by ERIN BEDFORD
“Oh, totes!” Her face lit up like the red light district after nine o’clock. It was contagious, and I felt myself beginning to smile in return.
“Then there’s no problem. Love may not conquer all, but don’t let a silly thing like age or your parents’ approval stand in your way.” I patted her hand and turned back to my book.
She gave me a huge smile and skipped away.
I almost let it go, but then the little punk boyfriend flipped me the bird.
“And use a condom,” I called out.
The few patrons on the floor turned to us, and both the teens bowed their heads and hurried away.
Having done my good deed for the day, I spent the next few hours buried in legalese. By the time eight o’clock rolled around, I felt like my head was full of gibberish. While I had gone to college, nothing prepared me for the extensive terminology from one of the books I had picked up. I had never felt as stupid as I had right then. I had to use a dictionary just to keep up with what they were saying. Maybe if I just threw a few big words at my mother and the Shadow man, I’d confuse them enough to get out of it?
With my arms loaded with books, I made my way downstairs to the main desk where Mrs. Jenkins sat as happy as could be with Brandi nowhere in sight. Giving a curious glance around, I placed my books on the counter and handed her my card.
“Where’s the Queen B?” I asked, making sure I put plenty of emphasis on the B part.
Mrs. Jenkins gave a deep chuckle and set about scanning my books out. “That girl didn’t last half the day before she snuck away for a business call, and she hasn’t come out of the office since.” She snorted. “She wouldn’t know how to do real work if it bit her in that perfectly lypo’d ass.”
“Mrs. Jenkins! Such language,” I cried out in mock shock. “Well, I hope it wasn’t too bad down here on your own.”
I gave her a worried look.
Stacking my books into a neat pile, she shook her head. “Now, don’t you be worrying about little old me. You have bigger things to worry about.”
“Like what?” I cocked my head, wondering what she could know that I didn’t.
“Like that boyfriend of yours, and this identity crisis you seem to be having.” She gestured to my blonde hair. “You shouldn’t be changing who you are for the sake of those around you.”
I grabbed some of my hair and frowned. “I didn’t really do it on purpose. It kind of just happened. And he’s not my boyfriend.”
Mrs. Jenkins’ dark eyes narrowed. “Says him? Or you?”
“Both. Neither.” I sighed. “We aren’t together like that.”
“But you’d like to be.” This time, her eyes had a knowing gleam to them.
I picked up my books and held them to my chest, trying to think it out. “I don’t know. Maybe. I guess. It’s complicated.”
“Isn’t it always?” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Girl, you have a good head on your shoulders, but sometimes you think too much with your big brain and not enough with your lady parts.”
“What?” I choked out, thinking I’d heard wrong.
“You heard me. From what I know, this boy of yours is a tasty little morsel, and if you don’t grab him up, the boss lady or someone else will gobble him up before you can figure out what you want.”
“Just because I lust after him doesn’t mean we should be together,” I pointed out.
“Well, it’s as good a starting point as any.” She shrugged. “Life is too short to not take any risks. You might not love him, but if you can tolerate him long enough to get a few orgasms out of it, I say why not take the chance? You might be surprised at what you find out about him and yourself.”
Speechless, I could only nod in response. I turned away from the desk and started for the door, my head full of too much information and weirdness for one day.
“And Kat.”
“Yes?” I turned back as she made her way around the counter.
She rubbed her arms as if she were cold and glanced up at the skylight where the night sky could be seen, and where the half moon was shining.
“You watch yourself out there tonight. I have a bad feeling something’s coming. Something big.” Her eyes locked onto mine. The dark lines on her face deepened as if she were aging this very moment. “And you will be the center of it.”
I gaped at her, but couldn’t take anymore. I marched out of the library, dead set on getting home. The more I knew about magic and Fae, the more I seemed to find it all around me. Who else could have Fae blood in them? And how long until they were released upon this world?
I made my way to my car, keeping my eyes straight ahead and my keys poised and ready. No sooner had my eyes landed on my car, then I felt it. Something in the air that had the distinct feeling of magic.
I gave a cursory glance around but didn’t see anything until I heard it. Buzzing. Like a dozen tiny wings beating in unison. I didn’t wait to see it. I took off for my car.
My feet pounded on the ground, and my heart thundered against my chest. A familiar war cry called out behind me and tiny hands jerked at my hair. Not letting it deter me, I covered my head with the books and kept going, their laughter piercing my ears.
Fucking faeries.
The buzzing had been wings. Faerie wings. And by the looks of it, the whole fucking horde that had attacked me back in the Veil of the Faeries was here.
They flitted around me, surrounding me on all sides. Dark brown bodies with black hair and even blacker eyes laughed at me. Their thin veiny wings beat behind them as they tried to take me down. I would have thought after my last encounter with the little devils they’d have learned not to mess with me, but it looked like they needed another lesson.
Spinning around on them, I locked eyes with their leader. The faeries jerked on my hair and clothes, their attacks more to irritate than to cause harm. I wasn’t fooled. They seemed harmless to those who didn’t know their game, but I wasn’t waiting around for them to turn those sharp teeth on me.
