What does that even mean—fae?

  Another light gust of wind blew through the rose bushes, making the leaves shudder. The loose strains of hair that didn’t quite make it into Soraya’s ponytail tickled the edges of her numb face. Her eyes focused on a pink bud that swayed in the wind, some of its petals shaking loose and whisked away on phantom hands.

  Soraya wasn’t all too familiar with the folklore of fairies, let alone fae. Were they the same thing—fae, and fairies? What were their qualities? Were they different from humans? Judging from Jesmine’s story, they didn’t sound all that different, yet the few she mentioned had treated her like she was different. Like she was nothing.

  Her blood had been boiling when she heard what those psychopaths had done to her friend, but it was quickly replaced with dark satisfaction to hear they were brutally killed. Soraya might have been disturbed by her own visceral reaction to their deaths, but it was quickly overshadowed by her all-consuming thoughts of where she stood in all of it.

  And then there was the whole issue with Ahvi…

  Before her mind could spiral into a whirlwind, she grappled and tucked all of her questions, her anger, her fears and pushed them to the back of her mind as she focused on Jesmine.

  “Are you okay?” That was the only thing that mattered at that moment. Even the demon spawn and the frog monsters took a momentary backseat as she assessed her friend.

  Jesmine gave her a lopsided grin. “You know me—I’ve been in worst situations before.”

  Soraya wasn’t sure that was true, especially since neither of them really knew how much danger Jesmine had been in before her hookups showed up. If they hadn’t come when they did, what would have happened to Jesmine?

  “And” Jesmine continued, “if Delilah were here—“She shook her head, “They’d all be six feet under right now. So that’s how I know this isn’t too bad if I can imagine her handling them.”

  Soraya huffed a disbelieving laugh. “She would know what to do at least. I wish she were here for this.”

  Jesmine smiled crookedly before she changed the subject back to Soraya. “And what about you? From what I’m gathering, you’ve been in worse spots than me this past week.” Her grin faded. “What’s your side of things? And as a side note—if you still want to find Ahvi, I’m okay with it—but she has been lying to us. I do think she can give us a more in-depth run down on what exactly is going on. Or—” She shrugs, “It could be because of her that we’re in this mess. Who knows?”

  Soraya clenched her jaw, deep in thought. “I don’t know what—”

  Before she could continue, a sound had her halting mid-sentence. The splashing of the fountain suddenly too loud in her ears. The dark green bushes around her whispered on a soft wind that grazed past her cheeks. But Soraya knew it wasn’t the shaking leaves that had her hair rising. She couldn’t place it, but she was sure that once the wind passed, she’d hear it again…a sound that didn’t belong to the garden.

  “Soraya?” Jesmine asked, confused.

  Soraya shushed her. Her gaze jerked to the street, then to the back gate of the college. Nothing. The sound of the rustling leaves from the bushes and trees flurried around her as another stronger gust of wind blew through the garden.

  But the sound—it was growing louder than the wind.

  It sounded like…leather. Leather stretching and snapping then silence until it repeated. As it grew louder and louder, she realized it reminded her of the flapping of wings.

  Soraya’s eyes widened. She snapped her face up toward the graying sky of dawn.

  Too late.

  A hulking silhouette dropped from the sky, right on top of them.

  Without thinking, Soraya lunged for Jesmine, shoving her to the ground as something swooped over them. Wood snapped, and leaves exploded around them, raining down like confetti.

  When she looked up, the rose bush they had been crouching behind lay torn in half. Leaves and rose petals twirled around them, and through the fluttering hues of greens and shades of pink and orange, she spotted a wide-brimmed hat. The demon from the apartment stood at the edge of the rose bed. Just mere feet ahead of them.

  Spitting out rose petals, Jesmine shouted, “It can fucking fly too!?”

  “Get up!” Soraya yelled as the thing watched them, its red eyes alight with sick satisfaction to see them scrambling away from it.

  As it gave them time to scramble away from it.

  As they both jumped from the ground and started running toward the steps to the street they entered, the creature finally moved. With measured steps, it made its way to them, not even bothering to give chase as it trailed slowly behind.

  Soraya’s mind was going a mile a minute as she tried to plan out their escape route. Her eyes darted to the digital screen on the metro platform. The train they were waiting for was going to take three minutes to arrive—but by then it would be too late. Plus, what good would it do them if that thing saw them broad in the first place and it followed? They would just be trapped in a very small space with a very ugly, very massive monster.

