Fae

by Jennifer Bene

  “Sure, Glowworm. You’ve boosted my ego though, so thanks. I’m already feeling better.”

  “Like you needed a boost to your ego, your ego seems fine.” Fae crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, which only made him laugh again.

  “Well, I’m going to go for a run to clear my head. I probably won’t be able to go back to sleep, but you should.” Kiernan turned and checked the clock and saw that it was a little after four.

  “I’d give you some company, because I’m not going to be able to sleep either, but I don’t think I have any running clothes.” Fae stepped over to the clothing bags and kneeled down by them, starting to look through. Kiernan winced. He had really not thought things through, no pajamas, no workout clothes, and just one pair of shoes.

  “That’s it, I’m taking you shopping today, and then you can pick out what you want. It’s close to dawn anyway and it would be a bad idea for you to go all Glowworm on the street.” Kiernan found himself smiling and it surprised him. Usually after a nightmare like that he’d feel off all day, but Fae had come to him, and brought him water, and it had made the bitter memory fade into the background.

  “You don’t need to get me anything else, I appreciate the clothes.”

  “I’m taking you shopping because you need the clothes, and you can’t get them on your own. Even if you wanted to go get a job, according to this government you don’t exist.” Kiernan stepped past Fae to get to his closet and walked in.

  “Well, then I’ll make you breakfast. What do you want?”

  “You don’t owe me anything.” He called from inside the closet as he tugged a shirt on, and then he stepped out. “Seriously, Fae, you don’t need to do anything for me. I’m the one who needs to make things up to you, a shopping spree is the least I can do.”

  “Okay, but I’ll still make breakfast. Just because I want to, and then you can take me wherever people buy clothes.” Fae made it a statement so he couldn’t argue about it, and he put his hands up in surrender.

  “Deal.” He smiled at her and she returned it before she turned around and headed for the kitchen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ráj Manor, Caledon, Ontario

  “Find her, dammit!” The glass he threw shattered against the wall and Butler took a deep breath trying to regain control. The guard in front of him, Thompson, had flinched. Weakling.

  “We don’t know where to look, sir.” Thompson kept his voice even, but his muscles were tensed.

  “So you keep saying. If she disappeared into thin air, someone took her who was able to do that, because she would have used that particular skill before now if she’d had it.” Butler grabbed a new glass from Nikola’s collection and poured himself another drink. He threw it back and hissed a breath through his teeth as the alcohol burned its way into his empty stomach.

  “Yes, sir, but all we have is a loose description from the men. She didn’t speak to him, or say his name. How can we possibly know where he took her?”

  “You keep questioning anyone involved, that’s how.” He took another drink and rolled his shoulders. “Have you tracked down the guest who had such an interest in her? The one who left that night.”

  “Ah, him.” Thompson took out an iPhone and started tapping away. “We found the flight he took out, it was a private jet back to the US. We’ve sent a few of our guys to encourage him to come back and stay with us again.”

  “Good.” Butler was nodding, but he wasn’t able to think straight. He still wasn’t sure what had happened that morning, only that things were out of control. Nikola was dead and it had happened on his watch, his son was being contacted by the lawyers, contractors would arrive today to start fixing the parlor, and they were missing one smart-mouthed whore. He had to get it all fixed before the heir arrived or he was out of a job, and out of the lifestyle he had become accustomed to. No one was going to take this away from him, not after all the years he’d put in. Especially not her.

  “Sir, what do you want us to do next?” Thompson was standing at ease and had tucked his phone back into a pocket.

  “Where are the idiots who let her get away?” Butler set the glass down and picked up a bottle of vodka, taking a drink from it.

  “Evans, Cooper, and Hernandez are currently scrubbing the entry way tile by hand. Cooper is having a particularly difficult time with the broken arm.”

  “Good. If they finish that today, send them to me.” He took another drink and Thompson nodded to him.

  “How long do we have before the new master of the house arrives?” Thompson needed the answer, and the question was a valid one, but it made Butler’s blood boil. Nikola had handled the business side of things, but the house, and all those inside it, had mostly been under Butler’s control. Nikola should have left him the house. Should have left him the slaves. He should have passed on ownership of all of it to him. He would keep them under control, and there’d be no more of those little acts of defiance that Nikola had let slide. It would be a new regime. He just had to convince Marik, the spoiled brat who only came home to beg for more money, bed a few girls, and cause a disaster, before launching himself back into the world. If he could convince him to sign control of the house over to him, everything could go back to normal. No, it would be better than normal, because he’d be in charge with no one to run his orders by.

  “I don’t know, a week or so. The lawyers have to track down what city he’s set up camp in and fly him back. We need all of this shit settled before then.” Butler could feel the buzz of the alcohol humming in his veins and he took another drink to try and calm the rage he felt.

  “We will do our best to find her.” Thompson took a breath. “Anything else, sir?”

  “Finish your interrogations of the girls, one of them has to know something about Fae’s plan, they were all in there with her that morning.”

  “We will, sir, if there’s anything for them to tell, they’ll tell it.” Thompson was grinning when Butler looked over at him.

