Page 108 of Slaying With Sylphs

Chocolate lashes flutter against her freckled skin. She lifts her chin and glances up at me. “Did we do it? Is he released?”

“He’s gone, my love,” I whisper. “You worked a miracle.”

Grief wars with the sense of victory inside me. My friend is dead, but now he’s truly gone in therightway of our people. And she accomplished putting him to rest.

Slade feels her forehead, then looks inside her ear. “I think you’re going to be just fine, Lou. I don’t see any damage from the explosion.”

She shoots upright, ripping out of my arms and stalking to the center of the street. She throws both hands on top of her head and spins circles, looking utterly horrified. “Oh my gods, I did this?”

Laerith steps off the sidewalk toward Lou. Dirk moves to follow her, but I place a hand on his chest.

“She needs a minute.” My mate looks at me, confusion swirling in his beautiful eyes. So I bend down and bring my lips to his ear. “She needs guidance, mentorship, friendship from Laerith. She gets other things from us.”

He rubs his stubbly cheek against my mouth, huffing under his breath. Poor, sweet sylph. Dirk is so used to control. It’s hard for him not to have it.

Dirk and I stand together, arms around one another’s waists as Laerith and Lou talk in low tones. Eventually, Lou stops looking so distressed, and her scent returns to normal. When a bright, hopeful smile overtakes her delicate features, I pull Dirk into the street to join the girls. The triplets quietly follow.

When we surround Lou, she looks at each of us in turn.

“Laerith thinks Amatheia and Bellami might be awake now that Leighton’s been released. We’re going to check. They’ll be afraid if they wake up at the doc’s office, and he’s here.”

“You were amazing, Lou,” Morgan says, reaching for her aunt. She pulls Lou into her arms and rests her head on top of my mate’s. “Absofuckinglutely terrifying, but that was amazing.”

“I did smash all the windows, though,” Lou grumbles, her sass returning.

“I can fix those, honey.” Morgan smiles. “Black witch, remember?”

Lou lifts her gaze to Morgan’s and smiles. “Oh, thank fuck! I was worried all the buildings were going to hate me forever.”

“Maybe the movie theater won’t let you drink soda anymore, just like me!” Iggy shouts, fluttering into the circle and squeezing his way between Lou and Morgan. He plants his feet on Morgan’s chest and pushes, shoving him and Lou away from her. When the girls laugh and part, he snuggles up with his head under Lou’s chin, his tail draped up and over her shoulder.

“You did such a good job, Iggy,” she whispers to the tiny gargoyle. “That battle cry nearly blew out my eardrums.”

He nuzzles her neck. “I’m really tired now, though. But I wasn’t afraid. I tried to be brave like Dad and Uncle Shepherd.”

“And we need to do a post-attack family meeting to assess what happened,” Alo’s deep voice breaks through the group as he joins, smiling proudly at his son.

Iggy looks up at his father with big blue eyes, pouting a little. “Do we have to do it now? Lou was gonna take me to Slade’s to check on the fallen monsters.”

Lou snorts and lightly spanks his thigh. “And was I also carrying you the whole way?”

He mimics her snort and slaps her shoulder lightly with his tail. “Of course, Lou. You need comforting. Gargoyles are good at that. Miriam always says it’s the best feeling in the world to hold me.”

“It is,” Lou whispers, but her eyes flash as she finds Dirk and me.

Heat snakes down my spine at the look in her eyes. She’s ready to recharge. I can feel it in the way she’s staring. Blue flames dance in her irises, tiny flecks of fire skirting along her skin.

We aren’t coming out of the bedroom for days, if those books are right.

I’ll need to prep for that with Richard, make sure he feels okay on his own without me around…Laerith warned us about this, but Richard and I need to have the conversation.

Lou looks at all of us around her and smiles. “Shall we go?”

The triplets opt to stay on Main and clean up a bit. Lou waffles about leaving, but they insist she go with Slade to check on Amatheia and Bellami.

The walk to Slade’s cottage takes just a minute. When Slade opens the door, voices echo faintly from within. He takes off at a sprint through his front room, past the kitchen and down thelong hall to the room where Bellami and Amatheia have been staying.

When Lou takes off after him, Dirk and I exchange smiles. Relief fills me as shouted exclamations drift up the back room. We follow Lou, Iggy, Slade and Laerith into the room. Inside, Amatheia clutches the edges of the tub, staring at us as we enter.

---