Demon Day Penelope Fletcher (which ebook reader TXT) 📖

“How long ago were theytaken?” Breandan asked.

“Four days,” Alec whisperedand hung his head.

“And you haven’t tried tobreak them out before now?” I questioned incredulously.

When Maeve had been taken by theClerics she had been gone less than a day. She had suffered attheir hands, and I dreaded to think what the shifters Alec referredto were being put through. I did not like thinking the Sect capableof such horrors, but my eyes had been opened to the real worldaround me. I had to accept certain things, no matter how much Idisliked them.

Both Alec and Breandan raised aneyebrow at me. “We tried to breach the Wall but didn’t come close.Humans have guns and silver bullets to the chest kill. We lost twomales trying to dig our way under.”

With a flash, I remembered the screamsof were-cats the morning before I had run in the forest and metBreandan. How odd something I had brushed off as demons battlingover territory was something much simpler and purer. I feltashamed. So much of what I had been taught by the Sect waswrong.

The Sect was the single greatestauthority the survivors of humankind looked to for guidance andprotection. During the Rupture so many were slaughtered and onlythose who were strong were able to defend themselves. Many fled theinner cities, knowing it was only a matter of time before a shiftersniffed you out or a vampire caught the smell of your female’smenstrual cycle. Nowhere with a dense population was safe until thethree men and five women, Priests who had founded the Sect, erectedthe Wall and set the strongest survivors they could find asguardians. They had become determined to fight off any threat totheir continued survival. Many sought sanctuary with these bravefew who seemed to be able to hold their own and after a while thatwas simply the way it was. The Priests told us what to do and wedid it. They told us what to think, what to eat, what to say, andin return they kept us safe from the demons beyond thewall.

That had all changed for me, my eyeshad been opened and nothing was ever as black and white as itseemed.

“I heard you,” I confessed“I would wake up and hear you calling to them.”

Alec gave me a half-hearted smile.“Wherever they are they’re underground and more than likely inhuman form. They would have returned the call if they had heard usand could respond.” He sounded desolate so I touched his armbriefly.

“Is that why you were inthe forest when I first met you? So close to the Wall?”

He nodded. “We’ve been trying to finda weakness in their defenses for days. When I saw you two I wascurious, but couldn’t hang around to talk since I was supposed tobe monitoring Cleric activity.” He grinned. “Had I known who youwere I would have tailed you until I was sure you’d help us.” Heclicked his fingers. “Oh, and I almost forgot. A vampire has beenscented several times. Do you know anything about that? Byron wasworried about us running the territory alone if we had abloodsucker to worry about.”

Awkward.

Breandan did not say a word, andneither did I.

“I had more than enoughproblems yesterday,” I said, strained. “I think if anything elsehad happened I would have gone crazy.” Yes, I had completelyignored his question about Tomas, but really, how would I explainit?

Breandan snorted. “Pure bloodedfairies do not go ‘crazy’.”

“One word;Devlin.”

“He is evil notinsane.”

“Say-so,” I mumbled. “Blackmagic and human sacrifice seems pretty crazy to me.”

His ears twitched and he rubbed asmall circle into my palm with his thumb. “Not everything is asblack and white as it seems.”

“I second that,” Alec addedbefore turning his attention to the path ahead of us. Though it wasdark, I saw many figures moving about. The shifters were awake togreet the dawn.

Conall appeared and stood in front ofus, his eyes flicked between Breandan and me curiously. After amoments inspection he seemed satisfied and his scowl smoothed whenhe noted the circlet on my brow.

Breandan said, “Today we discuss howto help Byron.”

My brother crossed his arms over hischest and tilted his chin up. “Agreed.”

I looked between them eyeing eachother up and down. Okay…. Why were they acting so twitchy aroundeach other? Bloody melodramatic fairies. “I’m going with Alec.” Itook off when Breandan opened his mouth to object.

Brawling tiger cubs bumbled past me,growling at each other, and a few shifter-kids in human form dartedpast; heckling wildly and egging them on. A petite lynx the colourof honey darted between my legs, and I tripped, trying not to stepon any tails including my own. I clutched it in my palm and trodlightly, keeping my wings tight to my back.

“Watch out,” Alec warnedfrom behind me and yanked on the end of my hair to pull me out theway when two much older tigers lunged past; half a deer carcassclamped in their jaws as they swiped at each other with paws thecircumference of my face.

Bewildered, I looked up at him withwide eyes. “Can I hang with you today?” I asked and pointed over myshoulder in the direction I knew Breandan was in. “They’re actingweird and I’m not into it.” I scratched my knee where the hem of myskirt rested. “And if you could show me where I could bargain forsome decent clothes I’d owe you big time.”

“Bargain?”

“Well I don’t have anycoin; it doesn’t work like that at Temple. Everything I needed wasprovided for me by the Sect. I have no idea if Conall hasany.”

I rubbed my nose, self-conscious aboutthe sudden realization I had no way to feed or clothe myself. Wherewould I sleep? When I was at the fairy Wyld everything had beendone for me, but I’d been so out of it I hadn’t thought to ask ifanything belonged to me. Where did Breandan sleep when he wasthere? After all, it was his home.

“I guess it would be ConallI asked since he’s the head of my family,” I said slowly. “But likeI said he’s acting weird, and I’ve had enough of the intenseconversations he loves dragging me into. For now.”

Alec laughed. “I can get you some newclothes. We don’t use coin