Short Stories

Faeries, and the Humans Who Love Them (The Choice Contest #2 Entry)

written : Jan 27, 2017

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The pestering noise jostled me out of sleep, my eyes fluttering open. The ceiling above had blinding florescent light that made me wince. It was sensitive to human eyes, I supposed, but for a Fae? It could blind us because of our amplified senses.

I tried to sit up- and found that I was bound to the bed with iron chains. Where was I?

"Good, you're awake," A velvet smooth voice purred from the left. I turned my head to see a familiar boy with dark brown eyes and dark hair, a smirk gracing his handsome face. 

"Vincent," I snarled, but my voice was strained, I realized, neutralized so that I couldn't summon help, couldn't use magic. Weakly, I turned my head to the right, only to see Masie's limp body shackled to the bed, tubes of blood flowing from her.

"A tragedy, yes?" The boy I had once loved murmured as he strolled to my bedside and plunged in two more needles into my skin.

"What are you doing?" I rasped- I needed water. 

He walked over to a panel near my bed and smirked, "Oh Charlotte, we want answers, and we want them now."

My eyes darted to the panel and my eyes widened, "Vincent.... Please," I begged, knowing all too well the pain that it would bring.

"Where is the Fae safehouse?" Vincent cooed, his finger hovering over a button, a shiny red button.

I gritted my teeth and prepared to dig my nails into my palms, and shook my head.

Vincent heaved a sigh, "Oh, Charlotte, I guess we'll have to do it the hard way." I watched him slam the button, pain flaring everywhere. My nerves screamed- I screamed, my back arching from the cold iron table.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain faded and Vincent repeated the question. I shook my head again, and I heard the soft click of a knob turning, and when Vincent pressed the button again, pain so much more intense ripped through my body, cleaving my sanity in half....

~

Masie leaned against a propaganda board, eager for news about Bren. "Anything?" She pressed, her eyes anxious, hopeful.

It broke my heart to tell her the truth, but I could not, and would not, lie, "He's been taken."

Masie's face crumpled and for the first time in years, she cried.

"It's not fair," She whispered. And it wasn't. It wasn't fair that we were hunted down for being born Fae, wasn't fair that our blood had healing properties that humans lusted for, wasn't fair that Bren got captured.

"Masie, we have to be out of Chicago by dawn, alright?" I murmured, gently peeling the sobbing girl from me. Masie shook her head, "What's the point of living without my brother?"

I had suffered one too many heartaches to give her a nice, optimistic answer, so I just told her, "That's for you to find out."

Maise had light red hair that naturally had streaks of blond, her ears subtly pointed, and one glance at her eyes told you that she was not human, Fae eyes. And she was beautiful, in a way all Fae were, just like her brother. Her brother who would never see the light of day because...because I had told him to go back and alert a major safehouse that the Government was doing a sweep.

She came to the same conclusion I had, and her saddened face turned furious, "It's all your fault, Charlotte. All your fault Bren died."

I didn't bring myself to disagree, and kept her in my arms as the rising sun stole away the darkness.

She was right. If only I didn't fall for Vincent Kane, the human son of the head of the Government, if I weren't so naive to believe that the son of the enemy would love someone like me, we wouldn't be forced to run and hide.

"I'm so, so sorry Maise," Was all I said, as her sobs turned into sniffles, and sniffles turned into hate.

~

I felt numb, my throat raw from screaming, and so, so tired. But I kept my eyes shut, my breathing even, and my ears sharp.

"She's not responding, Mercer." Vincent's cold voice snapped.

"Interesting... most Fae would've broken at this point." The man I assumed to be Mercer responded. "Perhaps we should dispose of her and try another Fae captive. This Fae is better off dead."

Vincent's familiar footsteps were headed toward me- it took all my willpower to not cringe, "...Of course, Mercer. And of the other girl?"

His familiar touch grazed my arm, leaving the skin tingling, as Mercer replied. "She's dead now, this means we have to send a raid team back into the city. The demand is quite high, you know."

Vincent picked up a shackled wrist and held it a while, before he said, "I'll dispose of her. The toxins in the blood will contaminate us, so I'll inject the poison and be done with this Fae before morning, alright?"

"That's my boy," Mercer said, footsteps fading, and a heavy door slam.

Vincent cursed frantically, undo the shackles, "Listen to me, Char, you've got to run and warn them, now, and get the hell out of Chicago, to north, to Canada."

"Vince?" I muttered, my eyes fluttering open as the shackles on my wrists and ankles dropped to the floor.

"God, I miss this, I miss us," He murmured as he lifted me from the bed, "Play dead."

"Why are you helping me?"

Vince gritted his teeth, as if he would regret his next words, "Because, I love you, Charlotte. Always had, always will. But you have to run. Raise your army in Canada."

I let my eyes fall shut again, as he headed toward the door, "What about Maise?" I murmured.

He was silent as he opened the door with one hand, forcing me to wrap my hands around his neck, and at last said, "Her last words was 'Get her to safety, and tell her I'm sorry for what I've said and done'."

I fell silent as I sobbed inside, for my friends, for all I had lost, and for the ones who had fallen.

"We're here," Vince muttered, after a while of walking. He lowered me down gently and I stood, my eyes blood red from tears. We were in front of a small door- servant's door, I assumed, and I nodded, "Thank you." Was I foolish enough to trust Vincent again? But I had no other choice, and I had a long, long list of people to avenge.

"Wait," Vince said, handing me a pack, "There's money, a passport, fake IDs, and everything you'll need."

I nodded and he touched my wrist gently, "Charlotte..." I looked at him in the eye as he leaned forward and kissed me gently. And maybe it was out of instinct that I kissed him back.

When we broke apart, I smiled sadly, knowing that we would never meet, and that I had given my heart to break, bend, mend to a boy that would never kiss me again, that our paths were separate.

So, I said softly, "I'll never stop loving you, Vince, even if you do."

He simply replied, "I won't," and I slipped out the exit, quiet as night, silent as our love.