As I called on my magic, and as the feel of it crept onto my skin, a small look of fear made them hesitate. So they did remember. Good.
Hoping against hope that the magic would do what I wanted, I pushed it to form a bubble around me. Before they could retreat, I shoved it at them causing their tiny bodies to spin away from me with a chorus of screams.
The moment they weren’t surrounding me, I flew the last few feet to my car. I jerked open the door and dove inside. Just as I slammed the door shut, several thuds smacked against the window. They sure as hell rebounded fast.
“What the fuck?” I whispered to myself.
How did they get here? Why were they here? Mrs. Jenkins wasn’t wrong when she said something was coming, and if these little pests got out of the Underground, there was no telling what else was on its way. I just hoped the world was ready for them, because I sure as hell wasn’t.
Chapter 16
ALICE
AS I MADE my way home, pedal to the metal became my new motto. I drove like hell itself was on my heels, and with faeries in the human world, that very well could have been the case.
When I pulled into my driveway, I didn’t get out right away. I held my breath, waiting to be attacked once more by flying twigs. When no attack seemed to be coming, I clicked off my car and took a cautious step out. The moment my feet hit the ground, I booked it for the house, not relying on the chance that I might have lost them for good.
I unlocked my door and threw myself inside. My heart beat like a rampant drum as I pushed the door closed and put the lock back in place. Backing away from the door, I took deep calming breaths and tried to get ahold of myself.
There were faeries in the human world. Okay. I could deal with this. It’s not like I didn’t deal with Fae every day. But why were they here? What would happen when the word spread that there were creatures not of this world running amuck? There would be something on the news by now, wouldn’t there?
Repressing a scream, I lashed out to attack whoever was in my home.
“Stop. Stop. Don’t hurt me,” a bell-like voice cried out. A voice I recognized and never thought I’d hear again.
I rushed to the light and flipped it on to reveal Alice Liddell. Her blonde hair was tied back with a blue bow, and her bright blue eyes, filled with unshed tears as they bore down on me. Her usually glamoured dress was back to its old ragged one. Her arms and legs were covered in dirt and scratches as if she had been running through the forest.
“Alice?” I blinked. “What are you doing here?”
“You have to help me.” She reached out to me, grabbing my arms. “Please. You have to hide me.”
“Hide you? From who?” I shook my head. “Wait. Why are you even here? How are you even here?”
Her blue eyes widened in surprise. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?” Even as I asked the question, my heart sank into my stomach. Faeries and Alice? It could hardly be a coincidence.
“The doors,” she stuttered out as if afraid to talk about it.
“What about them?”
“They’re open.” Her voice was hushed as if it was a great secret to be kept—and it was.
The doors between the human world and the Fae world were locked tight and could only be opened by a key, a key that had to be issued to you by the secretary in your respective court. No one got in or out without a key. The sister bird heads usually saw to that.
“What about the sisters? Aren’t they supposed to be in charge of guarding the doors?” I knew the answer before she even said it.
“Gone. Poof. Into thin air.” She let go of my arms and flopped down on the couch, grabbing a tissue from the box on the table in front of her to dab her face. “One day the door was just gone and so were they. No one knows what happened, and everyone has gone insane. Well, more insane than they normally are.”
“Wait, you said the doors were open, not gone.”
“Same thing, really.” She shrugged and blew her nose in an unbelievably ladylike fashion.
“And when you say gone, you mean…?” I sat down next to her, hoping to drag more information out of her.
“Completely blown off their hinges!” Her voice was full of horror, and it made me want to see it for myself, but the thought of leaving my house anytime soon made my palms sweat and a feeling of light-headedness come over me. It wasn’t safe out there for anyone, least of all me.
“Does the Queen know about this? Shouldn’t she have guards on the door to keep people from getting out?”
“Well, of course, she knows, silly, and there are guards there. Not that they do much good, anyhow. The faeries blew right by them and out the door before they could even blink.” She gave a small sneaky smile. “I snuck out with them while the guards were trying to contain them. One benefit of my glamour.”
“So why are you here then? Why come back at all?” I didn’t understand how she could throw her human life away so easily to be a Fae and now come back after all this time.
My question must have struck something in her, because she began to cry again. I grabbed the box of tissues and handed them to her, patting her on the back in a there-there kind of manner. Crying women weren’t my forte, even being a woman myself.
“It’s okay. You’re safe here,” I said. “You can tell me what happened.”
“It’s…it’s just awful.” She hiccupped. “When they found out I had been freed, and that the Shadows were on the loose as well, they came to the conclusion that I had something to do with it. Which is ridiculous!” She jumped up from her seat. “I was stuck in that mirror until you came and released me. You and the Shadow man.” She stopped in front of me, pointing a finger at me, her voice filled with accusation, “You!”
You did this. You let them take corporeal form. It should be you they are after, not me!”
“I didn’t let them do anything,” I snapped, standing. “They tricked me. I have nothing to do with what is going on now. I’ve been here the whole time. I don’t even know what has happened to my own friends. How can I be responsible for the whole Underground?”
