Demon Hunting with a Dixie Deb (5 page)

If Sassy remembered her fairy lore correctly, iron was poisonous to the fae. Once inside the coop there would be no escape.

Hurrying across the little deck, Sassy knocked the saucer off the stand and jerked open the door of the hutch. The fairies swarmed out, shedding thick puffs of fairy dust into the air. The glittering particles blew into Sassy's eyes, climbed up her nose, and coated her throat.

She sneezed. “Oh, my goodness, you're welcome. Now, go away. Shoo. I think I'm allergic.”

The fairies ignored her and twittered around her head like a flock of excited sparrows. Sassy coughed and stepped back. Her right foot slipped off the boards, and she teetered on the edge of the tree stand, arms windmilling. She made a wild grab to keep from falling, her hand closing around the pipe and the mason jar dangling from the bottom of the fairy trap.

“Mother-of-pearl, that was close,” she said, pulling herself back onto the platform.

The glass jar came off in her hand. Sassy stared at the container with a mixture of fascination and revulsion. Fairy goo, she was holding a pot of concentrated fairy goo. She looked inside the container. It was gross and macabre, but she couldn't help it. Like when she was eight years old and she stuck a straight pin in the vinyl pool toy Daddy Joel had bought her.

Curiosity killed more than the cat. Curiosity had killed her inflatable killer whale.

The stuff swirling against the glass was shimmering and viscous, like jellied starlight. Sassy tilted the jar to take a better look. The liquid shot out of the jar and squirted her in the face.

Disoriented and blind, Sassy staggered and fell off the platform, bouncing from branch to branch on the way down. She crashed through the thatched roof of the little hut and landed on the concrete floor.

With a groan, Sassy sat up. She was bruised and battered, she'd bonked her head on a limb as she fell, and there was a lump the size of an orange on her left ankle.

The shed was empty except for a pile of grimy blankets in one corner and a bucket of some kind. Good Lord, the smell was awful, a nauseating combination of sewage, rotten food, and body odor. Surely that bucket wasn't a chamber pot? How medieval.

The interior of the little building was surprisingly well-lit. Glancing down, Sassy realized
she
was the light source. Her body was luminous.

“Oh, dear,” she said. “Maybe I shouldn't have looked in that jar.”

The mound of rags stirred and rose from the floor. Shining eyes blinked at her from beneath a greasy snarl of long black hair.

“What jar, Sweetness and Light?” the man asked with a drunken sneer.

Sassy screamed.

T
he man reeled across the shed and threw himself down beside her. He reeked of sour sweat and worse. He jerked her close and slapped a grimy hand over her mouth. He smelled horrible. Sassy thought she might faint from the stink.

“Shut your yap. She'll hear you.” His words were sluggish. “She don't like noise.” His grip tightened. “Well? If I let go, will you be quiet?”

Sassy nodded and he released her.

“All righty, then.” He propped himself on his elbows, as if sitting up was too much effort. “I was out of it. Didn't realize I had company. She puts something in the food and water.”

“You mean someone's drugged you? That's
awful.
” He was filthy and he
smelled
, but his eyes were beautiful, a deep glowing purple. “You should have them arrested.”

He chuckled. “I'll do worse than that, if I get out of here. You got a name, Lollipop?”

“Sassy Peterson.”

“Peterson, huh? Any relation to Trey?”

“He was my brother. You knew him?”

“We met.” He pushed to a sitting position and gave her a tipsy half bow. “Evan Beck, at your service.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Dunno.” He scratched his black beard. “What day is it?”

“The fifteenth.”

“Of April?”

“Goodness, no. It's the fifteenth of May.”

“Then I've been here more than a month.” He tugged a lock of matted hair. “That's why the old biddy's unhappy with me. The fatted calf ain't fattening up fast enough.”

Sassy stared at him in horror. “You aren't seriously suggesting this person intends to
eat
you.”

“'Fraid so.”

“But
why
?”

He shrugged. “I got in her way.”

“What about your friends . . . your family, won't they be looking for you?”

“I've got a sister, but she thinks I left town.” He pushed a knotted hank of hair out of his eyes and gave her the once-over. “You're a tasty little piece. She must be saving you for dessert. What'd you do to piss her off?”

