Kalina ~ Book Four

Exhaustion dragged Sylvie down even as she tried to catch up to her mate or even her students. She’d caught a glimpse of tawny fur in the distance before it darted away like a fish from a shadow.

The moon hung low, its illumination casting the forest in odd shadows, and with the trauma of the past few days, Sylvie blinked away Bea-shaped phantoms at least once every ten minutes.

She tuned into her Dryad sight, but even that was spotty; the regular golden lines she followed flickered behind drooping lids.

“Fucking hell.”

She stopped and leaned her back against a pine. Its fragrant scent grounded her to the moment. With one thought of need, her mates would be upon her in minutes, but she didn't want to burden them. They’d coddled her enough over the years; she was a grown woman, and it was time to deal with her issues like the adult she was.

Pushing off the pine, she restarted her trailing, this time at a walk. Rowan wasn’t going anywhere, his scent more potent than the rest, still smoky and sexy and sending thrills to all the right places.

She was too tired to smile, but the thought was there. Her sexy shifter, mate.

“Rowan,” she cooed softly. No one responded as she plodded along, and slowly, her mind wandered to another shifter.

A lion shifter.

A shifter who knew nothing about her except what he’d been curious enough to ask about. It had been a long time since she had befriended someone who had no clue of her history.

The Vampires knew all about it and hated her, the Fae seemed undecided, and the shifters, well, her pack treated her like family, and that’s all she could hope for.

A hard thump hit her shoulders, and she spun, shoving at the foreign pressure. A yelp escaped the young wolf's maw as it thudded against a felled trunk, and Sylvie’s hands shot to her open mouth.

“Oh god. I’m so sorry!” She skidded over, but the pup shied away, its bright blue iris shining. Delilah.

“Delilah, I’m sorry, honey. I didn't know.”

But Emma and Tomas, in their Wolf form alike, stalked from the bushes with a low rumble in their chests. She knew they would never hurt her, but she hurt their pup. She understood the protectiveness and trembled as Emma guided Delilah away.

“I’m sorry,” she said one last time as they disappeared.

She slumped onto the ground and buried her head in her hands. Was this rock bottom? Because it sure as hell felt like it.

From the ground, the trees around her called to her, their shimmying leaves and creaking trunks speaking to her soul. Merging wasn’t something she practised anymore. Not after the unintended memory loss and lost time, but it was tempting.

She could escape, just for a little while.

In the dark, she stared at one pine for longer than the others. Its roots wove beneath her and drew her near, but she shook her head, burying it between her knees, cutting off the tree's allure.

That was what the old Sylvie would do. This Sylvie would pull herself back up and drag her ass back home if it killed her. Any moment now. Any second.

“Hart.”

Goddamn it.

She raised her head and offered a sad smile.

“I’m an asshole.”

“You’re mentally unwell; there's a difference.”

“Kerensa!”

The Fae Queen grinned, her sharp white teeth glinting under the moonlight and tilted her head to the side. “I told you to call on me if you needed me. By the looks of it, you needed me days ago.”

Sylvie’s eyes burned, but she blinked the pain away. “Where's Wren?”

“Keeping time.” Sylvie nodded. Kian had explained it. The most powerful sun fae could alter the time differences between Earth and Evergreen. Useful if she didn't want to be away for too long.

Sylvie dragged herself up and swiped the dead leaves from her pants. “Should we head back?”

Kerensa marched forward, indigo iris gleaming and gripped Sylvie’s chin. “The fuck?” she growled.

“What?”

“How long?” Kerensa’s sharpened teeth bared, and Sylvie shrank back involuntarily.

“What the fuck are you talking about.”

A verbiage of ancient Fae words poured from her mouth, and a wave of energy hit Sylvie straight in the chest, a strange surge of delirium clouding her vision. Her knees just about buckled, but Kerensa’s grip on her chin never wavered.

“Leave,” Kerensa snarled.

Sylvie was about to ask ‘what’ again when a cloud of darkness oozed from every pore on her body and slunk into the earth under her feet, making her dizzy. “Oh my god. What the fuck was that?”

Kerensa wrapped an arm around Sylvie’s waist and pulled her back before placing another ward over the spot she had stood.

“We need to move.” Kerensa dragged her toward the house, and Sylvie’s fatigue slowly ebbed. The sadness of Bea’s death turned to resignation, and she blinked.

Something fucking weird was happening. Kerensa didn't stop until they reached the front steps of Sylvie’s house, where Elias and Kian stood, both wary.

“You two jackasses didn't notice?”

“Good to see you too, K.”

“Shut it, Kian.”

Elias frowned but padded down first to meet them, taking Sylvie from Kerensa’s grip with a nod.

“What is it?”

Kian joined him down the steps but stopped on the bottom one and took a seat. He had the right idea. Whatever Kerensa was about to say would surely rock her based on the cryptic bullshit she was playing at.

“What did you eat at the Gala?”

For fuck sake. Never a straight answer. “Nothing weird,” Sylvie murmured, refraining from rolling her eyes. “Nothing more than what Rowan scoffed.”

“Drink then?”

She rattled her brain. It was mostly a blur. “Some of the blue punch.”

But Kian interrupted. “What about that shot the Fae gave you during the dance?”

