Page 1 of What Fools These Immortals Be
Chapter One
Maurice
Moonlightshimmersovertheflat, still surface of the lake. I crouch down, curling my fingers in the sparse grass to keep me steady as I wait.
My prey is out there. I know it. Even if I couldn’t sense it, the fluttering remnants of police tape would be enough of a giveaway. I stepped over discarded beer cans and cigarette butts on my way here. There should be people, but all I hear is…
Silence.
I wait and I wait. Despite my nature, this kind of waiting has always come to me easily. My breaths stay steady. My thoughts quiet, all my attention narrowed in on the water and what I know lies beneath.
The moon is almost ready to set when the kelpie emerges from the lake. A dark veil of hair streams behind her as she stands—impossible because of how deep the water must be—and her black eyes glitter with the promise of temptation.
I shift my stance but don’t get to my feet. She tilts her head to one side. The water laps at her waist, her hair covering her naked chest.
No temptation for me.
She sees me. Sees it.
Her body changes, twists, shoulders widening and arms thickening as she takes the shape of a man. Tricky little fae. Almost all of them can shift, to some degree, and now the kelpie’s form is far more appealing, except—
Except I know what he is. Hair still long, features still this side of pretty, but this fae has killed three teens in the past month, and so here I am to mete out the consequences.
I get to my feet and shrug off my jacket before I pull off my boots. The kelpie watches me, brow faintly furrowed in confusion. I wager most of his prey wouldn’t bother before wading into the lake’s depths, but I plan on surviving this, and I don’t fancy the trip home with wet feet.
The kelpie doesn’t move as I walk into the water. I ignore its cold bite, wading in until water laps at my chest.
“Come closer,” the kelpie croons, his voice low and delicious. Of course most of his prey will have just walked to their own deaths. He doesn’t even need to touch them. I give him a flat look in response. This lake is large but not impossibly so. He will not beat me on land, so by the time he’s worked out why I’m here, he’ll be desperate.
“Come here,” I say in reply, spreading my arms wide and letting my fingers skim the surface of the water. “Let me see you.”
The kelpie narrows his eyes and moves closer. He stays out of reach, but his expression is now more calculating.
“You are not human.”
“No.” Never have been, not really.
“Why are you here?”
“For you.”
I move quickly, but the kelpie is quicker. Something tangles around my ankle before I can grab him, and I’m dragged underwater. I swallow a mouthful before I slam my lips shut, trying to swim back up to the surface again.
Fuck. He’s smarter than I thought. Fucker.
Trying to swim out of the grasp of whatever has me is useless, so I look back to see what it is instead. Some kind of weed, but when I put my hands around it, it tightens until the bone in my ankle cracks.
Bubbles escape as I let out a growl that’s equal parts frustration and pain. Sure, technically, I don’t need to breathe, but if I get trapped at the bottom of this lake, I’m still trapped.
Besides, try telling my body I don’t need the air. It’s never quite got the message.
I don’t know where the kelpie is, but I wriggle around, fingers curling around the handle of the knife strapped to my calf. Sigils heat under my touch and it’s the work of a second to cut through the weeds, which curl back like they’re truly sentient. I swim back up and suck in a greedy breath when my head crests the surface of the water.
I paddle there, turning in a slow circle. I can’t see the kelpie, and there’s nothing that suggests he’s left the lake. In fact, no… I know he hasn’t. The spark of fae magic in me reacts to his own. He’s still here. Still close.
My ankle aches as the bone knits itself back together. Whereishe? I can see underwater but only so far, and his vision there will be far better than mine. I can’t lure him out of the water, either.
Whatever opening I see, I need to take. Fewer things can kill me now than could even manage it a century or two ago, but this kelpie may be one of them.
