1
The shiny black nose of a fox appears through her door before the rest of it steps tentatively across the wooden floor to where she’s cooking. A pile of children’s clothes lie discarded in a corner of the room. The fox knows what she is cooking and holds back a shudder. There are some things even foxes know better than to eat.Amy Kuivalainen
2
You don’t let many people behind that wall of yours do you?” “No I don’t because basically people are shit. They have let me down over and over so now I choose them very carefully.”“ You have let Yvan in, ” he pointed out. “Yvan’s different.Amy Kuivalainen
3
Tuoni takes her by the shoulders and turns her to face him. “Remember this Anya. Dreams have power; they show old truths you are too blind to see on waking. They make you remember memories that are lost in the blood flowing through your veins. Remember her magic. Remember what she did when you wake, ” he says before he pushes her off the cliff.Amy Kuivalainen
4
The trail through the pines and beech trees was bright red. He was surprised the other human couldn’t see it. She was walking slowly, not far from him. He could smell the moisture on her hot skin. She hadn’t noticed his presence yet. She stopped in her tracks and he moved silently behind a cluster of moss-covered rocks. She turned and he saw her face. Oh no not her…he thought before turning and bolting back the way he came.Amy Kuivalainen
5
He felt the magic pouring through his body. The tattoo twitched and with a shout of pain Vasilli could not hold in, the creature pulled itself from his body. It flopped, bloody as a newborn onto the ground and stretched its wings. It started to cry and grew to the size of a horse before it turned to Vasilli and lowered itself in a bow. “How may I serve, Master?” Its voice rasped through a mouth of venomous fangs.Amy Kuivalainen
6
Squinting in the darkness Anya could just make out a strange curving symbol scratched into the bark. Baba Zosia scored a line through it, disfiguring the symbol. Anya felt something in the air change and give, like the forest had let out a breath it had been holding around them. Something like static pricked the back of her neck as Baba Zosia cut her finger and smeared blood on the tree. The strange symbol melted into the bark, healing the tree to appear like nothing had been carved on it to begin with. Lifting her hands towards the campsite Baba Zosia started to chant softly in the complicated language of the tribe. Magic thrummed through the air, making Anya’s own flare and itch under her skin. She rubbed her arms to stop it. Around her a breeze picked up and the campground, with its tracks in the mud and stains from the fires all melted away until there was nothing but autumn leaf litter and debris in its place. It looked like it hadn’t been disturbed for years. .Amy Kuivalainen
7
Can I have a final request in case I don’t make it?”“ Anything.” “I haven’t been kissed in five years, kiss me Trajan, ” she whispered. “I am so afraid.” Trajan slowly pushed his glasses onto the top of his head and brought his lips softly to hers.Amy Kuivalainen
8
Cerise! Come and kiss me, you red haired harpy, ” Izrayl bellowed. She smiled and moved to kiss his stubbly cheek. He held her tight and squeezed. “How goes it Old Dog, ” Cerise said fondly to her temporary captor.“ Still alive, ” he grinned salaciously at her. “And still young enough to learn some new tricks if you are the one doing the teaching.”“ Try it and I will neuter you, ” Cerise threatened and tugged on his braid. “You dogs, all you think of is hunting, fighting and fucking.”“ What else is there?” Izrayl growled in the back of his throat and raised an eyebrow at her suggestively.Amy Kuivalainen
9
Oh Jesus, oh Zeus, oh Odin, ” Anya dropped the stick and started shaking. “Oh shit.” The bird spread out its wings, which slowly transformed back into arms and the rest followed until it was a man once more.Amy Kuivalainen
10
Oh, and Aramis? There is something else about the girl that you should know.”“ Yes?”“ She is of Yanka’s blood line. That won’t be an issue for you will it?”“ No sir.” Aramis hung up the phone quickly and tried not to drop it as he put it in his coat. His hands trembled as he tried to maintain a cool, professional façade. Yanka’s blood. He had to find her and fast.Amy Kuivalainen
11
I don’t naturally look like this. I have to feed in order to have the power to hold it.”“ Feed on what exactly?” Please don’t say blood, please don’t say blood, she whispered in her mind.“ Death, ” Trajan answered. Anya didn’t know if that was better or worse.Amy Kuivalainen