Darkness and Light

by Elle Casey

  While I was busy reprimanding and warning the new idiot daemon, Chase opened the door to the room and began to step inside. He was two steps in before I realized my mistake; but by then, it was too late.

  Chapter 10

  “Now you’ll pay!” I heard the tiny voice yell, right before I heard Chase choking and gasping for air.

  What the hell?

  “Take that, you giant beast! Eat my dust!”

  It was Tim’s voice, but it had a definite manic quality to it.

  “Tim! Stop! What the hell are you doing?!” I shouted, following Chase inside. I was so, so worried that eating Tim’s dust was a very bad thing.

  Chase was standing stock still in the center of the room. I was afraid to move any closer because now I was far enough into the room to see that Tim was awake and very, very cranky. His little tiny face was all flushed, and if my eyesight wasn’t fooling me from this distance, he looked like he could very possibly be insane.

  “Jayne!” he yelled, desperately.

  “Yeah, it’s me! What’s wrong?”

  “Someone took my wings,” he cried frantically. “My wings! I’m completely grounded!”

  “It wasn’t Chase. Don’t hurt him. It was a Dark Fae named Ben.”

  “Oh,” he said, in a much calmer voice, looking at Chase and then me. “Well, that’s ... inconvenient.” His head started to sink into his shoulders, making him look like a turtle trying to go into its shell.

  “In what way?” This seemed like a strange reaction to finding out your wings had been taken by the devil. I could have thought of much better words to use than ‘inconvenient’ – very creative ones in fact, with a liberal sprinkling of cuss words to really set the tone.

  “Wellllll, uh, I got a little panicked when I woke up and no one was here at first and then that big beefcake came in with such a serious look on his face, and me here without any wings, sooooo...”

  “Chase always has that look on his face; you know that.”

  Tim giggled nervously. “Not anymore, he doesn’t.”

  I got a really bad feeling. “Chase, turn around.”

  Chase turned to look at me and I suffered what felt like a tiny heart attack. He had the biggest grin on his face he’d ever had – for as long as I’d known him, anyway. It looked weird as hell.

  “Chase,” I whispered, “what the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “Nothing!” he burst out, smiling like a maniac. “Everything is awesome! Wow. I had no idea how great these rooms are. This is fabulous! This room, the bed, the dresser ... it’s all real wood! Did you notice that before? I didn’t.”

  He shoved past me out into the hallway, walking rapidly away.

  “You know, he’s totally right,” said that daemon kid whose name I couldn’t remember at the moment. “I’ve always thought the rooms were pretty nice. It’s hard to get real wood furniture these days.”

  “Not now, nut brain,” I said angrily. “Chase!” I yelled, going out after him. “Where are you going?”

  “I have to go outside,” he answered matter of factly. “This place is too confining.”

  I ran back into my room. “Tim! What the hell did you do to him?”

  Tim turned around, sheepishly circling his foot out in front of him on top of the dresser, looking down and avoiding my eyes.

  “Tell me now, Tim, or I’m gonna ... ”

  “It’s too late,” he said softly. “You can’t threaten to take my wings. They’re already gone. And it’s too late for Chase too. I pixied him.”

  “You ... what?!”

  Tim turned and looked up at me beseechingly. “I thought he was gonna kill me! I couldn’t fly away! ... So I panicked a little.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not a little Tim. That’s a lot. You promised you wouldn’t do this to anyone. And of all people ... Chase? Hasn’t he suffered enough being my friend?” First an arrow in the back, now this.

  Tim put his head down again. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  I looked at Tony. “Stay here with Tim. Don’t let him out of the room.”

  I looked at the daemon goofball standing next to Tony. “You stay here too. Don’t let anyone near them.”

  Last, I looked at Tim. “Pixie anyone while I’m gone, and we’re through. I’ll put you under a bell jar myself. You understand me?”

  Tim nodded, a tiny fart escaping in reply.

  “Fuck me,” was all I could think to say as I ran down the hallway in the direction Chase had just gone.