“But you are! Don’t you see?” She grabbed me by the arms. Her eyes locked me in place. “You are the only one capable of being responsible for them. The only one powerful enough.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I shook her hands off me. “I can barely keep my glamour up, let alone control a whole other world.”
“I could teach you,” she offered, eagerness to please in her eyes.
“Not like I haven’t heard that before.” Everyone thought they could teach me. Everyone thought that I could save them. I couldn’t even save myself.
“But I must give something in return for keeping me safe,” she insisted.
“No. You don’t.” I sighed, rubbing my head. “This is the human world. You don’t have to give something to get something. It doesn’t work like that. You should remember that much.”
Alice had been human once upon a time, until she fell in love with a neighbor boy called Lewis. He stole her stories of Wonderland for his book and broke her heart. She turned to Fae magic for help, and in turn, caused a series of events that led to my own demise and her imprisonment. Now she was like me. A half-blood, only not, since her powers were given to her by a mysterious tree with glowing fruit that liked to talk in cryptic riddles. I still had to figure out what was going on with that one.
“But can I still stay here?” She glanced around distaste on her face. “With you?”
“Sure.” I threw my hands up in defeat. “Why not? Here, follow me. I’ll show you the guest room.”
I led her down the hall to one of the few rooms in the tiny house and opened the door, flicking the light switch on and gesturing inside.
“There are linens in the closet and towels in the bathroom, which is down the hall.” I pointed out the bathroom door. “My room is over there, so if you need anything, let me know. Feel free to eat what you want from the kitchen, but be wary, there are a few iron pots I have yet to dispose of. Any questions?”
I watched her face as she took in the tiny room with the small double bed and simple decorations. She stepped inside and spun around in place. When she stopped a few emotions ran across her face, most of them unpleasant, before she gave me a polite smile.
“Well, I believe I will bid you goodnight.” She stopped for a moment and glanced down at her dirty clothes and back to the clean bed. “I don’t suppose you —”
“Have something you can wear? Sure.” I took the few steps to my room and grabbed the top shirt and shorts in my drawers and handed them to her. “Here. Anything else?”
Taking the clothes in her hands, she hugged them to her. “No, I think I’m all right.”
“Good. Well, I don’t know about you but I’m pooped, so I’m heading to bed.” I stretched to show my exhaustion.
“All right,” she said slowly. I turned away to go back to my room, but she called out, and I forced myself not to groan.
“Yes?”
“Thank you. Really. You do not know how much this means to me.”
My eyebrows rose in surprise at her words. I hadn’t expected that from her of all people. Alice was more self-entitled than any royal I knew, and I knew plenty. Or, well, I did.
“You’re welcome.” I nodded back to her.
“Even if it is all your fault,” she muttered after me.
I didn’t respond since she was right. It was my fault, and the guilt was eating me alive. I didn’t know what to do or where to start to fix my problem. For more than once that day, I wished Chess were here. He’d know what to do.
Chapter 17
Cats and Trolls
MY FINGERS TANGLED in the long tresses of the figure above me, the soft
texture like silk against my fingertips. My body shuddered when the ends tickled my stomach and breasts with each movement. The caresses were a delightful contrast to the sharp nips of his canines as he made his way down my midsection.
My head fell back, and a gasp ripped from my throat as he settled between my thighs. Ricochets of pleasure tore through my body, and my hips bucked up to meet him. A growl reverberated through me in return, and I spilled over the edge.
“Chess!” I cried out and jerked up from the bed with a gasp, the orgasm startling me from my dream.
I groaned and rubbed my hand over my face before I collapsed back onto my pillow. I lay there, basking in the best sex dream I’d ever had. My mind tried to rationalize why I would even be dreaming about the sexy feline. I felt eyes boring into me.
A growl rumbled across the room, and my eyes locked onto the very Fae I had been dreaming about.
His crystal green eyes were bright in the shadows of my room, in the way only someone with a magical essence could pull off. His body and face were hidden by the darkness. The single window in my bedroom allowed only a tiny bit of light from the moon. While my eyesight was still slowly trying to adjust, the intensity of his gaze as it spread across my upper torso which was barely hidden beneath my thin tank top, made my skin tingle.
Pulling the sheet up over my top half, I cocked my head.
“Chess?” I cleared my throat, trying to get the breathy sound out of my voice as I sat up straighter in bed.
His eyes slid down my sheet-covered chest as if he could see right through it. The remnants of my dream still had me aching, and his attention wasn’t making it any easier to forget. I tried to think of something else, anything else, so as not to give away my need.
“What were you dreaming about, my decadent kitty Kat?” His voice purred as he unwrapped himself from his seat by the wall.
My gaze fell on him as he moved further into the light of the room. All thoughts fled my mind. His hair swept across his bare chest, resting just above his navel. His pants hung low on his hips, the material tight and form fitting, showing all of the strength in his thighs. The vision he made was close enough to the dream version of him that it had parts low inside me tightening in remembrance.
