I decided to just hang out on the edge of the forest until the new arrivals cleared off. Surrounded by greenery, the earthy scents enveloped me as soon as I stepped into the shade of the trees, and I realized how much I missed home. The cool, damp green reminded me of Stratford. The minute details of the scents differed, but it was close enough for now. My wolf rose, pushing me further into the shadows, she was keen to change and run. Giving her an ear scratch I pushed her back again; it wasn’t time now to run off into the unknown. I was reckless, not stupid. Well, most of the time.

My sensitive ears picked up the rustling long before the shine of eyes appeared in the dark undergrowth. A rabbit sprang free, not a shifter, just the natural kind. Probably destined to be someone’s dinner. The creature showed no fear, bounding across the free space and back into the undergrowth that littered the forest floor.

Another noise filtered through to me.

Shit!

I’d been so busy following the little animal and trying to stop my wolf from giving chase that I’d missed the subtle tendrils of magic beginning to weave around me, surrounding me in an invisible energy cage.

It didn’t even matter that I was no more than ten feet from the crowd of supernaturals still greeting their new arrivals. There was no safety with magic.

A hazy figure glided in from the general direction of the desert zone.

Hazy … what the hell?

I forced myself not to panic, even though I had no idea what the freak was coming. I thought I knew every type of demi-fey, but I could sense that this was more … something which was nailing all kinds of scary. I couldn’t think of a single demi-fey that possessed this sort of magic – that which coated my skin in power and raised the fine hairs on the back of my neck. This was energy unlike any other I’d felt.

Not the earthiness of the fey, or the natural magic user, this was cold and ancient, wrapped in a metallic taste that coated my tongue. Still elemental, but from the hard rocks, the minerals, the blood of sacrifice. Freaking blood magic.

As the figure moved closer, some of the fuzziness lifted from its facade. My heart stopped dead, like literally froze in my chest. And then my blood trickled in icy tendrils until I became no more than a frozen block staring at my death.

No wonder I didn’t recognize the demi-fey.

It was a jinn.