The first thing she was aware of when she came to was that she and her soul were again alone in her mind, the wolf and dragon gone and the dragon hadn't made a sound, simply accepting her banishment with a calm poise.
The second thing she noticed was someone was carrying her and her body felt sticky, though she was no longer in pain. Judging by the smell, it was Daemon who was carrying her and once that thought came into her head, she was furious.
She punched him in the jaw and he jerked, dropping her and she hit soggy ground.
She swore at him and he swore back at her, clutching his jaw and glaring down at her.
"You almost got me killed, you bastard demon!" she yelled and kicked the side of his knee.
He went down and she screamed as he landed on her, clawing his way up her body until he was sitting on her hips.
She slapped him and he bared his teeth at her, Uzo stepping back to let them fight it out.
He grabbed her arms and attempted to pin them down but she pulled her right free and punched him again, scoring a hard blow against his nose.
He swore and grabbed her arms, pinning them down to the soft ground.
Leaning over her, his nose was an inch from hers as his eyes glowed a furious golden yellow, a threat more than anything he could say.
"Get off me!" she screamed, driving her knee up into his back but he only rocked back into position against her hips and growled.
Gripping both arms with one of his, he made to cover her mouth to keep her silent, but it was a bad move and she bit him hard, that satisfaction as venom was injected and he screamed in pain, using the hand to slap her hard across the face.
His body began to heat up and she cursed him for his magic that burnt off the venom before it could do any real harm.
Leaning down, he mashed his lips down on hers and she froze in place, stunned into confusion by the kiss.
She considered biting his lips off, but instead she lifted her head into the kiss and he growled, his fingers curling in her hair. She knew it had been a ploy to distract her from her anger at him, but it worked and she gave into the need that flooded her body at the kiss.
He broke it and his eyes were smug, right up until she drove her forehead into his nose and he fell off her, screaming profanity.
Rolling away from him, she threw herself to her feet and glared at him, taking two steps forward but before she could kick him in the ribs, Uzo caught her around the middle and hoisted her backwards.
"That's enough, you two," Uzo demanded as Daemon leapt to his feet, equal parts furious and hungry for her body. She was in the same situation, wanting to hurt him and feel him inside her, preferably at the same time.
"Let me go, Uzo!" she snarled, her eyes burning on Daemon and he grinned at her, his eyes raking down her to leave her skin tingling like a physical touch.
"Uzo won't always be there to protect you, girl. And when he's gone, you're mine," the demon growled and she growled back, furious that he thought she would be so easy for him.
Aiming a kick she knew would never land, he snarled and backed away anyway, just in case.
"On the day he's not there to protect you, I'm going to rip out your spleen and eat it," she hissed and he grinned.
"Promises, promises," he purred and she glared in agitation, her body responding in ways her brain did not approve of.
"Come on, we're so close to reaching the end and we can all go home," Uzo said and she continued to glare at Daemon but finally she dropped her eyes and turned away from him.
Taking Uzo's hand, she allowed him to lead her on, she realised they were heading into a swamp and she tried to figure out where they were on the list.
The Vodyanoy were always male but were capable of changing sex in order to reproduce, though it was only temporary and they didn't appear to change physically. They were very much like many breeds of fish, laying eggs and the male would then fertilise them.
They always looked fairly similar to each other, elderly men with a lily pad or leaf on their heads, they liked to play the reed flute and were chatty. Much like the mermaids, they were carnivorous but substituted low meat supplies with fish and insects or generally any animals that came to their swamp to drink.
When they approached the swamp, she found the water to be disturbingly clean and clear under the carpet of lily pads, and she watched frogs leaping around. She had to admit they were brave frogs if there was a Vodyanoy in the water.
"I'm not going in there this time," she snapped and Daemon glared at her, as he clearly had been planning to use her as bait again.
He growled and turned to look around, trying to decide what to use at bait and while he was distracted, she shoved him into the water.
The demon went down, tripping on some root or something under the surface and landed face first in the water.
Exchanging a look with Uzo, she knew she was going to be in trouble but she only shrugged at his curious glance.
"I'll apologise if he survives," she said, watching as the demon flailed with the clawing lily pads and they watched as something moved under the water, heading for the demon.
"No you won't," Uzo said and she smiled at him.
"No, I won't," she agreed and the demon went still as the thing reached for him and then suddenly he was flung out of the water, hit a tree and landed hard on the ground several feet from them.
