Tales from Shady Grove: Stories from the Trailerverse, Volume One

by Kimbra Swain

  “Where do you meet?” Levi asked as I continued to hold my hand millimeters from her face.

  “It was different each time,” she said.

  “Grace, let’s not kill her yet,” Tennyson suggested.

  I didn’t respond to him. “Grace,” Levi said trying to get my attention.

  “I’m not letting her go,” I said.

  “Listen to Tennyson, please,” Levi said.

  “Why?” I exclaimed.

  Tennyson remained calm, and his deep soothing voice reminded me of his speaking skills which were much like Levi’s. “We will let her text the number saying the hit has been made. I assume there will have to be proof. We will stage something if we have to. Then, you can kill her. Levi can mimic a glamour for you to look like her, then you go collect your own ransom.”

  “I don’t like it,” Levi said.

  “I do,” I replied. The ice melted and the woman gasped with relief. “Enjoy it for now. Your moments are numbered.”

  As the intensity of the moment subsided, I felt the power I’d unknowingly pulled into me. Once I realized it was there, it began to overwhelm me. The room swirled around my head. I must have stumbled because Levi’s arms wrapped around me.

  “Let it go, Grace. I’ve got you,” he said. If I thought that Tennyson’s voice was smooth, Levi’s was like butter on a hot biscuit. It melted into me dispelling the power I’d drawn. I slumped into him.

  “Shit.”

  “For all your scolding me on my power, I don’t think you realize what you can do,” he said.

  “What I do ends up with someone dead, so I don’t use it,” I replied.

  “You will never go too far. You are different than the rest,” he insisted.

  “Grace, sit down. Let’s talk for a moment,” Tennyson said interrupting our internal conversation.

  I hesitated, looking back at the assassin that just tried to kill me.

  “She’s not going anywhere,” Stone assured me.

  Levi took my hand, guiding me to the sofa across from Tennyson who folded a long leg over the other, then relaxed back into the seat. Bronx appeared from the back room with a glass of dark liquid for Tennyson, then disappeared back again.

  “Grace, I do not assume to be your father. He and I had many differences, but I assure you that despite those, I loved him very much. I believe the feeling was mutual,” he said, then took a long draw from his glass. “You and I didn’t hit it off very well at the beginning which was my fault, and I hate that I didn’t come to you sooner. Perhaps we could have avoided all of this, but I assure you that I’m doing everything I can to rectify that.”

  “I know that you are,” I replied. His tone alarmed me. I’d not known Tennyson to be so forthcoming. Levi squeezed my hand in assurance. He had spent more time with Tennyson than I had. I just assumed Tennyson tolerated me when he genuinely liked Levi. Most people did.

  “That being said it is abundantly clear that with your exile from the Otherworld, there were things that your father never had the chance to teach you. I think sometimes he wanted you to be banished to get you away from the politics, but I also know that when you were banished, he was furious at you. He regretted all of it,” Tennyson explained.

  “I thought the two of you weren’t on good terms,” I mused.

  He smiled, “Our relationship had its tense moments, however, you must know that the story about he, Jenny, and I has never been told properly. Yes, I loved her. She loved me, but she also loved him. We shared her for a time, and no one thought it to be improper. If they did, they didn’t dare speak of it. However, Mordred twisted the relationship into something evil and wrong. He toyed with your Father’s mind turning him against me. You have seen him. He’s twisted and evil to the core. He manipulates and intimidates. He broke up our happy arrangement. I tried to make Jenny stay with him, but I admit that I couldn’t give her up. It tore the kingdom apart, but not once, I swear to the Tree and the Fountain, that not once did I hate your father. Not once. Not ever.”

  He paused again to drink. My mind wandered as I tried to figure out the point of these revelations. Some of it I suspected, but the rest confused me.

  “For a time, I thought you, Levi, and Dylan might end up in a similar arrangement. He saw that too, I think. It worried him,” he said.

  “That wasn’t going to happen,” Levi said. “I’m sorry, but I saw it as well. I told her I wouldn’t be the catalyst that tore the exile kingdom apart.”

