Sex, Lies & Magic

Three

My legs ached as I tore through the thick lush forest as fast as I could—it wasn't fast enough. Whoever was chasing me was hot on my trail closing in ever closer with each passing second. My lungs burned with the effort as dread settled into my body. I bounded over logs, lunged over ditches and scrambled across the soft leaf covered ground. The hunter hounded me, with his quick footsteps nearing ever closer.

There was no drive but to keep running, keep fleeing through the trees. Arrows whizzed passed me from multiple directions as brush tore at my clothes.

However, no one can run forever.

I didn't run out of energy. No, I had that in droves. I ran out of forest. Before me rose a massive sheer cliffside that was too smooth to scale. Panic set in greater than I'd ever known before. I whipped around, and found myself ringed by Sidhe dressed in medieval clothes, rough leather tunics and pants. They all carried large menacing looking bows. Panting I pressed myself back against the cold rock. The silver light of the moon reflected on my hunters' and their eyes shimmered with inner light, all deep vibrant hues of every color imaginable—except the one who stepped forward and tossed his bow to the ground.

It was Craven.

His pallid coloring made him practically a specter, his hair almost white and his eyes near colorless in the blue moonlight. He drew a knife from his belt and smirked as he approached me.

"There's no escaping. You can run from me, and deny it all you like." He growled as he grabbed me by the hair and threw me to the ground. "But you're mine." He pinned me, placing the tip of the blade under the gapping neck of thin linen shirt I wore. The fabric shredded easily, leaving me exposed as I trembled with an odd degree of fear mingled with anticipation. He slammed the knife into the ground and I gasped. Taking advantage of the situation, his mouth closed over mine. I returned his hungry kisses as his hands trailed up my thighs and...

Beep. Beep. Beep. The alarm on my phone went off and I sat up in bed drenched in sweat, panting and frustrated.

"Damnit," I hissed rubbing my face.

I jumped out of bed and walked to the kitchen area getting a bottle of water from the fridge. A week passed and nothing came of the doxing, so everyone had gone back to their own little apartments and I couldn't be happier, especially with the dream I'd had.

No matter what Craven told me he was, my brain clearly thought he was Unseelie. I'd never had a dream so vivid before and it frightened me. The Seelie were everything light, right and good; though that didn't mean they weren't capable of duplicity it meant they were simply better at it.

They were usually warm colored and considered the "good" Sidhe; the ones who couldn't lie, and wouldn't murder you—under normal circumstances. Oberon and Titania—yes, like Shakespeare—ruled over them. Commonly when there was art of the Sidhe they depicted the Seelie Court more so than the Unseelie Court.

The Unseelie, however, were everything dark, violent, and more often than not considered evil. They lied, cheated, and captured mortals and lesser Fae as pets.

The dream helped me put into perspective what my kidnapping had interrupted. Cael's pet had run away and he didn't want anyone to know that he left them get away. It was supposedly bad luck to come between a Sidhe and their quarry—even I knew that much. Was I doomed to be the tiny creature trampled under the foot of hunting gods?