His attention sharpened on her, and he noticed the alertness of her gaze as she scanned those around her. There was even a glow that enveloped her, slight though it was, as if the sun was drawn to her more than any other. She studied everyone she neared, even reached out and touched a few, as if expecting to be jolted. When nothing happened, she would frown with disappointment and move on.
“How do you know what she is?” he asked. “How can you tell?”
“You have to train your eyes to look past the surface,” Mary Ann said, as if she were quoting something she’d already been told. She probably was.
“Witches can bless with one hand and curse with the other,” Victoria explained. “Some wield more magic than others, but all are dangerous.”
“I’ve been listening to a few conversations,” Riley said. “The witches want to capture you, Aden, though they don’t yet know who you are, to use you to increase their powers. They think whoever summoned them is a mighty wizard. My advice is to avoid capture.”
“Oh, really? ’Cause I never would have thought of that on my own,” he said dryly.
Riley continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “If you’re captured, when they finish with you, you will be a shell of your former self. They will drain you.”
“So noted.”
“The man behind her is fairy,” said Victoria. The disgust in her voice was palpable.
Aden quickly shifted his focus. The man—or teenager, probably eighteen—was tall and muscled, his skin boasting just a hint of glitter. He had golden hair and golden eyes. Everyone who passed him, male and female alike, stared at him, craning their necks to watch him as long as possible. Except for the witch, Aden noticed. She ran in the opposite direction.
“Like vampires, fairies are drainers,” Victoria continued. “Only instead of blood, they live off of energy. Vampire, witch, it doesn’t matter. Well, that’s not true. They do not drain humans. They consider themselves protectors of humankind, gods among men.”
“You mentioned goblins were here, as well.” Flesh-eaters. He shuddered, feeling phantom corpses biting at him. “Where are they?” If he could learn to identify them, he could evade them.
“And demons,” Mary Ann said with a shudder of her own. “Don’t forget those.”
“The goblins only emerge at night, their eyesight too sensitive to the sun,” Riley said. “Tell your friends to stop going out after dusk. The missing persons count is about to skyrocket. The death toll, as well.”
“Oh, God.” Mary Ann covered her mouth with her hand as if she’d just realized the extent of the danger they were in, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “People are going to die?”
Riley kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry. We’ll do what we can. As for the demons, they are harder to spot. Some have learned to mask their auras.”
“How did they get here?” Aden asked. “On earth, I mean. And how long have they been here?”
“They’ve been here for thousands of years. Before the walls of hell were reinforced, a few escaped their fiery prison. They could not pass themselves off as humans—the scales, horns and forked tongues gave them away—so they passed themselves off as gods. They mated with humans and half demon, half human babies were born. These children still could not pass as humans, nor could their children or their children’s children. Eventually, though, the offspring were able to insert themselves into society. Thieves, murderers, those who are purely evil can often trace their lineage back to the first demons.”
Purely evil. Like Tucker.
“Tucker,” Mary Ann said, clearly mirroring his thoughts.
Riley nodded. “In some way, yes, though we don’t know what…”
“What else is out there?” Aden asked. What else wanted to use him?
“Anything, everything, though the others have not yet arrived in Crossroads.” Victoria rested her head on Aden’s shoulder. “Dragons, angels, valkryies, shape-shifters of every kind. Most live in harmony with the other creatures, but several of the races are at war. Perhaps that is why they’re late to this party. Or, if we’re lucky, they won’t come at all.”
Mary Ann swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. “What should we do?”
Aden raised his chin, realizing what had to be done. Mary Ann worried for her father. Victoria worried for her people. Riley, well, he probably worried for Mary Ann. The look the werewolf had given her reminded Aden of how he must surely regard the vampire princess.
“I’ll pack up and leave,” he said. “The creatures will follow me, and everyone here will be safe.”
“No!” Victoria straightened with a jolt. “They’ll follow you wherever you go, yes, but that will place more and more people in danger. You and Mary Ann are both safest here because the only time your signal is muted is when you’re with her.”
“But when she’s with Riley, all of my powers remain. Even now, I can hear my companions in the back of my mind. He has some kind of effect on her ability to neutralize.”
Riley’s head tilted to the side. “Maybe I don’t affect her at all. Maybe I affect
They had so much to learn. Too much, it seemed. Where was he supposed to find the answers?
“Come, we must go,” Victoria suddenly said, tugging him deeper into the shadows.
Why? Aden returned his focus to the town square. The fairy had switched directions and was now headed toward their building. Not good. That fairy had the power to drain Victoria, to hurt her. And staying with her would only place her in more danger.
Aden released her and latched onto Mary Ann. “Riley, get Victoria out of here. We’ll meet you at Mary Ann’s.”
“No, I—” Riley began.
“I’ll keep Mary Ann safe,” Aden assured him. “But this way, with Mary Ann and me together on our own, there will be no signal for the creatures to follow. So go!” The fairy was closer…closer still.
Riley nodded reluctantly and dragged Victoria away. Or tried to. She managed to wrench free. As she raced to him, she opened her ring and dipped a finger inside. Before he could stop her, she rubbed that finger against her wrist. Immediately the flesh sizzled apart and a gaping wound appeared.
The moment she reached him, she pressed that wound against his mouth. Her grip was so strong, there was no pushing away from her. All he could do was open his mouth to protest—then gulp down the blood flowing through his lips. It was warm and sweet, fizzing like soda, practically alive as it washed over his tongue.
“This tiny amount won’t kill you,” she said. “Dan can’t see you cut up and bruised again. This way, he won’t. You’ll heal before you reach the house.”
Heat spread through him. Heat that intensified with every second that passed, burning, blistering, scorching everything it touched. He felt like he’d caught a fever, or like he was on fire, his entire body erupting before crumbling into ash.
“The aftereffect…” she said. “I’m sorry.”
Once more, Riley dragged her away. She held Aden’s gaze as long as possible. He tried not to think about what she’d meant by “aftereffect.” When they were out of sight, the souls moaned, tossed back into the dark realm they so hated.
The fairy, he noticed, stopped, gazed around with confusion and frowned. Good thing. Aden had to hunch over as he gasped in breath after breath. Finally, his body cooled down.
Mary Ann was patting his back to comfort him, he realized as he straightened.
Deciding to check out the alleyway anyway, the fairy kicked back into motion.
Aden ushered Mary Ann in the opposite direction of their friends. He couldn’t worry about the aftereffects of drinking vampire blood right now. No way it would be any worse than corpse venom. And Mary Ann’s safety came first.
He increased his pace. If the fairy got a glimpse of him, he didn’t know it. He kept moving, never looking backward, until he found an unlocked door. Inside the building—a clothing shop—he ran into an employee who told him no one was supposed to be in the back. He apologized and made his way outside, where he slowed his step. Mary Ann stayed close to him, silent, perhaps too afraid to talk.
