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EMBER AVOIDED THE DEMONS in the catacombs as she headed to the surface. She’d spent the past couple of nights spying on Lord Graham and Lord Kreaton. This time, Lord Dallinar was going to be her target. She’d been thinking about how she could discover where the fairy lived. Shortly after she’d woken for the night, she’d come up with an idea that she hoped would work.
Shifting the bundle she was carrying beneath her arm, the hellion used one of the secret exits that led to the Fae District. She flew upwards, squeezed through the opening and immediately became drenched by a downpour. Stoically ignoring the rain, she transformed into her human form. She then donned the clothes she’d stolen from the markets in the Shifter District.
Her long, slightly curly dark brown hair became plastered to her head. She impatiently flicked it over her shoulder as she sauntered out of the backyard of someone’s house. Ember still wasn’t used to her slow, soft and pathetically weak human form. At least she blended in better. There were plenty of human witches and wizards who worked for the wealthy in this area. They would soon begin arriving on foot to clean houses, work on yards and do whatever maintenance jobs their betters required.
Ember made a face at that notion. The rich always thought they were entitled to treat their minions however they pleased. Watching Lord Graham and Lord Kreaton abuse their victims had shown her that the rot in this city started at the top. She had a feeling Lord Dallinar was going to be no different to his allies.
She was in luck and a carriage stopped beside her when she hailed it. “Can you take me to Lord Dallinar’s house?” she asked. She poised to turn into her demon form and flee if the Night Cursed creature looked like it was going to betray her. It nodded, clicked its teeth together and jerked a bony thumb at her to climb in. “Can you point out his house as you drive past it?” she added. Again, the skeleton nodded. “I hope this plan isn’t going to backfire on me,” she muttered as she climbed into the vehicle.
The carriage lurched into motion as soon as she was seated. It drove through the cobbled streets, heading unerringly for the wealthiest suburb that had the largest and grandest mansions. As it drove past the most opulent house, the skeleton swiveled its skull around to face her and pointed at it. She peered through the window and tilted her had back to see a tower soaring high into the air. The skeleton drove past the house and pulled up half a block away.
Ember climbed out, shut the door and nodded her thanks at her chauffeur. The corpse nodded back, then drove away. Feeling conspicuous, the demoness casually walked along the sidewalk away from the mansion. She stepped into a small grove of trees and quickly stripped naked. She left her clothes in a dry hollow of a tree and changed into her demon form. Then she flew high above the trees to take a closer look at Lord Dallinar’s home.
She circled the mansion from a distance, gradually drawing closer when she didn’t sense any danger. A letter wormed its way from the only window at the top of the tower and zoomed off into the night. Ember hovered there, wondering who it was intended for, then flew closer to the window.
The hellion peered through the window to see Lord Dallinar dressed in a scarlet and gold robe. His lilac hair was disheveled and he was pouring himself a glass of whiskey. He was weaving on his feet and she could hear him giggling to himself. Clearly, the fairy had declined since he’d bound her power inside her thirty-five years ago. He didn’t seem to be the same man at all.
Ember flew up to perch on the peak of the roof of the tower and settled down to wait. Half an hour or so later, a carriage appeared in the distance. She watched it draw closer and was unsurprised when it pulled to a stop in front of the house. A tiny fairy disembarked from the vehicle. Even from a distance, she looked terrified as she followed the path around the house to the door that led to the tower.
Two Night Cursed agents were guarding the door. One of the men murmured something that the hell spawn couldn’t hear. The rain drowned out his words, but she heard Lord Dallinar’s response, since he was only a few yards beneath her. “Send her up,” he ordered in a slurred voice.
It took his guest a few minutes to climb up to the top of the tower. Ember heard the lord open the door for the fairy and invite her inside. “May I ask why you invited me here, my lord?” the maiden asked. From her tone, she wasn’t happy that she’d been summoned.
“I am auditioning fairies to become my wife,” Lord Dallinar replied. “You will allow me to bed you and I will decide whether you’re worthy or not.”
