“Elerin are you quite finished?” Michael’s voice seemed impatient and tinged with boredom all at once.
Elerin sucked in a deep lungful of air, trying to stop the burning feeling, and nodded his head.
“Good. You have always been my closest friend, and I do not care to see you so shaken.”
Michael walked over and clapped a hand on Elerin’s shoulder, the sensation was unwelcome and his friend grabbed his wrist and threw him to the ground.
“How can you be so calm? Does the loss of your sister not enrage you to your core?” He could feel the magic in his veins growing and filling him. As a warrior fairy, he was one of few not tasked with powers to help the seasons and creatures. No, the forest spirits gifted warrior fairies with a strength that could not be defeated in battle, aim that was true with a bow, and the body any female fairy would fall over themselves for. Except, apparently for his now ex-betrothed, Bella.
“My feelings are of no consequence. Bella followed every rule of our kind for her time among us. We all have the choice to forsake our heritage and our species to remain amongst the humans. You act as if it has never been done before, Elerin.”
He acted quicker than he even knew he could. His hand slammed Michael under the chin and pinned him against the wall by his throat. He could feel his fingers squeezing but couldn’t stop himself. The anger coursed through his body, amplifying his magic more than he could control. Elerin barely felt Michael as he clawed at helplessly at his fingers. He didn’t feel the sting of the cuts that bled down his hands. He watched, though, as the life drained slowly and steadily from his best friend’s eyes.
Only when Michael’s eyes closed did he unwrap his fingers from his friend’s neck. The body dropped lifelessly to the floor, and Elerin kicked it over the side of the mushroom, plummeting the dead weight to the forest floor. He didn’t watch as it fell, didn’t flinch at the sound of impact.
His head quickly flicked from right to left as he ensured that none had watched the assault. Warriors were not to use their magic against any that did not break the rules, certainly not another warrior. Confident that he could cross into his home without danger from his actions, he stepped inside and closed the door to figure out how to make Bella pay for her betrayal.
Elerin didn’t see the black seeping into his wings as he passed by the mirror, nor did he feel how heavy his glittering clear wings were becoming. Elerin, warrior of the forest elder, had no clue that with his first kill of an innocent and his heart so heavy with betrayal it was turning to stone, he was crossing the threshold from light to dark and nothing would be able to bring him back.
Chapter 2
The sunlight streamed into the room and landed across her cheek. Bella’s eyes slowly flitted open and she rolled away from the light, closer to the warmth of Scott’s body. She placed a small kiss on his pec and he grinned at her, his eyes still closed.
“That’s cheating you know. I can tell you’re awake when you grin like that.” She trailed a hand up his arm and then back down. She’d recently learned it tickled him, and remembering her brother tickling her mercilessly as a child, she wanted to get payback on someone. At the thought of Michael, a sadness seeped into her conscious. She’d wished she’d been able to really say goodbye to him, but her choice had been made, and she would not regret it.
“Well it’s hard to sleep when there’s a beautiful lady tucked against me, touching me.” Scott opened his eyes and winked at her.
She laughed and playfully thumped his chest before sitting upright, taking the sheet with her to keep covered. “So when will you be showing me to the world, mister? I hear that is what males of any species do with their beautiful girlfriends?”
He laughed and threw the covers off. She watched on as he moved, enamored by the play of his muscles as his arms moved to slip into a shirt and tug on pants. She’d been watching Scott every time he visited her forest for months. He had fascinated her, and it had almost gotten him killed by her betrothed— ex-betrothed now.
Every fairy had the power to become human for a moon cycle, the how was unknown, but the elder told them it was too gain a better understanding of humans. She had not been planning on using her gift yet, but when Scott was on the verge of dying because of her curiosity, she hadn’t had a choice.
She hadn’t been expecting the undeniable link with him. They’d spent barely a day together, and every fiber of her being longed for him. When they touched, she felt shivers and saw stars. When they’d lain around talking, she’d been enthralled by the sound of his voice and the things he spoke of. The decision to give up her fairy life had been far too easy, based on nothing more than an attraction, but she had feared what would become of her when she returned for breaking so many rules.
Breaking rules had consequences, she could be killed, or worse, her magic could fall to the darkness. She shuddered and rubbed her hands over her arms to rid them of the goosebumps she got when she thought too long on it.
Scott had tugged her to him, both with his hands and with an invisible connection. That alone had been enough for her to forsake everything her family and species wanted. She felt alive and free now, no longer bound to the rules of the forest spirits—even if she missed helping Spring to grow and Summer to continue on.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe after they’ve known them a little longer and explained some pop culture to them, so his friends don’t think he’s with some freak that crawled out a cave.” He wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her collarbone.
“I flew out of a forest, thank you very much.” She elbowed him, and he gave an exaggerated grunt while letting go. “Besides I’m not totally clueless, I had wings and could fly places, you know.”
He was quiet for a moment before asking her, “Did you? Ever fly anywhere out of the forest?”
