Fae

by C. J. Abedi

  “Th-thank you,” I whispered overcome with gratitude, but in awe over what I had just witnessed.

  Devilyn met my gaze.

  “Is that all you have to say?”

  “No,” I told him honestly as I stroked Famous.

  “So what now?” he asked quietly.

  “Let’s go somewhere we can talk,” I replied, surprised at how calm I felt. I wasn’t frightened in the least bit. A normal person would have run out of the room and never looked back, but whatever I had just witnessed had been too beautiful for me to walk away from.

  And strangely enough, too familiar.

  Devilyn nodded in agreement at me and opened the door to the room. We walked out through the lobby and past the nurse who was looking down. I looked back, wondering if the veterinarian would come searching for us, but he was nowhere to be found.

  As we walked by the front lobby the nurse glanced up, and when she saw me holding Famous in my arms all she did was smile.

  “Have a nice day,” she said in a cheerful voice. I looked from her to Devilyn who avoided my gaze. It was like the Twilight Zone. Was everyone in a trance? Had Devilyn done something to these people? A part of me did not want to know the answer to those questions.

  “Thanks. You too.”

  Devilyn’s car was parked right out front. He walked toward the passenger side and opened the car door for me, always the gentleman. When I sat on the leather seat, holding Famous in my arms, I couldn’t help but feel strangely content. Devilyn walked around the car to the driver’s side, keeping his head down the whole time.

  Once inside, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the engine. We were both silent and still, and strangely, so was Famous.

  What would we say when we finally spoke?

  How could I let him know that what I witnessed wasn’t frightening to me or repulsive? That if it was possible, I cared even more deeply for him.

  As soon as we drove out of the parking lot, I knew that he was planning on taking me to his home. Somehow I felt that where he lived played an important role in answering all of my questions, including who he was. When we finally reached the circular driveway, Odin was standing outside as if he had been waiting for us.

  And maybe he was.

  I looked down and saw that Famous was sound asleep in my arms. Once Devilyn’s car came to a stop, Odin approached the car and opened the door for me.

  “Hello, my dear,” he said warmly. He looked down at Famous and rubbed his head. “He will sleep now, at least for a full day.”

  “How do you—” I began to ask, but stopped myself.

  Odin only smiled at me as I stood up from the car and waited for Devilyn. Odin continued looking at me, and I noticed for the first time how different he looked from other men in their sixties that I had seen. Even though his face was older, he really didn’t have the regular signs of aging that normal people did.

  Odin suddenly held out his arms. “Let me take him, my dear. I promise I will see to his comfort for the next day. He will be safe here, Caroline,” he continued.

  I nodded my head, not once glancing away. I don’t know why, but I believed him.

  I reached up and handed the sleeping dog to the old man, not hesitating once, knowing that Odin would protect him with his life. Odin took him from me and made his way up and into the house as the entrance doors opened on their own accord.

  I stood motionless, still in awe over all of the seeming moments of magic I had witnessed today. Devilyn was now standing next to me, looking as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and dreading the conversation ahead.

  “Let’s go inside,” he finally said, holding out his hand to me. I looked down at his hand and up into his eyes. The moment had been brief, but my hesitation took long enough for him to change his mind, and he let his hand drop to his side. He must have thought I was repelled or even frightened by him.

  “Give me your hand,” I demanded, my voice full of emotion.

  He looked down at me, and I saw hope in his eyes. Without hesitation he reached down and put his hand in mine. I lifted his hand and placed my other one above it.

  “I don’t know what you are,” I began in a soft voice, “or what I saw. But what you did for me…” I couldn’t keep my voice from shaking. “What you did was the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done.”

  I looked up at him and held his gaze.

  “And I love you for it.” I slowly turned his hand over and gently kissed his palm.

  “Caroline.” His voice sounded rough, like he was fighting tears. I looked up, and he pulled me closer to him, holding me tighter than I had ever been held before. He ran his hands through my hair and pulled my face within inches of his.

  “Caroline,” he said again. I closed my eyes and lifted my arms up to his chest. I never wanted to move. Never wanted the moment to end.

  With his hands still in my hair, he pulled back from me, just enough that his lips lightly whispered on mine as he spoke.

  “You don’t know,” he said softly. “You don’t know what you mean to me.”

  I knew the depth of his words. I knew how strong my feelings were for him, and if his were even close to mine then I had the answer to the most important question. I knew that going forward nothing between us would ever be the same.

  Devilyn pulled his head back and continued staring deep into my eyes. Not once removing his gaze from mine.

  “We need to go inside,” he told me as he took another deep breath in.

  He immediately pulled away from me and put his finger to my lips. “I want you to talk to him.”

  “Your grandfather?” I asked curiously.

  “Odin.”

  The name immediately registered in my mind. Before I could speak, Devilyn placed his hand in mine and began guiding me up the stairs to his home. As I climbed the stairs to the entrance my mind suddenly began to race. Odin? His grandfather’s name was Odin? He was named after a revered Norse God. The one who presided over the great halls of Valhalla. I was barely able to keep up with Devilyn, trailing behind as my mind continued to wonder.

