Demon Dawn (The Resurrection Chronicles #7) - M.J. Haag , Page 0,1

teeth, rounded ears, and pink skin. Or was he looking for something else?

Inwardly, I cringed and hurried to answer so he’d go away.

“No. I still have them all.” I reached back to touch the feathered ends sticking from my quiver.

He grunted.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you.”

He repeated his previous grunt, and I started moving again before he could come up with something else to say.

The fey loved talking to women. Like they would cut off their grey, pointed ear kind of love. I found their intensity a little disturbing, but they weren’t bad. Not really. Even if they were constantly trying to talk to me, they respected when I said no to something. Well, most of them did.

The sun rose higher as I continued pacing back and forth on my section of the wall. Tolerance, once a small suburb hidden in the Missouri trees just outside of Warrensburg, was far enough out that the infected still roaming Warrensburg didn’t always hear us. But we’d never gone this long without attracting attention, especially with the wall’s lights flooding the sky at night.

Near midday, I saw a fey farther along on the wall, scrutinizing his section of trees. I followed his gaze and saw movement. My hand automatically flew back for an arrow as another fey stepped from the trees and shook his head.

Since the fey had returned from Tenacity, the other fortress-like camp only a few miles away, my presence on the wall wasn’t required. Not that it ever had been. But after the breach, the fey had put more emphasis on having men patrolling outside the walls for unusual activity. Unfortunately, the only thing unusual at the moment was the complete absence of infected.

Giving up on finding something to shoot at, I waved to the fey on the wall and headed for the ladder. The fey waved back, jogging toward my section as I descended. I dropped the last three rungs so he wouldn’t jump to the ground and try helping me down. The fey liked touching women more than they liked talking to them. But only with permission. They didn’t take what wasn’t offered.

Unlike human men.

I immediately shook off the thought and started home.

My shoes crunched on the fresh layer of snow that now covered all traces of what had happened only a few days ago. The carnage had been severe. More so because the humans from Whiteman’s military base had been here as a result of a breach at the base. Maybe that was why the infected weren’t outside our walls now. Maybe they were checking out Tenacity, the new walled-in location for Whiteman’s survivors.

A group of nearby fey caught my attention. They were surrounding a woman, trying to coax some conversation out of her. Based on the way she was glancing around as if looking for a route of escape, she didn’t seem to enjoy the attention. Between that reaction and the scowling fey standing just off to one side, she had to be one of the few Whiteman survivors who’d decided to stay. If I had to guess, she was assigned to live with the scowling fey but wasn’t interested in being his valentine. And, he didn’t like seeing the other fey swarm his roommate.

She saw me and waved.

“Brenna,” she called, wedging her way through the wall of muscle to hurry in my direction.

I begrudgingly slowed to wait for her. It was no mystery how she knew my name, but I didn’t know hers. As the girl with the bow who liked to guard the wall, I kind of stuck out in this very fey dominated community that liked to shelter women. Besides, the fey talked. A lot. Especially about their favorite things. Women and women’s parts.

All but one of her admirers scattered to find other prey. Thankfully, that prey was never me. As a minor, I was off limits to them. It didn’t matter that my eighteenth birthday was only a few weeks away.

“Hey,” she said, nearing me. “I’m Cheri. Would you know where I can find Hannah?”

“Sure.” I gave her the house number.

Cheri waved, ducked her head, and started walking. If she thought keeping her head down would keep the fey away, she was in for some disappointment. I’d no sooner had the thought when a fey stepped out from between two houses to intercept her.

I shook my head and continued home. It still felt weird thinking of my family’s assigned house as home. There were pictures of another family in