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Rage flared within me, stoking the last embers from Mrak’s life-saving magic. “When are you going to accept that not all shadow demons are monsters like the one that took Quinn?”
Leif inhaled sharply and closed the distance between us. Magic built along his fingertips, dancing between the runes and sigils he’d tattooed across his skin. “Keep my sister’s name of out of your mouth. Tell your monster to do the same, Shadow Fire.”
My eyes narrowed as he spat the title. “So many people dubbing me the villain when they failed to act to save feeder community victims like me is pretty funny, no?”
“What do youwant, Aisling?” Leif’s words bit deep. It made me feel bad for doubting him, for hurting him. Leif had only tried to help me, thinking me some victim of Mrak’s, when in reality I was the exact opposite. His pact. His love. And his soon to be queen if Mrak had his way.
I’d only ever hurt Leif in return, which was something I’d never wanted to do. Hurting people was what vampires did. Killing them, too.
Maybe I had learned more from Lazarus than I’d ever given him credit for.
I held Leif’s gaze and tried not to let my guilt and sadness wash over me. They’d grown tenfold since stepping back into this world from Kithonia. “I want to know where Willa is.”
A flicker of concern crossed Leif’s eyes. “Your witch friend?”
I nodded. “She’s missing. She wasn’t with me in Cassius’s manor, but it looks like there was a struggle at her apartment. Did your league have anything to do with it?”
“We don’t hunt witches,” Leif snapped.
“Not unless they’ve gone rogue, you mean,” I countered. I’d heard plenty of stories. “Demon hunters” was a bit of a misnomer. While I think they trained for demonic arrivals like Lazarus had also gone to great lengths to prepare for, they mostly went after vampires and other supernaturals who weren’t behaving as they should be. And that included witches.
“Willa had no reason to be on our radar,” Leif said.
I gestured to the other demon hunters in the room. “What about theirs? Seems you weren’t looked on too fondly for a while.”
Leif bristled, but it was hard for the others to hide their looks of agreement. Two vampires, who were also demon hunters themselves, had come after me, asking me questions about the sword Leif had wanted commissioned when we’d first met. I hadn’t been someone he’d wanted to save at first. Rather, he’d entered Dark Iron wanting impossible runes made into a magic sword that Mrak had said would kill me to forge.
That had been the main source of distrust between Mrak and me, and why I’d almost trusted Leif instead. It had fit a wedge in where there had already existed cracks because of Mrak’s penchant for taking over my body.
Leif looked at his fellow hunters, considering them for a moment before returning his attention to me. “We took losses in Cassius’s hideout. A single witch will not take us out of recovery to go after her. So, I’m sorry Aisling, but we don’t have Willa.”
“Then where is she?” I demanded, taking a step forward. Leif held his ground. “A tracking spell left off here before it failed. She’s tied to someone here somehow.” I looked at each of the hunters in turn, but nothing in their expressions betrayed them. Still, my gut told me something wasn’t right. That Willa had been here or was tied to someone or something here in a way that had drawn the tracking spell here before it had failed.
The magic in Leif’s hand pulsed in warning. I stood my ground. “She’s not here. Leave, Aisling. You’re not welcome here anymore, not after what you did. Not after choosing Mrak.”
Fury swelled again. “You don’t understand. Mrak is trying to save you all from his brother.”
“By killing all of those innocents?” the younger demon hunted chimed in. “By forcingyouto do it?”
“Death gives him power,” Leif said. “I told you that. Death and suffering, and you served it up to him on a silver platter.”
I bit my lip. Because Leif was right. They both were. “Mrak brought them back.”
“Not our people,” Leif snapped. “Not that it matters. Everyone he brought back had died for his agenda in the first place. I would’ve thought someone who had danced with death so often as a feeder would understand that trauma.”
I shoved Leif backward as flames licked my fingertips. The other demon hunters rose to attention, most of them reaching for magic or weapons. I wasn’t scared of them. I wasn’t scared of many things anymore, especially with Willa missing.
I swiped through the air before me, leaving behind a trail of shadowed fire. “Your league left us all to suffer in those feeder communities. How dare you fucking try to make yourselves seem better in comparison? You’renot. And I hope you really don’t have Willa. Because if I find out you do, I’ll burn every single inch of this building to the ground with you all inside of it.”
Leif’s jaw had locked hard as I spoke. Fire now burned in his eyes as hot as the flames dancing in my hand. “Leave, Aisling. Now. This is your final warning. Go back to Kithonia and don’t return, or we will take action.”
“And what if I find Quinn on the other side?” I taunted. “Am I not to return with her?” Because I would, if I found her. I’d told Mrak about Leif’s lost sister when I’d first informed him someone else was bouncing back and forth between Kithonia and Earth.
Leif’s tension dissipated at the sound of Quinn’s name. “Do you know where she is?”
“Not yet,” I said, “but I promised you I’d look for her.”
“Let’s just capture her already,” the younger demon hunter said. A chorus of agreement followed.
