by Al K. Line
I remained silent, unsure if she'd finished her tirade or not, not knowing if I could utter a word anyway. One thing you do not do, ever, is interrupt a faery. They are short to temper, not often keen on humans, take their work extremely seriously, beautiful, curvaceous, sexy as hell—in a strictly hands-off kind of way—and utterly cold and ruthless in their punishment. Their wings hurt too—they can rip a man's face to shreds faster than you can say, "Where's my skin gone? And why is my chin on the floor?"
"Excuse me? Do you think you could speak a little quieter? It's giving me a headache." Teppo was sat on the stairs, looking worse than a decades-old zombie without formaldehyde. I was amazed he could speak at all.
"Who's the corpse?" asked the faery, nodding in his direction. Beautiful, long and wavy blond hair sprinkled magic dust a wizard would sell his soul to bottle as she moved her adorable head. I struggled to stop obsessing over her ears—how could an earlobe be so perfect? I wanted to nibble it and lick it. Fae really do bring out mixed emotions in a guy.
"Victim." I managed to say through gritty aftertaste of troll.
"Right," said the faery, nodding.
Something was familiar about her, but I was loath to say anything, just in case I was wrong. The troll dust was gaining momentum, stopping me from feeling much, from caring. That would have been great if it was just me and Ankine Luisi, but it meant I could easily say the wrong thing in front of the faery and then it would be goodbye, Black Spark, hello, Dead Spark.
"Would you mind, now that you're here?" I pointed at my throat. The dust was coalescing, forming a hard lump as the troll essence fought to become part of the whole again.
I felt myself fade, harden like the rock inside of me, emotions stripped away, taking me to a cold place. To become troll. Abomination.
"Sure, no problem," she said brightly. A tiny sword appeared in her hand and she drew her arm back with an expert swing, ready to slice my throat.
"Whoa! No, I meant, get the dust out!"
"Oh, right. Oops." The sword vanished and she did a little spinning action with her hand, the air sparkling, sending shivers up and down my spine like the caress of a lover in the middle of the night.
My chest felt like my ribs were being ratcheted open and I couldn't breathe. I gasped for air and I'm sure my head ballooned to twice its normal size. I was a cannon, and a heavy troll cannonball was forcing its way up through a constricted esophagus way too small for such a dedicated lump of immortal rock.
A cough built and built, my throat felt like it would rip apart, and my whole neck extended grossly. I gasped for air as my obscene ingestion, a ball the size of an apple, exploded out of my wide-open mouth, arced high above my head, almost hitting the faery, then dropped to the carpet with a dull thud.
The black ball began to roll toward the already solidifying pile of dust and rock, but I put my foot on it, hoping it would give me some time. The troll would be back to being whole soon enough—no harm done to it. One thing I knew for sure though—I didn't want to be around when it came to its, albeit limited, senses.
I felt better instantly. "Thanks."
"Pleasure. Now, about your punishment."
The Truth About Fae
"Punishment, come on," I croaked and whined like a baby. "I only ate the troll dust so you'd come. I knew it was the only way out the moment I realized what the succubus had made Teppo do."
"What's a Teppo. Is it food?" She looked around with tiny wide eyes the color of love.
Fae adore food, they can't get enough of the human kind. The only problem is they find it hard to get to our world unless there is a serious magical disruption and they come to sort it out. "No, it's him, the guy on the stairs. The succubus has him and he's pretty far gone."
"Not really worth bothering with then, is he? Shall I, you know?" The sword appeared again and she swished back and forth with some practice swings, almost slicing the nose off Ankine Luisi.
"No, no, no. I want to make him better. Look at him, she's practically drained him of everything. He's a shell."
"Not my problem, is it? I don't mess about with stuff like that, I just make sure nothing happens that's against the Law. And you broke the rules." She stared at me sternly, the sword gone, replaced with a tiny finger waggling in front of my face.
I caught a glimpse of earlobe again and gulped. Man, those ears! "I said I was sorry." I was whining, and I knew it, but you really don't want to get on the wrong side of a faery.
