Faery Merry Christmas

by Jacquie Rogers

  My job was to see that Liam achieved his heart’s desire so he’d want to return to Faeryshire, and if these toughs had anything to do with it, he wouldn’t pitch another game. But should I use my magic?

  Then, too, there was the male domination game going on. They circled. He glowered at them, his body at the ready to fend off attack. Six humans, one faery. Normally that wouldn’t even be a fair fight—the faery man would have the obvious advantage—but in this case, it was more like one-to-one. In fact, Liam was in such good shape that I’d give him even odds on two humans. Not six, though.

  “You boys got a pay phone?”

  “Not for your use.” The leader of the hooligans was the tallest. He had several scars on his face and arms, and grease embedded in the skin of his hands and fingernails.

  “Hey, c’mon, there’s nothing for you to be sore about. My girl and I had a little car trouble so I need to make a phone call, then we’ll get out of your hair.”

  The big guy stepped between Liam and the phone booth and crossed his arms. “I don’t think so.”

  “I’ll arm wrestle you for it.”

  The men laughed. The leader said, “Brave talk for a scrawny boy.”

  “Left-handed.”

  No! The man out-weighed Liam by fifty pounds, all muscle. Liam couldn’t possibly put himself at such a huge disadvantage.

  The leader chuckled. “I can beat you right-handed, or I can crush you left-handed. Your choice.”

  “I win, I use the pay phone.”

  “And if I win,” the leader said, “I get the babe.”

  “The lady doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “Now there’s where we disagree. She’s a pretty little thing, would look nice on the back of my bike.”

  Never would I let this creep touch a hair on my body, but he couldn’t know that. Liam did know it, but to appear to concede his lady would lower his rank in their eyes.

  “Won’t happen. Pick your spot. I can whoop you no matter what your choice is.”

  “Beers all around, boys. I’ll be thirsty after I mop the floor with this wimp.” He strode to the end of the counter and shoved all the beer mugs, whether empty or not, onto the floor with one sweep of his arm. “No use wasting time.”

  I really wish Liam would’ve figured out a better way to get us out of here, but the chessboard was set now, and I didn’t see how he could do anything but play it out. If he got hurt, his dream of pitching in the major leagues could die and I’d have failed in my very first mission.

  “Come over here, doll.”

  It looked like the guy would tell his toadies to haul me over if I didn’t go on my own accord, so I walked across the room, put a nickel in the jukebox and selected The Magic Touch by The Platters, then went to the bar and stood by him. Were it not for my faery powers, I’d be scared out of my wits, but if worse came to worst, I could zap us both out of here. For now, I had to appear completely confident that Liam would win.

  Liam flipped four bits on the bar. “That’s for a pitcher of beer to help ease his pain,” he told the bartender.

  The biker snickered, as did his buddies. He put his left elbow on the bar. Liam met the challenge and they gripped hands. Without breaking eye contact with Liam, the biker said, “Start us, little lady.”

  I saw no reason to get fancy or to delay. “Go.”

  Liam took the immediate advantage but the biker was able to stop him by pure, brute strength, and slowly brought their fists back to the beginning position, where they stalled, each man struggling to gain control. Their fists trembled, and sweat beaded on their brows.

  The bikers shouted and encouraged their leader, and I could tell he was giving it his all but wow, Liam amazed me. It was hard to believe he could go up against a man so much larger than himself and not just hold his own, but be fiercely competitive. The look in Liam’s eye told me he’d never quit, and he had every intention of winning this match. If he took that attitude to the pitcher’s mound, he must be an excellent pitcher, indeed. I understood why making a major league team burned hot as a meteor inside him. Competition.

  The biker’s clenched jaw and furrowed brow were at odds with the look of puzzlement in his eye. He’d underestimated his opponent’s strength, and he’d completely underrated Liam’s determination to win.

  When Liam saw the biker falter, he poured on the coal and gained the advantage again, the biker’s fist nearly touching the counter. But he was a worthy competitor, too, and refused to lose in front of his friends. With a roar, he managed to raise Liam’s fist to a forty-five degree angle, Liam’s advantage. But my guy would have nothing to do with that, and with sweat dripping into his eyes, pounded the other man’s fist to the counter.

