"But how?"
"Shhh. Do not question it, Gwyneth, just trust in me when I tell you that I created this for you."
I believed. Damn it, I believed every word he said, and I knew why. It was because I had fallen for him. I didn’t question how he created this before he even knew me, I didn’t question anything. He had me now, and I’m sure he knew it. He eased my body forward and we crossed the threshold to Faerie Land. The sun beat down on us. I screamed and tried to push Pallo back out. He only laughed and stood his ground. He didn’t burst into flames. That was a huge relief.
"It is not earthly sunlight. It will not harm me."
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. "I thought, I thought…."
"I was slightly concerned that you would want to see me turn to ashes."
I gave him a stern look. "That isn’t funny and you know it."
His laugh bellowed forth at me and was contagious. I laughed along with him until my ribs hurt. "Oh, my silly Pallo, whatever shall I do with you?"
Pallo stopped laughing and looked at me. I didn’t think the man could get any paler, but he managed it somehow. His eyes widened. "What did you just say?"
I shrugged. "What?"
He walked around me, staring at me from every angle. I turned to follow his gaze. "Okay, this is just creepy."
"Yes, Gwyneth, even I will agree with you on that one."
"Pallo?"
He shook his head and reached for my hand. "Some habits cannot be broken by even the worst of circumstances."
I took his hand and looked at him, puzzled. I wanted to ask him about that statement but he directed us down a small path. Little cottages lined a cobblestone walkway. Each cottage’s chimney had smoke bellowing out of it, giving it that cozy appearance. Along the pathway, older faerie men and women were in the process of conducting their daily lives. All of the fairies I saw looked nothing like me. The tallest was maybe four foot high. Some women were sitting together working on a quilt, and others were knitting. Two older faerie men passed us riding in a wagon being pulled by two brown Kelpies. I had only ever seen Kelpies in a book before, so I reached my hand out to touch one. They looked very similar to a domestic horse, and probably had could have passed for one unless someone noticed their eyes. Their eyes were bright green and had a wondrous glow-in-the-dark quality to them. When my hand brushed the soft coat of the Kelpie, its color went from brown to gray. I drew my hand back quickly, unsure if I had caused that. The smaller of the two men on the wagon chuckled.
"Don’t you worry none ‘bout him, he does that when he likes someone." His voice was lower than I would have expected from someone his size. I saw that he had a small amount of facial hair. I looked to Pallo and let my mind ponder the fact that I had always been told that fairies were tall, slim, had long hair, and no facial hair. Pallo, being the champ-vamp that he was, answered me before I could ask the question.
"There are many forms of fairies here." He looked so pleased with himself for bringing me here. He knew that I would enjoy this. He took my hand and led me further down the path. We came upon a small stone bridge with a small stream running below it.
"I suppose you even managed to hire a few trolls to jump out from under the bridge at park guests?" I looked up and noticed the wind moving his brown semi-curls from his chiseled face.
He gave me a mischievous grin. "Not all the creatures in the park are employees." I could hear the truth to his words, but couldn’t make sense of them.
"My dear Gwyneth, for reasons unto myself I created a portal here to the faerie realm. I offer them safe passage and in return, they allow guests to walk among them." He held my hand tighter as he told me this.
The cool touch of his skin comforted me. I stared at him a minute and knew that this place was as close to daylight as he would ever be able to get with me. I wanted this moment to last forever. As silly as it sounds, I envisioned the two of us growing old and raising a family together. Nothing like just meeting a guy, and instantly hooking a ball and chain around his leg--great, now I was clinging and desperate for a husband.
I was hit with another vision. This one did not feel like it had ever taken place. It felt like I was bearing witness to someone’s deepest desire. Not just any someone, but me. I pictured Pallo placing his hand on my lower stomach. It was big and round. My shirt was pulled high, exposing it to him. His face slid down and he rubbed his cheek against my swelling belly. He kissed it, and I knew that this life in me was ours. I was so in love with him and with the idea of starting our family. I was giddy.
