Page 5 of Back in the Hunt

“Awww!” Arawn clutched his chest and Bryn gagged at them.

“Could you two give it a rest for one evening? A man’s life is at stake,” he said and nodded at Everly.

“Changeling. He’s half-man,” Nox corrected as he held up a finger. “What does he smell like? I can’t smell it.”

That had Bryn’s lips tilting into a wry grin. “Another thing a god can’t do. What do you know?”

“Stop it,” Fletcher said with a sigh, turning to Nox. “There’s a distinct vanilla odor.”

“No. It’s starch and soap,” Nelson argued as he stepped out of the shower.

“Starch?” Fletcher asked in disbelief. “It’s definitely sweeter. How do you smell soap?”

Nelson crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you smell vanilla?”

Nox took hold of Nelson’s sleeve and towed him away from the shower and Everly. “You smell whatever worksfor you,” he explained. “Because you’re both human and very susceptible to fae magick.”

“I’ll be damned,” Fletcher whispered as he studied Everly.

“You will be if you stand too close to him for too long,” Merlin warned and shooed him off. “We’ll have to keep a close eye on you and Nelson. You’ll want to stash a bit of iron on you at alltimes and a pouch with nettle, yarrow, and other herbs for extra protection.”

There was a serious hum from Nox. “I’ll get on that once we’ve woken our friend from this curse. Although, I’m not sure if I’d call it that,” he said and Merlin’s head tilted from side to side.

“It’s close enough and the cure is just about the same.”

“What do you think happened?” Arawn asked him but Merlin shook his head, glancing at Bryn.

“I can’t quite say… Something has drained the very life from the poor lad. But what’s left of him has simply given up. Poor Mr. Wells was already gone before your brother and his attacker found him,” Merlin said sadly.

“Dozens of sluagh,” Bryn said as he recalled the night he found Everly. “He was swarmed by dozens of them before this cold, dark…shadow appeared. It called itself Abhartach? And said it was the new father.”

“Abhartach?” Nox repeated with a cocked brow at Merlin. “Wasn’t he buried in Wales? They finally killed him by stabbing him with a yew sword and burying him upside down under a giant stone slab.”

Merlin nodded but he made a serious sound. “The druids make sure he remains there, too. I doubt we have anything to worry about from him. But more, his methods and his dark magick.”

“Right!” Nox said with a hiss and nodded. “That’s bad.”

There was a long pause before Nelson cleared his throat. “Why is that bad?” he asked and Merlin let out a heavier sigh.

“Bram Stoker had more to draw from than the Prince of Wallachia when he wroteDracula. In fact, scholars believe that he was heavily inspired by a creature from his own backyard: Abhartach. But it isn’t the creature himself that we should fear, but the legend and his methods. Because unlike Stoker’svampires that infect each other with their immortal curse like a virus, Abhartachmadehimself a vampire with demon magick.”

“He’s a man-made monster?” Nelson verified and Merlin nodded as he turned back to Everly.

“He is a man-made vampire. He does not feed on blood, though, but on souls and he grows stronger by consuming other beings’ magick.”

A low growl rumbled from Bryn as he lowered and brushed the hair away from Everly’s eyes. “That’s why that creepy asshole was hunting him.”

“That would be my guess as well,” Merlin said and coughed softly. “Leannán sí, or changelings, are part of a class of magickal beings we call ‘soft sí.’ The most well known are the bansheeand like the pooka or the fear gorta, changelings are magick, but relatively weak and they only vex or harm one person at a time.”

“Vex?” Nelson asked warily, earning a heavy hum from Merlin.

“A changeling can be utterly harmless and even benevolent if handled gently. But their magick is extremely malleable andcanbe volatile. It’s parasitic, in that a changelingchangesto adapt to their environment by absorbing magick. We won’t know what kind of changeling we have on our hands until we wake Mr. Wells up and talk to him. Now, get his clothes off so we can bathe him and purge this curse,” he said to Bryn with a snap of his fingers.

Bryn hesitated as he reached for the zipper on the sweatshirt he’d swaddled Everly in. At an even 6 feet in his human form, Bryn didn’t consider himself a giant, but everything he had was huge on Everly. “Does itallhave to come off?”

He ducked and gasped when he received a hard flick on the back of the head from Merlin. “Look around you, pup. Would you ask me that if you were in an operating room? Get out of the way, if the sight of a naked body offends you.”

Thatoffended Bryn and he swatted Merlin’s hand away. “You don’t know how many operating rooms and battlefields I’ve seen. How manybodiesI’ve seen, naked and clothed, shot and stabbed, mangled and blown to scraps. From here and now, back to Bosnia, and Stalingrad, andallthe way back to the Battle of Cedar Creek, just 80 miles west of here,” he said with a swing of his head. “I’ve seen my share of bodies, Merlin. I’ve taken my share of souls on to Annwn.”

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