Demon Day (37 page)

Breandan caught my gaze and his own
warmed, caressed my face even as his thumb rubbed the inside of my
palm.

Stomping boots broke our moment of
peace as Conall darted up to us to stand a few paces away. His gaze
roamed over me in concern, mouth pulled down into a scowl. He was
covered in patches of gore, and long wisps of dark hair from his
ponytail trailed down his face and neck.

I assured him wordlessly that I was
okay, and touched the back of his hand gently, an apology evident
in my eyes for scaring him so deeply.

Pale faced and exhausted, Ana hung
limply over his shoulder like a sack of grain. “Can I get down
now?” she squeaked.

Breaking eye contact with me, he set
her down carefully, and the first thing she did was stick her
tongue out at him then me. She dusted herself off and crossed her
arms over her chest, still looking hot, bothered, and
embarrassed.

Before I could apologize, Lex stumbled
into sight. Her chalk white skin was splattered with crimson from
chin to waist and she held Ro up. One of his arms was flung over
her shoulder, and he looked like he’d been to hell and back. A deep
gash over his eye seeped, and his shoulder looked dislocated by the
funny angle he held his arm. With each step, he grunted in pain and
gritted his teeth.

She set him down on a chunk of wall
that had survived some of the blast, and he winced, eyes closing in
pain. She shot me a bloodied smile over her shoulder then made Ro
comfortable. When he was relatively settled she yanked on his arm
and pushed his body back. There was a loud crunch and Ro howled in
pain. Lex rolled back onto her heels as he cursed at her then
settled down to cross her legs. She placed her chin in her upturned
palm as he jumped up and down cursing all manner of gods and
creation.

Safe. All of my friends
were safe and well. My eyes closed briefly and I sent up a small
prayer of thanks. The gods had to be listening for us to have come
through this relatively unscathed. We had removed a dangerous
threat and were alive to fight another day. Yes, my prayers had
been answered. The shifter twins were free and back with their
father like I had, ah,
planned
, and we could get back hunting
Devlin. This time the weight of an entire Pride behind us. First, I
had a few loose ends to clean up.

I jerked my chin toward the far corner
of the courtyard. “What shall we do with them?” I asked
Breandan.

The dust covered Disciples had rallied
together and cowered in a far corner. A few unconscious, or worse
for wear Clerics had been dragged into their midst, and were being
shook or slapped awake. Squinting, I was relieved to see Samuel in
their midst, seeing to his comrades wounds. The Disciples were torn
between staring at Breandan, me, and the rubble that used to be
their home.

I felt guilty all over again. Had the
Temple been destroyed a few days ago and I was still clueless like
them I would have been devastated, frightened. My confusion no
doubt would have turned to anger at the demons that had done it.
How scared they must all be. The Priests and younger Disciples had
been long evacuated by the order of Cleric Tu, so the deaths would
only be those who had fought my friends, and been unlucky enough to
be gouged in the wrong place with a claw or blade. I did ask them
to go easy, but Conall, Breandan, and Maeve had not heard my
speech, and had released a whole world of pain upon
them.

The Disciples watched me as if I was
going to chomp their head off at any moment. I sighed. Was it worth
trying to talk to them as an equal? Maybe if I explained what was
going on they would understand. They must have felt the hex settle
then lift off them.

Breandan’s eyes had clouded with
confusion and concern. “Rae-love…”

“
Are you going to murder us
now demon,” a pissed voice called across the space. Zoe sat up
rubbing her head and glared at me as if all her troubles were my
solely fault.

And it wasn’t fair.

I’d been through hell to protect the
Disciples, her included.

By gods, I stomped my foot,
and shrieked at her, “Okay, so I gave you a black eye. Yes, my
fairy and vampire had destroyed half of Bayou. Sure, I flattened
Sanctuary,” I paused. “Okay fine the entire Temple, but really,
everything is not
entirely
my fault. Technically I saved your ungrateful
ass,” I held up two fingers, “twice!”

