dark faerie 04.5 - without armor by alexia purdy Page B

through ingredients, I finally found what I was looking for, yanking out a knot of bilberry. It was a common root for enhancing vision for regular folks. If mixed with a faery root called evesgullen and mixed with emulsion made of a variety of natural oils, the mash would allow my retinas to reflect light even more, much like a cat’s eyes. It tasted horrid but once ingested, it worked almost immediately.
    Mixing the herbs together, it was a messy concoction. Bits of it stuck to everything. Stuffing the finished mixture into my mouth, I chewed on the mash, grimacing at the rancid taste. After letting the ball of herbs slide down my throat, all I had to do was wait for it to work. Wiping my hands on a small hand towel, I hoped the oily mixture wouldn’t stick too much to my skin. I already smelled like a dentist office. Satisfied they were wiped clean, I stuffed the towel away and peered up into the street.
    A ripple in the atmosphere appeared, morphing the world into clean cut lines which increased in brightness the longer I stared. It made me repeatedly blink, feeling my eyes tingle as I adapted to the new vision. Not a moment too soon, the annoying tingle stopped while I crouched by the window once more, ready to test out my new super vision. 
    Movement inside confirmed that the faeries were still there. The kid was whimpering softly in a corner, hiding their face. I couldn’t tell how old they were. The light wasn’t strong enough for me to tell. Even straining my eyes as I squinted to get a better look at the perpetrators inside, the kid is the only one out of my line of vision.
    “When he’d say he was coming, Spiff?” one of the Unseelie asked.
    “Past midnight, when the moon is highest in the sky. Don’t you listen?” the other Unseelie muttered, his mood far from joyous. “Argh! Make it shut up! Its constant whining is giving me here an ache in the skull the size of behemoths!”
    “Shh!” His partner shushed the kid. It quieted down momentarily but resumed their constant, whimper-cries moments later.
    I shook my head. Unseelie like this had no patience and would probably start whipping the kid soon enough. The thought made my blood boil. No one deserved to be tortured, let alone kidnapped from their bed in the middle of the night. I wanted to run on in there and sever the faerys’ heads with one fell swoop of my Empyrean blade.
    I just might do that if they didn’t learn to get out of the human realm.
    Taking that as my cue to infiltrate their shelter, I turned away from the window and yanked out my fire sword. It gleamed in the moonlight, ready to slice through any offender. Sharp enough to cut stone like butter, it was more than just a blade. On command, I could make it light on fire, which made for an excellent incendiary tool to disintegrate my enemies.
    I already knew two faeries I was going to love using that feature on.
    Making my way to the front of the church, I eyed the frail steps. One missed step and the whole front porch would crumble from the unchecked decay of rotting wood consumed by termites. Eyeing the door, I realized the knob was broken and was most likely not locked. This gave me the confidence I needed as I pulled my shoulders back and sucked in a deep, calming breath.
    It’s time for a faery roast!
    I gripped my Empyrean blade tightly in my hand, ready to ignite it with one mental gesture. It was bound to me and could read my thoughts at all times. Together, we were a synchronized killing machine, adept at offing any amount of Unseelie faeries with a precision any expert swordsman would envy.
    It had trained me itself, and I had absorbed the skill of each wielder before me like a blood imprint memory it passed down to each firstborn male of my family lineage. Its energy and knowledge belonged to me until the day I died and passed it on to my heirs if I had any. If I died before then, it would go to my younger brother, James, who also was a Fire Elemental with powers beyond any