Falling Into Faerie After

by Mercedes Jade

  Selling your chance at true freedom seemed short sighted to me, but I hadn’t been enslaved for as long as the rest of them. I couldn’t judge. I had to be judgemental, however, and side with not giving the other prisoners a chance because their trust was uncertain.

  “Now,” I said. “Just us.”

  Matthew shot his twin a look.

  I looked down at Matthew’s still manacled wrists. “What about you guys?” I whispered.

  “All for show,” Matthew assured me. Our locksmith had been busy. “Get ready to jump. We’ll run and hope that, even cuffed, the prisoners will provide enough confusion and distraction to aid us.”

  “Hey, Darkling cunt, are you crying?”

  I turned to the mocking Fae still staring at us, letting him see my dry eyes and determination. “Just for you, I’ll shove glowy in shock mode up all your holes and you can tell me if it compares to the last Dark Fae dick you sucked and bottomed,” I offered him. I focused all my annoyance to the tip of glowy, holding the knob in my hand white knuckled. It didn’t just glow, it sparked, and I stuck the business end at the mocking Fae to punctuate my threat.

  He leaped back from imminent electrocution.

  “Bombs away, Evie-baby,” Matthew said, tugging and half-carrying me towards our escape.

  Shouts made me look all around to see who had spotted our mad dash before we even got the door thrown open. Thunks and two dead Fae bodies headed towards the ground, including my tormentor with an arrow to one bloody eye socket. The wagon ran him over and kept going.

  “What the hell?” Jackson shouted, grabbing my other arm and ignoring my still glowing stick. I kept it from touching him.

  Fae were shouting, prisoners were shoving and then the horses decided to break out of their sedate, plodding gait for a galloping wagon ride. I screamed.

  “We have to jump,” Matthew said.

  Our conspirator had already opened the cage door and jumped from the madly dashing wagon without a bump, up and running. He must have kept my hairpin as a souvenir. So much for all that ‘my Lady’ nonsense. He wasn’t going to act like a knight in shining armour to save me.

  Fae guards were going down rapidly, targeted from where they stood, ran or rode to thud down in instant deaths. The accuracy of the shots and quick delivery proved it had to be another Fae attacker or attackers. I didn’t have time to look for who was running interference for us, practically thrown from the back of the wagon by Matthew.

  Jackson caught me. If nothing else proved how much bigger and stronger the twins were than me, then Jackson catching me from a speeding wagon I flew off of with my limbs swinging and still not falling to the ground was plenty of demonstration.

  “Got you,” he said, unnecessarily.

  I thanked him, heartily. The situation definitely called for it. He squeezed me before putting me down on the ground behind him.

  “Which way do we run?” Matthew asked as he landed beside us. “Towards the arrows or away?”

  “Away,” I said.

  “Towards,” Jackson answered at the same time.

  “How about we run to cover and hide until the victor is determined or it becomes obvious that it’s safe, or that we should run?” Matthew compromised.

  We soundlessly followed Matthew’s lead, Jackson hot on his heels and me dragged by the arm as I tried to look behind for the shooter or shooters while my brothers took care of our destination.

  I tripped.

  “Pay attention,” Jackson chastised.

  I ignored him, dragging my feet as my better Fae vision narrowed in on our rescuer.

  My luck could not be this bad.

  “We need to run away, away,” I shouted, sprinting ahead of Jackson and tugging him this time.

  “What? Why?” Matthew said, trusting me and setting a brutal pace.

  “It’s not a rescue, more Light Fae,” I explained, not specifying exactly who was behind us.

  “How do you know?” Jackson huffed at me.

  “My spidey sense,” I lied.

  “Well, all the Light Fae can’t be evil with a ball of shining light like you in their ranks,” Matthew reasoned.

  “I’m Dark Fae,” I said. “We’re mortal enemies.”

  “What?” twin voices yelled. Oh yeah, Orin had totally lied to them about my Fae origins and they clearly had been focused on other things than my conversation with the guards.

  “Dark Elf, to be precise,” I explained. “Didn’t you hear what the guards called me?”