“I didn't do anything. I fell out of the tree. The roof broke my fall.”

“What the hell were you doing in a tree?”

“Freeing the fairies,” Sassy said. “I opened the cage and let them out.”

Evan jumped up. “You
what
?”

“I had to do something. They were dying.”

“Oh, shit. If there's one thing I hate, it's a goddamn do-gooder.”

“I suppose you would have left them there?”

“Damn straight.”

“You don't mean that.”

“The hell I don't.”

Sassy shook her head. “It's the stress talking. Very understandable, after what you've been through.”

“You don't know shit about me, sugar tits.”

Sassy stiffened. “Don't be vulgar.”

“Cut the crap, prissy britches. You drank the witch's fairy juice. That's why you're lit up like a Christmas tree. Well, you're in the shitter now, babe. The witch don't take kindly to meddlers.”

“I did
not
drink it,” Sassy said, indignant at the suggestion. “The jar came loose and the fairy gunk hit me in the face. It was an accident.”

“You got splooged. That's your story?” Ignoring her gasp of outrage, Evan dumped the contents of the bucket on the floor and turned it upside down.

“Where are you going?” Sassy said.

“Either you broke the spell the old hag put around the shed when you opened the jar, or she didn't bother to shield the roof. I'm out of here.”

“You can't leave me.”

“Oh, yeah? Watch me.”

He hefted his body through the hole in the ceiling and disappeared.

“Come back,” Sassy cried, rolling to her knees.

She froze as a chilling howl shattered the quiet night. Oh, God, it was the thing from the road. It would take more than a few overgrown sticker bushes to keep that nightmare out. Sassy gritted her teeth and dragged herself over to the upended bucket. Ignoring the ring of ooze leaking from underneath the slop jar, she put her hands on the metal bottom and pushed to her feet. The blood rushed to her sore ankle, and she winced in pain.

She was looking up at the ceiling, trying to judge the distance, when Evan stuck his head back through the gap in the straw.

“Shag your ass, Lollipop, unless you wanna get et.”

“I can't. I think I broke my ankle when I fell.”

“You're shitting me.”

“No, I'm not, and stop swearing. I don't like it.”

Evan let loose a blistering stream of foul words in response, and dropped back through the hole.

“Where did you come from, Miss Goody Two-shoes, the moon? You're about to be a Sassy sandwich, and you're bitching about my language. I've met a lot of supers in my time, but you take the prize.”

“Supers? I don't know what you mean.”

There was a loud crash from the direction of the cottage, followed by a grinding snarl.

Evan's head snapped up. “Hear that? That's the witch. Now we're both screwed. No good deed goes unpunished.”

“I don't believe that.”

“You are
such
a Lollipop.”

“How did she catch you?” Sassy asked.

“She tricked me. She was the cutest little granny you ever saw before she broke out in ugly.”

“Cheesy Pete,” Sassy said, remembering her fairy tales. “She's been cursed. That's why she trapped the fairies, to break the spell.”

“Or maybe she likes a glass of fairy juice with her Cheerios.” His teeth flashed white in his dirty, bearded face. “And you drank it. She's gonna love you.”

“I told you, I did not drink the—”

“Whatever.” Evan grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up. He was surprisingly strong. “Get a move on. We're running out of time.”

Sassy grabbed the thatching and tried to pull herself up. Her throbbing ankle made her sick to her stomach and she was uncomfortably aware that her bottom was sticking in Evan's face.

“Oh, my goodness, this is awkward,” Sassy said. “I expect you to be a gentleman and not look up my dress.”

“News flash, Lollipop. I've got more important things on my mind right now than your Tiffany twat. Staying alive, for starters.”

“Tiffany—” Sassy spluttered. “You are the
crudest
man.”

“Babe, this is me being nice. Move it.”

Ignoring her indignant protests, Evan put his hands on Sassy's butt and pushed. She shot through the hole like a cork out of a champagne bottle and belly-flopped onto the roof. The impact jolted her bad ankle. She pressed her face against the scratchy straw, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming.

Evan hoisted himself out of the shed. “See, I was right. The shield doesn't reach the roof. I could have busted out of this shit box weeks ago.”

