again, I was woefully outnumbered.
Kelsey didn’t seem to think that was an issue.
“No takers?” Kelsey asked. “Because I can start picking you off, but I usually like to have an order in my head.”
Kor laughed, the sound jarring. “Stand down, female. I don’t intend to kill you. Why would I do that? Your corpse brings us nothing. I like my women still breathing when I fuck them.”
“I don’t care either way, General,” one of the smaller soldiers said, a leer in his eyes.
“You should run, Kelsey.” I could still make this work. If she could run, they wouldn’t waste their time following her when they had me. “They will do everything they say.”
“That’s an excellent reason to not run,” Kelsey replied. “How about I fix this problem for you and then we’re going to have a nice long talk. I’ve got about a million questions.”
“Are you going to make me put you in the ground, whore?” Kor asked.
Kelsey’s eyes rolled. “Are you Fae? Because I didn’t bring cold iron bullets. I work for this Fae dude and he takes exception to them. And you are so lucky I didn’t bring Gladys. I didn’t realize I was going to be sucked into another freaking dimension, so I’m without any of my necessaries.”
Kor seemed to have decided he was sick of playing with his food. “I don’t know who your Gladys is, but I’m about to see your head on the end of my sword. I’ll teach you not to run with outlaws. Get Her Majesty and make sure she doesn’t slip away. It won’t take me long to kill this whore.”
Kelsey’s lips curled up and she lifted her right hand. I watched as it changed. She was a shapeshifter, but one with spectacular control since the rest of her body stayed humanlike. Except her eyes. I would have sworn those were the eyes of a wolf.
But her hand wasn’t wolf-like at all. Her hand was pure demon. The skin turned a vibrant red, and nasty talons sprouted from her fingertips.
Was she an assassin? Had the Hell plane sent their emissaries?
I took a step back, but suddenly there were hands gripping my arms. Pain flared through me because one of the soldiers had claws, and he didn’t mind sinking them into my flesh.
I could feel my power. It was all there, bubbling under my surface. I could kill them all in the blink of an eye and I wouldn’t even feel weak from the use. My power was an endless well and I’d never once found the bottom of it.
But I knew where the top was. It was in the charm that rested around my throat, the only thing that stopped me from drawing on the magic I’d been born into. According to some, I was magic. I had so much power, Turi believed I could fuel whole planes of existence without batting an eye.
I could destroy whole planes, too. I could destroy the world without even thinking about it, and that was why I wore the necklace. That was why I took the pain.
Because once, I’d been the pain, and everyone I’d loved had suffered.
I grimaced as the soldier holding me tightened his grip.
Kelsey reached into her jacket with her still human-looking hand and came back with a metallic object.
Gun. The word flashed through my head. I’d seen one before. This was a weapon of the Earth plane. I’d stopped this weapon once. I could hear a masculine voice speaking to me, telling me how to stop the bullet coming our way. My mother had taken one but managed to protect me. Then a man had held me, and he’d been the one to understand how to communicate with me. But it hadn’t been my father. My father had been trapped in his own body, unable to wake due to the sun’s position in the sky.
“What is that thing?” Kor asked.
Kelsey smiled and pointed it right at the soldier currently mangling my arm. “Let me show you.”
A loud boom burst from the gun and seemed to echo through the forest. Immediately the claw in my arm relaxed and the soldier dropped to the ground.
Kor stood there, sword in hand, staring at the male on the ground. It was obvious to me he wouldn’t get up again.
“Huh,” Kelsey said with a huff. “I guess when you take the old brainpan out you don’t need cold iron. Good to know.” She turned her attention back to Kor. “As a wise Earth man once