Shot in the Dark (Shot in the Dark Trilogy Book 1)

by Mary Dublin

  Her smile returned, and she swiped at his neck with her fist. She thought bemusedly about how frightened she had been less than a day ago while sitting in the very same vehicle. Now she was willingly sitting on a human's shoulder and laughing. She wondered if the stress of the situation had driven her a little insane.

  "And here I thought humans were supposed to be terrifying monsters," she snorted. "Either the stories are wrong, or there's just something wrong with you."

  Cliff raised his eyebrows but kept his curiosities to himself. Jon, however, ventured for details.

  "What… do the stories say, if you don't mind me asking?" His demeanor changed to one of cautious curiosity.

  Sylvia winced. "Well, even little kids are told how terrible humans are, mostly to scare them into not wandering off. Didn't work on me very well, but either way I'm not a little kid anymore. Not that the stories still don't scare me…"

  She raked a hand through her hair and gave a weak laugh, almost too embarrassed to go on. But the quiet within the vehicle, broken only by the low volume of the radio, spurred her to keep going.

  "Whenever I got caught going outside the village when I was little, my mother would drag me back home and tell me all about how humans would dissect me." She pitched her voice higher to imitate her mother. " 'They'll cut you open, Sylvia! And they'll keep you alive as long as possible when they do it! They want to hear you scream as you bleed out! Is that what you want?' " She sighed shakily. Her mother's yelling was a lot less humorous when it was actually happening. "Oh yeah, that one's still a favorite."

  "Ah. Lovely." Jon sounded understanding, but clearly couldn't resist the sarcasm.

  "No wonder you were so scared last night," Cliff mused.

  Sylvia answered with a meek chuckle, trying not let on how fresh the fear still was for her. "Oh well, I thought you were going to squish me," she said matter-of-factly. "Or rip me apart. Maybe eat me. You know… human stuff. But all my limbs are still intact. Well, almost. So now those horror stories definitely won't do any good when I want to go out." She grinned genuinely, realizing the entire experience would make her practically unafraid of anything else.

  Jon once again struggled to glimpse her. "Good. I'd hate to think we spooked you out of your hobby of exploring dark, abandoned houses at night," he teased.

  "And speak of the devil," Cliff announced. "We're here."

  "I think I'll be steering clear of this particular dark, abandoned house," Sylvia said, eyes locked on the looming building. It looked different in the daylight, yet she felt another ache in her wing at the memory of what transpired there the night before. She frowned. "So, do you have a plan here, or are you just barreling in?"

  Cliff leaned forward to give her a flat look. "We're going to sniff out some evidence, but thanks for the vote of confidence."

  He pushed a button near the steering wheel, and a popping sound came from the back of the metal machine like something had been unlocked. The whole vehicle shook as Cliff swung open his door and got out.

  Jon unbuckled his seatbelt carefully and followed suit. His hand suddenly approached, but he didn't whisk her off his shoulder. His palm cupped near to keep her from falling when he stood up.

  Sylvia pressed herself closer to his neck, staring at the faraway ground with wide eyes as each one of his steps shook through her. Heights had never been a valid fear, but with flight impossible, she decided it wasn't wise to look down while worrying that one wrong move would send her straight to the ground.

  Jon walked around to the back of the car, where Cliff was leaning over the open cavity. Sylvia's eyed the contents curiously, grateful for a distraction.

  "Good to know that guns aren't your only tools," she teased, unable to help it. Still, the majority of the things in the trunk were guns of all shapes and sizes.

  "I said I was sorry!" Cliff glanced at her gruffly, and she could see his armor cracking. He really did feel bad about shooting her in the first place.

  "Lighten up, I'm only joking," Sylvia said, giving him an impish smile. In her peripherals, she saw the corner of Jon's lips curve up in a smirk.

  Once the humans grabbed what they needed, Cliff shut the trunk.

  "Now for the fun part," Jon muttered, his unenthusiastic tone implying it was not very fun at all.