  “Good. But don’t mark their faces, if Marik shows up earlier than expected we still need them to look pretty.” Butler set the vodka down, and Thompson saluted him before walking out of the office. It had been Nikola’s office, the massive desk and book covered walls reeked of money and privilege. Nikola’s father had been the one to start the business, grabbing up mineral rights in Eastern Europe and raking in the cash while the people starved and died in numerous wars and uprisings. Nikola had stepped in and taken the business to new heights through investments, and deals, and bribes to officials in a variety of countries.

  All of it done to fund his own personal estate with its collection of slaves. Butler knew it was all about having power, and now it was time for him to be the one in charge. For him to be the one with the power.

  Butler left the office and walked down the hall where he took a key out of his pocket and opened one of the bedroom doors. When he stepped in he heard her trying to move back and it made him smile.

  “So, Caridee, where did we leave off last time?” He tucked the key back in his pocket and turned to find her right where he’d left her the night before – sitting on the floor zip tied to the footboard of the bed.

  “Sir, I don’t know anything, I told you that, what more do you want from me?” She had her knees pulled up protectively in front of her and was leaning back against the footboard as far away from him as the bindings allowed.

  “Tell me what you do know.” Butler stepped over to the dresser and picked up the whip. Nikola had let him use it on Fae, but he didn’t like him to use it on the normal girls. He hadn’t understood how persuasive it could be. Caridee made a whimpering sound behind him.

  “Please don’t. I, um, I know she’s not human, she’s something else. She glows like the fires of hell are inside her every morning and she heals from anything because she’s a witch of some sort. She even worships pagan gods!” Caridee was pulling on the zip ties, but it was only making them cut into her skin.

  “I know she’s not h
uman, Caridee, that’s what makes her worth lots and lots of money. I also know she killed Nikola somehow, and you’re going to tell me what she told you girls about it.” Butler uncoiled the whip and Caridee started crying, her dark hair was covering her face and she started muttering in Spanish. It might have been a prayer.

  “She said nothing, she was going to ask about Juliet, she said nothing else.” Caridee’s words came between sobbing breaths and whimpers.

  “Well, let’s see if you stick to that story, shall we?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Seattle, Washington

  After being woken by his nightmares, the trip to the garden, meeting Elsie, and listening to the list of reasons for his fascination with her – hating Kiernan was getting harder.

  But that was its own level of weird.

  He was Laochra, the sworn enemy of the Faeoihn. He had literally been created – against his will or not – to destroy her and all of her sisters. To bring Eltera down. She should hate him, despise him, and nothing he did should have been able to change her mind about that. By his own admission he’d done horrible things, and what did it matter if for the last one or two hundred years he had behaved a little better? Did that erase all of the horrible things he’d likely done?

  The answer was no.

  Except when she looked at him, when he smiled at her as they were reading, or as they watched television, he seemed… nice. Kind. He was such a dichotomy between who he was clearly trying to be, and who he had been for almost two thousand years. A constant war of light and dark. And loathe as she was to admit it, Fae knew firsthand the light wasn’t guaranteed a victory simply for being ‘good’.

  ‘And when he had you on the ground he stopped himself,’ her brain piped up and she groaned quietly.

  Fae wasn’t sure how to feel. Was she betraying Eltera, and her sisters, every time she smiled at him? Every time she enjoyed his company? It had been so fucking long since anyone treated her like she was normal. Treated her like a person. Guilt gnawed at her for enjoying it while the rest of her sisters suffered, while the girls back at Ráj Manor still served as slaves. It was like every small moment of happiness she allowed herself was a slap in their faces.

  Kiernan had taken her shopping the day before for more clothes and they had easily bantered back and forth about how they’d have to have a rematch now that she had workout gear. He had insisted on giving them to her, on giving her anything she wanted. The mere fact that he had been concerned about buying her clothes, about her being comfortable, about her being happy was ridiculous. A Laochra shouldn’t care. A Laochra wouldn’t care.

  So, what did that make Kiernan?

  As if on cue he stepped out of the kitchen holding a spoon, and smiled broadly at her. He was so fucking handsome. Old world strength in his broad shoulders, his thick arms, and his muscular chest. He was a warrior. A killer.

  And he was making them soup for lunch.

  ‘Oh yeah, Fae, he’s so evil. Diabolical soup making – you should head for the hills.’ Her mind was taunting her, and apparently her subconscious already had an opinion about him.

  “Hey, the food is about to be ready. Are you hungry now or should I let it simmer?”

  “I am hungry, actually, and it smells great.” She forced a smile back and he nodded and turned away. He was bobbing his head to the music, shifting back and forth as he danced his way back inside the kitchen and she hated herself even more for finding him attractive.

  Fae pulled her feet up onto the couch and buried her head in her hands, and then she laughed to herself as she kicked her shoes off so she didn’t mess up the fabric. He was such a neat freak. He always did the dishes. Wiped down the table when they were done eating. His room was almost always perfect. The bathroom sparkled. She hadn’t lifted a finger to help him since she’d arrived, and it didn’t seem to bother him at all. In the few days she’d been around him he seemed to have no interest in requiring anything from her.

  It was like he just wanted some company. A break from the monotony of immortality, and that was something she did understand.

