War of the Fae
Book Three
Darkness & Light
Elle Casey
Copyright 2012 Elle Casey
All rights reserved.
Copyright Notice
© 2012 Elle Casey, all rights reserved, worldwide. No part of this ebook may be reproduced or copied without author permission. Please support artistic expression and help promote copyright protections by buying a copy of this ebook at www.Amazon.com. The author thanks you deeply for your understanding and support.
Acknowledgments
As my portfolio of titles grows, I’ve started to notice that I’m thanking a lot of the same people. Regardless, their contributions should continue to be recognized because without them, my stories would suffer or perhaps not even exist. So ... onwards and upwards. First, thanks to Beth Godwin and Margaret for the editing. I have proven time and again that I’m not capable of editing my own work, so thank you for your red pens and eagle eyes. To the reviewers and book bloggers who have featured my book on your sites, thanks ever so much. You have allowed me to see my books through different eyes and it’s just an amazing view. Thanks to those who have left me reviews on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com – and to those who have sent me emails or blog posts or joined me on Facebook; please how much it means to me to hear your kind words. They are my drugs and I am addicted! Thank you to Samantha Young, fellow indie writer who’s never hesitated to give me encouragement and something to shoot for. To Ashley Delgado at WhatsYourStory book blog tours for arranging my first ever book blog tour. I love your entrepreneurship and positive attitude! Thanks to Amazon for giving indie authors like me a platform from which to share our work. Thank you to Facebook for connecting me with readers and long ago made friends who I thought I’d lost. Thank you to France, a lovely place to live and raise a family amongst friends. Thank you to my girlfriends in France, especially Caroline, Joy, Patricia, Isabelle, and Béa, the DDG you-know-whats. To my husband and children who allow me the time to write and encourage me every step of the way. And to my mom, who captured Abby in a bell jar and sent her to me, even though I hate surprises.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my little Lady Goo Goo, a water sprite with a great big, proud heart of a pixie who can throw together an outfit like nobody’s business. Love you, baby girl!
Chapter 1
My best friend Tony’s hand rested on my shoulder, sending a sense of peace into my heart – which is no small accomplishment, seeing as how at this particular moment I was locked in a potentially epic battle with none other than Ben, the Dark Fae fire demon who right now looked like a creature sent straight from hell. Tony saying he wanted to stay with me and that we didn’t have to be apart anymore was the best news I’d had in two months, since I’d changed from human to fae. Now all I had to do was figure out how to handle the flaming terror standing in front of me with a firebomb in his hands.
“Ben, he doesn’t want to go with you! He’s coming with me!” I thought the roar of our two opposing powers would make it difficult to hear, but apparently there was no need for me to yell, because Ben answered me in a perfectly normal tone of voice and I understood him just fine.
“I heard him. But I don’t believe he’s making the decision with all of the information he needs. It’s only fair that he go into this with full disclosure, don’t you think?” He arched his eyebrow at me patronizingly, making me feel small and stupid. I hated feeling small and stupid, and I especially hated when it was Ben making me feel that way. His answer was unsettling too, because I didn’t want Tony to think I was hiding anything. I knew the truth and I had already given it to Tony before Ben showed up. We were the good guys, the Light Fae; Ben represented the bad guys, the Dark Fae. There was really nothing else to tell.
It’s obvious this guy Ben knew something about the use of psychological warfare. He probably invented the term a hundred years ago or something. You never could tell the age of a fae from the looks of him. On the outside, he was a seriously, amazingly awesome-looking human guy of eighteen. On the inside, he was probably a three hundred and fifty year old, ugly ass fae serpent, using a spell to mesmerize me into thinking he was hotness personified. I don’t even know that there are such things as fae serpents – but he could be one. He was that slithery.
I gave my head a mental shake – I couldn’t keep focusing on his looks. I’m sure the rule I had for human guys went for fae guys too – namely, that the better looking they are, the crappier they are to girls and the shallower they can be. I mean, what guy has to develop a decent personality when everyone just hands him everything he wants in life just because he’s gorgeous? Focus, Jayne. I had to ignore his beautiful face ... concentrate on the blackness of his soul and how much I despised him for trying to steal Tony from me.
“Tony knows everything. I already told him before you came in, uninvited and unwanted, I’d like to add.”
Ben broke his gaze away from me and looked at Tony. “Did she tell you that she’s going to force you to fight in a war? That you’re going to have to kill people?”
I felt Tony’s hand leave my shoulder, making me instantly uneasy. I’d just spent thirty minutes convincing Tony he needed to go with me and that everything would be okay. But I knew he didn’t like the idea of violence, and apparently, so did Ben.
“Tony knows enough to make a good decision, which he already did. So why don’t you just get the hell outta here so we can be on our way?”
“Um, Jayne?” said Tony’s scared voice from behind me. “I ... I really don’t want to be part of a war ... ”
His voice trailed off, but I knew what this meant. I had to do something to salvage the situation as best I could – and quickly. I fixed Ben with the angriest look I could muster past my fear. “Power down, asshole, so we can talk about this without blowing up the neighborhood.”
