**Four months later**
I dressed in a pair of yoga pants, a tank top and a sweatshirt; all in black. Jorden wore jeans and a black long sleeved shirt, then pulled on his combat boots after handing me mine. Fae was cocooned in a fleece onesie and multiple blankets. She saw me and squealed, reaching her tiny hands for me and I obliged, picking her up and cradling her in my arms.
"Ready for this?"
"Not at all, but let's get it over with."
Jorden kissed me then opened the bedroom door and let me lead down to the living room. Daddy was strapping a knife holster to his left thigh and then helped Mom position hers.
"I'm ready."
Evelyn walked in, decked out in black clothes similar to mine. Nick was dressed similarly to Jorden and was putting on a coat that held a row of throwing knives on the inside. I sighed, not wanting to go to this battle since I didn't know the outcome of when I'd go to get my daughter.
"Come on people. Time to go."
Fae squealed again and grabbed my hair. "Ow, baby no. Don't pull on my hair."
I disentangled her hand from my hair then passed her to her father so that I could put my hair up in a braid. Jorden cradled her in one arm and wrapped the other around my waist, pulling me after everyone headed to the cars. We sat in the back seat with Fae safely nestled in my arms and too soon the car was moving towards the field with waiting monsters.
Half an hour later we pulled to a stop atop an onlooking cliff and I ran down the path and into the first cave I found. Fae was asleep from the exhaustion of being awake for the whole day, and I tucked her into the darkest part of the cavern, hiding her from plain view, then slowly turned to see what was waiting on the field.
The field was a picnic ground and thousands of monsters had swarmed down on the unexpecting humans. I had to hold down bile at the sight so I moved my eyes to the woods surrounding the field to see the entire hunter army standing in wait for the signal. Jorden walked up beside me and we both headed down, hand in hand.
"Move in." I whispered to the messenger we'd set up to alert the others and he took off running. A few seconds later, hunters from all around charged in, bearing weapons and cutting through monsters quickly since we'd taken them by surprise. "Alright, let's go."
"Find me after, okay?"
"Of course."
Jorden kissed me then ran ahead, conjuring his sword out of thin air and I took a deep breath before following him. My sickle appeared in my hand and I swung my arm, cutting off several heads at once and only realized after that Keres dominated the field with the sprinkling of gelals, vampires and demons.
A vampire lunged at me and I drove my sickle straight into his heart right as I spun and kicked the side of the gelal's head next to me. Dislodging my weapon from the flaming vamp, I sliced it through the gelal's neck and watched as he turned to black ooze.
Behind you.
I spun at Evelyn's voice in my head and found a Keres diving from the air at me. I threw the weapon straight at the monster and dove to the side as it crashed into the ground. I flicked my wrist and the sickle disappeared, then reappeared in my hand. My sister had come up next to me and we moved in a circle, our backs pressed together.
A screech filled the air and several Keres dove for us. I cupped my hands together and turned to Evelyn who placed her foot into the cradle and pushed off the ground as I threw her up. She became airborne and lethal, slashing and stabbing at the Keres around her without a single scratch on her own body.
I dropped into a ball on the ground and rolled, dodging the hands of several other monsters. After I jumped back to my feet, I struck out at them and watched as they died while Evelyn landed on her feet beside me.
"Next time, we're throwing you."
"Sure."
We both looked towards Jorden and Nick, who were working together, protecting each other's back. There was a lull in the battle since only a few monsters were left standing, but the flapping of wings clued me into the next wave.
"Hold your ground! Air attack!"
The words had just barely escaped my mouth when the Keres appeared, shrieking and reaching forward with their claws. Nick reached into his coat and pulled out the daggers, throwing them with scary accuracy, hitting the monsters square in the chest or the middle of their foreheads. Many other hunters copied his example and the number of Keres was decreased by half as they fell from the sky, most already dead. The rest became enraged and started moving forward, quicker than we'd faced before. I took a deep breath and relaxed, knowing that if I did that, I'd be able to focus better.
"Willow! Look out!"
I tilted my head and heard the brush of feet on grass with a slight flap of wings behind me so I spun and delivered a deathly blow with my forearm to the neck of the Keres. There was a loud snap and she collapsed, neck bent at an odd angle.
