Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (2 page)

Just then there was a banging on Tony’s door.

“Tony?
 
Do you have someone in your room?”

Tony got a panicked look on his face.
 
“No, Mom!
 
It’s my music!”

“Well, turn it down.
 
It’s way past your bedtime.”

Finn snickered but had the decency to look chagrined when I shot him a dirty look.
 
All we needed was for Tony to think we were laughing at him.
 
Sure, his mom was clueless and obviously nearly deaf, but that wasn’t Tony’s fault.

I whispered to the group.
 
“Listen, we’re not getting anywhere with this.
 
Besides, there’s no point anyway.
 
Tony’s coming with us, and we need to go.”
 
I looked at Tony, my eyes begging him.
 
“You’re still coming, right?”

“Yeah, I’m still coming.
 
But I want to hear what Ben has to say first.
 
He’s my friend, Jayne.
 
I know you don’t like that, but that’s how it is.
 
I owe him the chance to give me his side of the story.”

Ben smiled.
 
“Tony is a fair person.
 
He’s always been willing to listen.
 
Maybe you could take a minute to listen too, Jayne.
 
You might be surprised to hear what I have to say.”

“
Pfft
,
not likely.”

Jared stepped up, his hands held out in a gesture of peace.
 
“Why don’t we take this outside or somewhere we can talk.
”
 
He glanced at Ben and then me.
 
“Neutral territory, a place everyone would feel comfortable.”

Ben nodded.
 

I looked around and everyone else seemed to think it was a good idea.
 
I was more in favor of just getting the hell out of there and never looking back, but I had to be fair to Tony.
 
I didn’t want him leaving here thinking I had anything to hide.

“Fine.
 
Where?”

“How about the all-night diner, over by the school?” suggested
Tony.

We all nodded.
 

Two seconds later, Ben’s form began to fade.
 
“See you there,” was the last thing he said before he disappeared in a puff of black smoke and wind.

I looked at Tony and saw that his eyes were bugging out of his head.
 
I sneered.
 
“Yeah.
 
You trust this guy.
 
Fucking demon fae or whatever he is.”
 
I shook my head, walking to the window and looking out, confirming that Ben wasn’t there anymore.
 
I wondered how far he could go with that
disappeary-smokey
thing.

“You guys go ahead and wait for us outside.
 
I’m going to help Tony get some stuff together.”
 
I looked at Chase.
 
“Please be extra careful with Tim.
 
I’m going to see if I can find something to put him in.”
 

Chase nodded in acquiescence before following the others, climbing out the window wordlessly while Tony and I watched.
 

Once we were alone, I turned to him.
 
“You need to pack a couple things – just what you can’t live without.
 
There will be clothes and stuff for you there.”

“For me where?” asked Tony, not moving.

“At the compound.
 
Where we live.”

Tony looked distressed but said nothing.

I took his hand lightly in mine.
 
“Listen.
 
Here’s the deal.
 
Once we get there and you get a full tour and know everything that’s going on, you will have the choice to stay or go.
 
You had that chance once before, and you chose to come home.
 
I think it’s because you didn’t know everything then.
 
Now I can make sure you know it all.
 
I’m pretty sure once you do, you’ll decide to stay.”

“So I can come back if I decide I want nothing to do with this stuff?”

I shook my head in frustration.
 
“Yes.
 
But Tony, you’re not going to.
 
Ben being here is proof of that.
 
Either way you’re getting involved.
 
You’re either going to come in voluntarily with us, or you’re going to get dragged in by Ben.
 
You’re important to him for some reason that he isn’t telling us.
 
And you’re important to me because you’re my best friend.
 
You
are
going to end up Light Fae or Dark Fae ... and I want you to be Light Fae, with me.”

“What about Tim?
 
I thought he was your new best friend.”

I smiled.
 
“Jealous?”

Tony smiled slightly.
 
“No.
 
Not much.”

“Well, you have nothing to worry about; no one can take your place in my heart.
 
You’re going to love him, though.
 
Just be glad you can’t hear him.”

“You
can?
 
How?”

“Witch’s spell.
 
I’ll explain about that later.”

“Why don’t I want to be able to hear him?”

“Let’s just say, pixies are gassy.”

Tony got a disgusted look.
 
“Oh, geez.”

“Yeah.
 
Tell me about it.
 
Come on, let’s pack.
 
What do you want to bring?”

Tony looked around his room, walking over to pick up the picture of him and me in a frame, broken as a result of him launching against the wall the other day.
 
I had seen him throw it when I visited his room traveling through the gray with the help of my friend Gregale, a gray elf.
 
That’s when I really knew how much trouble Tony was in.
 
Watching him cry tears on that picture and then hurl it into the wall just tore me up inside.

He pulled the broken frame apart and took the picture out, tucking it into his back pocket and tossing the frame in the trashcan.
 
He reached down and picked up a sweatshirt from the floor, tugging it on over his head as he walked over to sit on the edge of his bed and pull on his boots.

