Fae

by Jennifer Bene

  “Sold.”

  Chapter One

  Present

  Ráj Manor, Caledon, Ontario

  “Are you seriously excited about this?” Caridee sounded shocked as her head jerked around.

  Irena was perched on top of a cabinet, her legs hanging over and her iridescent wings fluttering madly above her. “Of course! We never get to decorate. Master always brings in some company to do it.” Irena’s voice was reaching pixie-shrill as it sped up, “Usually the dinner parties are all boring, but we get to do it this time! Lights, and floral arrangements, and ribbons and table settings!” She rocketed off the top of the cabinet and did a loop before landing on her toes in front of Caridee, her wings flicking rapidly. “He’s going to use my flowers, Cari!” Irena’s energy was impossible to ignore, and several of the girls who had been sleeping this early in the morning were drifting out of their nooks, rubbing their eyes and yawning as Irena’s voice shook them all awake.

  “You crazy!” Caridee threw up her hands, her Latin accent thicker in the morning hours. With a sigh she sat down on a floor pillow and began braiding her wavy, dark hair as Irena pranced around her.

  Fae was stretching, still coming down from the high of Eltera’s healing touch, which woke her at dawn every day. It had been over two thousand years since she had seen her, but Fae knew Eltera loved her – why else would she risk everything to heal her every morning whether she needed it or not? Watching Irena’s excitement brought a small smile to Fae’s face, but she knew it wasn’t exciting for everyone. It was Juliet’s first dinner party, and although she was almost her normal bubbly self, Fae could tell she was nervous as she fidgeted and forced smiles for Irena.

  “I’ll help you, Irena! With all of it!” Juliet’s loud voice effectively woke up anyone who was still sleeping. She was quickly giggling with Irena and talking about various flowers in her French accent, as some of the girls mumbled about preferring quiet in the morning. Irena popped her head up and looked at Fae, her short, dark blue hair was floating around her head in a poof.

  “Fae! Will you help too?” Her smile was huge, but Fae was not getting roped into crazy pixie decorator mode.

  “I help with growing the flowers, not arranging them into pretty decorations. I think I’ll leave that to you two.”

  There were a few chuckles around the room as several of the girls found spots on the floor to stretch and talk before Lena addressed them all. Some of them had curled back up on the large floor pillows, eyes drifting closed now that Hurricane Irena was in a controlled state of planning and designing her decoration scheme. They had to find their happiness where they could get it, and this version of Irena was much better than the frightened pixie that had accompanied Fae from the Suyhay Market years ago. Irena wasn’t her real name, but her true name had been so difficult to pronounce that Nikola had simply renamed her. She didn’t seem to mind it though and watching her come out of her frightened shell to become this loud-mouthed, hyper, little pixie had been great. She was great with supporting any new girls too. When Juliet had arrived a couple of months before, Irena had taken her under her wing quickly, and now they were always together if possible.

  Looking stern and carrying her usual clipboard, Lena came from the door leading to the showers. She was already perfectly put together, her dark hair drawn back into an artistic bun that allowed a few strands of hair to frame her face. Now in her early forties, she was just as beautiful as many of the younger girls, but would probably look even better if she ever smiled. The cheap linen sheath dress clung to her curves in all the right ways. The pale green color and low cut neckline didn’t detract from the air of professionalism she somehow maintained.

  It was really annoying that she wore the same uniform as the rest of the girls without looking like a servant.

  Lena tapped a pen on the clipboard to get everyone’s attention, but when that didn’t stop the chatter between Irena and Juliet, she cleared her throat. Juliet nudged Irena and they both snapped to attention, staring at Lena with wide eyes. The girls who had been lying down sat up, shaking off the remnants of sleep.

  As the matron of all the girls, Lena demanded respect.

  “Good morning. As you all know, tomorrow night is the Winter Dinner. Master will have many guests and it is our responsibility to get the house ready.” Lena looked down at her clipboard and checked something off. The adoration in her voice as she said the word ‘master’ was nauseating. “I have your assignments for the day prepared. Be sure to get yours from me before you leave the female section. Tomorrow night will be white dress, but today you may choose any other color.” With that she clapped her hands together twice, and the sound of several locks being undone came from the double doors that led to their area.

