Demon Girl (29 page)

I did not have time to think of the
ramifications of what I was doing. I couldn’t let her go, and I
hoped in time she would forgive me, and understand why I did what I
did. I muttered the name of one who might take pity on her.

Her body twitched beneath my hands as if I
had zapped her, and I said it again, louder this time.

“What is she doing?” someone asked sharply
behind me.

“Loa!”

Her eyelids fluttered.

If this could work, if I could call on the
voodoo deity and call back someone from the grave, it would be
Alex. She was the daughter of powerful mambo, a voodoo Sorceress
who ran wild in demon territory, and battled against witchcraft
before the Clerics hunted her down. But Alex had been spared. The
Clerics had taken her to the Priests for judgment as a child and
they had declared her human, believing the spark had missed her. I
could sense
something
within her. A glimmer of the magic her
mother could touch and manipulate. I had never taken her roots
seriously the few times she had spoken of it, and all that time I’d
known her, in her own way she had been asking me to believe in
her.

There. I had it under control. Her life force
was trying to depart, but I tethered it to her body.

“Forgive me,” I whispered in her ear. All I
had to do was lock her soul within her body and she would wake.

A heavy pressure at the base of my neck
shocked me still.

Mercifully, it went black.

*

Before I opened my eyes, I smelt him. His
mineral and damp earth smell. I opened my eyes and concluded it had
all gone to hell. Tomas was burning. Whorls of smoke rose from his
skin, and his head drooped forward. The silver hung him from a tree
and bit into his skin cruelly.

It felt like a sack of bricks weighted down
each of my eyelids, and my bones slid around inside me.

“Let him down,” I croaked.

Lochlann’s glacial gaze fell on me, and his
face was hard. “He has taken a life,” he said stonily. “By fairy
law he dies.”

I shook my head. It felt spongy and full of
empty space. “What life? Uh, the Cleric was going to kill me. He
saved me.”

“He has killed a fairy. He faces the
sun.”

“You’re wrong,” I said, fuming he was bold
enough to try and take Tomas’ life with such an outrageous
claim.

He couldn’t have killed anyone; he hadn’t had
the time to.

“We found her body, Rae,” Conall said and
knelt down in front of me. Maeve was a step behind him, her eyes
wide and sorrowful. “Her throat was mauled and her blood
drained.”

“There are shifters around. The fairy wylds
border a Pride, don’t they? And the blood, if she was mauled she
would have bled out.”

“His trail led from her body to the place in
the Wall Breandan took you. We guess it is here you met him?”

Denial at Conall’s explanation died on my
lips when Tomas’ own words came to me as a distant echo.
“I have
already eaten, a skinny girl, bitter.”
Was I really to believe
a starving vampire would come across a lone fairy and not bite
her?

It didn’t matter. The thought stoked the
fires of my anger, and I rolled onto my hands and knees. It didn’t
matter because he was mine. I gained my feet and ignored the fact
the floor rippled.

As I spoke, I staggered forward. “I
am
sorry for your loss, but you need to let him go.”

“Bind her,” Lochlann ordered.

Chains appeared in Maeve’s hands, which I now
saw were wrapped in cloth, and she looped one around my neck and
snaked the other around my torso. I dropped like a stone. Was I
really so predictable they had prepared the one person who I would
never see as a threat with chains? I stared up at her,
horrified.

She looked away in shame and turned her back
on me. “I’m sworn to him, Rae. I have no choice.”

I looked to the east and saw the tip of the
sun kiss the sky. We were still shaded by the trees. There was
time.

Conall was still on his knees, trying to
comfort me, but he preempted my plea, “I too am oath sworn to
Lochlann, and I do not think this creature should live.”

I looked him in the eye. “You say you’re my
brother.”

“Always.”

“Then help me,” I said. “Just take him down
so he can hide.”

He looked away. “I cannot.”

My eyes spun round, but even as I thought his
name, I realized the folly of my hope. The fairy-boy I was bonded
to, and supposed to mate for life with would save the vampire-boy
who I had a blood tie to and who shared half of my heart? Still, I
looked to him. Hoping he would find some compassion for a fellow
demon and save him. Breandan was no longer bound to Lochlann’s will
and could act as he chose. He avoided my gaze and turned his back
to me. No word or other gesture could be so bold a statement.

