And things were worse than before, because now the line between humans and the other worldly was slowly starting to blur into something else completely.
I’d never reacted to anyone’s touch that way before—not Genesis, Serenity, or even Hope—a freaking elf and a friend.
I hit the accelerator so hard, it tapped the car floor, and my Ferrari sped toward the forest.
It was a last-ditch effort to get answers, the only way I knew how, to ask the oldest of the bunch what the ever-loving hell was going on.
I didn’t want to face her again.
I didn’t want to look at her and remember the nights spent in her arms, the stolen kisses, or the way she’d made me feel like a god.
It was forbidden.
No matter how much I craved it, and seeing her just made the hunger that much worse because I knew only she could quench my thirst, my need to be filled.
If I had any chance of surviving another century, I would ignore the pull toward her.
I hit the brakes and skidded to a stop, sending a cloud of dirt flying up around my car. When I killed the engine, silence roared in my ears. I walked away. No need to lock my doors; it wasn’t like Bambi was going to steal my car—and if any human tried they’d be sent to the hospital in a nice body bag, and if they were lucky straight to the morgue.
I knew she would be here, Eris, the thorn in my side, the balm to my soul. The one woman I wasn’t supposed to touch. In a cruel twist of fate, she was damned to serve the virgin goddess Danu and wasn’t allowed to physically or emotionally attach herself to immortals or humans—especially the Demon King with creepy tattoos, but that wasn’t the point.
She would at least have information I needed. She was old as hell, just like yours truly, and she knew the ins and outs of magic that seemed to create a pulse-like heartbeat in our world. Right on cue, my tattoo started to heat on my palm. It was getting bigger, something was growing inside me, I could feel it, could feel the need to break free—and I was afraid I knew exactly what was trying to break loose.
A soul trapped too long in a body not meant for it.
It felt like fingernails were digging against my insides, clawing away at my ribs—free—did I even know what that meant?
The gravel crunched beneath my boots as I made my way into the forest. I knew what I would find, visions of women bathing would be the only thing I saw for the next mile as I passed by the large river and entered into the land of the fae.
Danu and the other goddesses stayed on earth—that didn’t mean they stayed in our realm.
Damn, it was going to be a rough night.
I gritted my teeth and passed two golden nymphs who waved in my direction and blew a kiss; both of them had white hair and razor-sharp teeth behind those plump lips. Petals flew in my direction, and I ducked, careful not to let them touch me; the last thing I wanted was to be imprisoned under a tree for the next decade just because I wanted to touch their petals.
And I mean all of their petals.
It was irritating to an immortal and quite damning to a human.
I passed under the cover of two large trees, their leaves changing from green to black as I made my way farther into the darkness of the forest.
I was used to the way things died around me, or should I say I had been used to it until recently—I’d forgotten how it felt to carry death with me, to know that I would always carry it—a curse of my species.
A curse of what I was.
Power pulsed through my fingertips as I knew it would any time I entered into the immortal realm.
Like my spirit was trying to remind me of my past.
A past I couldn’t remember.
Fragments existed.
There was always so much burning, so much thirst, and the despair of loneliness couldn’t be matched.
And then I gave it up, for what?
Something that was slowly trying to destroy me from the inside out.