With a quick glance around, I saw that the Keres were all being taken care of, falling to the ground at the feet of our skilled two hundred something hunters. I turned and placed a hand on Evelyn's shoulder, giving her a quick smile, then ran for the cave. A look over my shoulder let me know that Jorden had seen me and was following, trying to catch up.
I entered the cave and ran to the back, picking up my baby and tucking her into one arm, holding my weapon out with the other. The Kere landed in the exit and I raised my weapon wielding arm as it moved forward.
"You are different."
I shuddered at it's scratchy, shrill voice. "I might be, I might not. Now leave me alone. I will kill you."
"You can't. I'm the best of us." It smiled and took another few steps forward. "I'm faster, stronger, better than the others. You're just a puny human. You might be a hunter, but you're no match for me."
"I sincerely doubt that."
"I will enjoy proving you wrong."
Suddenly, it dove for me and I clutched Fae closer to me, lifting my sickle higher. About five feet from us it froze and collapsed onto the ground. I stared at it then looked up to see Jorden standing in the entrance, hands empty of his sword and coat gripped in one of them. A dagger stuck out the back of the Kere's head.
"You saved me."
"I told you, you will not die today."
"Even in the vision, you were going to save me. You had to have done that."
He shrugged because he didn't know if that was true or if the future had changed again.
"Where'd you get the dagger?"
"I had them in my jacket. I didn't use them in the air attack because I didn't know how much trouble you'd get into up here."
I stepped up to him and he tucked me into his arms, being careful of Fae who was playing with a fray on my shirt. He looked down at her and laughed, making her giggle and reach her chubby hands up for him. When he went to take her, she grabbed his finger and started to suck on it, showing that she was hungry.
"Time to go home."
"I agree."
"After you, milady."
I laughed and walked out of the cavern, holding Fae with both of my arms as she moved about, trying to get attention to be fed. Finally, she cried out and when I shushed her, she started screaming. I sent a frantic look over my shoulder at Jorden and found him looking around, making sure that no monster would attack us. When I got to the car, Fae was shrieking her head off and thrashing around in my arms.
"Baby, calm down. I'm going to feed you."
"Get in back. You'll have privacy and I'll wait for everyone else and keep an eye out for monsters from outside the car."
"Okay. Be careful."
"I always am."
I crawled into the back and fed my daughter. As soon as she was drinking, her screams stopped and I chuckled at her bipolar tendencies when it came to when she was hungry. Jorden stuck his head in and rolled his eyes.
"Just like her mother."
"Excuse me?"
"Throws a fit until she gets what she wants."
"I do not!"
"Okay, okay- no, you don't. Not at all."
I narrowed my eyes at him but he just grinned.
"She's very determined to get what she wants, just like you."
"That's also like you."
He shrugged and looked back up at the sky, then down to the trail that led to the field. Twigs snapped and I tensed, as did Jorden, but it was only the rest of my family and Nick.
"Geez, we come in peace. We aren't here to hurt you."
"Shut up Nick. I thought you all were some monsters."
"Is Willow okay?"
"Yeah. I killed the Kere before it could hurt her. She's in the back feeding Fae."
Evelyn crawled back in next to me. "You're okay! Thank goodness! Fae needs her mother."
"I'm pretty sure that the Kere would've killed her too." My jaw ticked at the thought of my baby being anywhere near a monster, let alone the hands of that kind of monster. Evelyn had a similar reaction and her hand rested on Fae's head protectively. Just four months old and my daughter already had everyone who'd met her wrapped around her plump little fingers.
"I'm just glad you're okay."
"Me too."
Evelyn looked down at Fae and she pursed her lips as she obviously tried to figure out how to ask me something without making me shy again. She sighed and caught my eye. "Does that hurt?"
"No, it just feels weird at first, but I'm used to it now."
Her body relaxed and I realized that she was afraid of the pain that came along with a baby. She was just going to adore labor. Her eyes widened and I laughed, knowing that she'd heard that thought.
"I don't want that to come. You were screaming like no tomorrow. I can definitely wait for that."
Her hand dropped to her semi bloated belly and patted it affectionately. Fae finished feeding so I burped her and I settled her in my lap, smiling, happy that she was healthy and alive. She grabbed the end of my braid and brought it close to her face so she could inspect it.
"Alright, everyone's here. Let's get home."