Hollow of Treason

by Lainy Lane

  "Tell me...now!" she dared him. She knew she was playing with fire and was very likely to be burned, but it was a chance she had to take.

  Drake looked at her suspiciously and then smiled. "I don't know..." he said raucously, "I think maybe I should start keeping more secrets from you."

  Drake's dark blond hair was slicked back, and his violet, misty eyes burned into her. His eyes always appeared to be naturally lined, and he had a way of gazing straight through you with them. A heat began to radiate into the small space between their bodies. Warmth turned to electricity when Drake placed his palm against Calandra's cheek. She, unintentionally, leaned into it and closed her eyes, relishing in the glorious pulses shooting through her from his touch. It was a temptation that had always lingered in her when she was around Drake, one that she had successfully resisted until now. Touching Drake had never felt like this before. Usually it sent odd chills through her. Jarreth had always been the one that made her feel currents, but that had begun to dissipate recently.

  Calandra knew deep down in her gut that savoring a response like this with Drake was forbidden, beyond forbidden, but her mind didn’t seem to care at the moment. His other hand inched up and came to rest on her other cheek, and he gently held her face between his palms. Intensity transformed into need as the flow of electricity coursed through Calandra's body. She had no will to fight against it when she felt Drake's lips touch hers. They pushed into hers firmly with the fervor of a restricted passion behind them. Her body crushed into his, against her better judgment, and just as the temptation reached a point of no return, he pulled away. His lips lingered a heated centimeter away from hers.

  He whispered against her lips, each word radiating desire through her as it reached her. "Ask him where he goes at night."

  Calandra remained completely breathless and unmoving, other than the low rise and fall of her chest as she made a poor attempt at catching her breath. She fought to keep her cheeks from burning red as she tried to process the detour the moment of irresistible lust had taken. She slowly opened her eyes to find Drake's intense gaze still burning into her, his hands hadn't moved, and his light pink lips were still lingering ever so close to hers. She replayed the last couple of minutes back in her mind and realized exactly where her games had led her. She had expected to get burned at her attempt, and she had been right on track. She brought her hand up to his and removed them from her face. Despite knowing she had to remove him from her, she was still left wanting in the absence of his touch. The desire was enough to keep her from backing away from him.

  "He doesn't go anywhere at night." She finally released her breath as she spoke the words.

  "That you know of," Drake responded.

  "I know he doesn't leave." Her chest slowly returned to a normal breathing rate the more moments separated them from the kiss.

  "I didn't say he left, I said ask him where he goes."

  Calandra wasn't sure if he really wasn't making any sense or if the desires and temptations coursing between them were clouding her brain too much for her to process what he was saying. Deciding she needed to decode the conversation somehow, she forced herself to step away from him, even if only a small bit. The heat simmered down as she put the tiny space between their bodies, the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped several degrees instantly. Drake took the hint and stepped to the side without taking his eyes off of her.

  Calandra ran a finger over her left shoulder and traced her mark that signified her destiny in Faerie. It was something she had become oddly attached to, and she now knew it like the back of her hand. Her dragonfly helper perched on her shoulder with its body angled toward her face as if it were watching over her. It appeared to be three-dimensional even though it was no more than a tattoo, one that had been magically placed on her upon her first entrance to Faerie. The body was a dark burgundy color with pink shading in it. The wings were a beautiful mixture of deep blues and purples. The left side had a light baby blue swirl pattern, and the right wing had a lavender swirl. Her messed up destiny of being stuck between Drake and Jarreth was brilliantly displayed on her shoulder forever.

  "You Faeries and your dang riddles! Do you have any idea how frustrating the two of you can be?" Calandra exclaimed as she grabbed the cup from the counter. She downed it in a few quick gulps in an effort to undo her transgressions from a few moments ago. Her throat burned as she swallowed and she refused to scrunch her face in response.

  Drake smirked. "There's a reason dream walking is a gift of envy, sweets!"

  Calandra suddenly pieced together exactly what he was getting at. "Why would he be dream walking?"

  "He needs mortal emotions to feed off of, there's only one way for him to get them."

  Humans weren't allowed into Faerie anymore, not since the fallout between the Fae and humans that had spawned from Echo's relationship. The only time humans were in Faerie was during the yearly masquerade ball that Drake threw, if it weren't for the chance to quench their human needs during the ball, the Fae would die out completely. The annual opportunity to satisfy their needs was just enough to keep them going.

  "My ball," Drake began as if he could read Calandra's thoughts, "tends to make the cravings worse for a bit. We so scarcely get to fulfill our needs, it's like a drug addict. Once you get that fix, it makes you want even more. However, the rest of us have no way to get to humans to quench that thirst outside of the ball. Jarreth on the other hand—"

  Calandra looked at him suspiciously and put the cup back on the counter. She twitched her head toward it to signal that she wanted a refill. Drake rolled his eyes, but obeyed the request anyway.

  "So how are you so in control?" she asked, changing the subject and veering away from the accusations of Jarreth for the moment. She wasn’t ready to admit to or deal with that problem yet.

