Love poured through her, filling her up with strength. How could she even consider leaving this place? As long as they were here, she would be, too. There was nothing left for her back in New York. It wasn’t her home. This was. Here, with these fae. And Taveon.
Eurig led them through the streets to the southern edge of the city where the waves met the mud. He motioned at the wall expectantly.
“You don’t expect us to crawl over that, do you?” Bree asked.
“There are guards in the north and demons in the west. We need to leave on the southern side and round the city on the east. Hopefully, no one will see us.”
It made sense, unfortunately. With a sigh, Bree sloshed over the muddy wall and splatted onto the wet ground on the other side. Brown slush caked her backside, her hands, her legs. She dragged herself out of the muck and waited while the others followed. On the horizon, the tip of the morning moon jutted out.
“We don’t have long,” she warned as Norah fell into a heap beside her. More mud caked her friend’s cheeks.
“No, you don’t have long at all,” an eerie voice said from behind her.
Bree stiffened. She whirled on her feet to face a towering figure, face scaled in reds and oranges. He was at least eight feet tall and as wide as a car. Nerves clanged in her belly as she reached for a sword that wasn’t there. She hadn’t had time to find one before she’d run from the castle.
All she had were her claws.
The demon sneered at her, showing off two rows of sharp teeth. “Don’t even think about fighting. Come with me, and nobody gets hurt.”
Eurig growled from behind her.
The demon lifted his gaze over her head to stare down her lover. He laughed and shook his head. “Calm down, Redcap. Don’t you recognize when you’re finally with your own damn kind?”
A breath whooshed from Bree’s parted lips, and her mind stuttered. She couldn’t have heard that right. Eurig wasn’t one of them. He was a dark fae, an outposter.
He was a Redcap.
At the look of shock on her face, the demon smiled. “You didn’t know? You Redcaps came from the Realm of the Dead originally. You’reourcreatures, bred to serve us. Why do you think we have you attack humans?”
“No.” All the blood drained from Bree’s face. This couldn’t be true. It wasn’t right. “You’re lying to us. I know all about demons. You’re immortal. You can’t be killed.” Not by anything other than the sun, but she didn’t say that part out loud. She didn’t want him to know that she had that piece of information. “Redcaps don’t share that…luxury.”
He laughed, an eerie sound that scraped against her eardrums. “I didn’t say you were demons. You’re our creatures, and you come from our world, but you aren’t us.”
A chill swept through her. She glanced at Eurig, at Rafe, at Norah. But they wouldn’t know any more than she did. As much as she wanted a reason to dismiss this, something in her gut told her it was the truth. The Redcap curse had always seemed at odds with the rest of the fae world. Without the light fae magic to dull the worst of the rage, they transformed into vicious monsters that were impossible to control. Murderers.
Bree had almost given in to the darkness herself.
It all went back to the demons, to the damage they’d caused to these worlds.
“Well, then it is going to be fitting when we’re the ones to destroy you.” Bree smiled.
The demon snarled and charged toward them. He wore a sword on his back, but he did not bother to wield it. His claws and fangs were weapons enough. As his feet thundered against the ground, Bree called upon the magic in her veins and transformed.
Eurig shifted into his beast while Rafe and Norah took cover behind them, drawing weapons.
The sword arced through the air, whistling over Bree’s head as she flattened herself against the mud. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eurig launch toward the demon with snapping jaws. The demon slammed a fist into the Recap’s gut and sent him sprawling.
Her heart leapt into her throat as she rolled to the side just as another slice of the sword hurtled toward her.
Norah rushed forward and shoved her blade right into the demon’s gut. He growled, his hands shaking, as he grabbed the blade and shoved it out. Blood scattered like leaves in the wind, but the demon barely blinked an eye. The force of his shove knocked Norah back, and her weapon flew from her hands, landing with a splash in the nearby waves.
Breath heaving, Bree climbed to her feet and snarled at the beast that towered over her. Even in her amplified form, the demon was massive compared to her. He pulled his lips back from his sharp teeth and laughed. The sound scraped down her spine.
But what the demon did not realize was that in the midst of the fight, they’d slowly surrounded him. Rafe pointed the tip of his sword right at the base of the demon’s neck. And then he shoved.
Blood spurted from the wound as the demon fell. His body collided with the ground in a thunderous crash. Bree danced back out of the way, her heart still raging like an angry bull.
Rafe yanked the sword from the demon’s head and wiped the blood against his muddy trousers. He shot Bree a grim look before he sheathed the blade.