  As a door opened, one of the house guards stood outside with the keys as Alec, the cook, pushed in a metal cart covered in plates of food. Alec was one of the male servants. Fae wasn’t sure how he had arrived there, but he was a nice guy and a great cook and was the unofficial head of the kitchens.

  “Morning, girls!” Alec gave a bright smile as he wheeled the cart to a stop. “I’ve got an egg white and veggie omelet, with some shredded chicken on top, and some orange juice to wash it down. Really tasty, so come grab a plate!” As each of the girls stepped up he handed them a plate, a glass, and each grabbed a fork from the cart before sitting down to eat. Some of the girls chatted with him and smiled, eating the omelet while standing next to the cart. One of the girls, Ebere, grabbed two plates and sat beside Fae. Without a word, she set the plate and fork in front of Fae and began eating her own omelet. Fae sighed and leaned back on her hands, ignoring the plate. It was sweet that Ebere was trying to look out for her, but unnecesary.

  “Eat, Fae,” Ebere whispered at her.

  Fae shook her head and watched everyone else eat. Ebere was an Ethiopian girl with beautiful dark skin, and she was one of the kindest girls in the house. At only nineteen, she still went out of her way to protect the others whenever she could – and on that point Fae and Ebere agreed. They were always watching out for the weaker among them. On protecting Fae though, they always disagreed.

  Ebere sighed and leaned forward, grabbing Fae’s plate of omelet and sliding it onto her own.

  “No! Ebere, give that to me.” Fae reached for the plate, but Ebere’s long arms moved it away.

  “If you won’t eat it, I will.” Ebere whispered back. Fae reached across her again, only to have Ebere hold it out of her reach.

  “You can’t have two doses of it right now, give it back.” Fae spoke through clenched teeth, but Ebere just shrugged one elegant shoulder and picked up her fork.

  When Ebere moved the plate back in front of her to take a bite, Fae lunged forward, snatched it from her, and stood up. More than a dozen sets of eyes watched her, and with a sigh, Fae walked up to Alec’s cart and set the full plate onto the top shelf.

  “Fae, you have to eat it.” Alec’s handsome face looked strained, staring at the food still on the plate.

  “I’m not going around today drugged, only to get dosed in the morning again when all the effects disappear.” Fae pointed at the plate and smiled. “But it looks great, Alec.”

  “Bu- but, I’ll have to report it. I’ll have to tell him you didn’t eat it.” Alec looked really distressed, and Fae hated to do it to him, but she wasn’t eating any food with Oblivion in it. Not when it wouldn’t matter.

  It was bullshit anyway.

  The drug made you warm, and maybe a little hyper at lower doses. It was hard to sleep on it, but at its full dose it would make you feel really, well, friendly. The build-up technique didn’t work for Fae though, it would just burn away at dawn when Eltera healed her and there was no way she was dealing with side-effects all day for no reason.

  “That’s on me, not you. You brought the food, you told me to eat it. You can’t do anything else. So, I’m going to take a shower.” Fae turned, walking past the other girls, and headed for the massive bathroom. At the do
or Lena scowled at her, open disgust showing on her face.

  “You’re a fool, Fae.”

  “Love you too, Lena!” Fae called over her shoulder, blowing her a kiss. Lena was Nikola’s lapdog, he had taken her from somewhere in Czechoslovakia when she was only sixteen. She had been with him ever since.

  Stripping off the dress she’d slept in, Fae tossed it into the laundry basket and stepped into the showers. A large open room with showerheads spaced along the wall, each one boasted a shampoo, conditioner, and body wash dispenser beneath it. Flipping the lever to hot, Fae stepped underneath it and her shoulders relaxed under the water. Of all the modern inventions, showers were her favorite; instant hot water on demand was a luxury that hadn’t been common just a hundred years ago. As she let the shower relax her muscles she reminded herself that today would be filled with cleaning and organizing to prepare for the party, but in two days it would be over. The guests would arrive and leave, and everything would return to relative normalcy.

