Demon Girl (30 page)

Breandan’s reluctance to go to the Grove made
sense now, as did the fairies reaction to news that we were bonded.
The fairy Priestess were usually the life-mates of the fairy-lords.
Lochlann was trying to overthrow Devlin, who definitely needed
overthrowing, and that would make him High Lord of all fairykind.
The Priestess kept the spiritual balance and the High Lord kept
physical order. Breandan had not wanted to see me, because he knew
we would be stealing his brother’s future mate. Yet, he could not
help but seek me out, knowing that the white witch had seen we were
to be together.

Anger became rage as Devlin, skewering Alex,
flashed across my memory again. He would die, and I sent a fervent
wish it would be by my hand. I was going to become so powerful just
hearing my name would stop his heart. I would find him and destroy
him, laughing as I did so.

Guilt I would never be able to shake, crept
over me and memories of Alex bombarded my vision. I sobbed. Again,
I tormented myself with the depth of my failure. It hadn’t worked.
I had tried to save her, and it had failed miserably.

I lay down beside my vampire-boy, the one I
had been able to save, and cried for the one I had lost. Lying in
the dark with death itself had me wallowing and sinking deeper into
a place I did not need to be. I needed the sunlight. I needed
Breandan.

Tomas was going nowhere, and this shroud was
nice and tight. I called on the Source and asked the forest to bury
him deeper. The ground rumbled and more roots emerged from the cool
earthen floor to wrap around his lifeless body and cocoon him.
Happy he would be safe from the sun; I dug a small opening for
myself and crawled out. A hand gripped my forearm tightly and
pulled. I emerged from the shroud and blinked rapidly at the bright
sunshine.

I looked around tentatively, on guard for any
attack, but the camp was empty. The fire was now a smoldering pile
of ash, and the only evidence of the nightmare at dawn was the
fresh trails in the undergrowth. My gaze settled on the stone slab,
still awash with blood. I trembled.

“Where is she?”

Breandan rubbed my arms, soothing me. “Maeve
is tending to her body. We are going to burn her, a queenly
funeral.”

“No. I want to take her back to Temple.”

The soothing caress stopped. “You know how
the humans will react.” His voice was calm, as if he knew that was
what I had wanted all along.

“It’s the right thing to do. I won’t burn her
like a dirty secret.”

“Alright.”

We were quiet for a while. He seemed serene
and I could sense no anger bubbling under the surface.

“You don’t hate me?” I blurted, unable to
contain myself.

“Never. Though, I wish you were simpler.”

I snorted and rubbed some mud out of my hair.
I flexed and extended my wings and sighed in relief.

“Where did everybody go?”

“Back to the Grove. Lochlann cannot stay here
until he is High Lord. This wyld is for the ruling family.”

“Where has Devlin is gone? Will we be able to
track him and his followers?”

Yes. But he is still High Lord. There are
rules, Rae. Devlin must be tried against the laws of our people and
the lordship removed from him by popular vote. Only then can a new
High Lord be chosen.”

I sighed, hearing between the lines. “For
Lochlann to rule, Devlin must live.”

“Oh yes. That is the way it must be. At
least, until the power has been transferred.”

“I will kill him,” I said bluntly.

“And I’m going to stop you.”

Again, we were at opposite ends of the
spectrum. The truth was, I didn’t care what he wanted, or what
Lochlann wanted. I wanted Alex to be avenged. Nothing was going to
get in my way.

“He murdered Alex, and for what? She was an
innocent.”

“I know you are grieving.” Breandan stroked
my face temple to jaw. “I will help you to heal.”

I went into his arms then and let him hold
me. The hurt in me was an ocean I thought would never run dry. All
I could do was protect what I had, and avenge what I had lost.
There I stood, in the arms of my fairy-boy, standing over the
resting place of my vampire-boy, and worried about what I was to
do.

Conall stepped from the trees, cradling a
girl shaped bundle wrapped head to toe in leaves and flowers.

The body twitched.

