by A. B Lee
THE FAIRY GLEN
BY
A B LEE
And
M L BRIERS
Copyright © 2016, M L Briers
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced whatsoever without written permission of the author, except for brief exerts in reviews. Any unauthorised reproduction or distribution of the material herein is illegal and may result in criminal proceedings. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to the internet or distributed via electronic or print without prior consent.
Note from the Author;
All names, places, and incidents contained herein are purely fictional and have no basis in actual events or linked to actual Humans, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Lycans, Werebears or persons living, dead or undead.
Copyright © 2016, Cover Design; SelfPubBookCovers.Com/Fantasyart
Table of Contents
THE FAIRY GLEN
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THRITEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
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CHAPTER ONE
~
Did you ever think that you might have heard just the faintest sound of laughter when you walked over the hills, down through the Glens, aside a waterfall, or maybe as you crossed over a bridge- but when you turned to see who was there- there was nobody around you?
Maybe you did hear it. Maybe you heard me. Maybe you heard one of my like, one of my kin, but you just didn’t open your eyes wide enough to see us- allow your imagination free roam, and take the opportunity to embrace the unknown.
We have a home, you know? We have many. I live in the Faerie Glen, that’s what the humans of this land named it, because back in the day, before everyday life intruded, people were more open to seeing us, and asking for our help.
Battles fought and clans victorious. We were on the side of the righteous. Warriors carried our flag into battle, and with a Faerie flag at the helm, and a little magic dust, how could they not win the battle, win the day?
Some people know where we are and they come to visit, but have never seen us. Some people feel us on the air, in the breeze on a summer’s day. Some leave gifts that we collect, and are grateful for, usually in return for a favour, a wish. Some we grant and some we don’t, and some wishes you wouldn’t even believe- because they are so fanciful.
We are but Faeries, some things are even beyond our control.
Then there are the ones who don’t believe- will never see- because they are lost in their own little world and can never see ours- those are the humans who have lost their imagination- maybe their sense of fun and zest for living, and we think it’s kind of sad.
If you’ve ever seen a little tower of balancing stones, welcome to our world. We use them to mark out our territory so that others from the world of the supernatural know that they are approaching our home and give us a wide berth. Mainly vampires, because we don’t like them and they certainly don’t tend to mess with us, except at certain times of the year…
Even those big, bad shifters tend to turn back when they spot our markings, know our realm. Not always. There are some who believe they can encroach upon our territory and are seen off in one way or another- a little magic tends to work wonders in putting humans and the supernatural alike in their place.
We mark our territory hoping that our boarders are respected. We live in a community just like everyone else on the planet. Only ours is hidden from view, inside another realm.
We have homes- some built into the woodlands, some into the areas around waterfalls and deep inside Glen’s- when you see a spot that is beauty personified and it strikes a chord within you- that’s where you’ll find us. And just like humans- we have families, and fall in love at every opportunity, hand-fasting for a year and a day- rinse and repeat if all goes well- some of us even find a mate.
We come out to visit. Of course we do. What would life be without spreading our wings in flight and enjoying the beauty of the world around us? A world that we have helped to create.
Which brings me back to those gifts… today I’m on ‘find and fetch’ duty. It’s not really a hard life, not really a hard job- not when there are so many wonderful trinkets, left by humans- with the wish still intact until touched by a Fae elder- to tease the eye and make my wings flutter with excitement, spreading a little faerie dust as I go, of course.
People may call us faeries. Humans mostly. Within our world we are known as the Fae- for humans in the know we are the mischievous devils- wee little sprites- cunning little beasties, the little people- and some names that I will not even think about, because they are rude, crude, or just downright nasty that they shall never grace my lips.
We get the blame when things go wrong- probably more than what we are credited with for when things go right. If you’ve ever run into a Fae and absently spoken a wish, I bet you’ve never thought about us when your wish was granted. We are the forgotten, and sometimes rightly so- for it wouldn’t do for the world at large to know of our power.
My given name is Jasmine, but my friends, Piper and Bree, call me Jazz, and as I flap my wings and let the breeze carry me deep into the Glen- life couldn’t be better. The sun on my wings- the breeze in my hair, and a little faerie dust sprinkled over the land for luck and fertility…
How lucky can one girl be?
I berated myself for asking that question the moment that it entered my mind- because it was then that I spotted them. Scavengers sent to plunder the trinkets. Shifters. Wolves in men’s clothing…
My good mood just turned very sour, and I am more than feeling the urge to show them what for- when Bree comes zooming up behind me- with her eyes down on the shifters and her head in the clouds, that’s our Bree.
