Bound (A Faery Story 1)

hadn’t come to request an audience.

The demon chuckled. “I think not. I have a contract, you see.

Someone is paying me to take you off the plane. Odd, isn’t it? You’re

just a little cash cow, sweetheart. I made money stealing you from

your plane, and now I make money taking you back. The village hag

is paying me handsomely to get rid of you. She wanted me to kill you,

but I told her she didn’t have enough to pay for that. I will have to

stay away from this plane for a while as it is. If I killed you, I suspect

264

Sophie Oak

the warrior half might never stop hunting me. I gave the hag a spell to

take care of him, but I don’t trust her to get it right. I can’t have the warrior pursuing me.”

“The intellectual half wouldn’t be too happy, either,” Meg

commented. She was trying not to think about the hag the demon

mentioned. It was impossible. Someone in the village wanted to hurt

Beck and Ci. She started to panic. They were in the village right now.

What if Bri’s accident had really been a trap? “I don’t want to go

back.”

A sly smile split the demon’s face. He showed jagged, sharp teeth.

“Of course you don’t, dear. You’re a pathetic little nothing on your

plane. Here, you’re a queen.” He shrugged. “It’s kind of a crappy

kingdom, though. At least on the Earth plane you’ll have running

water. Look at it that way, dear.”

“No,” Meg said, pulling her courage around her. “I won’t go.”

“You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?” the demon asked. “Oh,

well, we can do it the hard way, then.”

As the demon brought his fist down on Meg’s head, she wished

she’d been smart enough to lie.

Bound

265