  I hadn’t even noticed that Devilyn had suddenly stopped and turned to look at me.

  “Before we go inside his study, I want you to know that he is exactly who you think he is, Caroline.” He looked down at me as if trying to see what effect his words would have on me. “And he is going to answer all of your questions.”

  I nodded at him and allowed him to continue guiding me down the long corridor.

  Devilyn finally stopped at the entrance of the study. The wooden doors were already wide open. We both faced the room, and I watched in wonder as the large wax candles suddenly lit up magically before me.

  “Are you okay?” Devilyn asked.

  I squeezed his hand. “Yes. More than okay.”

  We walked into the room, hand in hand, and into a new world. Into the unknown. But I had no desire to stop; my legs and my mind just kept moving forward. When I saw Odin standing with his back turned, my heart sped up a bit, but he didn’t say anything even though he knew that we were both there.

  Instead he turned and took a seat in a large chair before the biggest fireplace I had ever seen. Strangely, I hadn’t remembered it being there before. Famous lay sleeping in a cozy bed before Odin’s feet and before the roaring fire. He looked peaceful and happy, and Odin, I noticed, now wore a long deep red velvet cape.

  Odin reached out his hand toward me.

  “Come, child,” he said in a gentle voice.

  I held onto Devilyn’s hand and looked at him for assurance.

  “Go to him,” he replied as he smiled down at me and released my hand. I nodded in agreement and began walking up to Odin, taking both of his hands in mine.

  He smiled at me and then said very gently, “You have the look of your mother.”

  I immediately fell to my knees before him and couldn’t stop the flow of tears.

/>   “You knew her?” I whispered in shock.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?” I cried not able to help myself from saying the words I had been thinking ever since I found out that I was adopted. “How could she, how could she give me up?” The words tore out of me.

  Odin placed his hand on the side of my cheek.

  “Oh child, she loved you so deeply. So fully. She never wanted to see your pain. She wanted so much for you, never wanted you to leave her side,” Odin began gently. “But she had no choice in the matter.”

  “What do you mean,” I asked.

  “Your parents shared a love like no other. So deep, so true and pure. They were soul mates. Meant to be from the moment they both were created,” he began in a voice filled with anguish and grief. “You were a child of love. Pure love. Never doubt that, Caroline. I was there, I saw the magik that existed between them, and I saw the love they had for you.”

  I smiled through my tears.

  “Then why?”

  Odin looked over at Devilyn, who nodded his head.

  “Tell me,” I replied, noting his hesitation. “I need to know.”

  Odin looked at the fireplace, and I watched as the flames began to move, to undulate as they had the moment I first set eyes on Devilyn.

  “Before I answer your questions, you need to answer one of mine,” Odin said to me quietly. “I am curious because you have not asked the most important question of all. You have not asked about Devilyn. Are you not curious to know how it was that he was able to bring your precious dog back from the dead?”

  I looked up at him, not sure what he wanted to hear.

  “Why is it, Caroline? Why haven’t you asked?”

  I decided that I would be honest with my answer, as he had been so honest with his.

  “Because when he wants to tell me, he will. For now, I am only eternally grateful for what he has done for me.”

  “And do you know the price he will pay for this gratitude?” Odin said so softly. I immediately looked over at Devilyn, who was becoming angry.

  “Do not speak of this any further,” Devilyn demanded.

  Odin nodded.

  “She will find out soon enough, son.”

  “Find out what?” I asked as I looked from Odin to Devilyn. “Please don’t keep anything more from me.”

  “There is nothing for you to find out, Caroline, except for who and what your parents were. And what I am,” Devilyn said sharply.

  I watched him for a moment. I could feel the tension that flowed through him and could almost feel the explosion that was waiting to be unleashed inside.

  “Well then, what were my parents?” I asked him. “What are you?”

  The fire crackled loudly as I looked from Odin to Devilyn waiting for the answer.

  “Tuatha DéDanann,” Devilyn replied, as a chill ran all over my body.

  “I don’t understand,” I whispered.

  “Imagine a race of people that have existed since before time. A people that have come from far away. Who’ve lived through every human war. Through every birth, every event that has taken place on this earth. Beautiful, beyond belief or words, blessed with powers that humans could never comprehend, but powers that humans could have if they only tapped into their very essence. A people that are immortal.”

  “What are they called?”

  “Fae.”

  My heart stopped beating, and I immediately looked down at the ground. For some reason, I could not look at Devilyn or even Odin for that matter.

  “My parents?”

  “Your father was Fae. Your mother, a halfling. Which is against all of the laws of the Dark and Light Fae,” Odin said gently.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.” My mind was reeling. “Dark, light?”

  “I will explain all of it. It is just important that you know that the Tuatha DéDanann are not allowed to love humans. They are not allowed to procreate with humans. To do so would allow humans into the world and powers of the Fae, and this is strictly forbidden.”