  The Platters still sang about the magic touch, but Liam had used no magic and won. None of the bikers had much to say, and the tavern’s atmosphere seemed eerily void without the raucous shouts and laughter of only a few minutes ago.

  Liam offered his right hand to shake. “You’re the best I ever arm-wrestled with. You had me worried.”

  “Eh?”

  “Yep, I’m arm wrestling champion on my team.”

  “Hey, he’s Liam Stone, the Shoreline Sharks pitcher!”

  “Liam Stone? Hell, you’re a right-hander! Damn, that’s humiliating.” The biker picked up the pitcher of beer and took a long draw from the side of it. He finally shook Liam’s hand. “I’m Jay. Jay Jacobs. And buddy, you’re the first and you’ll be the last man to ever whip me.” He slapped Liam on the back. “So in honor of that, have a beer, make as many phone calls as you want, and leave me a couple tickets for the opening day game—if you don’t get called up to the Reds, that is.”

  As much respect as Liam had around this town, I wondered why he didn’t introduce himself in the first place. He had a unique way of doing things, unique being defined as the hard way. In one stride, he scooped me up and sat me on the bar beside the pay phone. He used his body to shield me from the rest of the men. It wasn’t necessary, given my powers, but a girl just can’t feel any better than knowing her man will protect her from all threats.

  Chapter Four

  Liam called a tow truck and a taxi. Jay offered to take me to the Heartbreak Plaza Inn on the back of his motorcycle but Liam said he could take care of his own girl.

  “I can’t check you in since humans wouldn’t think it seemly. Do you have money to pay for a room? And can you write?”

  “Yes, I do have money, but as for writing, I haven’t used a quill in quite a while. Not much reason to in Faeryshire.”

  “But you remember how to read English?”

  “Oh, yes. I read . . .” How embarrassing. Could I admit to following his every move reported in the Shoreline Times sports pages? “. . . a lot.”

  “Good. Not all faeries are as well prepared as you are when they visit Terra Humanus. Are you comfortable signing your name?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, we’ll go to the Heartbreak Café and practice your name before I take you to the registration desk. I’m warning you right now, though, go directly to your room. The hotel is full of ballplayers here for the tryouts and I guaran-damn-tee every one of them will come on to you if you so much as cast them a sidelong glance.”

  Come on to me? I hadn’t heard that phrase before but its meaning was evident.

  At the café, Liam asked the waitress for a pencil. She brought it, but not a bottle of ink. She also brought two glasses of water, which I sure wished was Water of Life, for I feared I couldn’t keep my wings retracted much longer. My shoulders weighed with weariness.

  “Graphite is embedded in the barrel.” He picked up the pencil and held it in the light for my examination.

  “Oh, yes, I know the powers of graphite.” Finally, my Brown Clan heritage was doing me some good. “I can use it for many different kinds of magic, including reshaping other objects.”

  “Not here, you don’t. Not around me.” He glanced to his right and then to the left. “Keep y
our voice down about the . . . powers.”

  In a whisper, I said, “I thought they stopped burning witches.”

  “That doesn’t mean they don’t shun or even punish those they don’t understand.”

  By then, the waitress had come back for our order, and Liam ordered a Cherry Coke for each of us. Much as I hated to part from him, we had to get back to business at hand. My back ached and oh, how I wanted to free my wings just for a moment.

  “Write my name on the napkin and I’ll copy it. It won’t take me long to learn it since penmanship appears to be very plain these days.”

  “What are you using for a surname?”

  I shrugged, not having given it a thought. Faeries don’t have surnames because we’re affiliated with clans. “How about ‘Smith’? That’s what Kaylee uses.”

  “How about ‘Diamond’? It describes you better.” He touched my ear. “Diamonds are precious.”

  Ah, but diamonds are hard, and he made my insides all mushy and warm. My ear tingled with his touch. Another memory to savor in my future years. “Okay, Cheshya Diamond, it is.”

