by Amos Cassidy
Rose stifled a giggle at Liza’s shocked expression.
Raven turned to Liza. His eyes full of sorrow. “He is human.”
Liza turned her attention to Rose. “And you?”
Rose shrugged. “Not sure, but the council is looking into it.”
“Okay, so we have a warlock, a witch, a werewolf, a vampire a…little boy who’s going to be a fireman.” She smiled at Erin who nodded firmly, then returned her smile, indicating that he had forgiven her. She continued. “And a…whatever.” She finished lamely, looking at Rose.
“That’s about the size of it. Whatever they’re doing they’ve obviously picked us for a reason.”
Liza gnawed at her lip. “I’ve been here for a while and it’s been pretty uneventful. I mean, they had me in this cage thing for a while, they only moved me here today. Anyway, I heard them talking today, something about a ritual and, er, power and one of them mentioned something…Samhain, I think.” She looked apologetic. “I didn’t catch much more because they noticed I was paying attention and, um, decided to knock me out.” She pushed her long dark hair away from her forehead exposing a deep purple bruise.
“Ouch,” Rose said sympathetically.
“Yeah, and when I woke up I was in here, chained once again.” She rolled her eyes. “I tell you, if I ever had the urge to try something kinky in the bedroom, this little experience has cured me completely.” Her gaze shot to Erin, who was staring at her quizzically. “Never mind,” she said quickly.
“What about you, Henry? Did you hear anything?” Rose asked.
Henry raised sunken eyes to stare at Rose. He looked dazed and weak. “Not much.” He cleared his throat, his voice was hoarse. “But I heard that word…Samhain.” He licked his dry lips. “I’ve no idea what it means though.”
“Whatever they’re planning we’re running out of time.” Raven turned to Rose. “How did she get you?”
Rose explained about the Halloween party, about Roman leaving to get Flo and Erin, and about how she had followed, after a while, to hurry them up and had instead been confronted by Faye.
“If she hurts Roman or Flo…” the look in Raven’s eyes was deadly telling her more about his intentions than his words ever could. “Faye’s obviously been planning this for some time. She posed as your friend for how long?”
“Six years,” Rose said bitterly.
“Six years she’s been planning and in some way you were central to her plans…” He trailed off as he considered the implications.
“It doesn’t matter,” Liza said. “I’m sure we’re going to find out soon enough what she’s up to.” She jerked her head toward the doorway.
Faye swept back into the cavern.
“So you’ve all had a chance to get to know each other,” Faye drawled. “You need to make the most of each moment of your measly lives because, as you mortals so often say, life is short.” She giggled.
“Bloody hell, you do love the sound of your own voice, don’t you?” Rose retorted. “Just get on with whatever it is you brought us here for,” she snapped. Her patience was beginning to wane and Faye’s crazy villain act was beginning to really grate on her nerves.
“Oh, so impatient, don’t worry, it will be over very soon.” Faye’s smile widened, and the gleam of anticipation returned.
“Great, cos if I have to listen to you for much longer I’m going to be sick.”
“Rose…don’t.” Raven shook his head in warning.
“Yes, Rose, don’t. You should listen to the mutt, he knows what he’s talking about, he knows exactly what he’s dealing with.” The smile was gone, her face suddenly alien in its impassivity. It was as if all emotion that had played across her face had been mere illusion. A tool to appear human, and in that second, be it by accident or design, she had dropped the illusion, showing them her real face.
Rose’s retort died on her suddenly dry lips. Any lingering connection to the woman she had known as her friend was severed. She had seen its true face.
There was a commotion from the doorway behind Faye and she turned to look behind her. “Let the games begin.” Faye clapped her hands turning back to her captives, her face animated once more. She stepped away from the door.
All eyes squinted into the light.
The figure that walked into the cavern was bathed in an inner light almost as if a ray of sun had been woven into its very fabric. The light he brought with him was so intense that the clang of metal against metal rang through the space as Raven, Liza, and Henry lifted their hands reflexively to shield their eyes. A low hiss came from Thistle’s direction and Erin whimpered softly.
