“You have barely two decades?” Kheelan said, sounding shocked. You would think I called him a pedophile.
“Not the important part of what I was saying, but yes. I’m twenty-one. I thought to talk about a Fae’s age was rude?”
“You’re only half-fae.”
“Well, if the rules don’t apply to me than I don’t see why I have to obey them, either.”
“Your ears are the least of your glamour,” Kheelan said, answering my earlier question. “We don’t even know if you’re Dark or Light Fae, Halfling. If the rest of your glamour failed, then your power might easily call any Fae close by to satisfy their curiosity.”
So Falin and Aeric hadn’t said anything about the forest. “How many Fae are hanging around?”
“I wouldn’t presume to know the exact number.”
“Have you seen other Fae?”
“If other Fae were around then they could represent a danger to you.”
He was talking around my questions again.
“Why won’t you tell me who to watch out for, so I can avoid the danger?”
“You can’t leave us after you Marked me,” Kheelan said. “I will track you down.”
I turned into the restaurant parking lot and parked near the back where the lot was empty, taking a moment to figure out the direction this conversation had taken.
“I don’t want other Fae,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and turning around to face Kheelan.
He was even more gorgeous than Aeric without his glamour. The youthful softness in Aeric’s cheeks was hollowed from Kheelan, underscoring high cheekbones and the shadow of growth along his chin although he shaved every day. His lips were as kissable, firm and full and tempting even when he was looking stern.
“You shouldn’t have nibbled on me before checking for the trap, little Mouse,” Kheelan said.
The vulnerability, wondering if my fickle heart would leap to the next Fae to cross my path, instead of the macho-protective bullshit they had all been spouting moved me. This whole situation was insane, but at least, it was becoming a familiar crazy, with Fae I was getting to know better each day.
I leaned over my seat and placed a single kiss on Kheelan’s lips, keeping my eyes open to see his surprised look. When I pulled back, he licked his lips as if tasting my kiss to extend it.
“I have six problems to deal with already,” I said. “I definitely do not want to deal with any more. Your help is appreciated, Kheelan,” I said, remembering the gratitude he had mouthed after helping me put my hoodie on the first time he came to my apartment.
It wasn’t quite saying I wanted these Fae over any others, or completely accepting their enlarging role in my life, but I think Kheelan understood that I acknowledged there was something between all of us. I would not be dating another Fae for now.
Their overblown sense of danger we would have to work on another day. I had been promised weapons training and they would learn to trust me to protect myself at the same time.
I carried the drinks with Kheelan’s help as well as the donuts, setting him up on the picnic table. He said he could extend the glamour to his fast-food buffet and he dutifully bled on my charm as thanks that we didn’t voice. I started to thread Baby’s key off my ring in case he needed to hide, but he turned it down and reminded me the metal key would drain his magic. I felt like a mother leaving her kid alone at home, an irresponsible one that put out junk food and was too cheap to pay for a proper sitter.
Work was especially busy for a weekday. One of the waitresses had called in sick and my boss pulled me from kitchen prep to fill her spot. I hated working with the customers directly. My boss and I had a short fight over my insistence on wearing my hoodie, which I won. I told him I had gotten a big neck tattoo that was still healing and I didn’t want to worry about any infections. Public health had been handing out a lot of warnings to restaurants in the area, so he didn’t want to risk it. He threatened to fire me for violating the dress code, but I ignored it. He threatened me every week and this job was completely replaceable.
I had checked on Kheelan twice during breaks. There was only one donut left by the end of my second trip outside and he had insisted on me eating it. I ate it and didn’t comment on the powder left on his lips. I liked the jelly donuts the best myself, too. He seemed to handle the caffeine and sugar overload well. We would see how he slept tonight.
The shift was almost over when I got a large table. There was no reservation, so I had to shove a couple of tables together and rearrange chairs to get them all seated. They were loud and happy, although I wasn’t sure if it was because they were celebrating somebody’s birthday or something. I didn’t ask. The other waitresses were paid to be nice. I was paid to put food on their table.
