Guardians of Hellfire (Guardians of the Fae Book 2)

by Elizabeth Hartwell

  “Sorry, Eve,” Jacob says, sounding genuinely sorry for once, no hint of a joke in his voice. I can even see the pain in his eyes, which makes me feel funny. “But you left me no choice. I had to slap the bracers on fast. You were out of control. The rebound must’ve knocked you out.”

  “I . . .” I murmur, trying to remember. It’s there, but dim, like a memory of watching a movie on TV or something. “I . . . did I really do that?”

  Jacob nods slowly. “You were on the brink of committing a disaster. As to why I brought you here, like I said, Guard patrols are out and I couldn’t risk being seen. But Eve, you were muttering stuff that . . . I’m not going to lie. It made the hair on my neck stand straight up.”

  “Like what?” I ask, and he shivers. “Jacob?”

  “It wasn’t Fae or English, I know that, but I can’t tell you what it was. Between that and the patrols, I couldn’t move through the streets with you. I had to bring you someplace where I could calm you down and where your behavior wouldn’t look out of place.”

  I groan. That feedback was rough. “You said I was still erratic unconscious? How’d you get me to calm down then?”

  Jacob sighs, looking around. “I gave you a tenth of a dose of fairy dust.”

  “Really?” I scowl. “Jacob, I know you’re a horny fucker, but—”

  “Not like that, Eve,” Jacob says, a dark look descending over his face. “Fairy dust is synthetic, longer lasting, and hits a few different of the mind’s receptors. It’s made for one thing and one thing only.”

  “What?” I ask, and Jacob’s eyes glance over at the nearest woman, who’s muttering incoherently and blindly trying to get to her knees so she can go find another customer, or hit, or whatever. “Fuck.”

  “Yeah . . . there’s a saying in the Warrens. One flight’s to heaven, two’s to Hell, three’s forever, a fourth you never tell.”

  “That’s terrible. Why would the Fae want humans strung out?” I reply before the reality hits me like a kick in the gut and my eyes go wide. “No.”

  Jacob nods sadly. “Slavery has been illegal for a long time, but there’s more than one way to keep a population enslaved,” Jacob says softly, ashamed. “There are those who use fairy dust as the hook and the stick, a way to make sure those who live in the Warrens and other areas never think about rebelling.”

  “More, I need more!” one of the women on a filthy mat suddenly screams, scratching all over herself before she starts laughing like a crazed hyena, sobs and hilarity and insanity all mixing in a single sound.

  “That’s so terrible,” I whisper. “And you—”

  “No!” Jacob hisses before bowing his head. “Sorry. No, fairy dust is also illegal. But there are those Fae who control these slums, and they have connections. Those who oppose them fight for change, but in a species that can live centuries, change is often slow. Especially when so many see it as just the humans and their weak nature.”

  I can’t imagine becoming like this. Yet at the same time . . . I have my own battle with a personal demon, one that’s just as hellish. More, maybe. It lets me feel pity for these poor souls, and I swallow. “Do you try to stop it?”

  “Patrolling the Warrens is the duty of the Lunarian Guard, not the Queen’s Guard . . . but yes,” Jacob says sadly. “Some of them can’t help themselves. They get hooked, the need growing with every dose until they can no longer function as anything more than pushpots, and soon, barely that. They get tossed to the street like trash, where they live out the rest of their days in places like this.”

  I stifle a sob, and Jacob nods, standing up and offering me a hand. I see he’s fully dressed, looking more like a human than the Fae garb he’s normally worn. “Come, we have our own demons to deal with.”

  “But—” I start before Jacob hands me another hooded poncho. It’s smelly and slightly moldy, but I don’t want to know where he got it from, so I don’t ask. Besides, he’s simply telling the truth. As much as I’d like to help the poor souls here, right now, I have another battle to fight.

  And this one is literally against demons. As we head for the door, I stop him. “Jacob, did you notice anyone else in the alleyway besides the gang?”

  Jacob stops, thinking for a moment. “No, not until the street. Why?”

  I want to say something about the man in dark armor, the Dark Rider I’ve seen multiple times, but I’m afraid. What if this is another manifestation of the Shadow that Joe used on me? That Shadow manipulated me, but there was little I could do about it.

