After the Fall

  Scrum moved to my other side.

  Jared strode over to the door. "Don't worry about it. It's not them." He pulled the door open and let Aidan in.

  The wolf wasted no time in coming over and pushing past Spike to hug me so tight I almost couldn't breathe. "Hey," he said gruffly. "I am so sorry. I can't believe I let them get the jump on me."

  I patted him on the back. "Don't worry about it. They were very sneaky about it. They got all the pixies too."

  He pulled back and then turned to glare at Samantha, pointing at her. "The wolf has a quarrel with that witch."

  I took his finger and pushed it down to his waist. "Put your shit away, wolf. I've forgiven her, so you're not allowed to hold a grudge."

  "Yes, I am," he said, huffing out a few wolfy-sounding breaths in her direction.

  "Okay, but you touch a hair on her head, and you'll answer to me," I said.

  He scowled at me, but dropped his death stare in her direction at least.

  "Where'd you go, Jayne?" asked Tony. "Céline was very worried about you."

  "More like worried about us telling the world about her secrets," scoffed Samantha, back to her angry-girl stance.

  "What's this about?" asked Jared, looking from her to me.

  I held up my hands, knowing that as soon as that ball started rolling we'd have no time to find my friends, and that had to come first. "Listen, guys. I'm going to leave you with Samantha to explain. I have to go find Tim and Abby."

  "How are you going to do that?" asked Scrum.

  "I'm going to send out a signal through The Green," I said, looking at Aidan. "You werewolves might want to find some earplugs."

  "Oh, no ... are you joking?" asked Aidan, a pained expression coming over his face. "Last time you did that we had eight different fights break out. That sound makes us nuts."

  "Like I said ... get some earplugs. I need to find Tim, and this is the only way I know how to do it."

  "How much time do I have?" he asked, jogging to the door.

  "As long as it takes me to leave the compound and get to the Infinity Meadow."

  He disappeared behind into the hallway, leaving the rest of us inside.

  "Where's Ben?" I asked, just now realizing he wasn't with the group. I wasn't complaining or anything, but I couldn't imagine him not being here to chastise me.

  "He's been busy," said Jared. "Apparently, he has plans to make, what with his new role and everything."

  I nodded. Good. Keep him busy and out of my way.

  "Ain't anyone else bothered by how easily Ben's taken to this new role?" asked Finn. "I don't mean to be startin' any trouble, but dang ... one day he's all about the fae rulin' the world, and the next he's just gonna sit on that purple dinosaur and fly around the Overworld? I don't buy it."

  I really, really wanted to ignore that statement and the misgivings it generated in my mind, but I knew I couldn't. Ben was dangerous when left to his own devices, and nothing, not even communing with a dragon, was going to change that. Hell, it was probably going to make his plans for world domination even worse, now that he had some serious firepower under his butt.

  "I'm going to have to leave you guys to figure this out," I said, putting my boxes in Samantha's hands and moving towards the door. I turned around and walked the last few steps backwards. "Samantha, you got this?"

  She nodded. "Yeah. I got it."

  "Tell them what they need to know and stash my stuff under my bed."

  "No problem."

  Spike separated himself from the group and followed me out, getting to the door at the same time I did.

  "You coming with me?" I asked, grateful for his company.

  "Of course. Where else would I be?"

  Scrum showed up at my other side. "I'm coming too, Jayne. You need me."

  I shrugged. "If you say so." I wasn't going to turn down help, especially now that I knew this corruption or whatever it was went all the way to the top at our compound. I no longer felt comfortable that I knew who the good guys and bad guys were, or even if there was such a thing as either.

  "But what about the meeting in Anton's office!" yelled Becky through the closing door.

  "I'll be there when I'm done!" I yelled back, the door cutting off my last couple words. I nudged both guys, one on either side of me. "Come on, boys. Let's go find us some pixies."

  They jogged down the hallway with me, not stopping until we got to the door leading to the Infinity Meadow. I was functioning on pure adrenaline now, unable to remember the last time I'd slept or eaten. None of that mattered. I would eat and sleep after I got everything put to rights.

