Demon Peepers

by Belinda White

  “You know,” I said slowly. “This arrow may do you great damage, yes, but the bullets from those weapons the men are firing? They’ll hurt like hell too. And you are out-numbered.”

  For the first time, the queen’s eyes left mine. I was counting on the efficiency of my group to not make a liar out of me. I could tell from Titania’s eyes that they had done their job well. The fact that I no longer heard gunfire in the background told me only the queen and her hiding Fae remained.

  I decided to drive my point home. As long as I could keep this together for a little longer, Elmer and Dunwood just might survive this.

  “You do realize that once the bullets, or my arrow, take you down, we will end you.” I shifted my hip slightly to draw her attention to my blade and ensure she got my full meaning. A royal Fae is pretty invincible, but only while their head was still attached to their body.

  She got the point pretty quickly. For probably the first time in her royal life, Queen Titania was afraid. She hid it well, but not well enough.

  “What do you want?”

  I tilted my head at her. “Well, for one, I want no more humans harmed by your hand.”

  My words were Faerie speak and deliberate. I couldn’t make the request too broad or the queen would never agree to it. But as Titania rarely did her dirty work with her own hands, I was hoping she wouldn’t balk. And once I had her word, Elmer and Dunwood would be safe.

  She hesitated but nodded.

  “Is that all?” Her blade had still not moved. The deal wasn't done yet.

  “Not quite.” I raised my voice and called out to the trees behind Titania. “Viola, are you there?”

  A figure stepped out into the clearing. I made sure it was her before I spoke again.

  “I want the leash removed from Viola.”

  The queen’s eyes flared. “You would leave me unprotected?”

  “You will still have her team. And, more importantly, you would still be around to be protected.” I paused, letting that sink in. “So, Queen, do we have a deal?”

  “Upon my agreement, you will allow me to open a portal and return to my court? You promise not to use that damned arrow?”

  “Meet my two requirements, and I do so promise.” With the Fae, you have to keep your words succinct.

  Finally, the blade was removed and I could breathe a little easier. Of course, her only reason for letting go of the dagger was that it took two hands to open a portal.

  The pathway flared, and as the queen turned to retreat into it, I felt the bow ripped from my unsuspecting hands.

  Before I could stop her, Cin fired the arrow. I dove to the side even as the arrow hit its mark. The queen stumbled and fell rather than walked through the portal, and the magical backlash blew Cin halfway across the clearing.

  The blast took me down too, but not quite so thoroughly as it did Cin. When I came too, my girls were clustered around me. Macy reached down her hand, and I took it, using the leverage to gain my feet. I was going to be in pain from this for weeks, but I’d live.

  I looked over to Cin, who was surrounded by the men. With my arm around Macy’s shoulders, we made our way over to her.

  She was alive, but barely. It was obvious to me that she was just hanging on to speak with me. For the second time today, I was blinking away tears. But these kept returning.

  “Does the queen still live?” Her voice was but a whisper.

  I swallowed and nodded. “She fell into the portal, but she is greatly damaged, I assure you.”

  Cin coughed and blood spilled from her lips. “Then I will have to finish her in my next life.” Her eyes locked onto mine. “Remember me. I will see you yet again. This death is not the final one for me.”

  Then my tears were landing on the fallen and broken body of a beautiful red fox. Cin was gone, and my tears were not abating. For the first time in my existence, I didn’t even try to stop them.

  Chapter 26

  A heavy hand grasped my shoulder as Elmer knelt beside me. His other hand made the sign of the cross across his chest, and he spoke the words of the last rite. It was fitting and made a good background for my tears.

  When he was finished, he gently picked up the fox’s body in his hands and stood. “We need to get back to the others and seal that rift once and for all.”

  Wiping the last tears from my eyes, I nodded. We couldn’t let Cin’s sacrifice be for nothing.

  The problem was, how were we to get there?

  Coyote might have been willing to give us all a ride, but I was pretty sure Elmer’s presence would negate that possibility.

  As we were still wondering how to return, when we had absolutely no idea of where we were, Rose’s van came roaring up to the clearing. We were lucky that the clearing happened to be close to a service road. It must have been a bumpy ride, but the van made it to us.

  Then Jed and Taz were piling out of the vehicle and running toward us.

  I’m guessing the sight of the fox’s body lying lifeless in Elmer’s arms plus my tear-stained face told her most of what she needed to know.

  “Titania?” she asked.

  My voice still didn’t want to work, so Elmer answered for me. “The queen escaped, but is badly injured.” His face was grim. “With any luck, she will not survive her injuries, though I doubt that will be the case. But if their words were true, it should be quite some time before she bothers this realm again.”

  “That won’t stop her from sending her assassins.” Viola had joined our party. My girls were keeping a close eye on her, as they should. Like I said, there was very bad blood between our teams. They’d get over it.

  I nodded. She was right, and I wasn’t going to be in any condition to protect the pack for a few days at least.

  “Will you help protect my pack?” I asked quietly. “Until I’m fully functioning again?”

  Now it was Viola’s eyes that held the tears. She didn’t even speak, just nodded.

  It was enough.

  IN THE END, COYOTE had come through for the pack with flying colors. He had popped Rose’s van to the service road closest to the rift, giving Taz and Jed the transportation they needed to get to us. If things had gone differently, I truly believe he would have risked it all and popped them in. For my part, I was glad that hadn’t been necessary.

  I was growing fond of the godling.

  Once Jed and Taz were on their way, he had then popped the entire inside of the wedding tent back to the one in the backyard. Lock, stock, barrel, and people, all in one fell swoop. He was that good.