  Instead of feeling deflated at the potentially cumbersome task ahead, Sylvia's nerves tensed in apprehension. Now was a crucial time that would decide whether or not she would go home. Not only that, actually finding the thing undoubtedly spelled danger. She shuddered and tried to stay calm by telling herself was just one of her usual adventures outside the village. And like any other adventure, she'd be home when it was over.

  "So, what's next?" she asked, clutching at Jon's neck with one hand though she had gotten the hang of not needing him for balance.

  "Something like that doesn't escape without leaving a trail," Cliff replied, already distracted by the task at hand. He circled around the porch, studying the floorboard. Likely for blood, she could only guess.

  Jon followed at a distance, speaking to the fairy on his shoulder discreetly. "Sylvia… Are you okay?"

  She couldn't see his face, but there was undeniable worry in his voice. Realizing, she was shaking a bit, she drew her hand away from him and grabbed the fabric of his jacket instead. At least he wouldn't be able to feel that.

  "No, no," she responded. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

  She could barely tear her eyes away from the house. If she had known before that the building was laced with death, she wouldn't have even considered going near it. What if the thing had found her before Jon and Cliff did? Swallowing her pride, she leaned against Jon's neck completely. He could already tell she was nervous, anyway.

  "It's just strange dealing with something so heavy," she admitted hesitantly. "Something's killing people. That's not… I'm not used to that. But don't waste time worrying about me. You have to find whatever's out here."

  "It's not a waste of time," he muttered back to her with surprising conviction. He sighed like he wanted to say more, but he didn't stand there arguing with her.

  Boots thudding on the porch, Jon pointed his eyes downward and focused on their search, much to Sylvia's relief. Despite how kindly he had already been treating her, it puzzled her that he would worry about something as trivial as her fear. He wasn't so bad to talk to, but the last thing she wanted was his concern to distract him from something crucial. His footsteps stopped, and he slowly bent down to examine a cracked floorboard.

  Sylvia gripped the fold of his hoodie even tighter. Something was dried a crusty brown around the faded wood.

  "What's that?" she questioned, leaning forward while keeping a grip on his jacket.

  Jon turned his head toward Cliff, answering her while simultaneously alerting his partner. "I think this is blood."

  She cringed at his theory, but knew she shouldn't be surprised.

  Jon reached up and slunk a hand around the curve of Sylvia's back, prompting her breathing to hitch. "I need to put'cha down for a moment," he explained as he lowered her to a spot on the floor several feet away. "Give me a hand with this," Jon grunted, prying at the ancient flooring. Cliff joined him, and together the men pulled off the board with a loud crack.

  Shuffling a few wary steps back, Sylvia worried that something would jump out at her from beneath the rotted boards. She held her hands near her face. Her wings twitched, desperate to take her to a higher perch.

  "Well, do you see anything?" She kept her face partially covered as she spoke.

  Jon shined a flashlight down into the blackness.

  "Oh…" Cliff groaned when he bent over closer.

  Jon swallowed his disgust quietly. "There's, um, some bones. Looks like small animals mostly. Cats, maybe raccoons…"

  "N-nothing… that's human, right?" she managed to stammer out, heart thumping rapidly against her ribcage. She had half a mind to ask if there was anything resembling fae bones in there, but no one had gone mi
ssing in recent years. If any fairy were to be found, she would be the most likely candidate.

  And she was flightless. She opened and closed her hands ceaselessly as she dropped them to her sides, trying to keep a touch of panic at bay. As Cliff leaned over further, Jon spared Sylvia a glance. She noticed the double-take he gave her, the look of worried sympathy that flashed over his features. Maybe he would have said something, but Cliff's deep voice made him quickly look away.

  "Check it out." Cliff pointed down into the gap. "Looks like it was digging a hole… 'Scuse me, sweetheart." He stood up and walked right over Sylvia on his way to the edge of the porch.

  Jon sighed quietly and reached over to slide a hand under the fairy and cup her close to him before rising and following his friend. A tiny hand instinctively reached out to grab a fistful of his shirt.

