humans have caught glimpses of fairies over the centuries, and that is who they have spoken or written of. Now the demons—we are not educated enough to know their origins.”
“But there are dark fairies who are scholars on all things demons that can tell you enough to make your heads pop,” Irma added. “And none of this can be shared. Ever. We tell you this as it’s dangerous for you since they threatened Tamsin. It cannot become common knowledge.”
“Why? Why would you not warn people of this threat?” Darby demanded.
And implied “if real” in his questions.
“We don’t know,” I answered honestly. “There’s more to this than I’ve learned and the fae dogs know. There was some line the demons couldn’t cross as well. They wanted to attack me, but they couldn’t start it. They couldn’t just run up and attack. It was… Something else is going on. I think there’s some sort of deal or—I just don’t know.”
“What’s your theory?” Lucca pushed when I went quiet. “You’ve always got at least a theory.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Some sort of balance. Fairies are all about balance and being fair. I think there’s some sort of rule that demons can possess dead humans and do their evil deeds, but cannot attack fairies or supes who don’t know about them. That’s not fair and upsets the balance. It’s the only answer I can see as they were itching for me to make a move. Why did they need me to?”
“Did you just say dead humans?” Darby whispered.
“Did I leave out that part?” I sighed, wincing when they both nodded. “Yeah, so they possess dead human bodies. Their eyes glow, and not like how your eyes change color, or I can see your bear in your eyes. Not even like magic flashing. I mean fucking glowing as if there was a flashlight behind each eye. No, like LED contacts kinda glow. There was no trick or lights or mistaking it.”
“Okay, putting aside the hours it will take me to mull this over and let this sink in,” Darby muttered, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “It makes sense why they would want to keep Faerie closed. They must have a lot more fun without the dark fairies to keep them in check or kill them? Do you think they were dead-dead for good, or simply sent back to Hades again? I doubt even if they were sent back it’s an easy trip back up.”
I held up my hand to hold him off when he looked about to ramp back up. “I have no idea. I’ve found very little, and there’s a lot I’m trying to handle all at the same time. As much as yes, I want to dive into the whole demons are real thing, I’ve got piles of shit all over to handle. Hobgoblins are being abused all over and trapped. Fae dogs are being chased and abused by dust collectors, always on the run. I’ve got—”
“I know. I know. I’m sorry, agra,” he whispered, reaching over and moving his hand onto mine. “Sorry. My mind spun out on the everything this opens up.”
I snorted. “Darby, that happens to me all the fucking time.”
The hobgoblins brought over tons of food, and we had a brief pause in the conversation as we dug into dinner. Lucca started us back up again.
“I’m glad you told us, especially considering they’re clearly a threat to you, but how the hell are we supposed to fight against them?”
“You don’t.” I shook my head as they both went to object. “They couldn’t seem to make the first move. You do not do a damn thing. I’m going to assign fae dogs to keep watch on you guys off campus, but otherwise, you do nothing but play stupid. Watch what you say because I don’t know if they can sense lies. You won’t try and get me to keep Faerie closed.
“You won’t, and lying that you will is just stupid. What you need to say—and this is what Mel came up with, and I agree—is hurting you is the best way for me to go demon hunting. Right now, I don’t care about them and what they do to humans. There’s a chance I won’t ever be able to get Faerie open or answers. I might not ever be strong enough to manage it.
“But if they fuck with me, or people I care about, I am strong enough to send