by K.N. Lee
It was created to kill an Oakatex. It had done that with Peggy. We only had the misfortune to be up against two Oakatexes. Since it had done what it was meant to do, it had vanished.
As we looked, the Oakatex finished feeding and slowly, he started transforming back to his human form. I was shocked when the transformation was done. Vagner looked much younger than he did mere minutes ago. He examined himself, smiling in satisfaction.
I shook my head, then as an idea occurred to me. It was not a conventional idea, and it could very well cost me my life, but I was certain that if I managed to execute it just right, I would be able to make it work. I looked at Juan as he tried to fend of Vagner’s attacks. I knew he would not be in support of the idea. But I had to do it anyways. The way I saw it, there was only one way out of this, and it was up to me as the leader to pull it off.
It was up to me to save them all.
The battle drew on and I turned to Faye-Minita where she stood, wondering what was wrong with her. She seemed to be frozen in place from shock and just watched as the rest of us tried to fend off the Oakatex unsuccessfully. I found myself wanting to go over to find out if she was okay. It was obvious that Tabitha’s death had shaken her. She didn't even notice when I took the sword of the Fae’s from her. I shook my head thinking about the way the sword vanished before I could use it to finish this fiasco once and for all. There was no way I could have envisioned that happening. I had a theory about why it happened like that apart from the fact that it was perhaps because I was not the leader of the Fae’s and I attempted to wield it. But then, I could not verify if my thoughts were true or not until I got the chance to speak to Faye-Minita. And with Vagner on the rampage, there was painfully little time for that to happen.
I turned as I sensed a presence behind me and found myself staring into the horrific face of the Vagner. He grabbed me by the neck lifting me up off the ground. I struggled against the grip but it seemed like feeding had given him some extra strength and I was barely able to keep from passing out completely. With my very last energy, I poofed out of his grasp and appeared beside some trees, gasping for breath. The air burned my chest as it rushed in quickly, but I was ever grateful for it.
Vagner looked at his hand and shrugged, then turned towards Ophelia. She tried to run away, but her efforts were in vain. He caught a hold of her.
I caught sight of Ophelia struggling against Vagner's grip and I moved into action immediately. I lunged at Vagner with all my strength and I quickly made an impact, knocking him off balance. He staggered back, looking shocked at the impact and Ophelia dropped from his grasp.
I caught her and helped her up, quickly pushing her behind me as he regained his balance. I felt anger within me and the burning need for survival. I couldn't die here. I just couldn't.
As I looked, Vagner regained his balance and lifted his hand, aiming it directly at me. It seemed to approach me in slow motion and I watched it curiously even as a burning sensation began in my stomach. I closed my eyes, anticipating the impact while making sure to keep Ophelia safely behind me.
The impact never came.
I opened my eyes and stared, I wondered as Vagner's hand struggled to move in front of me, straining against an invisible force that I somehow knew I was conjuring. My Fae ability had finally shown itself. Vagner reared back and attacked the invisible shield once more, but it held and growled in frustration striking at it over and over again, glaring at me in a most maniacal manner.
Ophelia whimpered behind me and I whispered to her that we would be okay. She nodded and I couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful she looked despite the oddity of the situation. What exactly had I been thinking, getting mad at her? So what, she'd done some pretty questionable things, but that did not undermine the feelings I had for her or the ones she had for me. Those were as real as the moon in the sky. I looked at her and I knew that I would protect her with my very life. If that was some mind control command she had put on me before talking, I didn't care. All I knew was that no harm would come to her. Not under my watch.
I turned towards the fairy killer whose continuous assaults on my shield were getting more violent and urgent. His frustration was getting the better of him. I noted this with a small smile. My smile faltered when he suddenly turned towards Faye and Juan and began moving towards them. Juan stepped in between them, blocking Faye, but I had a different plan.
I concentrated hard and I felt that burning sensation once more. It didn't hurt, not in the real sense. But I felt it either way. It was an indication that my powers were active. I wondered if the others had the same feeling or some other kind of feeling when they used their powers. I generated shields around Faye and Juan and as Vagner lifted his hand to strike them, his hand encountered the shield and he shrieked in anger and began hammering away at the shield. He had obviously not learned his lesson from the previous attempt. I watched him strike at the shield continuously as Juan and Faye-Minita watched him.
Suddenly, Faye-Minita turned towards me and her voice sounded in my head.
“Drayton?”
I looked up at her in confusion and she nodded, indicating that she was the one speaking to me telepathically. Not that I needed the confirmation, the line was very clear.
“Drayton, I want you to listen to me. I have a plan”.
I sighed in relief as I heard this. I'd been waiting for something like this. A plan. Wonderful. I was game for anything, as long as it took down the monster that assaulted my shields for good, I was ready to try.
I listened and my hope immediately died out. Her plan was bat-shit crazy, if not totally insane. What was she thinking? She couldn't really be planning to go through with it, could she? There was too high of a chance that she wouldn't come out alive and then what would happen? To me? To Ophelia? To Juan?
I looked at Juan and wondered if he had agreed to this plan. I was fairly certain that he was still in the dark. I hoped he was still in the dark. It was too hard to think he could be ok with this.
