The Faerie Promise

Grim Results

Aurora watched in horror as Ryan stalked toward her. She quickly glanced around, looking for an escape. Looking for anything that would prevent him from dragging her to the terrifying woman at the front of the gathering. There was a tree just to her left with a hollowed out portion in its trunk. She thought it was just big enough to squeeze herself into, but could she make it without being caught? She didn't think so. The fae, at least some of them, were sure to be faster than she.

Aurora chanced a glance around the tree again and wished that she hadn't. Ryan both looked the same as he had at school, yet also not. The Ryan from the human world was animated, jovial, irritating, with the tiniest glimmer of vulnerability thrown in when he let his guard down. This Ryan, however, was a stark contrast to that image in her mind. Had their physical characteristics not been so similar, she would have sworn they were two different people.

This Ryan's face was impassive, cold and expressionless, as if made from stone. His stride seemed jerky in its movement, almost as if he were being propelled along against his will. As he neared the tree where she stood, his eyes flitted from watching the ground in front of him to her face. A look of shock and fear washed over him then, temporarily freeing him from the mask of indifference. His mouth formed the word no, but he did not falter from his course. Aurora was certain that none of the far around them had noticed, the change was so imperceptible.

Aurora looked frantically over her shoulder at the tree of escape and back at Ryan, judging the likelihood that she could make it. Ryan noticed her gaze and very slightly shook his head. Aurora realized he didn't know her very well if he thought she was going to go down without a fight. She tensed her muscles, readying herself to take flight, but Ryan's course changed direction before reaching the tree where she was hiding. Instead of dragging her away to her doom, his hands reached out and grabbed hold of Brad.

"Hey, what you think you're doing? Let go of me man," Brad protested as Ryan jerked him to his feet and started marching him to Larielle. Still intoxicated on whatever substance the faeries had been drugging him with, he was lucky to have made it to the front without more injuries than he gained. Or, unlucky, if you think about it. After all, falling and knocking himself out on a stray rock would likely have been more pleasant than whatever Larielle had planned for him.

"Bradley, how kind of you to join me at our modest gathering," Larielle spoke. Her voice sounded on the surface like a cool breeze on a warm summer's day. Under the surface, however, there was a malice that made Aurora want to cringe away. The faeries surrounding her cackled in a gleeful cacophony of varying sounds.

"Oh, um, yeah. I mean, no problem at all. Thanks for inviting me. You're really beautiful, did you know that," Brad stammered, tripping over his words as he stared at Larielle in unmasked awe.

Larielle laughed and trailed a hand over Brad's cheek. "Why thank you, human. I imagine, to your dull human eyes, I am the most beautiful creature you have ever seen. But, I wonder, if you really think me that beautiful," she said, trailing off and staring so intently at Brad one would have thought that his infatuation was mutual. Brad's eyes glazed over and a big, dopey smile appeared.

"I do, I do," he emphatically replied.

"Well then, I wonder what you would do for me? After all, haven't we treated you like a king? We've given you our best food to eat, our most delicious drinks to drown your cares with. Whatever you have asked for, we have provided with no limits. We invited you to stay here in the realm of Faerie, let you come to our party. Has all of this been to your liking my dear boy?"

"Oh yes. Everything has tasted fantastic."

"Wonderful," she cheered, clapping her hands together, which seemed to incite all of the other faeries to cheer with mirth as well. "I think you would be familiar with this concept however, even in the human world, that nothing is free. Now, it wouldn't be fair if we just gave you all of this free of charge."

"But, I don't have anything to pay you with," he said, confusion twisting his features into a frown now.

Larielle smiled dotingly at him and took his hand to lead him over to a bench that appeared to be carved into a tree. She, not so gently, pushed him down onto it and snapped her fingers. An owl swooped down from a nearby tree and dropped a goblet into Larielle's hand. "Not to worry my dear. You see, I have the most horrible predicament. My sister, wretched faerie that she is, is trying to take my power from me and lock me away in a dungeon under the sea forever."

"That's horrible," Brad shouted, irate concerning a battle of which he knew nothing. And oh how his ignorance would cost him.

"Isn't it though? We don't want that to happen," she said, feigning sorrow. Aurora could tell it was all an act, but Brad clearly hadn't gotten the memo. He vigorously shook his head. "That's a good boy. So, how would you pledge your allegiance to me in this battle against my wicked, wicked sister?"

"I would do anything, anything you ask of me," Brad promised. Aurora smacked herself in the forehead. Men. Throw a pretty lady in the mix and you can get them to do anything.

"Marvelous. Did you all hear that," she asked, turning to address the crowd of her followers. They raised a cheer and Aurora shuddered. How could she stop this? She couldn't see it ending up anywhere pleasant.

Larielle held the goblet to her nose and inhaled deeply. She held out her hand expectantly and Aurora was shocked to see Ryan, who had again been standing silently behind her, place a knife in it. Larielle handed him the goblet, smiled at him, and blew him a kiss. Aurora felt a pang of jealousy, though she wasn't sure where that was coming from. She barely knew Ryan, and from what she was seeing she wasn't sure she wanted to get to know him any better. Could he not see the evil lurking under the guise of beauty in this fae? Surely, if Aurora could sense it he, being a faerie himself, had to be aware of it.

Before Aurora could process the thought any further, Larielle took the blade and drew it in a sharp line down the palm of her hand. Aurora gasped, startling a pixie and quickly covered her mouth. Thankfully no one else seemed to have noticed, their attention so rapt on what was happening before them. Larielle handed the knife back to Ryan and took the goblet from him. She held her hand over the cup and let the blood from her palm trickle into the liquid in the cup below.

"If you really mean that, that you would do anything for me, drink this," she said, holding the goblet out in front of Brad. Aurora expected him to be disgusted, thoroughly repulsed, at the thought of drinking someone's blood. Instead he held the cup to his lips, hesitating only a moment before gulping it down. He looked back from the cup to Larielle and Aurora followed his gaze. Gone was the terrifyingly beautiful woman and in her place was just downright terrifying. Her smile was cruel and calculating as she stared back at him. She did not break her stare, clearly waiting for something. Aurora wasn't sure what she was expecting, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. But, she couldn't just leave Brad here.

Suddenly, Brad's entire body went rigid and he collapsed to the forest floor. His body began to convulse and a horrible shriek of pain emanated from his lips. Aurora opened her own mouth to echo his scream, but a heavy weight fell onto her shoulders and a hand clamped down over her mouth.

"Do not make a sound," a voice hissed in her ear. "Trust me on this if you want to live." Aurora reached back to try to dislodge whatever creature had latched on there, but the weight lifted as suddenly as it had fallen on her. She whirled around and spotted a little man, about the height of a small child, dressed in ragged old cloths blinking up at her. He reached his hand up to her, beckoning her to follow him.

"I can't," she whispered back looking around to be sure no one was minding her. "I can't leave him," she said, choking back a sob. This was all her fault and she had to make it right. No one deserved that, regardless of how cruel they had been to her. What had she done? She looked back over her shoulder, searching for Brad, and wished that she hadn't. He lay, still, unmoving on the ground while faeries danced around him and the music picked up again.

"It's too late now," he whispered back. "You must follow me before it's too late for you too. Ryan says to."

Aurora was not sure that Ryan was someone she should trust, but she also didn't know what other choice she had. And so, with a prayer, she placed her hand in his and let him pull her away.