She's No Faerie Princess

by Christine Warren

  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and struggled to block out the sounds of the battle. She hated it, hated not being able to see what was happening to her mate, as if her watching him somehow protected him from harm. But she knew that unless the cavalry came charging over the hill in the next couple of minutes, this was the best chance she had at ensuring they all survived this attack.

  The lack of sleep from the previous night actually served her well in this instance. She might be tired, but her body thrummed with the energy of their long, intense night of loving. She could feel it, welling up inside her, spreading from the depths of her heart and her womb and coursing through her veins until she could have glowed with the intensity of it.

  This spell bore a resemblance to the one she'd used against this same demon a few days ago, but only a passing one. She needed a lot more energy for this one and a lot more concentration. She let the power build further and further, gathering it up in waves and compacting it into a tight, dense ball of magic. She could feel the ball like a weight inside her chest, feel it getting bigger and bigger until she had fed it all the power she had. She could only hope it would be enough.

  When she opened her eyes, the clearing looked different, glowing with a bright haze that haloed the trees and shrubs and the limping form of her mate.

  Her breath hitched and her body tensed. Instinct screamed for her to run! Go to him! He's hurt! Keep him safe!

  Her heart leaped into her throat, and she had to fight to keep her feet in place. She could help him better from here, by casting this spell rather than distracting him and giving the demon any greater advantage.

  She saw how the demon was the only thing in the clearing that looked dark to her new vision. It moved through her line of sight like an oil slick, black and cancerous, constantly shifting.

  Drawing a deep breath, Fiona lifted her hands, sent a fervent prayer to the Lady, and gathered up every scrap of magic she could muster, aiming it carefully at the massive demon.

  That's when her heart stopped.

  At the edge of the clearing, she saw a new form emerge from the woods. This one looked almost human, like a tall, hard, menacing man with eyes as black as pitch. It didn't have hooves or horns or scales or claws, Fiona saw, but it was enormous, thick enough with muscle that a professional wrestler would have run from it. It had dark golden hair that waved about its head, but even that couldn't make it look angelic. It carried a sword almost as long as she was tall, and its aura wasn't glowing to her bright, hazy vision. She might not have known if the magic hadn't told her.

  It was a demon.

  A shout tore from her throat, half warning, half curse, and she saw the first demon's bovine head shoot up at the sound. Its flaming eyes locked on her and blazed as if suddenly reminded of her presence.

  Fiona felt her concentration begin to unravel and the ball of magic went soft around the edges, the power beginning to sink back inside her. She swore and fought to hold it together, but she couldn't look away from the new threat that was moving unhurriedly across the forest floor, its eyes locked on the violent straggle. It held the huge sword easily in one thick-wristed hand, the tip pointed to the ground as it stalked closer to Walker.

  "No!"

  Desperate now, seeing no alternative, Fiona drew the remnants of her spell quickly together and with as much prayer as magic sent the ball of magical sunlight hurtling toward the newest threat.

  The second demon had its eyes on her mate, but somehow it sensed the spell. Quick as a cat, it shifted, one huge brawny arm lifting the sword high into the air as if to deflect the magical blow. The blade sparked to life, but instead of dodging the magic, it seemed to absorb it. The demon glowed a bright, silvery violet-blue, ringed in a halo of magic she had given it.

  That was impossible. It should have been impossible. Fiona had crafted a sun spell, a larger, more powerful cousin of the light spell she had cast last week, the one that had injured the demon and stopped it long enough for Walker to carry her to safety. Demons couldn't tolerate light, especially sunlight. It burned them like acid, more toxic to them even than it was to vampires. Fiona's spell should at least have stunned it, if not seriously injured it. Even having lost a good part of its intensity because of her distraction, the spell was still a powerful weapon against demon kind.

  Her heart sank, and she felt the first wave of terror wash over her. If this new monster had some sort of protection from or immunity to sunlight, they were lost. It would kill her and her mate, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

  Well, she sure as hell wasn't going to go down without fighting.