Never one to watch where she’s going. Her wings clip mine, and splat… I’m going down- fast and furious… spiralling out of control…
Wouldn’t you know my luck? The breeze in its infinite wisdom of ‘let’s try to kill Jazz’- decided to take that moment to pick up- just when I need less of the air pushing my wings together, making it impossible to correct my downwards course, and Kapow...! I hit the shifter at something of a heady speed, and I might be small, but boy do I pack a punch when I’m out of control and I hit…
If I’d been thinking in that exact moment then I would have considered it served him right, breaking my fall like that- he was stealing our trinkets after all, and he is on our land.
I hit him- and boom- I’m a full sized woman again, and all because a little piece of me touched the earth outside of our hidden realm. Mother Nature and the laws of the Fae in action- because it wouldn’t do to be able to stay small when you need it the most.
Faerie sized people don’t really get noticed zooming around on the breeze, but grown woman? Oh yeah, we’d get noticed alright.
So, now I’m spinning across the ground, attached to this damn shifter by his pawing hands on my backside, no less. Squish, relief, squish, relief, around and around we go, until finally he has the sense to pu
t out a hand and stop us dead in our tracks.
Not that I wasn’t grateful when we finally came to rest- because let me tell you- dizzy wasn’t the word I’d use. I think I was probably a lovely shade of green around the gills, matching the colour of the lush countryside around me, and feeling decidedly queasy. It would definitely serve him right if I puked my hearty breakfast all over him.
Trinket thief.
“Well, hello.” He growled, and I’m guessing that rumble of deep thunder within his chest is just to try to show me who’s the boss, and I snorted my contempt for him then and there. In my book it was always good to start as you mean to go on.
When my head stopped spinning and I managed to focus my full attention on him I was kind of startled by just how soulful his eyes were. Those chocolate brown puppy dog eyes, framed by long black lashes, might have made my wings flap a little with excitement, but as my crowning glories were tucked away rather nicely inside my human form, he’d never know.
He gave me the kind of devilishly handsome, panties dropping down to my ankles, dead sexy smile- that I’m sure is probably pre-programmed into him from birth- that he pulls out of his armoury whenever he meets anyone without dangly bits between their legs, and I have to roll my eyes away from him- before my heart starts beating so wildly that he’ll hear it like thunder. He does have big ears, you know? Just not in the physical sense.
He might know that he’s good looking. I might know that he’s good looking. Hell, the whole damn world that has ever laid eyes on this gloriously handsome creature might know that he’s good looking, but who am I to expand his ego? I’m sure there are a million women that can do that job for him.
“Satan’s beast.” I bit out my greeting in return.
When he frowns, and that wildly handsome face is still- wildly handsome- I have to wonder if he actually got the slur or if he’s another muscle jacked, no brained, pretty boy that sadly inhabits the world of the Fae.
The real trouble with the supernatural world is; very few shifters, werewolves, Werebears or even vampires are ugly. Bad news for us ladies with fragile egos- I mean, who wants to date a man that is prettier than you are?
“That’s not very nice,” he smiled again. This time it’s a little different- this time those eyes light up like damn beacons calling to my own eyes, and I have to use my elbow to shift my weight- which is half on and half off his muscled body- because, well, I feel like it.
“I don’t have to be nice to trinket thieves,” I said.
I pushed up and made sure that I caught at least two ribs with my full weight, pressing said elbow down as hard as I could- so that he really has to tense those abdominal muscles… If only I could see them- I cut that thought off right there.
“I’m not…” he growled then, a proper growl. It seemed that his brain had finally caught up with him, and he is now fully centred on what’s going on around him and not the fact that a woman just landed in his lap- so to speak.
“Faerie,” he said on an afterthought. Then he groaned like it was a bad thing.
I can feel my annoyance starting to rise, and a pissed off Fae is never a good thing, but if Mr Superior wanted to play, hell, I’m more than willing to go a few rounds with his almightiness.
“You seem surprised, wolf. Did you think I’d just jumped from an airplane without a parachute or something?” I snarked back.
Now I’m finally on my feet, brushing off the feel of the wolfman from my hands, and staring down at him with a victory smile on my lips, when he decides in his not-so infinite wisdom to mess with me in an entirely different manner.
Imagine my damn surprise when one of his big feet clips the back of my knees and takes them out from under me. I’m down on the ground again, but this time I’m on my pride, and I might have a little cushioning back there, but it still bloody well hurt.
“Don’t make me get my bitch on.” I warned him, and watched as those puppy dog eyes darkened to a sexy jet black and narrowed on me. He growled again, and I had to roll my eyes. “Seriously? Is that supposed to impress me?”
‘Be careful, Jazz. You know how shifters get!’ Bree fluttered by my ear and whispered. Best friend or not, her flying was a hazard, and I had a bone to pick with her later.
The wolfman’s eyes started to dart around in his head, at first I thought I might have caused some kind of concussion when I hit him, but it was soon obvious that he was searching for the little whisper from Bree that I know his big ears must have picked up on.
Ha! He’ll never find her, she’s too fast, even for the likes of him with his super shifter agility and speed, and those eyes of his might be as sexy as hell, but they are no match for the Fae when one doesn’t want to be seen.
