Torn

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “What the hell?” The second fae charged toward me, but Faye intercepted him. Spinning gracefully, she dipped behind him and caught his arm, easily flipping him onto his back. She twisted as she went down, snapping bone. The fae screamed. There went being quiet.

  “Sorry,” Faye said a second before snapping the fae’s neck. Damn, she was a beast.

  Snapping a fae’s neck wouldn’t kill them, but it would definitely take them out of the equation for a bit. I darted past her and threw open the front door. She was right behind me.

  The cold night air greeted us. So did the third fae, who was outside smoking.

  She spotted us, and as she turned, she flicked her cigarette off the porch and rushed us. I easily side-stepped her and jerked my arm back, preparing to deliver the killing blow.

  “You don’t need to kill her,” Faye cried out. “They don’t know any better.”

  “Not kill her?” I ducked as the female swung at me. “Oh, we’re really going to have to talk about the whole ‘they don’t know any better’ part later.”

  Shifting onto my back leg, I spun and delivered a kick that sent the female flying into the porch railing. Wood splintered and gave way. Arms pinwheeling, she fell backward, off the porch.

  Not so graceful then.

  Charging forward, I hopped off the porch and picked up a long piece of splintered railing. I could have taken her out right then, and I wasn’t even sure why I felt I should try to follow Faye’s wishes, but she was helping me. Hopefully.

  The female fae started to sit up, but I swung down, using the railing to impale her to the ground. Blood spurted, and as she opened her mouth to scream bloody murder, I knocked her out with an elbow jab to the temple.

  I stood up, tossing my hair back.

  Faye gaped at me.

  “What?” I demanded. “It won’t kill her.”

  She slowly shook her head. “We need to go down the driveway. Leads to a road about a mile out. We’re going to cross it and keep going. Okay?”

  A mile out? God, I hated running. But I also hated being forced to do things against my will, so I’d run five miles if I had to. It might kill me, but I would do it.

  The cracked pavement was cold under my bare feet as we ran with only the moonlight and stars to guide us. Faye was faster, staying several feet in front of me. Hope was welling up in my chest. We were almost to the woods, and then we’d be out of sight of the house and close to the road. We’d be closer to—

  “Stop!” a deep male voice shouted.

  Faye looked over her shoulder. “Dammit, two fae. We need to keep going.”

  I was going to take her word for it, and I was also going to ignore the fact that she wasn’t even out of breath. “They will catch up,” I gasped out as we entered the wooded area. “We have to take them out.”

  Faye stopped suddenly, eyeing my location and how far behind her I was. “You’re right.”

  Looking around, I slowed down and then stopped. There wasn’t even time to hide for an ambush. We had to face them. “I’m killing this time,” I warned, glancing over at her. “It’s too risky not to.”

  Her jaw was set in a hard line, but she nodded.

  One of the fae reached us ahead of the other. It was the male who’d been in the room the first time I’d fed, the one who had been on his phone. I sprung forward, thrusting the dagger out. He spun to the side, narrowly avoiding my stab. Anger twisted his features into something animalistic. He swung on me and I dipped as Faye caught the other fae, a female, by the waist and drove her to the ground like a linebacker. Damn.

  I knelt, avoiding the next blow. On the ground, I kicked out, taking the male’s legs out from under him. Leaping up, I came down on him, bringing the iron dagger home. I lifted up as he sucked into himself, earning a one-way—hopefully—ticket back to the Otherworld. When I looked up, I saw that Faye had broken another neck.

  I heard rustling and spun around, praying to God an alligator didn’t try to eat me. Scanning the area, I didn’t see anything. Thank God for small—

  “Ivy, watch out!”

  I spun around and gasped. Valor was less than a foot from me. I jumped back, but that didn’t help. He caught my arm and I went flying across the driveway. Barely able to brace myself for the impact, I hit the soggy ground on my side and rolled into a bush. Pain arced across my back, but I pushed through it as I sat up.

  Faye was tossed aside. She smacked into a tree and hit the ground face-first. She didn’t get right back up, and I hoped she was okay.

  “Shit,” I muttered, pushing myself up. I still had that dagger and I was sort of proud of my mad skills there.

  “What were you two thinking?” Valor demanded as he stalked toward me, crossing the driveway. “Did you really think you could escape?”

  “Uh. Yes.”

  “Stupid,” he growled. “And because of your actions, she will die and you will wish you had been smart enough to know better.”

  I didn’t feel necessary to point out that my actions hadn’t driven Faye to do this. I waited until he was a foot in front of me and then feinted to my left. Valor fell for it and darted in that direction. I spun out, delivering a kick to his right side. He stumbled and threw a punch. It connected with my jaw, stunning me for a second as tiny bright lights burst across my line of vision. I knew I had to fight hard. I had to get him down and not give him a chance to use any of his special ancient abilities or to get the best of me, because I knew taking down an ancient wasn’t going to be easy.

