Falling Into Faerie After

by Mercedes Jade

  “Can he breathe?” I asked, worried despite the fact that I had seen Falin demolish dozens of Light Fae like Loren.

  “Hopefully not,” Loren answered, pulling the whip a bit tighter. “Makes it harder for him to try any of his dragon tricks,” he pointed out. He caught my worried look. “I’ll release him before he passes out. Don’t worry, kitten. He can hold his breath for a long time.”

  “I-I wasn’t worried,” I stuttered as Falin winked at me. I also wasn’t fooled that these two were just going to have a talk. “Do not permanently injure my Mark,” I warned Loren, walking over to my bathroom window to remove the screen and open it.

  “It’s the other way around. He’s supposed to protect you,” Loren explained.

  “I’m worried about Falin hurting you,” I lied to Loren. It allowed me to deliver the warning without hurting Falin’s pride.

  “I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow and to see if you need any further servicing,” Loren said in parting, shoving Falin out the window and following. Thank goodness this was the ground floor. Only one of them could fly.

  I think Loren had just promised me a booty call. Falin had been too tied up to say anything about it. Both of them would have a disappointing surprise if they showed up tomorrow.

  With almost perfect timing, twin knocks rattled my bathroom door.

  “I’m indecent,” I yelled, bending over to grab the window screen to replace it.

  “It’s been forty-five minutes,” Jackson yelled back through the door. “You must have turned into such a shrivelled prune that your pyjamas won’t even fit.”

  “Would you like us to pick out something with elastics and maybe kittens on it?” Matthew asked.

  I froze, hand hovering in the air where I had been pulling the bath plug to drain the tub. Had they heard Loren calling me kitten?

  “Perfect Matt,” Jackson said to the sound of a high five. “Cats are just what a wrinkled, old lady needs.” Oh, those little turds. At least, they hadn’t overheard me playing sex kitten in the bathroom.

  “Pick out something from the third drawer from the left and don’t peek in any of the others or else I’ll make you kiss my raisin toes and beg for mercy,” I threatened.

  “Ugh, granny porn,” Jackson said, making vomiting sounds.

  That was it. I checked my towel was securely wrapped around me and unlocked the door, ripping it open with Jackson’s body closely following as he stumbled inside the bathroom.

  He quickly glanced at me, wrapped from chest to mid-calves in a bath sheet that could sub for a blanket for a petite girl like me, then looked away with the beginnings of a blush. This was one of those times when I wasn’t just a sister. His eyes widened and I turned around to see the lacy heap of my discarded lingerie on the floor.

  This time I was the one turning red.

  “If you think my laundry’s sexy, you should see my sweatbands. I got white ones with a blue stripe that I wear when I turn on Maniac and dance in a circle, flinging my curly, sweaty hair, but nothing gets in my eyes ‘cause those bands are extra absorbent,” I said, trying to salvage the moment.

  Teenage boys could be such bundles of hormones and sensitivity, especially when confronted with an unexpectedly arousing situation. A hard on in the middle of gym class or catching your best friend’s mother bent over in yoga pants stretching sheer or seeing your stepsister’s lingerie drawer had the kind of panties you wanked off to on Playboy pinups.

  “Your hair isn’t curly,” Jackson muttered, turning around and gathering his dignity as he went back into the bedroom.

  Matthew took one look at his twin’s face and reached out with a long arm to give me a bundle of clothing. He didn’t even risk entering the bathroom.

  “Get the movie started and don’t hog all the pillows. Grab some from your rooms. I want at least three pillows for the movie if I have to take the middle,” I said, accepting the bundle of clothes from Matthew. I would also demand possession of the snacks as my middle position rights once we were settled.

  I closed the bathroom door to change. My red face looked back at me in the mirror. Maybe sleeping with the twins wasn’t such a good idea. It had been getting weirder after I moved out and they turned eighteen, as if they had suddenly become young men from boys overnight. I knew they liked girls, had slept with more than I cared to know from all the teasing conversations I overheard. This was going to be the last time, I promised myself.