  "I, too, have my ways to satisfy my needs between the balls." His smile turned mischievous, and Calandra’s body shivered in response. Calandra realized she didn’t even know what Drake's needs were. She stared at him, waiting for him to explain further. "I have a deal set up with Glyda, and my needs are met there." He smirked and handed her the refilled glass.

  Calandra began sipping the drink and eyed him suspiciously as she did. Her memories turned back to the day at the bar when she watched him take thick crimson shots out of an apothecary looking contraption. Jarreth had insinuated at the time he would explain what it was to her, but every time she had brought it up, he conveniently changed the subject.

  "Ask," Drake whispered with a sly smile on his face.

  "What?"

  "Ask what it is. The fact that you want to know is written all over that pretty little face of yours. Maybe you really are full Fae."

  She eyed him carefully for a moment. "Do I want to know?"

  "Honestly?" he asked.

  Calandra shook her head.

  "No," Drake answered flatly.

  Calandra quickly downed the rest of her drink and sat the glass on the counter. "I'll see you later," she said, deciding to go with her instinct to not ask questions for once. It was one she generally ignored, but she had decided that if there was ever a time to do so, she was in it.

  "Watch him in his sleep!" Drake called out as she walked out of the kitchen.

  "Goodbye, Drake!"

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Truth or Dare

  Calandra eyed the leather chest as she walked past it and climbed into the bed with Jarreth. The desire to open the chest and explore the diary further along with the necklace threatened to overtake her better judgment. There would be questions and she didn’t feel like answering any tonight. Jarreth's eyes were already closed when she pulled the blanket over herself.

  "So did you have fun with your alone time today?" he asked, despite his poor attempt at pretending to be asleep.

  "Don't be a baby, Jarreth." She didn’t fully understand why she was so irritated with him, but ever since Drake had revealed his theory on what Jarreth had been up to, she hadn't be
en able to shake her aggravation toward him. It was a mixture of annoyance and resentment, her desire to ask him what he was doing built up inside of her and she tried to push it back down. She still wasn’t sure if she was ready to know the answer or not. Part of her felt as if he was cheating on her. Which made no sense seeing as she really had no claim over him and, to her knowledge; dream walking was in no way intimate.

  Calandra still hadn't decided if she should buy into what Drake had told her or not. Something about her was reminding her that Drake and Jarreth were enemies and seemed to always be fighting over her as if she was terrain to be marked. On the other hand, it would seem to make sense and explain why Jarreth hadn't been quite himself lately. As much as Calandra didn’t want to believe it was possible, she also hadn’t believed in Faeries at one point, and now there she was right next to one. Calandra had to continue reminding herself that just because you didn’t want to believe in something didn’t mean it didn’t exist.

  "Just asking a question, love," Jarreth added a sentiment at the end in a failed attempt to cover up his sarcasm. "Why are you so on edge tonight?"

  "I'm not the one that's been on edge lately, Jarreth," she replied while biting her tongue to keep from saying everything she really wanted to.

  The question was lingering on the tip of her tongue, she was afraid if she opened her mouth it would fall out whether she wanted it to or not. Jarreth stared at her for a moment. His eyes were still a dark color and not the eyes she was used to seeing. They didn’t convey safety like they used to, there was no comfort in what was staring at her anymore. What scared her the most was that there didn’t seem to be any Jarreth left inside of those dark eyes at the moment. Finally he closed his eyes without saying anything.

  "Truth or dare?" she asked on a whim.

  "Excuse me?" His body twisted toward her slightly, without rolling over to actually look at her.

  "Humor me, Jarreth, truth or dare?"

  "Fine— truth." He was not amused.

  "What's with your eyes?" The question came out so fast she didn't even have time to word it in a way that didn't sound rude.

  "What do you mean?" Jarreth asked innocently.

  "You know what I mean, Jarreth. You said truth, so let's hear it." Her voice conveyed the desperation she felt to solve the mystery at hand and figure out once and for all what was causing him to manstrate so much lately. Maybe once she knew for sure what was going on in his head, she could work on finding a way to fix it. She wanted Jarreth back, her Jarreth, not the moody, out of body Jarreth she had been dealing with lately.

  "Truth or dare?" He tried to change the subject by turning the question back around on her.

  "That's not how the game works, Jarreth." Calandra rolled her eyes. Him avoiding the question certainly wasn't doing anything to set her mind at ease.

  "I wasn't the one who wanted to play the damn game to begin with, Cal. I think it's only fair you go first." She could hear the grin in his voice, it wasn’t an innocent one either.

  Calandra sighed. She knew exactly what he was playing at. She knew that this was his way of getting out of answering the question and it would never go back to being his turn. He figured if he could get her to think about something else, she would forget all about what she wanted to know. Little did he know that she wasn't going to give up on finding the answer to this question so easily. But she also knew that fighting with him was going to get her absolutely nowhere, so she went along with it regardless.

  "Truth," she gave in.

  "Where all did you go today for your alone time?" he asked.