The first rays of the morning warmed my arm
and splayed across my face. I locked gazes with Tomas, who breathed
hard, eyes wide.

“I am not afraid,” he told me. “But I
regret–” He groaned and gasped in pain.

I battled with the chains, tears of
frustration and pain sliding down my cheeks at the realization I
could not break them on my own.

“Be still, Rae,” Conall urged. “Can you not
see the evil you have tied yourself to? This is for the best,
little sister.”

I couldn’t do it. I could not watch another
person die for me. If I had listened to him we never would have
been captured, and I never would have watched Devlin steal the life
away from the most beautiful and vibrant person I’d known. I closed
my eyes against the coming horror. Gods, give me strength. A
prickle of power radiated outwards from my chest. The amulets! I
had forgotten all about them. Maeve had made a mistake. The iron
around my neck and torso drained my strength, but this time I could
move my arms and legs.

Sunlight touched Tomas face and he started to
burn. His fangs ran out and his eyes glazed over black. His skin
looked awful in the light, translucent. As the daybreak grew it
blackened and peeled away.

It was a struggle, but I stood, keeping my
eyes on Tomas. He needed me, now was not the time to be weak. I
slipped my hand into my pocket pulled the amulet of protection
out.

Lochlann lunged for me and I sent him flying
with a pulse of energy. He landed on his feet, but seemed winded.
He hesitated before trying again. Good, because I didn’t think I
had much control left in me. The next people to get in my way were
in for a rough ride.

“Stop her,” he commanded.

Maeve came next and I dodged her easily
enough, she wasn’t even trying. Conall tried to grab me, but the
look I sent him had him over-shooting his aim by a mile. Lochlann
went for me again, but Breandan wheeled round to plant himself
between his brother and me.

“Move,” Lochlann said. “You risked everything
by defying me, and I allowed it because you are my brother. I will
not let you unleash another danger upon our kind.”

“This has nothing to do with you anymore. You
may not touch her.”

“Young fool. She chooses another and you
stand by and let her.”

Breandan shrugged and the defeated slump of
his shoulders was heart wrenching to see. I didn’t have time to
reassure him, or thank him.

I pulled the amulets of wisdom and power that
hung from the leather cord around my neck, and slipped the amulet
of protection into the last place. The air stilled and then
crackled with a zing of electricity you could reach out and touch.
My hair was swept up in a cyclone of wind, and I breathed in the
scent of soil and sunlight that reminded me of Breandan. He was
close and he was on my side. His strength and dedication to me
helped me see who I really was. I was Rae. The last pure fairy who
could wield the power of the key and who was destined to be a
Priestess. It was my purpose to lead these demons from the
darkness.

I was not afraid. I was strong and I had
magic.

Drawing deeply on the Source, filling every
nook of myself with power and energy I called to the forest then
flung myself at Tomas. I crashed into him and the tree bough
cracked, almost like it gave way for me. It seemed like we fell
forever, entwined, gazes locked. The tree groaned and swept down,
its branches twisting and curling into a shroud around us. We
landed hard, me straddling him, and the ground rumbled and shook in
a tumult. In an explosion of mud tree roots shot up from beneath
the earth to surround us. I glimpsed the bright and beautiful dawn
as the tree roots and boughs smashed together, encasing us in a
living tomb. Then it was dark.

Tomas trembled beneath my body. He felt hot
as I ran my hands over his face, and I winced. It was cracked and
rough. He smelt foul like, well, burnt flesh and I gagged. Easing
off him, I steadied myself and placed my wrist over his mouth.

“Tomas,” I said, breathless. “You have to
feed before you die for the day.”

He didn’t move. I rubbed my wrist over his
mouth and then instinct took over. His teeth sunk into me and I lay
there as he drank himself better. It was not long before he moaned
and then his head hit the floor with a solid thunk. I ran my hands
over his face. He felt cooler and his face smoother.