  There was somewhere I had to go and tonight had ensured my departure date was moved up.

  “They say the number of pillows you need to sleep on is a sign of aging,” Jackson snarked as he came back from his room, probably to get more pillows.

  It was a sign of heart failure, another random medical fact I learned from my research when Ai Lung started coughing more at night. I kept the serious to myself.

  “Aw, cuddlekins, do you want big sis to put you to bed with your soother before movie night begins so you can get your twenty hours of baby sleep?” I said through the door.

  Jackson’s reply was muffled.

  I ignored the twins conversing in the other room and dropped my towel, looking my body over for visible marks of my Fae encounter. There was an abrasion on my chin and Falin’s new Mark as well as Loren’s on the back of my neck, but the latter two Marks were only visible to other Fae, glamoured by magic. The abrasion I could have easily done to myself out in the woods.

  Unlike my first sexual encounter in Faerie, there weren’t little love bruises all over my breasts. This time had been relatively restrained, if getting half-fucked by a big, pierced cock and threatened to be buggered with fingers at the same time could be considered holding back.

  I tugged a pair of baby shorts over my hips and tried to think about nasty, green-skinned witches. When that didn’t work, I pulled on my top with pink, beribboned baby sleeves over my head and tried to think of annoying, cheerful munchkins. My hard nipples poked through the kitten plastered on the front with fluffy ears sewn on.

  Matthew proved his memory as good as mine at finding this set. The cute pyjamas had been something the boys bought me as a joke and I had buried them in the drawer because I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing anything pink and fluffy.

  My arousal faded as I just felt silly.

  Of course, the twins roared with amusement as I went into the bedroom and I let them. Sisterly status reinstated, I crawled between the two jokers and demanded the popcorn bowl be placed on my lap after I made Matthew fluff all three of my pillows or else face retaliation for the kitty baby-doll shirt. Jackson was in charge of the remote, as usual, but surprisingly the original Wizard of Oz came on. I was sure the twins would have replaced my movie choice with something more exciting and action packed that I would also secretly enjoy for the buff guys and cheesy one-liners. I had to add to my verbal arsenal somehow at the rate I was employing it, and action movies were always good for new material.

  I’ll be back.

  Ha. I stuffed delicious popcorn smothered in chocolate and roasted cashews and did not think about the Fae that marked their promise in my neck. I wasn’t the type to wait to be rescued. I dug my enemies up from their muddy graves and put them on the shelf, finally defeated and displayed as a warning to anyone that dared challenge me.

  Chapter 4:

  Matthew,

  Don’t let Jackson read this letter. You may tell him the contents but I want you to burn this note before it gets into the wrong hands and causes any harm. I trust you!

  I’m running away from home. Consider this an eviction notice but the other way around and remember that I am an adult. You know why I temporarily moved back into the house and you know even better why I need to leave. Mom is doing well. Your dad has been able to avert the divorce yet again by banishing the walker from the house. I caught him helping her bury it. You and Jackson have to focus on school. Please remind your brother. It’s time to get back to our regular routines.

  As you have noticed, I’ve changed direction in my lif
e recently. I’m picking up new hobbies and I even tried out making some friends. I won’t lie and say everything new has been good, but I feel overall that I’ve grown and expanded my horizons, which was something I’ve been avoiding for too long. Some of the new things I’ve learned about myself have been challenging and some have left me with more questions.

  After these weeks of contemplation, I’ve decided I need to go seek out the answer to one of the most surprising questions of all. You might think I could just ask mom for the answer since she definitely had something to do with it twenty-one years ago, but I’ve hinted and I honestly believe that she doesn’t know the real truth about who he is.

  By now, you will have realized where I’ve gone and I hope you can also see why I couldn’t take you or Jackson with me. I need to find the answers on my own. Before you worry too much, remember that I have hidden strengths and that even when friendships end they still leave their marks on you. I’ve prepared myself for this eventuality, building up my stamina and exploring my new talents for my plan to seek out these answers.