  "Squick!" she screamed, her voice carrying over the din of the fighting. "Help him!"

  Hoping the imp could at least trip the thing or maybe climb up and plant a hoof in its eye, Fiona sprang at the human-looking demon.

  What she intended to do she wasn't sure. She had thrown every scrap of her power into that sun spell.

  Frantic, she searched for something more, some small thread left over that could distract or disarm the demon. The power she cobbled together had more to do with prayer than with magic, but it was the best she could do. If she could have, she would have pulled the energy out of her soul. Her heart froze in her chest as she stretched out a hand and threw her last, desperate weapon at the armed demon.

  The second blast didn't have near the intensity of the first, and she knew even before it hit the second demon squarely in the chest that it wouldn't make any difference. The creature barely paused, then seemed to shake like a dog coming out of the rain before it continued onward.

  She didn't know what else she could do. Her magic was gone, but she couldn't not try. She could still move. She could try to wrestle the sword from its hand, although her rational mind told her the attempt was doomed to failure. Maybe scratch its eyes out or find out with her knees exactly how much like a human man its body really was. Either way, she knew she couldn't stand by and just watch while it killed her mate.

  She made it about halfway across the clearing when the second demon drew close to where Walker struggled with the first. She could see that her wolf was weakening. The demon had landed several bone-crunching blows, and the gash in his side continued to bleed, soaking his silver-gray fur. She was never going to make it in time to save him. Feeling her heart tear inside her chest, Fiona screamed his name.

  Distracted, Walker spun around and fixed her with a dazed golden stare just as the second demon lifted its sword high overhead and plunged it straight down into the heart of its bovine kin.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 25

  Too late and too startled to arrest her momentum, Fiona collided right into the second demon. She might as well have thrown herself against a brick wall. It would have had more give. One large hand curled around her arm to steady her before setting her firmly away.

  With a low growl, Walker did the demon one better, grabbing his mate around the waist and setting her aside. Battered and bleeding, he still managed to hold himself upright on his wolfish hind legs and snarl a warning at the demon. His altered vocal cords distorted the words, but he made sure they were understandable. "To touch her, you'll go through me."

  The demon raised an eyebrow. "At the moment you wouldn't offer much challenge." Slowly and carefully, it slid its sword into a long scabbard at its back. At their feet, a small charred pile of flesh smoked where the bull-headed demon had stood. "Besides, I didn't come here for you. I came for Morgagch, and that is who I slew. You are in no danger from me."

  Walker snorted. "We're to trust a demon?"

  The demon shrugged. "You can do whatever you like with your trust. That's none of my concern."

  "What is your concern?"

  "As I said, I came for Morgagch."

  "Was that the demon's name?"

  "The fiend's, yes. I don't think you and I mean the same thing by the other name." The demon glanced down at the wound in Walker's side. "Its claws were poisoned, and you've taken a significant dose
."

  Fiona made a sound of distress. How could she have forgotten? Leaning down, she peered closer at the ragged gash. The scent of it confirmed it had been poisoned. It stank of the demon's sulfurous, decaying taint. Laying her hand over the opening, Fiona tried to muster up the energy to heal it, but she'd used everything she had on spells she had already cast.

  Walker looked down at her furrowed brow, and one huge claw-tipped hand came up to cradle her cheek. "I'll be all right," he said as softly as his shape would allow. "Shifting will force the poison out."

  "It might," the demon said, reaching into a small pocket that hung at the side of its belt, "but I doubt the experience would be a pleasant one. Morgagch's venom runs deep and fast. Already it infects not only the wound site but your bloodstream as well. To force it out of this body would put a dangerous strain on the other." It pulled out a small, clear vial about the length and thickness of its thumb. "This is an antidote. If you drink it, it will neutralize the poison. Then when you shift, your body can concentrate on healing the tear rather than purging your bloodstream of the fiend's taint."