  Scrum put his hand on my arm, stopping me from opening the door in a rush. "So what's the plan?"

  I shrugged. "Nothing complicated. I'm going to stand out in the meadow, tap into The Green, and send out a signal that'll go through the whole forest. I'm going to see if I can find his signature too or Abby's and get in touch with them directly ... juice 'em a little or something so they know to come back."

  "And we'll stand guard," said Scrum, looking to Spike for agreement.

  Spike nodded, his hand reaching up to stroke my back, sending shivers all over my body. I wanted nothing more than to throw myself in his arms and be enveloped in the warmth I knew was there waiting for me, but now was not the time. Later. I winked at him and got a knowing smile back that definitely told me he planned on taking me up on my unspoken promise.

  We walked out the door and into the woods. Jogging again, we reached the oak where my mother was buried in no time at all. I sat down in the dry grass, ignoring the cold earth that instantly made me wish I'd dressed warmer for this outing. I kept forgetting it was autumn and quickly moving into winter.

  Scrum stood behind me, and Spike stood in front of me. With my eyes open, all I could see was guys from the waist down, which was definitely not helping the concentration, so I closed my lids. I focused on my connection to the elements and how, with them, I was linked to everything and everyone, even the memories that still drifted as shadows across the earth.

  I tapped into the link, using the closest ley line to amplify the energy tenfold. I saw in my mind The Green flowing into and out of me like blood in arteries and veins and capillaries. From the largest conduit to the smallest and finest of links, all of it was coming through me now. I was the Grand Central Station of the Earth element in the Green Forest, and now I was ready to send out my signal.

  Tim! Tim and Abby! Where are you?! Come home! Come home! I have Willy with me! Willy is home! Come hooooooooome!! I continued my litany of pleading over the network, feeling for their signatures inside it, but unable to isolate them from all the others. I kept thinking I was getting close - something was there that felt so much like them - but then I'd lose it in the mess of everything. It was as if there were a thousand Tims and a thousand Abbys out there, and it was impossible for me to pick just one of them out, the right ones.

  I sighed heavily, deciding I'd done everything I could for now. As I let out my breath, I released all of the energy that I'd been holding back into the earth. I was forced to lean forward slightly towards the end of my respiration though, because of the pressure on my back from someone's legs. It was uncomfortable, so I tried to lean back to push whoever it was away, but the resistance was too much for me to be able to make a difference from my awkward position on the ground. I opened my eyes, ready to elbow somebody in the butt - Scrum or Spike, I wasn't sure which. "Get off me," I said, irritated, twisting my upper body around. But then I stopped when I realized what was going on.

  It was no longer just the three of us in the meadow. We'd been joined by a fourth party, and she was definitely one of the unwelcome variety. I'd recognize her wings and leather S&M boots anywhere.

  "Moriah!" I yelled, scrambling to my feet and backing away from her, my two friends to either side of me. "What are you doing here?!"

  She had her sword out and was eyeing Scrum like a hungry serpent does a mouse. He had several nicks on his a
rms where she'd jabbed him with the sharp point of her blade, his blood staining his tunic. Without a weapon he was just a sitting duck. He should have already been dead.

  I glanced over at Spike, and he didn't look as if he'd fared much better. Blood from a cut in his cheek was flowing down his neck and chest, and he was limping as he danced out of the way of her steel.

  "I've come to play with my dinner," she said, swishing her sword around as she crossed one leg over the other, getting closer to me and keeping both of my bodyguards in range.

  "I'm not your dinner and neither are my friends," I said, pulling The Green back into me and throwing two bubble-shields around Spike and Scrum.

  She tried to jab one of them through the light, but a shower of sparks flew up, and she shrieked with the shock she'd obviously received.

  I laughed, filled with the power and loving every bit of my control over it. "Yeah, you might want to stay the fuck off my shields, Moriah."

  She fixed me with a death stare. "Do your best, elemental."

  "Oh, I plan on it," I said, pulling Blackie from its holster at my leg.

  She eyed my weapon quizzically. "What's that?" she asked, pointing at it with her sword.