Zoe’s heavily freckled face looked
anxious, but her eyes sparked with anger. Lex had dropped her hold
on Ro, and the look she shot Zoe had the girl’s complexion jumping
from pink with anger to pale with fear.

The look of hunger on Lex’s face had
me drawing in a deep breath.

“
No,” I said and drew
myself up tall, daring anybody to defy me. “Lex, we’re letting them
go.”

“
They wouldn’t have left us
alive,” Ro wheezed.

“
It doesn’t matter. They
shouldn’t have been out here in the first place.” My eyes roamed
the Temple grounds. “Gods, what were the Priests thinking allowing
Cleric Tu to bring them here.” I pushed my hair out of my eyes, and
my tail thumped the floor once in finality. “We’re sending them
away.”

Lex scowled at them, at me, but nodded
then crouched down beside Ro, licking her lips. I shivered,
nauseated. I was still having a hard time accepting her new
bloodthirsty nature, and it was upsetting she could not extend
sympathy for the Disciples. She used to be one. I sighed. I had
done this to her, and did I truly know all the ways her
transformation had affected her?

Breandan clasped my chin and made me
look at him. It looked like he was the only one brave enough to
challenge me. I knew all the arguments he could use. All the logic
and battle strategy that said leaving enemies trained to hate us
alive and well was reckless, risky. That it would cause more
trouble later, and I would regret it in the end.

All these arguments, logical as they
were, did not detract from the fact killing them would be barbaric,
something we needed to change.

As a human, I had been shunned and
mocked, never blending in or being part of the ‘in’ crowd. Yet, I
had been taken in and raised by these people. Living as a human
shaped who I was, how I saw the world and it always would. There
was so much good in them, and holding onto thoughts of how Lex used
to be, Samuel’s kindness, and the Priest that had secured my future
when I was a baby, I strengthened my resolve. I would protect them
as my own.

I stared Breandan down until he nodded
his acceptance.

Taking my hand, he turned to face
them. “You may go,” he bellowed, his voice amplified by magic into
a melodious boom. “Remember the kindness you have been shown
today.” He motioned to me. “If not for her you would be
dead.”

“
Or eaten,” Lex mumbled
under her breath.

The Disciples did not need another
word to be spoken. Blubbering between themselves, they scrambled
up, and stumbled away in a tight knit group, jumping, and shrieking
at every shadow. Zoe held her head high and kept her back straight,
moving with decisive slow steps. And she was not the only one. The
truly hard and strong of them simply glared over their shoulders
and calmly walked away. From those calm few would come the next
hatemonger, but that was a worry for another day, and one I knew I
could handle. The key to dealing with the humans was getting to the
Priests. I knew they were simply full of fear and confused. I had
to reach them somehow and make them hear me.

“
We cannot stay here too
long, Rae. They will come back to fight,” Ro said.

I rubbed my head. “I know you all
think I’m making a mistake letting them leave, but we’re not the
bloodthirsty demons they think us to be.” Lex snickered and there
was a honking laugh from Ro. I bit my lip to stop my answering
smile; their inappropriate humor was infectious. “If we act like
heartless creatures it will vindicate the lies of the true monsters
like Cleric Tu.”

“
Well said. Once we have
the grimoire everything will change for the better,” Conall said
firmly. “We use the spell, dispose of Devlin and put you and
Lochlann in your rightful places. The rest will follow.”

“
I don’t know, Conall,”
Maeve said in her high chime. Alec smiled down on her and her flush
of pleasure had a purple stain blooming across her cheeks. “After
what we’ve seen here do we still think using witchcraft is the
right way to do this? At first I agreed wholeheartedly, but now …
after seeing Rae struggling to deal with such darkness … no … I’m
not so sure using the witches’ grimoire is the right
way.”

I almost missed the meaning of what
had been said, so focused had I been on the backs of the retreating
Disciples. Samuel glanced over his shoulder at me, dipped his head
then he was gone.