There was a multitude of tiny shrieks and the low buzzing of miniature wings as the crazy Tinkerbell lights went even crazier. They surged forward toward the figure that was entering the room, hovering excitedly and then, as if on some silent cue, retreating back to their stations on the cavern walls.
The aura around the figure pulsed.
“What the frig?” Liza exclaimed as the glow intensified. “Shit! Okay, we get it, you’re all important and stuff, now turn off the bloody fireworks!”
Throughout the short exchange, Rose had been staring at the figure in awe. Her gaze barely skimming over the dwarf-sized winged creatures that entered with him, dragging behind them a large wooden chest. A vague part of her brain registered these creatures, registered that they were not demons but rather something else, maybe a species of fey. But the majority of her brain was absorbing every glorious detail that comprised to compose the male before her. Hair as golden as the morning rays of the sun fell from a widow’s peak in soft waves down a broad masculine back. Eyes the colour of amber, darkly fringed, blazed across the room, while the hard yet sensuously full mouth curved in an apologetic smile, which held more than a hint of sardonic amusement. Those fiery eyes travelled over the prisoners, flitting over and dismissing Henry but lingering over Raven then moving to stare hard at Rose. A memory niggled at the back of her mind, something someone had said not too long ago, words that seemed important somehow…her mother’s words, the shining stranger! But how-
“Apologies, I forget how fragile mortal senses can be.” The voice was warm honey and dark chocolate to the senses. The room immediately dimmed as the glow dissipated, leaving only a faint residue of its brilliance behind, evident only in the red dots that swam before their eyes.
Thistle’s eyes were as hard as flint as she glared up at the newcomer. “And who the hell might you be?”
“Daddy!” Faye bounded toward the imposing figure every bit the image of the little girl greeting her father after a long absence.
The male held up a hand stopping her in her tracks. “Decorum.”
Faye stepped back, her bottom lip sticking out in a childish pout.
Her father sighed, and reached for her pulling her into a quick embrace before releasing her and patting her proprietarily on the arm.
Faye shot her audience a smug smile.
“I am Bres, ruler of the Unseelie court or, as I believe as it is commonly known, the Dark Court.” He inclined his head slightly. “And you are my honoured guests here tonight.” He smiled, revealing white even teeth that would give even Simon Cowell a run for his money.
Thistle snorted derisively and Raven growled low in his throat.
Until this moment, Rose had managed to reign in her anger but seeing this Bres character walk in all ‘How do you do, you’re my guests’, and seeing Erin trembling with fear, hungry and cold, nudged the tiny kernel of fury that was sitting always on standby in the centre of her chest. That kernel, with the right nudge, could become a full blown nuclear bomb.
Her voice, when she spoke, was simmering with the promise of violence. “I think we deserve an explanation, and cut out the theatrics. You’ve brought us here against our will to do God knows what. You kidnapped and beat a child for God’s sake! What kind of person does that?”
Erin began to sob. Rose tried to reach for him across the expanse of hard ground that se
parated them, her fingers inches away from providing a comforting caress.
Faye, moving with lightning speed, planted herself between them, her hand raised to strike, her expression venomous. “Shut it, you snivelling little brat!”
Rose felt the kernel unfolding but pulled it inwards, afraid of what might happen. Faye had Flo and Roman, she couldn’t risk them being hurt. She bit the insides of her cheeks until she tasted blood, willing herself to be calm.
“Faye.” Bres spoke the name softly with the inflection of a command. Yet the air seemed to vibrate with the force of his word and Faye, shooting Rose a venomous look, stepped slowly away from Erin, her hand falling to her side in an angry fist.
“Yes, father,” she said. Her eyes still blazed with intent to inflict harm. “But we must keep the beasts in control if we are to-”
“Enough!” Bres’ tone brooked no further argument.