  “Elf?” Jackson said. “A Dark Elf?”

  I’m sure his hearing was fine. Perceptions, though, may have been warped.

  “I thought they meant your hair was dark because you’re a Halfling,” Matthew said.

  I could see how Matthew misunderstood ‘Darkling’ for a slur on my human colouring compared to the other fair elves. Even I hadn’t known it was my fangs that really set me apart until a few minutes ago.

  “The Dark side calls me,” I said, feeling a cramp. It wasn’t the pace.

  My body felt weak and starved. My muscles were starting to burn, even my neck feeling the strain as the burn travelled its way up. I tried to rub my neck where I must have strained something sleeping in whatever weird position the twins had placed me, or it could have been Matthew tossing me like a bale of hay out of the wagon.

  “What are you doing?” Jackson said, tugging me as he went ahead once more. I had slowed down running while massaging my neck.

  “It burns,” I whined, really feeling the heat bloom as I touched the aching spot on my neck.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Matthew asked, slowing down but still trying to get us to run. The sounds of battle were over, but that only meant our rescuer had now become our pursuer.

  “We have to carry her,” Jackson said, stopping and crouching.

  I got onto Jackson’s back without complaint, almost biting my tongue as he leapt back up and ran like my weight was nothing. I had to keep my hands off my neck. It was an itch that wouldn’t go away unless I ignored it long enough, and if I gave in and scratched, the temptation to do it again was ten times worse.

  An arrow flew past us with black-gold fletching. We were in an open field and Fae didn’t miss that easily. That had been a warning shot.

  “Arrow,” I yelled.

  Jackson dropped like a rock and Matthew followed. I bumped my chin on Jackson’s hard shoulder.

  “We should split up,” Jackson suggested. “Here, take Evie,” he told his twin, shrugging me to switch backs.

  “No way,” I said, digging my clawed hand not holding glowy into Jackson’s upper arm. He winced and I immediately let up, but my voice had no give. “You saw what they do to humans here, even Halflings like me are second class citizens. I’d rather be recaptured together than escape without you.”

  I did get off off Jackson and laid flat on my belly, so I wouldn’t be a hindrance to him if he needed to make a quick escape. I had to consider my options more carefully. The twins could easily outrun our pursuers without me. I had said they would hold me back, but it was really the other way around. A few weeks hadn’t erased years of the football muscled physiques that separated our fighting forms. Even my new Fae magic couldn’t close the gulf between us if punching and bulldozing takedowns were the terms of combat.

  “Do you want to fight back, together?” Matthew asked. He peeked up at the Fae tracking us. “There’s only two of them,” Matthew added, flattening back down.

  “What?” I said, and gave our rear my own peek, catching a glimpse of two blonde heads.

  All the other prisoners were gone. Our guards were dead. They had cleared the whole damn field in minutes, bodies littered everywhere. Cool blue eyes lasered in on me even though I was buried in the long grass. Every hair on the back of my burning neck stood up. I buried my chin back in my forearms and cursed my stupid luck.

  I was going to be rescued but not saved.

  Knuckling glowy, I made a rash decision. “If we get separated, go t
ell that bastard Dain that his Claim is worthless if he leaves his key piece in check.”

  The twins looked confused until I shot up between them and ran like a mad woman towards my new captors.

  “Eve!” shouted Jackson, and that boy could move fast. I barely evaded him and probably most of that was because I did the stupidest thing he could imagine by running towards capture, which caught him by surprise.

  Matthew played it smarter. He didn’t waste time on speech, throwing a rock over my running form and landing a solid hit on the forehead of the Fae closest to intercepting me. Too bad all it left was a red mark and a pissed off growl that added weight to my feet with second thoughts.

  A moment’s hesitation was all Jackson needed, snagging my hoodie by the waist. “Let me at them,” I screamed, pumping my feet in a furious march kept to one spot. “I’m going to fry-”

  The arrow pointed at Matthew as he ran past us shut my mouth. The fight crawled down my arms and legs, leaving me standing limply with only my pissed-off glower to combat the Fae that knew my weakness.

