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Once the decision was made, it didn't take long to prepare. I watched the sky darken as the sun sank below the horizon. "You're sure we have until after the hunt? He won't just move on to the main event early?"
Evalyn shook her head. "Our sire will be riding with the hunt, so he can be in control. The moon has to be up to enhance the magic for the ritual. And he has to make the execution public, so he can stay in the good graces of his adoring underlings. If he got rid of Oisin in private, there'd be questions, rumors. My brother might not have the loving support of the clan. But they respect power, which he has in abundance. He definitely has their respect."
I sighed and checked my holsters again. I wasn't planning to shift. It was easier to maneuver—and easier to hide—when I was in human form. I glanced up to catch the brunt of a brutal, sharp-toothed look from a pink-haired fae as he crossed the yard to help distribute weapons.
"Okay," I said, fed up. "What the fuck is everyone's problem?"
Evalyn looked at me in confusion as she strapped on a quiver of arrows like this was some sort of fucking fantasy movie. Who used arrows anymore? Then I remembered the gargoyle's warning about guns exploding around fae magic. "What do you mean," she said, looking around.
I rolled my eyes and pointed to another offender, making him scuttle away from my attention. "That. What the fuck did I do to piss off your little posse? I need to know if they're gonna to stab me in the back the minute we get out there?"
She gave me a sad look and heaved a sigh. "It's not you, Gesa."
Halstad stood from where he'd been seated on a log beside me. "It's me."
He prowled off to check on the others, bits of blue magic sparking from his clenched fists.
Evalyn gave me an apologetic look. "He is a fae killer, Gesa. His eyes say it all. Why do you think he hides them behind those ridiculous goggles? His eyes are like a billboard declaring his tainted blood." She softened her voice, as if she pitied my ignorance. "I know he's done a lot to help you, but only at his owner's bidding. And that doesn't change the fact that his kind murder our kind for parts."
I huffed and glared around at the fae, willing them to start some shit with me so I could pound them into the ground. The beast inside me prowled, ready to fuck someone up. "He's here to help."
I had no idea why I was suddenly set on defending the asshole. After all, Evalyn was probably right.
She put a dainty hand on my arm, pulling my attention back to her. "I know that. And I've told them what he did to help me—and that he balked at casting binding magic. But old hatred dies hard." She squeezed my arm and her eyes glinted dangerously. "You don't need to fear they will betray you, though. They know if they do, I'll open their bellies and leave them staked out for the buzzards."
I stared down at her. Fae were fucking terrifying. She said that like it was nothing. And I honestly believed she'd do it.
Hisashi drifted over, Halstad, Con, and Kai following along behind him. "We need to stay close together," he said, his blue eyes meeting mine. "Don't do anything stupid to get us separated."
I rolled my eyes at the way he said that—as if I was prone to life-threatening idiocy. "Yes daddy."
White brows raised and one corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk. "I'm really not into that, babe."
I shook my head and turned to find Halstad glaring at me. Not that I was surprised. Glaring was what he did. "What?" I demanded.
He flipped up his goggles and stared at me with his mismatched eyes. They were glowing as he called up his magic, one eye purple flames and the other liquid gold. "He's not kidding," the mage grumbled. "Stay close, gryphon. Me and the fox will keep you lot shielded, but we can't do that if y'all go spreading out like idiots."
I crossed my arms and returned his glare. "Whatever you say, grandpappy."
He held my gaze for a beat, and I swear the corner of one eye twitched. "I don't care what you call me, since I'm not one of your fucktoys. Just don't get dead or I won't get paid."
I growled and waved him away. "Just...go piss someone else off for a change. Oh! I know—why don't you go on over there and make friends with our new allies? The ones in that corner there. Yeah. The murderous looking ones. I heard they love mages."
He turned away from me and went to stand at the edge of the yard, staring off past the thin screen of bushes and saplings toward the open field on the other side of the river.
"I almost feel sorry for him," Evalyn commented.
I turned to her and she smirked. "It can't be easy, having to deal with a mirror image of yourself like that."
I swatted at her. "Fuck off."
Kai laughed, then pulled her dagger, her face full of ancient shadows. "It's getting dark."
I nodded and my little group of freaks moved closer. I might give Hisashi and Halstad a hard time, but I really didn't want to be noticed by fucking black dogs or fae blades tonight. Evalyn joined us, since she was magicless, and her fae spread out around us as we made our way out of the tall trees by the cabins and across the river. Granite, the troll, and a few of Evalyn's fae stayed behind to guard the jet, since we'd be fucked if we didn't have a way back out of here once we nabbed Oisin. And also, because I didn't trust the gargoyle any farther than I could throw him—which, since he was made of stone, wasn't fucking far.
