Almost Human

Chapter 5

     I awoke to the sound of Killian frantically screaming my name.

     "Rowan! They're coming!" his voice called out from somewhere that seemed to be both strangely close and incredibly far away.

     My eyes flew open and I immediately jumped up and out of the chair. My brain was still cloudy with sleep as I tried to put my boots on and also scan the room for whatever the threat was. I didn't see Killian anywhere. The floating candles had been extinguished, and the only light in the room came from the dying embers in the fireplace.

     "Killian!" I yelled. "Where are you? What's going on?"

     Suddenly, the front door flew open and slammed against the wall. I looked around me for something that I could use as a weapon, but there was nothing– not even a candlestick or fireplace poker.

    I guess my hands will have to do, I thought. They're not going to take me without a fight.

     I steadied my feet and angled my body towards the open door, ready to face the Sluagh head on; however, the faces looking back at me were not the ones that I was expecting. In fact, I was surprised to see that I actually recognized one of them. Despite the fact that part of her body was hidden by a tall fae man with short chestnut hair and gray eyes, I could still make out the snow-white hair and tiny frame of the winter faerie standing just behind him. Duana.

     "Is that the girl?" the fae man turned and asked her. Duana merely nodded in response.

     The faerie turned his attention back to me and held out his hand as if I were a feral beast that he was attempting to tame. "Do not be frightened, girl," he said. When I didn't respond, he took a single step into Killian's flat.

     "Where is Killian?" I asked, and I was surprised at how calm I sounded. "He was just trying to help me. Please don't hurt him."

     The faerie's face remained neutral. "I do not know where the Bastard Prince is."

     Bastard Prince? What is that supposed to mean? My head was beginning to spin, and my eyes kept darting around the flat trying to find an escape route. Unfortunately, I didn't see a single window, and the only door appeared to be the front door, which was currently occupied. Shit.

     "Look, I'll just go, okay?" I said in as innocent a voice as I could muster. "I'll leave and never come back here, I promise. No harm done."

     The faerie took another step towards me, and I instantly balled my fist up in preparation to fight. The man looked down at my clinched hands and did something that I didn't expect: he laughed.

     Large, scary fae or not, that only served to thoroughly piss me off. I could feel a fire begin to burn in the core of my stomach and then, without warning, it spread through the rest of my body like wildfire, igniting every nerve and cell inside of me. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to rip his face off.

     I took a step towards him, prepared to make the first move; however, the moment that I unclenched my hands, all the lights in the room sprang to life again. I risked a glance over at the fireplace and was dumbfounded to see that the embers had been replaced by fresh, burning logs, the flames of which were shooting up the chimney as if someone had poured gasoline on them. The candles had also taken on a different appearance. Where once tiny, orange flames had flickered, purple and black ones had now taken their place, the tips of which were almost high enough to lick the ceiling.

     "I told you she was different, Toryn," Duana said, almost gleefully. The small, winter fae had edged past the man and was only a few feet away from me, her black eyes staring out at me as if she were waiting on me to do another trick.