Sassy lifted her head. She
did
see. A network of shimmering lines surrounded the shed and ended some six feet off the ground. The spell was clearly visible. Why hadn't she seen it before?

It had to be the fairy funk.

“Don't sit there.” Evan yanked Sassy upright, ignoring her cry of pain. “Let's get out of here. And turn down the wattage. You're lit up like a freaking airport runway.”

Evan was right. She was incandescent.

“I don't know how to turn it down,” she said. “Go without me. I can't run anyway—my ankle.”

“Shut it and do what I say before I change my mind. This nobility shit is wearing thin.”

There was a bloodcurdling roar from the far side of the cottage.

“Aw, hell. We're in for it now.” Evan spat. “Here she comes.”

A twisted form cleared the stone wall behind the cottage and barreled toward the storage shed. Slavering with rage, the witch crossed the yard in a broken, shambling lope, body bent and long arms dragging on the ground.

“Thief.” The witch fastened her burning gaze on Sassy. “Dirty, filthy thief.”

Sassy recoiled from the sheer force of the witch's hate and rage.

“It was an accident,” she squeaked. “I swear.”

“Sneak. I'll teach you to steal what's mine.
I'll teach you
.”

“Leave her alone, bitch,” Evan said in a voice loud enough to crack stone. “You've pissed off the wrong demonoid.”

Demonoid? What was he talking about?

To Sassy's astonishment, the earth cracked open and a fountain of sod and dirt vomited forth, burying the witch. Sassy glanced at Evan and received another shock. His body contorted and his clothes split and fell away. Bones cracked, sinews and tendons stretched. He grew in leaps and bounds, turning into a bulky, muscled behemoth, a
naked
eight-foot-tall giant with claws and a set of choppers like an orc. The roof of the hut groaned beneath his weight.

Sassy yelped in surprise and staggered back. Her injured ankle gave way with a sickening crunch. She lost her balance and fell. An enormous hand caught her and she was lifted like a Barbie doll and held, eye level, with Evan's brutish face. He stared at her without recognition, his eyes solid pools of black.

A shriek clawed its way up Sassy's throat.

“Do not scream, Sassy, else you will startle him,” a deep, familiar voice said.

Evan's dark liquid eyes widened, and he whirled with a feral grunt. His hand tightened around Sassy's ribs. Screaming was no longer an option.

“Peace.” The no-name hunk from the bridge stepped from the shadows. He held out his hands, palms up. “Release the woman and I will have no quarrel with you.”

“But I sure as hell will.” The witch popped out of the ground like a mole coming out of its hole. “She's mine. Hand her over, demon boy, or you'll be sorry.”

Evan tossed Sassy aside and sprang off the roof.

“Witch,” he bellowed. “Kill witch.”

The witch and Evan collided with a horrible snarling that faded into the distance.

Sassy rolled onto her back. The stars wheeled overhead and the moon laughed down at her. This morning she'd lived in a world of absolutes, a solid and immutable place. No room existed for such things as fairies, or ghosts, or monsters. This morning had been a lifetime ago. Right now, if someone told her the moon was made of green cheese, she could not, with absolute certainty, refute it.

On the positive side, though her bruised ribs ached, Monster Evan hadn't ripped her in two like a toy in the hands of a destructive child. And she hadn't been eaten by a witch with an insatiable craving for fairy funk . . . yet.

On the not-so-positive side, she was still on top of the roof and she was pretty sure her ankle was broken, because it
hurt.

The shoenapper with the golden eyes bent over her. Somehow, he'd climbed up without making a sound. Probably, he didn't climb at all, Sassy mused, gazing at him through a daze of pain and shock. Probably he beamed himself up, or sprouted wings and flew. Nothing would surprise her at this point.

Except, maybe, if the guy
smiled
; he was a study in solemnity, for goodness' sake.

Better for her peace of mind if he didn't smile, she decided. He was too handsome by far—strong jaw, firm-lipped mouth, and eyes like warm honey.

His brows drew together in disapproval. “Why are you here? I remember with utmost clarity telling you to stay on the bridge.”

Stay on the bridge?
Stay on the bridge?
Oh, no, he didn't.

Sassy balled up her fist and punched him in the nose.