Fateful

by Cheri Schmidt

  “All right, later then.”

  Danielle watched as he disappeared into the landscaping the same mysterious way he’d come.

  Chapter 12

  Where Fairies Dwell

  The next morning Danielle woke to the sound of her phone vibrating. She’d just received a text. Reaching for it, she pressed view and the screen lit up with: I’ll take you to see the fairies today after your morning classes. Dress for a hike this time. Love, Ethan

  She could hardly contain her excitement as she responded with okay and pushed her blankets aside. Tossing her legs over the edge of the bed, she paused and groaned aloud. Apparently she was very sore from that sparring match, and now she was going on a hike? This is going to be one painful excursion, she thought, but she decided seeing fairies were worth the pain as she forced her muscles to move, showered and got dressed for school.

  She’d finished with the ruins painting and turned it in for credit. The teacher was very fascinated and wanted to know where it was located. Realizing she probably should have just said she made it up when she’d been forced to explain repeatedly that she didn’t know. The professor wanted to put it in the art show at the school galleries. But, having other plans for this painting, Danielle didn’t want to do that. She offered a compromise, telling him she would let it be displayed for a couple days, but had to pull it early. The professor accepted her terms with obvious disappointment.

  When she finally got home, she raced to her bedroom to get ready for the hike. She pulled out her chocolate brown cargo pants, her red sneakers, and a white t-shirt. She grabbed a hoodie in case it got chilly, pulled her hair back into a ponytail again, and braided the loose strands.

  The doorbell rang— Racing down the stairs, she wondered if she’d ever be ready when Ethan arrived, only to realize it wasn’t him this time when she saw Brianna letting Will, her burly-rugby-playing-boyfriend, inside.

  He took one look at her and said. “Wow, look, it’s Lara Croft.”

  Brianna giggled. “Yeah, Will, and she can kick your butt too.”

  Danielle rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”

  “That’s not your usual look, Dannie. Where is Ethan taking you today?” Brianna asked.

  “We’re going on a hike,” she said, hiding her true thoughts. Fairies! Fairies! I get to see fairies! If Brianna only knew.

  “Brilliant! Where to?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. What are you two doing today?”

  “I have a rugby game. You need to come watch us play, Danielle,” said Will excitedly.

  “I’d love to.” Except for today, there was no way she was giving up fairies for rugby. “When’s the next game?”

  “Next week,” he said.

  “Okay, let’s plan for that then.”

  The doorbell rang again; surely it had to be Ethan this time. Danielle jerked the door open. Yes! “Hi, Ethan.”

  “Hi, Danielle. You ready?”

  “Yes,” she said far too enthusiastically as she motioned for him to enter.

  As he stepped inside, her gaze traveled over his attire. He had on tan cargo shorts that came to the knee, and a pair of brown hiking boots. With her gaze drawn to his thick calves, she realized she hadn’t ever seen his muscular legs before. He usually wore pants. Danielle’s perusal lifted to the snug fitting t-shirt that showed off his sculpted chest, and finally to the plaid shirt open over that.

  When she took in his mouth which was twisted into a grin with a roguish edge to it, she realized she’d been caught eyeing him. Biting her lip, she felt herself blush when she met his gaze. A soft chortle rumbled within his chest, and Danielle knew her obvious attraction to him and her excitement about seeing fairies were easy to read.

  Will extended a hand out to Ethan. “Nice to meet you, we should double sometime.”

  “We should,” Ethan agreed as he shook Will’s hand. However, Danielle knew he wouldn’t do it if they planned something at night.

  “Ready to go?” he asked Danielle.

  “Yes, but what else do I need? Do I need a backpack?”

  “No, I’ve got everything covered.” Of course he does.

  She grabbed her hoodie from where she’d left it on the banister, and tied it around her waist. “Is this enough? Do I need my jacket?”

  “Yeah, you’d better bring that too.”

  She raced upstairs, snatched her jacket off the bed and ran back down. She was trying really hard to resist jumping up and down like Brianna does when she’s excited. Ethan looked like he was about to burst out laughing at her eagerness.

