Page 64 of Reap & Sow

“Come on.” Kit pulled her down the stairs with a viselike grip. Alone, he could simply turn into a bird and fly away, but instead he cut through the crowd to make way for her, brutally shoving people aside. He was as unrelenting as a battering ram.

A man tried to elbow Eda out his way. Kit turned with a snarl and tore the offender off her so violently she heard a crack. The man yowled, falling beneath a flood of heaving bodies.

They carved their way to the main doors and stumbled into the daylight. Eda blinked, disoriented. It took her a second to realize she wasn’t seeing double.

There were two of them.

The fiends were as monstrous as she remembered. One hunched over the bloodied body of a man, maw dripping. The other stalked along the cobbles, head swinging back and forth as though it didn’t know who to run down next.

Kit pushed her in the opposite direction.

“This can’t be a coincidence,” she said, “the fiends being exactly where we are, like last time…Are they tracking us?” Are they tracking me?

Whatever Kit meant to say was replaced by a hiss as a third fiend emerged around the corner of the playhouse. Its mouth was bloody, bulging eyes roving over the tide of fleeing people before finding Eda. Its gaze pierced right through her. Kit tensed, but the fiend was quickly distracted by an unfortunate woman running by; it took off after her.

Eda grabbed Kit’s sleeve. “Help them.”

“What?”

“Help them. These people. Protect them as you would me.”

His nostrils flared. “They are not you. They are not my concern.”

“Please.”

“No.”

Eda shoved him in a sudden rage. “So you care for human art and music and fashions, but you draw the line at the people who made it all?” She shoved him again, vicious. “You absolute—”

Kit snatched her wrists. “Call me what you want, darling. You came to me. You made the Pact. You knew what I was, and you took my help willingly. Don’t be incensed now that you’ve decided you care for your fellow man. That isn’t why I’m here.”

She hated that he had a point. “You might be right about all the awful things Mr. Night has done, but at least he never pretended to be something he’s not. You do a fine job of playing human, but all actors have to take off the costume eventually, don’t they? I let myself forget.” Eda ripped herself from his grip. Mimicked his derisive sneer. “Thank you, demon, for the reminder.”

Looming over her, the glamour on Kit’s eyes fell; twin pools of magma seared her to the bone. “Watch how you speak to me.”

“Why? What will you do? Shove me in another river? I might be selfish, but at least I’m not a hypocrite.”

Dimly, Eda recognized the falsehood. Her venom was misplaced: She was the one who’d proclaimed that the fate of Blackbridge meant nothing to her. She’d wished only for her brothers’ safety, and damn the rest. But to witness Kit’s own disregard for this fresh horror was like looking into a mirror, and she did not like what she saw. If he was a hypocrite, then what was she?

Kit bristled, exposing white fangs—

“Stand back!”

Marching down the street came a contingent of Blades, resplendent in red and silver. And at their head…

Eda’s stomach dropped.

Bishop Florian Fane strode across the cobbles, past the people peering out their windows, clawing at locked doors. They stilled at the sight of him. “Stand back, all! This evil will know the Lordfather’s wrath.” He held his arms aloft; golden ring flashing in the wan light.

As one, the fiends turned. A woman crawled out from under them, legs bloody. They let her go. All three prowled toward the bishop like wolves cornering new prey.

Kit hissed, “We need to leave now.”

“Begone!” the bishop roared, commanding as a king. “Leave these people be, you creatures of sin!” The fiends shuddered and stumbled in place. Shook their heads. They backed up like cowed dogs. “I stand before you as a servant of the Lordfather. You will leave this place and return to the pit from whence you came. I command it.” Snarling, the creatures turned tail and fled. People were stunned, jumping out of the way as the fiends loped past. Florian turned to the Blades. “Follow the creatures! Cut them down!” They rushed forth with swords brandished.

Kit pulled at her. “Eda.”

“Wait.”