“With all due respect, Lord Dallinar, I don’t wish to become your wife,” his guest said in a trembling voice.
“I don’t care what you want,” the fae lord said petulantly. “Take your clothes off and lie down on the bed,” he ordered her.
“I don’t want to copulate with you!” the female said tearfully.
“What part of, ‘I don’t care what you want’ wasn’t clear?” Lord Dallinar asked her coldly.
Once again, curiosity got the better of Ember and she launched herself into the air. She slowly lowered herself down until she was just beneath the window, then grabbed hold of the windowsill. She slitted her eyes so the gold glow wouldn’t give her away and peeked into the bedchamber.
Lord Dallinar grew tired of waiting for his guest to comply with his orders. He slapped her and she screamed in pain, then he began tearing her clothes off. The fairy tried to fight him off, but he was bigger and stronger than she was. If he’d been able to focus, he would have used magic to subdue her, but he was too drunk. He punched the tiny woman in the jaw and she dropped to the floor. Panting with effort, he picked her up and tossed her on the bed and finished removing her clothing.
Ember’s eyes widened a little when the fae lord discarded his robe. At first, she couldn’t tell what was wrong with his manhood. Then she realized something was attached to it. She still wasn’t sure what it was until the fairy spoke. “It’s time to boogie,” he said, then his member went stiff and began jerking and pumping the air all on its own.
Eyes bulging in disbelief, the demoness had to clamp her hand over her mouth to muffle her snickers. She clung to the windowsill with one hand and held onto the wall with her talons on her feet to keep herself in place. Her amusement fled when the purple-haired man climbed onto his victim and began to assault her.
Disgust warred with her growing anger as the third and final member of the Immortal Triumvirate confirmed that all three of them were evil to the core. Ember let go of the windowsill and dropped a few yards before returning to her perch on the roof of the tower. Lord Dallinar continued his assault on the helpless woman for a couple of hours, then she heard him say something to make the dancing dildo stop working. “Groove time is over,” he said in satisfaction, clearly pleased with himself. “I’m sorry, my dear, but I’ve determined you’re not worthy of becoming my wife,” he said.
“You never intended to marry me,” his victim said in a dull, broken tone. “You ordered me here so you could satiate your sick lust on me.”
“That’s true,” he agreed, since full blood fae couldn’t lie. “Now I’m afraid you’ll have to die,” he added with a malicious giggle. “I can’t allow you to tell anyone what I did to you, can I?”
The maiden began to scream again and Ember heard the familiar sound of fists connecting with flesh. Lord Dallinar beat his victim into submission, then dragged her over to the window. He opened it, then heaved her body out into the rain and closed the window again.
Ember leaned out to watch the unconscious woman fall to her death. A puzzling sense of guilt that she hadn’t done anything to stop the assault teased at her mind. From the corner of her eye, she saw a large gray shape zoom over from where it had been hiding behind some shrubs in the backyard. The creature deftly caught the fairy before she could splatter to the ground and flew away with her cradled in its arms.
“What the hell was that?” the hellion whispered.
Once again, her curiosity was too strong for her to ignore. Following the creature at a distance, Ember tracked it to the Night Cursed District. It descended next to an arena and a woman wearing a short white dress hurried over to them. A gold halo floated above her head and white feathery wings protruded from her back. Ember squinted her eyes shut when blinding white light flared from the woman’s hands. Her skin sizzled slightly from what had to be divine power. The pair conferred, then the angel and the gray creature flew off with the now healed fairy. They were heading towards the mountains to the north of the Fae District.
Ember wasn’t sure what she’d just witnessed, but both of the Night Cursed beings had black tattoos on the backs of their left hands. That was where Drognar’s tattoo had been as well. Her demonic friend had been different from the rest of her kind. Ember was now wondering how many more cursed beings were like her. Neither the angel, nor the winged monster had been drained. It gave her hope that her old friend might also have retained her energy.
“Maybe I should try to find her,” she murmured as she flew away from the arena and its crowd of screaming fans.