"I don't like demon," the old voice said and they looked back to the water.
The elderly man was looking at them, seemingly a perfectly normal old man with pale, waterlogged skin and white hair and beard. The leaf on his head was large and the point reached out long past his face.
He looked more curious about them than anything and she supposed one would be if you just had a demon dropped in on you in offering for dinner.
"Afternoon, don't suppose you're up for sharing a bit of magic with me today?" she asked conversationally.
The man looked at her, his expression curious. "Who are you, little creature?" he asked and she smiled.
"Etania, Princess of Winter. If you give me some magic, I'll give you the Fae. Do you prefer Fae?"
Uzo looked at her and the old man laughed loudly, swimming closer and the sight of him was disturbing.
He had a human body and he used his hands and feet to move along the shallow pool like some great bug in a skittering movement that triggered all sorts of creep warnings in her mind.
"I like you, no I don't eat Fae nor whatever you happen to be. I eat humans."
She snapped her fingers and looked to Daemon who was dragging himself to his feet, looking homicidal.
"I'm afraid we're all out of humans today. How about we send you a human a couple of times a year when I get my magic back?" she offered and stepped forward just enough so that Uzo was blocking her from sight as the demon's eyes turned in their direction.
"You have yourself a deal, little princess," he said and she smiled, the Vodyanoy standing up in a liquid movement that irked her in a weird way.
He approached her until he was only ankle deep in the water and she closed the distance.
He was slimy and smelt strongly of mud, the kiss was wet and gross but the sense of peace that flooded through her was delicious.
It felt like water was encircling her and holding her aloft, warm and safe even as she felt someone was breathing down her neck and fingers curled in her hair.
Yanking her back, she yelped and the Vodyanoy was looking at them as she staggered back.
"They married?" the Vodyanoy asked, Uzo who simply shook his head.
Elbowing the demon in the ribs, he let her go and she set off at a sprint for the edge of the swamp with the demon streaking after her.
"Uzo!" she screamed, leaping out of the trees and running full speed north with pounding footsteps coming after her, gaining on her.
Changing tactics, she threw herself to her knees and she skidded, her skin tearing but he breezed past her with his arms outstretched and she was up, running back towards the Fae who was walking after them leisurely, his hands in his pockets as he watched them.
The demon had turned, sliding in the grass and was after her again and he tackled her a few feet from Uzo, their bodies rolling and she shrieked as he wrapped his arms and legs around her, trapping her against him.
"Let go!" she screamed but he refused, growling in her ear.
Uzo reached them and without a word, he kicked the demon in the ribs and Daemon was flung off her. She immediately crawled her way up Uzo's body into a standing position and as the demon turned on them, she hid behind the Fae.
"That's enough, she got revenge for you making her mermaid bait and now you two are even."
Daemon looked ready to wring her neck the instant he got his hands on her and so she stayed safely behind the Fae, peeking at the demon from around his arm.
"Just you wait…" Daemon growled and she stuck out her tongue at him.
"If we are right, then we only have two more before we are in the final twenty, right?" Uzo asked only after Daemon had agreed to wait before he tried to kill her.
"Yes, if things stay even, we are in the final strip," the demon said moodily, his eyes on her as she stayed safely away from him.
"So the Ifrit and Sphynx?"
"They will both be in Summer. Aside from the siren, we should be able to get the next nine in Faerie."
"You don't think we will find a siren in Faerie?" she asked and Daemon levelled a hostile glare on her.
"The siren can't enchant the mythical, they have no interest in being in Faerie," he said.
"At least they should be agreeable if they live in the human world," she said, looking to Uzo when she found Daemon's murderous intentions too much.
Deciding to take a short break, the group settled onto the grass.
"Yes, they are likely to want to help, along with many of the others, but there are a few I don't think will be easy," Uzo said.
"The Gods will be easier now, I feel Mara and Loki would have made them all aware of the risk. It's the Strigoi I'm worried about."
"Is Mags still around?" Daemon asked and Uzo nodded.
"We should get a positive outcome from her. Hecate is generally not all that interest in her. But the witches will be hard to get to."
She chewed on her lip and she was glad for Daemon being there, given their list and maps had been lost in the hunter attack.
"We should move on. We're running out of time," she said and pushed herself to her feet.