  “Let’s go before you explode,” he whispered so only she could hear.

  Danielle took his hand and darted for the door, calling over her shoulder, “See ya, Bri, Will…”

  She didn’t even give them a chance to say goodbye before she was out the door with Ethan in tow.

  “Feeling a bit enthusiastic, Danielle?” he asked calmly.

  “Yes,” she squealed and started bouncing, but that hurt her sore muscles, so she stopped.

  He chuckled and shook his head.

  She then noticed he didn’t have his Jaguar with him, and was instead driving a green Land Rover today. “Is that like the British version of a Jeep?”

  “Yes, The Defender.” Pride glimmered in his eyes as he spoke. “Doesn’t every guy need to have a nice off-roading vehicle?”

  “Oh, probably.”

  Danielle was more than ready to get going, she rushed to the Land Rover before him and clamored inside.

  Ethan climbed into the driver’s side while still laughing and fired up the engine. He put music on, something more rocking than before.

  “You like the Foo Fighters?”

  Ethan smiled and began banging his head to the beat.

  “What happened to your usual instrumental stuff?”

  “I’m in the mood for rock and roll when I drive this baby.” He gave the steering wheel a loving pat.

  “All right. How long ‘til we get there?” she asked before he’d even pulled away from her house.

  “It’s about an hour drive, and then we hike.”

  “How do you know where fairies are? How do you know they exist?”

  “I met a sorcerer once, who told me about them. I went to find them myself. After I became a vampire, I spent a long time exploring the world, having way too much time on my hands.”

  “Couldn’t the sorcerer remove the curse from you?”

  “I wish,” he laughed. “The way the sorceress cast the spell, made the curse pretty much unbreakable.”

  “Is the sorceress who cast the spell still around?”

  “Probably, but she is evil. You wouldn’t want to meet her. She might turn you into something worse than a vampire.”

  “Why is she evil?”

  “I hear she never got over Benjamin.”

  “Oh. What are fairies like?” Danielle just couldn’t seem to stop with her insistent questions. She checked his face to see if he was getting frustrated with her, but he appeared just as calm and patient as usual.

  “They’re like tiny little people with wings. They are very social and playful, but they stay away from the majority of society. They glow different colors, similar to how an aura is different with each person.”

  Aura? “Do I have an aura?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “You can see it?” she gasped.

  He nodded.

  “What color is it?”

  A smile spread across his lips. “Yours is white.” He seemed immensely amused by that fact, probably because he also knew it was her favorite color.

  “What about yours?”

  “I don’t know what mine is. You usually can’t see your own aura, and most people can’t see them at all.”

  She remembered her dream. “Yours is white too.”

  “Can you see it?” Ethan asked, astonished.

  “No, but I had a dream about you, and in it, you were glowing white.”

  “Really?”

>   “Yes, and Lucas was there, but he was absorbing light instead of giving it.”

  “That’s amazing, Danielle! I know Lucas has no aura; he doesn’t give off any light because he’s evil to the core.”

  “So then he would devour light, like in my dream.” Danielle shuddered. Just the thought of him frightened her.

  “Do you normally have prophetic dreams like that?”

  “No, but it did help me see the difference between you and him.”

  Ethan reached over and took her hand. “We’ll be there soon. Are you ready for a long hike?”

  “I hope so.” She was worried about her aching muscles, and didn’t really know how long she would last. “When you say ‘long,’ how long is that, in curiosity?”

  “That kind of depends on how fast you can go.”

  “I see.” She sighed and dropped her head back against the headrest. Why did she have to kill herself yesterday?

  “You’re moody again, what’s wrong?” Ethan asked, his tone attentive.

  “I kind of overdid it yesterday. But I’ll try to push through it.”

  “We can do this another time,” he offered softly.

  “No! I want to see fairies today. I’ll-I’ll just suck it up!”

  He laughed. “Man! You’re stubborn!”

  “Only sometimes,” she muttered.