Faye-Minita begged me and pleaded her case, but I refused, even though as she spoke, I was starting to see reason with her. She was the leader of the Fae and as it turned out, as with every other thing that involved leadership, it came with its own responsibilities. She couldn't just shirk them, I knew this. I grit my teeth as I felt the indecision choke me. I hated being put in these situations.
Finally, I agreed. I was a Fae and by that conclusion, she was my leader. That meant that I had to take some of what she said sometimes by faith and just hope that she knew what she was doing. She needed to stop Vagner. I had no doubt that she had our best interests at heart though.
I nodded to her, agreeing more emphatically and she thanked me.
With a deep breath, I took down the shield that protected her.
I was glad that Drayton had agreed to go along with the plan. I had been ready to implement the plan before, but at the very last minute, Drayton had placed his shield on me, protecting me, but at the same time, stopping me from doing what I wanted to do. What I needed to do.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and I opened them, as the shield came down around me. It was as though Vagner could somehow sense this and he turned immediately, looking towards me and smiling a confident smile.
Confidence. That was going to be his undoing. I counted on him being excessively confident for this plan to work, and it seemed like everything was going smoothly and exactly according to plan. A more conscientious person would have wondered how her shield had gone down alone while the rest were still up and very strong. Vagner didn't seem to care.
I looked around helpless, feigning confusion at suddenly being out of the safety of the shield and Juan looked at me in confusion, casting a questioning glance at Drayton. I willed Drayton not to falter at the last minute. This was the final part, it had to go smoothly.
Vagner walked towards me smirking slightly and he stretched his hand forward even as he began to transform into his Oakatex form. I feigned resign
ation and closed my eyes, concentrating. I could sense him getting closer, and then at the very last second, I opened my eyes, feeling the power surge within me. As I watched, the twig-like arms stretched towards me and impaled me in an oddly painless way, with the intention of sucking my blood and gaining my powers.
I felt the blood flow out of me and into him, as he stared at me wide-eyed, seemingly taken aback by the way my blood rejuvenated him. He smiled in a sick manner as he began to suck faster and faster, predictably insatiable in his search for power. I was giving him power. In more quantities than he could have bargained for. My blood was the purest and most sustainable form of life force. I knew this, and more importantly, he knew this.
He looked at me and seemed perplexed by the small smile he saw on my face. He frowned and increased the intensity of the syphoning, but my smile remained. It was obvious that once he began sucking, there was no detaching until he was done. I intended to use that particular rule to take him down. It seemed to be working.
He looked at me, looking pale and confused. He had been sucking for a long time, but I was not getting any weaker. Even Juan looked up at my smiling face in awe.
Vagner greedily began to feed faster and I let him, giving him as much as he needed. There was no limit.
I watched him in glee as he struggled to stop himself from sucking, but he couldn't. Almost. We were almost there. I just had to hold on for a bit longer. He continued sucking, unable to control himself and I just allowed him, watching him struggle with the things he was starting to feel inside.
Everyone got constipated when they ate too much. I just wanted to find out what constipation looked like for an Oakatex. It helped that I was basically an all you can eat buffet.
He seemed slower as I watched and he looked at me in surprise. I had no idea if he had finally figured out where he’d gone wrong, but I was certain he was starting to see just how badly he'd messed up.
Just then, it seemed he had reached his limit and his suction twigs detached from my body and I breathed a sigh of relief, gasping with the exertion it had taken to keep him fed for so long at a stretch.
He gradually began to change to his human form and as I watched, I felt a growing joy as I realized that my plan had actually worked.
Vagner started aging backwards.
He grew younger and younger. From a middle-aged man, he reversed and looked like he was in his twenties. Then, within the next few seconds he was in his teenage years. As we watched, his height dropped and his clothes became oversized. He looked at me in horror, as he gradually continued de-aging, growing backwards until he was a toddler wrapped in adult clothes. And then he was a screaming baby. And then, as I watched with rapt attention, he seemed to glow with a bright white light and suddenly, he began collapsing into himself as the aging process reversed continuously.
Then he was gone.
Juan breathed a sigh of relief as he stared at the pile of clothes in fascination and looked at Faye-Minita in wonder. I felt the shield Drayton put around me drop and I got up, looking at Faye-Minita with that same feeling of awe. What exactly had I just witnessed? I wondered, as I rushed towards her. She seemed overwhelmed herself and was breathing heavily. She had over exerted herself but how? What did she do?
"What just happened?" I asked and she looked up at me, smiling weakly.
"I concentrated on my blood and caused it to regenerate constantly while Vagner fed. I figured he had a breaking point just like everyone else and I was determined to ensure that he got there", she said and I looked at her with a renewed respect and a sense of pride. What she did took guts. She faced the risk of losing her life in the process, but she had kept up with us anyhow. She had done it for us, to save us. That was the quality of a good leader. I felt my chest smile with pride. I loved this woman. There was no doubt about it.
"You did it", I said and she smiled at me,
"No Juan. We did it".