She flushed, there was still so much getting to know each other and she wondered if the amazing day and night they had just spent together would ever fade. “It was against the rules for fairies with my magic. Others though, they could go right up into cities when humans weren’t looking. They brought back wonderful stories. Not of that pizza you gave me, though, they seemed to leave that out.” She grinned and slipped her hand into his. “Well then, human boyfriend of mine, time to show me the world I chose.”
“My pleasure, fairy lady. Might wanna knock off throwing human around everywhere, though. It would seem strange if someone that looked almost twenty-one talked that like.”
She nodded. “Noted. And while I may only look like I’m twenty-one, we age far slower. I have spent twenty years in the forest, but we are born with the knowledge of all the fairies that came before us, so we know how to use are magic to help nature right away.” There was a slight bite to her voice, and she flinched. She missed the forest, but it had only been two days. That made sense, and when Scott kissed her cheek and tugged her to the door, her longing for anything but time with him was forgotten.
Chapter 3
He couldn’t take his eyes off his reflection. Everything was wrong, and yet, the image that stared back at him had never felt more right. His eyes had shifted, the grass green that Bella had always loved was a midnight purple, almost indistinguishable from his pupils. His hair was inky black and snaked further down his back to his waistline. But his wings—his wings were the true change. His iridescent, sheer wings were no more. The weight of them alone on his back was hard to manage. Had he not had the body of a warrior, he didn’t think he would be standing upright any longer. They were black as obsidian stone, but held none of the frail rock’s weakness. He ran a hand over the tip of his left wing, astonished at the cold dead feeling.
“So this is the price for murder.” His voice sounded the same and it unnerved him a little. He would have thought it would sound raw with power, different in some way. But if he were to hide his appearance from Bella in any way, he would be able to exact his revenge in the blink of an eye. It was time to use his gift of humanity for a day.
H
e would take Bella, and her idiot human male, down for her betrayal. She should have let the poison kill the human, because it would have been far faster than the route Elerin was going to take with him now. He’d bet money he wouldn’t have his new found powers as a human ,but that his strength and years of fighting in the guard would be enough to take them down.
Now to figure out how to bring about the change. Younglings do not receive the ability until they pass sixteen years, but the information was always kept secret so a child couldn’t accidentally trigger the magic and have no way to return to their fairy state. He cracked his knuckles, his eyes still staring into the mirror as he thought of the predicament. He needed to find someone who could teach him the secret, and he wasn’t certain he would be able to overpower his father—even with his dark manipulative powers—which meant he needed one of the older, frailer fairies.
“Amara.”
Amara wouldn't tell him the information he needed easily, but he wasn't opposed to taking what he wanted, not anymore. Elerin could feel the darkness surging through him. It was a like a lullaby, soothing his anger and fueling it all at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped from his home. There was no reason to hide his dark nature, he could manipulate thoughts and actions on most fairies now and his strength seemed to have intensified, but he didn't want to attract or rein the army of the elder down on himself. So, he pushed upon the door to his home and stuck just his head out to verify the paths were clear.
He tried to flutter his wings, his growled response to their lack of motion echoing through the mushroom circle. Again, he focused on causing the blackened wings to move, and again they didn't even twitch.
"So the rumors were true. No wonder they're so easy to pick off." He shook his head in disgust. "I will not make an easy target for any in my way, that is for certain."
As far as he knew, he was the one and only warrior fairy to go dark, but he'd fought enough dark fairies to understand the benefits. They lost their ability to fly due to their wings turning to black obsidian stone. He had often admired the shine of the dark fairies wings, and now he had his very own pair. Then there was the power shift. They could manipulate others and force their will upon many. The weaker willed the person, the better, but Elerin had seen his father, Captain of the warrior fairies, be taken down and sliced to bits by a dark fairy. Had it not been for Michael and Amara, his father would be dead now.
“Funny how that doesn’t seem to bring any emotion up now.” Michael was dead, and when he was through with Amara, and knew the secret, she would be as well.
He trudged through the dense forest on the path from where the younger fae lived to where the elders were. There was only one elder, but all those that lived past a certain age donned the title before their power. Not many made it to such a point, but Bella's grandmother was an accomplished healer. His thoughts grew twisted and dark with every step; Bella kneeling before him begging him to forgive her, Bella's head bowed before him as he cleaved it off. The images grew in intensity, until he heard the sound of the waterfalls and looked up.
The cliff to the houses behind the falls was steep and should he try to climb it, he would be attacked as none would be unable to see the darkness that had taken hold of him. One look at his wings, and he would have the magic of every old fairy raining down on his head. Plan B.
He walked directly under Amara's house before cupping his hands to his mouth. “Grandmother Amara! Grandmother Amara, please come quick. It’s my wings! I cannot fly. Please, Grandmother Amara!” He made sure to call her grandmother as she had always told him to do, since he was marrying her granddaughter. His lips curved into a grin at the slight shake in his voice. He’d never been much of an actor, but he was proud of his performance.
Elerin moved slightly out of sight of the falls and hid behind a rock. He didn’t want Amara to see what he had become and alert the others. There were plenty of warrior fairies in the falls that wouldn’t hesitate to take him down despite who his father was.
