New World Order

by Elle Casey

  Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just saying the things I’m thinking out loud. Maybe it will all just be easy like that.”

  “Right,” I scoffed, “like everything else in my life has been so easy. Good point. Sucky point, but good point.”

  Tony took my hand and squeezed it before letting it go. “Don’t worry about it. I know it will all turn out fine in the end. Everything happens for a good reason.”

  “Even biology? Dissection lab? Last year?”

  “Okay, so maybe not everything happens for a good reason.”

  “Thank you for admitting that; because there is absolutely no good reason for part of your fetal pig to end up in my backpack. It started to rot before I found it, you know ... making it smell like an orc took a shit in there. I had to throw that bag out, Tony, and it was my favorite one of all time. You knew that, too, I know you did.”

  Tony started laughing as he tried to defend himself. “I told you – I didn’t do that! It wasn’t me!”

  “Right. Whatever.” I turned my head so he wouldn’t see me trying not to smile. I had to keep up the righteous indignation for a few years longer. It was one of the few pieces of ammo I had against him. Of course he didn’t put that tiny pig liver in my backpack. Either one of the immature numbnuts in our class had, or it had fallen in there of its own accord. But messing with him about it was too much fun to admit that.

  Tony was getting ready to tell me all the items on the list of evidence he had in favor of his innocence when Chase arrived on scene. I jumped up and ran to give him a hug. He greeted me warmly, squeezing me tight for a couple seconds, and then putting me down in front of him. “So, what’s going on? I got the message out of the Gray that you needed me and it was urgent.”

  “Yeah. This is no false alarm. I need you to fly back with me to Florida. Something’s going on with my mom, and we’re worried it’s a trap.” I told him the rest of the story before he had a chance to get a word in edgewise. I didn’t want to hear him say no and that he couldn’t go.

  “Okay. I’m in. I can’t let you go without me. This isn’t something I can trust Scrum or Gorm with.”

  “That’s totally what I was thinking,” I said, breathlessly, completely psyched he was going with me.

  “When does the plane leave?”

  “About two and a half hours.”

  “Okay. I’ll meet you at the dirt road where the shuttle van picks up at the main road. I don’t think I could find the airplane door anymore.”

  “I guess that’s good,” I said. “Since you’re all Dark Fae now.”

  He smiled and grabbed my chin, holding it between his thumb and forefinger. “Watch it sassy mouth.”

  I smacked his hand away. “Watch it yourself.” I liked playing with him like this. It was so un-Chase-like, but what the hell. I was already noticing in one day how less pixelated he seemed compared to yesterday. Pretty soon he’d probably be back to his old self, and I might miss this playful side of him a little.

  “See you soon,” said Tony from behind us.

  Chase nodded and then turned to run back in the direction he’d come from.

  I turned and joined Tony, and we both went back into the compound together.

  “I guess we should go get packed,” he said.

  “What are you bringing?” I asked.

  “My axe. A change of clothes. My toothbrush. I don’t need a brush anymore, since I don’t have any hair left.”

  I rolled my eyes, refusing to rise to the bait.

  “How ‘bout you?”

  “Blackie. Clothes. Succubus-Be-Gone spray. Pixie.”

  Tony laughed. “See you at the door?”

  I held up my hand for a high five. “See you at the door.”

  The smack of our palms connecting resounded down the hallway, and I opened my door, stepping inside to break the news to Tim that he was going on a little trip.

  Chapter 17

  Tim wasn’t in our room. I began packing, grabbing a tiny tunic and pair of pants from his miniature dresser to put in the side pocket of my bag. I shoved in his and my toothbrushes and my toothpaste and other necessities, including my 3-step makeup program – eyeliner, smudge stick, and mascara. One change of my own clothes went into the bag and then I zipped it up. I already had Blackie strapped to my leg as usual. This time I wasn’t taking any chances; my weapon was going to be with me at all times. I wasn’t even going to bother with my regular human clothes. I was going in, full-on fae. Anyone who didn’t like it could kiss my big white ass.

