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Then she then looked at the dead cripec, its red but dead eyes still open, and she palmed her face. I went over to her and pulled her into a hug, holding her close. Rehema was undoubtedly a strong woman, but she wasn’t used to this.
Hell, even I wasn’t.
"We'll handle it," I told her. “We have to kill any that we find before it spreads any further.”
Rehema pulled away. “Before what spreads, Natalie?” she yelled. “What exactly is it that we’re talking about? Because no one knows, and it’s already spreading . . . That fae, it almost killed her! What’s going on!”
“I’m not sure,” I told her softly.
The others joined us, and Lucian placed his hand on Rehema’s shoulder. She looked up at him, sniffling, and without words, he sent her strength. A few minutes later, she squared her shoulders and masked the fear in her eyes.
"We'll figure this out. But tonight, we have a job to do. We can't let what just happened to the fae happen to someone else," he said, not just to her but to all of us.
"She was lying," I interjected. "Diana was lying. She knows something."
“I know,” Rumir answered. "But tonight, we’ll do what we need to, and tomorrow, I’ll try to find out what the other gods know. But first, you ladies are going to need weapons."
* * *
Natalie
At dawn, we all returned to the building where we’d gathered at the beginning of last night. We walked in silence, everyone mulling over the night we’d had.
Something that had been meant to be fun had turned out bloody.
All heads turned to us, watching as we approached. We were all covered in blood that was both ours and the dark blue blood of the cripecs we’d killed.
As expected, the stares we got were of shock, confusion, and disgust. As far as anyone knew, the creatures were meant to be captured, not killed. But it was clear what we'd done.
Throughout the long, long night, we'd run into several teams who'd come across infected cripecs. A few more hunters were hurt, but not as severely as that first fae. So we’d did as we’d been ordered to do—kill the cripecs. Then Rumir burned the bodies.
A werewolf who had been at the festival asked us if the cripecs had the same disease as the florkin, and Lucian took him aside to speak to him.
More than just a few cripecs were infected, and the more we came across, the more concerned I grew. If whatever was going on wasn't stopped by the gods soon, there was going to be trouble. Big trouble.
I just wanted to know what was taking the gods so long to sort this out. And why they were being so secretive.
Was this something that was proving to be a challenge for the gods?
That stray thought was terrifying.
More and more animals were becoming infected. What would happen if another deranged florkin appeared, only this time in the city and during broad daylight?
Diana had known something. I could tell. But she wasn’t talking. Still, Rumir promised to do some digging. We had to know what we were up against, especially after what happened to that fae.
“What the hell have you done?” A warlock advanced on us, his eyes glowing purple. “I saw all of you last night. You were killing the cripecs instead of tranquilizing them. Why?”
Rehema, who was holding a golden bow that produced endless arrows, one she was exceptionally skilled at using, stepped forward. “We had different orders from the gods.”
Rumir had lent Rehema the bow and had offered me dual swords. I wasn’t surprised that he had an armory filled with weapons he could teleport at any moment.
The warlock relaxed at the mention of the gods, but the anger in his eyes didn’t fade. “What orders?”
Rumir was next to step forward, and I sighed, expecting him to bash the man's face in. But to my surprise, he said nothing. He didn't have to. The warlock stared up at him and immediately stepped back, then quickly walked away.
Once we were alone, we turned to each other.
"It's worse than I imagined," I said, watching Rehema comb a chunk of cripec flesh from her hair. “Their blood wasn’t like the florkin’s, red with that mist.”
