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I let out a shaky sigh I’d been feeling the sa Eater Here we have peat and we have dark hungerand I can shs perched vultures "Scavengers of the dead"

Falling silent, I prayed they hadn’t been feasting on Chase’s remains We had to find him, and the faster the better There was no real path, but the grass seemed trampled in one direction

I pointed "There, we follow that trail"

Delilah turned to ht be able to catch his scent and lead us"

"Please, if it will help" I hadn’t thought about that, but it made sense And she knew Chase’s scent

As I watched, an to shimmer and shift It looked terribly painful, but she always insisted it wasn’t, as long as she didn’t rush through the shifting And then, as hands and feet and ars, as her body stretched and transformed, and her beautiful face becaain at how different the three of us were Well, four--if you counted Arial, Delilah’s tho had died at birth

Within a couple of e black panther stood there, a jeweled collar around her neck Those were her clothes, I knew, plus being theto the Autu her head I loved cats, and whether she was tabby or panther, I always cuddled my sister when she was in cat for purr as I scratched behind her ears, and, impulsively, I leaned over and kissed her head She looked up, her glowing e into ave a happy growl I laughed, then let out a long sigh

"Find Chase, Delilah" It wasn’t always easy to keep her on track when she was in cat forlanced from side to side, then raised her head to the air and inhaled deeply She sniffed, her nose twitching, and then, with a low huff, she swung her head atbehind, and we headed into the len Up ahead, I could e rock faces, one on either side, that opened into a narrow channel A ravine between two cliffs

We loped along, she watching her speed so I could keep up, and I pacing myself I had far more stamina than any FBH, but I couldn’t match her speed when she was in panther forlanced around nervously Trees lined the top of the ravine on either side and I couldn’t pierce the veil of vegetation And with theup in coluround Luckily the ravine was short, soon opening up ahead It looked like it led into deep woods, and I slowed, calling to Delilah to return to y

Holy hell

We were entering the realod Not evil, but wild--soy was overwhel partner Hernethe wild one Herne, the lord of the forest Herne, with his antlers rising to the sky We were entering his realods were not always pleasant, and ere tomen in male territory

"Is Chase in here? Did he co She sniffed the air, then motioned toward a side path I followed her into the wood, onto the path, wondering ere getting ourselves into

The woodland here was dark and ancient Older than Darkynwyrd, back in Otherworld Older than Thistlewyd Deep This was the ancient forest that had sprung up froy

The silence was deafening, with only the steady sound of water dripping fro The sky vanished--the overhanging trees thick with needles and cones, branches entwining across the path to blot out the sky Everywhere I turned, I s of freshly turned earth

And peat Again, I s Eater It had to be him; he had to be near

Delilah paused, then an to change, and I realized she was turning back into her two-footed shape Soht her attention that she needed to tell me about Or perhaps she just felt ave her a moment to catch her breath, then asked, "What is it? Did you sense so?"

She nodded, and in a low voice whispered, "We’re being followed There’s so behind us"

I slowly turned, cautious,for the unicorn horn Behind us, I could only see the undergrowth through which we’d co But when I let out a slow stream of breath and lowered myself into trance, I could sense someone out there Sood, butto figure out what to do Confront them? If they meant no harm, eren’t they out in the open? Unless they were nervous about anted If they were going to attack us, would we be able to throw the them out?

Delilah waited, ready to follow y of the Moon Mother to channel through my body Her presence was heavy here, too, and I realized that anywhere the wild reigned, I would find her

After the lightning filtered down into my body, I sucked in another deep breath and stepped forward "Show yourself We know you’re there"

Delilah readied her iron knife, wrinkling her nose

A moment later, the bushes parted and out stepped a thin boy He was full Fae, that was obvious, and glorious in his beauty, but he was like no Fae I’d seen before He ht stand on two feet, with two ar Antlers rose from his forehead--a small rack with three tines on each side His eyes were slanted, with the faintest of lids, and wide set to the point ofhis face look top heavy His hair flowed to his butt, rich brown, and he hat looked like torn jeans, cut off at the knees, and no shirt His abs were defined and he was buff, but not heavily azed into his face and realized he was far, far older than ere, but he still seearbled cry, then leaped toward us, landing in a crouch at my feet He reached out to touchpoked by the tips of his antlers Delilah poised to put a stop to hiuttural, and I could barely understand what he was saying, but I knew he’d called me by the Dark Queen’s name

"No I am not Aeval," I started to say, but stopped as Delilah fervently shook her head I paused, realizing he hadn’t understood n of it

"AevalQ’n da dir" And then he snorted, like an ani and crafty He reached out and placed his hand on ers up lanced over at Delilah He , but that was illusion And he looked far stronger than o on the defense, he leaned close and sniffed long and hard at my neck As he nearedof his teeth right behind those closed, full lips

His eyes turned bloodred, and he let out a loud screech and began to dance around me I jumped over to Delilah’s side