Of all the magical creatures there are, and all the things that can happen to you by being involved in the Empty, fae are the most terrifying by far. Forget Ankine Luisi, forget vampires and all the rest, fae are what terrify most of us.
They are truly magical, the essence of magic, in fact. Immortal, impossible to understand, and utterly without remorse or forgiveness when it comes to breaking the Law. There are certain things you don't do, unwritten laws that our kind must all abide by no matter who we are or how powerful we think we may be.
You can be thousands of years old but to a faery that's a blink of a tiny, perfect eye. They have seen it all, know it all, and have made it their duty to ensure that the world of magic exists forever. Which means they enforce the Law that allows it all to continue. And one of those Laws is that you do not, ever, take on the essence of another magical and pure creature. Which is what trolls are, and which is what I had just done out of desperation.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. It's all I ever hear. You humans are the worst. Always interfering, always messing up. I wish you'd never got access to the Empty. It's not yours, it's ours." She thumped her chest. It jiggled. I gulped and tried not to stare. "Magic belongs to magic creatures, not humans." Fae also like to rant. They have schools for it, and they take their lessons seriously.
"Hey, it's not our fault. We found it and it's part of us now. You know as well as I do that every human has magic inside of them. And if that—"
"That doesn't mean you are magical, it just means you have it inside, to make you alive at all. It doesn't mean you can go around eating trolls and asking me to kill succubus, or heal fools that let themselves get glamored. You lot are so needy."
"He doesn't exactly just look glamored, he looks like a skeleton. She's sucked the life out of him." I pointed at poor Teppo, still sat on the stairs, mostly oblivious, watching from behind a screen of incomprehension. He was fading, and fast. With Ankine Luisi still frozen and out of action I guess he wasn't linked to her and the full force of her draining of his essence was now in effect.
"That's his problem. His fault." The faery flew over to him and flitted about his bowed head, circling him faster and faster, then was back by my face in a flash.
I glanced at Ankine Luisi nervously, wondering if the spell on her would last. Then at the troll now halfway back to being what it was. Already the legs were complete, and as I watched, the dust moved faster, floating up and layering itself across the midsection, building the troll back to whole once more.
It would not be happy when it regained sentience and movement.
"Don't worry about her. She won't seduce you unless I let her loose. So weak, you lot. Especially you men. Only one thing on your mind." I'm sure she stuck her chest out and stroked her ear on purpose. She gave me a sly look, a hint of a wink.
"What about the victim?"
"I looked into his mind. You didn't tell me he's a wizard," she accused.
"You didn't ask."
"Don't you be cheeky to me or I'll turn you into something nasty. And as for him, well, it's tough. He should have known better, and besides, it's not my place to interfere with the natural ways of things."
"Wait, you can't leave him like that. She took him over, drained him, and she's been using him, collecting books. Books I never even knew existed. Books nobody should have, especially not a succubus."
"Like I said. Tough. Books are stupid, and humans are stupid. She's a succubus, what did you expect her to do?"
"Can I kill her, then? While she's like this?
" I was feeling great, too great. Fae take away all the hurt, the pain, the sickening after-effects of magic use, but the comedown is brutal—I'm still not sure which is worse.
"Are you off your rocker!" The faery got real close, right up to my eye. Magic dust scatted and fell onto my nose.
I tried not to peek down her dress, and had to grab my own hand to stop myself tickling her ear. She almost poked me in the eye, and I felt real nervous about those wings so close to my only way of seeing.
"You so much as touch her now and I will send you to hell, the nasty one."
"Okay, okay, fine. But you have to do something. If you let her loose she's just going to go crazy." I had a thought. And there was nothing to lose. "You know that she's broken the Law, don't you?"
"How?"
"She's staying in the material world. She hasn't left for years. She's not just coming and going, she's permanent. That's not allowed, is it? Not for a succubus?"
"No, it is not. I shall have to have words with this one. But later, I've got other things to do. Be seeing you."
