Fairy Tale: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

island, water cascading down her nearly-naked body as she took a step onto the bank. Torchlight illuminated the immense cavern, making shadows dance along the walls like a macabre procession. The grey-green sand beneath her feet sloped upward as she made her way forward. Pale, white bones littered the ground around her as though some creature had flung them away following its meal.
    Her left hand trailed along the head of an axe-blade tattooed in startling relief on her left thigh as her eyes flitted to and fro. A shiver ran down her spine when she reached the top of the hill, and a small sound escaped her lips. She clamped her right hand over her mouth to muffle it.
    Lying atop a massive pile of bones and decaying flesh was a creature which looked like a ridiculously large porcupine. One large blue-black eye stared at her. Kishi took a step backward away from the creature, and its eye followed her movement. It moved, a tremor running along the length of its body as it stretched its enormous bulk and opened its mouth. A long, purple tongue snaked out of a maw bigger than a garbage can. Millions of needle-like teeth glinted in the torchlight as the creature roared.
    The sound shook the cavern, and Kishi took off running back down the hill. Her chest heaved with the effort as booming footsteps echoed behind her. She dove back into the water as the porcupine thrashed into the surf behind her.
    Kishi’s left hand went down to her thigh and closed over the flesh where the handle of the axe was painted on her skin. Pain flashed across her face as she tore her hand outward in a burst of green light. The axe gleamed brilliantly in her hand, its emerald blade slashing through the water as she turned.
    The giant porcupine darted forward, clamping its razor sharp jaws down around her entire left arm, shoulder and all. Kishi screamed a mouthful of bubbles. Her eyes widened as she grabbed onto the creature’s mouth with her other hand and tried to wrench herself free.
    Her skin began to burn with green energy as the water turned crimson. Her eyes glowed like emerald stars as the creature’s teeth raked the skin from her arm. The dagger drawn on her wrist slid down into her hand. The bronze blade was large and imposing in her hand as she drove it into the creature’s snout. The monster thrashed its head violently side to side, ripping through her flesh.
    Kishi screamed again. The creature reared back, planting its massive legs in the silty lake bottom and flung her backward. Kishi flew out of the water and landed hard on the ground inside the cave. She rolled over to her side, blood gushing down her arm in torrents as she pulled herself to her feet.
    She grabbed onto her left shoulder, trying desperately to staunch the bleeding. Blood ran through her fingers even as she shoved emerald energy into the wound. Dioscuri field healing at its finest.
    The monster burst out of the water, the hilt of the dagger stuck up outward through the top of its weasel-like jaws. All around the wound small cuts marred it, as if the beast had pawed at the weapon and, consequently, torn itself to shreds.
    Kishi readied the axe in front of her, the blade glowing with soft green light. She backpedaled, her toes sinking into the soft dirt beneath her feet as blood dripped from her left arm, leaving a crimson trail in her wake. Her back touched the stone behind her and a shriek escaped her.
    The creature’s tongue burst from its mouth, and Kishi threw her axe up to block. The thick, purple tongue slammed into the flat metal of the blade. Her arm strained, shaking with the effort as the thing tried to yank her forward. The axe slipped from her hand, and the tongue snapped back into its mouth with a wet thud.
    Kishi smiled, a strange grin stretching her lips wide as she reached back with her right hand and grabbed onto the hilt of an enormous javelin that went from the center of her neck down to the heel of her right foot. She launched herself forward, tearing