Blood Faerie - India Drummond Page 0,1

human ran along the circular track around the park. The water of the River Tay lapped gently against its banks. Cars crossed the Old Bridge.

Eilidh whispered to the night. A’shalei tedrecht. Nothing. It was risky, casting with another of her race nearby, perhaps even watching, and her ability was weak. But the scent had dissipated. It had led her this way and then disappeared. She doubted the traffic alone could have so completely obscured the scent.

Walking across the green to the water’s edge, Eilidh could not resist the pull that drew her eyes to the hills. Beyond them lay the kingdom that had cast her out. The order had been “kill on sight.” It would never be lifted. The fae did not forgive or forget. Her crime was in her blood, and there could be no restitution.

She pulled the hood to cover the long, twisted points of her ears and headed back to St Paul’s. The crumbling church had been her home for nearly a quarter of a century. Townspeople wanted it torn down. Developers wanted it turned into a wine bar or an art museum. Eilidh wanted a place where she could watch. She would have her way, and the humans would never understand why all their plans fell through. She might feel sorry for them if she cared, but she did not.

Blue lights flashed into her sensitive silver-green eyes. She cut through Mill Wynd, slithering along two-hundred-year-old stone walls to watch the commotion below. Men in bright yellow jackets stood in groups of two and three, behind a cordon they’d placed around the body. Eilidh listened to their chatter with curiosity. She caught words like “butcher”, which confused her. No meat-seller had done this. Could they not recognise evil when they saw it so plainly manifested?

She was dismayed that they could not smell what she had tracked, but at the same time, relief filled her. Whatever had done this was not of their world, and they would not have the means to deal with it. For them to try to hunt this thing would only mean many human deaths. In theory, Eilidh did not mind human deaths any more than she regretted the death of the lamb whose skin she wore on her feet, but she did not like the idea of a predator in her city, feeding on innocence, killing to nourish darkness.

It had been twenty-five years since Eilidh had borne the weight of any responsibility except to feed herself. She was no longer a Watcher. She could ignore it. Easily. The evil might move on. The dark faerie might not return. But even as the thought formed, she knew it was not true. Some twisted creature of her own kind had come into the city to hunt or to steal. The humans could not stop it. Only she could.

She cast her eyes to the north, to the half-mile back where she’d lost the scent. When her gaze returned to the human police, she saw one looking directly at her. She swore. Faith. Slamming her back into the stone, she felt him approach, heard the thunk of his rubber-soled shoes against the concrete as he inched closer. He was wary; she could smell sweat and uncertainty. From the darkness, she turned to face him and raised her chin enough to peer out from under the black hood. A flash of something passed over his face. Something in his expression paralysed her for an instant. Instead of being repelled by her magic, he seemed drawn to it. Worse yet, he saw her eyes.

He hesitated only a moment before he said, “Don’t be afraid, son. I just want to ask you a couple of questions.”

Because she was taller than the average human female and slight of frame, city people often mistook her for a teenaged boy. That she wore a hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans helped the illusion. She slipped away, skirting around the building to a small car park behind her. Rolling to the ground, she darted underneath a squat red vehicle. She hated the stench of machinery. Even after so long in the city, she couldn’t accept the smells that invaded her keen nose on a daily basis. She breathed the word, deny.

His shoes passed quickly, but he paused as though sensing her. Was that possible? She had been a Watcher, and she knew how to track and go unseen. No human could detect her magic, and yet, this one hesitated. His worn black shoes stopped directly