  Hot, actually. My tattoo (the hologram diamond of my clan) glowed. I knew the diamond reference was to my clan, but I sure wanted him to think those same thoughts about me.

  I wasn’t sure I could endure this Queen’s Quest business. Not with Liam.

  Chapter Five

  Kaylee met me at the door of my room. “Any luck?”

  I let my wings out and flopped on the bed, belly first. “I have never been so exhausted in all my two thousand years,” I grumbled into the pillow.

  “Pry yourself off the bed for a minute and take a dose of the Waters of Life I brought you.”

  She had no idea of the effort it took for me to sit up, but I knew the Waters would replenish my vigor and my magic, so I managed. Each swallow sent tingles of energy down my legs and arms. My fuzzy brain cleared and my back stopped aching, though my shoulders still pained me.

  “I’m not used to keeping my wings retracted.”

  “Yeah, lots of faeries don’t realize how much effort it takes until they actually get here.” Kaylee zapped several outfits into the closet. “I’ve been researching styles. You can wear anything in the closet and still blend in with the others.”

  “No more backless sweaters. Why in stardust would anyone design a piece of clothing with thick wool but no back? Makes no sense.”

  “Fashion never makes sense.” She drew out a hanger with dark brown slacks and a tan sweater. “You can wear this just about anywhere. You have a few dresses and a coat. Of course, you can zap the clothes to suit you, but don’t get too far away from what you have here unless you want to be seen as an oddity. This is what young ladies are wearing these days.”

  I didn’t want to point out that I wasn’t exactly a young lady. In the olden days, I’d be considered “on the shelf.”

  Even with the Waters of Life, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open and I lay down again. That didn’t seem to daunt Kaylee, however.

  “You’d never guess what I found out.”

  My unresponsiveness didn’t faze her in the least.

  “Sabrina is married to the Red’s scout.”

  “Sabrina?”

  “From the Red Clan, of course. Fit right in, she did, although she certainly doesn’t care for the winter weather in Cincinnati.”

  “Dragons rarely do.”

  “She’ll be accompanying her husband to Shoreline tomorrow, and plans to watch the tryouts the next day. They’ll go back to Cincinnati on Christmas Eve day, so you have your work cut out for you.”

  Chapter Six

  The next day, Mike and Mary took Liam and me to Echo Hot Springs in Mike’s yellow and white ’54 Chevrolet Bel Air. This car was twice the size of Liam’s Nash Metropolitan, and was far more comfortable, but I missed the closeness with Liam. Sabrina was due to arrive in Shoreline and I had to figure out how to be two places at once without using my faery magic.

  “Why are we going clear out in the wilderness?” I asked. Actually, since I’m of the Brown Clan, I appreciated being away from the city for a while.

  “Mike’s shoulder went out of joint again. The Indians said this hot springs is blessed with the healing spirit and he wants to give it a chance before the tryouts tomorrow.”

  “And you? Did you hurt your arm last night?”

  “No, but when Jay clapped me on the back, he bruised me, and now I’m worried I’ll lose the feel for my release point.”

  “So Indian magic is all right, but faery magic is out of bounds?”

  “Yep, because Indian magic is from human channeling.”

  Speaking of faery magic, it sure would’ve been easier to get to the hot springs via a little faery dust. We drove for nearly two hours, first on the highway and then a mountain gravel road, and finally a winding dirt road with snow piled ten feet high on either side. But that wasn’t the end of the trip. Oh, no. We had to snowshoe. I kid you not. Snowshoe for another thirty minutes.

  When we finally arrived, the muscles in my thighs burned like bugs under a magnifying glass, I could barely lift my arms, let alone keep my wings retracted, and I was already sore from the day before. One thing about it, the exercise kept me toasty-warm even though the temperature hovered below freezing. I wanted to take off my coat but Liam strongly advised against it.

  Luckily, I brought a few ounces of the Waters of Life to rejuvenate my flagging energies. Liam probably felt the same. “Want some?”

  “Nope, I have my own, thanks.”