  I held up my fang. "This, is the Dark of Blackthorn, otherwise known as the bringer of pain or Blackie, depending on who you are. I think you would call it the former."

  She lifted her chin. "I know of this weapon. You have to touch me with it to hurt me with it."

  I nodded. "True enough." I gestured towards her blade. "Same goes for your sword and me."

  She smiled. "Yes, but mine's longer." She took a step closer, holding the tip pointed at my heart.

  I smiled back. "Yeah, but mine's got a go-go gadget attachment."

  She stopped, now frowning in confusion. "What?"

  Before she had time to figure out what the heck I was talking about, I tapped into Water, gathering a ball of it in my hand and shooting it out in front of me in a stream, having it bring Blackie right along with it.

  My weapon rode the tiny but strong wave I formed, heading straight for Moriah's heart; but at the last minute she shifted slightly to her left, sending the point of the fang into her chest, missing her vital organ - at least, the one I'd been aiming for.

  The tooth sank in deep, the sparks of green light mixing with the Water element and sending up a gorgeous display of color.

  Moriah screamed, the sound of a wounded demon, a horror like none other. Her wings opened up and she leaped towards me, way too fast for me to react. I fell backwards, trying to avoid the lethal blade that was coming for me, but the ground stopped me from getting far enough away. She tackled me, sword out, sinking its tip into my right shoulder just below my collar bone. It went in all the way to the hilt, effectively pinning me to the ground.

  "Ahhhhh! Fuck!" I screamed. The pain was like nothing I'd ever felt before in my life. I'd thought an orc kick to the face was bad, but that was just tea and petticoats compared to this.

  We grappled around for what felt like forever, me stuck in one place and Moriah on my chest, the wound from the demon blade burning like it was on fire. Hot blood flowed out of the wound and pooled on my neck, its sickly-sweet and slightly metallic smell making me nauseous. I was ablaze with pain, but knew I still had a chance if I could just get her the hell away from me.

  I punched her in the jaw with my left fist twice in rapid succession, shrieking at the pain of a newly-busted knuckle. My hand fell back and by chance scraped against the dragon fang still sizzling and burning in her shoulder. I grabbed the end of it and pulled as hard as I could with my injured hand. It slid out easily, spilling some of her blood onto my face and in my mouth. I spit it out, turning my head to the side to get away from the rest of it.

  Moriah tried to pull her sword free, the jerking of the blade back and forth sending shocks of fire into my brain as it sliced me open farther and farther. I used whatever power I had left in me to cement the weapon into the ground, begging the Earth to keep it buried until I was ready to let someone else have it. No way was I letting her take that thing back so she could slice and dice me anymore than she already had, and I was ready to pass out from what she was doing just trying to take it back. This was my only hope.

  Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Scrum was throwing himself up against the bubble, trying to get out.

  "Excellent idea, daemon," I grunted out, letting the shields drop from around my friends.

  As soon as they were free, they jumped on the back of the angel of death who was doing her best to wrench her sword from my shoulder. She sure was attached to that thing. She could have killed me three other ways in the time she wasted trying to retrieve her weapon, and now she was going to be my prisoner. I smiled through the pain at the thought and the murderous reactions of my newly freed friends.

  Spike was going bananas, ripping feathers out of Moriah's wings and eventually biting her neck. Two seconds later, though, he was off that plan and doing his best to spit out every last drop of demon blood that was stuck to his teeth. "Holy ... damn she tastes bad!" He went back to his plucking, every single feather removal eliciting unholy shrieks from the bitch in leather.

  "I got her!" grunted Scrum, seizing her and putting her in a full-body lockdown. "I've got her! Just go get Jared!"

  "I can't leave Jayne!" yelled Spike, now no longer plucking but staring down at me with horror-filled eyes. "Oh my god, Jayne. You're ... in trouble!"

  I smiled weakly, the burning pain now a sharp throbbing that pulsed with every heartbeat. I could feel my hot blood still coming out and pooling underneath me, making my tunic sticky. "Yeah. I think the word you're looking for is stabbed. Or skewered maybe. Shish kabobbed?"

