Excerpt:

I left the party in need of a walk. Rick’s had been closed for a private party… for us. For Paige, Alec, and me. We felt honored. And guilty. But he wouldn’t hear of it as our mother’s tried to pay him for the restaurant and food. He said it was enough of a gift for our Graduation. We had grown up there. Really. We had. It was where I had my birthday dinner every year since I was five. But I needed to get out even if just for a little time.

Especially because I was wearing a dress.

And me and dresses had formally been under the agreement that if I didn’t wear them, they wouldn’t look absolutely hideous on me. But my mother bribed the Dress Lieutenant into sending in one of the new recruits who should have gotten along nicely with me.

It hadn’t.

In fact it revolted against me and tried to murder me in a mess of white and yellow flowers.

Imagine what it took to get me to wear that prom dress.
Wasn’t fun.

I can only handle people for so long, especially the ones who are only being nice to me because they have to. Probably because there was free food involved. The only reason I was forcing myself to be nice to everyone there was because they were giving me money. Yes, I am very easy to bribe.

I started walking the length of the boardwalk, not considering how dark it was getting and that all the drunk tourists and freaks would be coming out from their holes. It didn’t strike me as dangerous. This was Singer. I had grown up here. At the age of ten, I had already mastered the art of sneaking outside my house and going down to the beach by myself. I had no problems then! But, then again, I was now eighteen, and Hawthorn’s words were haunting me, and I knew something was wrong with me.
And I was wearing heels.

So even if I did get attacked by some freakazoid, there was no chance of me running away and getting to safety unless said freakazoid somehow lost a leg along the way. And even then I wasn’t sure if I’d make it.

And as I kept walking, getting further away from the cheesy carnival – style rides and closer to the dark hotels, in entered Mr. Freakazoid.

He stumbled out into my view from the alley, rolling to a stop on the boardwalk. I stepped back but didn’t regain enough common sense to run in the other direction as the black skinny creature with fuzzy features unfolded itself. It gave an eerie chuckle, like fingernails quickly being scraped against a chalkboard, and lumbered forward. I sidestepped its reach, the creature exactly my height, but a quarter my width. It’s head rocked from side to side, trying to find a balance point on its disproportioned body, and chuckled again.

And the voice matched the laugh.

“Lookie! The little Queenie!”

I leapt back again as it staggered forward, its long, ape-like arms swinging out to try to grab me. It’s beady eyes watched me move in their drunken stupor.

“Ooooh! Quick too! Would be fun to play with!” He tried to grab me again, but I jumped away and he staggered sideways. “Like little dolly!”

I started into a run in the opposite direction, and the creature followed me with speed he shouldn’t have possessed for something so drunkenly sounding.

“Silly girl!”

It threw out its long arms, its claws snatching my dress and yanking me off my feet. I pitched to the boardwalk, scraping my arms and legs in the process as I tried to scramble to my feet in a vain attempt to get away. But the creature held tight, tugging at my dress, jerking me closer. He grabbed both of my legs and slid me under him. He put his face up against the back of my neck, and I cringed cowardly as he sniffed me.

“She ate! She ate the food!” The thing cackled and bounced off of me for a moment, leaving me just enough time to crawl away.

I didn’t get too far before he grabbed my dress again, tearing a piece off. But I didn’t stop moving. I kicked my foot out, driving my heel into his arm. He howled in pain and I scrambled forward again, struggling to get to my feet.

Damn those heels!

A strong pair of hands roughly grabbed me and pulled me to my feet, before stepping in front of me.

And if I wasn’t in trouble, I would have hit him for doing so.

“Seth?”

“Later.” His eyes were on the creature, watching it slowly rise to its feet with another cackle. “Start running.”

“No,” I said defiantly.

“Nancy, don’t argue with me. Get away from here. Now.”

I had never seen this side of Seth before, and I had to admit that I liked it. Except I didn’t like how helpless I was looking at that moment. “Not on your life.”

He growled and grabbed my arm. “Then we’re both running. Now!” He started off, pulling me behind him as we went.

But the creature was just as fast and in a few short leaps was actually ahead of us. We slid to a stop and slowly backed away.

“Well, that didn’t go like I’d planned.”

“You think?” I snarled.

He scowled at me for a quick second before turning his attention back to the thing in front of us. The creature had pulled out a knife, the street lights glinting off the translucent blade. “It shouldn’t be out this far,” he said softly.

“What is it anyway?”

He glared at me. “Why don’t we ask it after it rips out heads off, what do you say?”

I matched his glare, but he didn’t care to return it again. His attention was back on the thing, taking a few large, wobbly steps towards us.

“Blood,” it hissed. “Girl’s blood. Master needs her blood.”

I gulped. And I doubt Seth could have blamed me. Like a little whimp, I cowered behind Seth.

“Give me girl.”