I looked at Faye and Juan as I held Ophelia in my arms. She sobbed into my chest quietly and I wondered if it was because of how close we'd come to dying or if it was just a result of the fact that she thought I was still angry with her.
I figured it was a bit of both.
I wasn't upset with her anymore though. Being faced with the option of losing her, actually losing her had opened my eyes to just how much she meant to me. There were no two ways about it. I loved her and together, we could surmount any obstacle.
"I'm sorry, Drayton. I know what I did wasn't ideal, but I swear I never used my powers on you. Everything between us is completely real. Please forgive me,” she said, looking up and her eyes shimmering in the moonlight from unshed tears.
"I forgive you", I said with a smile, and I bent down and captured her lips in a kiss.
I smiled as Drayton and Ophelia kissed. I had sensed some tension between them earlier, but I was not sure what had caused it. But now, it looked like they were going to be fine after all. Meanwhile, I had something I needed to do.
I turned towards Faye-Minita and found her already looking at me. It was an unspoken communication, and we both understood what it meant. I bent down and kissed her. She melted into my arms, as her arms snaked around my neck, deepening the kiss. It was filled with desire and passion both spawning, in part, from the fact that we'd just nearly lost our lives and the chance to ever kiss each other again.
When we broke the kiss, she smiled,
"Well, that was way overdue", she said and I laughed.
"I think it's high time we went back home together. As it was meant to be from the start".
She smiled.
At long last, it was over. I still felt weak from the exertion but I was happy.
I wasn't sad anymore. All the guilt I felt was gone. I was finally free, and with Juan by my side, I was stronger than I'd ever been.
Epilogue
The bouquet coursed through the air and I stared in fascination, as it coursed straight towards me, even as multiple hands and bodies shoved themselves in front of me trying to get at it. It seemed to be headed straight for me like it was meant for me and I wouldn't have it any other way.
It landed in my open arms and I lifted it, victorious.
The other women groaned dramatically, as I did a small dance with the flowers in my hand and I caught sight of Allison nudging Juan suggestively and I rolled my eyes, going back to my seat.
The wedding between Drayton and Ophelia was one fit for a fairy tale I found myself crying at three separate times during the wedding.
A lot of time had passed since the events at the Rosendale mansion and we had all returned to our lives, all too eager to put the ugly incident behind us, and for good reason too. We had lost a lot in that mansion and its surroundings.
I shook my head, trying to focus on the proceedings. The master of ceremony was speaking and Bastion strolled over to where I was. I had kept him inside the main building, but he kept finding his way back to my table.
Juan laughed and reached down, petting him gently. Ever since I returned from Rosendale, he'd stuck by me permanently, hardly allowing me to go anywhere without him, except the office. I asked Drayton and Ophelia if it was okay to have him at the reception and they agreed. I petted him gently and he looked up at me with his tongue out, breathing heavily. I looked at his face and froze. Then I blinked and confusion set in.
What had just happened? For a second when he looked up at me, I could have sworn that his eyes were green. Not just any green, but very bright green. In fact, I'd only ever seen eyes that green one place else.
Just then a song came on and Juan broke into my thoughts. It was time to dance and Juan led me to the dance floor. The song was quite slow and Juan held me close wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Remember who caught the bouquet, mister. You know what that means. The bouquet never lies".
He threw his head back in laughter and I joined in. We were truly having a good time.
I turned around and caught sight of Drayton dancing with All
ison. Allison was showing him one of her funnier dance moves and I rolled my eyes.
Where was Ophelia though? Where could she have wandered off? I thought, but then the music sped up and Juan spun me around. I laughed out loud, swinging my hips to the tune.
Ophelia was a bit taken aback, as she stared at her and she looked back at me coolly. What was she doing here? I told her the last time that I didn't want anything to do with her or her kind. How dare she accost me at my own wedding with such a silly request?
The woman looked at me and smiled,
"It's not a silly request Ophelia. Don't be rude".
I was startled. I'd forgotten that her kind could occasionally read thoughts if one were not conscious of oneself. I resolved not to make that mistake again.
"Look, I really take exception to you coming here with this outlandish request. I cannot represent you. Not after last time. Please, I'm done with you. Please.", I begged, looking around and hoping no one important happened to be walking by. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. This was not supposed to be happening.
The woman regarded me coolly and quietly. I rolled my eyes and turned to leave.
Icy, cold hands grabbed my wrist, and my entire arm seemed to freeze under the touch, despite my wedding dress covering my arm.
I turned to her in shock and her eyes glowed a bright blue. Icy blue.
"You know better than to test me, Ophelia”, she said smiling softly before releasing my hand. She thrust the documents into my arms and walked away, saying she would be in touch on Monday.
I watched her as she walked away, wondering what kind of trouble I'd gotten myself into, then she paused and turned around. I shifted back uncomfortably,
She smiled,
"That really is a nice dress, Ophelia. Happy wedded life".
Then she turned and walked away.
Ophelia shuddered a bit. If everyone thought the Oakatex was bad news. The Drummindies were worse. At least they were not fairy killers, they too were fairies, but not like them. Not like Faye-Minita. These fairies were harvesters of pain, misery and sadness. Lucky for them, there was none of that at her wedding.