“What do you want?” I said, looking at the girl closest to me. I had my pad and pen at the ready. People had been shouting orders at me like I was their private transcriptionist for hours. My handwriting sucked.
“Don’t I know you?”
“No,” I said, not bothering to look up.
“Do you work here?”
Now I looked up from my pad. The stupidity demanded it. “No, I just wanted to steal your order. It’s a prank and you’re on TV.”
It was Miss Righteous from the roller rink. I recognized her, but barely. She looked like a slut. It was not a good look on her.
“We want water,” another voice said on the other side of the table.
“We’re out of ice,” I lied. Who orders twelve glasses of tap water first?
“Do you roller skate?” asked Miss Righteous.
“No.”
I snapped my pad shut. “I’ll get your waters,” I said.
“Wait,” another voice called out.
I heeled like the good, little dog I was for the next forty minutes.
“What?” I almost snapped, not bothering to get my pad back out from my back pocket.
“I want a diet coke,” the voice said, a little quieter.
“One diet coke, coming up,” I said.
I took my time getting their drinks ready, sighing when the boss put ice in the glass for the diet coke. I kept the waters plain. It took two trips to get them all out and each time I had to walk carefully, terrible at waitressing. I sloshed the drinks despite my caution.
“Hey,” one of the guys at the table complained when I got water on his hand. It wasn’t that cold, anyway.
I tossed a napkin his way and grabbed a little dishrag meant for quick cleanups from my waist-apron pocket to mop up the table.
“We’re ready to order,” called another voice on my left side. I shot Miss Impatient a look that said I wouldn’t be taking orders until I had my pad ready.
Cold hands brushed against mine.
I froze. Two weeks ago, it wouldn’t have phased me. I would have withdrawn my hand and let the guy clean up the rest of the mess himself. Back then, I didn’t know what it felt like to touch the magic of a Light Fae.
“I have to get something bigger to clean up,” I said, and I walked away. I didn’t even look at the guy to confirm if his ears were pointy. What was the point with glamour?
I dropped the rag in the sink and took off my apron and the pad, telling the cook I had to take a washroom break. I could replace this job after I walked out of it in the middle of a shift. I stole a couple of butter knives, figuring they had to have some iron in them, tucking them into my jeans bum-pockets and exiting the restaurant at the back through the fire exit. It wasn’t alarmed, thankfully. Kheelan was around the side and we could get into Baby and escape.
My hand shook as I squeezed my keys. I wished the charm did something more useful than spy on me. I wanted a lamp genie or something to appear. Gods, if Dain popped out of a wisp of smoke right now, I might even break their rules and thank him.
I nearly collided with a body as I hightailed it around the corner. I was falling back and reaching for one of the knives when I recognized the sick waitress that I was replacing.
&
nbsp; “Oh, hey Jessica,” I said, tucking my hoodie back over my hidden cutlery.
“Is Garry going to kill me?” she asked about our boss.
“I wore him down for you,” I said. “Look, I got a call from my mom. She had a fall and I have to go. I left the apron and pad in the kitchen. Could you tell Garry for me?”
“And give him another target for his anger management practice? It’s your funeral,” she said, waving as she walked around.
“I hope not,” I muttered, catching sight of Kheelan standing up beside the picnic table. He must have seen my collision.
“Are you okay?” he asked, giving me a quick once over with his eyes. “Did you say something about your mother?”
“We need to go. There are Fae in the restaurant,” I said, not mincing words. I grabbed his sleeve and tugged him towards Baby.
We left the glamoured food and drinks on the table. Kheelan uncharacteristically stumbled.
“What Fae? How did you know? Are they unglamoured?”
“I touched his hand,” I said with a shudder.
“Did he see your Marks?”
“No,” I said. “I had my hoodie up.” We had reached Baby, but my hand was shaking so hard I couldn’t get the key into the lock.
