On the Prowl

with need to the point of pain wherever he touched me. It felt like my body was something apart from me, a hungry, predatory creature that was no longer completely under control. I was scaring myself, and I didn’t know how to stop.
    I scrambled away from him to the far side of the room, near the window. “Don’t touch me!”
    “I’m sorry.” He looked perplexed, and I really couldn’t blame him. “I thought—”
    “Oh, shit!”
    “Claire, I’m trying to apologize, if you’ll give me a—”
    “Svarestri!” I hissed, my problematic libido temporarily forgotten. “Outside.”
    He was beside me in an instant. A whole cadre of the silver-haired guards were filing through the main door of the tavern. Maybe it was coincidence, but I didn’t think so. They didn’t have the carefree, laughing manner of people on their way to a good time; they looked like they meant business.
    “The roof,” Heidar said, throwing open the window as soon as the last guard disappeared from view.
    “What about it?” I demanded, hoping he didn’t mean what I thought. But he was already outside, balancing on the rain-slick windowsill and looking up. The next second, he disappeared into the dark, just as someone knocked on the door.
    I jumped and stared at it, then quickly scrambled out onto the sill. I couldn’t see anything but heavy clouds overhead and, where they parted, a dark sky dusted with stars. And rain, a lot of it. It clouded my vision whenever I tried to catch any movement on the roof. “Heidar,” I called nervously, as someone started throwing their weight against the door. I stood on the ledge, clinging to the wet planks on the side of the building, trying to figure out if being inside or outside scared me more. Then the decision was made for me when two arms reached down and plucked me off my feet.
    For a moment, I dangled above the street, which suddenly looked a lot further down than two stories. A guard came back outside, pulling his collar up against the rain, and caught sight of me suspended there. We just stared at each other for an instant, before he let out a yell and grabbed for his weapon. Luckily, it was under his rain cape and before he could get it free, I was on a flat-topped roof running as fast as my sore feet could carry me.
    The rooftops were very close together, almost touching in places, and the storm made us virtually invisible. At least, I assumed it did since I couldn’t see a damned thing. I stumbled after Heidar, trying not to slip off a roof or into one of the gaps between buildings. He wasn’t doing much better himself, with his boots back in the brothel and the rainwater making the rooftops dangerous, but at least no one was shooting at us.
    I’d no sooner had the thought than I felt something whiz by my ear. Heidar spun us behind a tall chimney, whispered, “Don’t move,” and disappeared. After a second, I saw him silhouetted in a lightning flash as he jumped to another rooftop and took off. Several dark forms, one with a lit lantern in hand, ran after him, leaving me shivering and alone in the night.
    I stayed in the shadow of the chimney, hoping Heidar was planning to backtrack and hadn’t just decided that I was an unnecessary burden. I hated feeling this helpless, hated Faerie and, most of all, hated rain. I had started to dry out back in the warm little room, but the downpour had me soaked to the skin once again despite the cloak. Its sodden folds were heavy and clung to my limbs clammily. Then a gutter collapsed on the taller building next door, sending a cold stream to douse me. I sighed. I had reached the point where I literally couldn’t get any wetter.
    A warm hand suddenly gripped mine, and I turned toward it gratefully. “Let’s get out of here.”
    The hand tightened, and a lantern was shoved in my face. It almost blinded me, but I got a glimpse of opaque, silver eyes, and that was enough. I didn’t scream—I was too surprised. I reached for his power, but this one must have been older or stronger than the other Fey, because he fought me. We just stood there for several seconds, teetering on the edge of the building, wrestling metaphysically. It hurts when they resist, and by the time I found a way inside his shields, I was gasping in pain.
    He didn’t scream like the last one when I pulled on his power, but collapsed heavily against me, his weight almost knocking me off the building. I saw the glint of a blade in the lantern light and realized what he