  Chapter 11

  I caught up to Chase as he was leaving through the dining hall doors and into the never-ending corridor. I had no idea how many doors there were off it or how big this compound actually was. Every time I thought I did, I ended up going out another door I’d never seen before or walking a longer distance than I had in the past. Normally this phenomenon was just a curiosity. Tonight, it was a serious pain in my ass.

  “Where are we going, Chase?” I asked, coming up behind him, totally out of breath. The guy had long legs and was in a hurry.

  “Gotta get outside. Outside, outside, outside!” He did a little hop then – and of all the things Chase had done so far since getting pixied, that was the scariest. Chase is the coolest guy I know – definitely the strong, silent type. He would no sooner skip around, than I would stop swearing. It was one of those ‘not in this lifetime’ kind of things. But here he was doing it. And I’d been told by my very intelligent gray elf friend, Gregale, that a pixie curse was nearly impossible to break – and that if you managed to break one, the affected person was never quite right in the head again.

  Please, please, please let someone have a cure. Sometimes Chase’s stoicism got on my nerves; but I’m pretty sure that this hyper happiness was going to be much, much worse. I may end up having to kill him to put him out of my misery.

  Chase reached a door I had never seen before. It had a picture of a flower on it. Most of these doors had some unique symbol on them, which made it easier for us Light Fae to picture them in our minds – handy since that’s how we made the door appear, both from inside this hallway and then again from outside the compound. Otherwise, it was just a blank spot on the wall or another place out in the forest.

  Chase opened the door and ran out.

  “Chase, wait, you idiot!”

  He didn’t go far. We were in a meadow, similar to the one I’d been in before with Gregale, where he’d told me my sharp stick-looking weapon – given to me during the changeling test – was none other than the fang of The Dark of Blackthorn. The Dark was a Dark Fae dragon, long slayed by some ancestor of mine. When I was using it against someone, it burned the shit out them with dragonfire – usually awesome, but totally useless against this current problem, so it stayed strapped to my leg.

  I stopped running and stood at the edge of the grassy open space that was bathed in moonlight. I watched as Chase ran around in circles, spinning and laughing, smiling his damn fool head off. I could see pretty well at night in the forest, even without the moon. I think it had something to do with my connection to The Green.

  I sat down in the grass. Now what the hell am I supposed to do? I ran through my options. I could reach out to Spike and he’d probably find me. As long as I was thinking sexy thoughts, he would likely pick up on them and show up so we could start making out. I wondered how many times I could use that trick to get him to come before he’d stop responding anymore – we’d never actually sealed the deal after one of my come-hither invitations. Every time I’d lured him in this way, I hadn’t wanted him for sexual reasons, so I was always putting his x-rated intentions on hold.

  I could also use The Green to bring Finn to me. All the green elves were hooked into my network that way. It wasn’t as cool as the green elves’ ability to send complete telepathic messages with actual words, but it was good enough for my purposes. The problem was, I didn’t know who I should call in the elf network. Who could help us with this mess? Probably the healers in the compound needed to be
called – but I’d already been warned by Dardennes that being pixied was practically a death sentence, which is why they had nearly shit themselves when I’d let Tim out of the bell jar. If I called them, Tim was going to get shipped out for sure. Now everything Dardennes and Gregale had said about the dangers of pixies was coming back to haunt me. And Chase. I looked out at him delighting in his happy frenzy and sighed. Maybe I could talk to him.

  I got up and walked over to where he was jumping around, reaching out my hands to grab him and calm him down.

  “Chase. Hey. Settle down for a second, would you? Come talk to me.”

  “I am talking to you, Jayne. Dance with me! Why are you just standing there? Can’t you feel the vibrations? It’s amazing. I can’t stop moving. It’s all through me! Do you know how much I’ve missed feeling this alive?”

  He continued to whirl around, his arms stretched out to the sky. His face was beautiful; he had such a big smile. It’s the first time I’d seen him look happy. It seemed somehow wrong that I was going to work really hard to get him back to his quiet, unaffected self. But I had to, because he wasn’t going to stop this. He was going to keep blissing out until he dropped from exhaustion – and then when he got his energy back, he was going to get up and do it all over again. This process would go on for the rest of his life; and he’s fae, so that’s about a thousand years, give or take.