  Cursing, she knew their best bet would be to head back onto the college grounds and lose it somewhere between all the buildings. Luckily there were a lot of places to hide if you knew where to look.

  Soraya glanced over her shoulder to mark the grotesque figure’s progress behind them. They put some distance between them and it, but…

  Why wasn’t it chasing them?

  Before Soraya could understand its intentions—just as they sprinted around the edge of the rose bed onto the concrete path—Jesmine threw out an arm across her chest, halting her from advancing toward the steps.

  Snapping her attention back to the path in front of them, Soraya watched as a frog monster streaked out from behind the sign to their left and blocked their exit at the top of the steps. Not a second later, another large frog monster ambled out from the shadows to the right, joining the first at the top of the steps to completely seal them off from their escape.

  Two pairs of milky, bulbous eyes locked onto Soraya and Jesmine. Hissing sounds escaped their mouth as the creatures took one calculated step down, their muscles rippling under the patchwork of mottled green hides. Their lipless mouths gaped, revealing rows of their sharp, dagger-like teeth, dripping with purple slime.

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  Soraya and Jesmine watched for one horrifying second as the purple slime dripped from their fangs. Splattering on the steps with a searing sizzle—burning through the concrete.

  “Haven’t seen them do that before,” Jesmine said tightly.

  Soraya gritted her teeth. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

  Pulling Jesmine’s arm, Soraya veered in the other direction, and they both started sprinting to the fountain. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the winged demon looming motionless, leathered wings arched high over its head.

  Its stillness made every instinct inside her scream to stop and take a look around them.

  Not a good sign. Not at all. Was it herding them deeper into the grounds—was it a trap? Warning bells went off in Soraya’s head.

  Pulling on the strap of Jesmine’s pack, Soraya jerked her to a stop at the edge of the circular path that wrapped around the giant fountain.

  Soraya whipped her head around just in time to see the winged demon join the frog monsters at the base of the steps. The hunched frogs now flanking the creature one step behind either side of its wings. Slightly bent forward, the frogs still loomed slightly taller than the winged devil.

  Soraya quickly examined their motionless, massive silhouettes when she heard Jesmine curse. Head whipping behind them, her heart dropped as she spotted more frog monsters lumbering out of the rose beds, cutting them off from either path around the fountain.

  They were cornered.

  Jesmine slung off her pack. “Welp, so much for trying to run.”

  Soraya watched as the winged demon made its slow approach toward them. Mind churning, she heard the zipper of Jesmine’s bag hiss open as she tried to find an escape.

  Even if they tried to run off diagonally through the garden, she did not doubt that they would overtake them in seconds. She recalled the lightning speed at which the decaying demon could move. Adding wings on top of its speed… simply wasn’t fair. There was no way they could outrun it, and she’d seen the frog monsters run frighteningly fast themselves.

  They were at a huge physical disadvantage.

  Soraya knew there would be no more running.

  Plus, Jesmine wasn’t so much a runner. She preferred to stand and fight, and, in this case, they had no choice. Survival would be another matter entirely.

  Soraya looked sideways at her friend, who was now standing with her feet braced apart, staring straight ahead at the demon who had stopped halfway down the path—sizing them up.

  Its blood-red eyes lingered on Jesmine as its lips split open on a sinister smile, revealing its jagged rotten teeth. From the deliberate slow once-over it gave Jesmine, it was clear it had a score to settle with her—but it was being cautious this time around.

  Both good and bad.

  Good—if the demon was too cautious, it would allow them enough time to slip by and find a door…and if they were lucky, the door would lead them to that other world and give them a quick escape.

  Bad—it marked Jesmine as the new target, and Soraya didn’t know the extent of the creature’s intelligence or what it had planned. It had, after all, trapped them, and now it would appear they were at its mercy. And the frog-monsters were clearly following the winged demon’s lead. Just how intelligent the frog monsters were, Soraya didn’t know, but it was the winged one that had her guts twisting up with terror at what it could do. So the question became…were they fast enough to outmaneuver it until they could reach a door? And if they did manage to jump into another world, what then?

  Then another thought struck her, and she begrudgingly had to consider it.