There was no bridge, the water was over my head, and the current was strong. I emerged on the other side slightly winded and sopping wet. The water was fucking freezing, since it really was winter here in the real world, and my t-shirt and leather pants clung to me uncomfortably. Luckily the breeze was still warmed by fae magic, so once I was out of the frigid water, it wasn’t quite so bad.
Of course, Kai was across the river and waiting for us in seconds. And the fucking mage magically flash-dried himself. I shared a miserable look with Con as the human shivered beside me. It sucked not to be able to shoot magic out your ass whenever you needed it.
The field before us was dotted with a thin scattering of trees and glittered with pockets of fae reality as the moon started to rise, casting odd shadows everywhere. I could sense others there, fae spectators in the tall trees on the other side of the thin stretch of saplings, waiting for blood to be spilled. They'd probably keep the hunted on track, prevent them from trying to escape as the hunters herded them toward the towering rock monoliths off in the distance.
We crouched low, camouflaged in the underbrush and the darkness, mage magic and Hisashi's cool power keeping my pride hidden from prying eyes. Evalyn's fae lurked around us, practically invisible under their own inherent stealth and fae magic.
I jerked when a low, keening sound reached my ears. It took me a moment to understand what I was hearing. A horn. It blew again, starting low, then rising to a ringing pitch that echoed down the valley before us.
Then I saw him. A ragged looking fae male, with pointed ears and sharp teeth. He fled over the long grasses as if hell itself chased him. Which, yeah. It kind of did. He was followed a few seconds later by a wave of about a dozen others in exactly the same frantic state.
As the first fae made his frantic way down the open field, a howl split the air. Every hair on my body stood up as the hound howled in the distance, scenting its prey. "Shouldn't we help them?" I whispered as I watched the fae flit in and out of shadow, visible one moment, then gone the next. Some tried to use speed to stay far ahead. Some appeared to try to escape into the heavier woods on the far side of the meadow but were repelled by the spectators.
Halstad put a hand on my shoulder, his magic biting into me, making me heavy, as if he feared I would jump up and haul ass out there to my death. "No. There's nothing we can do about that. And we need the distraction."
I clenched my teeth together. Someone being hunted down like an animal was not just a distraction.
"You're an asshole," I muttered.
Halstad just chuckled. "Yep. But I'm an asshole who's stayed alive through more shit than you could imagine. So shut the fuck up and stay down, gryphon."
I suppressed the growl that was building in my chest and stayed put. As much as I hated letting someone suffer, the only thing that mattered right now was getting Oisin back. I had to admit, somewhere in my black little soul, that I'd gladly sacrifice a dozen men if it meant Oisin came back to me.
Maybe I was spending too much time with murdering mages.
The hand on my shoulder was steadying, grounding. Whatever was in Halstad's past, he held an air of competent command that I recognized immediately.
"Go," Evalyn whispered softly.
We moved as one unit, scurrying from shadow to shadow under the thin, spindly trees toward the thicker forest on the other side, where the ancient monoliths towered in the distance, visible even in the moonlight.
It was all going really well. Until the first wave of hunters arrived on foot.
About twenty fae, all on foot and toting various pointy weapons, jogged into our little area of the forest, hot on the heels of the fleeing prey. A few stopped to knock arrows and send them arching up into the sky, so that they fell blindly on the area where the fleeing fae were headed. A scream rang out in the distance.
The fae hunters poured around us, deflected by whatever magic Halstad and Hisashi were constantly chanting under their breath.
But then a call went up—like a howl, but not from any hound. Evalyn froze where she crouched beside me under a pathetic apple tree. "Oh Gods, a truffle pig. They have a truffle pig."
I squinted at her, even as Halstad let out a soft "well, fuck."
"What the hell do you mean, a truffle pig? There's a pig?" What did pigs have to do with anything?
She shook her head, her eyes glinting wide and luminous in the moonlight. "It's slang."
She didn't have time to explain, as a huge, lumbering boar of a man came crashing through the area where we were hidden. He was humanoid, but he had a long, wrinkly pig snout which snuffed and snorted as he sniffed the air and ground. "Intruders," he snorted to the other fae around him. "I smell a human! And something else. Something tasty."
Shit.