By this time, the rest of us had emerged from the shadows. Arthur and I changed in unison, charging through the area and taking cultists down with our fangs. Delmare tossed red battle orbs at Emma’s side, while Stefan ran from one end of the clearing to another, breaking the necks of cultists with his bare hands. Cultists shot spells back at us, but Emma crafted a shield and pushed it outward, knocking cultists off their feet.
“Flee, you fools,” Acolyte Vesper hissed, crawling to his knees after Emma’s spell had laid him flat. Cultists changed into griffins, alicorns and wolvens and took off into the woods, though most remained to fight.
A cultist faced off with Emma. She shot out a battle spell, but it flew right through him as the man literallymorphedinto black smoke right before our eyes, becoming the essence of air and poisonous vapor.
The thick smell from the gas filled the area. I hacked, as it hurt to breathe in the presence of the shadowy cultist. Emma took a few steps back, afraid of this strange power. She sent multiple spells ricocheting out through her palms, but the orbs sailed through the smoke uselessly, exploding on trees beyond.
The smoke accumulated into a cloud and became solid again, taking the shape of a man. The cultist returned, once again solid, triumphant that Emma’s spells had ceased to take him out. Emma’s mouth bobbed in shock, as if she couldn’t believe what she had seen.
The cultist had no idea I was behind him. Before he could change into smoke again, I snagged him by the back of the neck, and ended his life as I crunched his head between my jaws. He fell to the forest floor. Emma stared at his corpse, unsure of what she’d just seen.
I myself was baffled. I thought most of the Black Claw couldn’t use Unseelie magic, as that was what we had experienced within the catacombs. The acolytes, despite being the head of the cult, couldn’t use Unseelie power.
But it seemed there were some Black Claw enforcers who had Unseelie blood, and knew how to use it. Or perhaps Gabby had weeded the ones out who were Unseelie, and taught them what she knew.
Either way, it was concerning.
The fight was becoming more fair. The woman had finished melting the chains off of her, and stepped forward. She wove her hands in an intricate fashion before spanning them outward, and fire emerged from her fingertips. It engulfed the cultists that surrounded her, turning them into pyres that screamed and were devoured by her flames.
Stefan broke the chains holding the old man with brute strength. Now that he was free, the elderly gentleman came forward and summoned the boiling water from the cauldron, splashing it onto the faces of the battling cultists. They screamed and clutched at their faces as the man moved the water to his command. The cultists dropped to the ground instantly as the flesh was singed off their bones.
I was intent on bringing Acolyte Vesper to justice. I whirled on him and charged, my fangs wide open to snap his neck.
Vesper’s black eyes widened in fear. Before I could grab him, Acolyte Vesper summoned a portal, and stepped through. The portal vanished as I jumped to follow him, and I landed on three paws without a bite of my prey.
I stomped my paw into the earth and growled. Escaped again. Vesper had a talent for slipping away.
The rest of the cultists had taken off. I changed back, and wiped blood from my mouth. Emma approached me with a wary stare.
“What was that magic?” Emma gasped. “The one where the cultist changed into smoke?”
“Shadow manipulation. I told you about it long ago, when we first met,” I breathed. “It was rumored the most powerful soldiers of the Black Claw could use it, but I’ve never seen it in action. It’s very powerful Unseelie magic. I thought all the true Unseelie of the Black Claw had died out when my father eliminated them, but perhaps we were wrong.”
“How many Black Claw enforcers can do that, you think?” Emma asked.
“I’m not sure.” And I was terrified to find out. We couldn’t fight an army of smoke, and Gabby knew it. I bet she was teaching as many Unseelie as she could within her ranks to use shadow manipulation, because she knew we wouldn’t have any way to combat it.
Now that the cultists had run off, the rest of my group came together. We stood in front of the victims that had been kidnapped for the sacrifice. The man was bent over his knees, taking deep breaths.
At best, the woman at his side appeared half-mad. She waddled out of the trees with branches stuck in her hair, her red lipstick smeared across her face. Her bedraggled appearance certainly pointed toward her being put through a lot in the past few days.
“Is everyone all right?” I asked, gesturing toward the strangers.
“We’re fine,” the old man said pleasantly. “Just a little scrap.”
The woman blew a breath. “A little scrap— Elliot, there’sboneseverywhere!” she burst, throwing her hand out.
“I thought you would appreciate the fae aesthetic,” the old man said fairly.
The woman gave a groan and slapped a hand to her face.
We took a few steps forward, and the old man looked up, as if he’d just noticed our presence. “Oh. Hello! Who might you be?”
“Ah,” I started, a little taken aback. “I’m Ethan. This is my mate, Emma, and my friends, Stefan, Delmare and Arthur. We’re… locals.”
No need for royal pomp and circumstance when you were interacting with tourists. They tended to gush when meeting someone famous... though I’m sure the woman wouldn’t be impressed with me even if I announced I was king of the world. She stared at me in an entitled way, like she expected me to get her out of these woodsimmediately.
“How did they kidnap you?” Emma asked. I had the same question— both of these supernaturals could clearly defend themselves.
