45

Luc Zelsor and the Fox Tail

Luc leaned back against the large wooden door. He waited there with his arms folded until the human came out.

Dear little Violet pushed the door open, peeking out at the night like a timid bird. Fairy blood soaked her fingers, glistening in the moonlight as she crept from the cathedral. Her feet were still bare like they’d been the day before. She closed the door softly behind her without looking back at it.

“Did he make it?” Luc asked, making her jump. Her rhythms fell all over the place as she whirled. She looked like she might run, but instead, she blinked at him.

She shook her head a little.

Luc’s jaw tightened. He tried not to growl as he ripped the cathedral door back open and muttered, “Fool.”

He marched in to where Mor lay on the dirty wooden floor. Mor’s muscled body was very much dead, and Luc sighed.

What sort of elite Shadow Fairy couldn’t avoid being stabbed by a human?

Luc unearthed his necklace from his shirt. He scowled as he tore one of the fox tails from his throat, shaking his head as he dropped to a knee and held it firmly against Mor’s lifeless chest.

The cathedral doors squeaked. Luc could hear the human trailing in behind him.

A dark breeze flitted through the lobby. Wax candles shook upon their shelves, and loose papers took off in flight. The fox tail dissolved, the fur splitting away.

Luc rose again. He took one last look at Mor Trisencor.

Five left.

He turned back to Violet.

“Haley Whitefield,” he said, and she stiffened. “You are never going to tell him that I came in here and did this,” he commanded.

She didn’t respond, but her attention said enough.

Luc released a heavy breath. He pulled up his sleeves and took hold of Violet’s head with his bare palm, leaning around to whisper against her opposite ear. She gasped as he told her a secret.

The nine tailed fox dropped the human and headed for the door. The cool night rushed over him as he stepped outside, and he pulled up the hood of his scent-concealing jacket.

“You’re cruel.” Violet’s small voice followed him.

Luc looked out at the moonlight and breathed in a deep lungful of human realm air.

“I know,” he said.

He walked into the shadows of the night. This time, he did not come back.