my bow to fire again, but the stranger was fast. He hurled something at me. It glinted red in the firelight as it flew, and I lunged left, narrowly avoiding the potion bomb. It smashed into the wall behind me, leaving a smoking red solution dripping down the paint.
I fired again, and he darted left so fast he avoided my arrow.
Shit.
Finally, he stepped through the smoke, his features becoming apparent.
Pale skin, sharp cheekbones, black eyes.
And wings.
Fae wings.
“Unseelie,” I hissed.
“So are you.” The grin he gave me bordered on evil. His magic reeked of sulfur and rot.
Aeri charged, swinging her mace in an arc overhead to get up the speed required for a kill. She loosened the chain to hit him from afar, but he ducked at the last minute, insanely fast.
Even faster than Aeri and me. We had enhanced speed, thanks to our Dragon Blood, and it was rare we met someone quicker.
My mother had sent someone equipped to take us out.
No way in hell I’d let that happen.
Aeri swung her mace right for his head. The spikes of the metal ball scraped through his hair, and he hissed, black eyes flashing. He threw out his hand again and sent another blast of wind at her. It picked her up and threw her back against the wall. She hit hard, thudding, then slid to the ground.
I fired another arrow, adjusting my attack to assume he would dodge right. He did, and my flying arrow hit him in the shoulder so his arm hung limp. He howled and raised a potion bomb in his good hand, hurling it at me.
I dived right, narrowly avoiding the strike.
To my left, Aeri leapt up and threw a dagger at the Unseelie. He darted left, but it hit him in the side. He hissed, yanking out the steel blade as fast as he could and throwing another strong blast of wind at Aeri, who slammed back into the wall again, cracking the plaster.
Burn and Wally growled and lunged forward.
I threw out a hand. “Back, guys!”
Their fangs wouldn’t do enough damage to this guy. Not unless they could coat them with steel.
Hey, that’s a good idea.
“More steel,” I said to Aeri. The Fae were extra sensitive to it. Being half Fae protected me from the worst of the iron burn, but I still didn’t love it.
I raised my bow once more, calling on an arrow with a steel tip. As I fired, he threw a third potion bomb at me.
Instinct made me abandon my shot and dive out of the way of the potion bomb. He was so accurate this time that I heard it whiz by my head.
All potion bombs were bad, but there was something about these that made me extra wary.
For one, he was only sending potions at me.
Did he know that I had a new Unseelie magic? I could absorb and return magical assaults. And though I hadn’t tested it, I sincerely doubted my skills worked with potions.
“You’re going to run out of those.” I shot upright and fired, my arrow nearly hitting his shoulder. He darted, and I fired again, using my Dragon Blood speed to my advantage.
Nailed it.
The arrow hit him in the other shoulder, and he howled.
I fired again, aiming for the bag hanging at his side. My arrow slammed into it, shattering the contents.
He growled, reaching for it.
“No more left, huh?”
Hatred flashed on his face, and he turned and ran.
Burn sprinted after him, unable to resist the chase. Quickly, I looked toward Aeri, who was dragging herself upright.
“Go.” Her eyes flashed.
I raced after the Unseelie. He was my only connection to my mother. Tarron and I planned to try to access the Unseelie Court through the Circle of Night again, but we sincerely doubted it was still open.
This could be my only lead.
I leapt over the rubble of the destroyed wall, sprinting past hundreds of broken bottles of ingredients. The loss made my stomach turn. Not only was this stuff expensive, some of it was incredibly hard to come by. This bastard had set us way back in our Blood Sorcery business. As I ran outside, I called upon my new Unseelie wings.
Burn stood in the yard, growling at the sky. I looked up, spotting the Unseelie overhead. His black wings looked ragged and worn, but they carried him swiftly away from my house.
I launched myself into the air, grateful for how much easier flying had become ever since I’d visited the Unseelie Court to complete the ritual