  “Alright. I can’t promise it’s anywhere near as delicious as your meals, but at least I know how to make a soup. And I looked up a recipe so I even used some seasonings in it and toasted some sourdough -” he froze mid-sentence as he was setting two full bowls on the table. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She wasn’t sure what her face had told him, but she quickly wiped her expression with the practice of years and walked to the table. She noticed he had even put the second bowl at the seat she had claimed for herself, and it was just one more tiny kindness piling up in her mind. One more note in the good guy column that made everything more complicated.

  “Come on, Fae, what is it?” He looked genuinely concerned, but she just dropped into her seat and picked up the spoon.

  “Nothing, this looks delicious. Let’s eat, okay?”

  Kiernan stood there for a second, and she watched the irritation pass over him before he sighed and walked back into the kitchen to return with a plate of sliced bread. When he sat down silently, her stomach flip-flopped. She was about to try and fill the silence when he spoke. “I’m being pushy, aren’t I? I keep dragging you out of here on errands, I’m always trying to talk to you, and then I told you all that stuff.” He sighed.

  “Kiernan, it’s -”

  “No, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m going to look for a safe place you can go. Somewhere you won’t have to be around me all the time.” He nodded as he stared down at his soup. “Somewhere you won’t have to worry about anyone. I’ll find it, I swear.”

  Just the idea of that seemed impossible, but the more she thought of having her own place – a place no one could find her – the more she felt a bubbling warmth inside her. It felt like hope, and that was an emotion she hadn’t allowed herself in over a millennia. Fae wanted to ask him why, wanted to try and dig the truth out of him, beyond his pretty speech about thinking she was strong. None of it made sense in her head as to why he’d risk everything to help her.

  After all, no one else ever had.

  Instead of arguing, or pestering him further, she just nodded. “That would be amazing. Thank you, Kiernan.”

  “It’s the least I can do.” He picked up a spoonful of soup and blew on it a little. “I’ll um, give you some space too. I’m sure you’re sick of being around me. I mean, why wouldn’t you be, I’m -”

  “Nice.” Fae interrupted him and his dark eyes jerked up to meet hers.

  “Nice?”

  “Yes. You are, Kiernan. You’re nice, and I don’t – I don’t hate your company.” She flipped her gaze to the soup and pushed the spoon through it. He was silent to her left, but for all her supposed bravery she was too chicken to look at him again. A blush flushed her cheeks as he stared.

  “Well, that’s good to know,” he said and both of their eyes dropped to the soup.

  When Fae finally scraped the last dregs up with a slice of bread, he broke the silence.

  “I have an idea.”

  “Which is?”

  “If you want to, I mean if you think it would be better than just sitting around reading or watching television, we could… spar?” Kiernan pushed a hand through his dark hair. “I know you mentioned it yesterday, but if you were joking that’s okay too. I just thought it might be nice to spar with someone who could keep up with me. There aren’t exactly a lot of options for me since I’m never at Gormahn’s keep anymore, and I’d hurt a mortal without even trying.”

  “So, you’re saying I’m a challenge?” Fae tried to bite her cheek to stifle the grin, but it broke through anyway and he laughed and smiled back.

  “Well, maybe not a challenge, yet, but you could be if you brushed up on your skills.”

  “WHAT?” She shouted and he shoved back from the table with a wild grin, and she found herself laughing. “I’m going to kick your ass and remind you just why Gormahn had to send almost twice as many Laochra against us to take
us down!”

  “Such big words from the little warrior. Why don’t you show me what you’ve got?” He walked backwards away from the table, and she noticed, a little more than she should have, the way his body moved like a predator’s. Strong and powerful.

  And she was definitely going to kick his ass.

  “Don’t you want to clean up the table, neat freak? It might distract you during the fight if you suddenly remember there’s a bowl not in the dishwasher. A bowl with food still in it.” She arched an eyebrow at him as she stood up from the table and was rewarded with an embarrassed flush to his cheeks.

  “That’s fine. The loser can clean up lunch.” He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks. “Just remember, you need to scrub the pot before you put it in the dishwasher.”

  Fae yanked her own socks off as she moved around to face off with him in the open space in front of his desk. “Oh, you’ve done it often enough I doubt you’ll forget.”

  He shifted into a relaxed fighting pose, his hands open at his sides. “Only hand to hand today. No grabbing weapons off the walls, Glowworm.”

  The name grated on her nerves and she groaned. “I hope your god heals you fast, because I’m going to break a few bones and I don’t want to listen to you cry all afternoon.”

  “Enough talking, show me what you got.”

  An hour later Fae was incredibly sore, but energized, and doing dishes in the kitchen. Even though she’d lost she couldn’t deny that it had been fun to fight against someone that was a challenge. On the few occasions she’d been able to fight against the ones who kept her, it had been ridiculously easy to take them down – that is, until they overwhelmed her with numbers, or used the curse against her.

  Kiernan had been gentle with her, and she knew it. He could move fast, and he was incredibly strong, but he had instead only delivered mild hits to show her where her openings were. Somehow she doubted his trainer had been so kind, once upon a time. If he could even remember being trained.