“Ahhh!”
I had walked into every one of these horrible scenes, so you would’ve thought I’d be desensitized to the wanton cruelty and violence. But you’d be wrong.
I screamed so loud my voice gave out, and then I screamed more.
Five fae men—each of them instantly recognizable to me—lay sprawled out over the library’s sitting space. Draped over the armchair, lying on the coffee table, crumpled on the floor, and propped up against the shelves. They looked so untouched and serene, you could’ve almost believed they were just sleeping, if it wasn’t for the fact that nearly all of them were missing their wings. All except for the faeman spread out on the coffee table—the one I knew as the guard who tried to punch my skull in on the first day of classes.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Tears soaked my face as I went over to him. “I’m so sorry this happened to you and your friends. I’m going to get you out of here before anyone else comes in here and gawks like you’re a window display, and not—”
His eyes snapped open.
“Ah!” I screamed, and so did he.
“Mhhh! Mhhhmm!” he grunted. His eyes rolled in his head, shouting a visceral, naked fear that chilled my soul.
Not dead! He still has his wings because the bastard didn’t sacrifice him. He just left him in this hell.
“It’s okay,” I cried, grasping his shoulders. “I’ll get you out of here. I’ll get you help.”
I tried to lift him, and my foot slipped. I crashed down on top of him, ripping a grunt from the poor man.
It was like I tried to lift a ten-ton boulder. He was stuck fast to the table, and it wasn’t because of his girth.
“Magic,” I gritted. “Fuck!”
First week in hell, and my no-cursing vow was dust.
“I’m sorry, I can’t move you,” I told him. “I’ll have to go get help, but it won’t take long. My stalker never sleeps, so he’s probably out listening for me right now—”
“Hphh!”
“I’ll be right back, I swear.” I scrambled off him, backing away. “Just one minute, and we’ll—”
Panic bled his eyes white. “HMMMM!”
A hand clamped on the back of my neck and ripped me off my feet.
“Kergh!” I choked, scratching and clawing at the vise. Freaking out, I kicked and flailed in the hold as all Sabrina’s mutterings that I was a clueless, stupid human tumbled through my head.
The last fae wasn’t alive because the killer left. He was alive because the killer was interrupted... by me.
“You got here much earlier than I was expecting.”
My eyes bugged, and not because the life was being choked out of me. Surprise rocked me to the core because the voice the that filled my ear was distinctly, unmistakingly,female.
Female... and familiar.
“I’m sorry, but as I said, I’m too close to the end to let you get in the way now. You and I will see each other again when the time is right.”
What? What did that—?
Pain exploded in the back of my head. The grip on my neck released, but I sank into darkness long before I hit the floor.
“—UP.”
“Ugh,” I groaned, peeling an eye open.
“I said wake the fuck up,” Iarla barked, bringing me solidly back to consciousness.