The memory shot into her mind like lightning. Right! How had she forgotten that weird as-shit interaction? But other Fae were drinking the same thing all around her. She thought it must be some kind of kinky sex juice.

Kerensa stared at her, waiting for an answer, and Sylvie nodded with a shrug. “It was super orange tasting, and it did nothing. The other Fae were doing it.”

“The shots we give out for polygamous purposes do not taste like oranges.”

Polygamy. That would explain the orgies and getting around the mate bonds.

Sylvie gnawed on her lower lip, which Elias pulled free with his index finger. She just about bit him when Kerensa groaned.

“So all this time, you had that thing in you.”

Alarm flooded Sylvie and her mates so quickly they couldn't hide their emotions through the mate marks. Her chest sizzled.

“What?” Kian grated out. Sylvie never heard him so agitated.

Kerensa almost smirked as if she were pleased with herself for outsmarting all of them.

“Your mate had a fucking wraith attached to her, dear brother. How have your wards been holding up lately, hmm? A Wraith! Child’s play, Kian!”

Sylvie lay a hand on Kerensa's forearm and squeezed. The action saying, ‘Don’t be a jerk.’

The Fae Queen relented, and Kian looked up at Sylvie with genuine despair.

“It’s okay, Kian,” she tried to say, even though it didn't really sound okay, and the idea of anything being in her like some parasite made her want to puke.

“It’s not,” he said, standing. “I should’ve seen it. I’ve been so distracted with the Wards for Fraser's pack, I- I-”

“Kian.” Elias's voice cut all of their retorts off, and he emanated an aura of control. Sylvie shivered, and Kian's body tensed. “Sylvie is safe, and the wraith is gone. Relax.”

“Are you trying to compel me?”

“Depends. Is it working?”

Sylvie coughed as a laugh burst from her chest, and she tilted her head up at her kindred. “Was that a joke?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t make jokes.”

Kian still held a forlorn energy, but Sylvie ducked forward and clasped his cheeks in her hands. “I’m okay, Kian. I love you, and it's not your fault. Your sister is just being a shit.”

“I resent that,” Kerensa grunted.

They headed inside, and Sylvie cast one look at the forest. Rowan knew where she was, but his emotions were hidden from her. She could only hope he wasn’t upset with her for ditching the most important night of her students' lives, but after hurting one of them and leaking out a shadow demon, she thought it best to stay away for a bit.

“So this wraith did what?” Sylvie asked as they perched around the dining table, more than a little freaked out by the situation.

Kerensa shrugged. “They usually act like doorways, opening their hosts to any ill-wishing creature that wants to get close.”

“Like the vampires.”

Kerensa shrugged. “You haven’t seen anything else?”

Sylvie shook her head. “Not really.”

Kian wrapped his knuckles on the table absentmindedly. “What about your dreams?”

Sylvie explained her Fate visions to Kerensa but added, “But I don’t think any of the things that happened could be demons, or we would've smelled sulphur, right?”

Kerensa’s sudden wince sent a rush of anxiety through Sylvie.

“Right?” she asked again, voice rising.

Elias, too, leaned in, interested in the look on Kerensa’s face.

Kian narrowed his eyes. “What did you do?” he said.

“I only did it once and didn’t get to stay long before they chased me out.”

Kian’s eyes almost bugged out. “You portalled into the liminal realm?”

“More like slipped into it, but yes. Like I said, ‘only for a moment.’ But, only the lower-level demons have a sulphur scent—like the Hybrids. Closer to the pits. Dumber,” she explained. “But the mid and high-level demons didn't have a scent. Nothing. They were all shadows and darkness.”

Sylvie shuddered. “If they don’t have a physical form, then how am I supposed to kill the Demon the Fates keep going on about?”

Kian just shook his head in disbelief as Kerensa spoke again.

“Possession. If you kill the host before they escape, they should die too.”

“Should?” Sylvie echoed. “I think I need more concrete evidence than ‘should’. And how would I even know someone is possessed?”

Kerensa shrugged. “I told you I was only there for a short time. Demon history is hidden for a reason.”

When Sylvie stood and padded to the kitchen to grab snacks, Kerensa’s voice followed her. “Demons are as old as the Fates, Hart. You’d be best to avoid them at all costs, and with that wraith gone, you should be fine.”

She returned with a few bowls and put them on the table, shaking slightly. First, all she had to worry about was Vampires. Now demons had come to the party? Amira’s readings started to sink in as she sat down with a huff.

Elias tapped his fingers on the table. “The drink she consumed doesn’t have any other lasting effects?”

Kerensa shook her head and dipped her sharp nails into a bowl of cut fruit. “Not that I can sense. Look, stop panicking, would you? You said you haven’t noticed any demon activity, so maybe I got here soon enough. You’re still here for one and not in Hel, so relax.”

“You’re not the one who had a demon tag along all this time. It probably saw me naked.” And having sex and everything in between. She shuddered. Were demons perverts? The only experience she had with a humanlike demon was Lazuli, and she was half. That half, though, was sick. After everything she put Kian through…

“Hart. I mean it. Clear your head and focus. They feed off negative emotions and weakness. So be strong.”

“I am strong,” she muttered, but she didn't feel it. Not at that moment. Not after Bea and what she had done to Delilah. But she smiled for her mates and her friend and steeled her resolve.

“So. You staying the night?”