“Who is with you? How many of you are there?” A deep voice demanded. It wasn’t the one still lying on the ground, but the one coming stalking towards me, looking fit to kill that had suddenly gotten all Mr Demandy-pants. I have to admit, I’d forgotten he was there.
“Questions, questions, and so little time as I must fly…” I gave him a victorious grin and felt very self-assured in my ability to get out of any situation with these two that might have arisen- just as the one on the ground, Mr Puppy-dog eyes, reached out and wrapped his hand around my ankle…
Bummer! Tethered to a flesh and blood person and the earth beneath my feet, I wasn’t going anywhere fast. Another not- so- wonderful law of Mother Nature, and one that I hadn’t foreseen happening.
‘I told you they’re tricky!’ Bree always liked to be right. We all did, it was kind of a Faerie thing, but now wasn’t exactly the time to wave that particular flag in front of my face. I sighed inwardly.
“I don’t think you want a taste of my magic, now do you?” I wrinkled up my nose and gave him a smug look.
“Why did you attack me?” He growled, and I had to snort a laugh. The trinket thief was priceless…
“Sure, let’s make this all about you.” I waved an absent hand in his general direction, there was just so much of him that I didn’t really feel the need to be overly specific. “I didn’t attack you. But I can.” I smiled again, trying to throw him off balance.
“You came at me like a damn twister from the sky…” he growled, and I sighed outwardly. I’d had enough of the growling thing- it was getting old. “If that’s not attacking…”
“It was unintentional, and I would normally have thanked you for breaking my fall with your… being,” I motioned to his muscled bound body, “but you are a trinket thief, and therefore don’t deserve my thanks.”
There I’d said it. He growled, and I seethed.
“And stop growling. I get the message. You’re a big bad wolf and I’m supposed to be scared of you. Tough. I’m not.”
Ok, I was just a smidgen afraid of him. But there was also something about him that wreaked of being a decent guy- when he wasn’t Mr Sticky fingers and Mr Growly-pants.
“And you’re the Fae and nothing but trouble. So maybe I should end you now before you cause any more mischief,” he tightened his grip on my ankle when I tried to pull it away.
“Name?” The other guy demanded. He was also built like a barn, with muscles stuffed inside of his clothes, but his eyes weren’t as soulful, or puppy-dog-ish as the shifter that I’d rather unceremoniously landed atop of.
“Yes, and you?” I shot back.
I heard Bree chuckle and that bolstered my resolve to not let them win out in this game of dominance.
“What kind of a name is yes?” The man’s dark eyebrows shot up on his forehead. He was a pretty boy two, but I didn’t want to guess at what was between his ears- it certainly didn’t appear to be a brain.
“Not mine.” I folded my arms across my chest and felt my boobs rest quite comfortably on them.
Both sets of eyes snapped down to stare at my girls. I hissed in annoyance, it wasn’t that I didn’t like my girls being appreciated, but by them? How dare they? At the sound of hiss; both sets of eyes snapped back up to mine.
; “What is your name?” The demanding one sighed with annoyance, and I’d guessed from the word go that this shifty looking shifter didn’t have a sense of humour.
“Jazz.” I sighed back- making sure that he took the hint. They were shifters- not Fae, and certainly not witches or warlocks, so having my given name meant little to them- it was an easy battle to concede, especially if I wanted my ankle back.
“That’s worse than yes,” he grunted back, and I gave him my frostiest stare, so much for being nice and co-operative.
I supposed that I could back up that stare with a little touch of magic and put his feet in a pair of ice block slippers, leave him there until the sun thawed them out, but I didn’t want to escalate this when the other one still had a hold of my ankle. I was annoyed, not stupid.
“Bite me,” I said sweetly.
“Tempting….” Mr Puppy dog eyes gave a hungry growl that caught my attention in more ways than one, and I was about to speak, give him my best out down- when the other guy got in there first.
“Seriously? A Fae?” His friend asked- right in front of me as if I wasn’t there or had suddenly lost my hearing.
“Well, she is…” Puppy dog motioned up and down my body like I was a piece of meat, and I suddenly wished that my short skirt was down to my ankles and my top wasn’t clinging so much to my girls.
“Jerk!” I snapped- not prepared for him to finish that sentence.
“Thank you.” He offered back with another one of those killer smiles, and that’s when I saw his fangs and I pulled back in disbelief.
“Oh, hell no. You can put those away or lose them down the back of your throat.” I dropped my hands to my sides and scowled down at him.
‘Be careful, Jazz.’ Bree was becoming annoying.
“I have this, Bree.” I snapped back, and both men growled in knowing that there were more of us, but not being able to see her she was in little danger form them.
“Tell her to come out.” The guy still standing, for now, said.
“Sure, when hell freezes over. None of them will show themselves unless they have to attack,” I lied.
