Penelope Fletcher - The Demon Girl

Breandan watched me, head cocked thoughtfully.

I marveled at the short ebony hairs stuck on my fingertips. Evidence my encounter had been real. I trembled.

"Did that mean something to you?" I asked quietly.

"Oh yes," he replied and took hold of my hand, and started to walk again. "Nothing out here will harm you unless you pick a fight first." He paused. "Usually shifters are not that sociable. Rarely do they interact with those outside their pack, even when they leave Pride territory. Do not make a habit of petting them. Despite your difficult personality, I will protect you until death, but would prefer not to have to deal with such dire circumstances unless necessary." Jerking to a stop he yanked gently on the ends of my hair to pull my head back. "Alright?" His teeth nipped my neck then his lips pressed a kiss to my pulse point. There he stood amongst the trees, smiling down on me and waiting for my answer.

All the while, for all that I'd just experienced and all he'd told me, all I could think was, he kissed my neck.

"Believe it or not I don't skip around looking for trouble. I only come out here for some space to think and run. And I can take care of myself."

After a beat of silence he chuckled and walked on, continuing to tow me along side.

A shifter. I had stroked a were-cat, one of the most feral demons in existence. Only Breandan's firm grip and steady steps forward kept me moving.

"I never realized the different demon kinds lived so close together," I said.

"Our territories are vast. Right now we are in his back garden. The Pride encompasses the entire human prison. That is why we showed respect and stayed still. If he had taken issue with us here, he would have let me know. But then he has probably scented the vampire too, and is happy to have the extra help in hunting it down."

"Prison," I echoed, startled. "Vampire?"

Saying the name made my toes scrunch together in my boots and my stomach pitch dangerously. The dead ones were not demons people dressed up to make scarier than they actually were. Vampires were the creatures you made nicer in stories so that you didn't pass out when reports one had breached the Wall, and eaten a few homeless people came your way.

"Is that not what it is? A prison the humans have locked themselves inside?"

There was too much behind that simple statement I could not begin to get into.

"So, you can go wherever you like? To hunt vampires, I mean. It doesn't matter you're not his kind?" I was fascinated. I had learned more about demonkind in one hour than years of training.

"Why would I not be able to go where I liked? There has not been a war between demonkind and we respect each other enough not impose foolish rules of ownership. Though most of us do avoid venturing into vampire cities. Shifters are bestial under a full moon, but sensible for the most part. The alpha-male keeps them in good order. As for the vampire, he'll be dealt with soon enough. He's only on our radar because he's been round for so long, nearly a month now. It's unusual for one to stay so long from the safety of a nest. Unusual and worrying considering the timing."

The Wall stretched out for miles and miles. If the shifters Pride surrounded the entire human region

"How big is fairy territory?"

"Not as big as you may think. We are solitary by nature and usually travel in mated pairs. Small families."

"There's nowhere you all get together?"

"I know what you mean. We have two wylds, the Orchard and the Grove." He paused, slanted a look my way. "You're asking a lot of questions. You believe me now? That I am fairy, that you are fairy."

"No," I blurted. "I'm not I'm not."

"You never thought it odd you are able to push your body beyond the normal boundaries of a girl your age?"

I ignored the fact he'd called me a girl, and batted his words away with my hand.

"I'm stronger, yes. And I'm fast, but I always have been." I was stretching the truth. I hadn't always been fast, but crazy fast.

"And that's all?"

My pace slowed to a dazed meander, an aimless weave through the mossy trunks. Swallowing hard, I bit my lip and tasted blood. My hand strayed to where the wound from a bullet graze should mark me and felt nothing. I had always been a quick healer. Not that quick, but quicker than most. I was not like other people because I didn't think or feel the same. I didn't eat right, or feel right when people touched me. I got urges, strange urges to I blinked away the sting in my eyes. My mind took a frightening and obvious leap of intuition. I stopped. Everything in my world vibrated and slid to a canted angle then jerked straight, becoming new and balancing to the truth. I gave myself time for the largest wave of emotion to subside.

"I am a demon," I said slowly, testing the words. "I am fairy."

The world didn't end. No one gasped or cried out, and there was nothing to suggest anything was wrong anywhere else in the world in that moment. My entire perception and understanding of everything was shifting into a new alignment, but that did not affect anything or anyone but me. My eyes were drawn to Breandan's face. We stared at each other. Over the worst of my freak out, I had decided to make everything his fault, and I wondered what part of him to hit first.

His expression turned from wary to amused. "See, you're not surprised. You knew you were different."

I ducked my head to let my hair fall forward and cover my face. "I wish I'd reacted with hysteria now, like stabbed you with a stick and run screaming."

Lips curving he shook his head once. "You're taking this well," he explained.

"Better than we'd hoped for." I opened my mouth to ask who this "we" was he kept referring to, but he kept on talking. "The world has changed with demons out in the open and the fact you are training to be-" His expression hardened briefly. "Your reaction is not what I expected, good, but unexpected."

"What did you think I would do?"

He shrugged. "Violence."

The word described how I would have expected to react, but I didn't feel aggressive. I was exhausted, confused and a little giddy. Maybe I was having a vivid dream, or an outer body experience. "Give me longer, I'm working up to it."

"Do you want to talk about it? That helps females."

His eyes fell from mine as the violence he was waiting for seeped through my calm and poisoned my voice. "No." I threw the word at him with the force of an accusation.

"I'm sorry."

I narrowed my eyes. "You need to work on the whole speaking plainly thing."

"The awakening was painful for you." His mouth twisted around the word. "Your nature should not have been released so crudely without you knowing what you truly are. It may seem like I'm being cruel with my words, but we don't have a lot of time and now you have broken the spell you will find it harder to conceal what you are."

It was like he was speaking dead languages to me. One minute, I understood and followed his train of thought, the next I was being dunked head first into the sea when I'd thought I was standing in a field.

"You're not making any sense. You talk like I already know what you're referring to. And I don't."

"Your true form was concealed, a powerful casting. It suppressed and hid your fairy nature to keep you safe."

I bit my lip. "I really am a fairy too?"

"What else would you be?"

I stopped, and my fingers curled under into fists. "You called me a demon girl. I could be a shifter, or have goblin blood or be a witch." I sniffled. Unattractive, but needed since my nose was running. I was still trying not to cry, and the stinging pressure had to be released somehow.

My voice was muffled and my nose felt thick. "They all look human too."

"Oh, Rae. You look like a human because of your glamour."