by Zoe Parker
He doesn’t have many clothes. I watch him shove them into one washing machine while I take up two. I had no idea I owned so many clothes. It will be nice to not have to smell them before I put them on.
Tossing in the laundry tablets, I’m politely shoved aside by a small woman in a green dress. Oh, a Brownie.
“Who taught you to wash clothes, little bit?” I blink at her, unsure what to say.
“No one, really,” I finally answer.
I read the instructions on the machines, truth be told, but for some reason I didn’t want to admit it out loud. Silly pride.
“Well, go on with you. I’ll take care of this mess and baby sit the Worm. Lord, take the girl for supper, she looks about starved to death.” This is said without her turning away from the task of sorting out my laundry.
Why in the world did a Brownie just adopt me? Because that’s absolutely what happened. Brownies only serve their chosen master and it’s considered bad taste to argue with them about it.
Well, fudge. I don’t need to collect anymore strays. Ciar tugs me out the door towards a diner across the street.
“She decided to collect you, this time.” Ciar says, his voice full of amusement.
“I thought that they only served those who own property.”
“But you do, monster girl.” His voice is quiet, careful.
It stops me in my tracks. There’s only one place he can mean. My mother’s house. Gritting my teeth, I start walking again, that house can rot for all I care. I walk right by him into the diner. The door jingles as it opens, and the waitress dressed in pink and white turns to greet us and freezes in her tracks. My eyes take in the customers and décor.
Pink rabbits line the middle of the walls in a row, that look like they’re marching off to their deaths. Most of them are missing parts or have grease stains making the already doomed bunnies look worse. Checkered booths, the same sad pink, fill the floor space with a beat-up table between each one. The smell, which should be good in a food establishment, smells like smoke and old ham.
Then I spot the poster on the wall, a Fairy—a very human interpretation of one—with a slash through it.
Fudge, this is a human anti-Fae establishment.
“Sit, they will not harm us,” Ciar sounds sure so I slide into a booth seat.
“They better not spit in my food,” I grumble.
“They won’t, that would be considered rude and they wouldn’t want the Troll who lives underneath here to think they were rude to Fae,” he says, loud enough for all of them to hear.
Ducking my head, I hide my smile. I can see a Troll being a problem. Not only could the troll rip this place apart, he or she will eat them too—slowly.
“Will that be take-out?” the human waitress asks, after making us wait a good two minutes for service.
“I’d like a house burger, rare, and a chocolate shake, and ma’am,” Ciar leans close to her, “if I find anything wrong with my food I will follow you home.” His threat is left hanging in the air and as much as I disagree with it and hope he won’t do it, I say nothing.
I’d rather they not mess with our food too.
Clearing her throat nervously she says, “and you?” To me.
“A burger as well, rare, and a chocolate shake,” I eye the cake dish on the counter, “and can I please get a big piece of chocolate cake?” There’s no harm in being polite. Maybe it will help her make her decision not to dump dirt in the shakes?
“Too nice, monster girl.” Ciar says, watching the waitress with sharp eyes.
“You know, I’ve never asked, why do you call me monster girl?”
Ciar smiles, that big toothy smile I like and leans his elbows on the table, his hand idly playing with mine.
“You had no fear of me and the Sluagh ever, as a child. The very first time you wandered into the forest they followed you, watching, and somehow you knew they were there, but you were never afraid. Instead you called out to them to play,” he smiles, “and you tried to get me to play fetch.”
Watching our hands together, I smile. Finding the forest is one of the best things to ever happen in my life. My mother went on one of her rampages about my father—the kind where she got violent—so I ran away to hide. Night came, and I found myself lost in the Dark Forgetful Forest.
He’s right, I wasn’t afraid. Not then and not now. Something pulled me to that place, something told me to not be afraid. When the whispered-about “monsters” stepped out of the shadows into the weak sunlight streaming through the thick trees, I felt like I found home.