  Walker looked at the vial and sneered. "There's that trust issue again."

  Fiona frowned. She knew shifting helped Lupines heal their wounds at an astonishing pace, but she could see Walker was already weak. If the demon was right and there was a chance he might injure himself further during the shift, she didn't want him taking the chance. She stood for a moment, torn.

  A firm tug drew her attention downward.

  "If you wants the furry mortal guy to gets better quick, he better takes the medicine, Miss Fiona," Squick said in a loud whisper. His eyes kept jumping from her to the demon, and they were wide with awe. "He the kind who would knows."

  Confused, Fiona continued to frown. "But it's a demon, Squick."

  "Yeah, but not like the other one were. And you gots to hurry, Princess. Your furry mortal guy, he not looking so good."

  Her eyes flew to Walker's face and confirmed the imp's assessment. Her mate's eyes looked glazed and feverish, the rims red, and she could see sweat beading in his fur. Unable to bear the sight of him in pain, she snatched the vial from the demon's hand before she could lose her nerve and uncorked it.

  "If this harms him, I will find a way to destroy you," she bit out, then lifted the small vessel to Walker's lips.

  He tried to turn away, but she followed the movement. "Please, mo fáell," she encouraged. "Please. Take it. Squick said you have to, and I trust him. Can you trust me?"

  Walker's eyes, the warm gold faintly dull in the dim light, met hers, and a ragged breath hissed from between his lips. Then they parted, and he swallowed reflexively as if there was no question of his trust for her.

  Fiona held her breath and waited. A quick glance at the demon revealed neither satisfaction nor malice. It looked as neutral as granite, and she wasn't sure whether or not to find that reassuring.

  Before she could make up her mind, she heard Walker gasp. Alarmed, she reached for him. Sweet Lady, please let him be all right! Fiona's arms closed around him, and the feel of him had her eyes opening wide. The fever she had seen just seconds ago seemed to have vanished. He felt warm but certainly no hotter than usual. Pulling back, she looked into his eyes and saw the glaze over them clearing. She felt the strength surge back into his muscles, felt them shift and flex as he shifted back to his human form. She looked immediately down to his side and saw the pale pink scar that was the only reminder of the demon's attack.

  "Oh my Goddess," she breathed, reaching a hesitant hand out to touch the mark. "You… you're okay!"

  He pulled her tight against his side. "I'm fine." Raising his gaze to the demon in front of them, he nodded. "And I'm in your debt."

  The demon shook its head. "No. There is no debt involved in completing my mission."

  "Your mission?" Fiona asked. "You mean you really came here to kill that… Morgagch?"

  "I did. And now that it's done, I'm afraid I have still more work to do."

  The demon turned to leave, but Fiona stepped forward and Walker let her, adding his own protest. "We'd appreciate if you could answer a few questions," he said. "It seems we've spent a lot of time lately with the exact same goal in mind, only we weren't planning to stop with just one of the demons."

  The demon's eyes sharpened. "You've seen the others? You know where they can be found?"

  "Not exactly, but we've seen their handiwork. We know at least one or two other demons have been snacking their way across the city. We've been trying to locate them before they do any more harm."

  "You shouldn't interfere. They will not be easily taken. Let me handle them. It is my duty."

  Fiona blinked. "It's your duty to hunt down and kill demons?"

  "Fiends," the demon corrected. "We call his kind 'fiends.'"

  Walker raised his eyebrows. "His kind? There are kinds?"

  The demon's expression never changed, but Fiona got the feeling he wanted to roll his eyes. She also realized with a jolt that she'd stopped thinking of this particular demon as an "it." There was no argument to be made that he was human, but he clearly had a code of ethics, and if she hadn't known him to be a demon, she would have assumed he had a soul.

  "There are kinds of everything," he said. "Very few things in the worlds are unique."

  "You must be," she said, the words tumbling out before she could think about them. "That sun spell didn't even make you blink. You're a demon. I know you are. It should have at least blinded you, if not knocked you on your ass."