"Wait!" It was no use, she was gone. Damn fae, they are so full of themselves. They think they know best and they always stick to the rules. It's infuriating. Was this my punishment? To remain and be stomped to goo by semi-sentient rock? Or was that wishful thinking?
The troll almost had a head now. The last of the dust was floating up and moving fast, rebuilding the rock creature line by atomic line. It was like a printer except it was spewing out a troll, a soon to be very angry troll.
The air cracked and I smiled.
I'd forgotten I was in love. In love with the most beautiful creature in the world. What was I doing? Where was I? Somehow it didn't matter now.
I turned and stared into the eyes of Ankine Luisi, the most adorable female in the history of humanity.
She whispered, "Come," and held out her hand for me as she smiled with all the grace of a cloud of angels.
I put my hand out.
I'd do anything to touch those perfect fingers, be hers.
Forever.
You Again
I was lost, mesmerized and in love. More than love—I was completely and utterly helpless. This woman, this creature, was all that mattered. She looked into my eyes and I knew that my future was with her. She was the world, all there was. Perfect, and she had chosen me.
As I melted into her eyes, I knew I would do anything for her. Anything.
But as I moved my hand out to take hers, knowing it would mean I was hers forever, perpetual bliss, there was something else too, forcing its way through the fog of pure worship for this divine creature, banging at my mind like a troll knocking on a door. I tasted grit on my tongue, and swallowed it. A few grains of troll.
Something unlocked in my awareness, freeing me, as a tiny part of me hardened, burying emotion, leaving me detached. The Hidden magic of an always stoic creature making me a millionth part troll, enough to allow something through. I watched myself as if from a distance as my heart cooled, sweeping away my immersion and worship upon the altar of this beautiful creature I was about to surrender myself to so willingly.
"Come, be with me," the succubus said, making promises ever more inviting. So real I could taste the salt of her tears, the strawberry lips, feel the firmness of her skin, the welcome invite of her naked flesh that she would offer to me always, mine for the taking.
I swallowed, the dust particles falling deeper inside of me, another box of emotion locked away, pleasures of the flesh no longer all-encompassing.
Memories flooded in of the night before. They hit me all at once, selected scenes all overlaid one on top of the other in rapid succession like cards slapped down on cold marble.
Strobing lights of a nightclub, me tugging on Teppo's arm as thin as a child's, skin hanging loose, devouring himself from the inside.
Him turning. Me seeing that the man was already lost. Eyes haunted, flesh eaten away as the fire of lust and obsession burned ever brighter, obfuscating everything else from his mind. Me shrugging, knowing I had to leave before it was my turn.
Being handed a drink by Ankine Luisi. Me turning away, not looking. The music pounding through my body.
Lights blinking and confusing me as I tried to drag Teppo away while Ankine runs to the dance floor, flinging herself about. Uncaring, knowing, yet wild and with utter abandon.
The music getting louder, men crowding around her, everyone dancing to her rhythm, the wildness contagious, the whole club caught up in her charm.
Faster and faster, her a whirling dervish. Ankine Luisi, the infamous Armenian, spinning in a circle. Men stomping their feet, pounding on the floor with bloodied hands. Women transfixed, confused. Men adoring.
Teppo screaming for help, eyes haunted, lost but back for a moment. Me dragging him across the dance floor, to get us away. The music off the scale. Faster. Louder. Lights strobing as insanely as the crowd. The walls vibrating, closing in.
Men grabbing us, me brushing them off. Ankine Luisi going wild. My tattoos pulsing to the music, to the beat, me trying to summon up the Empty, draw it into me, blast them all out of the way and her too. Send every last one of them to hell, uncaring of the consequences or who might see, knowing she has to be stopped and for good.
My ears crawling with music, my body moving to the rhythm, the magic not coming at me right. Not enough there for me, all taken by her. Spinning around us all, caught up in the madness, the love, the worship of the most beautiful creature there has ever been.