  “He refused to be my Lancelot,” I smirked.

  “Good for him,” Tennyson said. “But things have changed, haven’t they?”

  “They have,” I sighed. A pang of pain wrenched through my heart as I thought of Dylan. Levi squeezed again knowing that pain.

  Tennyson smiled after taking the last sip of his drink. “Levi was never your Lancelot. He’s your Arthur.”

  “No. He’s my Levi,” I said.

  “Touché. But I guarantee he’s a lot more than that,” Tennyson continued to smile like a possum eating a sweet potato. “Back to the point, because you aren’t the point, Levi.”

  “I am never the point,” Levi grumbled.

  “Brood for me, Baby,” I cooed. He nudged me with a blush.

  “Grace,” he protested, but a smile curled the edges of his lips. I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

  “Don’t fuss about the things you love,” I whispered.

  He rolled his eyes in pretend disinterest, but then they met mine filled with a lustful fire. Damn. Now was not the time, but it was coming faster than I expected. I had always loved Levi. Admiring his physical form and adoring his character was natural. However, the intense desire to jump him at the earliest convenience surged inside of me. My horny little fairy jittered in anticipation.

  “Soon,” he whispered in my ear.

  “Not soon enough,” I replied, then remembered we were doing all of this in front of Tennyson who hadn’t shied his gaze away from us. “Damn voyeur.”

  “It’s not my fault the two of you are prolonging this. I’m just spectating. Besides, I was trying to make a point when your libido interrupted. You know, there are plenty of wedding chapels here in Vegas,” he suggested

  “So, what’s the point?” I asked, ignoring the chapel comment.

  “Fine. I had some long poignant words for the two of you hoping to urge this coupling along. I see now that isn’t needed. It’s about to boil over as it is. But one thing you need to remember, Grace, is that your royalty is a gift. Your father didn’t teach you what you know. You’ve done it all on your own and will be better at it than any of us. The darkness that fills you in the moment of your judgment isn’t evil. It’s duty. Your heart tempers the urge for power, plus there is always a bard king by your side to support you. Levi isn’t here to prevent you from doing something bad. He’s here to encourage you through the toughest moments.”

  Levi’s fingers laced with mine again. He pushed his magic through our hands intensifying the tingle that normally ran through us with a touch. I’d come to know this as his way of saying, I love you. I closed my eyes soaking in the magic.

  “It’s time you told him,” Tennyson blurted out just as I was getting lost again.

  “Told me what?” Levi asked as the tingle stopped abruptly.

  I growled. “Don’t you dare,” I said.

  “Grace Ann Bryant, he deserves to know,” Tennyson pushed.

  I flicked my eyes to the quiet fairy who had been sent to kill me.

  “Stone, take her to your room and secure her,” Tennyson instructed.

  As Stone escorted the woman out of the room, I pulled my hand from Levi’s. My heart pounded in my chest. I knew the day would come when I would have to tell Levi the truth about why I had been banished from the Otherworld, but I wanted to do it on my terms. I didn’t care what Tennyson thought. It wasn’t his story to tell or to force me to tell.

  “She will tell me when she is ready,” Levi said, taking my side, as always.

  “
Grace,” Tennyson prompted.

  “No,” I shot back at him. “I will tell him, but it has nothing to do with us!”

  “It has everything to do with you,” Tennyson stood, pacing toward me with his finger out. “It’s made you who you are. Tell him or I will.”

  In an instant, Levi skipped between us which put Tennyson’s finger at the tip of his nose.

  “Get your finger out of my face,” Levi warned.

  I buried my face in his back. “When we get home, I’ll tell you everything. I swear,” I promised him.

  “Not my fault you insist on letting her have her way,” Tennyson growled lowering his finger. “That secret will be the death of both of you.” He crossed the room to his bedroom with long strides, then slammed the door shut.

  Levi turned to me with a stern look. “He’s rarely wrong,” he said.

  “I don’t see how it matters, Levi. It won’t change how I feel about you,” I said.

  He raised his hand, curling his fingers around my neck. “How do you feel about me, Grace?”

