Page 163 of Huntress

“How could I have forgotten the details of the worst day of my life?” He sounded lost, and her soul ached for him while rage boiled in her blood. Cornick would pay for what he’d done here. She’d make sure of it.

“Trauma can make you forget. It’s from your mind stepping in to protect you. Coming home brought it all back.”

“We would gather here for everything. We held celebrations, storytelling, lessons, and ceremonies here under the moons and stars. It was a place for healing, joy, and family. Now it reeks of tragedy and decay.”

“I can only imagine how beautiful it must have been.”

“I wish I could have brought you here to experience it for yourself. They would have loved you.” His ear twitched, and he turned before Elsie heard what had caught his attention. Someone was approaching.

“What are you doing here?” A woman asked, her voice low with a purr somewhere between seduction and a warning that set Elsie’s hackles on edge.

“You’re trespassing on my ancestral lands,” Saint said quietly, giving the beastie the chance to walk away.

As it slinked closer, Elsie couldn’t identify what species of demon the woman was. Her body was nude except for aquatic plants that clung to her like ivy climbing a tree. Tall and lean, she had grayish-blue skin that looked like cracked, softened marble. Her ears were long and pointed, partially covered by wet silvery hair that hung to her waist. The whites of her eyes were completely black, and her face…this creature would have been devastatingly beautiful if she were still alive. The wind carried her scent, one of stagnant water and rot.

A male joined her, just as wild, beautiful, and otherworldly. “A pup has returned,” the woman told him. She hadn’t blinked once.

“These are our lands now,” the man said. “We’ve taken them back.”

“What the hell are they?” Elsie asked.

“Bog elves. I’ll explain later,” Saint replied, nudging her back a step. “I need you to stay out of the way and let me handle this. They’re dangerous, I won’t be able to hold back.”

“You’ve been holding back?”

He tore into his hound form violently, his steel-gray fur darkening to silver-tinged black, and wiry muscle sprouted everywhere. He was only slightly larger than normal, leaving his agility intact. Saint raised a mouthful of gleaming fangs and howled, the sound reverberating through the trees and bouncing back. Twin black onyx horns curled around his skull, and white moon magic glowed like an aura around him.

“Showing off for his whore,” the woman sneered. Her eyes glowed with magic, and the water in the air condensed, dripping off her skin to splatter on the ground. A dark, infectious magic crept along the ground, grass and weeds dying as it contaminated everything it touched.

“Saint,” Elsie whispered, but his mind was lost in a sea of rage. These creatures had taken advantage of his people’s absence, stealing their way into his home.

The male elf lunged, raising a hand and clenching it into a fist. His magic cracked through the ground and a spear of earth shot toward Saint’s chest.

The wolfhound didn’t dodge. He met it.

Crystal exploded from the soil beneath his paws, sharp and glittering with pure light moon magic. The spear shattered against a wall of translucent spikes. Saint’s claws raked through the shards as he leapt, and the elf looked up too late, mouth dropping open as the demon’s jaws clamped around his neck. Landing on the elf and pinning him down, the demon ripped out his throat. Black, fetid blood oozed out onto the grass.

The woman skulked through the trees, disappearing behind one to appear beside another. She let out a long hiss, showing two rows of jagged teeth. She flicked a finger in Elsie’s direction, and a whip of root and vine ripped from the ground straight at her face.

Moving in a blur, Saint caught it mid-air. A tree creaked and groaned, lifting its roots and skittering spider-like after the wolfhound, far too fast for something over twenty feet tall. The ends of each branch twisted and creaked, forming sharp, glistening claws. Each slap of roots on the ground made a wet squelching sound and left an oily slick behind.

He caught one of the lower branches, wrenching it off and casting it aside, but the tree kept going. Saint wasn’t the target.

Earth magic surged through him, lancing through the white moon. The ground trembled, and rock and crystal erupted, capturing the roots to pin the tree in place. He whipped his head back to the elf, a snarl tearing from his throat. Magic curled in tendrils around him, the earth cracking and crystals shoving through the dirt with every stiff step.

He howled once more, and the water she’d pulled from the air solidified in shards of ice. Saint’s magic wrapped around the shards, and they hurtled through the air at the elf, piercing her body as she erupted in ear-splitting shrieks.

His jaws closed around her shoulder with a sickening crunch, and he shook her savagely, bones shattering as limbs smashed against the ground.

The bog elf gurgled, bubbles forming in the blood on her lips as she mouthed one last spell. Saint’s eyes flashed red, and white moon magic exploded out of him in a searing light, white-hot and blinding. The elf’s water magic evaporated, her skin crackling, blistering, and melting to bone under the impact of his attack.

His claws finished the job, and her head bounced and rolled before coming to a stop.

Drawn in by the noise, shapes ghosted between trees, flitting through overgrown paths. At least a dozen more elves had come to defend the land they’d taken over like squatters in an absent owner’s home.

Saint’s head snapped toward them, blood dripping from his muzzle. A low, rumbling growl vibrated through the air, and a new wave of crystals encrusted his fur, sparkling as he stalked forward.

Elsie had stood frozen behind him, but now she slumped to the ground, her heart hammering. She dragged her eyes away from the animated tree that had stopped reaching for her the moment the elf’s head was lobbed off, to watch Saint tear through the newcomers.