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

Tony’s eyes widened at that but he remained silent, studying us and listening carefully to the conversation.

“At least he’s
admittin
’ there’s fae in the world now.
 
I call that a step in the right direction,” said Finn.
 

I couldn’t resist adding, “Told you he was a liar.”

Ben sighed.
 
“I never lied to Tony.
 
I just didn’t tell him facts that weren’t relevant to our relationship.”

“Ha!
 
That’s a joke.
 
You have a reason for coming to our school and befriending Tony, out of everyone you could have.
 
And don’t try to say it’s because you really love West Palm, either.”

Ben shrugged.
 
“Tony is an extraordinary person.
 
You of all people should know that.”

“I
do
know that.
 
Better than you do; because I don’t
want
anything from Tony, other than his friendship,
unlike you.”

“You seem to have me all figured out, Jayne.
 
So tell me – what exactly do I want Tony for?”

He had me stumped with that one.
 
The fact was, I really didn’t know
what
he wanted Tony for.
 
I had to wing it if I was going to get out of this whole thing and get back home.

“Tony’s special.
 
He somehow fits into your plan for killing all the humans and taking over the world.”

Ben started laughing.
 
And not just a little.
 
A lot.

“What?
 
Killing humans is funny?”
 
He was so pissing me off right now, acting all callous.

He calmed down enough to speak.
 
“No, it’s not funny at all.
 
What
is
funny is your characterization of my grand scheme.
 
You don’t seriously believe that stuff do you?”
 
He looked at our faces, seeing nothing but hard stares in return.
 
“Really?
 
You guys think that?”

I raised my eyebrow at him, saying nothing.
 
If he was going to deny it, he had a lot of convincing to do.
 
An arrow in the back was pretty hard evidence that his kind had little sense of fair play.

“You see,
this
is the problem with believing rumors and letting history dictate our future,” said Ben, now clearly frustrated.
 
“I have no intention of killing off all the humans and I don’t know where you got that information.
 
Why would I do that? More than half of our fae population needs humans for one reason or another.”

I looked at Tony.
 
“Yeah, orcs
eat
humans.
 
They’re Dark Fae.”

“Listen, there are plenty of Light Fae who eat humans too.
 
And orcs are not technically Dark Fae anymore since they live in the Underworld – but that’s not the point.
 
The point is that no one wants to kill off humans.
 
Our plan is really quite simple.
 
The Dark Fae
want
to assert their place in society.
 
No more skulking around in the dark, hiding who we
are
.”
 
He looked at each one of us, advocating passionately for his plan.
 
“Together, we could all take a stand and demand our fair share.
 
Why should we live as monsters and outcasts?
 
We are who we are.
 
Our natures are
from
nature, so why should we continue to be demonized by humans?”
 
He gripped the edge of the table and leaned in towards us.
 
“We
shouldn’t
.
 
And that’s where we’re coming from.
 
We want all the fae on board, Light and Dark, so we can engage the world leaders and make the integration happen.”

“Exactly,” said Jared.
 
“So you want to announce to the humans that the fae are here to stay and oh, by the way, don’t be afraid, but we are going to eat some of you.”
 
Jared shook his head.
 
“Yeah ... that’ll work.”

I was with Jared.
 
I couldn’t believe this guy’s arrogance.
 
He really thought that just because he’d come up with a plan, it was a good one and everyone was just going to follow along.

Ben shrugged.
 
“I’m not saying it’ll be easy or accomplished without bloodshed; but it can be done.
 
And it will.”
 
His last sentence was said with such intensity, I felt a trickle of fear up my spine.
 
I was hoping he wasn’t going to ignite again.
 
I wasn’t ready for a showdown in the middle of the diner and I’d already almost lost one friend to his fire today.

“There aren’t enough of you Dark Fae to take a stand against humans,” said Jared.

“That’s why we need you Light Fae to join us.”
 
He smiled as if he were our new best friend.

That’s when I started laughing.
 
I looked around at my friends as I tried to keep my guffaws to a minimum level, worried about attracting too much attention from the few late-night diners nearby; my friends were smiling at my amusement, even Chase.
 
Ben, however, wasn’t.
 
The more I laughed, the more pissed he became.

“What is so funny?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Oh, nothing.
 
Just that you think the Light Fae are going to join you in your little invasion.”

“They will join us.”

I got serious quickly.
 
“Like hell we will.”

“Those who are not
with
us are
against
us.”

“Sounds like a threat,” said Spike, his eyes smoldering dark red with tendrils of black mixed in.

“Take it however you want.
 
It is what it is.”

I pushed my chair out, standing up and taking my shoebox with Tim in it under my arm, resting it on my hip.
 
“I’ve heard enough.
 
No point in wasting any more of our time.”
 
I looked at Ben pointedly and held up the box a little.
 
“Thanks to you, I have a friend in need of medical attention.
 
Already a fae casualty in your little war against the humans.”

Ben stood angrily, bumping the table and jingling the ice in our water glasses.
 
“I have no war with the humans; only those who refuse to see reason and get with the program.”

