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Evelyn gritted her teeth, trying to shake off the constant reminders of her failures. She had stayed in Callum to solve these murders, to fight against the darkness again. The White Lady only meant to rile her, but Evelyn had so many questions. How did the White Lady know so much about her? Was she also working with the vampyr? Unless all this time she and Kade had been completely and utterly wrong, and there wasn’t even a vampyr involved.
But what about the scáth they fought outside the printshop?
The dark witch wavered in the cottage. “I can see you have questions. Come with me, Daughter of the Goddess. You and I aren’t much different, you know? Revered by our people. Misunderstood. Powerful. Destined for greatness. I can show you my ways and show you how magnificent you can be.”
Disgust rolled through Evelyn. “You’re mad if you think I’ll come with you. You’ve been killing the young women, haven’t you? You’re a monster.” Evelyn bit out the last comment.
The White Lady’s grin widened, and her red eyes raged with delight. “Willing or not, delivering you to the darkness will be my biggest accomplishment.”
The scream the White Lady unleashed reminded Evelyn of the low howl she’d heard on the wind all these weeks. The night before they found Fiona’s body. In the market the day Tessa had been kidnapped. Last night as she lay in bed, hollow and lost, mere hours before she’d learn of Sheila’s headless body.
The ballad of death in the air.
The trees shook more while the walls of the cottage cracked. The White Lady’s face twitched, shimmering out of focus like a fading mirage. Branches snapped, the main doorway crumbled, and the cliffs quaked.
A demon emerged from the cottage. Evelyn had never seen the likes of it before, so she couldn’t name it. Six bone-white legs pounded into the grass as it approached. They protruded from an abdomen with wiry fur and bent at a harsh angle like the legs of a sea creature.
The demon advanced, still wearing the face of The White Lady, greasy hair draping down an elongated neck. Her face flickered again, revealing a snake-like face with even sharper needle-like teeth.
Evelyn gasped, side-stepping as the demon approached. The force of its six legs shook the ground, and Evelyn fell back. She panted and pushed away on her forearms as the demon slashed a pincher-claw at her. Evelyn rolled, the pincher indenting the ground where she’d been, grass and mud spraying in the air.
“Do you think I’d face you in the flesh?” the shimmering image of the White Lady’s face screamed.
Evelyn had no time to think of what the dark witch meant. She could do that later, once she survived. She rolled again and again, the demon’s attacks missing her by a hair. Her heart pounded, fear flooding through her veins. She stood and pivoted to avoid the demon’s advances. She grabbed hold of her bone staff just in time to enchant it to its full length, using it to block an attack.
The demon’s screech chorused with the White Lady’s laugh. Evelyn slammed her bone staff down, ricocheting the power of her innate magic across the cliffs. The demon stumbled back, legs digging into the grassy ground. It regained its footing and charged. Evelyn wasn’t ready for its speed, retreating at the last moment. A pincher grabbed her staff and thrust it away.
Fucking flames.
Evelyn would have to do without. She assessed the cottage, looking for anything she could use. She stumbled over stones surrounded by dead buttercups. Hurt the demon and then run. Not her proudest plan, but it would keep her alive.
Evelyn dug her nails into the dirt, releasing the rock.
Evelyn threw the rock, hitting her target spot on. The rock grazed against its eye, and the demon’s head and the White Lady’s face pulled apart, screeching.
Evelyn’s assault had only angered the demon. It charged, legs pounding into the dirt. It swiped, hitting Evelyn right into the gut and throwing her into the air. She landed with a thud, head spinning and bones aching.
Flashes of her parents fighting the vampyrs years ago blurred her vision. Kade’s hurt expression as he left the apartment punched her in the gut. The names of the murdered young women echoed in her mind.
How would she prove herself if she couldn’t fight? How could she make it right with Kade if she didn’t figure out her flame? How would she defend Callum?
Turmoil, fear, and a shred of hope pushed Evelyn to roll once, twice, a third time as the demon beat and thrashed at the ground. She rolled out of the bludgeoning pincher, but on the fourth roll, the demon anticipated her move.
The razor-sharp blow came crashing down right above where she landed on her back. She wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way and braced her arm over her face. Razors on the claw tore her skin. Evelyn cried out, clutching her arm. Pain blinded her, and Evelyn’s muscles shook with defeat.
The White Lady laughed. “Pathetic—”
A roar, deep and demanding, thundered through the hills. Even the fog seemed to recede over the cliffs. Evelyn’s heart thudded in her chest. She’d never heard that roar, but her soul knew, recognized the beast.
The White Lady sneered as the fog trembled and gave way, a large mass charging toward them and breaking through whatever dark enchanted wall had trapped Evelyn.
She had no time to think of the incredible strength it took to break down such a spell, because the most beautiful creature Evelyn had ever seen leaped through the air and landed, putting himself between her and the demon. The face of a wolf turned and gazed at Evelyn with unmistakable amber eyes, spreading hope through her.
Kade.
Wonder and awe gripped Evelyn as she took in the hybrid version of the man she knew and his werewolf magic. The beast she’d always sensed, the energy she’d always known, crouched before her. His large stature was bulked by fur and more muscle. He possessed the head and legs of a wolf, even a tail, and his golden-tanned skin was now fur the color of his sun-kissed hair, shimmering gold-brown head to paws.
He rose from his haunches, and Goddess, he’d grown an extra foot with elongated hind legs. Arms hung at his sides as the abdominals of his torso shook with tension. Those strong, callused hands that had held her face and brushed away tears were now clawed and deadly.