  “Get your glow stick ready, rocket,” Jackson said from behind me in a defiant whisper.

  Oh fuck, did he mean what I thought? The boys were good at throwing balls and rocks, apparently, but launching me airborne from the ground was ambitious.

  The arrow pointed at Matthew was already being lowered as the Fae figured we were going to surrender. Now or never was the time to land an unexpected broadside.

  “On three, you jump off my knee and get the closest one,” Jackson instructed.

  I dry swallowed and hid glowy behind my back. Yeah, I have a stick and it’s happy to meet you.

  “Give up,” the target Fae suggested to me. He didn’t need to shout, his deep, big voice a match to his body.

  “One,” whispered Jackson.

  “Honeybear,” I beckoned as Matthew walked past the bigger Fae with a glance back at Jackson and me.

  I was going to teach this bear the sting that came from pursuing his favourite treat.

  “I thought you didn’t know him,” Jackson furiously whispered instead of counting.

  I lied but didn’t want to say anything to Jackson if he had forgotten this Fae from the one time he met him. It had been embarrassing. The twins had been plenty distracted with Orin trying to gore him at the time and I had been indecently exposed.

  “That was smack talk. He’s fucking bear sized,” I whispered back, keeping a close eye on the approaching target. I knew he could move faster than he looked already. “Two,” I counted. I bent my right knee to rest my foot back on Jackson’s forward thigh in preparation for launch.

  “Are you sure?” Jackson said, putting his hands on my hips.

  “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

  “Three!” Jackson yelled with me as my target leapt forward.

  What’s worse than being thrown in the air towards a target is when the target is speeding towards you for a straight-on collision. I held my glowy out and closed my eyes with a scream that I would deny if anyone dared mentioned it.

  The impact was shocking, literally, but what happened next was the real one and a million strike.

  The blue-eyed warrior that Matthew tried to engage had thrown his head back and laughed as I screamed. I never thought that uptight prick would express merriment, although I should have suspected the first time would be at my expense. I hit honeybear with barely a brush of glowy that sent us flying back apart when the maniacal laughter died and blue eyes raised his hand out like fucking Thor and called glowy and me, by virtue of my death grip on the stick, to him like he was the real goddamn fucking god of lightning.

  Matthew demonstrated fast reflexes in getting the hell out of the way.

  “Princess,” the lightning god whispered against my right ear as steely arms wrapped around my back and clasped me against his still glowing chest that matched my stick. I saw stars no matter how I blinked my eyes in denial of what I had witnessed. “You’ve been very naughty,” my captor declared as he shifted me to give his punishing teeth access to the weak spot behind my ear that he knew so well. The burn in my neck turned to electrical shocks that danced down my spine as I jerked away from the lips brushing down the curve of my jaw.

  There was a commotion behind me, the twins or my honeybear or a fucking bomb going off. I don’t know, because for the first time in my life I faded to black.

  Chapter 8:

  I woke up bound again.

  The feel of Light magic surrounded me with the scent of fresh-cut grass and pears. I barely knew Loren but I felt the tension upon awakening and finding myself tied-up ease from my shoulders. Every moment I could avoid confronting Kheelan was another I could breathe easier. Keeping relaxed would stop Loren from realizing I was awake, too. A bonus when I was going to try the plan the twins had first proposed and play being dead asleep so I could plot another escape.

  The twins were okay. I knew it. They had to be.

  Loren had taken a touch of my glowy that had blown him backwards. Now, he was carrying me without obvious strain. The power had felt like a thunderbolt in my hands and Kheelan had laughingly drawn and ground it like a nuisance, static shock. How much faking I was doing pretending weakness was debatable. The Fae might have me outclassed in terms of power, but who outsmarted who wasn’t decided yet.

  My legs and arms were wrapped tightly around Loren’s body. He was piggybacking me with magic to bind my hands and holding me up with another band of magic slung under my bottom and thighs. I barely moved an inch despite Loren’s bumpy gait over the uneven ground at a mile-eating pace. Fae seemed to have a bondage fetish and Loren was good at it.

