Death Rite Genie: An Urban Fantasy Folly by AE McKenna

Author:AE McKenna [McKenna, AE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Strikethrough Publications
Published: 2021-06-08T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Dusk encroached on the estate. Staff followed pixie trails with bell jars. They probably needed to replace the ones that had died last night. My stomach cramped painfully. Or, since pixies are hatched, harvest their eggs to make Pixie Glitz, the fancy champagne fae enjoyed drinking.

Luce shivered next to me despite the warm summer evening. Being forced into an enchanted sleep affected everyone differently. Some were well-rested and ready to face the next two days, like me. It hung others over. They woke up starving, and prone to fall asleep at a drop of the hat. Either the enchantment had sapped her body heat, or her bad luck was taking control.

A female djinni dressed in rags stood beside us. The word “Liar” in bright green slashing letters was splashed across her chest. I could guess why she was competing. A Satyr—a woman with goat legs—stood on the other side of Lucy, and bringing up the end of the line was a Brownie—a short, human-like man with wrinkly skin and curly brown hair.

I scanned the estate. A thick forest lay to the east, with who knew what beyond it. Directly north lay a grassland probably riddled with snares and pitfalls. To the west were cliffs and Cliodhna’s mansion behind us. If we found a hiding spot, we could lie low, survive the night, and Cliodhna would give us a piece of the Blarney.

The huntsmen arrived on ponies—their human features long gone. Trotting beside the horses were their Dandy dogs. The Dandy dogs resembled harmless, long-legged corgis. Their eyes and mouths appeared natural, only because they weren’t hunting. Once they did, their fangs would elongate, their eyes would turn hellfire red, and they’d chase you until your legs broke, then bring you back to their huntsman in their jaws. Once the Dandy dog’s metamorphosis was completed, it was retired as a faehound. Fae enjoyed using them as guard dogs. They fed only on your emotions until you had none left.

Luce grabbed my hand. She struggled to keep her breathing normal. I couldn’t blame her. They’d stitched these huntsmen together from their victims like Frankenstein’s monster. One was a pieced-together fae—purple hands, pink legs, mismatched eyes, and a wolf’s snout. Another resembled a spiny fish with panther legs.

“Oh, god,” Lucy gasped, her fingers tightening around mine. “What is that?”

It was an abomination.

A Satyr approached with the torso of a squid interconnected with that of a wasp and an intact stinger. But that was where normalcy—if you can call this normal—ended. Instead of wings, it had tentacles, and where the face should have been was a sharp beak.

Soldiers marched onto the green and parted. Cliodhna strolled in front of us. Her silvery hair was woven in a tight braid, and her silk gown matched her purple eyes. At first, I’d thought her stunning, but the more I saw of her influence, her arrogance, the less she appealed to me.

“Huntsmen!” She turned away from us and the monsters stood to attention. “Today is an unofficial Taming.

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