They were completely freaky, and utterly frightening.
Cassie wanted to press tighter to Devon as her skin began to crawl, but she would not reveal her fear to them. She would not give them the satisfaction of knowing that they had unnerved her. She glanced over the rest of the group. They were staring hungrily forth, their eyes as bright and eager as wolves. Cassie met their gazes, not backing down from their ravenous, nerve racking stares.
“Devon.” Zane’s full mouth curved into a half smile, his long fangs flashed in the dim moonlight. Cassie briefly wondered where all the Halflings had disappeared to; they almost would have been handy to have around right now. She had a feeling they would go after this crew with a vengeance.
A cool breeze drifted through the trees, the clicking of their skeletal branches was eerie in the oddly silent night. No one moved as each group sized the other up. “Sleeping with the enemy?” Zane inquired softly.
Devon shifted again, his muscles rippled as he bristled with anger. “You know I won’t let you near her,” he growled.
“Then we have a problem,” Zane said softly. “Their kind kills ours. Their kind was never meant to walk this earth; they are an abomination that should have been eliminated years ago. It is only fate and misfortune that spared a small percentage of them.” Zane’s head tilted to the side as he studied her like a bug, but with an air of confusion. “We cannot continue to allow these creatures to roam the earth.”
Cassie’s eyes widened, her mouth parted slowly. Julian’s hand brushed against her waist, touching reassuringly upon her for a brief moment. “It doesn’t matter what you want Zane. It never has, not to me, not to us, in case you have forgotten. You never ruled over us.”
Zane’s honey eyes narrowed slightly as anger flashed briefly through them. “You think you’re all grown up, but you’re forgetting that you’re playing with the big boys again now.”
“You think that there aren’t enough of us to take you down Zane?”
Zane’s gaze darted disdainfully over everyone. “No.”
Cassie’s pride prickled, her shoulders straightened. She went to step out from around Devon, but Julian grabbed her shoulder, holding her firmly in place. “Stay,” he growled in a low voice.
She turned to glare at him, but he would not meet her gaze as he remained focused upon the strangers still half hidden within the shadows of the forest. Devon subtly backed her up even tighter against Julian. “You know there is a good chance that I can take you, and we will take at least some of you with us. Are you willing to risk losing a few of your cronies?” Devon snarled.
Zane’s mouth quirked in a small smile. “Temper temper Devon, you never learn. You still won’t listen to me, you just do what you want to do, and believe what you want to believe. You would think a half a millennium years might have tempered that tendency a little. It will get you killed one day.”
Cassie bristled over his words. No one was going to take Devon from her. No one. “What do you want Zane?” Julian growled.
“I may want them all dead, like they deserve to be, but we are not here to fight you. Not unless, or until, it becomes necessary.” Zane’s gaze came back to Cassie, his head tilted slightly to the side as he studied her carefully. “Without her, there is no you.”
Devon’s hand snaked back, he seized hold of her arm so fast that she didn’t see him until he had already grasped her. A small gasp of surprise escaped as he pulled her firmly behind him, burying her against him. She blinked in startled surprise at his broad back, the only thing she could see now. Her nose was smashed against him, she could hardly breathe. “You’ll never touch her!” he snapped, his tone so fierce that the hairs on Cassie’s neck stood up at the same time that her blood turned to ice.
A trembling took hold of her; terror began to creep through her. But she was not frightened for herself, or even for her friends right now, she was scared for Devon. Scared that he would snap and do something reckless and dangerous. Frightened that he would do something that she could not stop him for doing. “Devon,” she whispered, her fingers curling into his shirt as if that would stop him from doing something crazy, as if she could hold him back if he went after Zane.
His only acknowledgement of her was a small tightening upon her arm. “Easy Devon,” another murmured from the shadows. “Though Zane is not making it clear, we are not here for that.”
Cassie turned toward the man that had spoken, her eyes widened upon his overwhelming, burly figure. He was by far the largest man she had ever seen, even though he had to be over five hundred years old, and people were shorter back then. She could only imagine what people had thought about him back then as this man was massive! He was well over six and a half feet tall, with shoulders so broad that they blocked out the trees behind him. His legs were the size of full grown tree trunks, his arms nearly as big.
His unruly brown hair curled around his broad, heavily bearded face. Though his hair was brown, his beard was a bright red. His eyes were some strange mixture of his hair and beard, a deep brownish red that shone in the light of the moon. In fact, those eyes looked almost kind, almost impish. Though she knew what he was, and what his presence here meant, she could not envision him being cruel or vicious. In fact, if that hair and beard ever went gray, and despite his massive size, she could easily picture children sitting upon his lap telling him what they wanted for Christmas.
“Then what are you here for?” Devon demanded.
The giant of a man glanced at Zane, disapproval obvious in his gaze. “To make sure the Halflings within this town do not escape, and that they do not become known amongst the world. They’ll endanger us all if they do.”
“We are also here for the girl,” Zane interjected sharply, shooting the giant a dark look. Cassie’s fingers dug uselessly into Devon’s shirt as the rage within him notched up a little. She could not stop him; she would not reach him if he went after them.
“Zane!” the giant hissed, obviously becoming aggravated by his friends hostile attitude.
“Enough Bernard,” Zane ordered briskly. “Devon must know the whole reason why we are here, and what must be done.”
Devon’s one hand was fisted, and though he still held her arm, she was able to twist herself slightly away from his back. His eyes were a fiery red as he glanced toward her before trying to push her behind him again. Before Devon could successfully shove her aside again, she managed to turn and meet Zane’s amused expression head on.