  His was regular earth water, so I knew he was worried about the healing qualities contained in the Waters of Life. Since it was enchanted, it was off-limits except for the amount required to keep him alive in Terra Humanus. The rest was up to him.

  Mike and Mary outpaced us. Me, actually. Liam slowed his long-legged gait to match my short steps and stayed with me. It suited me fine because the more time I had with him, the more memories we could make together.

  The sulfur smell reached us before we got to the hot springs. When we did arrive, Mike was already in a small steaming pool and Mary stood on the snow bank, her hands on her hips. “You didn’t tell me to bring a bathing suit.”

  “We’re not bathing, we’re soaking. Jump in.”

  “I’m not stripping down to my unmentionables like you did!”

  At that point, Liam cleared his throat to get their attention. “I’m taking Cheshya to another pool. We, uh, shouldn’t be bothered.”

  Mike smirked. “Right. Some men have all the luck.” He glowered at Mary. “Why couldn’t I have fallen for a kind and gentle babe like Cheshya?”

  Mary huffed. “You mean why couldn’t you fall for a girl whose clothes disappear at command.”

  “That, too, but I wouldn’t put Cheshya in that category any more than I put you there.” He rubbed his shoulder. “I sure hope what they say about this place is true. The healing, that is.”

  While Mike thought Liam wanted privacy in order to have his way with me, the actual reason was that our wings would unfold as soon as we submerged in the pool.

  Liam placed his hand on my lower back as if I were his girl and steered me around the pond, and around a large boulder to another pond about the same size as the one Mike had claimed. Faeries have no compunctions about nudity, but it was cold. We were standing knee-deep in snow and I had no intentions of shedding my coat, let alone expose bare skin, no matter what I’d thought earlier.

  He stripped off his clothing and shoved them into a satchel, then slid into the steaming pool, his “Aaahhh” sounding more comforting than any other sound I’d ever heard. Yes, memories. Making memories.

  For tomorrow I’d connect him with the human who could make his dreams come true, and then I’d lose him forever.

  “Sit with me. You’ll like it.”

  He meant the hot mineral water, of course, but what I’d really like was to have my naked skin next to his, to soak in Liam’s warmth, not the water’s. His wi
ngs were a rich wine color and a magnificent shape. With faeries, size really does matter, and this faery was worth having, make no mistake about it. I wanted to touch his velvet wings and feel them on my cheek. Female faeries had filmy butterfly wings like mine, but male faeries’ wings had a much thicker texture. His dragon tattoo came to life and looked hungry.

  “If I take my clothes off with faery magic, that has nothing to do with your career, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Good, because it’s ridiculously cold out here.”

  “I know, but it’s worth it. You’ll see.” He held out his hand. “Come to me, Cheshya. There’s a rock bench in here. You can sit beside me and let your wings out.”

  He didn’t know the half of it. I fully intended to seduce our unsuspecting baseball pitcher but there was one teensy little problem. I had no idea how to go about it. But skin to skin seemed like an excellent start. If, indeed, Liam had been celibate as he said, then there should be no problem with him rising to the occasion. I just wished I hadn’t failed Magical Seduction 101. Then again, if I’d passed it, I wouldn’t be three days shy of two thousand years old with no life mate.

  I zapped my clothes off, let my wings out, then slid into the steaming water and snuggled beside him. Was that a low whistle I heard? Did he appreciate the brief glimpse of what he saw? For the first time, a man’s naked thigh touched mine and my breath was taken away. All I could do was stare at him like a stunned bunny, but honest, I wasn’t frightened. I wanted him to get the hint and seduce me.

  Which didn’t take long. He guided me to the front of him. “Sit on my lap so I can feel your energy.”

  I would’ve asked if that was cheating on the no faery magic stipulation but my voice box wasn’t working too well. His manhood definitely was in good working order, however.

  “Straddle me.”

  I did as he asked, my breasts flush against his muscular chest. I could hear his heart echoing mine, and I could feel his erection press against my abdomen. I rubbed against it, which stirred my own fire.