  Caridee stepped beneath the showerhead right next to her. “You really are an idiot.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cari,” she muttered, and Cari huffed as she began to carefully shower while keeping her hair out of the water, her braid wound on top of her head and pinned carefully. Fae ignored her, focusing on the relaxation of shampooing her hair and the scent of vanilla that started to fill the showers.

  “He’s going to be mad at you. Why can’t you just do what you’re supposed to? You make it difficult, it’s you. Whatever you are, it make you crazy.” Caridee finished washing and shut the water off a little harder than necessary. Most of the other girls were filing in to grab showers so she started mumbling to herself in Spanish and walked out. Not that it mattered, since Fae understood every muttered comment and curse. Rolling her eyes, Fae washed the last of the soap out of her hair and turned off the water. When had Fae ever made it easy for any of her masters? That was never going to happen.

  It was way too cold in most of the house to let her hair stay wet so she used the hair dryer. Her hair went from a dark brown while wet, to auburn heavily tinted with red as it dried. Grabbing a pale purple dress she tugged it over her head and stepped out of the bathroom to find Lena waiting, still scowling. Fae flashed her a big smile just to irritate her. “What are the chores for today, Lena?”

  Lena glared before looking down the list on the clipboard. “East wing, upper-floor bedroom preparation. Clean them, put new linens on the beds, make sure each bathroom is stocked.” A sharp checkmark was made on the clipboard, and Fae gave a mocking salute as she walked towards the exit. Lena called after her. “Oh, Fae! Butler will be around for checks, so it would be a good idea to actually do your work.”

  “I always do my work, Lena, and you’re doing a great job with your whole standing around and making checkmarks thing.” Before Lena could respond Fae stepped into the hallway, past the guard on duty, leaving Lena sputtering in her mute anger.

  Fae had to go down the north stairs to get to the central part of the house, and then move through the large foyer to climb the east stairs. Ráj Manor was expansive, and of the twenty-five bedrooms in the house, twelve of them were in the upper floor of the East wing. It would be a long day, and since Lena had made sure no one was assigned with her, Fae would be doing it all on her own. Bitch.

  Four bedrooms in, already sore from leaning over beds and cleaning the floors, Butler found her. She wasn’t quite sure if it was his last name, or his title, even after several years in Nikola’s house. He sneered at her from the doorway as she tucked sheets in.

  “Doing the bare minimum, I see.” Butler was trying to goad her into a reaction, but she just stood up silently and waited to see what he wanted. He finally broke their staring contest and spoke. “Nikola wants to see you. Immediately. He’s in his office.” Butler was like all of the guards in the house, an ex-military man with a few screws loose. Except Butler was chief among them in the crazy department, and Fae tried to tread lightly around him since it was rarely worth the consequences to make him angry. As soon as she could, she nodded and walked past him towards her master.

  Nikola’s study was part office, and part library on the second floor of the house. It was a large room with a wall of windows at the back overlooking the gardens and walls of books on either side. The dark oak doors were cracked open when she got there. She looked down before she walked in to find the bands of light around each of her wrists that always appeared in his presence, humming and waiting for his command.

  It was a disheartening reminder of what she was.

  Stepping in between the open doors, she started to move towards the center of the room to kneel as Nikola required. Walking across the thick carpets that lined the room, she felt the bands buzz against her skin a moment before she felt a sharp pain in her side. Fae cried out as her muscles locked up and she hit the floor hard. When the pain faded she looked up to see Nikola standing next to her holding a stun gun in his hand.

  ‘Why?’ she asked in her head as he moved quietly over to a table near the wall of books and set the weapon down, rubbing his hands together as he walked back to her. Fae rolled over onto her back, the pain was gone but the place where the stun gun had touched her was tingling and her muscles weren’t quite ready to respond yet.