  “Seems I missed that one when I peered into your eyes.” Ethan continued to laugh, shaking his head as he reached to turn the music up a little louder. It wasn’t much longer before he steered off into the forest. There was no road. The terrain was very rough and there wasn’t much room for the vehicle to pass through between the trees. Only an off-road vehicle would have made it. He drove for another twenty minutes and then stopped.

  “Okay, now we hike.” He jumped out, hefted a backpack and a canteen out of the back of the Land Rover, and then put them on himself.

  Danielle slid from the seat and began checking out the surroundings. They were at the base of a small mountain, with thick trees skirting it. It was relatively warm where they were, but she could see dark storm clouds off to the west, and the ground was damp from earlier rain. Everything smelled fresh, like pine and flowers.

  There was no trail at all to follow … of course there was no trail to the fairies!

  Ethan reached for Danielle, but she put her hands up to stop him when she realized he meant to carry her again. “Ethan, I’m capable of walking on my own.”

  “But you said you were sore.”

  “I’m tough, I’ll be fine. It’s just a little more exercise which can’t hurt me.”

  “Very well, at least take my hand.”

  She may have grasped his offered hand a little more desperately than she should have; her muscles had begun to complain about moving after an hour-long car ride. And because of it, Ethan eyed her with an expression of unease.

  “Do I need to worry about bears or snakes or spiders in here?” she asked, hoping to distract him from thoughts of lugging her through the woods.

  “There are no bears here, but you needn’t worry about anything while you’re with me. I’m easily the most deadly thing out here.”

  “Oh, right.” That might have been true, but she was still more scared of big spiders that, she was certain, called this place home.

  “I promise I’ll squash any nasty beasts if they pose a threat to you. Fair enough?”

  “More than fair,” she replied.

  They hiked for over an hour, gradually going uphill. Ethan took hold of her waist and lifted her over fallen trees or large rocks as they crossed them, and he made sure she drank from the canteen occasionally. Her muscles fought more and more the further they went, but she remained determined to stick it out.

  She realized Ethan walked behind her to match his pace to hers or he could have left her behind a long time ago. She glanced back at him to find that he was staring at her, at her backside to be more precise. “Ethan, are you staring at my cargo pockets?” she alleged.

  His eyes flashed to hers with a wicked grin dancing there. “Well, you have nice cargo pockets,” he said trying to sound innocent, widening his grin.

  How could she be angry with that? Giggling, she kept going, thinking at least he liked what he saw. Her Mr. Darcy may be from eighteen fifty-four, but he was clearly still a “guy.”

  It seemed like they were going on and on with no end. Danielle began to wonder how long this would actually take. She was breathing heavily, nearly wheezing, and knew every time Ethan looked at her, he was growing anxious about how she was doing. Danielle tried to reassure him with a smile, fearing her eyes told him more than she intended.

  After they’d trudged upward and then through a rocky ravine for another hour, her legs began to shake under the strain. She was feeling so weak she plopped down on a fallen tree. “Ethan, how much longer?” she gasped.

  “Well, at the pace we’re going, probably another two hours.” Her jaw dropped, he continued, “I was hoping we could have gone faster, and done the entire hike in just a couple of hours.”

  “I’m sorry. I guess I’m really paying the price for that sparring match…. Can’t you run with me like you did the other night?” she asked hopefully.

  “Sorry, I can only do that at night.” He walked to her and lifted her into his arms anyway. “But, I can walk with you now. I may be able to pick up the pace a bit.”

  “Thank you,” she said weakly. “I’m sorry I’m a burden.”

  “Don’t be silly.” He kissed her forehead. “I want to show you this.”

  He began walking through the uneven terrain at an incredible pace. She wished he’d been carrying her earlier, and that she hadn’t turned him down in the beginning.

  It wasn’t long before he said, “We’re almost there.”

  He pressed on until they got to a part of the forest where the trees were thicker than before. The ground was covered with soft, feathery grass, and little white flowers. Danielle noticed red, spotted mushrooms popping up all over the place, and butterflies darting here and there. Now this did look like the kind of place where fairies dwelled.