“I will if you will,” he said, eyebrow raised again, this time in challenge. Man, is he ever good with the eyebrow thing.
I eased off on my hold over The Green, letting it know I wanted it to go back through the ley line below Tony’s house and down into the earth where it rested when I wasn’t calling it up and using it to do my bidding. I saw the red glow that had amassed itself in Ben’s hands get lighter and dissipate up his arms and around the back of his body. Soon we were both standing there looking like regular teenagers again. No more glowing. No more roaring or humming. I looked at the guys to my left and right – Finn, Jared, Spike and Chase. They all visibly relaxed from their fight-ready stances, but still remained wary.
“I don’t trust him,” said Finn.
“Me neither,” said Spike.
Chase remained silent – as usual – holding onto my injured pixie friend, Tim, who Ben had pretty much just fried in midair with a laser beam of fire. My other daemon friend, Jared, was also silent. Even so, I knew they didn’t trust Ben any more than I did.
“Well, I do,” said Tony.
I looked at Tony with frustration. “Dammit, Tony, what the hell? I thought we went over this.”
“No, you’re right, we did. I’m not saying I’m going anywhere with him or not going with you. I’m just saying I trust him. He’s been nice to me, Jayne, and he hasn’t done anything to hurt me. And apparently, he could have if he had wanted to.” He looked up at Ben, giving him a nervous smile.
This was so typical of Tony, giving someone the benefit of the doubt, even when that someone was a friggin’, pixie-roasting asshole.
“Listen, Tony, I get it that you felt abandoned when I stayed in the forest and you came back here,” he started to interrupt, and I was fairly certain what he was going to say, so I held out my hand to shut him up, “and I know you don’t remember being there, but you were, and I’ll b
e happy to prove that to you when we get back. But we need to go.” I looked back over at Ben. “You may trust him, but we sure as hell don’t; and I have a friend to take care of.” I gestured with my head to Tim, lying in Chase’s hands, his blackened stump of a wing sticking out from his side.
“He’s breathing,” said Chase.
“Well, thankfully he’s unconscious, because I know for a fact that having a wing taken off is painful – I’m sure having one burned off is excruciating.” I shot Ben a look that conveyed what a piece of shit I thought he was.
Tony looked at Tim and got a sick look on his face.
Ben was going to ignore my comment but then he noticed Tony’s face too. “Tony, you need to understand – pixies are very dangerous. They may look small and cute, but he was coming over to attack me. I was only defending myself.”
Tony looked at me for confirmation, making me feel uncomfortable. Why was I having to defend my tiny, currently inert friend who had only been trying to save us?
I faced Ben angrily. “Tim, as you’ve conveniently forgotten, was only protecting us. From you!”
“I was no danger to any of you. I did nothing. You’re the one who issued the threats.”
The further this conversation went, the worse I felt. Somehow Ben was turning everything around to make me look like the bad guy in this whole thing. I know my face was expressing my frustration, and as I looked at him to respond, I saw him smile smugly. Asshole thought he had me up a tree.
“Don’t stand there and act like you’re mister honest guy. You never told Tony you were fae, and you never told him your true intentions, either.” I looked at Tony and continued, “Ask him, Tony. Ask him why he didn’t tell you. You trusted a guy who was lying to you and hiding things the whole time he was getting to know you.”
Just then there was a banging on Tony’s door.
“Tony? Do you have someone in your room?”
Tony got a panicked look on his face. “No, Mom! It’s my music!”
“Well, turn it down. It’s way past your bedtime.”
Finn snickered but had the decency to look chagrined when I shot him a dirty look. All we needed was for Tony to think we were laughing at him. Sure, his mom was clueless and obviously nearly deaf, but that wasn’t Tony’s fault.
I whispered to the group. “Listen, we’re not getting anywhere with this. Besides, there’s no point anyway. Tony’s coming with us, and we need to go.” I looked at Tony, my eyes begging him. “You’re still coming, right?”
“Yeah, I’m still coming. But I want to hear what Ben has to say first. He’s my friend, Jayne. I know you don’t like that, but that’s how it is. I owe him the chance to give me his side of the story.”
Ben smiled. “Tony is a fair person. He’s always been willing to listen. Maybe you could take a minute to listen too, Jayne. You might be surprised to hear what I have to say.”
“Pfft, not likely.”
Jared stepped up, his hands held out in a gesture of peace. “Why don’t we take this outside or somewhere we can talk.” He glanced at Ben and then me. “Neutral territory, a place everyone would feel comfortable.”
Ben nodded.
I looked around and everyone else seemed to think it was a good idea. I was more in favor of just getting the hell out of there and never looking back, but I had to be fair to Tony. I didn’t want him leaving here thinking I had anything to hide.
“Fine. Where?”
“How about the all-night diner, over by the school?” suggested Tony.
We all nodded.
Two seconds later, Ben’s form began to fade. “See you there,” was the last thing he said before he disappeared in a puff of black smoke and wind.
