Page 16 of Touched By Death

“Well, color me intrigued,” I say, bending my knees and shooting up into the sky. The cool air caresses my feathers as my wings unfold from my back.

We keep low, flying in and out of the treetops to keep hidden from view while keeping them in our sights.

“They’re about to enter the human world,” Alaric points out as we near the border.

“She’s hunting.” Dariana flies past me, her long hair moving in the wind.

“Why not drink from the girls in the cafeteria?”

“Unless she wants to hide the monster in her that comes out every time she feeds,” I muse, giving a hard sweep of my wings to propel me forward. My cheeks burn from the icy breeze, but all that soon changes when we cross the border. The air turns milder and more damp. It sticks to my skin, curling the ends of my hair.

“Where the hell is she going?”

“Beats me.”

We follow them until they finally descend to the ground and set off walking toward a remote village.

My shoes sink into the soft, tall grass, and I flex my wings once, stretching them out before tucking them back in and cracking my neck. While Aurelia traveled this far to hunt humans, we’re here to hunt her.

I take in the paddock and the lone horse asleep in the distance. A white, weathered farmhouse stretches tall to our left with all the lights out in the windows. Beside it, a parked, green tractor has seen better days. Tufts of grass and an abandoned tire lead the way to the dilapidated porch, where a swing chair creaks in the wind.

Dariana is the first one to set off, her short skirt sliding over her thighs with every silent step. “Come on, boys. What are you waiting for? I don’t know about you, but I’m curious to see what trouble she’s about to get herself into.”

Rolling my shoulders back, I follow, equally intrigued to find out what she has planned.

“Shit, I think I stepped in something,” Alaric complains, rubbing his shoe on the grass.

“Stop being such a baby.” Dariana quickens her steps until she reaches the fence. With a flap of her wings, she lands softly on the other side.

Alaric is still whining about the horse shit on his shoe when we finally reach the road. There’s a small pub up ahead, and all my senses are homed in on it. The little angel is in there, eyeing up the human men.

Irritation gnaws at me when I think about her with anyone else. Human or not.

It amused me when Daemon was jealous, but now I’m experiencing the same annoyance. It pricks at my skin, an annoying sensation in the pit of my stomach and at the back of my neck that can’t be ignored. I scratch at it, but it’s still there, demanding I grab her in a chokehold and shake some fucking sense into her.

“Remember,” Dariana quips, sensing my thoughts. “It’s part of the hunt. You can’t lose your temper and slaughter everyone in the pub, alright? Daemon isn’t here to bail us out, and his father won’t take kindly to us being obsessed with her, too.”

“Fuck that,” I bite out. “If she touches another man, I’ll kill him myself. I don’t give a shit if he’s human and has a tiny dick.”

“Maybe her choice of man is a human with a massive dick. Maybe it trumps yours in siz—”

Teeth gritted, I clamp my hand over her mouth to shut her up.

“Or maybe,” Alaric starts, flashing a smile, “her choice of meal is a big-breasted woman with a tight cunt.”

Dari is on him in a flash, wings and teeth bared as she tackles him to the ground. His booming laughter echoes in the silent night while he fights her off before climbing on top of her and restraining her wrists. With his knees on either side of her thighs, he flashes a sinful yet teasing smile and snaps his teeth at her. “Fiery.”

“Fuck you!” she hisses like a coiled serpent.

He jumps to his feet and helps her up with his outreached hand.

“You play fucking dirty.”

“Well…” He nudges her with his shoulder. “You can’t go slaughtering everyone in the pub if you get jealous.”

With a final snort, she speeds ahead, leaving us to exchange amused looks.

Chapter Six

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