“Mate! That’s my car!” Keegan cried out. Then again, leprechauns never did have a very firm handle on what ‘priority’ means.
The man-turned-figure now reformed behind Orin, no longer as a man at all. What stood before us now was a sinister shadow, one that smoldered and trailed off like fire, and an eerie yellow glow filled the space where his eyes should be.
I recognized this spectral form immediately. “You’re a Slaugh! I should have figured as much.” This was very bad news (although, I admit I was still fascinated). “I never thought I’d get to see a member of the Wild Hunt for myself.” I felt stirred by a fine mix of alarm, wonder, and anger. I riffled through my mental rolodex of demons and creatures of the night. Edna had taught me well. Slaugh’s were one of the heinous creatures that make up the ‘Wild Hunt’. They are restless spirits who had committed atrocious acts; with their sins depraved, their souls had no place in the otherworld or among the gods. Pariahs.
“Indeed,” the Slaugh hissed, it’s voice distorted from the change in form. “The Wild Hunt. We are the visage of doom, writ large across the sky. An ill omen for your world.”
Keira began to whimper and moan in Weylyn’s arms. “Look what you’ve done,” he growled at the Slaugh. “You say you need her alive? You’ve nearly killed her already!”
“We have our ways to ensure she is delivered in proper condition.”
“We?” I asked him.
“You are a smart one,” the Slaugh smiled, as a flock of large black birds appeared from the east, circling overhead.
Keegan’s face darkened, as he told the Slaugh “If those birds of yours shit on my ride, you’ll be detailing it with your fucking tongue.”
The flock descended – but before hitting the ground, the black birds morphed into black, smoky figures, like clones of the first Slaugh. They surrounded us, their glowing eyes glimmering with menace.
“I knew it,” Keegan growled, throwing his hands up in the air. He cast an accusatory glare at me. “I told you we should pay attention! Those birds are an evil Omen! You all should have listened to me!”
“Fuck off Keegan!” Orin yelled.
“Nobody pays a fucking bit of attention to anything I say!”
“All right, Keegan,” I said. “You were right, we were wrong. Happy?”
I realized the truth, though. It was my fault we were ambushed. My dark magic allowed me to detect danger, almost like a radar, but all magic has a cost, and Dark Magic was the hardest to control. With dark magic, the more you used, the more you desired. Like a drug addict building a tolerance, dark magic could take over everything else. This was the danger of the intoxicating power. Use it too much, and your craving for more would overwhelm your entire soul.
It had happened to me, several years ago. A habit that ruled my life, and ruined my relationships with everyone who cared about me. Only Edna had been able to help me kick the magical monkey on my back. It was hell.
I learned my lesson; never use more than absolutely necessary, and only when there was no other choice. So, because I had not anticipated such danger to appear in Westhaven, I let my guard down, and because of this, I had rendered myself unable to detect the malefic nature of the birds, though Keegan had mentioned it. I had dismissed him, and that was a mistake.
I felt the heavy weight of responsibility for our predicament, but I lacked the courage to admit this to the others now. Another flaw in the recovering addict I had become...
But that was water under the bridge. Now, I had to right what I had allowed to threaten us. Especially Keira. I turned to the brothers. “Slaughs are slippery creatures. Brute force won’t overcome them. Get Keira home, you’re no use here. Keegan and I will buy you as much time as we can. Go. Go now!”
“You’ll need these!” Keegan said as he tossed his keys to Orin.
“Let’s go,” Orin snarled, as Weylyn carefully loaded Keira into the backseat of the car. The cadre of newly arrived Slaughs began to swarm after them. Orin turned on the bright headlights, and that was enough to send the swarm recoiling into the shadows, as they let out ungodly shrieks of pain. Interesting. Photalgia – light sickness. I made a mental note to look into this… later. The brothers sped off with Keira, leaving Keegan and myself to face off with the shadowy creatures.
Once the SUV was out of range, I sucked in a breath and pressed a finger to a small rune on my left arm, as I focused dark energy. Everything flows. Don’t fail me now. A dome of crackling magic formed from the top down, encasing Keegan, myself, and the Slaugh group within.
“Sounds like it’s time to Millie up,” Keegan growled. He held one hand out, as his eyes began to glow a bright green. A long wooden staff, with a gold knob, coalesced into being. The Leprechaun’s weapon of choice: a shillelagh. It was a deadly looking staff of iron-hard blackthorn wood, a gnarly shaft, with a cudgel-like knob at the top. “Time for me to show my stuff!”
“Don’t get too showy,” I grumbled. Holding my hands out, I pulled the dark energy around me, and formed a set of black fighting daggers.
“Brann!” Keegan was alarmed, aware that something sinister was permeating the very environment. Leaves were shriveling, crinkling up, and falling off the trees. Shrubs and other foliage began to fade to brown. “Is that the Slaugh killing the plants, or...?”
I shook my head, keeping my focus on the smoky creatures in front of us. “Dark magic. To summon it, I must draw energy from the living world around us. It looks dire and unpleasant, but
