“Sasha’s not here right now. I told him to see if anybody else is snooping around. He’s doing his job.” The dark-haired man glanced over at DJ and a sly smile stole across his face. “He’d make a lovely little play toy, but alas, we don’t have time to draw this out.” He began to reach for his dagger.
DJ struggled, his eyes wide. He knew what was about to happen.
I had to do something and do it quick, or DJ’s days were over. I unsnapped the binding on my dagger and drew it. Coming out of my crouch, I lunged out of the undergrowth and launched myself into a tackle. Before he could react, I landed on the dark-haired man and took him down.
He was strong, and even though I caught him by surprise, he reacted immediately. He wrapped his legs around mine as I straddled him, reaching around to grab me by the ponytail. As he caught hold of my hair, he yanked hard, jerking my head back to expose my throat.
I had to keep him from drawing his dagger. While I couldn’t get a good aim, considering he had hold of my ponytail and it was hard for me to see, I remembered his dagger had been on his right side. I brought my blade down swift and hard, hoping to hit his arm.
He let out a sharp cry, and let go of my hair. I had landed dead center on his bicep. But my dagger was embedded in his flesh, so I clenched my fists together and brought them down as hard as I could on his nose.
Dazed and in obvious pain, instinctively he reached for his face and I grabbed the hilt of my dagger, yanking it out of his arm. At the same time I looked up to see where the blond man was, not wanting to be caught unawares. To my surprise, I saw the stag I had seen come down out of the forest and attack the other Fae, thrashing at him with his hooves.
Blondie staggered back from a blow to the head, and I returned my attention to my opponent. I had broken his nose and probably crushed one of his eye sockets, but he was starting to shake off the shock. I had no choice. If I didn’t take him out, he’d take me out.
I dragged my dagger across his throat. Blood spouted up, a geyser of red, and he began frothing from the mouth as I rolled off of him, staggering back. I turned to see the stag trampling Blondie.
I met the gaze of the massive deer, and he backed away, inclining his head toward the prone man. I raced over and drove my dagger into the Fae’s heart before he could get up off the ground.
Panting, I dropped to the ground. I had killed goblins over the years, and other sub-Fae, but I had never really taken on anyone quite so human. I felt—shell-shocked. Everything seemed so surreal. Dazed, I glanced around and saw DJ, struggling with his bindings. I scrambled over to him and slashed the ropes holding his hands tied behind his back. I quickly untied his gag.
“Are you okay?” First things first. Always make sure the victim is all right.
He nodded, shaking as he threw himself into my arms. “I think so. They were going to kill me.” He looked around. “Where’s the other one?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but we have to get out of here before he comes back.” I was covered with blood, but I pulled him into my arms and held him as he leaned against my shoulder, trembling. “That’s why I’m here, DJ. I came to find you.”
By now, it was growing darker in the ravine. Sunset wouldn’t be for an hour or so, but down here, at the bottom, it was already nearly dark. We had to find our way out, now, before Sasha returned. It would take me a while to work my way back up the hillside, especially carrying a cold and scared boy, and then we had to get back to my car. And that was assuming there was no one else out here to stand in our way.
At that moment, the stag stepped forward. In the growing darkness the silver glow surrounding him flared. He looked like a massive red stag, the kind commonly found in Europe, but his fur was white, tinged with silver, and he had an otherworldly feel to him.
“Thank you,” I said, sensing that he could probably understand me.
The stag nodded, and knelt on his front legs. He seemed to be waiting for me to do something.
“I think he wants us to ride on his back,” DJ said, glancing over at the deer.
“You think so?” I looked at the stag again. “Is he right? Do you want us to get on your back?”
Again, a nod.
I grabbed DJ’s hand and we headed over to the massive animal. He had to stand at least five feet tall at the shoulder. All I knew was that this was no regular deer. There was something magical about the stag and right now, considering he had helped us, I was willing to trust him.
I swung DJ up on his back, then scrambled on, holding DJ back against me. There were no reins, but as the stag began to stand, I motioned for DJ to lean forward and I leaned over him, doing my best to hold onto the deer’s sides.
The next moment we were off, racing through the forest, heading up the slope of the ravine. We were flying along, so fast that I was terrified we were going to fall off, but somehow we managed to keep our balance as the stag nimbly wove in and out through the trees. Everything was a blur, the trees and undergrowth blending together into a trail of motion behind us.
I began to feel queasy, not so much from the movement but because everything around us seemed hazy, and only DJ, the stag, and I felt real. And then, as quickly as we had taken off, we came to a halt at the edge of the road. I realized we were near my car. The stag knelt again, and DJ and I slid off. I wanted to know so many things, but before I could open my mouth to say thanks, the stag turned and vanished back into the forest.
“Come on, get in the car.” Dazed, feeling almost numb, I hustled DJ into my car and quickly started the ignition. I wanted out of here before anybody found those bodies, because there was no way in the world I could prove myself against the Light Fae Court if they decided to push matters. Yes, I had been defending myself and DJ, but Névé always got her way.
As we headed out of the park, my thoughts were a million miles away, still at the bottom of the ravine with the two dead Fae, the one still alive, and the silver stag.
Chapter 3
ALL THE WAY back to Angel’s, I kept looking in the rearview mirror, trying to tell if we were being followed. I hadn’t asked DJ anything yet because I wanted to wait until we were safe behind closed doors. He looked like he was in shock, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he leaned forward, trying to hunch out of sight. As we rounded the curve and pulled into Angel’s driveway, I was relieved to see that no one had seemed to have followed us.
“Come on, kiddo,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s get inside and figure out just what the hell happened.”
Angel must have been watching out of the window, because she came running out the door as she saw us get out of the car. DJ dashed toward her, and as she wrapped her arms around him, he burst into tears. She let him inside and I followed, making certain to lock the door behind us, letting out a little cry as she glanced at me.
I looked down at myself. In the light of the living room, I realized that I was covered with blood. It was sticky on my skin and clothes, beginning to dry, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.
“Are you all right?” Angel knelt beside her brother, yanking his hoodie off so she could check him over. “Are you hurt?”
“Don’t worry. This isn’t DJ’s blood. He’s all right as far as I could tell.” I quickly moved over to the window and glanced outside, looking for any sign of anybody passing by.
“What the hell happened? Where did all that blood come from? Are you okay?” Angel’s voice was trembling, and I realized that her shock was giving way to a flood of suppressed panic now running free.