  It was the rest of what I felt strapped onto my body that left me confused. I really wanted to open my eyes to confirm that someone had taken the time to find my stolen weapons and arm me with all of them. Weren’t hostages usually stripped of pointy knives they could use on their captors? Was this more Fae arrogance or foolishness?

  And why did I need weapons?

  “Jackson, do you have any water on you?” Loren rumbled. I could feel it all the way through his back and into my own chest, fighting a shiver. That beautiful Fae accent roughened up his English.

  “Matthew,” Jackson answered, and it was a sweet relief. Both of them were safe and likely walking free, if I was interpreting the situation correctly.

  “Do you want me to carry Eve for a bit?” Matthew offered as his voice came closer.

  Loren shrugged and reached out, shoulder moving again as he took a noisy swig of water and swallowed. My tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth.

  “The kitten’s still sleeping,” Loren said.

  One for me.

  “We have to stop soon to camp,” Kheelan said and this time I did shiver, faking a soft snore to cover it up. He sounded far ahead, at least.

  “I thought we were going to a village?” Matthew said, voice still beside us.

  “Unless you plan to enter as slaves, a Fae village is going to have to wait until we work on your glamour,” Loren replied.

  “Disguises? We can borrow some clothes and pull our hats down low,” Jackson said, dismissing the concern. “Eve wasn’t happy to see you, and your only competition were Fae slavers with magical tasers and dirty fucking mouths.”

  “The competition is dead. We stole her fair and square,” Kheelan said. His voice was closer.

  Kheelan had a different idea of fairness than me. This wasn’t the first game he cheated me, either. I forced myself to relax the muscles I was tensing, unclenching my clawed hands. Thankfully, Loren hadn’t noticed.

  “We can glamour both of you but the kitten presents unique difficulties,” Loren quickly injected before Jackson could respond to Kheelan’s asshole declaration.

  “Her name is Evelyn,” Matthew said. I could reach out and touch him, his voice was so near. Did he know I was really awake?

  “Really?” Loren said. “I haven’t heard you use it. Beautiful name. Does she spell it i
n the Norman manner or another variant?”

  Matthew didn’t answer right away.

  “You don’t have Evie’s permission to address her personally, so how about you stick with Miss Winslow?” Jackson suggested.

  “Bit of a mouthful for such a tiny kitty,” Loren said. “I told her that she would grow into a tiger, eventually, although I hadn’t expected her to sprout claws so soon.”

  “She is a Dark Elf no matter what other names you call her,” Kheelan said, sounding a bit frustrated. I hid a smile in Loren’s shoulder. Guess he had found out my secret identity and he wasn’t as amused. “An outlawed Dark Elf would be arrested and tried on the spot if she enters a Light Fae town without a collar.”

  The smile dropped from my lips.

  What new crap was this? Did it have something to do with the King of Assholes?

  “If it’s so dangerous for Evie here, then we’ll take her back home with us,” Jackson suggested, quite reasonably. It was a bit disappointing to leave so quickly but I had already put the twins in too much danger.

  “You’re welcome to run away. We don’t need you to protect our Mark,” Kheelan icily replied. His voice was touching distance.

  Shut up, Jackson, I wanted to shout. Kheelan ate a thunderbolt from glowy in front of all of them. He was as dangerous as Dain.

  “Kitten trusts her brothers,” Loren said. “She will be less troublesome if they stay.”

  I was going to be a pain in their ass no matter what, but Loren was still getting to know me.

  Jackson held his tongue.

  “It’s not kitten,” Matthew said but only loud enough for Loren.

  I appreciated my brother’s sweet defense of me in face of the arrogant Fae. Loren’s chuckle didn’t seem to take offence, nor did it give hope that he would stop with the kitty nickname.

  “Fine, her brothers can stay,” Kheelan agreed. Good thing because I doubted they were going anywhere without me. “But they start pulling their weight and come ahead with me to get camp set up.”