Free Lost Girl: Hidden Book One by Colleen Vanderlinden

arms and legs. Vaguely rodent-like faces with sharp teeth and beady black eyes. They surrounded the group of fighting people. Others climbed the sculptures, danced on top of the fountain.
    “Like I said,” Nain said, following my gaze, “do whatever it takes. Any that leave here will just show up somewhere else tomorrow, doing the same damn thing.”
    I nodded, and Nain ran into a crowd of imps, punching, kicking, tearing at limbs. The imps screamed and started to scatter. It would have been kind of funny if they weren’t so grotesque. And if I wasn’t still convinced that they deserved better than to be exterminated like roaches.
    Sighing, I headed for another group of them before they could take off. I forced their will, made them stand right where they were. Then I forced each to strangle its neighbor. It was a brutal way to kill them, and it took longer than I would have liked, but it worked.
    I felt like a monster. This. This was evil. Killing was not something I did. Ever. These were living beings.
    Get the fuck over it, Molly.
Nain’s voice in my head.
    I hate you.
    No response. Once that group was dead (and disintegrated into nothing, handy, that) most of the imps were gone. I rushed several, punching and kicking the same way I saw Nain doing a few feet away.
    “Molly,” Nain shouted, pointing to the top of the fountain, where a few of the imps still danced.
    He watched me. Waiting. A test. The imps stopped dancing when they saw me approach. There were eleven of them. They hopped down from the top of the fountain, and, as one, they bent a knee, bowed their heads, placed fists over where I guess their hearts were.
    Did imps even have hearts?
    I just stared at them. Felt Nain walk up and stand next to me.
    “Well,” he said. “I told you that you’re powerful.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “They’re swearing fealty to you. They’re yours.”
    “I don’t want them!” I yelled, then glanced at the imps, afraid I’d hurt their feelings. Did they have those? What the hell was I doing?
    “They don’t have feelings, Molly. They’re primal. They follow power. They will do exactly as you say. Nothing more and nothing less.”
    “I don’t want to be their master,” I said, staring at him.
    “Then kill them so we can move on,” he said.
    I clenched my fists.
    “Do it, or I will. Decide,” Nain said. I punched him in the stomach before I knew what I was doing, and was on him, trying to hit him again. He grabbed both of my wrists, held me at arm’s length.
    I used my knee, caught him not quite where I was hoping to. He wrestled me down to the ground and straddled me.
    “Molly, stop it,” he ordered. I felt my power building. I was pissed off, and I was scared, and everything I thought I was was wrong. Blasting him wouldn’t solve it, but it sure the hell would make me feel a little better.
    He groaned. “Would you dial it back, just a little,” he growled. “You’re pissed. I get it. Stop it.”
    My head was pounding. My body felt like it was about to split open from the pressure. Nain was angry, concerned, but not afraid.
    “Why aren’t you afraid of me?” I asked, and I heard the growl in my own voice.
    “Because you’re a good person. You may hate me, but you’d hate yourself more if you ended me. We both know it.”
    “I can’t kill them,” I whispered, and hated the tears rolling out of the corners of my eyes. He still held me pinned to the ground while chaos erupted around us.
    “Then lead them. Put them to work doing whatever it is you want them to do. More will come. Decide what you want to do, and do it. But you have to do something, Molls.”
    I nodded, felt my power receding a little, leaving a pounding head and an aching body.
    “Get off me,” I muttered, and he did, pulling me up with him as he did. The imps still knelt, and I left them that way. For now. Nain kept his hand on my arm as we surveyed the plaza. I pulled away, unable to deal with the way my