by Marie Hall
She moistened her lips and it was all Aeric could do not to grimace in disgust. Women, no matter where they hailed from, or how they looked, all had that slice of vanity in them—that desire to be admired by others. He did not want to anger her, she had Lissa and that was enough to keep him focused on the task at hand.
“She is not my woman.” He shook his head.
She laughed, and again the shivery strains shot down his spine, forcing him to take a step back. Something about Pillar made all the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.
Two glass tumblers slid their way. She slammed her hand down just as they were set to pass her. A viscous glowing green fluid shimmered inside. Vapor curled from the tops.
“Drink,” she said, taking one and downing it in a single gulp, before handing him his.
“I do not drink in Wonderland,” he shook his head, pushing the hand she held the other drink in away.
The long, riotous curls of hair tumbled around her shoulders as she tipped her head back with laughter. “Is that so, mundane? Then I’m afraid, I cannot help you.”
His nostrils flared. “What have you done with, Lissa?”
“Me?” she tapped a manicured nail against her chest. “I’ve done nothing. I only offered sanctuary. Of course.”
The way she said of course let him know there was much, much more to the story than that. “Where is she?”
“Drink.” She held the tumbler back to him.
“No.”
She sighed. “Then I’m afraid I cannot help you. You may go.” She’d dismissed him. Just like that. Turning her back on him, she made to walk back toward the stairs.
“Wait!” he held out his hand. “Why is it so important I drink that?”
Her lips pursed as she downed the glass, as if in challenge. Inhaling deeply, her lashes fluttered and she gave him a satisfied sigh. “Truth and lies. Lies and reality. Who can truly tell? Hmm? Can you?”
She cocked her head. Her smushed in face appearing more distorted up close. His eyes narrowed.
“I can.”
“Can you?” she asked again.
“And this drink does what? Open my mind?” He fluttered his fingers. “There is nothing but distorted madness here. What is there to make sense of?”
A stubby finger ran along the luscious swells of her breasts. “You can’t depend on your eyes, when your imagination is out of focus.”
“My imagination?”
“Mmm. There is sanity in this lunacy, if there weren’t none of us would survive it. But to see, you must see.” She tipped the glass to him.
His mouth was so dry, his stomach empty. The throbbing in his skull worsening by the second, his need for food and drink was more than just a craving, it was a desperate desire. Making it almost impossible for him to remember why he shouldn’t do this.
Everyone within Kingdom knew not to partake of the madness inside this realm, for once it gripped you, you were lost to it. But he felt lost to it now. There was so much he couldn’t understand, he could hardly focus. Chrysalis had been one step ahead the entire time. Aeric didn’t have a massive ego; to admit that he was the best at what he did was an utter statement of fact. The Red Queen would not employ him otherwise. And yet he’d not shown himself to be such here.
It was galling to admit it, but there it was, the absolute, unvarnished truth.
“It’s merely one drink, Aeric,” she wiggled the new glass the bar keep had slid her way. “There can be no harm in that.”
Everywhere he turned he kept making deals with devils. He looked around, at the floor, at the walls. There was no blood, no blue hair anywhere. What if this was nothing more than an elaborate ruse?
There were no traces of Lissa here. Was he walking into yet another trap? He took a step back.
“The panic eats at you,” she said, “you think I lie. That I do not have her.”
His eyes narrowed. “If you have her then show her to me. Give me proof.”
She sighed. “Of course, Aeric, so that you may know this transaction to be legitimate.” With a snap of her fingers, a panel in the floor slowly opened.
A rectangular glass case slid up from below, and curled within was the prone feline form of Lissa. There was no mistaking the wild color, or the jewel encrusted bow around her neck. It could be a mirage, an illusion just like this cabin was, but his gut told him that was really her.
“What did you do to her?” he growled.
“No, not I.” Her grin was mysteriously short.
“Then how did you find her?”
Something was wrong, every instinct inside him screamed it, but the problem was he couldn’t pinpoint why he felt that way. Only that he did. Which made any type of reasoning nearly impossible.
“It’s really not very hard when you know what to look for.”
Her look was shrewd, and her tone clearly said there was more meaning behind those words than what he could take at face value.
“But,” she laughed, waving a stubby hand in front of her face in a broken butterfly motion, “if you want to know the answer to that riddle, it’ll cost you more.”
The undulations of her gown hypnotized him as she moved in closer. Her scent of cherry blossoms smacked him in the nose. “I could tell you much, Huntsman,” she traced a red lacquered nail down his chest, “you only need to ask.”
Swatting her hand away, he took one step back and then two. “I’ve come for Lissa, nothing more.”
“Suit yourself.” There was a twinkle in her jade green eyes. “You know the price you must pay.”
The tumbler full of green stuff was shoved back into his face. Aeric glanced around, no one was paying any attention to them, it was as if the bartering of a life were commonplace to here.
“I’ve not got all day.” Her smiles and charm were gone now. A pencil thin brow lifted with impatience.
A tap, tap, tapping broke through his thoughts then. It came from her dress. Or rather from what he’d assumed to be black bows on her dress, the tapping came—not from bows—but polished shoes.