“Do you have something I could put Tim in?”

Tony gestured towards his closet with his head as he bent over to tie his bootlaces.
 
“In there.”

I went over and opened the door, pushing junk aside until I found an old shoebox.
 
Then I went to his bed, grabbing the pillow and pulling the pillowcase off, using it to line the inside of the box to make it more comfortable.

Tony stood and walked over to his desk, pulling a piece of paper out of his printer.
 
“I’m gonna leave my parents a note.”

“What are you going to tell them?”

“That I’m leaving for a while and I’ll call them later.”

“Tell them you’ll send them an email.
 
We have computers there but not phones.”

Tony shrugged.
 
“Okay.”
 
He finished his note, folding the paper and putting it on his pillow.
 
He pulled up his covers so the bed looked neater.
 
His dirty clothes went next, kicked into a pile in the corner of the room.
 
Tony looked around, throwing up his hands and letting them drop to his sides.

“Ready?” I asked.
 
“Got your passport?”

“I guess so ... and yeah.
 
I have it.”

“Good.
 
Come on.”
 
I wanted to get the heck out of there before he changed his mind.

We climbed out of the window and went to the edge of his porch roof, using the fence nearby to climb down.
 
The guys were waiting for us in the front yard.

I walked up to Chase and held the box out.
 
“Pixie me.”

Chase carefully lowered Tim in.
 
I looked down at my little buddy who was still out cold, covering him as gently as I could with the corner of the pillowcase.
 
“Hang on tight, Tim.
 
I’m gonna get you back so Maggie can fix you right up.”
 
I received no response, so I put the lid on and used that brief moment of fumbling around, trying to get it to fit on right, to fight the feelings of despair that had started to well up.
 
I sniffed and cleared my throat, shoving that lump in my throat down deep into my gut.
 
I could not go into this showdown with Ben feeling all weepy and weak.
 
There was no downplaying the seriousness of this meeting.
 
I was fighting for Tony’s life.
 
There would be time for crying over Tim later – when I had all my guys on a plane and we were headed back to the Green Forest.

We went into the diner and joined Ben at a big round table in the back corner.
 
A waitress came over and took our drink orders before leaving us alone.

I looked at Ben expressionlessly.
 
“You wanted to talk.
 
So talk.”

“Thanks for coming.”

I shrugged, refusing to play his
nicey
-nice games.

Ben shook his head in bemusement.
 
“This doesn’t need to be a fight, Jayne.”
 
He looked at Jared.
 
“Jared, tell her.”

I looked at Jared curiously.
 
How does Ben know Jared?

Jared’s eyebrows
raised
.
 
“I’m not telling Jayne anything.
 
She’s smart enough to see the truth in front of her.
 
Say what you have to say so we can leave.
 
None of us are interested in your Dark Fae propaganda.”

“I could call the nonsense you spout propaganda too,” Ben responded, calmly.

Finn, my redneck green elf friend, never one to keep his opinion a secret for long, spoke up, “As far as I’m concerned, you could start with
explainin
’ why you shot Chase in the back with a poisoned arrow last month,
aimin
’ for Jayne.”

Ben raised his eyebrow sardonically at Finn.
 
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I laughed bitterly.
 
“Oh, wow, this is a surprise.
 
Ben’s going to use denial as his big strategy to convince you to go with him, Tony.”
 
I looked at my friends.
 
“Someone please tell me why we are wasting our time here.”

“Jayne,” Ben said forcefully, “I was not responsible for whatever happened to you or Chase; but believe me,
I
will find out who is and take care of it.”

“Well, forgive me if that doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
 
Well, not much anyway.
 
Wait a minute ... what?
 
I gave myself a mental shake.
 
Shit.
 
Stop looking at him like that.
 
He is the enemy.
 
This was ridiculous –
I couldn’t even trust
myself
around this guy.
 
We needed to get the hell out of here.
 
He was worse than Spike on the sexy scale.
 
I glanced over at my incubus friend in time to catch his knowing smile and glimmering red eyes.
 
Friggin’ Spike was detecting my amped up feelings again.
 
Dammit
.
 
I glanced over at Tony and he was giving me a funny look now too.
 
Double dammit
.
 
I forgot he could feel my vibes.
 
Pretty soon everyone at the table was going to be all hot and bothered if I didn’t get a grip on myself.

“Ben, let’s just get down to the bottom line here.
 
I’m taking Tony back to the Green Forest with us.
 
You can’t have him, plain and simple.
 
You’ll just have to figure out your whole world domination scheme without including him as part of your army.”

Ben smirked.
 
“World domination?
 
That’s hardly my agenda.”
 
He turned to address Tony.
 
“Tony, you know me.
 
Am I the world domination type?”
 
He didn’t wait for answer.
 
“No, I’m not.
 
Now, do I believe that I have something to offer the world?
 
Yes.
 
I have ideas – good ideas – that would benefit all of us.
 
And when I say ‘all of us’, I mean both fae and human alike.”