Seth pulled out a gun, a sleek little silver handgun that I didn’t think he even
owned. “Sorry. I can’t let you do that.”

The thing didn’t seem to mind the gun. “Boy silly. Boy stupid. Boy not know what girlie is now.” And the thing twisted its head. All the way around.

I cringed, but Seth didn’t even flinch.

“Nope. Sorry. No girl for you tonight.”

“Not for me. For master.”

The creature took another step forward, and Seth aimed his gun at it. “If you start muttering shit about ‘my precious’, I swear to God I’ll end you, you little freak.”

It gave a light laugh, then threw back its head and screamed into the night. It was worse than any sound I’ve ever heard. That high-pitched shriek that didn’t even compare to technical malfunctions at concerts or ceremonies from microphones.

This was a million times worse.

Seth and I doubled over, clamping our hands to our ears, Seth inadvertently dropping his gun. The creature, still screaming, leapt over to me and grabbed me. I kicked at him, but it didn’t do any good. Seth tried to reach for me, but the squeal kept him at bay. And soon I was a good fifty yards from him, just as the creature stopped screaming.

It crouched on top of me, pinning me to the boardwalk where it caressed my skin with the blade of its knife. It sniffed me again and nodded. “Right girl. Good girl. Good for master.”

I felt the blade dig into my back, biting my skin and stinging me. It pulled the blade away and proceeded to lick it in delight. “Treat for master! But me feed first!” It coated the knife in my blood again and set it aside, only to dig its claws into my arms and lean over me, licking the blood from my back. I cringed, too stunned to know what to do except pray it would be over.

“Back away,” Seth’s voice rang clearly and loudly, only ten feet from us now.

The creature lifted its head mid-lick and cracked its neck in consideration. “Silly boy. Stupid boy.” It laughed again. “Does boy realize who he toying with?”

“Yes,” he said just as clearly. “And tell him to go screw himself. Because he can’t have Nancy.”

“Naaaaanncccyyyyyyyy,” it hissed in sheer delight. It picked up the blade again and held it over my back. “I liiiiiiikee Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaancy. Pretty Naaaancy.”

Seth pulled back the hammer on the gun, aiming it right at the creature. “Second time I say it, monster. Back away from her.”

It stabbed me. Right in the shoulder. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as he moved the blade around inside of me. “Could kill her,” it said, taking its time as it stuck me with the knife. “Make her cry.”

“You wouldn’t. Your master wants her, right?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” It cracked its neck again. “Boy does not know what I do.”

Seth gritted his teeth and took one more step further. “Thrice I speak it, you demon,” he said in a nasty tone, “Back away from her.”

“Shoot me, you miss. May hit pretty girl.”

“I’m a good shot,” he said. “Won’t hit her. Couldn’t hit her.”

“We see —”

He pulled the trigger. Bam! The creature fell to the side, the knife hitting the boardwalk with a clink. I started moving away, but Seth told me to stay put.
“He might not be dead.”

He?

He took a few more steps over and crouched down beside me. With a quick glance at the thing, he hoisted me to my feet and stood in front of me. “Cover your ears.” And he emptied the rest of the clip into the thing. I looked at the pile of smoking black mass, and remained stunned as it slowly melted into the boardwalk.

Seth had already moved aside and picked up the knife. “Glass,” he said upon examining it, wiping the blood on his jean’s leg. He then scanned the hilt and swore under his breath. “Unseelie Court, too.”

“What?”

He shoved the blade into a sheath on his belt – which I hadn’t noticed, nor knew he had – and walked back over to me. “You all right?”

I folded my arms over my chest and shivered. “Frankly, no. I just got attacked by that… thing. And I’m bleeding and I’m cold and my dress is ruined and I have absolutely no idea what that freak was talking about!”

Seth grinned for a fraction of a second before hugging me tightly, also against my wishes and better judgment. “Could have been worse, believe me.”

“What was that thing?”

He pulled away and looked at his hand, covered in my blood. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Seth—”

“I will. I promise. But right now I gotta make sure your back is all right. You’re bleeding a lot.” He snatched up the torn piece of my dress and bunched it into a little ball. “Keep this on it. Apply pressure.”

I did, and he then proceeded to drape his leather jacked around me, and this time, I didn’t argue.

“What was that thing?” I asked, trying to remain calm on the walk back to… wherever.

“A phooka.”

“Isn’t that one of those pipe things? Like the caterpillar had in Alice in Wonderland?”

“Not a hookah. A phooka. A… you’re not gonna like it.”

“I think I deserve an explanation.”

He bit his lip and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. “Can it wait a little while longer? Like until I get you home?”

I winced. “Yeah. Because me showing up at home in this will be great.”

“I meant my home. My mom or dad can fix you up.”

“Will they question it?”

“Yes. But I don’t think they’ll mind it too much. My truck’s this way.”