like now, how to protect them.
I was powerful in ways I didn’t like to let people see, because being a wolf made me target enough. Having the public know I was a were-witch would not help make us seem less scary to humankind. Have you met Genie? She can turn into a wolf and also explode things with the power of her mind .
Yup, no one would be scared of that or anything.
The expressions on Cash’s and Tansy’s faces told me I’d been right to keep the witch part of myself on the DL. Wilder, who knew what I was, only looked impressed. And a bit unnerved, but I figured that had more to do with what we’d just seen than my use of a little magic.
“What the hell, Genie?” Cash demanded. He’d pushed Tansy behind him, and she was peering around his back at me like I’d grown horns.
“You didn’t think some warning would have been useful?” I snarled back. “I might have reconsidered going in there if I knew a fucking demon was crawling around.”
Tansy went ash gray, her fingers balling in Cash’s shirt. “D-did you s-say…” Her voice drifted off into nothing, as though she couldn’t manage to say the dreaded d-word.
“Demon,” I said for her.
I had no doubt whatsoever that’s what had been staring down at me from the ceiling of Laura and Heidi’s room. I’d never actually seen a demon in person, and there were a bunch of things in the world scarier than vampires and werewolves, but even I knew that monster wasn’t a fae.
Fae had a particular smell to them, something like magic and fear all wrapped up in one.
The creature in the bedroom hadn’t smelled like anything.
It would have slipped away unnoticed if I hadn’t looked up.
Whatever the demon was, it was something I was wholly unprepared to deal with.
So naturally, I was the only one who could help.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tansy said.
I looked at Cash hopefully, but he was shaking his head. “Are you sure it’s not a ghost? How can you know it’s a demon if you can’t see it?”
“Can’t…” I tried to process what he was saying. They’d been standing outside the doorway, and they had a clear view right into the room. Yet they were both acting like I was the one overreacting. “You guys seriously didn’t see anything?” I was shifting my attention between Cash and Tansy, wondering who was crazier, because frankly I didn’t know how they had missed the giant spider person crawling towards Wilder and me.
Sure, I’d missed it too when I walked in, but the thing got kind of obvious when it started moving.
“Nothing,” Cash said.
I glanced at Wilder, pleading with my expression for him to confirm I wasn’t imagining things.
“Big pale guy. Spider face,” he said without me needing to ask.
“You locked the door because you thought it was a ghost?” I asked incredulously.
Tansy flushed. “It was throwing stuff at the sisters.”
I let my breath out in an exhausted whoosh.
Down the hall, the only other girl in the house had come to stand in her door, watching us with something between curiosity and fear.
“Tansy?” She pushed her black hair over her shoulder and stared at the door behind me, clearly wondering why Wilder and I were both still on the floor.
“You need to get everyone out of this house.” I got up, rubbing my sweaty hands on my pants. “Now.”
The girl down the hall only had eyes for Tansy, staring at her intrepid leader, as if hoping the curvy blonde would contradict me. “What’s she talking about?”
“Genie, I didn’t see anything in there with you,” Cash said. “Are you sure?”
“Big. Pale. Spider. Guy.” Wilder said each word slowly, as its own statement, trying to get Cash to understand him. I nodded along with each word.
“Why was the door locked if you didn’t know what was in there?”
Tansy went from ashen to furrowed-brow annoyance in a heartbeat. “You heard the voices. The things falling on the floor. It was all coming from that room.
I was powerful in ways I didn’t like to let people see, because being a wolf made me target enough. Having the public know I was a were-witch would not help make us seem less scary to humankind. Have you met Genie? She can turn into a wolf and also explode things with the power of her mind .
Yup, no one would be scared of that or anything.
The expressions on Cash’s and Tansy’s faces told me I’d been right to keep the witch part of myself on the DL. Wilder, who knew what I was, only looked impressed. And a bit unnerved, but I figured that had more to do with what we’d just seen than my use of a little magic.
“What the hell, Genie?” Cash demanded. He’d pushed Tansy behind him, and she was peering around his back at me like I’d grown horns.
“You didn’t think some warning would have been useful?” I snarled back. “I might have reconsidered going in there if I knew a fucking demon was crawling around.”
Tansy went ash gray, her fingers balling in Cash’s shirt. “D-did you s-say…” Her voice drifted off into nothing, as though she couldn’t manage to say the dreaded d-word.
“Demon,” I said for her.
I had no doubt whatsoever that’s what had been staring down at me from the ceiling of Laura and Heidi’s room. I’d never actually seen a demon in person, and there were a bunch of things in the world scarier than vampires and werewolves, but even I knew that monster wasn’t a fae.
Fae had a particular smell to them, something like magic and fear all wrapped up in one.
The creature in the bedroom hadn’t smelled like anything.
It would have slipped away unnoticed if I hadn’t looked up.
Whatever the demon was, it was something I was wholly unprepared to deal with.
So naturally, I was the only one who could help.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tansy said.
I looked at Cash hopefully, but he was shaking his head. “Are you sure it’s not a ghost? How can you know it’s a demon if you can’t see it?”
“Can’t…” I tried to process what he was saying. They’d been standing outside the doorway, and they had a clear view right into the room. Yet they were both acting like I was the one overreacting. “You guys seriously didn’t see anything?” I was shifting my attention between Cash and Tansy, wondering who was crazier, because frankly I didn’t know how they had missed the giant spider person crawling towards Wilder and me.
Sure, I’d missed it too when I walked in, but the thing got kind of obvious when it started moving.
“Nothing,” Cash said.
I glanced at Wilder, pleading with my expression for him to confirm I wasn’t imagining things.
“Big pale guy. Spider face,” he said without me needing to ask.
“You locked the door because you thought it was a ghost?” I asked incredulously.
Tansy flushed. “It was throwing stuff at the sisters.”
I let my breath out in an exhausted whoosh.
Down the hall, the only other girl in the house had come to stand in her door, watching us with something between curiosity and fear.
“Tansy?” She pushed her black hair over her shoulder and stared at the door behind me, clearly wondering why Wilder and I were both still on the floor.
“You need to get everyone out of this house.” I got up, rubbing my sweaty hands on my pants. “Now.”
The girl down the hall only had eyes for Tansy, staring at her intrepid leader, as if hoping the curvy blonde would contradict me. “What’s she talking about?”
“Genie, I didn’t see anything in there with you,” Cash said. “Are you sure?”
“Big. Pale. Spider. Guy.” Wilder said each word slowly, as its own statement, trying to get Cash to understand him. I nodded along with each word.
“Why was the door locked if you didn’t know what was in there?”
Tansy went from ashen to furrowed-brow annoyance in a heartbeat. “You heard the voices. The things falling on the floor. It was all coming from that room.
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