  You may still feel I have left precipitously, so I will admit that there is a reason my plans were accelerated. This is why you are reading my letter instead of Jackson. I know who his knee-jerk reaction will be to seek right away and I want to warn you strongly against going anywhere near them and especially him. I don’t trust anyone but family. Keep your brother safe and when I come back, I’ll be ready to have a talk with both of you, mom and your dad about everything.

  Thank you for taking care of Lady Antebellum. I’ve left you my cell phone and the contact information for a Ms. Chang on a post it note that I attached to this letter. Her daughter is Ai Lung and she has Juvenile Huntington’s disease. Ms. Chang is separated without any other family and due to a significant language and cultural barrier, they are barely surviving. I have told her that I will be going away for a while and she has agreed to contact me only for emergencies. Use the language app I have on my phone to translate her text messages and there are cue cards at the apartment if you have to go there, but do not go alone and stay away from her neighbors, especially the guy on the left in 241. You don’t need to worry about my work. I’ve notified all of my employers. I’ve also left post-dated cheques for my landlord.

  Your mind is probably racing a mile a minute trying to decide what to do right now. When you get to the end of this note the first thing you are going to do is burn it. You have everything memorized just like I would after reading it. I’m already gone, so you can’t stop me. You know that you need the secret password to get into the place I’m going and neither you or Jackson know it, so hang tight. I’m Dorothy going on my adventure to Oz and I’m wearing my ruby slippers. All you can do is believe in me.

  I’ll see you soon,

  Eve

  PS: Stay away from Dain.

  PPS: The password for my cell is mom’s birthday.

  I wrote the letter to my brothers first, leaving it on Matthew’s desk in the morning after the twins had already left. Matthew was the oldest, and more importantly, the lesser temperamental of the pair. There was at least a chance that Matthew would read the letter through its entirety and realize the futility of running with it to Dain to alert the Fae I was leaving.

  I needed the head start.

  This didn’t mean that I was off the hook with Matthew. He was slower to burn, longer to contemplate and forever to hold a grudge. I’m not sure submitting to tickle torture or Sunday breakfasts for a month was going to make up for putting myself in danger again or leaving them behind.

  It was easier to lie to my mother about where I was going, and normally that was something I found incredibly difficult. My mother knew my curt ways, quite familiar with how I refused to sugar coat anything. I was the kid that snapped her teeth at any hand that tried to help, or god forbid, comfort me. Dogs were for patting on the head, not wild, little girls.

  I ran completely roughshod when I was younger and for a while she let me, bandaging my scraped knees and telling the parents of the other kids that they were raising a bunch of wimps. I’m not sure how she managed to keep me from being expelled, but the first time I saw her trip had changed everything.

  My mother was chasing me down the bleachers to hand me my race jersey that I had left behind in my hurry to get to the track. Her shoes had narrow heels and one of them got caught on the metal grating of the stairs. My coach had pressed a towel to her bloody nose and told me I should slow down for my mother.

  That night was the first I heard my mother’s diagnosis and what it meant.

  I listened and stopped running.

  Work at the lab had gone as bad as I had anticipated with my prickly boss, Jeff. Make that ex-boss. I was quitting. All the anger I felt was directed towards getting everything in place to make my big trip to Faerie. I had other things on my mind and I would mourn my valuable position when I got back. If things turned out the way I hoped in Faerie, I might not even have a reason to work for the lab anymore.

  I left my second attempt at a resignation letter unfolded on top of Jeff’s desk. This time, I had written my stepfather’s contact information if Jeff had any questions, after I had taped my letter back together. My stepfather had been an old friend and he would straighten out any misunderstandings. He had his own axe to grind with Jeff.