  I’m more worried about another idea as well. What if the Dark Rider is real, but something that I can’t defend against? What if nobody can see it because it’s so powerful, so omnipresent, that it can cloak itself? What if . . . what if there’s another demon after me?

  And how would my Guardians fight something they cannot see?

  “I’m not sure,” I whisper back. “Maybe later, when we get to someplace a little more secure, I can tell you about it. For now—”

  “For now, we focus on finding the others,” Jacob assures me before pulling me in for a hug, reassurance and comfort in his touch. “You scared the piss out of me, Eve. Not the power, but going missing like that. I . . . I need you.”

  I hug him back, resting my head on his shoulder for a moment. “I need you too, Jacob. Let’s not do this again anytime soon, okay?”

  Chapter 12

  Eve

  Regardless of how I’ve felt about the rest of my time in this strange new place, sunset on the faerie lands is gorgeous, a reminder of the moment of beauty I felt before when I looked out over the pastoral lands away from the slums of Lunare. The sun drops to become a golden ball, richer and somehow slightly more intense than the one I’m familiar with back in Haven. I think I could look at the sunset here for years and not get bored by it.

  Too bad my first sunset might also be my last, but either way, I’m too busy to take the time to really enjoy it. While the streets aren’t as crowded as they were before, they’re still too busy for my taste as Jacob and I creep along.

  “Stick by me,” he whispers. “Keep your hood up, and don’t make eye contact with anyone. And keep your bracers covered. That gold’s going to attract thieves.”

  Don’t I know it. That’s what got me into that scuffle before that nearly resulted in my torching an entire town.

  Jacob reaches out, and I take his hand, a little tingle running up my arm as we do. It’s a good tingle, though, and as he leads me on with a firm purpose, for the first time, I feel a little confident that I may actually get out of this neighborhood alive.

  “Are you armed?” I ask, and Jacob nods.

  “What happened to the satchel with our things? Gone?”

  “I think so,” I admit, swallowing thickly. “I’m sorry. I know—”

  “Weapons can be replaced. People cannot,” Jacob says, stopping and turning to look at me. “I’d give up the crown jewels . . . shit, even my family jewels, to keep you safe. Okay?”

  I nod, smiling wanly. “Okay. Family jewels, huh? I must be valuable to you, then.”

  Jacob chuckles, pulling me close. “Princess, the best use of my family jewels is making you scream in pleasure . . . but you are the most precious thing in the world to me.”

  I cup his face, looking into those golden eyes and running a thumb over a finely arched eyebrow. “You’re a poet . . . for a scoundrel. And you mean so much to me. I wish I could tell you how I feel.”

  “You tell me with the way you look at me now,” Jacob replies, touching his forehead to mine. “Now, let’s go before I get ideas in my head.”

  We keep moving, and as we do, I try to keep up some small talk, and also to learn more about Jacob and the Fae realm. “So . . . what’s up with this place? Thought you said this land was all sunshine, unicorns, and green, lush grass. Not Oliver Twist meets The Wire.”

  “Unicorns have better sense than to live anywhere near a place like this,” Jacob says as we cross a street, ducking into an alley an
d around a building to avoid a Guard patrol. “As for the Warrens . . . it’s the worst part of Lunare. The Trade District’s okay, the Narrows are bad, but the Warrens . . . before I got into the Queen’s Guard, I had to patrol here, and it was a bloodbath on a regular basis.”

  “So the Guard here kicks ass first and doesn’t worry about questions at all,” I whisper, thinking back to how the 54th operated in Old Haven. “But what about the beautiful city you described to me?”

  “Inside the city walls, it is beautiful,” Jacob assures me. “If you ever had a chance to go to Market Square or the City Commons, you’d understand. Those who have the right to get inside Lunare will testify that it’s breathtaking. Nothing like . . . here.”

  “But these people live so badly,” I mutter. “It’s not fair.”

  “It reminds me of my childhood, honestly,” Jacob says. “I’m not excusing it. I’m just saying I understand.”

  “Do you?” I whisper. “Jacob, this place is like something out of the fucking Hunger Games. Why do the Fae allow this? Aren’t there people who could put a stop to it?”

