Read Online Red Moon by Elizabeth Kelly - Free Book Online Page A

minutes.  Avery watched the
rest of the group disappear around a curve in the road ahead. 
    “May I ask you a question, my lord?”
    “If I can ask you one.”
    She thought about it for a moment.  “Fair enough.
 What’s your question?”
    “Were you casting spells on the other women in the tent last
night?”
    She shook her head.  “No.”
    He waited for her to elaborate and when she didn’t, sighed
loudly.  “Ask your question.”
    “Why do your eyes change colour?”
    He stiffened behind her. “They don’t.”
    “They do.”  She insisted.  He remained silent and
she twisted her upper body to look at him.
    “Earlier this morning when we were –“
    She paused awkwardly and he grinned at her.
    “When we were fucking?”
    She blushed fiercely and he suddenly slid his hand behind
her head and gripped her neck.  He kissed her deeply, pushing his tongue
into her mouth as she moaned softly.
    With a sudden gasp she tore her mouth from his.  “Stop
distracting me.  Your eyes turned green – why?”
    He shook his head dismissively.  “You imagined it.”
    She glared at him.  “No, I didn’t.  Tell me why
they – “
    There was a sudden scream ahead of them and, with a loud
curse, Tristan dug his heels into his horse’s side and the horse galloped
forward.
    They rounded the corner and Avery gave a gasp of dismay.
 “Faeries!” 
    Their small group had been surrounded by a dozen of the
creatures.  Avery shuddered in disgust at the sight of them.  They
were short but powerful, with large, grotesque leathery wings sprouting from
their backs and bodies covered in strange markings.  Their hair was wild
and knotted with twigs and leaves, and they carried short and razor sharp
spears. It was nearly impossible to distinguish the males from the females, and
Avery watched in horror as one flew down and lifted Renee from the wagon.
    She screamed in terror, struggling and kicking as the faerie
flew to the soft grass next to the road.  He dropped her onto the grass
and fell on her before she could rise to her feet.  He pinned her down on
her back and held his face above hers. 
    He squealed in delight and opened his mouth.  It was
filled with razor sharp teeth, and his long, lizard-like tongue flicked out and
licked Renee’s cheek lightly and delicately before he began to inhale. 
Renee went still and her eyes shut as her mouth opened and a fine grey mist
began to rise from her open mouth and face.
    “No!”  Avery cried out. 
    Faeries were fierce and wild and had a taste for
humans.  Before they killed and cooked the humans they captured, they
sucked the essence of a person from them.  Avery had met a person once
long ago, who had been rescued from faeries before they could devour him. 
However, he had not been spared from having most of his essence sucked
away.  He had been like a dead man that still breathed, and Avery could
still remember the horror she had felt at seeing his blank eyes and limp body.
    As Tristan urged his horse towards the carriage, she looked
behind her to see a large black wolf come bounding across the road and attack
the faerie on Renee.  The faerie screamed as it tumbled off of the girl
and jabbed at the wolf with the spear it carried in his right hand. 
Before the spear could penetrate the wolf’s thick pelt, the wolf tore the
faerie’s throat out.  Blood and black liquid poured from the faerie’s
throat as it made a weak gurgling sound and collapsed on the hard ground. 
The wolf raised its snout to the sky and howled triumphantly before racing
towards another faerie.
    Tristan slid off his horse and threw open the door of the
carriage.  He lifted Avery from the horse and tossed her inside the
carriage.  She landed with a hard thud on the floor of it and Maya, crying
and trying to soothe a screaming, frightened Nicholas, helped her to the seat.
    Tristan looked at Sophia.  His entire body was shaking
and rippling, and Avery could see the beard growing on his