Letting Breandan go, I set my two feet apart
and spread my wings until the golden tips were in my line of sight.
They shone a brilliant gold, and felt glorious in the sunlight.

I readied myself for the day to come.

*

Author Bio

I, Penelope Fletcher, love to read and want
to write something worth remembering. Simple as that. I hope you
liked reading THE DEMON GIRL, if not, I’d still like to hear from
you. I’ll take the good with the bad.

Curious about A DEMON DAY, sequel to THE
DEMON GIRL? Want to rave about Rae Wilder’s antics, or have a chat
about writing in general, come on over to
www.fictionfierce.blogspot.com
and say “hai”. Or tweet at me
www.twitter.com/Miss_Fletcher
.

A DEMON DAY will be out SUMMER 2011.

Read on for a sample of the first
chapter.

Chapter
One

I ran. There was the forest, the gasp of my
breath, and the pound of my mate’s heartbeat as he raced beside me.
Nothing more. The forest teeming with life, hushed reverently as we
blazed past, in awe of us, in fear.

Devlin was less than a day ahead, and his
trial was erratic. Appearing suddenly then becoming deceptively
faint, or weaving in odd directions. It was clear he was trying to
throw us of course, using magics and distractions to slow us down
so he could escape. Each time I was sure he had changed course or
had gone another way, Conall had disagreed and pointed out the way.
At times we had to stop so he could read the trials, listen to the
wind and press his ear to the earth.

I hummed with passion. Hate. I wanted
Devlin’s head on a pike. I wanted to dance manically around his
corpse, and give in to the dark whispers in the corners of my
heart.

We had begun the hunt as the dew from the
dawn soaked into the understory. I had left my vampire-boy, Tomas,
slumbering in the earthen tomb I had made to keep him safe. He was
dead, and would not rise until the sunset. I was pleased, because
it meant I could focus on the task at hand. Catching Devlin,
getting the grimoire and ripping his heart out before Breandan, my
life-mate, could stop me.

Irritated and grumpy I waited; hand on hip
for Conall to tell us which direction to take. I plucked a few
leaves from the mess of inky-black that was my hair, and felt
Breandan come up behind me. His hands gently rested on my shoulders
then slid down my bared back to pass over my wings. They twitched
and fluttered at his touch. He continued, lazily wandering to my
waist then lower, gripping my hips.

“Focus,” I said, and thumped him lightly on
the back of his thigh with my tail.

“I’m trying to relax you. You’re too wound
up and ready to break.”

“I want this over with. I want him
dead.”

He sighed and muttered, “This is not going
to end well.”

I twisted round to look him in the face,
unsure of what he meant. He looked at Conall and his lips pressed
into a thin line. Breandan was skilled at schooling his expression
and I had to watch him closely to see if he was mad, pissed or
upset. I was going for mad.

“What?” I asked, because it became apparent
he’d realized something before I had. I stepped out of his arms and
he let me. “What are you both not saying?”

I looked to Conall, the mighty warrior who
was strong enough to massacre a small army of his kind. He glowed,
brighter than any other I had seen, except when Breandan and I were
suffering 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 muscled chest
heaved with a sigh.

“The trail has gone cold.”

I stared at him.

“You’re lying.” Even as I said the words I
flushed, but kept my stare defiant. Conall could not lie.
Fairies
could not lie, except for me. They were bound to
speak nothing but the truth by magic. A fairies word once given was
law.

Conall ignored the comment, flicked his hand
through the air as if brushing his hurt aside. “It is beyond me.
Devlin has worked a spell. There are three different trails, each
are cold and each carry his and Wasp’s scent. Less than an hour ago
we were half a day away and gaining. Now, it seems we are days
behind and losing more time. It is a trick, a spell and I cannot
see past it.”

“Then we follow each trail. One each.”

“No,” Breandan said.

“Apart from the fact it would be most unwise
to leave you alone, Rae,” Conall said patiently, “what happens when
one of us does find them? Or maybe we will find more false trails
that we cannot navigate alone.”