Faye lowered her gaze in an action of subservience– although from Rose’s vantage point, she could see clearly the clenched jaw and jumping pulse in her neck all indicating that Faye was far from happy with being ordered around. She allowed herself a small stab of satisfaction.
“There are more effective ways to manipulate child. Have I taught you nothing?” Bres shook his head in mock disappointment, his eyes twinkling. Faye relaxed under his warm regard. “These creatures will do as they are bid or be damned– it is all the same to me.” He turned his gaze, now devoid of warmth, upon the group. “By the hands of their forefathers we have suffered countless decades of pain, and this night we will be avenged, we will be restored!” He raised his hands to the ceiling as if in tribute to an unseen god.
The winged creatures that had entered with him seemed incensed by his little speech, hopping from foot to foot, even taking flight a few inches into the air.
“I see where you get your penchant for theatrics,” Rose said sarcastically looking at Faye.
“Shut it, bitch.”
“That’s more like it.” Rose grinned cruelly, happy to have struck a nerve.
“You’re crazy.” Raven tone was edged with steel. “We have no dealings with your kind.”
Bres arched a perfectly formed eyebrow. “Of course you do not, not now and not for many centuries. But there was, however, a time when your people,” he swept his arm in an arch that encompassed them all, “were responsible for the exile of my people, for the loss of our most powerful treasures. Your ancestors are the reason we have been forced to run, to hide underground for century after century like animals.” His voice was trembling with suppressed emotion. He took a deep breath, steadying himself and pushed a stray tendril of hair away from his face. “Now is the time to undo that travesty, to reanimate our treasures with the power of our kind and to reclaim our rightful place in this world, to fully open all doorways.” He glared at them accusingly, “because of you my people suffer, because of your blood we are gradually being cut off from our home, left to flounder underground. Tonight we will reclaim our power, tonight we will open all doorways and we will claim back what should have been ours centuries ago.” His eyes blazed with fanatical fire. “Ossian!”
The doorway was once again filled with a tall, beautifully formed male figure but this time Rose knew exactly who it was. “You fucking wanker!”
“I forgot to mention that,” Raven said tiredly. “The reason I’m here trussed up like a turkey.” He too shot Ossian a lethal look.
Ossian had entered the room and bent to fiddle with the large chest, avoiding the captive’s eyes.
Rose could feel the anger at the betrayal bubbling up within her– she had to let off steam. “What is it with you fey and long hair anyway? Don’t they have scissors in fairy land, or you planning to make it in the human world working for Vidal Sassoon?”
She saw Ossian’s back tense for a fraction of a second before he went back to unlocking and unloading the chest.
Bres approached her. “This one has much to say.”
“Yes, father, this one I had to befriend and endure for six long years.” Faye’s lip curled in disgust.
“Yes…yes I can see.” Bres gaze was penetrating and for a moment Rose felt it as an invasive sweep, like a laser beam cutting into her soul, exposing her for what she was. Her breath caught in her throat. He had gathered them– he knew what they were, who their ancestors were…he knew what she was!
She gasped. “You know what I am! Tell me what I am!”
Bres smiled, his hand reached for her and she flinched as his slender fingers cupped her chin, tilting her face to the light. His eyes narrowed. “You, Rose, are your mother’s daughter.” Abruptly, he let go of her and turned away.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Oi! You! Answer me!”
He turned swiftly swinging out his arm. Rose barely registered the stream of lightning before she was doubled up on the ground in agonising pain, a thousand needles piercing her skin simultaneously.
“NO!”
“STOP!”
She heard the cries of her friends but was powerless to enter her own plea. Her eyes streamed with tears as the pain intensified, and then just as suddenly as it had begun it vanished. She lay there breathing heavily– partly afraid that if she moved the pain would return.
“As I thought.” Bres said thoughtfully. “You can get up now, Rose. But remember, one more outburst like that and it will be your last.”
Rose pulled herself gingerly into an upright position, her body still quaking from the assault, her sense memory of the pain still active.
“Rose?” Erin’s face was wet with tears.