  Jacob pulls me aside into a dim nook and looks into my eyes, passion more than anger flaring in them. “First, not all Fae agree with it, me included. I remember what it was like being treated like a second-rate citizen, first by humans and then by my own people when I returned. I was good for a roll in the heather. I was good for smuggling in that bauble from the other realm, but being made part of a family, accepted by society? Nope. Not in either realm.”

  Jacob’s voice has dropped, pain and his accent becoming stronger, and I feel my heart break for him. “You’re special to me.”

  “I know, Princess,” Jacob whispers, looking to the side at the slum life pouring by us. “But yes, I hate it. Socially, however, I’m a low man on the bloody totem pole. The nobles of this kingdom, even the others who have rank as you know from Earth, and those who hold the Grand Duchies and the royal blood? They all think humanity is beneath them. So they decree that humans are to live in a place befitting them and banished all but the richest humans outside the walls of Lunare.”

  Jacob glances and takes my hand again. “There are those who think humanity is evil. They’re wrong. Blind, arrogant, pig-headed. And I’m sad to say I’ve done a lot of shit in my life that increases the wealth and power of those idiots. But I try to tell myself I did it because it helped the average person. And right now, I’ve sworn my life to protect a woman I think is nobler, better than any highborn Fae inside the shiny walls of Lunare.”

  I blink, stunned by the honesty of Jacob’s words. I’ve never seen him this serious, this sincere. Before I know it, I grab his hood and pull him close, kissing him deeply. His tongue invades my mouth and we both moan before he pulls back, grinning. “Why?”

  “Because you’re better than the highborn I’ve met as well,” I whisper. “And because I still owe you something.”

  Jacob’s trademark smirk emerges, and he nods as he reaches around and pats my ass through my dress. “I haven’t forgotten . . . and you will have to pay up. Come on, Princess.”

  We step back out into the street and keep going. I can just see the buildings start to thin out when suddenly, a load of . . . I don’t want to know what, but it smells like rank piss, hits me in the hood, knocking it back. “Ugh! What the—”

  I start to wipe at my eyes when suddenly, a young, leather-lunged voice shouts from up the street behind us. “There she is! The monster!”

  I turn, and it’s Jimmy, this time with a half-dozen members of the Lunarian Guard, all of whom look heavily armed. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

  “It’s the monster, there!” Jimmy yells again, pointing.

  “Didn’t we save that little shit’s life?” Jacob grumbles, pulling me along. “Run, Eve. Run!”

  We take off, and I’m glad for the good boots I’m wearing as we dart through alleyways, jumping over obstacles and weaving around the crowd. Jacob lets go of my hand, but I keep up with him, those nights doing Crossfit back in New Haven finally paying off.

  “How’d they find us?”

  “Bad luck,” Jacob replies, rolling underneath a large box being carried by two men. I follow, getting to my feet and finding myself grinning at the exhilaration of it all. We keep running, dodging and weaving through the crowd, and as I do, I can’t help it, I start to laugh. As we round a corner, Jacob glances over. “What in the three realms is so funny?”

  “You . . . keep . . . joking . . .” I get in between breaths, “that I’m . . . gonna . . . run away . . . with you . . . and here . . . we are!”

  Jacob gawks, then starts laughing too. “Touché. Now run!”

  We pick up the pace, distancing ourselves from our pursuers until Jacob takes a sharp right, then after a few feet, a left that has me scrambling to catch up. Ahead, I see a hole and Jacob heads for it. The smell hits me a moment later and I realize where we’re going.

  A Lunarian sewer is . . . not as bad as I thought it’d be. It’s not a place I want to take romantic walks or have a picnic, but it’s mostly dry, and the animals I hear seem to be scurrying away from us.

  “Unbelievable,” I rasp after I can breathe again. “Little Jimmy. Kid steals my bracer, nearly gets us killed, I save his ass . . . and then he rats on me. And even still, I feel for him.”

  Jacob glances over, shaking his head. “Don’t concern yourself with little Jimmy. He may look sweet, but I’m sure that boy has done things you could never imagine. You’ve been without your badge for less than seventy-two hours and you’re already going soft, Eve.”

