Free A Low Down Dirty Shane by Sierra Dean

druids and begun dismembering him. Shane hadn’t thought a lot about how he was going to die, but he’d long assumed it was inevitable in his line of work. He’d sometimes imagined one day a lovely rogue lady vamp who was ten times too strong for him would put him under the thrall, use his body as a sex toy before bleeding him dry.
    A guy could dream, couldn’t he?
    Being shredded apart and eaten by a black-eyed fae who looked like it belonged at the front of Satan’s Revelation’s chariot out of hell wasn’t even on Shane’s imaginary top-ten list.
    Eion had broken off the tail end of the arrow, leaving the metal shaft sticking out of his shoulder, and turned to follow their attention to the carnage. At which point he laughed. Shane assumed shock or blood loss was to blame until he grabbed hold of the last-remaining druid who’d come to quiver next to him and thrust his ceremonial blade into the man’s chest.
    “For you,” Eion cried, kicking the man’s limp body in the direction of the beast.
    The fae had blood dripping from its mouth and looked down at what Eion had offered it. It smiled and plucked the body from the ground, letting go of the other desiccated corpse it was nearly finished eating.
    “You please me,” the monster said, making Shane jump. It had a voice like gravel in a garbage disposal, rough and unpleasant. Sort of like Tom Waits with tuberculosis. But more than the voice, it was the fact that something so terrible was speaking at all which gave Shane the heebie-jeebies.
    “I have more than matched our bargain,” Eion said.
    The monster looked thoughtful, and even as they watched on, it began to grow taller and wider, the bones and muscles of its body screaming in protest, grinding with each inch it expanded. When it was pushing twenty feet tall, Shane wondered if he might be better off putting his gun in his own mouth, because there was no way bullets were taking that thing down.
    “This was not what I asked for,” the beast said. “When your ancestors banished me from my rightful plane, I was promised untainted blood. What you’ve fed me smacks of impurity. I haven’t waited all these years for this. ” It licked its lips and growled softly.
    “I brought you an untouched human offering.” Eion directed the monster’s attention to the stone slab, where the hot girl with glasses was still out cold.
    The fae moved towards the altar, and Siobhan took a step forward, her bow ready for the moment she needed to protect the girl.
    “This sad offering is not of your blood.” It sneered at the girl but didn’t back away.
    “It was the best I could do. My original offering was…” Eion sighed and shrugged. “She was spoiled.”
    Shane didn’t think the guy meant it in the I bought her too many toys and ponies sense of the word. He’d also lost track of Siobhan’s movements and only noticed her a second before she stepped across the salt line and into the clearing.
    “Son of a…” He clambered down the hill after her and almost bumped into her when she came to an abrupt halt. Here—inside the circle—the creature loomed even bigger. Impossibly large. It being slick with blood and staring directly at them didn’t help Shane feel any better about the whole thing.
    The creature peered at Siobhan and smiled a creepy, leering grin that showed off rows of bloodstained, sharp-looking teeth. “This one is one of your kind,” it said.
    “Don’t get too excited. You won’t find any purity here.” Siobhan edged towards the stone platform until she was standing on the opposite side of it, facing the monster with an arrow aimed right at its face.
    “This new generation is plagued by insolence.” The monster let out a huff and spoke directly to Eion. “I am no longer pleased with you.”
    “Siobhan, put down your weapon,” her father demanded.
    “I’ll put it down if I can take the girl and leave.”
    She was so small in comparison to her father and the mountainous creature