“You can see him?” she asks.
“Six-and-a-half-foot tall Unseelie faerie with black wings?” he asks back. “Sharp claws and an even sharper grin?”
“How?” She steps back.
I grin down at my treacherous wife. “I have taken control of his shadow. Now, he belongs to me.”
He raises his forearms and crosses them over his face and chants a stream of Latin. It’s a spell that protects him from death.
I shake my head. He should be more worried about the magical drain. In a minute, I will render his spells useless.
The sleeves of his jacket fall to reveal leather bracelets carved with similar occult symbols to the ones on Alienor’s ribs. Most center around the planets and the elements, but the ones that catch my attention are those that represent mortality.
The spiral of rebirth, the jagged lines of life and death, the ax of renewal and transformation, the dual visage of Hel, and the key of Hades. He has to be a necromancer.
I stalk toward my prey, the talons on my fingers lengthening to needle-sharp points.
“You can’t touch me.” His voice trembles, implying that I can.
“You touched what belongs to me,” I growl.
“What are you doing?” Alienor asks.
I shoot her a venomous glare. “You will be silent.”
Turning back to the man, I stand at the edge of his magical boundary and raise my hand. The power yields to my claws for a few inches before they meet resistance.
Not yet.
“You see?” His nervous laugh grates on my eardrums. “I’m completely impervious. Ali, stand with me. Necromancers are sovereigns of death. I’ll protect you from this fiend.”
She turns on her heel. “I’ll get my grandma.”
“Then I will kill her, too,” I say.
She pauses to stare at me with wild eyes.
“That’s it, Alienor, stay,” I snarl. “You are about to learn never to consort with other men.”
“Don’t hurt him,” she yells.
The man’s terror mounts and I sway under the onslaught of the power surging into my shadow. Something about the ash tree has boosted my ability to feed on others. I push that thought aside to focus on the soon-to-be-dead man.
“What else did you do with my wife besides touching her?” I snarl.
“Nothing.” He staggers back but freezes at the end of his shadow.
I grin.
“What is this?” His voice rises. “How have you trapped me?”
I step forward, the markings on my chest humming with magic. It has been centuries since I’ve felt so powerful.
Alienor lurches forward, grabs my arm, and tries to burn me with her flames. Her protective locket allows her to attack me, but I cannot touch her. This time, her fire only tickles.
“Wait your turn, my love,” I croon. “When I have finished feeding on this man’s shadow, I will devour yours.”
She releases me with a yelp, and skitters back toward the path.