I stopped for a moment and raised up, giving him a surprise peck on the cheek. I felt the vision slide from my head and into his. I tried mentally blocking it from going, but it was too late. He pulled back from me quickly. A look of shock ripped through his devilish good looks. Before he was able to respond to me, Caradoc appeared out of thin air beside us.
"Master, your services are needed immediately."
Pallo nodded. "Thank you. And Caradoc, there is no need to call me master."
"Sorry," he said, stepping back, giving Pallo and me more privacy.
I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. "I’m sorry. That was too much, I know. I bet you’re going to find this hard to believe, but I’m not trying to snag a husband and--"
He put a finger to my lips. "You’ve done nothing wrong. I must see to this minor detail. Would you like me to have Caradoc stay with you?" He motioned to Caradoc and he stepped forward. Caradoc looked a little uneasy about being volunteered to baby-sit me. Who could blame the guy? I had already damn near staked him once tonight.
"No, I’m fine. Go ahead. I can find my way back to the main house." I felt something sink in the pit of my stomach. He took my hand to his lips.
"I shall be thinking of you, Gwyneth," he said.
I watched them head toward the entrance of the Faerie Land. The irony of two studs walking in a place called Faerie Land struck me. I let out a laugh. It echoed and came back to me louder. I turned around. Bushes lined the stone path on the other side of the bridge. I was almost positive that laughter was coming from there. I stopped and listened hard for a moment. Then I heard it again. It was my voice echoing back at me. I started across the bridge to investigate.
Something seized my right ankle and pulled me off of my feet. My shoulders hit the ground first, then the back of my head. Something big and hairy grew close. My eyes widened as I made out the faint shape of pointy green ears under the piles upon piles of ratty long hair that covered the beast like a sheepdog. The dark greenish creature reeked of stagnant water and started to pull me towards it. I caught a glimpse of its beady yellow eyes under a veil of hair and realized I was staring into the face of a troll. It snarled at me and snatched at my neck. I did what any normal girl would do. I kicked that thing as hard as I could. My foot struck its upper arm, bounding off like I’d kicked a steel wall. Pain shot up my leg. I was pretty sure I’d just broken my toes, but at that moment I had bigger issues to worry about.
I screamed as loud as I could, hoping that one of the faeries that Pallo and I had passed on my way in would hear. I was past scared, I was pissed and in pain. Power surged inside, rushing through me and lashing out at the troll. It flew backwards and landed in the stream.
I rolled over to try to stand and came nose to nose with an even uglier troll. I frankly had never seen a troll face to face before and didn’t think it could have gotten much worse than the last one. Guess I was wrong. Before I could defend myself, he clamped his nasty jaw down on my shoulder, tearing my skin. Unbearable pain suffused me, and I cried out. It shrieked and lurched back, receding from my line of sight. I dropped to the ground.
"Are you all right?" a soft male voice came over my head.
I looked up behind me and saw a tall man standing there holding a bow and arrow. From where I lay he looked upside down, but I don’t think it mattered what way you turned him--he was beautiful. I rolled onto my stomach and looked up
at him. He was angelic, but before I had a chance to fully take him in, he knelt beside me and lifted me to my feet with one hand.
"Follow me, quickly," he said. When he let go, my body weight came down onto my throbbing foot, and I cried out. The bow and arrow man grabbed me around my waist and lifted me with one arm. He carried me over the bridge effortlessly. He kept turning us round and round, checking for more trolls. He carried me through the large green bushes and into a clearing. It took my breath away to see the field of flowers from my dreams right before my eyes. He stopped in the center of it and set me down onto the ground. I managed to stay standing, but I had to lean on him for support. He was around six four and was thin, but well defined. When I said he was angelic, I wasn’t kidding. The man was so gorgeous that he bordered on androgynous. If he hadn’t been wearing a pair of tight blue jeans that cupped his groin, I wouldn’t have known if he was male or female.
