It was too much for Hekla to process.
Corliss watched the street like she worried the demon was on his way. Hekla really hoped the fae princess was just being paranoid. “I have heard that shifters are generally more resilient. Their rate of healing outpaces a human’s.”
That was all good news at least.
“Wasn’t there something about spells and their blood?” Coren asked.
Lucus answered. “Fae can use shifter blood to cast spells.”
Wait. That wasn’t comforting in the least. Hekla eyed Lucus and bared her fangs, enjoying the feel of those sharp teeth in her mouth.
Coren came close, her gaze touching Hekla’s face. “Dude, you know he’s not going to bleed you for power.”
How many more people’s lives would be flipped because of the Yew Bow? And why was this Coren’s fate? Hekla's friend had always been so kind to everyone. And what was the point of revealing the supernatural to the world?
Hekla jumped into Coren’s arms and set her nose against her friend’s neck. The shock was wearing off, and she was done being in Kaippa’s arms.
Kaippa was snickering. “The fox is a fox.”
Coren glared. “Why are you here anyway?”
“To save your asses, as usual.”
Hekla had to admit that he did seem to have a habit of filling the role of reluctant savior. He’d caught Oliver at the unseelie prison break not so long ago, and he’d helped Coren when she’d portaled them out of the castle.
“Thank you.” Coren seemed to struggle to say the words.
Another SUV drove down the street, and a question popped into Hekla’s mind. Had that been Evan who’d almost run her over? What if he’d seen how incredibly fast Kaippa was? They didn’t need to give Dain, Evan, Nancy, and company more suspicious tales to spread.
Coren was still murmuring thanks. “I don’t get you, Kaippa. You halfway murder Titus, then you save Hekla. Are you a good guy or a bad one?”
“Don’t shove me into a category, Coren. You’d be wise to refrain from labeling your mate here as well. You know the darkness in you. It is in all of us supernatural beings. We so-called immortals.”
The group went back inside Titus’s gym, and everyone but Coren and Hekla began to clean up. Hekla was still shaking, and Coren was kind enough to keep a nice hold on her.
“I know you’re scared shitless,” Coren whispered, warming Hekla’s chilled soul. “But we’ll get through this. You’re still you.”
It was nice of her to say, but what did she know? Hekla squeezed her eyes shut and tried to feel her way back to being human.
Lucus and Corliss magicked their vines back into the earth while Sebastian answered Oliver’s one million questions about Hekla. The smoke had cleared, but the place still reeked of burned plastic, and the scent of magic cascaded across Hekla’s face as the air conditioner switched on. Coren set Hekla down and went to the thermostat to shut it off. The nights were finally cool enough to let that go. Hekla trotted behind her, finally not shaking so hard, but still clingy. Why couldn’t she change back? How long would she be trapped in this body?
There was a knock on the locked gym door.
Lucus lifted his chin and blinked. “It’s Baccio and Aurelio.”
Coren let them in, the door creaking more than it had before she’d blown the heck out of the place with that arrow. “Is Titus okay?”
Both of them were pale, Baccio’s mouth a straight line and Aurelio’s hair askew as if he’d run his hands through it repeatedly.
“Titus is fine, but the twisted curse…” Aurelio’s light eyes flickered with fear. “The demon. We think it’s under your house. We moved Titus to Ami’s home.”
A bitter taste touched Hekla’s tongue, and she swallowed.
Coren sighed. “Okay. Well, let’s see if I can rock this lightning arrow again and end this shit show.”
12 Coren
Lucus behind me on my bike, I zipped down Hillsboro behind the Volvo, which Aurelio was driving. Hekla’s white-furred face appeared in the back window beside Kaippa’s head. My heart cinched. Aurelio had been practicing driving with Hekla, and damn if the fae didn’t pick stuff up quickly.
When we turned the corner and reached my street, rumbling shook the starlit road, and the motorcycle careened toward the curb. I gripped the handlebars and tried to steer us, but the ground unfolded in front of us like origami made of pavement. I shrieked as we were thrown onto the road. My face hit the street, grit tearing my cheek and lip. Pain burned along my entire right side.
The Volvo was on its side, spinning to a stop as a dark shape rose from the broken road, slow and absolutely enormous. Was everyone okay? My heartbeat echoed in my ears as I tried to get eyes on everyone.
That metallic millipede odor wafted through the cool air, and I gagged, trying to push myself to standing as the fae brothers emerged from the car and took off into the air.
Lucus’s wings spread wide, blocking out the moon, the stars, and the yellow streetlight. Light pulsing around him and his brothers, they directed thick, woody vines that whipped around the demon’s face. One vine caught a sword-length tooth and was immediately cut off, falling to the ground to smash the front of the Volvo.
Corliss, pale hair hanging over her face, grabbed Sebastian’s bleeding arm to help him from the car. He reached down for Oliver, whose shrieks were barely audible over the cracking earth and the thunderous rumble in the demon dragon’s throat. Hekla bounded from the wreck and leapt onto a new rise of ground like she was ready to fight.
“Get back, Hekla!” Fear was a second demon, writhing in my chest. “Please!” She was a tiny, furry thing. She had to get the hell out of here.
I took the Yew Bow from my back, praying to all that was holy that the weapon was undamaged. Sliding the magestone from my jacket pocket, I pulled the bow