“
Uh, wait,” I butt in and
frowned as I ran Maeve’s words around in my head again. “The
witches’ grimoire … you mean the book was
written
by witches?”

The fairies fell silent.

Papa Obe had made me think
more on the significance of the spell book since he explained the
Vodoun had helped keep it from witches, but I hadn’t realized why
the witches wanted it so badly
now.
I kept looking at the grimoire as Lochlann’s way
of taking the High Lordship from Devlin whilst keeping within the
rules of fairykind, essentially, a book of fairy magics, but that
was not the case. The book had a bigger role to play, especially if
the witches had written it. It made the magics it contained dark.
It explained why the witches were interested in finding me, and why
their attention had fallen on the Temple. They wanted their book
back, and I had the key, the amulets.

The look Conall gave me was apologetic
and almost ashamed. I narrowed my eyes, looked at each of their
faces slowly. Maeve looked discomfited, resolute, but ashamed. As
always, the only one in the dark and having revelations was
me.

After a full minute of
silence, I found my voice, and I yanked my hand from Breandan’s to
move away from him. “You have got to be out of your minds? You were
going to try and depose Devlin from the throne by using
witchcraft
?” Conall winced
at the power of my voice. Good. Cause I was pissed. “Why was I not
told this?”

“
We didn’t want to frighten
you,” Breandan explained. “You only knew witchcraft to be an evil
practice.”

“
That’s because it is,” I
said furiously. “They feed off darkness and you want to use it to
bring down the fairy High Lord?”

“
The Vodoun use black
magic, Rae.” Breandan pointed to Lex, who started guiltily. “You
stood in the way of natural order to save your friend. You called
on the Loa and used the dark arts to bring her back. Were your
intentions not good and noble?”

I shook my head. “You’re twisting
everything. What I did wasn’t an accident, but it wasn’t exactly
intentional either. I reacted in a moment of grief.”

Breandan glowered at me. “Our actions
were intentional and carefully planned as what was considered best
for the fairy people. You saw what Devlin was doing to
us.”

“
One wrong does not cancel
out the other,” I said firmly. “Ana told me Devlin could be removed
by a spell in the grimoire, but I didn’t understand the
implications of what she was saying.” I looked at him pointedly.
“You once told me Devlin could be removed by majority vote. I
foolishly assumed the two were tied.”

He was already shaking his head. “The
people won’t vote against him. They are too frightened, and the
vote cannot be cast without him present. He has been a lord for
over seven centuries Rae, and High Lord for two of them. Even if
they fear him, they respect him. They won’t vote against
him.”

“
So I’m clear your family,”
I spun to Conall to include him in my damnation, “and mine decided
to lead a revolt against a rightfully appointed sovereign who is
still in power because the people respect him even if they fear
him?” They all looked away from me and I had my answer. I was
beleaguered with anger. This was not what I had been led to believe
was happening. “You lied to me.”

“
No,” Breandan and Conall
said as one.

I made an impatient movement with my
hand. “Fine, but you twisted everything to make it seem like Devlin
was this evil tyrant who needed dragging down lest he ruin the
whole world.”

Devlin’s words came back to
me;
“Don’t you see, Rae? The rebels are
still part of my Tribe and they will be until the day I no longer
rule … they may not agree with me and encourage Lochlann’s tantrum
and defy me for a while, but so be it … Breandan overstepped his
place … turned his back on tradition thousands of years old … Don’t
be foolish, you have a chance to save many of our kind … Our
ancestors’ legacy flows strongly through your veins, and you could
help bring us back together …We are fairy and bound to keep our
oath by magics … take your rightful place in my Tribe we can put an
end to this feud.”

All the blood drained from my head and
I swayed. Breandan stepped forward to help me, but I staggered
back. If he touched me he would overwhelm me, and make it too hard
to think. Make it hard to see past the web of half-truth’s they had
told to manipulate me.