  I was so busy scheming over how I was going to de-bliss Chase, I didn’t see him coming up to me until it was too late. He grabbed me in his arms and started twirling me around with him. He lifted me right off my feet, spinning me and spinning me, around and around, until I started to feel sick.

  “Chase, put me down you fucknut!”

  He refused. He just kept dancing and spinning. My arms and ribs were hurting where he was squeezing me.

  “Let me go! You’re hurting me!”

  But still, he continued. I was starting to panic, squirming and trying to get away. He didn’t realize or care that he was crushing me. I tried to get my mind away from the pain and nausea so I could reach out to The Green. As usual, its hum was just outside my mind, waiting to be invited in. I felt its welcoming touch embrace my body. The unpleasant sensations that Chase had created started to fade away and I began to calm down.

  I sent out a message through my link with the forest that I needed Chase to be stopped, so I could get away. Moments later a group of vines raced over the ground from the nearby tree line to tangle themselves around his legs.

  Chase kept trying to move anyway, but soon the vines overwhelmed him. I hadn’t really thought the whole process through, obviously; that old adage ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’ took me by surprise. And, well, when they’re as big as Chase, they fall pretty damn hard ... and when it’s on you, let’s just say it really sucks.

  Chase went down like a ton of bricks, landing right on top of me. I grunted loudly as the air was pushed out of my lungs. He giggled relentlessly.

  “That was a great idea, Jayne.” He started snuggling my neck, sending chills up my spine. “Mmmm, you smell good. Let’s make love.” He started pulling at my tunic, trying to figure out how to get it off me. That’s when I decided it was time to slap some sense into his crazy ass.

  SMACK!

  He looked at me with a pained expression. “Ow, that hurt.” He pouted for a second and then smiled like a maniac again. “But it’s okay, because I forgive you! Now help me get your tunic off. We can make love under the moon, Jayne; it’ll be magical!”

  I pushed him away as hard as I could, growling out, “No ... one ... is making ... love ... to anyone ... under the ... fucking moon ... shitforbrains ... ”

  I couldn’t even get him to budge. He was two hundred and I don’t know how many pounds of frisky daemon that wouldn’t be dissuaded from his romantic agenda. I hated to do it to him, but it was the only way I could get away.

  I pulled Blackie out and touched his back with it. I heard a sizzle just before his scream.

  “Ahhhhh!!! Ow, man, that hurt. Oooh, geez, that’s a burner. Wow. Holy smokes, what’s wrong with my back? I need to dance. Get me out of these weeds so I can dance the pain away!” He shoved me away so he could reach down and wrestle with the vines still cinched around his ankles.

  I rolled away from him and walked quickly to the edge of the meadow, sending a message to The Green that he needed to be held captive there until further notice. I had to find someone who could help him, but I didn’t want Dardennes or any of the council members to get wind of this. They’d take Tim and banish him forever to a pixie colony somewhere and I’d never see him again. Plus he was without wings right now, and it was partially my fault, so it wasn’t right to let him go when he was grounded like that.

  Chase started singing some old country song that was probably now going to be stuck in my head for days. He sang pretty well, all things considered.

  I tuned him out and tapped into the nearest ley line, reaching out to Maggie the witch. Once again, she was my only hope. I was afraid that I’d used up all my favors though, so I had no idea how I was going to compensate her for this second healing of Chase. I hated that I needed her help so soon after having just asked her to take care of Tim. I needed to find some other witch friends, especially since I’d now seen firsthand how handy they were to have around.

  I felt Maggie’s cranky energy out there, recognizing me. I sent her images of where I was and my problem, and then I waited. I got nothing back from her, but I wasn’t really sure how this worked, so I just sat down and waited, letting the link drop when all I had left from her was a dull hum. Maybe she’d come and maybe she wouldn’t. I would give her an hour and then work on figuring out a Plan B.