“Well, you were a dog. It’s only reasonable that I thought you’d want to play,” I tease.
“You tamed the scariest monsters in creation, Keri, you earned your nickname.” He pauses as if he’s weighing his next words. After a moment of his unblinking gaze, he says, “You know, Mada told me when I first came to stay in the forest that it would lead me to what I sought the most.”
“To go back to high school?” Chuckling, he runs his finger across my palm inciting a shiver.
Our plates of food being practically slammed on the table brought us out of our staring contest, breaking the private moment into a thousand pieces. Sighing, I focus on the food, it’s smarter that way anyhow.
These kinds of conversations with Ciar always get me into trouble. The last time—I Awakened.
Ciar grins at me and takes a big bite of his burger, dripping ketchup all over the place including his chin. When his tongue snakes out to lick it off I find myself fascinated by it and curious what else it can do.
I’m Fae after all, how can I resist something that’s so blatantly sexy? And why is it moving so slow? And why when it disappears back into his mouth am I a little disappointed?
“Naughty Keri,” he teases and takes another big bite. Determined to focus on my food instead of his tongue, I start eating. Despite my worry about them tampering with it, Zag, who’s been sleeping this entire time on my shoulder, wakes up and takes a big bite out of the burger, squirting ketchup and mayo all over my shirt.
With a snort he attempts to lick it off. Batting at his head I grab a napkin and pat at it ineffectually.
“I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re already a mess. Give me the shirt. And Dragon, if you keep getting her dirty I’ll wash you as well.” The Brownie’s disembodied voice precedes her. She pops into existence right above my plate.
Her little hand hovers in front of me, she’s seriously wanting the shirt now? Shrugging, I tug it over my head and hand it to her, surprised to have another, clean one, placed in the same hand.
“Can’t have you running around sharing the goods with everyone can we, dear?”
“What in the world is your name?” I ask, flabbergasted.
Lickity split she grabs the steak knife off the table and cuts into the meaty part of my hand then does the same to her much smaller one. Slapping it against mine the bond kicks in immediately.
“Gertrude, your name is Gertrude.”
She nods and smiles, “My friends can call me Gertie. Now do try and not make a mess while I’m gone, I have laundry to finish.” With a saucy wink she pops out of existence.
“Well that was interesting.” I’ve been adopted again, ha.
“She’ll follow you until either she dies, or you do. I’ve never seen one give a blood bond before,” Ciar muses, finishing his burger in one bite.
Zag burps in my ear and settles down again. My hand is empty of my burger, that little piglet. I’m tempted to flick his tail to interrupt his nap but then dig into the cake instead. He’s rather cute when he’s sleeping.
“Would you like another?” Of course, Ciar wants to feed me, it’s a thing he does to show affection.
“Na, I wasn’t really hungry.” It’s the truth, and this cake is marvelous for a human made cake. I’ll freely admit I like Fairy food more, but human food has its own appeal, at times.
Finishing the cake, I suck down the milkshake and only glance at the check the
waitress sets on the table. Ciar snatches it up before I can do anything about it. Dropping some paper money on the table he stands, and I follow.
Talking about this and that as we walk out of the diner I’m not paying attention to what’s going on around me, but Ciar is, he always is, and when I’m shoved into the wall of the diner, I’m shocked.
The car doesn’t slow and Ciar is standing in its path. I yell, knowing I can’t help, I’m too far away. He leaps into the air and clears the car as it passes harmlessly underneath him.
That’s a neat trick, I can’t believe I was worried about a car killing Ciar.
The car keeps going and flies around the corner with screaming tires. What just happened here?
Ignoring Zag’s cursing I wait for him to climb back onto my shoulders before climbing to my feet and dusting off my pants. I jog to Ciar to double check he’s okay, even though I know he is. He’s watching the street where the car disappeared from.
“Someone is trying to kill you, monster girl.”
“I see that, the question is why?” I’m not anyone important. It doesn’t make sense to me. The only person who ever tried to kill me is my mother.