  I sat on the bed, looking at the clock, wondering where my roommate was. I decided to give something new a try. I reached into the stone floor at my feet, looking to link up with The Green. I brought some of its energy into me and then sent it out into the compound around me, imagining a high-pitched vibration ringing all over the place. Tim had told me that pixies were very sensitive to electronic signals and the like. I was hoping he’d feel the vibrations I was sending out and know I was trying to contact him. Maybe he could even track the signal to its source. A part of me was jealous that all these fae around me could use telepathy of some sort. Seemed like someone they called Mother should be able to do some of that cool stuff too.

  I kept it up for about a minute before I heard footsteps running down the hallway, quicker than I thought possible for feet to run. It sounded like a cartoon, the way the feet were slapping so fast on the stone floor. My door flew open to reveal a breathless and sweaty Spike standing in the doorway. “Are you doing that?!” he yelled, gasping for air.

  “Doing what?”

  “That signal? That high-pitched, ear-shattering squeal that’s sending all of our werewolves into a complete breakdown!”

  I dropped the signal immediately. “Uh, maybe.”

  Spike wiped his forehead with the back of his arm and leaned heavily on my door jam. “Holy shit, Jayne. You have no idea the chaos you just caused all over the compound.”

  “I was just trying to call Tim.”

  Just then His Pixieness made his appearance, buzzing in through the door. “Jayne, that was awesome! You have to do it again! You should have seen those wolves, chasing each other’s tails around the dining hall. I’ve never seen anything like it!” He was clapping and bouncing in midair.

  “Oh shit, I did it again, didn’t I?”

  “What?” asked Spike, now back to his normal self, no longer huffing and puffing like he’d just run a three-minute mile. “Kicked some fae in their butts? Yeah. You did.”

  “No. I meant screwed something up.”

  Spike smiled. “Don’t worry; it’s all good. I’m sure now that it’s stopped, everything will be fine. No one knows it was you.”

  “How’d you know?”

  “I’d know your signature anywhere,” he said smiling. “Hey, by the way, I hear you’re going on a trip.”

  I looked at him suspiciously. “Yeah. Who told you?”

  “No one. I heard Dardennes talking to someone about filing some flight plan or something.”

  “Yeah. I’ve got to go see if my mom’s okay.”

  “Need any company?”

  “Nope,” I said evasively, “I already have some bodyguards assigned to me.

  “Yeah, but do you have a boy toy assigned to you yet? Because I’ll gladly fill that position.”

  “You’d sacrifice yourself for me like that?” I said, sarcastically. He’d probably already heard the twins were going and was trying to wheedle an invitation from me.

  “Yep. Always willing to take one for the team.”

  “Especially when that team includes a couple of raven-haired succubi?”

  Spike gave me his most innocent look. “Oh, they’re going? Hmmm. Interesting. But no, of course, I was just talking about being there for you, Jayne. Just for you.”

  I smiled, walking to the door and shoving him out of my room. “Get out, you dog. You aren’t coming. You’ll have to get a date without my help.”

  I started pushing the door shu
t and he stuck his head in for one last chance. “Will you put in a good word for me? Tell them I’m an alright guy?”

  I put my hand on his forehead and shoved it out of the way, slamming the door shut in his face. I yelled at the closed door, “I’ll tell ‘em all about you, don’t you worry!”

  He said something back, but I couldn’t hear what is was through the thick wood of the door. I turned back to Tim who was sitting on his bed, waiting for my attention.

  “So. Am I on the guest list?” he asked.

  “Do you even need to ask?”

  “I sure hope not.”

  “I already packed for you. We leave in ninety minutes.”

  “We can make our plan while we wait,” suggested Tim, pulling his knife out of its holster to begin sharpening it on his trusty whetstone that he keeps under his bed. It was so small I could barely see it when I was standing right over it, so it was invisible from my spot on the bed where I was sitting now. I could hear the regular, rhythmic scraping sounds as Tim drew the blade across its rough surface.

  “So, where exactly are we going?”