“I’m okay,” Rose said huskily. She looked to the centre of the semi-circle. While she had been writhing in pain, Ossian had emptied the chest and laid out four artefacts. She identified a sword, a spear, what looked like a large pot and a smooth oval stone about the size of large rat.
Bres tracked her gaze. “Yes, those are our treasures brought from our four shining cities to this world. The source of our power and with your help they shall shine once more.”
“Let me get this straight.” Rose licked her dry lips. “You’re saying that our ancestors stripped these…your treasures, of their power and banished you underground?”
Bres inclined his head slightly in agreement, his eyes sparkling as if in approval of a proficient student.
“So you need us to help you get your power back, reverse the original, er, stripping?”
“Binding, yes.”
“And then what? You take your shit and head back to fairy land, right?” Well a girl could hope.
Faye answered before her father could. “Like hell! We’re going to take what we should have, what we would have centuries ago.”
Ossian tensed and Rose noted the dark frown suddenly marring his usually enigmatic features. She addressed Faye, half an eye on Ossian. “And what is that exactly?”
Faye’s lips curved in a slow deliberate smile. “The world.”
Ossian’s nostrils flared, his eyes widening in what Rose could only identify as shock. It looked like someone hadn’t received the memo about world domination. She filed this bit of information away, Ossian may yet prove useful but right now she wasn’t done baiting Faye. “Oh, please! If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard some super villain make that statement I’d be rolling in it,” Rose mocked.
Bres stepped in. “This isn’t one of your…movies, or a…what do you call them…ah, yes, comic books. This is the real thing. Let me tell you a real story.” He cocked his head, his eyes travelling around the cavern to ensure he had their attention. Finally, when he was satisfied that all eyes were on him, he began. “Centuries ago, banished underground and undersea we united against our common enemies, the mortals. The immortal races, the Tuatha De Danaan and the Fomorians, what you call the fey today, fought side by side to ensure our place above ground. Your ancestors, however, the underhand creatures that they were, discovered a way to strip us of our power and therefore ensure themselves a speedy victory. They ha
d a little help of course.” His gaze flicked to Rose then away again. “It was in this chamber on this night, on the eve of Samhain, that our power was pulled away from us and trapped within this earth. Until a couple of decades ago we had given up hope of ever rising again.” He snorted. “But luck is a fickle thing, and just when I had given up hope, luck and fate drew me to the answer.” Once again his gaze lingered on Rose a fraction longer than necessary. Then he turned his attention to Raven. “I was led to the knowledge we needed to reclaim our right and fate was on our side as I found every one of you in the same city– if anything were to confirm the righteousness of my path that was it.” He raised his hands in the air. “Upon this night when the veil between this world and the otherworld is at its thinnest, we will call forth our power from it’s earthly prison to return once more and fill our treasures with light and allow us to reclaim our power. Time is of the essence, and the ritual must be completed forthwith”
“I really don’t like the sound of that,” Thistle rasped weakly.
“Do not be alarmed, a little blood is all I ask, once you have served your purpose you will be free to leave.”
“Yeah, right, and pigs might fly,” Liza said sarcastically.
“I have no need for you after our power is returned. All I ask is that you give me your blood.”
Something wasn’t quite right here. Something in his wording. And then it struck Rose. He wanted them to give him their blood, implying that their consent was integral to the process. “No.” Rose pulled herself to her feet. “I won’t give you my blood. If you want it you’ll have to take it, but you don’t have my consent.” She made herself clear.
Liza nodded, catching on quickly.
Bres winced then tutted. “That is a shame. I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this. Faye?”
“Yes, father.” Faye lifted her head and closed her eyes. “Here, doggy. Fetch!”
There was a clatter of chains and the sound of something large being dragged across the floor. Rose’s heart began to thump wildly in her chest. Shit! Shit! She had forgotten about Flo! Raven’s stricken face told her that he too had just made the connection. The bastards had leverage. All eyes turned to the door but what came through wasn’t what any of the captives were expecting.