Fudge.
“Ciar, why do I have the feeling that someone connected to my mother is trying to kill me, again?” Because it’s the only thing that makes any sense. Not tat her pretending to be human and then trying to kill me make sense.
People do things for many different reasons, this is something we need to find out the root cause of, so we can kill it at its source,” Ciar says, giving one last look to the road before turning to me. “Be cautious about anything you ingest, bathe in, wear and so forth. In my absence, the Dragon can test any food and drink, he’s immune to their poisons.” With that he wraps his long fingers around mine and we head back to the laundromat.
“So why a car? Doesn’t that seem like a strange thing to try and kill me with?” I muse.
“I’m guessing it was a weapon of convenience, someone saw an opportunity and took it. It was a mistake.” The cold in his voice shows the depth of his anger. Their mistake isn’t just trying to kill me, it’s allowing themselves to be known by Ciar.
He is the Lord of the Hunt, after all. His Calling is to hunt down those that Faerie deems guilty, finding an assassin shouldn’t be that hard, right?
Walking into the laundromat I find a napping Fluffy and all my clothes are spinning in the dryers beside him. It’s a comical picture and I can’t help but laugh which wakes up Fluffy who makes that growly chirp of his and dislodges his hat.
Someone close by screams. Ignoring it I tuck the hat back on his head and marvel that his face is already cleaned up. Gertie is responsible for that I imagine. Speaking of the Brownie, I find her sitting on the edge of the washing machine reading a magazine.
It gives me a chance to study her better. She’s young for a Brownie, there are only traces of gray hair in her brown locks. Her eyes are a honey amber color and are dancing with amusement at whatever she’s reading. Her face bears no wrinkles but some laugh lines, Gertie has a good sense of humor then. A tiny little button nose and cupid’s bow lips finish the face of our newest family member.
She doesn’t look like a grandma, but she does look like someone’s good natured aunt. I’ll take it, especially since she’ll do laundry and dishes and it’s considered an honor to be chosen. Brownies don’t work for free, they take little bits of things here and there for payment. Like food, clothing and jewelry but only things that are given with permission. You’re supposed to set them out as gifts.
More importantly they like sweets and that’s something I can provide.
I have candy stashed all over the place and I have no problems sharing it.
Human lore painted the Fae as solitary creatures that lived alone in dark caves and ate all their children. Making a face, I turn to watch the spinning laundry. Some of them do eat children, but none of them live alone. Fae are family based so those without family or cast outs sometimes choose clans or packs to live with.
Fae don’t do well alone, they tend to go rather insane and become violent. Something about magic makes us need to be surrounded by others of our kind. No one really understands why, at least that I know. It’s one of those great mysteries of life. Maybe I’ll ask Mada when I visit home at Samhain, which is the next major holiday.
As far as I know, we can go anywhere we want to, I’m not sure how the rules apply to us anymore. Honestly, I was hoping that my stay in this town would be over by now, but I have a feeling it won’t be. Just like this Awakened business, the sharks will start circling soon—at least once they find out whether my ability is worth a shit.
Some family will try to indenture me and that’s unfortunate for them, I’ll not be a slave to anyone.
“And if the King of Lafayette came to you and demanded your service—what would you say, monster girl?” Giving Ciar a look of disgust, I toss a quarter that’s sitting on the washing machine at him.
“Do you want to be indentured to the king, dark lord.”
His green eyes narrow and he advances on me, uh-oh. Caging me against the cold metal of the washer he traps me with his hands, leaning his face down close to mine.
“I bow to no king… ever,” he whispers, his breath against my mouth. My heart goes crazy pounding in my chest so fast it feels like its going to pound right out of it. Smiling, I decide it’s time to make him realize that it isn’t fear I feel around him anymore.
Almost languidly I lick his bottom lip from corner to corner and with a quick peck of a kiss to that same lip I duck out under his arm and move across the room to hide behind Fluffy’s chair. Well, hiding without trying to be too obvious.
