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“Yes, I had to use a special rune to project here. It has a time limit.”

“How did you know?” I ask, still looking up at him.

“Know?” he asks, his form flickering again.

“That you were… needed?” Fuck. Is that what this is? Do I need him? I certainly needed this conversation, but him? For some reason, I feel like I can be honest with this stranger, and that is so fucking freeing.

“A sense,” he says, his fingers stroking my cheek tenderly.

He fades away, and the icy rain stings my skin. The phantom warmth of his touch is the only evidence he was here.

74

NA BI A-RIAMH

The rune on my hip vanishes as it times out. The burn while it worked was excruciating, and now it had settled into a bone-deep ache. Not all runes are painless, especially not one that sends my consciousness across the realms. I step out of the alcove I ducked into when I felt her distress and stride down the alley, garbage and debris crunching beneath my feet. I press my hand against the runed stone and slam my power into it, knowing that somewhere beyond, I have just made the very air vibrate. Wearily, I lean against the wall and drop my head back. I close my eyes, replaying her words in my head over and over.

He always hunted me.

Would it make her feel better to know that he’s been hunted far more fiercely for the last few months? My lips twitch into a cruel smirk. She never wondered if it was Torin murdering the fae women who looked like her. She must sense that the threat of her past has lessened slightly, which is true in a sense.

A few months ago, Torin made the mistake of getting a little too close to my fae. It was enough to pique my interest, andmy interest can be a very dangerous thing. It took little effort to break into his phone and discover his motive for coming close.

My power caused a minor outage in the Grand Arcane when I realized. Then I began. I started with his friends. The first wailed and pissed himself, begging for his life. He was willing to show me where my prey was hiding, but he failed to realize the true heart of it. I knew where Torin was. No, this was about fear.

I sent the head of the wagging-tongued friend to where Torin was staying at a hotel in the realm of Svarga. I had it served on a platter in place of his meal. His scream could have brought the divine beings back to this plane. He thought money bought him protection, and I enjoyed proving him wrong. No amount of wealth or imagined security could keep him safe from me.

His second friend never saw me coming. One moment, he was alive, and the next, he was dead. I sent Torin this one’s right hand with his signet ring still on his finger. I had it delivered to his safe house in Kunlun Mountain. A few days later, I sent the third’s skin, with his runes still glowing, to Torin’s shack in Buyan. The ears of the fourth were still dripping blood when they arrived at his flat in Mictlan. Now it is finally time to finish the hunt.

A resonating boom presses on my ears. The raróg screeches as it unlocks the gates to Vyraj. I straighten and turn to face the doorway, bowing slightly in deference. This is where my prey reaches the end of his journey. Torin pulled every favor and trick, spending his last credit trying to escape me. It was always futile. He finally realized the same thing all the targets before him had. Death is a mercy compared to me.

The birds sing as I pass through the gates, navigating each step with precision. He made her feel hunted, so I returned the favor tenfold. For every moment of fear he gave her, I gave it back to him. For every friend she never had, I killed one of his. For every nightmare, I conjured worse realities.

I drop the suppression on my power, letting him sense me coming. It is clear the moment he feels me. His body goes rigid, and his muscles twitch as if preparing for flight. He looks around, his eyes sunken and his face gaunt. I walk a little slower. Maybe I should delay this execution. She just told me the whole story. Is this enough retribution? Should I make it last?

He bolts down the street before I can decide. Damn. I stroll after him, watching as he bangs on the doors of the houses, begging for shelter and safety. None open for him. They know better. Never come between the hunter and their prey.

He turns to face me, throwing up his hand. A spell circle forms around him, flickering as he tries to summon some runes to fend me off, but he’s too panicked, too weak. He’s been on the run for weeks. The strength of the caster is just as crucial as the knowledge of runes, and he has nothing left. I’ve made sure of that.

He trips as he tries to get away and falls, scraping his hands and knees raw as he tries to crawl away. I slow my steps, allowing him the illusion of freedom, only to slam the cage down on him.

“W-Who are you?” he whimpers, the corners of his eyes trembling and magenta flickering in the violet of his irises. “Why are you doing this?”

I slam my boot onto his ankle, shattering it. My lips twitch cruelly as he screams in pain, writhing on the ground. “I considered letting you run some more.” My foot grinds the broken bones in his ankle, forcing the shattered pieces through his skin, and even the firebirds stop singing at his cry.

“I killed someone. I was young and stupid, and I thought I was in love.” I break his other ankle, smirking as his scream becomes a gargled, choking cry of despair. “He knew what I was immediately. He wasn’t fooled by the way I'd braided my hairover my ears to hide the points. He tried to coax my powers out of me.”

Torin’s eyes flicker, and he tries to pull himself away from me, even as his broken bones rip through his Achilles tendon. I let him, the last desperate act of a cowardly male.

“I was desperate. I thought I loved him, and I was so stupid.” He shakes his head as I continue, my voice dangerously soft. The last words he would hear wouldn’t be mine. Her vulnerability and trauma will be his doom. “One night, we went into the woods, and a group of his friends were there.”

I wave my hand, and a rune on my arm glows. A small pocket of space opens above Torin and belches the remains of his friends. Body parts rain down on him as he continues to drag himself across the ground, his hands slipping on the rotting flesh of his former cohorts.

“Show me what you can do, Summer,” I continue. Torin starts to cry. He sobs, begs, and pleads. “I always did what I was told. One of his friends stayed behind.” My steps are measured as I close the distance, my power radiating from me in waves as I remember her eyes when she told me this horror. I should have let him keep running for a century at least, but I doubt that would be enough. “I thought he would punish me, that he would kill me.”

My foot lands on his chest, slamming him down into the cobbled streets, stopping his desperate escape attempt.

“S-She sent you?” He sobs, snot dripping down his face.