I stretched my legs as best I could and set off after Bin, though it took several shuffling steps before I managed anything that approximated a normal stride. It would have been galling if Thane hadn’t also been struggling.
We heaved ourselves up the narrow hill and away from the market. Once we reached the summit and the network of dark cobbled streets, I realised that there was no sign of Bin. Goddamnit. I kept my voice low and called his name. There was no answer.
Thane tried, his baritone penetrating further through the darkness than my voice. ‘Binhamatin! Where are you?’
Given the way he’d spoken to us at Green Humbleton, I didn’t think Bin had run away. It probably hadn’t occurred to him that our longer legs would require recovery time after so much painful cycling. I swivelled on the spot, trying to peer into the darkness and identify which direction he’d taken.
‘I think…’ I began, then froze.
Thane glanced at me. ‘What is it?’
‘Something’s wrong.’
‘What do you mean?’
I swung my head from left to right. It wasn’t anything specific but there was a definite sense of wrongness. The air was shifting in a way that suggested encroaching evil and I knew that if I’d been in cat form, every single hackle along my spine would have been raised. ‘You can’t feel anything?’
‘No, Kit.’ Thane frowned. ‘There’s…’
I didn’t find out what he was planning to say because that was the moment my whole body was wracked by searing pain. The bone-crunching agony was like nothing I’d ever felt before.
My knees gave way and I fell forward. Thane was by my side in an instant, trying to help me up and calling my name but I was only dimly aware of his presence. The trauma of what I was experiencing was too great for me to focus on anything but myself.
Violent shivers shook my limbs and I gasped for air. I choked and spluttered and writhed. There was a growing pressure in the centre of my chest, as if a hand had reached into my heart and was squeezing it, but this was far more than a heart attack.
A scream clawed its way out of my throat. Dark magic – the darkest magic. Suddenly I knew exactly what was happening to me: it was what had happened to Keres, a harpy, a leprechaun, a druid and quite likely several Barrow werewolves. Something – someone– was ripping the magical essence out of my body and it hurt like fuck.
I rolled to my side. With the market to our left, there were few places this magical killer could be hiding so they had to be on the rooftops. I was in no state to go hunting – I could barely do anything beyond twist in pain – but Thane would understand if I could just communicate with him.
I gritted my teeth and forced my eyes open. His face swam in front of mine. His lips were moving and he was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him through the roaring in my ears. I raised a hand to the roofs opposite and tried to point, then touched my chest to indicate through the blasting pain that my cat sith soul was being ripped from my body.
Another jolt surged through me and I was unable to continue.
I would rather have been stabbed by any number of parasol tips than experience this. I’d rather have had any number ofwitches perform rigor spells upon me. I’d rather have been shot, stabbed, drowned, strangled and burned than go through this. I was powerless. I couldn’t fight this enemy, couldn’t defend myself, couldn’t do a damned thing. The magic inside me was being ripped away and I couldn’t stop it.
Don’t forget what you are.
Trilby’s last words to me echoed around my head.
Don’t forget what you are.
Cat sith. I was nothing without that part of myself. It was me: I was it.
Don’t forget what you are.
Cat sith. My heart burned. Cat sith. Cat… I drew in a shuddering breath. Cats weren’t just cats and I wasn’t just a cat lady. Cats were from the netherworld; they were demons – and that made me a demon lady. A demon wouldn’t allow its essence to be stolen and neither would I.
I bared my teeth. I was stubborn and hardy and strong – and my roots were in at least some people’s version of hell.
A strangled whisper escaped my lips. ‘I am a demon lady,’ I gasped. ‘You … cannot … take … this … from … me.’ And with that, I curled my hands into fists and clung onto every shred of what was myself with claws and teeth and fur.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Ihad no idea how long my internal fight lasted but I knew the exact moment when the onslaught ended. And I also knew I had won this round. I was still me. My cat – mydemon– remained within me. Thank you, Trilby.
A quavery voice broke through the air above me. ‘Are you alright?’