  “But Devilyn said that even humans have these powers.”

  “The humans must come to realize the power they have on their very own, with no assistance from any member of the Fae. These are the laws that were written in the book thousands and thousands of years ago. To love a mortal is to expose their world, and you cannot love without truth and honesty. It is simply impossible,” Odin continued. “And your parents defied these laws, pursued a love, and sacrificed everything for it.”

  I placed my hand on Odin’s knee, silently urging him to continue his story.

  “Caroline, your grandmother was Eleanor Dare.”

  “The Lost Colony?!” I blurted out.

  “Yes. Only they were not necessarily lost,” he replied.

  “But they supposedly arrived hundreds of years ago. How could she be my grandmother?”

  “Eleanor met Arthur when they colonized. Arthur, who was a Fae, fell deeply in love with your grandmother. They married in secret and soon after gave birth to your mother, Virginia, a halfling. Ultimately Fae, and thus, immortal.”

  I continued staring at him, unable to turn away and still a little confused.

  “For this sin, Virginia spent her life being hunted by members of the Dark court, or the Dark Fae. During this time your mother met and fell in love with the crown prince of the Light Fae. They married in secret and had you.” As Odin told me the story the fire in the fireplace came alive before my eyes. Through the flames, I began to see all the events of the past unfolding before me.

  “They were hunted like savages. And in the end, betrayed. And both suffered a certain death.”

  I wasn’t sure what it was about his story that caused the tears to start flowing once again. I knew it pained both Odin and Devilyn to see me cry. I wasn’t sure how I could feel such pain and loss over people I never knew. Perhaps it was the word death.

  So painful. So final. So unfair.

  “And what about me?” I finally managed to say.

  “I hid you, child, from the dark ones who wanted to destroy you. For you are the heiress to the Light court. You have no other siblings. Your father, Royce, had no other children. It is just you. And now, you are the Light court’s queen. A young woman who is part human, part Fae, bringing two worlds together in a destiny that was meant to be.”

  Odin put his hand on my head, and I could feel a soothing energy rush through my body. I took in the depth and meaning of his words as the power rushed through my body like an electric charge.

  “Give me your hand,” Odin said to me. Odd that they were the same words I said to Devilyn.

  I gave my hand to him and watched as his began to move in circles above mine. It took but a second, and I began to feel an energy emit from the palm of his hand and into mine.

  “Do you feel this?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is your power,” He said to me. “Your essence. Every human has it in them. But they all fail to see it and fail to allow it to be released. If they only would, then they would be as magnificent as the Fae.”

  I was in awe of the light that began to come out of my palm like star beams. It surged through my veins, feeding me a new energy. A new reason to live. My head moved back on its own accord, my eyes closed, and I came alive as Odin connected me to my true self.

  My being.

  He pulled me into my core and made me remember what I was. It was a truly magical moment. When I finally opened my eyes I understood what moved through my veins.

  I was a Fae.

  D

  “And Devilyn?” she replied. “What about Devilyn?”

  I heard my name, and it snapped me out of my trance-like state. I could feel the intensity of the heat in the room as my black eyes were suddenly lit with liquid fire. I stood there silenced beyond belief. Not knowing how the events of the day had brought me to the here and now. She knew everything. Who she was. Where she came from and
why she was here. Though she glossed over one of the important parts of the story.

  She was still being hunted.

  “I am not at liberty to say. He must tell you himself,” Odin replied to a desperate Caroline. “And now I must leave you, child.”

  He said the last words without allowing her the opportunity to reply, as he snapped his fingers and suddenly disappeared into thin air. Caroline was left kneeling on the ground, unable to move. I silently cursed at Odin, angered that he left her in such a state, and angered that he left me here to answer her remaining and likely never ending questions.

  She slowly began to rise, struggling with every step. I wanted to help, but I found myself unable to move as well.

  “Devilyn.”

  “Caroline,” I replied, keeping my voice as guarded as possible.

  “Tell me,” she demanded as she finally reached me and slammed her fists against my chest. “I need to know.”

  “Tell you what?” I began as I stepped back from her. “That your eyes are like gray diamonds, shining brilliantly in your face? Your hair is like the finest silk and since I met you, all I’ve wanted to do is run my hands through it? And when you smile at me like you’re doing now, you make me believe. You make me have hope,” I continued desperately.

  I stepped back, suddenly releasing her as I ran my hands through my hair. I knew that she wanted more from me, and in this moment I didn’t know how to give her any more than I already had. So I was left with nothing but to pull away.

  “Hope for what?” she asked, suddenly breathless.

  I closed my eyes.

  “Caroline, you are missing the big picture,” I said, my tone rising. “Odin told you that your parents were hunted by the Dark Fae. Did you understand this? Were you listening to him?” I grabbed her face and pulled her close to me.

  “I heard him,” she replied in a soft whisper.