  “To my mom’s house. And maybe Tony’s too.”

  “Back to the scene of the crime, eh?”

  “What crime would you be referring to?” There were several to choose from, but I wasn’t sure he knew of the crimes against me, committed by my mother’s, at the time, boyfriend – now husband. Yay for me.

  “I’m referring to the day that shall live in infamy. The day Ben of the Dark Fae shot me out of the sky and sent me crashing from the heavens to the dark abyss of this earth.”

  “You mean the dark abyss of Tony’s shag carpet?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “Yes. We’re going back to the scene of the crime. But first we’re starting at my house. My mom’s husband says she’s injured. I think if she really is, that he did it himself.”

  “Bastard.”

  “Exactly. Actually, that name is a little too P.G. for him in my opinion.”

  “Bastard ... buggane lover,” suggested Tim.

  I smiled. “Bastard, buggane lover, asshat, dickweed, douchebag.”

  Tim stopped sharpening his knife. “Bastard, buggane lover, asshat, dickweed, douchebag, fae eater!”

  I stood up and yelled, “BASTARD, BUGGANE LOVER, ASSHAT, DICKWEED, DOUGHBAG, FAE EATER, FUCKBAG!”

  The door opened and Céline stood in the doorway. “Am I ... interrupting something?”

  Tim and I collapsed in giggles. I felt totally amped up now, lighter in a way, ready to take on the world. I think for me, cussing is cathartic and energizing at the same time.

  “Yeah. We’re ready.”

  “Good. The plane is ready early. The twins are already at the door waiting for us.”

  I grabbed my backpack and headed out into the hallway, waiting outside Tony’s door for him to join us. Céline had already knocked on his door. Soon we were all walking down the hallway, arriving within minutes at the door with the airplane symbol on it.

  We opened the door to the compound to find Finn and the twins standing just outside. Finn just stood there, his face red and his mouth all slack-jawed. The twins were talking between themselves, completely ignoring him. As soon as they saw me their eyes brightened. Céline continued up the path to the shuttle, but I didn’t hesitate for a second to go in another direction – I pulled Blackie from its holster and held it out very visibly in front of me, walking right up to the twins. No better time than the present to lay down the law.

  “You so much as think about sucking my energy, or the energy of anyone on that plane, and I’m gonna fry your asses. Got it?”

  Their chatter ended abruptly and they both just stared at me. Then they looked at each other and shrugged in unison. “If you say so,” they both said, at exactly the same time.

  I looked at them like they were ridiculous. “Oh, come on. You seriously don’t do that shit all the time, do you?”

  They both shrugged and smiled, all crafty-like, in unison again.

  “Do guys actually fall for that bogus act?”

  They both turned their heads at exactly the same time to look at Finn. I swear to God, he had a glob of drool getting ready to fall out of his mouth.

  “For shit’s sake, Finn! They’re playing you, you idiot!”

  Finn shook his head, as if pulling it out of the clouds. More like his ass, actually. “Huh? Oh, hey Jayne. When’d you get here?”

  I couldn’t decide whether to be insulted or to just feel sorry for the guy. These succubi had every guy within sniffing distance totally mesmerized.

  I could see the appeal – I mean, I wasn’t blind or anything. They both had rich dark brown hair with hints of crimson mixed in, big boobs that filled out what looked suspiciously like specially tailored tunics – tailored to emphasize their assets of course – long legs, deep emerald-green eyes ... when they weren’t all swirly with red and black, that is. Right now they looked mostly harmless, in a careless man-eating sort of way.

  I shook my head, looking around, hoping to see Chase appear.

  “Who are you looking for?” asked one of the twins.

  “No one you need to worry about.”

  “A Dark Fae daemon, maybe?” said one of them.

  I whipped my head around, narrowing my eyes at her. “How do you know about him?”

  “He came and left. He told us to tell you to go without him.”

  “Oh, ouch,” said Tim, buzzing off to fly to the shuttle without me.

  “What?!” I yelled. “You can’t be serious.”