  “I love you,” I said.

  “You’ve said that before,” he said, rubbing his thumb over my cheek.

  “I kinda want you, too,” I admitted.

  “Kinda?” he grinned.

  “I’m not giving you the satisfaction,” I sputtered.

  “You will,” he laughed.

  I would. Eventually.

  “Time to go,” Bronx’s voice filled the room. “Get dressed.”

  Tennyson emerged from his bedroom in a tailored tuxedo. Even with Levi standing next to me, I couldn’t help but notice how damn fine he was. His piercing eyes met mine.

  “You heard the man. Get dressed,” he said, nodding toward the garment bags that the fairy killer had brought.

  51

  I looked down at the gown and heels in the full-length mirror. I wasn’t sure who Valentino was, but it was clear that he or she had fairy talent. It hugged my figure with a slit up to my thigh. The deep blue sequins matched the stone in my tattoo. The heels lifted me up at least three inches over my normal height. Even the jewelry matched including a sparkling circlet with diamonds. There was no denying my royalty with the ensemble. Tennyson intended for us to look the part.

  “It’s a long damn way from the trailer park,” I sighed.

  “In the right direction,” Levi said behind me. I looked up to meet his eyes in the mirror. He stood behind me in a tailored suit.

  “Wow!” I said. I thought Tennyson wore nice suits, but Levi looked incredible.

  “Thanks,” he smiled walking up behind me, placing a kiss right where my shoulder met the base of my neck. “You look amazing.”

  “I’m nervous,” I admitted. “He expects me to be a Queen.”

  “It seems that way, but Grace, you be you,” Levi encouraged.

  “I don’t think I can be anything else,” I laughed.

  “Probably not,” he agreed.

  “Let’s go!” Tennyson ordered from the other room.

  Levi took my hand and tugged.

  “Wait,” I said with my eyes still fixed on the mirror. “Stand here with me.”

  He faced the mirror with me holding my hand tightly. We looked like royalty.

  “I’ve always thought we looked good together,” he grinned.

  “We do,” I whispered.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Just a memory,” I replied. His face fell. “It’s not Dylan. I’m fine.”

  “Now!” Tennyson’s voice boomed from the other room.

  “I’m going to freeze his ass,” I muttered.

  When we walked into the main room, Tennyson and Bronx bowed their heads in reverence. The gesture caught me off-guard because I was ready to rip Tennyson a new one.

  “My Queen, the limo is waiting downstairs,” he said. “We will drop by Ceaser’s Palace, then off to meet our contact.”

  “Can you manage the glamour?” Bronx asked Levi.

  “I can do it,” I piped up.

  “You need to focus on the situation, not keeping up the magic,” Tennyson instructed.

  “No, you need to remember who I am,” I replied. A devilish grin crossed his face.

  “Indeed. Shall we?” he said, gesturing toward the door.

  Levi offered me his arm. I took it gladly, and we marched out of the fancy penthouse as Queen and King.

  Cruising down the Strip, the lights of Vegas flashed all around us. The limo turned down an alley much like the first one where we entered the hotel.

  “Glam up,” Levi said.

  “You follow her at a distance, Levi. Viggo and Stone are already inside,” Tennyson explained.

  “Any sense of danger and get out,” Levi said sternly. “Or I will take you out.”

  “Calm down. Geez.” I played off my nervousness even though I doubted I was fooling any of them. I closed my eyes feeling my magic swirl around me. I felt the glamour melt over me like syrup over pancakes. Sweet and sticky.

  “I think for the first time since I met you, I don’t want to kiss you,” Levi said. I slapped him on the shoulder.

  “How rude,” I said. “It’s still me.”

  “I didn’t need you to hit me to realize that,” he pouted.

  “Fake,” I proclaimed.

  “No, I’m delicate.” He pushed his lip out further.

  “My ass,” I smirked.

  “Is a fine ass,” Levi added. “Go. I’m right behind you.”

  “That sounds promising.”

  “Fuck.”

  “That’s the idea,” I said.

  “Why do you do this to me?!” he whined.

