Fairy Bad Day(31)

Emma only just resisted the urge to scream out loud as she clasped her hands to her ears. It was several seconds before the pain subsided enough for her to glance around, and when she did, it was only to discover that everyone else was still casually slinging their bags over their shoulders and making their way out of the room as if nothing had happened.

Okay, so that was weird and—

But before she could even finish her thought, the static buzz increased and her sore eye started to tingle in agony. She bit back the pain and got to her feet. As she did so, she caught sight of a dark shadow up in the already gray sky outside. Emma gasped as she realized it was the same creature she’d seen from her window during the code blue. And the same creature that the fairy had been wearing on his T-shirt yesterday.

The darkhel.

Her first instinct was to yell out a horrified warning as she watched it swoop so low that it almost flattened Loni’s spiked dark hair, but instead she quickly scooped up her stuff and grabbed her bag.

“Hey,” someone protested as she elbowed her way past him. “What’s wrong, a fairy emergency?” But Emma ignored the sarcasm as she pounded down the hallway and went flying out into the quad while letting out a small prayer of thanks that she’d had an armament lesson that afternoon and therefore had her full slaying kit with her.

As she ran, she pulled out her sword and threw the rest of her kit to the ground. Thanks to the fact that most fairies were only ten inches long, it had been a while since she’d used it, but as soon as her fingers wrapped around the hilt, it once again felt like it was an extension of her arm.

“There you are,” Tyler called out as he and Loni jogged over to where she was frantically searching for the darkhel. “You’re never going to believe what... er, why do you have your sword in your hand?”

“And unsheathed,” Loni added in concern. “I thought you were going for the sane and normal approach?”

“And, in case you didn’t realize, walking around with an unsheathed weapon definitely isn’t sane or normal,” Tyler clarified before narrowing his eyes. “What’s going on?”

“It’s here,” she hissed as she continued to crane her neck just as the screeching static sound rang out in her ears again. This time the pain was worse. “Can’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Loni demanded as she leaned in to study Emma’s face. “Em, what’s going on? Did something happen?”

“The darkhel has—” But before she could even finish her sentence, the ringing in her ear subsided and she heard a flap of wings. She spun around just in time to see the dark shadow fly once around the quad before it moved into a vertical position and plummeted down like a fallen angel about thirty feet away from her, its enormous wings suddenly snapping back as it hit the ground.

As soon as it landed, she knew that the creature wasn’t a dragon. Rather it was seven feet of pure venom poured into a manlike body and draped in black leather and studs like some sort of sadomasochist’s armor. For a second it just stood motionless, like a decayed, long-forgotten statue, before it suddenly turned its head and focused in on Emma.

Instantly the creature’s face was transformed into a terrifying mask of planes and angles that gleamed and glistened with menace as its sinister red eyes bore into her. Her stomach churned and her hands felt moist and damp around the hilt of her sword.

“Emma, talk to me,” Loni demanded in a confused voice, but Emma hardly heard as she raced forward, determined to get between her friends and this abomination. “What about the darkhel? It’s . . . oh no. It’s here, isn’t it?”

Emma didn’t respond. All she could hear was the rush of air as the creature raced toward them, its red eyes never leaving her. She forced her terrified breath out from between her lips as she swung her sword back and forth in her hand, reacquainting herself with its weight as the beast finally reached her.

“So you can see me? Interesting,” the creature hissed in a guttural voice as it came to a halt only a few feet in front of her. “That will make it more fun when I kill you.” It grinned, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth squished into a wide, misshapen mouth.

Emma kept her balance as she lifted her sword. Well, at least she definitely knew it was a fairy now since dragons were monosyllabic to the point of muteness. Especially when they were fighting.

“It’s the fear, isn’t it?” the darkhel speculated as it closed the distance between them and she could all too clearly see the dark pits of its eyes. “It’s made you incapable of speech.”

Emma ignored it, instead trying to focus all her energy on what she was doing. Every elemental creature had a kill spot. For dragons it was under the neck, for demons it was the spinal cord. For goblins it was the heart. Unfortunately Sir Francis, in his not-so-infinite wisdom, never bothered to mention a kill spot for fairies, and so she decided that she would start with the neck and go from there.

She licked her lips and tried to control her breathing as she waited for the darkhel to come closer. It took a couple more steps toward her, an evil grin on its face. Without hesitation, Emma lunged forward, driving her sword deep into the fleshy dark skin at the base of its neck. The vibration went racing back up her arm as the point of her sword bounced off it like a nickel on sidewalk and she felt herself reeling from the impact. She lunged again, this time harder, and let out a sigh of relief when she managed to pierce the surface and a gush of dark, fetid blood started oozing out. For a moment the darkhel reached up and touched the open wound before it grinned at her. Okay, so the neck wasn’t the kill spot.