  “So, I understand you feel you’re too good for the food I provide you?” He had a thick, Eastern European accent, and always sounded calm and relaxed, which made her wish he’d just scream at her.

  “No, Master, I-”

  Nikola pressed his foot down over her neck, cutting off her air.

  She tried to arch her back off the floor to ease the pressure, but it didn’t work.

  “Stay still.” The hum of the bands turned into a painful ache, which amplified quickly for every moment she disobeyed, so Fae stilled, even though spots were starting to appear before her eyes. “I don’t like being lied to, you know that. Alec and Lena have already reported that you refused the food I provided this morning. Now let’s try this again, were you too good for the food I provided?”

  Fae’s vision was fading, so she gave in and nodded. Instantly the pressure on her neck released and she took a gasping breath, coughing against the strain in her throat. Nikola still looked calm and professional in his suit, unruffled by the situation. He stepped in front of her and leaned against the front of his desk, waiting a moment for her to catch her breath.

  “Sit up and kneel, Fae.” The bands hummed again, an ache beginning to rush up her arms before she rolled to her stomach to push herself up into a kneel. She was still dizzy from the stun gun and the near suffocation, so she was leaning heavily on her hands as she forced deep breaths. Nikola sighed, “Look at me, and tell me why you refused the food I provided.”

  She lifted her head to look at him knowing he was not going to like her answer. “It was drugged, Master.”

  Nikola gripped the front of the desk, knuckles white, but his voice remained calm and steady, his dark eyes intent on Fae’s. “I’m aware of that. I always do this to make the dinners more pleasant for everyone. You haven’t explained why you would refuse what I provided you.”

  The intensity of his stare was making her uncomfortable, and the low hum of the bands was distracting. “Master, I know you will have to dose me tomorrow for the dinner, and since the build-up does not work on me I thought I would be more effective in my chores today if I were not drugged.”

  “And whose choice is that to make?” His voice was cold and precise, and his bored facial expression didn’t change.

  “Yours, Master,” Fae whispered, before gritting her teeth so she didn’t try to keep defending herself.

  “Good. Now that we’re on the same page…” Nikola took a small vial of clear liquid out of his jacket pocket. “You’re going to take the Oblivion, and you’re not going to defy me in front of the other girls ever again.” Turning the vial over in his hand, he tossed it to Fae who caught it and held it in her lap.

  “Master,
I –” Nikola raised his hand and cut her off.

  “Stop. Drink the vial. Now.” He had put his will behind the command and the bands reacted quickly, aching pain crawling under her skin. Fae doubled over as the pain burst in her chest, feeling like her ribs were trying to collapse in on themselves. It was hard to breathe through the pain, but the amount in the vial was a large dose and she really, really did not want to drink it.

  Nikola stepped forward, walking around her slowly. “It’s only going to get worse the longer you fight this, and in the end you will still drink it.” Fae gasped as the pain increased, sure that her bones were cracking, and the golden light of the bands had increased so it was visible through her eyelids. Nikola sighed and leaned down, pulling Fae back up by her hair. Another wave of pain came and her body arched.

  “Drink. It.”

  Fae’s thumb popped the lid off the vial and she brought it to her mouth. The moment she swallowed it Nikola let go of her hair, and the pain abruptly ended. The relief from it was a sense of euphoria all on its own and she brushed her cheek to find it wet with tears. She quickly wiped her cheeks off and took a deep, steadying breath. She’d given in. Again.

  Weak.

  Nikola was standing in front of her as he held out his hand for the vial, which she returned to him wordlessly. When she looked up to meet his eyes, he delivered a sharp backhand. It wasn’t hard enough to do more than make her cheek sting, but it almost surprised her. She’d obeyed him and it hadn’t mattered. It never did.

  “Do not embarrass me any further, slave.” His voice still sounded bored with the situation as he continued. “You will behave like the perfect servant tomorrow, or it won’t matter how much my guests want to meet you. I’ll give you to the guards for the evening. Understood?”

  Fae nodded, and the bands hummed in response to his command. Nikola turned back to his desk.