  Kicking out again, I hit his right leg and then straightened, jabbing the dagger deep into his side. He grunted and swung, but I anticipated the move and dipped under his arm. Now in front of him, I caught him in the chest again with the dagger, and immediately brought my leg up, kneeing him in the nuts.

  Valor doubled over, and I caught his shoulders, shoving him down with my weight. He went, clutching his poor boys. He rolled onto his back, and I saw the opportunity. I had to do some major damage to keep him down.

  I dropped to the ground next to him, the damp soil soaking through my dress. He rolled onto his side, grabbing my left arm and yanking hard enough that I worried he’d pull it out of its socket. He shouted, and I didn’t think about what I was doing, because it was so gross. I just did it. Slamming the blade down, I went for the eye, and I hit my target. His roar was cut off and his arms dropped limply. Dark blood and other liquid I didn’t want to think too closely about, because it might make me puke, spurted into the air, hitting my face and chest.

  The hit wasn’t going to kill the dumb son of a bitch, but I figured it would keep him down for a while.

  “Ivy!” Faye shouted, up and apparently alive. “Let’s go!”

  Yanking the iron dagger out of Valor’s eye socket, I stood up and took off, darting across the street, following Faye’s moonlit form. We ran for several more yards, twigs and fallen branches tearing at my feet. Small rocks dug into my skin, but I kept going. My heart felt like it was going to pound right out of my chest, but this was my only chance. If I didn’t get away now, I was never getting away.

  Feet pounded behind me. Sparing a look over my shoulder, I saw the ancient I’d just stabbed in the damn face tearing through the woods, dark liquid pouring down his face. Jesus, he was like the Terminator Ancient. I dug in, giving it everything I had.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  Air exploded out of my lungs as he crashed into me from behind, taking me down. The impact knocked the dagger out of my hand, and his weight drove me several inches into the mush where I got a mouthful of soil and grass. Dirt clogged my nostrils, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe.

  Spitting the mess out, I dragged in gulps of air as Valor grabbed a handful of my hair and jerked my head back.

  “You fucking bitch,” he spat. “I could snap your neck in a second.”

  My fingers dug into the soil as I reached for my dagger. “I don’t think your prince would be happy about that.”

  Valor flipped me onto my b
ack and loomed over me, one hand still tangled in my hair. His face was a mess—really not a pretty sight. “Do you think that will stop me? He’ll find another halfling. You’re not the only one.”

  “I’m the closest,” I spat out, lifting my hips to throw him, but he wouldn’t budge.

  His grip in my hair tightened, and fire spread across my skull. I was going to be bald if he kept it up. “He’s going to think you escaped, but in truth, you’re going to be dead.”

  I started to point out that my escaping on his watch was probably not going to over well, but I didn’t get the chance. His other hand came down, landing on my throat, squeezing and cutting off my air before I realized I’d taken my last breath.

  That was it.

  My eyes widened as I grabbed his wrist, scratching and tearing at his skin, but it did nothing to alleviate the pressure. Where in the hell did Faye go? He was choking the life out of me! A deep, unholy burn bloomed in my chest and rapidly crawled up my throat. I went for his gouged-out eye, but he leaned away, keeping just out of reach. Panic exploded, raw and all-consuming as the corners of my vision darkened.

  Valor was really going to kill me.

  This was it.

  I was going to die in the bayou like I was some poor victim in an episode of an investigative Discovery Channel show.

  My strength was waning and I could no longer keep swinging at him. My hand slipped down his arm, and all I could think—

  Valor suddenly jerked and his grip on my throat loosened. Air rushed into my lungs as he looked down at his chest where a stake had burst through. And not an iron one, either.

  His body trembled but no sound came out of his gaping mouth as I scrambled out from underneath him. The ancient was a goner. Dead. Oxygen burned my raw throat and my eyes watered as I rolled sideways. My brain kept telling me to get up and start running again, but all my limbs were tingling and they felt sort of detached.

  A gentle, warm hand touched my shoulder. “Ivy.”

  I stilled. Slowly, I lifted my head, and with a shaky hand, pushed my hair back from my face. My voice was hoarse and weak as I said, “Ren.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Shocked and utterly speechless, I stared up at Ren, and a part of me wondered if I was hallucinating, because I couldn’t understand why he was here.

  Ren slowly knelt beside me. Moonlight highlighted his cheekbones and full mouth. “Ivy, are you okay?”

  I had no voice as I stared at him. His hair fell in waves over his forehead. In the darkness, his green eyes were nearly black. He looked a little pale, almost shaken. It looked like Ren and he’d killed Valor, but I . . . I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

  My heart, which never really slowed down, kicked into high gear, pounding so fast I felt like it would give out any second.

  I’d been fooled before. I’d let my own wants and desires to be reunited with Ren clog all my sense of judgment. If I had been paying attention, had been less emotional, I would’ve noticed right off the bat that something was wrong with Ren, that it wasn’t him.