  If she could find one of the “men” she’d seen in the past week, she could beg for their help. Though it was clear they were dangerous individuals, they also never attacked her outright. And she’d seen some of them fight these creatures, but that didn’t mean they would protect her and Jesmine. It would be a gamble.

  Better than nothing, Soraya bitterly concluded.

  Jesmine cocked her gun before pulling out a second and offering it to Soraya. She realized it was her gun—the one she thought she’d left behind at the apartment.

  Soraya reached out her hand to silently accept the weapon. When she lifted her arm, her chest spiked with pain from where the winged demon had landed its kick from earlier. A kick that should by all means put her in the hospital. But just like the cuts on her arm, her bones felt mended, stronger and all that was left was a deep ache.

  It was something she didn’t want to fully understand. But glad her newfound freakish healing abilities were saving her ass at the moment.

  A dark whispered thought slithered unchecked into her mind. If that thing had kicked Jesmine, that single blow would have killed her.

  Soraya closed her eyes and slowly exhaled to steady her pounding heart. She barely felt the wind grazing past her cheek or heard the fountain splashing beside her.

  All she could feel at that moment was a greater force closing in around her—as it had finally caught up after years of being one step behind her.

  She opened her eyes and found Jesmine already watching her. It was five against two…monsters vs human—versus whatever Soraya was becoming.

  “You got the right?” She asked Jesmine.

  “As long as you got the left,” she grinned before adding on, “Could really use a car right about now.”

  The winged demon cocked its head, listening to them speak.

  Soraya murmured, “Run to the museum.” It was the closest door available. “And pray like hell my plan works.”

  Jesmine nodded. “Eyes to the side, then center mass?”

  Soraya nodded sharply. They will shoot out the frog creature’s eyes; then both aim for the winged demons in hopes one of them can land a shot and slow it down to give them enough time to run.

  “One,” Soraya said.

  They pivoted back-to-back. Twin gunshots rang out in the quiet rose garden, and the monsters behind the winged devil screeched with fury. Milky eyes burst, and greenish slime splattered the concrete at the same time the winged demon shielded itself with its leathery wings.

  Neither Soraya nor Jesmine waited to see if they landed a shot on the demon as they both spun and ran up and over the lip of the fountain. They splashed through the shallow basin—just as the remaining frog monsters charged.

  Dodging around the fountain’s central spire, they aimed at the charging creatures and shot blindly.

  More screeches erupted into the rosy dawn sky.

  Soraya reached the far edge of the fountain first, Jesmine right behind her. Jumping from the fountain’s rim, wet shoes hitting concrete, they ran for the gate leading out the back way of the rose garden toward the science center when Soraya heard the beating of wings behind them.

  “Duck!” Soraya shouted.

  Jesmine hit the sidewalk instantly. The demon’s talons grazed the air where their heads had been.

  Soraya snapped her gaze up in time to see the creature fly up and turn sharply. Its great wings whispered over the wind as they beat to keep it in place. Its eyes narrowed down on them with a gruesome, promising smile on its face before it tipped its head back, and a guttural, hissing laugh emanated from deep in its throat.

  It was toying with them.

  Without warning, it dove again. Straight toward them.

  Soraya was quick on the trigger as she took aim and fired off several more rounds, deterring the creature as it flew around them, disappearing behind the fountain and out of her range.

  Soraya’s gun clicked, and she cursed. No more bullets left.

  “Move!” She yanked Jesmine up as her friend fiddled with her gun.

  “Fuck! It’s jammed!” Jesmine shouted.

  Closing in behind them, loud shrieks and pounding flesh followed them as they raced through the gate.

  They were halfway across the street separating the museum from the garden when the beating of wings sounded behind them.

  Soraya tensed to throw Jesmine to the ground—then pain erupted on her right-hand side. She flew before hitting the ground and rolling across the asphalt.

  Biting back the pain, she quickly scanned the street to locate Jesmine…but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  “Jesmine!”

  She heard a strangled shout and looked up.

  Her heart dropped. There—dangling from the demon’s grip way up high—Jesmine hung by her throat, white sneakers glowing faintly against the dawn.

  Time slowed down.

  All Soraya could do was watch as the winged devil, with its eyes solely on Jesmine, brought back its clawed-tipped hand. While the monster around her, maws wide open, teeth gleaming with venom, surged for her.

  At that moment, an energy deep within Soraya’s chest ignited—burning itself outward.

  Soraya opened her mouth to scream.

  Then world erupted.