“That’s not a dress, is it?” He asked the first thing that popped into his mind.
She licked her lips. “Want a closer look?”
With a curl of his nose, he turned the tumbler toward his mouth. And for a brief moment, just an instant, he could have sworn he’d seen the shadowy, black vapor of a skull and crossbones.
“Bottoms up,” she cooed, and then somehow had forced the cup to his mouth. He opened his lips in reprimand, but it was too late.
The stuff was thick and slimy, and sickeningly sweet. It traced down the back of his throat like ice and settled in his gut like flame.
Hacking and coughing, he bent over and grabbed hold of his middle as his vision literally seemed to spasm out of control.
Spots of light swam in and out of focus; his head throbbed with the beating of his heart.
Pillar thwacked on his back with a firm hand. “Now, now, it wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“What did you give me?” he managed to wheeze after a second, lungs booming from his coughing.
Once more the patrons were looking at him. Most of them wearing amused grins, and some, like the Walrus and Owl, outright laughing.
The fire was beginning to settle down, but he kept rubbing at his eyes. Because everything still looked fuzzy, blurred around the edges.
“Only what I was paid to give you,” her smile was pure venom, it made his skin crawl. “Go,” Pillar jerked her head toward the glass case, “take her and leave.”
“Paid? Who paid you? What was that?” he pointed to the empty cup she’d snatched from his hand, but she’d turned her back to her him and refused to answer any of his questions.
Wiping his runny nose with the back of his hand, wanting to get out of here, needing time to mull over what that might have meant, he turned and trotted to the case. Lissa blinked open her eyes and then looked at him with a dazed and confused expression.
“Aeric?” she whispered,
voice echoing hollowly inside the case.
It crossed his mind that maybe the case was spelled, or there was still some treachery afoot, but he was able to lift the glass lid with no problems.
Setting it aside, he planted his palms on his thighs. “Can you walk?”
She nodded. “I… I think so. Where am I?” She glanced around, a furry frown marring her kittenish features.
He shook his head. “C’mon, we’ll talk outside.”
“But we are outside,” she said.
It was on the tip of his tongue to deny it, but when he flicked his eyes up to point out the patrons, he was the one stunned. “What?” He stood up, and gaped at what he saw.
No longer were they inside the ramshackle bar, in fact, the bar was gone. The termite infested boards, the disintegrating porch, Walrus, Owl, Pillar, piano… all of it, all gone. They were outside and night was threatening.
Evergreen trees towered them on every side. More remarkable was that the trees didn’t appear to be anything other than just plain trees; there were no polka dots, no slithering, killing vines.
Where before he’d stood inside a massive clearing, they were now just inside a small circle of cleared ground with massive pines towering all around them like guarding sentinels.
“What is going on?” he growled. “We were just inside a bar. You were in a glass case. And there was a caterpillar woman, a jowl-faced Walrus of a man and an owl-eyed—”
Her brows dipped lower and lower, but that wasn’t what cut his words off mid-stream. Lissa had shifted again, but this time she looked very different.
“Lissa,” he breathed.
“What?” Her eyes widened, because hers were no longer a solid, matte black. Her eyes were normal, dark, but normal. There were whites, and pinpricks of black that swirled with a fine dusting of starlight. Even more astonishing, she was a complete woman.
For the first time since meeting Lissa, he got to see all of her. Her face had always been stunning, but the slender curve of her long neck that led to a pair of finely fashioned breasts were the perfect size to palm in his large hands. Her stomach was flat, but also muscular in an alluring and still feminine way.
His mouth watered and heart thundered as his gaze continued to drink her in. Her legs were long and lean, her arms equally well toned.
“You’re…” he stuttered, and then blinked as he realized the word that’d just been about to slip from his tongue, “look at yourself.” He pointed downward.
The confusion was still written on her forehead when she glanced down, but that was quickly replaced by astonishment. Her brows shot up, becoming hidden by the waves of her electric blue hair.
“Oh my goddess, what is this! I’m not a cat. I’m supposed to be a cat, what did you do to me, Aeric?” Her pearl pink lips were parted and her chest was heaving up and down, drawing his eye like a moth to flame.
“What do you mean? You’re trying to be a cat now?”
“Yes,” she nodded, “I haven’t shifted. You see me?”
He moistened his lips, wiping his palms down his pants. “I see all of you.”
Rubbing the strands of her hair in a nervous gesture, she blinked back at him with wide, wide eyes. “How is this possible?”
Scrubbing his palm over his mouth, he shook his head. “Lissa, we need to talk.”
Lissa nodded. What was going on? She was so confused. All she remembered was the moment he’d left her yesterday something had attacked her from behind. It’d struck so quickly, and with such ferocity that she’d immediately lost consciousness.
“But first,” he glanced up at the sky, “we need to make camp.”
She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t happy to see him. No, not happy. Because the riotous mess of emotions she was currently feeling went much deeper than mere happy. Her tongue felt thick, her nerves shot, her thighs were tingling.
Tingling!
When his hot blue eyes had rolled across her body, everything inside of her had gone absolutely still. Her stomach had twisted with carnivorous butterflies and her mind had fractured. How was he seeing her? Not that she minded, she actually liked it. But she usually didn’t stay in human form long because she’d never been able to stay solid doing it.