  Sylvia pressed her lips into a tight line. "You're finding things," she murmured. "Good." Although her nerves frayed more with every passing moment, at least progress was being made. She turned to Cliff, hoping for and dreading more evidence. The disappointed look on his face wasn't promising.

  "It must have gotten spooked from the gunshot." Cliff pointed out the escape hole dug underneath the house and vague tracks trailing into the woods. "Dammit!" He kicked the side of the house in frustration.

  Sylvia flinched and let out a muted yelp at the explosion of wood. Jon pressed Sylvia against him in what could only be a protective gesture. She leaned into him, peering out at where the ancient wood splintered and cracked, leaving a larger gap near the hole.

  Jon leaned closer to the outside of the house. "Hang on…"

  Cliff stood aside so his partner could crouch in front of the hole.

  Sylvia's wings flicked anxiously, and she suddenly didn't want to be in Jon's hands at all. "D-do you see anything?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the darkness nonetheless.

  He reached in with his massive free hand, making a disgusted noise and flinching his hand back out. He wiped it on his jeans and reached in quicker, more accurately. Sylvia nearly clamped her hands over her eyes, half-expecting him to pull out guts or something along those lines. Instead, he held some kind of plant.

  "What is that?" Cliff switched off the flashlight and crouched down beside him.

  "It's Weeping Moss." Jon relaxed his protective grip on Sylvia somewhat as he examined the plant. "Animals eat it when they need to balance out their iron."

  Cliff and Sylvia exchanged blank looks.

  Jon elaborated. "For instance, if it has been eating too much… meat."

  "So it packs an appetite," Cliff said dubiously "That helps us how?"

  "It moved its den because it felt threatened by the gunshot, right?" Jon stood up, shoving the fistful of lichen into his pocket. "It'll be needing the moss still. And I know where to find it."

  Six

  Sylvia gripped Jon's shirt as he stood, following the direction of his gaze into the treeline. She was impressed that a human would know about something other than their own territory, though she felt dense for not understanding half of what he'd said. She understood well enough that the animal was not out of the picture.

  "One step closer," she murmured, toying with the idea of trying to convince the humans that she could be let go now that the predator wasn't nearby. She sighed and let the thought go. "Where exactly are we going?"

  Seeming to remember she could talk, Jon tilted his head down to face her while Cliff grumbled a complaint about having to drive when they had practically just arrived.

  "There's a lake not too far from here," Jon said. "Has some caves that could be worth a shot."

  "Oh, I know where you're talking about," Sylvia replied brightly, glad to not be completely clueless on that front. "I've gone to that lake plenty of times, but I've never been inside the caves. I had been meaning to, though… they look pretty tempting to explore." The idea of venturing in would have been exciting, if not for the fact that they were looking for something that was eating excessive amounts of meat.

  Jon grinned at her as he got into the car. “God, you’re insatiable, aren't you?.”

  They were only five minutes into the trip when they hit a red light. The two humans collectively sighed at the delay and sat back in their seats while Sylvia stared at the red light, fascinated by the way humans conducted such simple things. Her eyes then drifted around to take in the rest of the car's surroundings. They were heading even closer to her village by going to the lake, but she had no intention of telling them that. Maybe they were far friendlier than she expected humans to be, but a few hours' trust only went so far. Certainly not far enough to casually expose her hidden community.

  "I wanna hold her," Cliff announced suddenly, eyeing Jon and Sylvia with impatience. "Come on, you've had her practically the entire time. I deserve a turn."

  "She's not a toy." Jon sent him a reproachful look.

  Sylvia stifled a laugh, more amused by Cliff's words than offended. Hard to believe he had been barking accusations at her just last night.

  "It's fine," she said after deliberating. She smirked in the blonde human's direction. "Wouldn't want to deprive him."

  Jon gave her a half-hearted smile as he gently took her off his shoulder in a loose fist before opening his hand to allow her to stand on his palm. He held her out to Cliff, who smiled and wrapped his hand around Sylvia, taking her slight weight with him when he withdrew.

  "And I am very deprived right now," he said, smirking. She shifted in his loose grip to find a comfortable position, completely aware of Cliff's marveling gaze.