“Your program,” I said angrily.

“Yes.”

“Screw that and screw you too, Ben.”

Ben looked at Tony.
 
“Tony, I really wish you would reconsider and come with me.”

Tony stood slowly.
 
“I know, Ben, but I’m sorry.
 
I need to go with Jayne.
 
I really wish you had told me some of this before.”

“Would you have believed me?”

Tony thought about it for a second.
 
“No, probably not.
 
But you could have tried.”

“That’s exactly the point I’ve been trying to make here, Tony ... everyone.”
 
He looked around the table, beseeching all of us.
 
“If I had told Tony the truth, would he have been my friend?
 
No.
 
He would have thought I was nuts and refused to hang out with me.
 
All of us fae have to go through life pretending to be something we’re not.
 
We have to move from place to place over the years so people won’t notice we aren’t aging as fast as they are.
 
We cannot make friends with non-fae for fear they will find out our secret and turn us in to the cops or mental hospitals – or worse.
 
All I want is to be able to live as a fae, out in the open.”

“All you want is something you can never have,” said Jared, disgusted.
 
“Let’s go, guys.”

He started to walk out, Finn and Spike right behind him.
 

I handed Tim’s box to Chase.
 
“Go ahead.
 
I’ll be right there.”

Chase leaned in to whisper in my ear, “I’m not crazy about leaving you here with him.”

I squeezed his arm and nodded, letting him know I’d be fine.
 
“Go.”
 
I turned to Tony.
 
“Tony, I’ll meet you outside, ‘
kay
?”

Tony looked worriedly from me to Ben.
 
“Don’t do anything stupid, Jayne.”

I shoved him gently.
 
“Shut up.
 
I never do stupid stuff.
 
Well, almost never.
 
I’ll be there in a minute, just
go
.”

Tony left us, looking back once on his way out.
 
I knew exactly what he was thinking, but I had no intention of launching a green power bomb at Ben’s stupid head, much as I might have wanted to.

Ben and I stared at each other for a few seconds.
 
Now that everyone was gone and it was just the two of us, the chemistry there was undeniable.
 
This was the first time we had ever been alone together.
 
I had intended to lay down the law with him and tell him in no uncertain terms that Tony was off limits forever.
 
But all of that went right out of my head when he looked at me.
 

He slowly walked from behind his chair and came to stand in front of me.
 
I looked up to meet his eyes.
 
He was taller than me by several inches.
 
His dark hair was in striking contrast to his green eyes.
 
My god, he was gorgeous, in a seriously dangerous sort of way.
 
He made your typical bad boy look like a saint.
 
He probably had every single girl at our high school drooling all over him.
 

Well, not me.
 
I might be fully aware of how good he looked, but that didn’t mean I was going to start acting all girly stupid around him.

“You wanted a private word?” he said, amused.

“Why is that so funny?”

“It’s not.
 
It’s just that I was waiting for the threats to start, but all I’m seeing now is a little fae girl, sweating.”

I frowned, reaching up to wipe the perspiration off my upper lip.
 
“It’s hot in here.”

He smiled.
 
“If you say so.”

“Listen, I’m not interested in whatever little fae games you’re trying to play with me right now.
 
You can lay off the
glamouring
or mesmerizing or whatever else you call that shit you’re doing.”

He held up his hands in a gesture of innocence.
 
“I’m not doing anything.
 
Whatever you have going on right now is all you.”

“
Pfft
.
 
Right.
 
Whatever.
 
I just wanted to tell you that Tony is with me.
 
Like,
forever
.
 
You need to stay away from him and tell your Dark Fae friends to stay away from him too; if anything happens to him, I’m coming after you ... and only after blowing up everyone you care about.”

Ben looked at me with a touch of anger on his face.
 
“That’s a pretty big threat for such a young and inexperienced fae girl like you.
 
I’m not so sure you can back it up.”

I put every ounce of outrage I felt over the idea of something happening to Tony and put it in my eyes, so Ben wouldn’t doubt my sincerity for a second.
 
“Trust me, Ben, I can.
 
Whatever it takes.
 
If something happens to Tony, I will bring you down and take you out, even if it means taking myself out in the process.”

Ben moved closer – so close I could smell him.
 
Dammit
, he even smelled good.
 

“And who protects the big, bad Jayne Blackthorn?”

I cleared my suddenly constricted throat.
 
“That’s Jayne Sparks to you, asshole.
 
And I don’t need protection.”

Ben leaned down a little, looking directly into my eyes.
 
“I think you do.”

“Fuck you, Ben.” I said, pushing him away, hard.
 
When my hands touched his chest I felt the heat going into them and up my arms.
 
I wondered briefly how he went through this human world all the time not setting things or people on fire.

Ben smiled, looking down at the spot on his chest where I had touched him.
 
“I’m letting you leave with your friends and Tony to show my good intentions.
 
I was serious when I said before that I’d like to have you with me too, Jayne.
 
Together, you and me, we could be unstoppable.”
 
He looked down at me, flames burning in his eyes.