“Let me,” Kheelan said, taking the keys from me. He wasn’t wearing gloves.
I looked into the car window and saw my fearful face reflected, thinking about Dain again and the first time I met him. This wasn’t some fantasy or role-playing game. I was in danger and they had all tried to warn me about it.
“We’ll get back to the apartment and maybe Eloden can cast some kind of protective spell over it. Can you do that with magic?” I asked.
Kheelan was turning the key in the lock. “Protective magic? Sure, Aeric or Orin would be the best.” He opened the driver’s door part way, ripped one of the charms off and threw the keys on the front passenger seat, closing the door again.
“What?” I screamed. “Kheelan, we have to leave now.”
He grabbed me and slammed my back against the car door, pinning me in place. “Hush,” he said. “We don’t have much time. It’s too soon.”
I knew time was of the essence. It had kind of been my point.
He showed me the charm he had ripped free, a tiny, blood-red sack. “Do you remember the spell to renew the activation?”
I shook my head in denial.
He pulled the top of my shirt open and shoved the charm into my bra, heedless of my shocked struggles. “Listen carefully,” he said, and then he repeated the spell again. “Say it back to me,” he insisted. “Again,” he told me.
My voice shook as hard as my hands, but I said it back to his satisfaction.
“At sunset and sunrise,” he said. “Remember your snowflake.”
I nodded, anything to get in the car and escape.
“Good. Now run, Princess,” he said, stepping back just enough to let me get away. He was blocking the car door.
Cold realization froze the fear in me. Hot anger burned it away. The bastard had set me up.
“Dain is going to kill you,” I bit out.
“He’ll try,” Kheelan said, colder than ever.
I blinked away stupid tears and ran. There were no boots to hold me back this time, runners for all the walking and time on my feet in the restaurant far more appropriate for this race. The other Fae exited the restaurant as I hit the sidewalk.
Someone shouted and they quickly gave chase.
I ignored the curious stares and pounded the cement. Did they even see my pursuers or were they glamoured from sight like Kheelan? Eloden had done that for me as a favour, hiding the traitor in plain sight. Had they all been in on it or would Kheelan return to my apartment and tell them I gave him the slip?
Confusion chased my thoughts as I ran. Why was Kheelan doing this? All the Marks and the Claim from last night didn’t make sense if Kheelan was going to turn around and sell me out. This seemed kind of haphazardly executed, too. The Fae just happened to show up at the restaurant I was working on the one day that I was serving? They didn’t seem to recognize me except for Miss Righteous Slut and she had been surprised to see me as I had her change in appearance.
I ran across the middle of the street, almost causing a collision, and concluded that the rest of the Fae had glamoured themselves because I was the only one being screamed at despite the gaining crowd behind me. There had to be at least half a dozen Fae and they were no strangers to running. I headed towards a park knowing that the witnesses weren’t going to help me. The Fae had only to spell me, too, and I would be invisible to help.
Kheelan had forced me to take my charm to glamour my only weapons. Did he expect me to need to use them? Putting an arrow through a living Fae was not a target pinned to a tree in my backyard. I was shaking with so much adrenaline and fear that I didn’t know if I could even hold my bow without dropping it, forget aim at another Fae. I would rather hold the knives I had stolen and present a threat without really carrying it through, which would have worked if Kheelan was by my side to protect me as he promised.
My lungs burned as I hopped a metal railing and dropped down to the sidewalk tunnel. The ground met my feet with a force that vibrated to my knees even though I softly bent them to absorb the impact. My sudden change in direction gained me a few precious seconds and I headed under the tunnel, knowing this was part of a path that followed a creek and a strip of green space and forest. It was a place to get lost.
How did they find me? I should have pushed harder for answers from Eloden. He had said my unglamoured ears had let him spot me. What had he really been looking for when he found me or had I been the target all along? They had all warned me about the danger and I had asked the wrong questions. It wasn’t who or what that mattered, I needed to know why. If I understood the motive, I might survive Kheelan’s betrayal.