“Elerin? Elerin is that your voice?” Amara’s gnarled voice pierced the air, and he grinned again. She’d taken the bait as any good healer would.
“Yes. Please, I’m behind a rock. I ran into some dark fairies on my way to speak to you about Bella. Grandmother Amara, I can’t feel them, they’re so cold.” He was amazed at how easy the half lie came to him, light fairies could tell no lies and it made following or breaking the rules far too easy.
He heard the flutter of her wings even over the incoming winter’s breeze. Dropping to his back he grimaced when the wings didn’t fold under him anymore. The cold bid of stone bit into his muscles, and he relished the release. It was addictive, the feel of the stone cutting into him, and his mind flashed to the idea of slicing Bella with his wings, showing her what she had caused him to become.
“Elerin, my boy, what happened? How hurt are you? Can you stand?”
Tension laced her voice, and he watched as she examined him. He noticed the tremor that passed through her as she took a step back after looking at his eyes. Damn, his eyes.
“Do not move, Amara. I can see by the look on your face you’ve figured it out.” He felt the power curl outwards from his hand, invisible as all fairy powers were. Her face turned white as she felt this commanding hold wrap around her throat. It would be so easy to walk up and place his hands on her neck and have her meet her grandson, but he needed her first.
She opened her mouth to speak, but all that happened was a small movement of her tongue.
His laughter echoed off the rocks and the falls. This power was good, delicious, a drug to be sure. He pushed off the ground and walked up to Amara, circling around her as he looked at the swirls that ran over her skin. Small silver circles covered her body, shimmering a deep purple, and he figured it was his powers in a physical form.
She tried to rear back but couldn’t move.
The tension in her muscles was apparent, and he pulling out a dagger from his waistband, he slid her hair over her neck and behind her shoulder with its tip. Her murmur was a drug to his system, and he sucked in a deep breath to fight the onslaught of lust he was feeling from the power. This was far better than his time with Bella. If it wasn’t her destiny to die for her betrayal, he might have thanked her for what she had done.
“Now, now, now, Amara. Don’t be afraid, dear grandmother.” he whispered tauntingly in her ear as he dragged the top of the dagger over her arm, drawing blood. “If you didn’t know, it was your darling granddaughter’s betrayal that led me to the dark. Or perhaps it was murdering Michael for how he spoke to me about it.” Her whimper cut through the coming darkness, and he grinned wickedly as she reacted to the news of Michael’s death. “I’ll allow you to speak and nothing more.”
A wad of spit landed on the bridge of his nose, and he gagged in disgust.
“You monster! What has happened to Elerin, you must be a changeling or shifter fairy.” She reeled as his fist collided with her nose and blood dripped out.
“Oh, I assure you, it is me, and I quite like the dark. It’s seductive really. Powerful. Enough! I have no use for talking with you this way. I need to know where the human male lives. The one Bella left to be with.”
A smile curved on Amara’s lips and she managed to struggle free from his control enough to jerk her shoulder away from the dagger he still held against her arm. Her will was going, and he was too new with this power to know what to do. He should have tested it out first.
“You are screwed then, Elerin. I haven’t slightest clue, and while I know if I did, you could force me to do it, nothing makes me happier than knowing I don’t have the information.”
“Blood begets blood, old woman. I know you can locate her as a healer and a member of her blood line.”
He grabbed her left wrist and slashed the blade across. Her cry was musical to his ears, and he didn’t even bother to watch as the blood flowed down her arm, dropping onto the grass below. He heard a stirring from the homes abo
ve. Her screams obviously gaining unwanted attention.
“Find her now, and I will kill you quickly. Don’t, and I will bind your voice and let you bleed out.” He didn’t wait for her free will to deny him. He let his power flow from him, forcing her to bend down and write Bella’s name in the blood. Horror passed over her vision when she found her granddaughter and a toothy grin appeared on his.
“Very good, Amara, now for the next bit of information. How do I use my powers to be human?”
She flinched as he pulled out a second dagger from his belt and pressed the tip into her stomach while the other still drew lines on her arm, aiding in the blood flowing out from the wound. Her lips were pursed and white. She was trying to kill herself so she wouldn’t tell him.
“Breathe and speak, Grandmother Amara.”
“It is within us all. All you need to do is will it. See yourself human and it will be done. The reversal is the same, before you force that from me as well.”
He nodded and put the daggers back in his waist band. “Very well. Heal yourself, and then we find your granddaughter. My Bella. My beautiful, rebellious, soon to be drowning in her own blood, little Bella.”
Chapter 4:
She tugged the door closed behind them, their laughter still ringing in her ears. Tears were running down her cheeks, and she gasped for air as she tried to talk around her amusement. “I seriously - don’t understand,” she gulped down huge breaths of air and gave up trying to speak until the laughing fit stopped.
They both dropped onto the love seat and Scott’s arms wrapped around her. The laughter slowly died down, and she could barely catch her breath.
Tales of the Fairy Anthology Page 23