  “Look at the trees, Danielle,” Ethan whispered.

  She began studying them as they passed through and inhaled sharply with her eyes growing wider. She could see what looked like tiny tree houses attached to the trees. Some trees had several of them going up along the bark. They had mushroom and pinecone roofs, and little windows with window boxes full of tiny flowers and moss growing out of them.

  Then as they continued, she noticed colorful globes of light floating down from the trees. As they drew closer she realized they were fairies, and they were gliding toward them!

  Ethan set her down in a small clearing. He kept his eyes on her face, as if to gauge her reaction to what she saw.

  Danielle marveled as one fairy flew up close to Ethan’s face and greeted him by name. “Welcome back, Ethan. Why has it been so long?” she said abruptly.

  She was beautiful with long blond hair, and the glow coming from her was lavender. She had a thin delicate body, a wreath of tiny flowers on her head, sparkly transparent wings and she was dressed in flower petals and leaves.

  Ethan responded to the little fairy gently. “Forgive me, Alora, I’ve been very busy.”

  The fairy flittered over to Danielle so fast she was startled and leaned backward. The fairy placed her little fists on her hips angrily. “Is this what has kept you away from us?” she spat.

  Her dangerous tone made Danielle nervous, and her eyes darted over to Ethan who looked very relaxed, but amused by the look on her face. “No, of course not, she’s the one who has brought me back to you,” he defended.

  The fairy returned to Ethan. “Is this your bride, Ethan?”

  “This is Danielle, she’s my girlfriend,” he replied.

  “But she’s mortal!”

  “I know that. I was once mortal myself.”

  “But you’ll kill her! Or do you mean to bite her?” she hissed, her chirping
fairy voice sounded menacing.

  Ethan raised his voice. “No! I won’t kill her! I could never do that and I will keep her mortal.”

  The fairy studied him for a moment, deliberating on his words it seemed. “Then we dance for her!” Alora then shouted at the top of her tiny voice. Danielle heard the other fairies shout “hooray” in response.

  With a gasp, she noticed they were now surrounded with what seemed like hundreds of fairies. Everywhere she looked there were tiny glowing sprites; flitting here and there around them, and touching them. Danielle felt them tugging at her clothes playfully and sliding their tiny fingers across her flesh raising goose bumps. She shuddered as they released her hair from the elastic confines. She then felt them stroke the loose strands and tickle her cheeks with itty-bitty kisses. Danielle didn’t dare move. They did the same to Ethan, however, and he appeared to be accustomed to it, and enjoying it.

  He smiled at her with intense rapture and stepped toward her. Placing two fingers gently under her chin, he closed her gaping mouth, which she hadn’t realized had fallen open. She looked into his magical, sapphire eyes, and was smitten immediately. He wrapped his strong arms around her to steady her.

  “Still sore?” he asked affectionately.

  “Yes, but I don’t care.”

  Ethan chuckled warmly, brought his hand to her face and pressed his lips to hers. She mmm’d verbally at his touch, a reaction which sent the fairies giggling merrily. He smiled against her mouth when he heard their snickering.

  They continued to play with her hair as Ethan kissed her, his lips caressing hers almost hungrily, almost devouring her. It was an exotic experience, and almost too unbelievable. She was standing in an enchanted forest, being kissed by a vampire, surrounded by hundreds of colorful fairies. This never could have happened in her wildest dreams, and she thought she was pretty creative.

  When he released her from the kiss, he gently kept her close and whispered, “Now watch.”

  Enchanting music filled the air. It drifted on the breeze as if the trees, the lush plant life, and even the insects were the instruments—the kind of music only fairies could make. Then the fairies danced and flew in circles around them. It took her breath away. Fairies pranced while they played toothpick-sized flutes, fairy couples danced and twirled, and many fairies skipped and flitted about. It was incredibly surreal. She was so glad she’d come even with her aching body because this was well worth it.