  I volunteered for Jeff and the contract I signed had been one of confidentiality due to the pharmacological bend of some of the experiments. Anything that could make money was of proprietary interest, but I wasn’t paid and it wasn’t an employment contract. Jeff tried to make me stay by pulling the confidentiality agreement out and thumbing through it when I explained I wasn’t his employee and I asked again for a leave of absence. I deserved a break after all the time and effort I had put in to help his lab for free. The temper tantrum he threw, ripping up my resignation letter that I pulled out after it was clear he was going to be difficult, killed any interest I had in ever working for him again.

  I hated to admit it, but my stepfather had been right about Jeff and about the drug trials I had been also volunteering in for Dr. Johnston. I had been used, exploited because they knew my weakness for my mother’s condition. It stopped now.

  As mad as I was, I slipped out of Jeff’s office quietly. My back was to the hallway as I held the door knob fully turned to keep the latch tucked in until the door was shut all the way, and then I turned the knob back so the latch silently slipped into place. I didn’t want to make a scene. Old habits were hard to break and my need to never draw attention to myself, avoiding interacting more than necessary with strangers, was what kept my temper on a leash.

  I had just removed my hand from the door knob when a warm touch swallowed my wrist in a firm grip and guided it back to the door, a whisper in my ear ordering me to open it. I heard a couple interns chatting about the weather that turned into our hallway, but they didn’t say anything about the Dark Fae holding my hand hostage and standing menacingly behind me as we entered the unlit office after hours. They walked right past the door as I shut it on command as quietly as I had earlier from the other side.

  I had been so close to seeing my escape plan come to fruition that I wanted to scream to be caught literally as I was closing the last door on my old life.

  “Are you glamouring me and the door as well, or have I finally achieved such complete indifference to be overlooked breaking into the office of one of the owners of this entire building?” I whispered, turning around to face my untimely captor.

  “What are you doing here?” Eloden asked.

  It took a few blinks to recognize him, chin-length auburn hair darkened to nearly black in the unlit room and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. I blocked myself from remembering the last time I had seen his naked chest. There had been blood and violence and fire magic that seared my memories.

  “Shouldn’t I be the one asking what you’re doing here?” I rebutted, not bothering to hide my wandering gaze.

  The metal banding his right bicep was
also nearly black in the darkness, but I remembered it was a dull bronze. Wearing metal was a mark of his Dark Fae status, but the concession to avoid iron a choice due to Eloden’s inborn sensitivity. He wasn’t Dark enough to have full immunity. Halflings like me sometimes got lucky and didn’t suffer the same sensitivity.

  Tattoos must be another Dark Fae trait because he sported a half sleeve on the left arm and another one sat underneath his neck torq, a celtic knot design I thought, although it was really too dark to see much detail. If it followed anything like Dain’s and Falin’s tattoos, there would be Fae script in there somewhere. I didn’t know if the tattoos served another purpose.

  The male himself stood out even without all the decoration. Eloden could blend into any shadow he wanted with magic but right now he was letting me look my fill. He was more muscular than Falin and taller. His chin had a bit of scruff. Dark red hair was also lightly sprinkled around Eloden’s copper nipples and a tight treasure trail started from a couple inches below his navel, dividing his already defined abdominals until it disappeared into leathers with a prominence I normally only saw when jocks were wearing their protection.

  “Sweetheart, if you keep looking there, I’m going to assume you want me to remove the leathers,” Eloden said, drawing my stare back to his face as I blushed.

  “Why are you naked?” I asked, blaming Eloden for the arousal that had overtaken me again. Falin’s quickie hadn’t helped my libido for long.

  Eloden shrugged. “I’m glamoured from sight. Why should I get dressed up to fetch you home?”

  It was disconcerting to see Eloden half-naked. He made it seem like he had been so rushed to catch me that he hadn’t stopped to put on a shirt. I should have figured Dain would send someone after me when I didn’t show up at the apartment like Falin told me. Why couldn’t they have given me a few more hours? Eloden would be hard to shake, especially if he pulled one of his disappearing tricks with his glamour.