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Lisette’s homely face fell. She snapped the book shut. “A wraith?” Alarm tinged her usually soft voice. “One of the king’s?”
“Do you know of any others that would haunt our woods?”
“O
h, dear,” the older woman said as she patted her gray bun and then placed her hand over her fleshy neck, as though in distress.
Lisette was pushing seventy, but was still agile and quite healthy. She’d been in her mid-thirties when the Demon War had flared up and she’d regaled Jade on numerous occasions with stories of pre-war life.
Aside from the technology that sounded too good to be true, there had been luxury cruise ships and Dreamliner airplanes. Movie theaters, concert halls, casinos, resorts and restaurants of every variety—all of which she’d described in great detail.
Most of all, there’d been freedom. Something Lisette had lost more so than anyone else in the village, including the other elders who’d lived in the time of the mortals’ reign.
With the Demon King restricting her reading materials and legally binding her use of magical powers, Lisette was nothing more than a caretaker of historical books and the narrator of a world yet to be rebuilt.
What Jade found most interesting about Lisette’s wealth of information was that very few people in the village took advantage of the ideas and innovations of which she spoke or those contained within the pages of the resource volumes on the shelves. As though no one wanted to remember or believe in the way humans had lived not more than thirty-five years ago.
Had this been a bookstore, Lisette would have surely been out of business her first week.
“Tell me why you would be followed,” she coaxed, her shrewd, light-brown eyes narrowing on Jade. “Have you done anything wrong?”
“Of course not,” Jade replied, indignant. “I do what everyone else does. I get up in the morning, I take care of some chores, wash myself and my clothes, eat a meal or two and then go to work. I come home, sleep and repeat the process the next day. On Sundays, I read books. Pretty simple stuff.”
Naturally, she refrained from adding fantasizing to her agenda. She didn’t want to think of last night’s “romantic interlude.” It had been too real, too potent. The emotional and physical lure had been too strong not to bite on it. One of the reasons she’d lost so much sleep the previous evening.
“Have you said anything?” Lisette leaned toward her, regarding her quizzically.
“What could I possibly have to say that hasn’t already been said by someone in this community?” She threw her hands up in the air. “Let’s face it, there’s very little left to talk about, except to debate how best to grow vegetables and herbs inside during the winter months.”
They canned and pickled the majority of necessities. Meat had been scarce, she’d heard, in the early years, but had become more abundant with the return of wildlife.
“Hmm.” Lisette shifted in her chair, settling more comfortably before reaching for her coffee. She took a sip, then said, “How many immortals had you crossed paths with before you realized you were under surveillance?”
Jade thought back a month or two. “I’ve yet to see a vampire, that I’m aware of, since they reportedly keep to the castle where there’s plenty of sustenance stored up from the war.”
She shuddered to think the preserved blood of her ancestors fed them.
Continuing, Jade added, “I’ve noticed three shifters along some of the trails of late, on different occasions—one bobcat, two wolves. Abnormally sized, so they were easy to pinpoint. And I’ve seen demons in the village. Several of them, again during varying intervals. Never more than two at a time, per the king’s rule. I’m not good at identifying their exact species—I gave up on that long ago and now basically lump all of the damned into one demonic category.”
Lisette seemed to take this under consideration, then asked, “Any interactions with them?”
“No, but…they always stare intently at me. Even if I’m just passing by.” She thought of the horned demons in particular. “They seem perplexed. Almost skeptical of me.”
“Questioning something about you,” the witch mumbled as her eyelids drifted closed.
“Lisette!” Jade cried, instantly panicked. “No magic!”
The older woman’s lids fluttered open and she sighed dramatically. “How else do you expect me to tap into their mystical realm and find out what motivation there would be to keep tabs on you?”
“Do not use your magic, Lisette,” Jade said in a slow, measured tone. “If the Demon King were to find out—”
“Oh, pish-posh.” She gave a dismissive wave of her wrinkled, translucent-skinned hand. “I’m not getting any younger. Let him punish me. He can’t strip my powers from me.”
“But he can imprison you, damn it, so lay off,” Jade asserted. “I don’t want you getting into trouble because of me. Something’s brewing and I’m going to start snooping around myself to find out what.”
“Now, Jade, don’t go doing anything—”
The door to the library swung open with vigor and made a resounding thud as it slammed against the adjacent wall.