But if he could see her now, really see her…
And now she realized she was also ‘seeing’ him. There were no trees, no needles, or dirt around them. Just him. His big strong shoulders, his wild hair hanging free, he looked bigger to her somehow. More virile. More present. Just… more.
Holding onto her stomach, she made to stand on trembling legs.
“You okay?” he asked, and his voice shot a thrill of heat and liquid down her spine, it settled between her thighs and goddess, it was hot of a sudden.
Swallowing, she waved her hand in front of her face, needing to cool down, feeling as though she might combust at any moment. What was wrong with her?
“Are you sure?” he narrowed his eyes, moving his face in closer to her. So close the mint of his breath laced her lips. His eyes looked worried. “You look feverish.”
He touched his palm to her forehead and his hand was so cool, like being dipped in river water. She trembled. “I do feel queer,” she mumbled.
“Dammit,” he growled and just as he said it, her world spun out of control and the lights winked out.
~*~
Aeric stoked the fire, keeping a watchful eye on Lissa. She was curled close to the flames, her hands tucked beneath her face and sleeping, snoring very softly. It was obvious she was exhausted.
Throughout the night she continued to mutter to herself, nonsensical words and moans and grunts. He didn’t like starting this fire, felt it would call all manner of monster to their door, but after she’d passed out, he’d had to slap her cheeks repeatedly to get her to wake up.
When she did, she’d been groggy and shaking, shivering violently in his arms. In the end, the decision had never really been his.
There’d be no sleep for him tonight, someone needed to keep watch, and if he were being honest, he was worried about her and probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep much anyway.
She moaned again. Louder this time.
She’d been doing this off and on throughout the night, so he didn’t think anything of it, until she jerked upright screaming and clawing at her face.
“Lissa!” He jumped up and ran toward her, grabbing her hands to stop her.
Her eyes were manic and frantic, looking over his shoulder, at his face, and back again, over and over.
“I…I…” Suddenly she stopped, and took several deep breaths. “I’m sorry,” she whispered after a long pause, body still trembling, “I had a nightmare.”
Her skin was petal soft, and he couldn’t resist rubbing his thumb along her wrist once before letting go. Squeezing her eyes shut, she yanked her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth.
The flickering light of their campfire danced upon her pale white skin. Adding shadow to hollows, giving her an almost sinister appearance.
“Are you okay?” he asked into the settling quiet.
She sniffed. “I don’t know. I don’t feel right anymore.”
He cocked his head. “Right how?”
When she turned to look at him there was obvious confusion in her gaze, her rigid posture and seesawing breaths made his heart clench.
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me,” he said softly.
She rubbed her temple. The vivid blue hair almost seemed to glow in the night. Flickering bursts of fire suddenly spilled down from the tree branches above them, sparking and then dying out quickly. He frowned.
She must have noticed his gaze, because she said, “They’re just fireflies. My scream must have disturbed them,” she settled her cheek on her folded forearm, “I’m sorry.”
“Lissa.” There was a wealth of meaning behind her name. So many questions that’d been nagging at him throughout the night.
Things he couldn’t understand. Couldn’t figure
out. So much wasn’t adding up, wasn’t making sense. Ever since he’d stepped foot in Wonderland not much did.
She nodded and sniffed, her toes curled against one another in a fidgety manner. “What happened to me, Aeric?” she peeked at him from beneath lowered lashes.
The oddest compulsion to go to her and wrap her in his arms overcame him. She appeared so small, almost vulnerable just then. Not like the sharp-witted cat of before.
As far as track records went, Aeric had never really had a good one when it came to the opposite sex. But ever since leaving her, and subsequently discovering she’d been abducted and had who knew what done to her, he realized he liked her more than he’d cared to admit before.
But kindness had always betrayed him in the past. A lesson he’d sworn he’d finally learned with Claudia. And while his brain screamed that going to her right now would only lead him down the same path he’d stupidly followed before, he couldn’t stop himself either.
Rumpel had been right, he was a sucker, and what was worse, he knew it.
Shoving to his feet, clamping down on the inside of his cheek, he walked to Lissa. Refusing to think it through, because if he did, he’d walk away. He sat beside her and drew her slight body into the shelter of his arms.
She crawled onto him with the grace of a cat, and rubbed her cheek over and over into his chest.
Touching her now took on a different meaning. Ever since the thought that he’d lost her, having her here, in his arms now… his body craved her in a way he hadn’t craved a woman in a long, long time.
She whimpered.
“Lissa?” He kissed the top of her cheek, unable to stop himself. “What can I do?”
Shaking her hand, she fisted his shirt and sighed. “You’re doing it already, Aeric.”
Blood rushed to his cock as she shifted on his lap, biting down on his tongue he stifled a groan. Seduction couldn’t happen, not now, there were too many questions. Too many things that just weren’t adding up. Things he needed to ask her, he needed to let her go. Needed some space.
But his arms didn’t open.
“Why did you come back for me?” she asked softly, just a whisper of sound in the quiet lull of a sleeping forest.