His hair was as long as mine and was so blonde it was almost white. He had the front half of his hair tied up and away from his face. The rest lay behind his shoulders, hanging straight down his back. His skin was identical to mine--pale and flawless. He didn’t look to be a day over the age of twenty, but neither did I, so who was I to judge? I looked up to find him staring at me with wide dark green eyes that seemed to glow.
"Your eyes."
He bent down on one knee before me. "I’m Caleb." He kept his head bent, and his hair trailed onto the flowers. "I’m at your service, my lady."
"What are you doing? Get up. I don’t think he pays you enough to do all of this."
He rose but didn’t look at me. "Who doesn’t pay me enough for what?"
I smiled then. This was so good. I had to admit, having the troll bite me was a little over the top, but the rest was truly authentic. "Pallo…. The troll thing was a nice touch."
"I know Pallo, and he does not pay me for my services. I don’t answer to anyone. And the trolls you refer to were not staged. They tried to kill you." His gaze finally met mine, and suddenly, he too looked like he was staring at a ghost.
I was tired of getting the look-how-spooky-you-are treatment and wanted desperately to have the nasty troll bite cleaned out before it got infected. "Cut the shit, Caleb. What’s going on? Why are you running around here with a damn weapon? Where’s your band of merry men?"
"Listen. I tracked the trolls into this realm. I didn’t know why they were headed in this direction. But now I do."
"Please, just come to the point. Why me?" I asked.
"Trolls are creatures of the Demon World. Someone must want you pretty bad to recruit those things to do their dirty work." He came closer and touched my wound. "We need to clean this before the poisons go through your system."
"Poisons? What? What’s the Demon World? Why would someone need to get me?" I had many more questions, but only managed to get those few out before he picked me up in his arms like I weighed nothing and started to walk through the flowers. They parted for him as they did in my dreams so many times before. I knew this place. My sleep had introduced it to me long ago.
Caleb headed for the river running through the center of the field. We came to the bank of the river, and he didn’t hesitate, he just stepped onto it. When I say onto it, I mean onto it. This was too much--a hot babe who walked on water. From where we stood, it looked as though we were crossing over to an endless field of flowers, but we didn’t end up there. We ended up stepping through and into a large white courtyard.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Glamour" was his only response. I had done enough reading on faeries to know that Glamour was the term used for faerie magic. I didn’t question him any further. What had been a dull pain in my shoulder was quickly getting worse. I felt stomach bile rise into my mouth, and I was suddenly glad that I hadn’t yet eaten.
"Caleb…," I said, just before my body went into shock and I began convulsing.
Chapter 6
I woke to the sound of birds chirping in the background. I was lying on a bed of green leaves. I was not in a room, but rather a garden of sorts. Grass covered the ground, and pink and yellow flowers wove their way in and out of the trellis-like walls. I sat up and saw that my shoulder was bandaged and I was still wearing all of my own clothes. I twisted my body and let my arms touch the soft grass. My sandals were lying next to me, and two tiny butterflies were sitting very still atop them.
I slowly pulled myself up. A wicked pain shot through my shoulder. I made a mental note about avoiding troll bites in the future and walked toward a small opening in the flowers. Beyond the trellis lay a thick mist so dense, I couldn't make out if there was ground there or not, so I didn’t test my luck. I turned around to examine my surroundings.
Wherever I was, it definitely smelled of peace and tranquillity. A tiny iron table sat in the center of the garden, and atop it sat a tray of fruits in an array of colors so vivid, I thought they were wax. Starving and hopeful, I picked up a bright yellow pear and bit into it, enjoying the sweet, smooth taste unlike anything I’d ever purchased at a supermarket. The juice ran down my chin and neck, and I wiped it away, walking around the garden, looking at the flowers.
"How are you feeling, Gwyneth?" Caleb’s voice came from behind me, startling me.
"How did you know my name?" I raised an eyebrow, meeting his gaze.
"That’s easy. You talk in your sleep." He smiled, setting my mind at ease.
"I’m assuming by my surroundings that you’re a good faerie, and that I’m not in the Demon World."