The Fae chased after me without taunts. They didn’t waste breath calling for me to stop or coordinating their efforts. It was like a pack of wolves running down prey to exhaustion, quiet and deadly in a way more frightening than a pack of yipping coyotes. I realized as I ducked into the trees that they were going to catch me.
Running into the forest was a critical mistake. I wasn’t used to it, branches smacking my arms and legs, ducking overhead obstacles and stumbling over the uneven ground. The Fae were at home, weaving behind me and closing the distance. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and thumbed it on.
My first thought was to call 911 but how to explain my emergency and who would be equipped to help when I was dealing with a ghostly threat? I dialled Jackson by calling out my request to the voice command. The stupid phone got it right despite my garbled speech and any other time that would have pissed me off because it never worked when I was calm and repeated myself five times.
It seemed like forever before the call connected and the dial tone started. The monsters were right behind me. Jackson wouldn’t be able to save me but at least he could be there when they took me down. I wouldn’t have to be alone, a little comfort as I faced the dark unknown.
“Evie-baby?”
I could barely hear his teasing tone. I sobbed and swerved to avoid a hand reaching for me.
“Tell Dain it’s a trap. Kheelan betrayed us,” I screamed, desperately hoping that Dain’s Claim meant more than Kheelan’s Mark.
I swerved another hand and this time my ankle protested.
“Ouch, fuck,” I cursed, unable to stop myself.
“EVE!” my phone screamed back.
“I love you and Matthew and Mom and Richard.”
The next hand that reached hit my phone and sent it careening towards a tree. I’m sure it broke. I dropped to the ground in a crouch, pulling both knives from my back pockets. They had been jostled by the run, but my curves had stopped them from slipping out earlier. Crazy reason to be thankful for a bigger butt.
The Fae hadn’t expected me to stop or crouch. Two of them ran right into me and a third tried to jump the growing pile
of tangled bodies. It hurt more than I had anticipated being hit with their heavier weight, but I had braced. I used my knives and they screamed to get away. It wasn’t carnage, they were cutlery for buttering bread rather than slicing up body parts, but the touch of the iron-containing knives as I shallowly cut and stabbed my way free was like holding a blowtorch to Fae skin. I cringed and kept stabbing.
“Hold her,” demanded someone still standing. It felt like a personal victory that they had finally broken their silence to speak, although I guess the screams also counted.
“Hold this,” I shouted back, popping up from the tangle of limbs that I had cut through with my right arm extended and a knife pointed threateningly. A hand grabbed for me as I leapt up, snagging my hoodie and pulling it off my head, revealing my Fae braids and Marks as I came to a choking stop.
I ducked down, shrugging out of my hoodie like a snake shedding skin, dropping my knives so I could use my hands to help. It was almost as quick as taking your coat off with help if you had no manners and didn’t mind smacking the coat holder as your limbs flail about. I picked one of the knives up from the ground as I squatted and rolled, fingers just missing the other one.
“She’s getting away,” someone else shouted. God, I hoped so. The Fae’s voice buzzed loud in my head like there was static and it was heavily accented. I was lucky I had understood. Why would they even speak English?
One of the Fae already on the ground tried to spring on me from his knees. I met his chest with my foot stomping down, but it wasn’t as cool a move as I’d hoped. The Fae’s greater weight provided too much resistance and drove me back so my head bounced like a paddle ball on a short string. My hand was out in front of my face with the knife when it happened and I bashed myself right in the cheek on the rebound, thumb catching my mouth. I tasted blood.
The Fae that made me hit myself grabbed the leg I had stomped him with to prevent my escape. I twisted and dropped so I was on my hands and tried kicking back with my other leg but he had me secured. Knowing this was a terrible idea but out of options, I pushed off from my hands on the ground to fly back against my captor. He released my leg to capture my incoming body from behind, arms closing around my shoulders.
No Faerie Tale Love (Faerie Series Book 1) Page 27
