I start to push his hand away, but the second my fingers meet his, I find myself clasping it instead. “And who exactly am I supposed to send a prayer to? You? You gonna answer my wish once you get there?”
“If I’m able.”
“And if you’re not?”
He squeezes my fingers, holds my hand close to his chest. “Honestly, I’m just looking to get my own prayer answered. But, Lita, you need to know that prayers are like wishes. If you waste them on the frivolous, they won’t be there when you need them for something serious. So please th
ink long and hard before you put this to use.” He places the feather into my hand and curls my fingers around the quill.
“You’re serious. You’re really doing this, aren’t you?” My voice cracks, hardly able to believe this is happening. That Cade’s prophecy of our doomed romance is actually coming true.
Axel cups his palms to my cheek, his glimmering lavender eyes conveying all the things that words fail to. But it’s too painful. I can’t bear to look. So I shutter my eyes, tip onto my toes, and bring my lips to meet his. Allowing myself to revel in a touch so light, so mesmerizing, so loving, so fleeting . . .
And the next thing I know, he’s disappeared into a burst of blazing red light.
THIRTY-FOUR
DAIRE
I follow Chay’s Eagle to a fat nest of demons amusing themselves by terrorizing a warren full of rabbits.
Which is why they don’t notice me.
“Bunnies? Really?” I wave my athame before me. “You know, the rules are actually pretty simple, and yet you always seem to break them. So, allow me to remind you. First, there will be no terrorizing, killing, or eating of the sprit animals—”
They stop with the menacing and turn their attention to me, waiting to hear what comes next. That’s the thing about demons—while they’re definitely hideous, evil, incredibly dangerous, and prone to causing massive destruction, they’re also easily distracted.
Not to mention stupid.
“And second—”
My gaze moves among them, searching for the leader. Deciding it’s not the one that snarls, growls, and goes after me first, I still don’t hesitate to slice my athame straight through his thick, scaly neck—if for no other reason than to send a message to the rest.
His body jerks and twitches in a brief adrenaline-laced jig, before collapsing to the dirt alongside its head.
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted—” I shake the remaining crud from my blade and position it before me, ready to take the next wave. “The Upper-and Lowerworlds are strictly off-limits. Which means you can either leave now, or deal with me. Your choice.”
They come at me in a wave of tails and horns and oversized monstrous heads, and my athame carves ’em up as easily as a Thanksgiving turkey. Counting each severed bit as a small sign of victory, all the while knowing I probably shouldn’t be enjoying it to the degree that I am.
It’s not like there’s a shortage of evil. There are plenty more where they came from.
Not to mention that somewhere, out there, Coyote is waiting.
I stop with the fancy moves and quips, and concentrate instead on finishing the job. Methodically eliminating them one by one, until the entire nest is eradicated and I follow Eagle to the next one. Then the one after that. And all those that follow. Eventually slaying so many demons, the spirit animals begin to come out of hiding and work alongside me.
A posse of Rabbits, Turtles, Bison, Ram, and Bobcats are soon joined by countless others intent on reclaiming their turf.
Though, once again, Raven is notably absent.
Horse too.
But with so much left to do, I can’t get distracted. I keep a close watch on Eagle as he soars a wide arc before me, just a few feet ahead, signaling another lot of demons lurking nearby. Swooping past my shoulder just as I’m about to close in, he veers so close his feathers graze my cheek like a kiss, before he winks out of sight.
A chill pricks the back of my neck, blankets my skin.
My knees go weak.
As my fingers tremble so severely I nearly drop the athame.