  He reached out, as if to touch me.

  Unable to trust my own judgment, I scuttled back across the ground. He froze and I threw out my hand, warding him off. He didn’t move toward me. That was a good sign, I thought, as I unsteadily got to my feet. He did the same, and I noticed then that he held the thorn stake in his hand. It had to be him, right? Drake wouldn’t have one of those. He’d thrown aside the one I had while we’d been in Ren’s apartment, but he could’ve went back and got it. He could’ve had anyone go back. This could be a trap. I had no idea where my dagger was, not that it would do much good if this was Drake. Slowly, I stood.

  Feeling sick, I took a small step back as I glanced at the mushy ground. It was too dark to see my weapon.

  “Ivy,” Ren spoke, causing my gaze to snap to his. “It’s okay. Everything is okay.”

  I wet my lips. Everything might not be okay. When I spoke, my voice cracked. “Is . . . is it really you?”

  His brows knitted together as stark pain flickered across his face. “Yes, it’s me.” His voice was hoarse. “It’s really me, sweetness.”

  Sweetness. Ren called me that. Drake as Ren never had.

  My hands started to tremble. Could it really be him? He came back after . . . after everything? The tremble traveled down my legs. No. There was no reason.

  “Ivy.” A voice intruded on my thoughts. Faye. She was still alive and standing behind Ren. And she wasn’t alone. Two more fae were with her. I tensed. “We have to go. We’re out of time,” she said.

  “You . . .” I swallowed, feeling out of it. My gaze shot back to Ren. I was frozen in place, my mind and body snagged. “I don’t know if it’s you,” I said. “I don’t know why there are more fae here.”

  “It’s me.” Ren’s voice was gruff. “I’ll explain everything later, but we have to go, and I know it’s a lot to ask, babe, but I need you to trust me right now. To trust us. If we don’t go, we will lose this window. We—” He cut himself off, then reached into his pocket, pulling out his cellphone. “We have a couple more seconds,” he said, hitting a button on his phone.

  He was calling someone, and I couldn’t think of who he would be calling right now.

  Faye shook her head and came forward. The other two male fae stayed back, scanning the area. “We don’t have time. More will be coming.”

  “Hey,” Ren said, ignoring her. “I need you here. Yeah, I know I told you to stay in the car, but you need to get here. Right now. We’re about a mile from where you are.” There was a pause as Ren stared at me. “She’s here, but I need you to be—” He paused abruptly, and frustration deepened his tone. “Dammit. Just get here. Now.”

  I had no idea what was happening, but I was shaking, and I didn’t even know why. Confusion clouded my thoughts as Ren disconnected the call and put the phone in his pocket. His gaze never left me, not once, and it made me uncomfortable, because of, well, everything. Everything.

  I suddenly didn’t feel like myself. I wasn’t Ivy Morgan. I wasn’t a fighter relying on instinct, because Ivy would be running since this could be a trap. Ivy would risk it all then go down fighting. Ivy wouldn’t be locked in place, full of indecision and fear. I was this . . . thing who had fed on people because a monster made me do it just to survive. I didn’t . . .

  I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

  God, I didn’t need to think about that right now. I needed to pull it together. I was losing my damn mind at the most inopportune moment ever possible, in the history of—

  “Ivy!”

  I twisted to the right and my eyes widened. A tall form was cutting through the trees, moving as fast as a sprinting deer. I knew that voice, and if he was here, then this was Ren and it was okay.

  Tink burst into the clearing. He was man-sized and wearing jeans. And a shirt. He actually had a shirt on.

  “Ivy!” he yelled.

  “Lower your voice,” Faye said.

  Tink didn’t listen, because he was Tink, but I had never been happier in my life to see him. He shouted my name again, and then he was crashing into me, nearly taking me to the ground. All the aches and bruises screamed in protest, but I wrapped my arms around him.

  “Oh my Queen Mab, I thought you were dead! Or at least knocked up! And I thought I’d be dead, because no one but Jerk-Face over there knew about me, and I thought I would starve. Starve to death!”

  “Tink,” Ren warned, voice low.

  “And I was just sitting at home, all by myself. Well, not by myself, but I don’t think you want to hear about that right now, but I was worried. You didn’t come home for days and days, and I was down to ordering cereal off of Amazon and”—he took a quick breath—“I never thought I’d see you again. Even when Renny showed up. I thought all was lost,” he wailed, squeezing me so tight as he swayed back and forth. “And I was going to have to live with him now, and . . . Wait, why are you wearing a dress?”

  I clung to Tink, my arms wr
apped tightly around him. Tears burned my eyes and hit my cheeks, because I . . . I never thought I’d see him again.

  ~

  We had to run again.

  Once Tink got himself under control, I was able to get myself moving. His presence was more than just comforting. With him here, I knew this wasn’t a trap. Ren was real. Faye and her mystery fae friends weren’t going to try to drag me back to Drake or lock Ren in the pantry again.