I was jumping, dancing with Teppo, with the men and the women. Her at the center, us worshiping. Her eyes closed in pleasure, us around her in a circle, pointing at her, calling for her attention.
Then me and her. Me swinging her in a circle faster and faster, her head back, laughing.
Then the sickness.
Somehow, I let her go, and she fell against the crowd, and I double over, my ink saving me from being lost forever. The sickness snapping me back to semi-reality and I ran, crouched over, body screaming in agony and shame as the Empty poured into me and dragged me away.
Now out in the dark streets. The rain fizzing off me but I don't even notice. Clutching at my stomach, revelers emptying from the clubs, laughing and joking, me just another casualty of drink and debauchery.
Lost, I wander, not knowing who I am or where I am, knowing I just have to get away from the city center, from the music. From her.
Cats watch from the dark, foxes patter past me in silence, car headlights blinding me as I stumble across roads lit by streetlights and empty office buildings.
Then people. More traffic. A desperate dawn clawing away the night, revealing damp grass and a chance of salvation.
And then the park. I stumble to a seat, sit and stare at the chess pieces. I hear the man's voice. "Your move."
I see the game, know it is mine. The magic still in me, not sent away as it should have been. The curse of the succubi trying to call me. I make my moves and I say, "Checkmate."
He gets angry and I get even angrier. I hate what I am, and I don't want to live like that, so I blast the magic out, to purge myself and be me again, but I direct it at the Grandmaster. I don't know what I'm doing. I am lost, and then I know, know enough to flee. I'm running. I'm away. I'm me again.
I snap back to reality, and my fingers are inches from Ankine Luisi's. This time she will never let me go. I'll be another one of her victims. I won't let that happen.
She is so beautiful, impossibly so. Teppo moans behind me, as if realizing she has already forgotten him, and he will be left without her love and attention.
The troll is almost complete now, dust spinning around the half-head, dropping into place, filling in the gaps, the whole massive body surrounded by tiny particles that slot and snap into place, soon to make the Hidden creature whole. Already, fingers are slowly twitching and legs begin to move. It will be over soon. So will I.
I urge, forcing the magic to flow. My tattoos jump to life, making me sick and I love
it. Welcome the pain and the humiliation as it makes me human. There is acceptance—I know I am weak, and frail, a mere man, but I will not be beaten. I will not be taken.
It builds, circles within circles within circles, erupting out of my body, me summoning the Empty even as it overwhelms me. But the power allows me to focus, and I bend and pick up the rock that almost escapes as it moves back to the troll to complete it. My still-spasmed, half-clawed hand clutches it tighter than a faery's grip on a meatball, and while my other is still reaching for Ankine Luisi as I stand again, I see our fingertips are a hair's breadth away from each other.
Soon I will be lost. Soon I will be hers.
She smiles. She knows. She laughs.
The magic comes in wave after wave and I do the impossible. I close my hand and the ball of magic that is part of a timeless creature is crushed, turned to dust.
My smile feels good, and I spit out what remains of the troll inside of me and add it to the pile in my hand. I say something stupid like, "No thank you, I prefer blondes," and I shove the dust between her gorgeous, heavenly lips, and I can see the moist tip of her pink tongue that promises so much I ache to my bones.
Then it's covered in dust and I blast her mouth with all I have left inside of me and she jumps back and swallows.
The troll bellows behind me, and I turn as the doorway and wall tear like paper as the monstrous magical being walks straight through the too small opening and heads directly for Ankine Luisi.
"You eat troll. Break Law." It thunders toward us, huge legs eating up the distance in three paces. The focused troll shoves me aside like a doll, and a thick arm thrusts out faster than I have ever seen such a creature move in my life.
It grabs Ankine Luisi and pulls.
Her throat is ripped out and the troll flings away flesh then reaches back, grabs her windpipe and yanks on it, tearing it right from her body. With surprisingly dexterous fingers, it tears open the windpipe like it's removing cheap wrapping paper and pulls out the hard lump that is itself.