Ciar remains in the same position, leaning on the washer, his posture relaxed. What the fudge? No chase?
Chills roll up my spine and I turn, my senses telling me danger but not for me. There is just a sense of danger surrounding us, thickening the air with the suffocating feeling of menace. Frowning I look outside in the dim sunlight and see nothing. There aren’t any passers-by or traffic, vehicle or otherwise.
A sudden snap breaks the silence as cracks begin to form on the large picture window. Racing super-fast in all directions. In a few seconds they completely cover the window. Mouth hanging open I step back, pushing Fluffy behind me. Ciar’s warm presence beside mine reassures me, but also intensifies the feeling of… darkness.
“You have nothing to fear, monster girl.” His hand finds mine as the window shatters, the glass raining down on the floor and sidewalk.
Sucking on my tongue I try to get some saliva in my dry mouth, so I can swallow.
Clearing my throat, “Ciar… was that you?” I might not be afraid of him but this… this is my fault.
His hand tightens on mine, but not painfully so. “Control cannot always be held, when presented with a distraction like you—even for one such as I.” His words are more formal than normal and swallowing again I look up at him.
No, I’m not afraid of Ciar, not anymore, but I respect what he’s capable of.
“I’m sorry Ciar—” My hand is jerked, and I’m spun into his arms, his hot mouth finds mine and I realize what it is to be devoured by pure lust.
That quickly his hot mouth is gone and I’m left standing there feeling like a piece of myself is missing. Now across the room, he’s watching me with that predatory gaze that makes me want to rip off my clothes and tackle him.
I want him more than I have ever wanted anything else in my life.
“Mistress, I realize now might not be the best time to say this, but you should perhaps… wait until we are home.” Zag speaks loudly, in my ear. I pace side to side, my eyes only for the green-eyed Fae across from me. The one mirroring my steps.
Physically shaking myself like a wet dog, I turn away.
If I keep staring at him I’ll act on my impulse and no matter how mind-blowing sex between us will be, I’m not ready for that yet. If it were casual, sure—but there’s nothi
ng casual about this.
Shakily I turn around to look at Ciar and find him nonchalantly leaning against the wall. Oh, yeah, he’s back in control. Smiling, I take a deep breath and sit on one of the cheap plastic chairs against the wall. Resting my head in my hands, I fight for the control I need to be able to take this at a slower pace. A fight against my very nature.
I don’t want him to ever regret his choice.
“Don’t be daft, Keri. Plus, make sure you’re always armed. I expect to find at least two knives strapped somewhere on your body.” Against my will I smile, he sounds so irritable.
“Uh, do we have to pay for the window?” It’s a fair question to ask, we did break the window. His laugh echoes in the room, and I realize that I’ll gladly spend the rest of my life making him laugh with such freedom.
Call me crazy but I’m pretty sure that before I came along laughter wasn’t a common factor in his life. Resolving myself, I add it to my mental list of life choices. It only has one other thing on it.
Find the people who gave my mother the dagger she used to try and kill me.
Each Fairy breath of summer, as it blows with loveliness, inspires the blushing rose. ~Author Unknown
The next week passed by in a bit of a blur, today is the first day I care enough to pay attention to anything. Disappointingly, the day is rather uneventful, until we get to music class. We’ve only danced together once since the assignment was given, but we’re Fae… music in our blood yada-yada.
However, when the teacher tells us to pair off and practice I feel like I’ve won a prize. For the last week Ciar has avoided touching me. He feeds me still and we’ve had a few shallow conversations, but there’s been zero physical contact since the laundromat. I’m rethinking the taking it slow strategy. It’s starting to not make sense anymore.
Up until this point I had no idea how much we touched until it stopped.
It sucks.
“Keri, are you ready?” Ciar asks softly, his mouth close to my ear. Snapping out of my thoughts I place one hand in his and the other on his shoulder. The contact is electrifying like a light punch to my gut.