  While I waited, I sent a message across The Green to Finn. He was sleeping; I could tell by the low hum of his presence. I nudged him pretty hard and sent him images of the door in the hallway with the flower on it, hoping he’d understand that I needed him. He was the only one I knew how to contact this way. I had no link to Becky at all. With Spike I’d have to use sexy thoughts, and after being fondled by Chase, I wasn’t in the mood. I liked Chase and found him pretty damn good looking and all, but not like this. Maybe some other time we could make love under the moonlight or whatever, but not when he was crazy as a loon. Crazy was not sexy at all. This wasn’t Chase anyway. Someday, if he ever wanted to do that with me, I know for sure he wouldn’t say it like that. Right now he sounded like the guy in a really cheap romance novel. Yuck.

  About ten minutes later I heard the door open on the edge of the meadow and the sounds of footsteps and whispers. Soon the faces of Finn and Becky appeared.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks for coming, guys. Sorry to bother you so late.”

  Becky looked at me with concern on her face. “What’s up? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. But he’s not.” I pointed at Chase, lying on the ground, struggling valiantly to get free while he giggled his head off.

  “Is that ... ?” Becky asked, incredulously.

  I sighed. “Yeah. It’s Chase.”

  “What in the hell?” asked Finn, taking a step towards him.

  “No!” I grabbed Finn’s arm. “Don’t. Just leave him be,” I said disgusted. “Don’t get too close. He may try to make love to you under the light of the moon or something.”

  “Oh, hey! Finn! What’s up, man?!” yelled Chase, interrupting us. “Come on over here and help me out, would ya? Wow, you look great. Is that a new haircut? Let’s dance. I feel like dancing, don’t you?”

  Finn turned and looked at me in horror. “What in the sam hill happened to that poor guy? Cuz that ain’t Chase. That’s some kinda imposter, or Dark Fae voodoo goin’ on there.”

  “No,” I said sadly. “That’s Chase. He got accidentally pixied.”

  Becky’s hand flew to her mouth and her eyes grew wide. “Oh, no!” she whispered.

  “Yeah. Tim did it. He was kinda still out of it from his wing removal and Chase surprised
him, so he just ... I don’t know ... blammo, pixied him. Chase has been doing this dancing and laughing shit ever since. I had to tie him up so he’d sit still and let go of me. You don’t want to get too close to him right now, trust me.”

  “What was he trying to do to you?” asked Becky, tentatively, still in disbelief.

  “First he just wanted me to join him in his fucked up dance routine which made me almost barf. Then he got a little frisky. Think Spike, but with big muscles and psychotic circus clown charisma.”

  Becky drew back her lips in a grimace. “Oh. Bummer.”

  “Yeah. He didn’t get anywhere with it, but still. It’s Chase. It just felt so wrong, especially because he’s acting so ... different.”

  “Weird.”

  I nodded. She totally got it.

  “So what the hell are we gonna do with him? Just wait it out all night, or what?”

  I shook my head sadly. “There is no waiting it out, from what I hear. He’s pixied for life unless Maggie can come up with something to help him. Otherwise, he’ll keep doing this shit until he dies from exhaustion.”

  Becky got tears in her eyes. “Oh, my heaven. Oh, my Water. He’s going to die from being pixied to death? What a horrible way to go.”

  “Come on now, Becky, we’ll figure somethin’ out. Don’t go cryin’. We ain’t gonna let ole Chase just go ‘n die on us. He’s a strong guy and Jayne’s got her connection to The Green.” Finn looked over at me. “Can’t you just heal him, like you did for me and Becky during the test?”

  It’s true. I had been able to heal both of them from some pretty bad wounds they’d received from some cranky fae who were there in the forest to help us fail the test.

  “I actually hadn’t thought of that. I guess I can try. It might be better if we were all near an Ancient – one of the bigger trees.”

  “I’ll go see what I can find. You girls stay here with ole lover boy.” Finn jerked a thumb in Chase’s direction.

  Becky came over and sat down with me, rubbing my back with her little hand. I’m not a large person myself, but she is positively tiny. She made me feel like a moose when she was near me. Right now I didn’t care so much, though.