  “Because I can,” I replied.

  He sighed and shoved me out the door as Tennyson and Bronx laughed.

  “You should man-handle her more often,” Tennyson said, as Levi shut the door.

  “You better not,” I warned.

  “It’s what you need sometimes,” Levi returned.

  “You are so bold in my head. I dare you to say it out loud,” I said.

  “One day, Grace,” he said.

  I rounded the corner in the maid outfit that the woman from the hotel wore. I untied the apron tossing it into a trash bin just outside the main entrance to the casino. Stepping through the guilded doors, the lights and sounds overwhelmed my senses. I moved toward the edges of the casino floor, then spotted a bar ahead. Making my way through the gamblers, I looked through my fairy eyes when I noticed a supernatural signature inside the bar. A man glowed with a deep crimson red. Red like blood.

  I hadn’t seen a real vampire in ages. They looked like the rest of us and were fairies. The bloodsuckers fell into the wild fairy category, however, most of them remained loyal to the winter throne. This one wore black slacks and a black button-up shirt. His shoulders were broad, but overall he didn’t seem to be super muscular. Just fit in all the right ways. He leaned over a glass of dark liquid. Several rings adorned the hand wrapped around his glass, and I could make out a jewel in his left ear as I approached him.

  “What is he?” Levi asked. I knew he was close even if I couldn’t see him. He must have concealed himself.

  “Vampire,” I replied.

  “Grace!”

  “It’s fine. He can’t eat me,” I said.

  “What about the ones in Greece?” he asked.

  “Those were different. A whole different race. Besides if what Dylan said was true about the attack on the Vrykolakas, then they are probably extinct now,” I replied.

  I perched on a chair two down from the vampire, cutting my eyes to him once to see if he was watching. His dark eyes met mine with a smirk.

  “Hello, Lovely,” he purred.

  “Hi,” I responded.

  “What will it be?” the bartender asked.

  “Crown,” I replied.

  “On the rocks?” he asked.

  “Um, yes, please,” I replied, realizing the vampire had shifted his weight to move off his seat.

  He moved in a fluid
motion from his seat to the one next to mine, then leaned into my ear.

  “The glamour is good, but not nearly as good as you look in that dress underneath it,” he whispered.

  Shit. He was powerful enough to see through my glamour which was pretty impressive. It made me uncomfortable, and I moved to the edge of my seat.

  “How may I help you?” I asked trying to keep a quiver out of my voice.

  “I’d like to help you out of that glamour and that dress,” he said as he laid his hand next to mine on the bar. He touched the edge of my hand with his pinky finger. A light caress. A tingle launched through my body. Not nearly as intense as when Levi made me tingle, but pretty damn close. “Shit. You are a queen.”

  “What do you want?” I asked directly.

  “That is a loaded question, my Dear.” He turned so that his leg rested against mine. Levi moved closer to us. I wasn’t sure where he was, but I wanted him to control himself for now. At least until I could figure out if the vampire had anything to do with the assassination attempt.

  “Levi, let me talk to him.” He didn’t respond.

  “It wasn’t an invitation,” I said to the vamp.

  “Fiesty. That only makes me harder,” he laughed.

  Pressing magic through my voice, I commanded, “Who are you?”

  “Whoa. Easy throwing that around here,” he warned. “Might draw attention.”

  I wasn’t sure how he avoided the command, but then I saw one of his rings sparkle with a magical glow.

  “Nice rings,” I said.

  “They come in handy,” he smirked, waggling his fingers. “Now, let’s start over. I presume that you are Gloriana, daughter of Oberon. I am Seamus Daragh.” His jeweled hand slipped under mine, lifting it to his lips. He pressed a kiss on the back of my hand with a grin.

  Levi growled in my head. “Down boy,” I warned. “Mr. Daragh.”

  “Please. Call me Seamus. All my women do,” he grinned.

  “Well, first of all, I am not, nor will I ever be your woman,” I said.

  “Your loss, Lovely,” he replied.

  “Secondly, you should watch yourself, because my bard gets upset when other men touch me.”