This place was hellish. Why Ilis would choose to live here was beyond me. Insects buzzed around my head, biting at me whenever I was too slow to slap them away. Within a few minutes, sweat was dripping into my eyes and I rubbed the sting of it away.
“Miserable place,” I decided. With no idea where I was going, I took a long look behind me, memorizing the way back to Ilis’s, and took a right, through a small gap in the trees.
“Jesus fucking Christ!”
I jumped backward, my shoe landing in a puddle of thick mud. The snake was larger than anything I’d ever seen on earth—even in a book or movie. Its body was as wide as the tree trunk it was wrapped around, and the length of it went on and on, disappearing into the foliage to my left.
“Who entersssss my territory?”
And it talked too. I was Alice, and I’d fallen down the wrong damn rabbit hole.
“I have been given a task to complete,” I replied, and the snake watched me out of slitted yellow eyes.
“I know your tassssssk. You want to passssss?”
“That’s right.”
“When you return, bring me blood from the creature you will ssssssslay.”
“Why?”
“Blood of thisssssss power will nurture my young.”
Nurturing its young definitely didn’t seem like the smart play. The snake coiled back. In the blink of an eye, its tongue had darted out to taste my cheek. I slashed with my Mark II, and it swiped through empty air.
Its point had been made. I was fast. But compared to the snake, I’d moved with the speed of a glacier.
Time was ticking. If I refused, I’d be brawling with this creature, since I’d agreed not to use my power. Not only was it entirely too big, but it had zero business being as fast as it was.
“Fine,” I agreed.
“Make your vow,” it told me, swaying slightly in place.
“I’ll bring you back the blood,” I agreed.
The snake slowly moved away, allowing me to pass. I really, really didn’t want it at my back. I gave it a warning look, tightened my grip on my knife, and scampered past it.
It didn’t wrap itself around me and crush me before swallowing me whole, so I counted that as a win.
A small trail opened up. Realistically, it couldn’t be considered a path, but Ilis likely used it when she was navigating this area.
I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, counting my footsteps. I refused to think about all the things outside my control right now.
Eventually, the tree line opened up, and my foot sank into the water. I pulled it free, but there was nowhere else to go.
In front of me, another small island waited. I turned and scanned the direction I’d come from, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that I was being led toward the creature I was supposed to kill.
I could swim, but it wasn’t my best thing. Fighting in water didn’t appeal in the slightest, and I took a moment to imagine all of the terrifying creatures hidden beneath the water, waiting for a stupid ex-bounty hunter to wade into their territory.
They didn’t even need to be fae creatures. A crocodile from my world could hide underwater for hours before it struck.
I allowed myself a few moments to imagine all the things that could kill me, and all the long, painful ways I could die. Then I forced myself to put it away.
“You are frightened, little witch.”Samael’s voice was a soothing presence in my head.
“You should be resting.”
“Your fear called to me.”I could suddenly feel his presence, closer than I ever had. He let out a low growl.