“Was that enough? Will you wake up
again?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I believe I
will.”

I touched his cheek and the skin slowly
healing blackened under my touch. I jerked away. “I’m hurting you.
My skin, it’s glowing, I– I think it’s sunlight.”

At any other time or with any other vampire,
sunlight seeping through my pores would be crazily fortuitous, but
my voice was horrified. Eyes closed, his fingers searched for mine.
Again his skin burned the moment he touched me, and I tried to pull
away, not understanding why I was causing him more pain. There was
no off switch, and though my light was dimming, I didn’t want to
risk hurting him.

“Don’t pull away from me. I will heal.”

My skin looked dark next to his. He looked
deader than usual and it scared me. The glow of my skin had cranked
it down a notch and he held on tighter.

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes,” he said slowly, and sounded like if he
had the energy to make fun of me, he would. “Rae, promise me
something?”

“That depends. The last time I agreed to
something before knowing what it was, it caused me a lot of
trouble.”

He coughed and laughed. It was a wet,
horrible sound and I grimaced.

“Go ahead then, tell me.”

His eyes sparkled like shiny rocks before the
lights in them went out, and they slid closed. He died for the
day.

“Tell me,” I said loudly, panicked.

It was in vain. He was beyond me now and
would not be within my reach until the sunset. I watched as my
blood healed his body, faster than if it had been human blood. For
once I felt relief that I was fairy, being this way had helped him
survive.

I was tired and sad, but the silence and
stillness was not welcome. I was worried about what would happen
when I stepped from the living shroud. I ran my palm over the
earthen roof above me, and blinked when dirt fell in my eyes. The
walls and floor were soft and hard. A mixture of leaves, mud and
bark. There was a root dug into my back and I shifted closer to my
slumbering vampire-boy. He was cold again and though it made me
shiver, I scooted closer and rested my head on his chest.

The best thing, I figured, would be to wait
for sunset. Tomas would hopefully be better and he could have more
of my blood if he needed.

Breandan was going to be mad.

The thought alone was enough for me to want
to be entombed there for the rest of my days. In the end, he had
helped me save Tomas, but I knew he was not happy. I could
feel
he was not happy. He was also close by, so close if I
was to stand he would probably be sitting less than a few paces
away. Guarding me. I was proud that he had chosen to do the right
thing, even though he knew it might mean losing my love to another.
It made me love him more. Gods, how selfish was I? I loved Breandan
but was too afraid to tell him. He was already crazy possessive and
I was not okay with that. I was bonded to him by magic and that was
commitment enough as far as I was concerned.

A further problem was that Tomas was a part
of my being now. As much as I needed air to breath, I knew I would
need him around. Just being next to him was dangerous. He was a
starving vampire who was disconnected from his humanity, and
unscrupulous in his belief he had to kill to survive. Yet I found
him endearing and worth saving.

Conall would be pissed too, not that he had a
right. I was going to have words with that brother of mine and none
of them were going to be nice. He had failed me. I could understand
why he could not save Alex; his main concern was recuing Lochlann
and Breandan so they could fight.

Tears I thought I had already cried out ran
down my face as I thought of my friend. She had been so brave, in
the end. She had not looked at me with hate and disgust, but told
me she loved me. Gods, as much as I hated it, I could accept it
because she did. I had tried to save her, to reanimate her body
using the voodoo practices of her bloodline, but it hadn’t worked.
I’d been stopped. There was nothing else to do but take her body
back to Temple and back to Ro. He would hate me too, for he was
smart and would figure it out. The easy thing would be to bury her
out here so no one knew of her death, but I couldn’t do that. Her
life deserved to be celebrated. All I could do was try to explain
and hope Ro could forgive me, as she did.

I felt a stirring of anger. Lochlann, he was
a problem. I thought he was going to be the good guy. He would
continue to try and justify his actions by saying Tomas had killed
a fairy. I would not let him take his life. Tomas had to make
amends for the life he had taken – I was not sure how I would get
him to do it, but I would – and I did not give a damn what power
Lochlann thought he had to condemn my vampire-boy to death.