Siofra stepped between Kaya and the bullies. She spoke in a calm, yet firm tone. "Kaya, run down the path and wait for me. Dinnae turn around and dinnae come back. Understand?
"But-" Kaya began.
The changeling faced her and Kaya saw her eyes blaze red. "Dae as I say," she barked, in a peremptory tone.
Kaya acquiesced, racing down the path they had followed. The short girl attempted to chase her, but Siofra caught her wrist and flung her to the ground. Her companion advanced on the changeling, but Siofra plunged her fist into the girl's solar plexus, sending her to the ground, writhing in pain. Siofra returned her attention to the short girl, kicking her head several times before she could rise. She scooped up a handful of sand and forced it into the girl's mouth. As the prostrate teen tried to spit it out, the changeling brought her foot crashing down on the girl's stomach, causing her to inhale and choke on the mouthful of dirt.
The tall girl climbed to her knees, still gasping from the blow to her solar plexus and surprised by the viciousness of the changeling's attack. Siofra turned and dropkicked her, ripping her kimono in the process. The girl fell back and Siofra was atop her in an instant, her knees pressing into the incapacitated bully's shoulders while she bitchslapped the girl's cheeks - right, left, right, then left again - like an avenging human metronome. She continued until the girl was barely conscious. The changeling stood and yanked the girl up by her hair, dragging her to the other teen, who was still trying to spit out what little dirt she hadn't swallowed. Siofra dropped her unceremoniously on her coccyx.
Siofra spotted a thick stick lying in the underbrush and retrieved it. The helpless teens stared up at the malevolent changeling with terror-stricken eyes as she fondled the wooden stick. "Dae ya ken I used tae skin cats alive back home for fun? Dae ya think it cruel tae derive pleasure from torturing defenseless animals? Nae, ya enjoy it as much as I dae, dinnae ya? We have that in common. But ya only think yar mean girls." Siofra's black eyes flared red. "Let me show ya what tis tae truly be a mean girl."
"We cannae change our nature. We are what we are: Dark Fae, whose souls are filled with evil and cruelty."
"That's not true. You protected me from those girls. You're my best friend. I know sometimes you shout and do nasty things like rip up my lessons, but you're not evil, Siofra."
The changeling turned on the ingenuous child, and her soulless black orbs locked onto Kaya's eyes, penetrating them. "Dinnae delude yarself. I am nasty. I am mean and cruel and everything ya fear at night, huddled beneath yar covers. I am a wicked creature, a spirit of evil clad in stolen human flesh, thriving on others' torment and pain. I am yar worst nightmare come tae life and ya cannae trust me and more fool ya if ya dae."
- an excerpt from To Hell In A Handbasket to be published in May 2012. "Halos & Horns" Book 3 -- Third time's the charm!
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