  Spike dropped down beside me, now that Moriah was off to the side with her raggedy-ass wings and a daemon immobilizing her. "Babe ... babe ..." He was pushing the hair away from my face. "What should I do?"

  "Shhhh, stop freaking. I'm pretty sure this is not fatal. I feel strong. Just watch my back for a second while I call someone, 'kay?"

  He nodded, his face as white as a sheet.

  I closed my eyes and reached out through The Green for the ones I knew I could find. "Finn, Robin ... I'm in the Infinity Meadow. Bring the healers. Aidan, sorry about this dude, but ... " I let out my supersonic werewolf whistle, combining it with visions of my mother's oak.

  I opened my eyes up to find Spike staring at me, tears going down his cheeks. "Dude, I'm fine," I said, not as strongly as I would have liked. My voice had lost its volume for some reason.

  "You're not fine, Jayne. You're bleeding bad."

  "Didn't anyone ever tell you to be positive around injured people? I think I'm the one who's supposed to be saying I'm going to die, and you're the one who's supposed to be reassuring me."

  He smiled weakly. "Is that right?"

  "Yeah. That's right. That's how it goes." I was so tired, all I wanted to do was shut my eyes. Just for a minute or two.

  "I'm sorry. Don't worry, Jayne. You're going to be fine."

  I wanted to lift my hand up to pat his handsome face and tell him thanks, but I couldn't. It was time to go to sleep and deal with all of this later.

  The last thing I remembered thinking was how pissed Netter was probably going to be about this tunic Moriah had ruined with her stupid-ass sword.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A FLY WAS BUZZING AROUND my face like I had a picnic on it. I wanted to lift my hands up and brush it away, maybe even smash it, but my arms felt like they were encased in concrete. I wiggled my nose a little to discourage it from landing on me.

  "She just moved." Something tapped my cheek. "Hey! Jayne! Wake up, sleeping-used-to-be-beauty-but-isn't-so-much-right-now!"

  "Ugh," I said, the only word I was capable of right now.

  I heard stumbling footsteps next to my head. "Phew! Someone get a toothbrush over here, stat! And put a rush on some mouthwash too, while you're at it!"

  "Have I died and gone to
the Underworld?" I asked weakly, still not able to open my eyes but knowing for certain now that my message to my stupid pixie roommate had apparently worked.

  "Ha! You should be so lucky." The voice moved back over to my ear. "You are in soooo much trouble. Whoo, am I glad I'm not you. And that I was a hundred kilometers away when you were out there making a mess of things. No way is this sticking on me. I'm innocent."

  I cracked open an eye. "How's Willy?"

  Tim's hands were on his hips now. "Fine, thanks to you. Or so I hear."

  I closed my eye, the effort from keeping it open too much right now with all the talking going on. "Little shit snuck in my bag."

  "Yeah. Well. Next time do a pocket check before you go anywhere. Pixies are very crafty."

  "Believe me, I will. He was a total pain in the ass."

  "Word on the street is he saved your sorry butt and the sorry butts of all those other top gun fae who were the supposed chosen ones for that mission." Tim snorted his disgust. "As if. The fae world is in a sorry state when a baby pixie has to save the day."

  "He is your son," I offered, knowing the surest way to cut off this lecture was to stroke Tim's ego.

  Tim was silent for a second before responding. "Yes, well, you do have a point, obviously. He's no ordinary baby pixie, I'll give you that."

  It was then that I realized I was hearing outdoor noises and not the ones I would have expected in the clinic. "Where am I?" I asked.

  "I'll give you three guesses," said Tim. "And I'll just tell you right now that if you guess you're out in the meadow under your mother's tree, you'll be correct."

  I chuckled, despite my confusion. "Okay, my first guess is ... the clinic."

  "EEErrrhhh! Wrong. Try again. Guess that you're outside under your mother's tree."

  "Ummm, hmmm ... maybe I'm ... in my bedroom?"

  "EEErrrhhh! Wrong again. One more guess. Guess that you're outside in the meadow under your mother's tree."