  "I went to the field, and I ran into Tristan and his new girlfriend on the way back." Calandra decided to end her answer there. The mention of Tristan's girlfriend reminded her that she had other questions to ask Jarreth, but she decided now probably wasn't the best time to do so.

  "I saw you," his voice was nonchalant as if it were nothing, "and she is a muse by the way." As usual, he managed to somehow read her mind and know what she was thinking. "Now my question is were you going to tell me where you went after that little encounter?"

  "Are you kidding me, Jarreth? You followed me?"

  "No..." He sounded offended. Wasn’t she supposed to be the one offended by his violation of privacy? "I was at a few doors away at the bar and heard yours and Tristan's fight, as did virtually everyone in town, just so you know."

  "What were you doing there if that's where you went earlier today?" Calandra didn’t miss the chance to turn things back around on him. She had never known him to go into town to feed twice in one day before, and she didn’t buy into him starting a new trend. Something was up, and she was determined to figure out what it was once and for all.

  Jarreth seemed surprised that she had picked up on the matter. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided better of it. Instead, in natural Jarreth style, he decided to change the subject once more.

  "Where did you go after you left, Calandra?”

  “Where did you go earlier today, Jarreth?" Calandra echoed his question. She refused to give up on figuring out what he had been up to lately. Something was off, and she had to figure out what it was. It must be something big since he was fighting so hard to keep her off his scent.

  "Blood," he said the word simply.

  "What?" She couldn’t understand what his random comment had to do with anything.

  "That is what Drake feeds on Calandra, human blood. It is a powerful way to get emotions, I dare you to trust him now." Jarreth sighed and rolled over without another word.

  Calandra, on the other hand, tossed and turned, once again unable to fall asleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Ghost of You

  The wind picked up several notches as Calandra walked through the field. As she approached the tree a spicy scent caught her attention through the breeze. She knew without looking who that aroma belonged to, and her heart skipped a beat in response. She could see those opaque baby blue spheres in her mind without having to turn around to see them face her. All the pleasant emotions Jarreth's eyes had ever sent through her flashed through her memory, and she smiled. The sense of excitement and lust she had felt when she and Jarreth had just begun falling for each other coursed through her. An ache to be back to that place, to look at that man again, immediately followed it.

  "Do you really still feel right at all?"

  The voice didn’t belong to who she suspected was behind her. Calandra placed her hand on the tree to steady herself from the stupor of hearing Drake instead of Jarreth. Why had she been so convinced it was Jarreth? How had Drake stirred those emotions in her?

  "The truth isn't far behind you Calandra. Quit living a lie and admit that you feel better in these alone moments than you do when you're with him." His voice was a mixture of wonder and sensuality.

  "But I'm not alone, am I?" she said quietly, disguising the frustration she felt at the truth behind his words.

  "What do you feel when you're around him?" he asked, ignoring her comment completely.

  "Not together..." She sighed as the truth unwillingly left her lips. "So what's the truth?"

  "The truth is you're living a lie," he replied in a seductive whisper. "Close your eyes."

  Calandra obeyed just as she always did when Drake told her to do something. Something in his voice wouldn’t allow her to ignore him.

  "Let reality overcome you," he whispered into the back of her neck, the words tickled her skin as he spoke.

  Calandra allowed the emotions to course freely through her for once. She stood in the field against her tree and admitted to herself that her heart was broken. She had been trying to block out that fact for quite a while. Her thoughts choked on the dream of what she and Jarreth were supposed to have been. How they had gotten so far from where they were initially headed was beyond her. She saw Jarreth, her Jarreth, walking up to her in her head. His eyes were the way they were supposed to be, and his smile graced his flawless face once more. She wanted to reach out to hi
m, touch him the way she had desired to for so long. Just before she allowed herself to reach for him, a brick wall appeared and blocked him from her sight. Her heart crashed into her ribs and her breath left her at once.

  "You see it now?" Drake's voice forced her eyes back open.

  She nodded simply. She was unable to speak; she wanted to have a defense for Jarreth. Even if her head had been able to come up with one, her voice wouldn’t have allowed her to speak it. Calandra realized how alone she had truly been feeling in that moment. Her thoughts and emotions were playing a relentless game of ping-pong back and forth inside her head and getting her nowhere. Calandra felt an overwhelming desire to hide behind something and ignore that everything was falling apart around her.

  "And?" Drake asked barely above a whisper.

  "I can't handle this confusion..." she said breathlessly "...take me away."

  His fingertips started at the back of her neck and brushed around to her collarbone. The chills shot intensely through her and her body begged for more. The tingling sensation under her skin set her soul on fire in the way she had been craving.

  "I can't, dear," he replied and placed a tender kiss at the base of her neck between her shoulder blades. Instantaneously he was gone, and the breeze was the only thing embracing her.

  Tears began to stream down her cheek. Being alone, she was finally able to allow them to do so. She had been trying to keep them in for far too long. Underneath it all, she was still just a girl on her own trying to figure out what to believe. If you were to strip away her flesh and all of her wounds, you would be left with nothing but a soul searching for its place in the world. A river of screams flowed through her, cries of anguish screams that she would never consider letting out.