  The light turned green and cut his fascinated moment short. Cliff dropped his hand to his lap. A surprised yelp lodged in her throat. His fingers weren't curled around her body, but he kept his hand mostly over her. He had a one-handed grip on the steering wheel, while his finger and thumb of his other hand rubbed her arm up and down.

  Sylvia laughed nervously under her breath, unable to shake the feeling that he was petting her. Maybe the action was intentional, or maybe he didn't realize. Either way, she was unsure of how to react to having such attention zeroed in on her from an immense being. Beginning to regret letting herself end up in Cliff's hands so easily, she shrugged her arm away from his fingers and hoped it would get the message across.

  "A-are we almost there?" She tried to peer up at the window but found that she could only see the blue sky from her low vantage point on Cliff's lap.

  "Uh-huh," Cliff said, leaning as he turned a corner.

  She breathed a small sigh of relief when he didn't attempt to continue petting her. Still, his hand rested on her. A chilling sense of helplessness washed over her as she mused about whether she could get away if she wanted to. Probably not, unless he allowed her to. She understood that fairy existence was a new concept to him, but she wondered why his apparent fascination with her hadn't worn off yet.

  "You know, I'm beginning to think I'm just something interesting for you to look at and touch," she said, feigning a hurt tone to mask her true apprehension.

  "Not just," Cliff drawled.

  Sylvia saw Jon's head whip in their direction to shoot him a look, prompting Cliff to modify his response, albeit only slightly.

  "You're nice to look at, what can I say?" The smile Cliff sent her way was as charming as could be. "Besides, I've seen you ogling us off and on since we picked you up."

  Sylvia made a noise between a scoff and a mortified laugh. An annoyed blush warmed her face. Nice to look at? She glossed over that remark. "I—What? I haven't been ogling either of you!" Despite her protest, she knew he had a point. It was unfair to call him out on staring when she'd been doing the same thing. Apparently not-so discreetly, either. That didn't mean she had to admit it. "A-and besides, it's little hard to look at anything else when you two fill my entire line of sight and more."

  The car slowed to a halt, marking the arrival of yet another long, tiresome red light in the long line of stop-and-go traffic.

  Sylvia's limbs tensed when Cliff a
djusted his grip to lift her, but to her surprise, it was nowhere near as rough as before. His fingers uncurled, allowing her to sit in his open palm. He turned her slightly, eyeing the hole in her wing. Tucking her legs beneath her, she looked over her shoulder and noted the unfiltered guilt on his face. Carefully, she spread her wings and ran her fingertips delicately along the edge of her injured one.

  "Alright, fine," Sylvia caved, a kind smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "You didn't mean to shoot me. I get it." Why she was comforting her attacker, she couldn't figure out. She supposed there was something genuine about his apologetic expression. "It doesn't even hurt much now. And I'll get it healed up." She offered a teasing raise of her eyebrows to let him know he wasn't getting off that easy. "But don't think that means I'll stop reminding you about it."

  Cliff smiled approvingly at her, but the lingering guilt was still visible in his eyes. As traffic surged forward once more, he tucked the fairy on his shoulder as he had seen Jon do earlier.

  With the vehicle rumbling along the road, Sylvia leaned against Cliff's neck for stability against the perpetual juddering. It was far more dignified than being on his lap, but a good view through the windows made another sense of apprehension return. The tree types were so familiar it made her heart ache. It also occurred to her how easy it would be to reach home now if she could manage to slip away from the humans. She shooed that thought away, wanting to believe that they had every intention of letting her go.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she recognized a specific array of twisted trees among the waterlogged vegetation that served as one of her landmarks to find her way home when she worked up the nerve to come so close to the road. The trees weren't far from the lake.

  "We're getting close," she commented nervously.

  She was right. Only five more minutes, and the car was parked on the rocky plain near the bank. Sylvia leaned forward, looking through the windows at the area surrounding the car. It made her homesick to think she was so close yet so far, but at least from there she couldn't get lost.