  “Don't make me . . . take these bracers off and hurt you,” I tease, my lungs feeling like they’re still filled with fire. “Give me at least a few hours to get the whole culture, magic, and all the other shocks out of my system.”

  Jacob looks at me, his eyes filled with humor and sadness. “If I could, I’d take you to Blackheart Lake, get a cabin, and let you have the vacation of ten lifetimes. Walks in fields so fragrant they lift the spirits no matter what you may be feeling, air crisp enough to clear out even the stuffiness from your bracers, and water so pure it stings your teeth the first time you taste it, and the second time, you never want to stop drinking it. We’d spend every day together, sharing, foraging for food, and making love by the glow of a campfire.”

  I smile. It’s a lovely image. “I’d like that too. But all that beauty and it’s called . . . Blackheart?”

  “The water’s so pure that there’s no refraction to it. The only change is from depth, so the shores are nearly crystal-clear, but the middle is so deep, it swallows the sun. Hence, Blackheart. Good fishing, though, if that’s your thing.”

  “I can fish,” I assure him. “After we get these bracers out of my life forever . . . and you find a five-person cabin. So, what now?”

  “Now,” Jacob says, forming a Faelight so soft I can barely see it, “we stay unseen.”

  We shuffle along, trying to keep our steps silent, and we stop frequently as we hear foot traffic above us. Someone dumps a bucketful of filth down a sewer grate in front of us, and I turn away, trying not to retch. “Shit! That is ripe!”

  “Good, now you know how I felt when I picked you up with your new . . . perfume,” Jacob whispers back, snickering. “What were you trying to do, terroristic funk? Help me or I will touch you?”

  “You ass! I fell in a pile of horse shit!” I reply, starting to laugh quietly as we move into the darkness again.

  Jacob snickers. “About that, do you know what happened? We landed and all we knew was . . . well, the shit had hit the fan.”

  “I’m not sure,” I reply. “Earlier, when I asked if you’d seen anyone, I meant . . . right before we left Earth, I swore I saw a man, not a man but like some knight in dark armor on a black horse. Before I could say anything, we were off.”

  “And you think this figure pushed you?” Jacob asks, and I nod.

  “I screamed for Cole and it just felt like everything was dissolving, the
n I was almost pushed.”

  “Hmm . . .” Jacob says, kneeling down. “Eve, I didn’t sense anyone. We will have to . . . careful, we’ve got company ahead.”

  I can’t see anything, but Jacob holds me back for a good two minutes before he waves me on. “How can you see?”

  “You’ll do it too, eventually,” Jacob assures me. “I’ve grown used to seeing in the dark, and I use my aura to enhance it. Took some training, but it pays off.”

  “So you’ve been down here before, I take it.”

  Jacob chuckles. “Princess, I’m a Guardsman who did smuggling as a hobby and a distraction on the side. I’ve been down here many times, on both sides of the action. Maybe sometime, I’ll entertain you with a story about my extracurricular exploits.”

  “I’d like that,” I reply honestly, and Jacob stops, looking back. “What?”

  Jacob looks like he’s about to say something, then closes his mouth. “Nothing.”

  I reach out, taking his hand. “Jacob . . . talk to me.”

  He stops, then nods. “Many have heard my stories, but the way you said that . . . it makes me wonder.”

  “If I want to listen to them? Of course I do!”

  “Not that,” Jacob says quietly, cupping my face. “Many have heard, but few have listened. But Eve . . . I think you’d listen to everything, even when I’m not speaking. Another time, though, we can discuss that. Oh, and a word of advice?”

  “Sure.”

  “There’s been some tension. I have a feeling it’s over you. Go to Tyler first. We’re nearly there.”

  We keep going, and soon, I can see the exit, a softer black circle in the hard darkness, and just faintly, the twinkle of stars. Suddenly, I reach out and take Jacob’s hand again, pausing. “Jacob.”

  “Yes?” he asks, glancing back. I can feel his desire to keep going, and I can smell the soft night air mixing with the sewer stench and promising a step toward freedom.

  “I’m worried.”

  Jacob lifts an eyebrow, not smirking but curious. “About what?”