Page 90 of Cathmoir's Sons

“My master Raud sends you greetings, princes of Faery. He would welcome you in his hall if you ever chose to visit.”

She licks her fangs after she speaks with a tongue redder than blood and forked like a snake’s.

It will be a cold day in Hell before I choose to visit her master.

As though he can read my thoughts, Jou chuckles. “Ercie’s nose for human flesh is second to none. She’ll find your boy’s wayward cousin. Let’s go.”

The shark-grinned demoness drops to all fours, her arms lengthening, her back curving into a high, bony arch under her thin tunic. She lopes away at a run that reminds me alarmingly of a barghest’s.

I will find many, many reasons not to visit her and her master. Thousands of reasons. Millions, if I have to.

I want to visit, Luca thinks at me.If she’s that creepy, just think of what her master will be like.

I shudder, my tail lashing the smoky air. My twin’s been spending too much time with the dead if he thinks a visit with snake-shark-dog and her master are a good idea.

We trot after Ercie single-file with Mags leading and the other demons bringing up the rear.

The hot, crunching ground undulates beneath my paws, rising and falling as we make our way “up” the forest’s bowl. As I trot up a steep hillock, I hear a new sound over the crackle and pop of burning wood. A high, singing crack rings out. Then another and another.

Baron Ash suddenly lopes past me and overtakes Mags. His huge sickle shimmers into a flaming sword. A whip uncoils from his other hand and tastes the air with an answering crack.

The orange mohawked demoness races past me in a burst of speed, joining her lord. Massive, crimson-feathered wings spread from his shoulders. He puts an arm around the demoness and they lift into the air, arrowing toward the cracking sound.

I race after them. Mags keeps pace with me, Dex and Luca so close behind I can hear their breath, the crunch of their paws on the burned ground.

The trees open in a small clearing: a circle of bare ground charred to white ash. Cowering in the middle of the clearing is a blackened, twisted figure. Patches of pale skin still show on her calves, hip, buttocks, and shoulders. What might have been hair is fused in a charred mass around her head and over oneshoulder. The figure curls her arms over her head, although her face is so burned, I’m not sure what’s left to protect. Two armored, horned, winged demons circle the figure, their flaming whips licking out to kiss the figure’s chest, arms, and back over and over.

The faint scent of peony—burned almost to nothing—comes from the figure.

Baron Ash flaps down at the edge of the clearing. He folds his wings and turns his head to look at me. “Erinyes,” he says. “Nasty. Looks like they’re having a little fun with your quarry.”

I stretch to my feet so I can talk to him, despite the fact that leaves me naked. In Hell.

“Will we have to defeat them to take her away from them?” I ask.

“Naw,” says the demon. “You could probably get them to cut a deal to hand her over. I don’t see any marks of a soul-trade on her. No sign she’s an oath breaker. She thought she could hide in Hell and they caught her. Nothin’ more complicated than that.”

“What would they want in trade?” I ask, shuddering at the thought of what wrath demons might demand.

“Don’t matter. They ain’t gonna live to enjoy it. I got personal beef with their kind.”

That’s the kind of bargain I’m comfortable with. “Now or later?” I ask.

“Now,” the demon responds.

More and more comfortable. “No repercussions if we just kill them?”

“Nothin’ I’d let touch mortals.”

“Sounds good,” I say. I make eye-contact with my Cait. They nod.

We draw into formation: me leading, Mags and Dex flanking me, Luca guarding our rear. The demon spreads his wings and hovers a few feet above us.

Without warning, we attack.

Dex and I draw on our shared Element, igniting into flame. Faefyre acts like armor against hellfire and the Erinyes’ whips bounce off our burning halos as we pounce. My prey doesn’t have time to scream before I bite her head off and spit it out to bounce among the cinders.

A neon blue blade cuts the other Erinyes in half before my prey’s head bumps to a stop.

---