Anne Bishop - The House of Gaian

The sprite stared at her with dying eyes as Breanna backed away from the water. Fresh blood. Fresh death. "Keely?" She turned to look for her mother, the woman who had remained a child. She saw Keely's head and shoulders above the rose bushes. "Keely?"

"W-what are you?" Keely took a step back.

"Keely! Get away from there!" Breanna ran toward the rose bushes. The circle would protect them. She could warn Liam that there was danger here before he got too close. But first. . .

She heard Liam shouting at her, but she didn't stop, just ran.

Keely spun around, stumbled, and grabbed the rose bushes to keep from falling, screaming in pain and terror.

Breanna rounded the end of the crescent and stopped, too frozen to do more than stare.

They were big. Much bigger than the ones that had attacked her and Liam a few weeks ago. And . . . different. Not wings, but flaps of skin that stretched from hips to front limbs, like the squirrels that could glide from tree to tree.

As she watched, unable to move, one of the creatures sank its sharp, jagged teeth into Keely's leg, ripping off a chunk of her calf and gulping it down while another slashed at the other thigh with teeth and talons. When a third scrambled up Keely's back and sank its teeth into the flesh that joined shoulder and neck, her scream raked through Breanna.

" Keely !" She took a step forward, unable to think past the fear and yet certain she needed to do something .

Until the fourth creature turned and stared at her—and her courage shattered.

It had a long, deep gash down one limb, as if it had been slashed with a sharp stone. Tears still glistened on its dark, leathery face. Snot still bubbled from its nostrils. It let out one whimpering cry as it held up its arms to her—and then snarled and leaped.

And Keely's screams of terror turned into a shriek of rage as she let go of the rose bushes and grabbed one of the creature's legs. "Not my girl. You can't have my girl ! EARTH!"

The ground around Keely moved, shifted, churned. She sank into the earth so fast there was no time for the creatures attached to her to escape.

Breanna watched Keely disappear. Watched her mother's hand convulse around the leg it held, pulling the last creature down with her until it was buried up to its waist. It screamed, clawing at the ground as it fought to free itself. She watched, too numb to move, until an arrow whistled past her and buried itself in the creature's chest.

Silence.

Keely.

She wanted to scream to break the silence, to beg Keely to come back. But she couldn't move, couldn't speak.

"Liam, get Breanna away from here. Get her away now ." She recognized Selena's voice, but it was just a sound.

She knew Liam picked her up. She knew he got her on his horse somehow and they were galloping to her house. But she was too far away to feel him, too far away to feel anything. Even the wind.

"Mother's mercy," Ashk said, her voice rough with pain and pity. "That bastard turned children into nighthunters." She closed her eyes and shuddered. "He turned them into nighthunters."

"Could they still be alive down there?"

There was something cutting about Selena's voice—and there was something odd about that cutting tone.

"They're buried in the earth," Ashk said. "Buried alive."

"But they might be able to survive longer than her?"

What difference does it make ? "I don't know."

Selena raised her hands and pointed at the nighthunter that stared at them with dead eyes. "I call fire to cleanse and air to give it breath."

The nighthunter burst into flames, burning so hot Ashk took a step back. Moments later, spears of fire shot out of the ground, and she thought—she imagined—she heard something shriek.

The fire was gone as quickly as it had been summoned. It was only her refusal to give in to the urge to back away—and keep backing away—that made Ashk stand where she was.

Mother's Daughters. House of Gaian. They aren't the same as the witches who live among us. And this one . . . Mother's mercy. This one.

Selena watched the tendrils of smoke rising from the ground. "You said nighthunters feasted on spirits as well as flesh and blood. If, by some chance, they were able to live even a minute longer than she did, they could have destroyed more than her body. I couldn't save the flesh, but I could save the spirit."

"She wouldn't have survived long in any case, but she might have been alive when you sent your fire into the earth."

"I know," Selena said softly. "That's why I had Liam take Breanna away from here."

No , Ashk thought, we do not know your kind at all. We do not understand the power that walks in the Mother's Hills .

"Do you fear me, Hunter?"

"At this moment, I am feeling cautious, Huntress," Ashk said carefully.

"It is wise of you to feel that way when you deal with the House of Gaian. That is something our enemy has yet to learn." Selena raised her hands. "Earth."

The ground shivered. Softened. The nighthunter, with Ashk's arrow buried in its chest, sank into the earth.

Selena raised her hands higher. "Sister moon." She glowed as moonlight washed over her skin, pooled at her feet, then spread out until it became a shining circle bordered on one side by a crescent of rose bushes.

The glow faded from Selena's skin. She turned and walked back to where Mistrunner waited.

Ashk studied the glowing circle for a long moment before going to her own horse and mounting.

"Selena?" She waited until the Huntress looked at her. "I am cautious, but I do not fear you."

"Why not?"

"Because I think your heart matches your power."

A film of tears covered Selena's eyes before she blinked them away. "We'd better see if Liam needs help with Bre—"

"Hunter!"

Ashk dropped the reins, freeing both hands for arrow and bow. She relaxed a little when she saw the Fae male cantering toward her—until she got a good look at his face.

"The Muse sent me to find you," he said. "The fight's started."

"Where?"

"At the field with those tumbled stones. We got to that low rise ahead of them, but not by much. That's where the fight is— and along the road leading to the village."

"Warn the witches in the Old Place, then ride to the Fae camps and tell the leaders to get their huntsmen to that rise as fast as they can."

As she and Selena rode over the bridge and galloped over the fields that provided the fastest route to the battleground, she wished there was some way to convince Liam to stay out of the fight for Breanna's sake—and knew the wish was a futile one.

Liam slowed his horse as he rode through the arch. When one of the boys came forward to take the horse, he shook his head and turned the animal toward the kitchen door. Since Breanna was in no shape to walk, it was easier to let the horse carry them both.

The barking caught his attention for a moment before he shook his head. Idjit was dancing under the big tree, defending the world from another squirrel.

The kitchen door opened. He heard Fiona's voice, sharp with annoyance. "Either shut him up or lock him up. I don't need his yapping today."

"I'll get him." Brooke came out of the house, waved at him, and trotted toward the tree. "Idjit! You stop that now, you hear? You're giving Fiona the headache."

Suddenly Breanna went rigid in his arms. "Keely, no," she whispered.

Liam tried to shove aside the worry that flooded through him. They didn't look anything alike, but Brooke and Keely had been about the same age mentally. That's why she was confusing the two. She was still stunned by what she'd witnessed. That was all.

"Keely, no!"

Breanna rammed her elbow into him, breaking his hold so that she half fell, half slid off the horse. The momentum took her forward a couple of steps before she fell to her hands and knees.