Lure

  Chapter 2

  CEARO

  Stay in the trees, Cearo, I command myself. Stay high in the trees and do not come down unless you need to.

  Never need to.

  I always fail at this one. I need to. Far too often. But I have gotten better after all this time. I only came down once this week. I only touched the river once this week.

  Kill your prey. Catch it before it falls. If it falls to the ground, you will need to come down….

  My hesitation was so brief that no one would have known had they seen me. Not that anyone sees me. There are Seelie men right there, but I am invisible to them.

  Clean, cook, eat. Watch the Seelie.

  They are often stupid. I did not take a side in the war, but I find that they must be watched more closely than the UnSeelie. If they step too far, they will die.

  These are some stupid ones, reckless. I can already tell I will have to kill them. Only one is to go through the gate, but five went through here, leaving behind the two guards I am watching. That many Seelie in the human world is very likely to leave a trail back to here.

  The guards’ comrades return within the hour. As expected, they brought along a bloody path that could lead too many humans straight to us. Now that the proof is here, I act.

  Kill your prey. Do not bother catching it. Kill the next. Make them slip on the wet ground. Move on to the next. Tie them down to the earth. Next. The howling wind will cover their sounds and yours. Next. Knives to the chest to finish the job. Next. Never fire to the brain. Next.

  It is done before any of them identify their attacker. I come down to the ground to study the lumps they dragged back with them. The eight humans are unconscious but still alive. They must die too. They cannot bring back stories of this place. I end them quickly so they will not feel their exit from life.

  Then I burn all fourteen bodies. I dislike this part. Only a small piece of my mind must be present to make them burn, and I try to put the rest of it to sleep. Thankfully, it is over in the space of a minute.

  I spend the next several minutes clearing the area on both sides of the gate of all evidence. Water washes the blood away. Air blows the stench of death away. Earth covers itself in new life.

  I climb up a tree.

  Go east. Check the next gate. Kill those that must die. Stay in the trees.

  Stay in the trees because you will be unseen. Stay in the trees because you will be safe. Stay in the trees because he will come back for you.