soil. The trees thinned, became clumps of bushy
shrubbery then the tree line disappeared, and my eyebrows vanished
into my hairline. Grass swelled up to my chest and flowed outward,
rippling, causing the land to undulate in the wind. Gray clouds
with black underbellies drifted sluggishly across the dusky blue
sky.

As my feet took their first steps into
the meadow the grass blades bent and fanned down, crushed beneath
the soles of my feet. Cool mud squelched between my toes and made a
horrible sucking sound when I pulled them free.

The absence of other footfalls beside
me had me abruptly aware the other two had stopped running, and I
was blazing ahead alone. Cursing the gods, I slowed to a speed a
human could follow, and curved round to double back.

I stopped dead as a feeling of
foreboding ran across the crown of my head in prickly tingles. Was
someone close? I reached out with my developing sixth sense to see
if any auras were nearby, and a large shadow engulfed my
own.

Rough, calloused hands closed around
my neck.

Instinctively, my wings spread, but
were hindered by a pair of muscled arms. I tried to use my tail to
beat at whoever had a hold on me, but I could not get a proper
swipe in. The meaty fingers locked around my neck tightened. I
could not breathe. I opened my mouth and tried to inhale. My lungs
burned, and blood rushed to my brain. Feeling pressure building
behind my eyeballs, I did the one thing you should never do; I
panicked and tried to scream. The remainder of air left my lungs,
and my attacker squeezed my throat tighter. My vision blinkered and
impulsively I reached for the Source; the silo of energy that was
nowhere and everywhere, and mine to command. The power I called to
me in a panic slipped through my grasping fingers.

The next time my eyes fluttered open,
I was disorientated, and I was on my back when a moment ago I had
been upright.

My eyelids fought to lower. I caught
flashes of a bushy beard, a large chin, a chunky neck, and huge
shoulders. A heavy hand held my shoulder down. I pushed against it,
and the mouth above the bushy chin cursed.

I dragged my eyes fully open and tried
to scream. Nothing but hoarse squeak came out. I struggled and
licked my legs. He was so heavy. I tried to reach for the Source
again, but my terror was too great. It filled me but I could not
think what to do with it. All I could think was ‘help’! The man
above me smelt like stale sweat and bog water … warm animal. A
shifter? His breath was bitter, like rotting flesh. He grinned when
I struggled. He leaned over and licked from the base of my neck to
my temple. His tongue was rough, like sand had been pressed into
it, and I squirmed at the saliva that burned my skin as it trickled
down my neck into my hair.

I bucked, twisted, and clawed at him.
I would fight my way out of this. I knew soon I would become too
tired to move, but I could not just lie there. Behind my closed
lids I saw Lex, bound and tortured, watching as Devlin and his
fairy mate abused her body. The horrific memory gave me a last
surge of strength to fight harder.

There was a loud crack and the body on
top of me went limp, crushing me. His heavy weight lifted off me,
and I heard a loud crash, as if a tree had snapped in half and
fallen. I blinked up into darkening sky. Shaken. There was a
horrible crunching sound nearby, and a short, sharp wail of
pain.

I rolled onto all fours and crawled
away through the grass, the mud slicking my palms and knees as I
quietly scrambled forward.

Someone grabbed my ankle.

The touch was like a wave of peace
over my entire body, and I scuttled round to launch myself into his
arms. Breandan held me close to him, arms tight around my waist,
and buried his head in my neck, his breath ragged.

My eyes skipped over the tips the
grass, looking for the bearded man. Two bounds away he lay in
broken mess. His hands and feet had changed into tawny colored paws
with brown claws, and his face had elongated. Two dark triangles,
ears, had moved to the top of his head with wispy tufts of hair
sticking off the edges. A stumpy tail peeked out from his bottom.
It was a grotesque blend of man and beast.

Conall stood over the dead shifter,
looking down impassively. Blood was smeared over his hands. He
glanced over at me, frowned when he saw me in Breandan’s arms. “He
will never hurt you again,” he said bluntly.

That was an understatement, but I
nodded once in thanks. He missed it since he looked away from us,
expression unhappy.

Breandan leaned away to run his hands
over my neck. I winced. It hurt, a lot. We healed fast and I could
guess the bruising was already a rainbow of color. When after a few
seconds it did not feel any better I rasped, “Why is it not
healing?”

“
Bruising is not a fatal
wound, and the skin is not broken. This is new to you so you will
not feel the difference, but your body can become exhausted to the
point of death if you are not careful. Using magic is stressful on
your mind and body, as is healing. Where it can your body will
conserve its resources. Since the–” His jaw clenched. “Since the
shifter’s attack, your body is still preparing you for a fight, or
to run away. And you have been running all day. Your reserves are
not replete.”

“
You need to become much
more aware of your surroundings,” Conall said chidingly, and nudged
the mangled body on the ground with his toe.

Really? He was trying to turn this
into a lecture? I made a rude noise. “Honestly, is now the time for
a lesson?”

All day he had been throwing confusing
sentences and scenarios my way, expecting me to ‘learn’ something
from them. He was taking his role as my protector and Elder
seriously. I forced myself to feel loved and appreciated rather
than smothered and overprotected.

Conall said nothing in response to me,
too busy looking the dead shifter over, and the look Breandan
gifted me with soon had me shutting up.

The grass surrounding me was primarily
shades green, but peppered with grays and browns, and the
occasional wild flower with spongy orange petals. The shading of
late autumn had swept over the shifters territory, and it was
pretty. As far as I could see there was nothing but rolling
terrain. The beauty of my surroundings was lost on me as I inhaled
slowly and swallowed. My face contorted into a grimace at how much
it hurt.

I leaned my head against Breandan’s
shoulder then rubbed my cheek into his neck seeking comfort. “I
can’t believe he attacked me. Why? And why did you kill him?” I
asked Conall who inclined his head at Breandan.

My fairy looked uncomfortable. “Conall
did not kill him. I did.” I looked back at my brother who literally
had blood on his hands. “Your brother was bitten so I snapped the
shifter’s neck. He was Changing, and not submitting to my
will.”