  They both shrugged. “We are,” they said simultaneously.

  “Well, fuck me.” I couldn’t believe Chase would stand me up like that. So much for loyalty. “Come on, Tony,” I said, disgusted with myself for starting to care, “let’s go.”

  I turned to go and bumped right into him. He was standing there gawking at the twins and hadn’t even noticed me getting my heart broken – nor had he seen me coming in his direction at all.

  “Not you too, Tony!” I said, dismayed.

  “What? No. No, of course not. I’m ... I’m going now.” He started about ten paces down the path that would lead us to the shuttle before stopping and turning back towards me with a questioning look on his face. “Wait ... don’t we have to wait for Chase?”

  I sighed loudly. “He’s not coming. And if you weren’t so goo-goo over those bimbos back there, you would have heard them telling me that.”

  “Do they know why?”

  “No. And I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  I motioned for Tony to keep moving and for Finn to go ahead of us. That left me and the girls picking up the rear.

  Before they got ahead of me, I said, “Seriously ... uh, twins. Is that the best you’ve got? Because it’s really kind of sad.”

  One of them looked at me with her eyebrow raised.

  The other glared at me and said, “What do you mean?”

  My grip on Blackie got a little tighter. My hand was starting to sweat and I didn’t want it to slip. “What I mean is, you use your obvious ... assets ... to get everyone around you to act stupid and forget who they are. But isn’t that just a little too easy? Doesn’t it get boring?”

  “No,” said the cranky one.

  The other one didn’t say anything, so I appealed to her.

  “Don’t you ever wonder if you could get someone to really like you? Without the tricks?”

  “Yes,” said the less nasty one.

  “No,” said the other.

  I raised an eyebrow at them. “That’s what I thought. Do me a favor. Keep my friends out of your games. Mess with whoever else you want, but not them.”

  “Yeah, succubus wenches. What she said,” said Tim, suddenly reappearing at my shoulder to show off all the bravado he was capable of. “Tell ‘em, Jayne,” he said near my ear, “show ‘em who’s boss.”

  “Who are you to tell us who we can and can’t play with?” said the more bitchy of the two
.

  “Who me?” I said, my hackles rising, “I’m just Jayne right now. But mess with one of my friends and I’ll become your worst nightmare.” I took a menacing step forward and the nicer one stepped back.

  The other one stood her ground. “I don’t take orders from elementals.”

  “You’ll take this particular order from this elemental, or you’ll be the first succubus I’ve ever burned with the Dark of Blackthorn. Don’t push me, because the idea is gaining appeal with every word that comes out of your mouth.”

  For the first time, I saw her glance down at what I held in my hand. Before, she’d been too busy showing off to notice anything but her own appeal and the drooling going on around her.

  Her face blanched and she took a step back to join her sister. “You ... wield The Dark? How is that possible?”

  I shrugged, putting it back in my holster, confident that she’d finally taken my threat to heart. “Who knows? It’s a big mystery. But I’m not afraid to use it as a few fae and several orcs can attest to ... so don’t piss me off.”

  The two sisters started whispering to each other, and I stepped away, heading up the path recently taken by Tony and the others. I could hear them following behind, but I refused to look back. I had to show them I wasn’t afraid of their big-hootered succubi selves. Plus, I had Tim flying backwards, so I knew he had my six. They didn’t need to know I depended on a tiny pixie to give me this false sense of courage.

  We reached the shuttle and got inside. The twins settled in near the back and I sat next to Tony in the front row. Céline took the center row of seats with Finn. Finn kept turning around and smiling at the girls who blatantly ignored him. I wished like hell Becky were here to smack him upside the head. I wondered if he’d still be as smitten, seeing Becky next to the twins. As far as I was concerned, Becky outshined them a million watts to one. She was the real deal. These two? Posers. Two empty-headed bimbos using tricks to get attention. Sad, really. A thought niggled the back of my mind that maybe they weren’t as they seemed, but I ignored it. I saw what I saw and that’s all I needed to know.