  Taz was trusting Rose, Lily, and Shaylee to keep the guests happy back at the house while we finished dealing with the rift and made our way home. Turns out, Titania’s second site was only about a half mile from the rift. We were there within minutes.

  It looked the same as it had when I had left it. One single wave shimmering in mid-air. Oh, so very close, but still remaining.

  We all looked to Elmer.

  Like us, his eyes were fixed on that single wave. Then something changed. Not with the rift, but with Elmer.

  Dunwood was back. His eyes weren’t on the rift, but on me.

  In seconds, I was in his arms and crying again.

  He let me cry it out as the others discussed possibilities for closing that last lonely wave. But once I came up for air, Dunwood pushed me out to arm’s length, then knelt down on one knee.

  “A few months ago, I didn’t know about any of this,” he said. “I thought the Fae and werewolves were both just mythical creatures.” He smiled up at me. “While I could do without the Fae in my life, I don’t think I could manage without the werewolves. At least one werewolf, that is.”

  His hand went into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet ring box. When had he gotten that?

  He opened the box, and inside was the most beautiful emerald engagement ring I had ever seen. My gaze went from the ring back to his beautiful gray eyes boring into mine.

  “Ordella Steele Hunt, will you agree to complet
e me by being my wife?”

  The others say that it was at that instant the tiny single wave ceased to exist, but I couldn’t tell you. I was far too busy with my husband to be.

  Chapter 27

  Once things settled down, we girls made it back to the house for a quick wedding reception, mostly consisting of opening presents and getting hugs and well wishes. The guests may have wondered where we had all disappeared to, why it had taken us so long to return, and where the groom had gone, but they were far too polite to ask. By the time we saw the wedding guests back off to their homes, we were fairly certain they were none the wiser of their part in stopping the end of the world.

  By that time, Dunwood and Jed were back as well. We women had drawn the easiest of the tasks. The men had stayed behind to clean up the mess in that second clearing. Luckily, according to Jed's friends, there were only three fatalities. Most of the coven had cut and run when the gunfire had started. As the initial shots had been overhead, many lives had been spared.

  And, no, Quinn wasn't among the dead. We'd have to find the ones that ran and deal with them on an individual basis. But that was for another day. At least the most immediate threat was done. The rift was no more.

  It had been quite a day, but none of us were really willing to leave the others just yet.

  The first point of business was to bury Cin’s old vessel. We chose a spot under my treehouse for the final resting place for that precious body. The others brightened up a bit when I told them her final words to me. We hadn’t seen the last of Cin.

  At least that was my fervent hope. I’m pretty sure the others felt the same way. What we had just done wouldn’t have been possible without her help. And Elmer’s, too.

  In a funny way, I would miss him too. But not so much that I was willing to give up my new fiancé.

  But if we thought all the bombshells had already exploded, we were wrong. There was one final one left.

  We were all sitting there in the living room. Silent and exhausted, but not wanting to give up the company of the pack.

  Dunwood glanced at me, a wild look in his eyes. “He wants back in,” Dunwood whispered.

  He didn’t have to explain.

  I was torn. We owed Elmer, but...

  Dunwood didn’t wait for me to respond. He nodded his acceptance and once again Elmer was among us.

  Taz and Jed sat up straighter on the couch. “Did the rift reopen?”

  Elmer shook his head, but stayed silent. His eyes traveled hungrily from Taz, to Shaylee, and finally to me. “My God, but you girls are so very beautiful.” His hand reached out to touch my cheek.

  What the? He was still using Dunwood’s body, but the voice was... different. And his eyes were much more topaz in color, too.

  Taz hesitated, her breath almost gasping. “Dad?”

  He tore his eyes from me to look at her, and nodded. “Guess you don’t have to call me Elmer anymore.”

  Taz and Shaylee ran across the room and threw themselves into his arms. I was happy for them and torn at the same time. I would love to get to know my father, but Dunwood was my everything. How did one make a choice of that magnitude?

  Once he finally let go of my sister and foster sister, he turned to me. “The Creator granted me my memory and only a very short amount of time to meet the daughter the Fae had stolen from me. So, you do not have to worry for your love. He will return shortly.”

  I swallowed. “I wish I could have known you.”

  His eyes grew moist, as did mine. How many tears can one person shed in a single day, anyway?

  “As do I.” He glanced down at Shaylee and smiled. “But I’m also very proud of my foster daughter. The queen totally screwed up giving you to us.”

  Shaylee glowed at him, the relief evident on her face. I could tell that she had loved him as much as it was possible for the Fae to love anyone but themselves. Then again, the princess was different from other Fae. She had been raised as a Benandanti, and part of that upbringing had stuck with her, even after all those years in Faerie.

  He drew all three of us in for one last hug. “I am so very proud of all of you,” he whispered. Then he raised his head and looked straight into Jed’s eyes. The men nodded at each other. “Protect them as I would.”

  “You have my word, sir,” Jed answered.

  And with one last squeeze of his arms around us, Justin Hunt returned home.

  A Note From Belinda

  Thank you so much for reading Demon Peepers. I hope you enjoyed it! Please check out my website at BelindaWrites.com for updates on the Benandanti Series. (And for news of my other writing ventures as well.)

  Also, if you can spare a few minutes, please consider giving my book a review. I'd really appreciate knowing what you thought of it.

  BELINDA WHITE

  November 2018

  Other Books by Belinda White

  Benandanti Series:

  Finders Weepers

  Sister's Keepers

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