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Chapter 7
Dusk
Grave trolls. Rot monkeys.All the bastards have arrived with the darkness, just as we expected. Just as theyalwaysdo, only there’s more in our area than usual. For a minute I wonder if they’re starting to narrow in on where we live, but I push the thought aside.We’re always careful.
And I don’t have to guess what they’re doing out of the Void. Or what comes along with their arrival. The monkeys--and there are three of them--run when I come near.
Typical. The trolls are sent here to fight us. But the monkeys? Those little assholes are here for trouble, and only trouble. I just wish they weren’t so damn fast, or I’d kill more of the bastards.
“This way,” I whisper to Ann, switching directions.
She stumbles, and I grasp her arm, pulling her along. But as beautiful as she is, as brave as she is, she’s much slower than my kind. Dragging her along with me is definitely harder than just leaving her behind, not that I would. I’m tasked with keeping her safe, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try to stop the monkeys.
Especially after what I just saw with the moon shard...
“What are we chasing?” she says between pants.
“Demons,” I hiss. Okay, so they aren’t demons, but they may as well be.
They’re so quick that if I wasn’t so experienced with dealing with them, I wouldn’t even know for sure that that’s what they were. Unfortunately, I would know them anywhere. But as fast as they are, I only get a good glimpse of red eyes in the dark night. They stick to the shadows, because in this world, everything is too bright for them. It’s only their king’s power that keeps them from turning to ash beneath the light of the moon, even in the shadows.
Yet, I can’t seem to catch up with them. It’s irritating as hell. But with my much slower mate at my side, I guess that’s to be expected. There are three heading deep into the woods, deeper than I took Ann, racing through the undergrowth of the woods like the nightmarish little tricksters they are.
Luckily for me, the moon shard still glows brightly, lighting the forest around us better than any torch. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it before. Moon shards always glow a tiny bit in the night, but not like this,neverlike this. But for right now, I can’t focus on why it’s doing such an incredible thing, or how it’s connected to Ann.
I race along, still holding the shard of moonstone in one hand, and chasing a rot monkey holding another shard. Because now that I’m gaining on them, I know for sure he’s holding a shard. They always glow with the same light, not quite like the crystals in the Elder’s cave, but with a pale blue light that I’ve never seen anywhere else in this world, or ours.
But as beautiful as the shards are, as much as a small part of my soul longs to touch them, to be close to them, I fight the desire to do anything but collect them. They’re dangerous. And as we’d learned the hard way, their power had a way of corrupting. No matter how much time I spent focused on the moonstone as a boy, no matter how much I missed it, I’m not happy to see the shards here. Because they can only mean trouble now, and trouble we have more than enough of already.
If they’re planting a perimeter of shards, the Shadow King is up to his usual shit.
Bastard.
I’ve chased my share of these little fuckers, but these guys must be training hard. There’s only one moment when I think I’m gaining on them before they take off again, and I’m left in the dust faster than ever before. But even if they are getting quicker, I have a job to do. We’re getting too far away, and I can’t let them get away.
If the Shadow King succeeds, it’s game over. No more humans. No more supernaturals. No more world as we know it.And this world can’t be destroyed like our own.
Phantom and Onyx can deal with the pair of grave trolls they’re fighting--they’ve never lost to a troll--but I wish it was one of them chasing these monkeys. The monkeys don’t have the fighting skills of a troll, but they fight dirty--biting, clawing, spitting in the eyes. Last time I hunted a pair, one threw the other at me then they both attacked. I’d had eleven separate bites.
But I guess it makes sense, Phantom is clever enough to handle the trolls, and Onyx is… well, the best warrior I’ve ever seen in my life. He isn’t just big, he’s smart, calculated, and well trained. While I’m not exactly bear shit, they both handle trolls better than I do.
Even though I hate that fact, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true.
Plus, I have Ann with me, and I’d much rather have her around these fools than the trolls, who could easily kill her with one well-placed blow. Yes, it’s easy for me to slip into my duties in this world, but I have to remember that keeping Ann safe is now my most important responsibility.
When the monkeys are about thirty yards ahead, they stop and turn. I have enough time to think,oh shitand tuck the moon shard into my belt, before two of the trio roll themselves into balls and the third launches them one at a time like bowling balls. I push Ann out of the way and sidestepped one, then the other changes course and takes me down.
“Fuck!” I manage as I go flying back.
From my position on the ground, I fend off one attack, holding the rot monkey over my head while another climbs up my body and goes right for the ears. He has a hand on each, legs around my throat which puts his dick dangerously close to my nose and this thing stinks. I drop the one in my hands and grab this nasty bastard by the scruff and fling him so he smashes into a tree.
He yelps and goes down, head wobbling back and forth before he slumps forward, out cold. One down, two to go. The one I dropped sinks his teeth into my ankle, which sends a shot of pain through my leg, and I yank him off by the tail and hurl him. He goes up then down and lands at an odd angle on a mossy patch. But he recovers quickly and comes running at me, arms curled outward, teeth bared, eyes wide.
One big boot later and it’s down to me and the last little rot monkey. His eyes are red and he’s pounding the ground like he’s a three-hundred-pound gorilla. It would be comical if not for the eyes. The angrier these things get, the brighter they glow. And judging by that fact, this guy is super pissed.
He circles me and I turn. Maybe I should grab him first, but I want to see what he has planned. These things are fast, but hand to hand combat isn’t their forte. This guy though, facing someone ten times his size, has balls of steel. He’s hissing and snorting, nostrils flared. He’s dropped the shard, and before he moves, Ann touches him and a light shines out of her. No, itburstsfrom her, like a laser, or electricity, rather than an actual light.
My jaw drops, and I just stare and stare.What the hell is that light? And did it actually come from her?I know she’s a light fae, but as far as I know, her kind can’tliterallymake light.