“Then we follow each one,” I said through my
teeth. “We pick the most likely, follow for a while, and if we’re
wrong we’ll backtrack and start again until we get it right.”

“And what of the time we lose whilst doing
this? What if we come across more false trails? We could spend days
going in the wrong direction.”

I opened my mouth to tell him I was ready to
spend my lifetime hunting Devlin. Then I saw the stupidity in such
words and my shoulders slumped. I burrowed the toe of my boot into
the needle leaf strewn around me. Tears threatened to spill from my
eyes.

My voice was thick when I said, “There must
be another way. We can’t just give up. Not just for my rev– sake.
Lochlann needs the grimoire before he can start setting things
right, doesn’t he.”

Even if Conall would not give into a selfish
endeavourer, such was the nature of revenge; he was the most loyal
warrior I knew. He would do anything to secure Lochlann the
fairy-lordship because he believed it was the right thing to
do.

I looked up and found Breandan glaring at my
brother, who sent him a short look of apology.

“There is something else we may consider. It
is not without its dangers.”

“It is not a good idea,” Breandan said.

My tears were gone. Straightening, I cocked
my head and tried to look attentive and brave, not desperate to
crack some skulls. “Tell me and I’ll do it.”

“The shifters.”

My nipped intake of breath was loud in the
sudden silence. “Yes,” I hissed, new possibilities opening up like
a carnivorous black hole before me. “A pack of were-cats could read
each trial and save us time. Which is the closest?”

“Byron’s pack is close and of the Alfa’s he
is the most civilized.”

“You both forget I have already said
no.”

Breandan sent me a pointed look that told me
he was serious. I returned it with some extra

‘I’m doing this so back the hell off’. I
won, of course. He would not dare deny me this.

“Lead the way, big bro.”

Conall grimaced. “My title would do if you
wish to call me something other than my birth name.”

“Huh? What title?”

“As the oldest surviving member of our
family, you may call me Elder.”

“Na, big bro is fine.”

Breandan laughed. It seemed the sun shone
brighter and his smile made me blink.

Conall muttered something about fools in
love and took off. I followed close behind and Breandan reached out
the same moment as I did, to join hands.

The smell reached me first, warm hay and
rich soil. We reached the edge of the forest and my eyebrows
disappeared somewhere into my hairline.

The trees ended abruptly and long green grass
flowed outward, rippling in the wind like sea waves. Conall stepped
forward and as we drew closer I noticed the grass was green, but
peppered with grays and browns, the shading of autumn. As far as I
could see there was nothing but undulating land that net the blue
sky in the far distance. The beauty was soon lost on me as I
realized Conall did not mean to run again.

“Why have we slowed down,” I asked my
brother, trying and failing to keep the impatience from my
tone.

“Open your senses,” he replied quietly.

I made a rude noise. “Is now really the time
for a lesson?”

He said nothing and the look Breandan sent
me soon had me shutting up. As we walked I did as I was told,
extending myself. Since I had become a fairy what I could perceive
had changed immensely. My body was me, and I was anchored to it,
but my consciousness could feel further than just a few feet. My
mind could seek out life-forces miles away. I started. There was
someone of the two natured here, a male. He was coming closer,
curious and wary. He didn’t want to hurt us; it was his job to
check we were friendly. I opened my eyes and glanced around. My
sight was keen and I had paid little attention to our surroundings
other than how pretty it was at a glance. Now, I focused then saw a
line of the grass moving in the opposite direction of the rest.

“The wind is blowing east, it blows our
scent right into the sentries,” Breandan explained and pointed to
the grass. “It is not polite to run in another’s territory without
permission, even if you mean peace.”

We stopped and waited.

The big cat leaped forward and screamed at
us, mouth pulled back and teeth bared. His ears were flat to his
head and his claws scratched up the earth. He was huge. Black and I
found myself wondering how the hell I had not seen him in the green
grass. It was taller than him, coming up to just below my breast,
but still. After his display of dominance he turned his head to
look at me, and blinked.

I laughed and held out my hand. “Hai, it’s
good to see you.”