Courts and Cabals 2 by G.S. D'Moore (warren buffett book recommendations TXT) 📗

That was Plan A; use the pixie to bring down Cam and take him to her mother. Plan B was to use Saffron’s infiltration abilities, and Plan C . . . well, Plan C was going to be messy, so it was best used as a last resort.

She smiled as she stepped away from the academy and into the realm between realms. There was nothing truly real in this place, just shadows of the mortal realm just beyond its reach. One step could be a foot or a hundred miles. Humans would go mad here if left alone, but the Fae mastered this place eons ago. They bent it to their will and used it for more than just travel from point A to point B. The lower Fae just called it the Land Between, or the Shadow Realm; humans called it a parallel dimension or some other scientific term that failed to grasp the complexity of its true nature. The noble Fae called it all those things, but with their powerful gifts, it had another purpose: this was the Land of the Wild Hunt.

Looking deep inside herself, past the blood bonds she’d called upon to set her strategy into action, Aveena unlocked a wild part of herself. The part of her genetic code that had been passed down from generation to generation as her ancestors stalked malks across the tundra; a part that embodied the hunt. When she did, sensation exploded all around her. The dull, matte space dissolved like someone had dropped a bomb in it, and the veil between this realm and the mortal one grew thinner. She was able to perceive both with greater clarity, and that allowed her to hunt.

One step and she was at the pizza joint. The old shifter was still there, talking with the local police about the incident. She could smell the silver metal that had been around his wrists for some time, but was now removed. She felt the remnants of the bleeding grounds. The ancient dueling space had fled when the human agents exited the domain. The place had a mind of its own, and wouldn’t come again when Aveena called. It knew how to hold a grudge.

She also tasted the creature that had breached the barrier. “Dragonspawn,” she spat.

She knew the half-blooded beasts, and knew they were nothing compared to their full-blooded parents. If she had been at full strength, she could have defeated the half-breed.

More importantly, she caught the whiff of pixie dust. She stepped again, and found the place the knight’s servant had been waiting. Normally, pixies didn’t give off so much dust, but this was where it had felt its master die. The lower Fae were susceptible to their emotions, and this pixie was no different. She was sad, scared, and in a frenzy to find her new master.

Another step and she tracked the pixie to a T intersection. There was no sign of the lesser Fae, but a tow truck was hooking up a beat-up Mercedes to its tow cables. The driver smelled of unwashed flesh and alcohol, but she didn’t care if he drank and drove. She cared about the scent of imp in the car, and matched it to the dark-skinned guard at the bleeding grounds. She was on the right track.

Another step and she skidded to a stop in front of a blazing barrier. It was nothing but embers in the mortal realm, but here, between, it roared and crackled like it was just getting started. She had to take a step back from the outpouring of heat, and glared at the fire. It reeked of Cam and Lilith, and if she wasn’t too busy hating those two with every fiber of her soul, she would have been impressed. She had to step twice to get around the inferno, and a third step took her to the end of a trail in the woods.

“Wards,” she stopped and crouched low as she reentered the mortal realm. The pixie had crossed them, and the magic had dissolved the trail. “Damnit,” she cursed and probed the barrier.

It was weak and rudimentary. Not the work of a great mage. She crossed the threshold in the hopes of picking the trail back up. A few steps into the forest told her that wasn’t going to work. With a sigh, she turned to leave and found herself face-to-face with a robed woman. Technically, it wasn’t face-to-face, it was face-to-tit. The woman was tall.

“How . . .?” Aveena gaped. She hadn’t even heard the woman approach.

She didn’t even see the woman move, but next thing she knew, her jaw blazed with pain and her spine complained as it hammered into bedrock. She coughed as she tried to inhale and got a mouthful of dirt for her trouble. She reached up and confirmed whatever the woman had done had broken her jaw, and when she stood up to face the new threat, she was still a good foot from the edge of the deep furrow her body had created.

“Trap!” her mind screamed and she stepped again just in time.

She saw the violent aftermath of the strike from the safety of the shadow realm. Even here, the ground rumbled from the elbow the robed woman jackhammered into the space Aveena had occupied a quarter second before. That made the noble Fae gulp. The wards might have been weak and rudimentary, but they were indeed a trap.

Despite the instinct to flee, she didn’t even breathe as the earth stilled, and the woman got to her feet. The speed at which she moved had torn the robe from her body. Scaled tits glistened against the moonlight, and the vertical slit of her eyes scanned the area until they came to rest exactly where Aveena was standing. The noble Fae felt a sweat break out across her forehead despite their being no source of heat in the land