Page 15 of Faerie Marked

Two stories high and set far back from the road amidst the trees, the roofline sloped and cut through the night sky like a dagger. Crumbled gables and turrets decorated the old Victorian, and empty windows stood in mute witness to the march of progress in the surrounding suburban paradise.

Despite the weeds choking the lawn and the overgrown tree limbs draping down toward the fence, magic lived there. I smelled it coming from the land itself. As though the witch’s power had seeped into her property.

It was a hell of a place to go at night. I didn’t have a choice.

Sunday after dinner, I’d driven over and parked a good distance away, walking the remaining two blocks to the address Elfwaite had given me, trying not to be seen. The stolen money I’d swiped from Uncle William’s office burned a hole in my pocket. He and his drinking buddies had missed their habitual meeting thanks to our dinner with the Grimaldis and it left him in a position to push his schedule back even knowing he had work in the morning.

A quick trip, he assured me on his way out the door, and then he would be back. I was not to leave the house under strict threat of penalty.

Too bad.

When the road, nothing more than a winding gravel drive cutting through the woods, ended in a patch of trees, I swallowed the rest of my misgivings and continued.

The living shadows reached for me the moment I entered the tree line, and the rest of the world faded away. The families living in their quaint cookie-cutter houses down the block, children tucked tightly into bed after urgings for sweet dreams, none of them would understand why I walked toward the house where no one wanted to go.

But when life backs you into a corner and offers you no chance for escape, when your friends and your family believe the monster in front of you is the best choice for a future, and when you’re at the end of your rope, alone and losing your mind, you’d do anything to find a way out. You’d do anything to make those problems disappear.

Then you’d find yourself on the witch’s doorstep. Then you’d steal from your uncle. Willing to pay any price.

My pupils narrowed at the change in light. The better to see through the darkness. Even so, I lost track of the sloping roofline of the Victorian through the crowd of tree trunks. The woods werealive. They shifted and changed and blocked my view. Strange noises sounded from the darkness. There were no owls here, no night creatures whose calls I knew and recognized. I could almost imagine strange beasts hiding among the limbs. Ready to lash out at any moment.

A strange heaviness fell over me.

I stopped, closing my eyes and drawing in a breath. There was nothing out here to hurt me, I reminded myself. The wolf inside of me, an apex predator, could handle whatever flew or skidded or crept among the trees. Right?

It took a moment to move my legs, to strengthen my spine and push forward.

I tried not to freak out or run, although I wanted to do both. Here, magic ran wild and snapped and bit like a rabid creature ready to pounce.

Had I thought myself immune to it?

Heaving in a breath, I fought through the heavy sensation, like pushing a wall of water aside.

Then something on the breeze drew me. A hint of the power I’d sensed before. My nerves tingled, and it reminded me of the way I felt around Elfwaite. It was cool, calming, serene, like dipping overheated feet into a cool lake.

The old house loomed ahead with liminal light reflecting off of rusted sconces on either side of the door. I climbed the four steps leading up to the landing and paused in front of a massive wooden door. The brass knocker looked to weigh close to twenty pounds and for a moment I wondered how the weather-beaten wood managed to keep it held up.

The slight sense of wrongness had me pausing, curling my hand into a ball and keeping it in the air before knocking.

Was I really doing this? Was I really seeking out a woman I didn’t know whose house looked like she lured in strangers to eat?

The memory of Kendrick flashed behind my eyes and the knots in my stomach tightened.Yes, you bet I am doing this.

Without any further hesitation, I reached out and let my fist fall.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” I called out.

Then nearly lost my dinner when the door jerked open suddenly and I saw a woman holding a double-barreled shotgun leveled at my face.

6

As I stared down the two pitch-black barrels of the shotgun, shivers coursed down my arms and into my stomach like snakes. My mind raced, snapping into two distinct pieces. One screaming at me to run and the other insisting I tear the threat to shreds.

A very human shriek escaped my throat instead as I dropped to my knees in a crouch. “Elfwaite sent me! Elfwaite sent me!”

The statement aired on repeat until I heard the click of the safety being snapped into place.

“Child, you can’t be too careful nowadays. Damn people wanting to steal everything you got, not even waiting until a woman is good and dead to do their picking. Little vultures.”

---