I looked at Tony and saw that his eyes were bugging out of his head. I sneered. “Yeah. You trust this guy. Fucking demon fae or whatever he is.” I shook my head, walking to the window and looking out, confirming that Ben wasn’t there anymore. I wondered how far he could go with that disappeary-smokey thing.
“You guys go ahead and wait for us outside. I’m going to help Tony get some stuff together.” I looked at Chase. “Please be extra careful with Tim. I’m going to see if I can find something to put him in.”
Chase nodded in acquiescence before following the others, climbing out the window wordlessly while Tony and I watched.
Once we were alone, I turned to him. “You need to pack a couple things – just what you can’t live without. There will be clothes and stuff for you there.”
“For me where?” asked Tony, not moving.
“At the compound. Where we live.”
Tony looked distressed but said nothing.
I took his hand lightly in mine. “Listen. Here’s the deal. Once we get there and you get a full tour and know everything that’s going on, you will have the choice to stay or go. You had that chance once before, and you chose to come home. I think it’s because you didn’t know everything then. Now I can make sure you know it all. I’m pretty sure once you do, you’ll decide to stay.”
“So I can come back if I decide I want nothing to do with this stuff?”
I shook my head in frustration. “Yes. But Tony, you’re not going to. Ben being here is proof of that. Either way you’re getting involved. You’re either going to come in voluntarily with us, or you’re going to get dragged in by Ben. You’re important to him for some reason that he isn’t telling us. And you’re important to me because you’re my best friend. You are going to end up Light Fae or Dark Fae ... and I want you to be Light Fae, with me.”
“What about Tim? I thought he was your new best friend.”
I smiled. “Jealous?”
Tony smiled slightly. “No. Not much.”
“Well, you have nothing to worry about; no one can take your place in my heart. You’re going to love him, though. Just be glad you can’t hear him.”
“You can? How?”
“Witch’s spell. I’ll explain about that later.”
“Why don’t I want to be able to hear him?”
“Let’s just say, pixies are gassy.”
Tony got a disgusted look. “Oh, geez.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it. Come on, let’s pack. What do you want to bring?”
Tony looked around his room, walking over to pick up the picture of him and me in a frame, broken as a result of him launching against the wall the other day. I had seen him throw it when I visited his room traveling through the gray with the help of my friend Gregale, a gray elf. That’s when I really knew how much trouble Tony was in. Watching him cry tears on that picture and then hurl it into the wall just tore me up inside.
He pulled the broken frame apart and took the picture out, tucking it into his back pocket and tossing the frame in the trashcan. He reached down and picked up a sweatshirt from the floor, tugging it on over his head as he walked over to sit on the edge of his bed and pull on his boots.
“Do you have something I could put Tim in?”
Tony gestured towards his closet with his head as he bent over to tie his bootlaces. “In there.”
I went over and opened the door, pushing junk aside until I found an old shoebox. Then I went to his bed, grabbing the pillow and pulling the pillowcase off, using it to line the inside of the box to make it more comfortable.
Tony stood and walked over to his desk, pulling a piece of paper out of his printer. “I’m gonna leave my parents a note.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
“That I’m leaving for a while and I’ll call them later.”
“Tell them you’ll send them an email. We have computers there but not phones.”
Tony shrugged. “Okay.” He finished his note, folding the paper and putting it on his pillow. He pulled up his covers so the bed looked neater. His dirty clothes went next, kicked into a pile in the corner of the room. Tony looked around, throwing up his hands and letting them drop to his sides.
“Ready?” I asked. “Got your passport?”
“I gu
ess so ... and yeah. I have it.”
“Good. Come on.” I wanted to get the heck out of there before he changed his mind.
We climbed out of the window and went to the edge of his porch roof, using the fence nearby to climb down. The guys were waiting for us in the front yard.
I walked up to Chase and held the box out. “Pixie me.”
Chase carefully lowered Tim in. I looked down at my little buddy who was still out cold, covering him as gently as I could with the corner of the pillowcase. “Hang on tight, Tim. I’m gonna get you back so Maggie can fix you right up.” I received no response, so I put the lid on and used that brief moment of fumbling around, trying to get it to fit on right, to fight the feelings of despair that had started to well up. I sniffed and cleared my throat, shoving that lump in my throat down deep into my gut. I could not go into this showdown with Ben feeling all weepy and weak. There was no downplaying the seriousness of this meeting. I was fighting for Tony’s life. There would be time for crying over Tim later – when I had all my guys on a plane and we were headed back to the Green Forest.
Chapter 2
We went into the diner and joined Ben at a big round table in the back corner. A waitress came over and took our drink orders before leaving us alone.
I looked at Ben expressionlessly. “You wanted to talk. So talk.”
“Thanks for coming.”
I shrugged, refusing to play his nicey-nice games.
Ben shook his head in bemusement. “This doesn’t need to be a fight, Jayne.” He looked at Jared. “Jared, tell her.”
I looked at Jared curiously. How does Ben know Jared?
Jared’s eyebrows raised. “I’m not telling Jayne anything. She’s smart enough to see the truth in front of her. Say what you have to say so we can leave. None of us are interested in your Dark Fae propaganda.”