He looked surprised. "You assume too much. You are right about this not being the Dark Realm, but we aren’t in the Realm of the Light either. To assume that I’m good would be foolish." He walked towards me. I noticed that he had changed his clothes and was now looking a little more comfortable in a pair of loose blue jeans and a white, long sleeved shirt. His hair flowed loose around his face, spilling past his shoulders down to his waist. Under normal circumstances, it would have looked good only on a girl, but he pulled it off somehow.
"If I’m not in either place then where am I?"
"You are on neutral ground."
"Of both Realms?"
"Yes." He was almost close enough to touch. "This is a safe haven."
"You didn’t answer my question about where you are from."
He laughed and said, "You are safe now, and alive, what does it matter?" He had a good point, so I left it alone. "Are you hungry? We could go grab an early breakfast. I know a great little diner that serves the best pancakes."
"They have a diner here?"
He laughed at me. "No, but I don’t spend all of my time here. This is just a magical safe haven, if you will. I knew you would be safe here."
"I’d like to get a rain check, please. I’ve had a snack, and I’m under a little stress right now, so I don’t think I’d be very good company." I looked at his green eyes, and I wanted to be near him. I wanted to touch him.
"What do you mean, you’ve had a snack?" He stepped closer to me and saw the fruit on the table. "I didn’t put that there."
I walked to him and let my hand brush up against his soft, white shirt. A small bit of his chest peeped at the top of the shirt, and I let my hand slide up to his bare skin. His heart beat fast. Without thought, I ripped his shirt open. He grabbed my wrist tightly, frowning at me.
"The fruit was tainted." He tried to gently force me to back from his space, but I didn’t budge. I snuggled my body closer to his and pulled on him. I knew he was stronger than me, but he allowed himself to be pulled towards the ground anyway.
"Stop, Gwyneth! It’s a lust spell." Caleb was looking down at me, begging me to fight this.
"Lust spells only work on willing parties," I said as I planted my lips firmly on his. I forced my tongue into his mouth and felt his welcome me. My fingers ran up and twisted themselves in his hair. Juice from the pear had still been on my lips and now I could taste it on his. He tried to pull away from me for a moment then gave into his desire. I was
pulling his bottom lip with my teeth. He pushed me back.
"This can’t happen."
"Name one good reason why."
"Because we’ve been down this road before," he said, his voice low, haunted.
I had no idea what he was talking about. My body didn’t care. "Then what’s stopping us now?" I said. I tore off Caleb’s white shirt and threw it aside.
Caleb didn’t answer, but lifted my black tank top over my head and cupped my breasts in his hands. He slid them down my sides, making me jump. His entire chest lay exposed to me now, and somehow, I had ended up completely on top of him. I slid my head down his body, kissing his tight chest all the way. Reaching the button of his jeans, I stopped and worked little circles on his skin there with my tongue. He made a small noise, and I took that as a sign to go on. I worked his pants off him, kissing his body more as I tossed them aside and stood to remove my own. I slid them down my legs and kicked them off of my feet.
Caleb pulled himself away before I could trap him beneath me. I dug my fingernails into his arm, trying to hold onto him. He reached down and picked up our clothes. I let out a small cry as he put his pants on, and then started on mine. I didn’t want to be dressed. I wanted to be used by him. I wanted to have Caleb touch me and do things to me that no other man had ever done. I whimpered as he lifted my foot to put it in each pant leg, and then pulled up. His hands slid on my thighs. I felt him spending a little too much time near my hairline. He still wanted me, I could feel it. He snapped my black capris and started to rise. His face brushed past my naked breast on the way up and I let out a cry. I could see him straining from touching me. He continued to dress me like a baby doll.
"Whoever did this used powerful magic, and you are still under its spell. I am over four hundred years old and should not have been so easily affected by it." He was pushing out on my good shoulder, trying to keep me at arm’s length. "I’d love to spend eternity with you, as it was once promised, but I can’t do that to you."
Daughter of Darkness Page 6