"Very well. I want your magic because if you don't, this world gets vanished by the creators. If you don't give it to me I will kill you very slowly, removing your wings and then your talons. If you don't give it to me, I will destroy every harpy in this area and then take all their magic,"
Even Daemon was looking at her, but she ignored them.
"If you don't give me your magic I will obliterate your entire species and ensure that not a single creature in this world ever recalls the name 'Harpy'. You will be nothing but an impossibly bizarre memory of the ancient Faerie species and no one will lament your demise."
"Etani," Kai whispered but she ignored him too.
"Do you really want to know what it feels like to have your veins screaming as every last drop of moisture is drawn from it? The agony of being drained by a vampire and the pounding pain as your brain is starved of oxygen right before you die? Because I'll do that to you."
Her face was close to the Harpy's and she looked utterly terrified.
"You can have it! Take it all," she squeaked and Etani smiled, her fingers clasping the Harpy's face and pressing that tender kiss onto soft, plump lips.
The magic flooded into her and she shuddered, drawing it into her with greedy abandon.
The warping in her mind was the oddest sensation, her head seeming to stretch outwards and she threw herself back from the Harpy, clutching her head and screaming as her mind swelled and then recoiled, spinning and stretching in ways she had never experienced before.
Her body had begun to change, her shoulder blades cracking with a sound like cannon fire, the bones stretching out, growing and as they did black feathers began to sprout.
Falling forward onto the sand she whimpered pitifully, arms finding her and pulling her against a warm body.
She was blind, her screams terrible in the quiet of the beach until finally they died down and she staggered to her feet, her eyes opening as she felt oddly off balance and she shrieked as she fell backwards and landed hard on her backside.
Looking up at the fear and shock on the faces around her, she first looked down at her feet but they were normal. Slowly, with terrible trepidation, she looked behind her and screamed again at the sight of the wings, spanning eight feet and weighing far more than she ever expected them to.
They were a glossy black and thick, the light reflecting off them in blues and purples.
"What did that bitch do to me?!" she screamed, struggling to reach for one of the wings that seemed to move with a mind of their own.
Finally grabbing one by the feathers, she pulled it around her and stared at it, then up at the stunned men.
Kai was the first to move when she began tugging at the wings, attempting to rip them out of her back and he stopped her, his grip tight on her hands.
"Stop, Etani they will go away. We just have to finish the process. Stop trying to rip them off," he was firm, and she latched onto his calm, staring up at him.
"I feel like my brain is… everywhere," she whimpered, not liking it, yet it felt more normal than her mind before.
"I know sweetheart. Just try to focus and calm your nerves. It's going to be okay."
Nodding slowly, she let go of the wing and it flicked out as though needing to rid itself of her touch and she whimpered. She could feel the muscles working, an odd sense of awareness of their movements yet she had no idea how to control them.
"Can you stand?" he asked gently, and she immediately threw her arms around his neck.
He pulled her slowly to her feet while she clung to him like a child, reluctantly letting go of him and immediately latching on again when she began to topple.
"Lean forward slightly," Daemon suggested and she turned on him, nearly falling again.
"You shut up, Demon!" she snapped and to her surprise, her right wing batted him clean off his feet.
Uzo began to laugh and Kai was grinning, but she was still mildly concerned by the things.
"Don't even try and make me fly…" she warned and the things folded behind her back, almost sullen.
"Where's the harpy?" she asked, looking around as she planted her feet and tried to focus on simply staying upright.
"We let her go when you stopped screaming and seemed to be okay," Jaia said, lingering near the back of the group.
She only nodded, taking Kai's hand as he offered it to her.
Sitting down slowly, she looked at the others and frowned.
"Mara is next right?" she finally asked when no one else seemed willing to speak for fear of annoying her.
"Yes, and that will require us going to Faerie," Uzo said, packing away his possessions and handing Kai his shoes and socks to put on.
"Where does Mara live?" she asked
"Winter, but he doesn't like the Courts," Daemon said. "At least not when I saw him last."
"No, he is still very much in dislike of the Courts, much like all of the Gods," Uzo said softly
"Why do they call themselves Gods?" she asked, watching Kai putting on his shoes after flicking the sand out of them and his socks.
"The humans started that, and they liked it. It's easier and more flattering then 'Ancients', isn't it? So those who took a fancy to it started demanding everyone call them that, and so the rest just ended up being that too. Most of them don't particularly care," Uzo supplied, handing her a skin of water and she drank it eagerly, handing it back once she was done.
"They are an odd bunch," Daemon supplied, and they all nodded their agreement.
"So when do we go to Faerie?" she asked.
"As soon as you are ready to move. We are all prepared," Daemon said gently.
Etani frowned, looking from him to Uzo.
"Why aren't you taking us?"
"I can't take anyone but myself, love," Uzo said gently. Etani immediately narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "I didn't tell you before because I didn't want you to worry. Most of us can only move ourselves, it's only those special cases who can open a door. Gatekeepers they're known as, but it's not a particular species. Much like the Celestrials, only a handful can do it in each generation."
"Why can I do it then?" she asked and he smiled.
"You're special, like them,"
She shook her head but then shrugged it off as a future worry. She hadn't ever really thought about it, she had simply done it. But now that she thought on it, she didn't recall any other Fae being able to open a door like she could, allowing others through with her.
"Might as well go deal with it now," she said slowly
"At least after Mara we have several mostly easy goes," Daemon said as he stood.
"What is there? Werewolf was after Mara," Jaia said as he pushed himself up.
"Werewolf, dragon, faun, naga and a shapeshifter," Kai listed off automatically and offered his hands to her. She accepted them and pulled herself up.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have Mara to deal with first," she said, and they nodded.
Taking Kai's hand, she watched as Daemon gripped the other, and pulled the line of them through the rip and into the crippling cold of Winter.