  The demon's lips curved. "Yes, I should thank you for that. Your assistance made Morgagch's defeat much swifter."

  "But why didn't it bother you? You didn't even blink, but demons hate sunlight."

  "Fiends hate sunlight," he said. "I am not a fiend."

  "And that's the root of our problem," Walker said. "Every time you open your mouth, we end up with more questions, not less. I think we're going to have to ask you to fill us in on quite a few pertinent details. In exchange, we can tell you what we know about the other d—er… the other fiends you're looking for."

  "If you like." The demon's mouth quirked, and he glanced down at Walker's bare skin. "But are you certain you wouldn't prefer to have this discussion somewhere… warmer?"

  They found out the demon was called Rule, although that wasn't quite his name.

  "Names have power for my kind," he said. "We guard them closely."

  "Yeah, but I prefer that any other men who've seen me naked not be complete strangers," Walker had said ruefully.

  After a brief discussion, they decided to head directly to Vircolac. It would save time if Graham and Rafe got to hear their story all at once, and once Fiona and Walker explained the role those two held in Other society and in the current negotiations with the humans, Rule had not objected.

  Fiona tugged on Walker's hand. "Give me a kiss."

  He frowned down at her. "What?"

  "Give me a kiss," she repeated. "You can't go walking out of the park naked, because for some reasons, humans seem to take issue with that. And I used up everything I had trying to kill our new friend. I need a kiss if I'm going to get you some clothes."

  "Furry mortal guy can puts his old clothes back on," Squick piped up. "They lying right over there."

  Fiona wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, covered in demon blood. I don't think so." She raised her face to Walker's. "Kiss me."

  She saw her mate's eyes lift uneasily to Rule's face, which was blank of expression. Tugging on Walker's shoulder, she grumbled something about the prudishness of mortals and pressed her lips against his. As usual, it took about two nanoseconds for him to not only respond but also seize control of the kiss from her and make it his own. She forgot all about their audience, forgot all about the goal of this little exercise, even forgot her own name as the familiar wave of pleasure and magic crashed over her.

  When Walker lifted his head, she blinked up at him for a few dazed seconds before her brain clicked back into gear. Unable t
o resist, she skimmed her hands along his bare skin one last time before covering them in comfortably worn jeans and a dark knit shirt.

  "Thanks," he rumbled, placing a swift kiss on the end of her nose.

  They turned back to see Rule watching them with a troubled expression. "You're not just Fae," he said. "You're sidhe. High Fae."

  Fiona wasn't surprised he'd made the correct assumption. The sidhe were well-known for their ability to draw energy out of passion, and she'd never shared an unpassionate kiss with Walker. "Yes. Why?"

  Rule just shook his head, but his mouth had settled into a grim line. "We should discuss it with your friends. It may well affect your thinking on the situation."

  He refused to elaborate, no matter how they questioned him. He kept silent on the trip to Vircolac, not even responding to a fascinated Squick's babbling questions about his age and his ancestors and his adventures hunting fiends in at least two dimensions. Not until they were met at the door of the club by Rafe and Tess did Rule speak.

  "I'm not sure what you mean by bringing a demon here, Walker," the Felix said, his voice low with displeasure, "but I have reservations about letting him into this club."

  "Shouldn't that be Graham's decision?" Walker asked, one eyebrow raised. "It's his club."

  "And his family is inside. He feels the same way I do."

  Fiona stepped forward. "Rule saved our lives tonight. If he meant us any harm, I'm sure he would have done something about it by now."

  "Why, thank you, Fiona," the demon said, sounding amused. "I appreciate your confidence in me."

  "I don't think either of us is confident," Walker said. "We're just desperate for information. And once we get you inside and you're surrounded by my pack, the entire Other staff of the club, the head of the Council, and his witch of a wife, I'll be more confident that we could take you down if we had to."