Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (15 page)

I had more questions, but I’d run out of breath.
 
I was getting ready to let them have another barrel-full, when Dardennes held up his hand.

“Okay.
 
Fair enough.
 
You have a few things on your mind, I can see.
 
Let us do what we can to clarify some of these issues for you.
 
I cannot guarantee that you will like the answers you hear though.”

“Just, for the love of all that is holy, tell me the friggin’ truth, would you please?
 
I’m tired of all the lies and secrets.”

“I will do my best.”
 
Dardennes cleared his throat.
 
“To answer your questions, if I remember them correctly: we certainly did not plan for any of the fae to hurt or try to kill you.
 
What happened in the lake was sanctioned by me
, but you were not in danger of dying.
 
The worst that could have happened would have been the need to pump your lungs – but we were fairly certain you had the affinity to Water that would have made that outcome unlikely.
 
Regarding the situation with the green elves, we are not sure what happened there.
 
The actions taken by Robin of The Green were not part of the plan and so we need to speak with him to determine his reasoning.”

I interrupted him.
 
“Yeah, good luck with that.
 
All he does is cry and call me Mother.”

Dardennes and Céline both got funny looks on their faces.
 
They looked at each other, and then back at me.

“Are you certain?
 
He called you Mother?”

“Yeah.
 
And he’s not the first one to do that either.”

“Who else has called you this?” asked Dardennes, anxiously.

“The hag.
 
The one I killed during the test.”

“When did she call you that?
 
When she first saw you?”

“No.
 
After I stuck her with Blackie ... my sharp stick.
 
Her face changed – it got younger and pretty.
 
Then she called me mother and ... well ... disintegrated.”

Spike was looking at me with his mouth hanging open.
 
He stepped over and nudged me with his elbow.
 
“What’s up with all the secrets, woman?
 
Fess up.
 
What other juicy info are you leaving out?”

“Has anyone else called you this name?”

“No.
 
Just the hag and Robin.
 
Oh, and Finn too.”

Dardennes turned to Céline.
 
“We need to call an emergency meeting.
 
Get everyone in the compound.
 
Now, please.”

Céline moved to leave the room.
 
“Finn, come with me.”

They left the room without sparing us a glance.

“Alright Dardennes, explain to me what’s going on before I really lose my cool.”

“All will be explained to you in the meeting.
 
I expect the soonest we will be able to get everyone together will be in one hour.
 
The green elves will need assistance and I need everyone at the meeting.
 
Please join us in the large meeting hall at around three-thirty.”

“Dardennes ... ”

He stopped on his way out, taking me by the arm and gently propelling me in front of him.
 
Spike followed behind.
 
“Jayne, I know you have questions.
 
Believe me, I understand.
 
I promise you, I will answer all of them to the best of my ability at the meeting.
 
Just please be patient a little while longer.”

I stopped in my tracks, refusing to move any farther.
 
“I’ll make you a deal; I’ll be patient a little longer if you let me email Tony – right now.”

Dardennes sighed loudly, obviously annoyed.
 
“You can wait ... ”

“No!
 
I’m not waiting.
 
Hook me up or get the hell outta my way, ‘cause I’m outta here.”

He looked at me sternly, reminding me for a moment of my father – and that wasn’t a good thing.
 
I launched my crazyass high school staredown tactics on him.
 
There was no way he could defeat me now.

“Fine.
 
Follow me.”

That’s right
,
bitch
.
 
But I was only slightly pacified ... he still hadn’t answered my questions.

He led Spike and me down the hall to a door that opened at his touch.
 
Inside were three computers lined up next to each other on a long
table.
 
“You may use the computers here.
 
They have firewalls to protect against intruders.
 
Please don’t forget the meeting at three-thirty.”

He left in a hurry, before either of us could remember to ask him where the large meeting hall is.

“Cool.
 
Computers.
 
Internet.”
 
Spike sat down at one of them and wiggled the mouse, getting the screen to power up.
 

I sat down next to him, doing the same thing, looking at him askance and wondering if I had to worry about him biting
me or anything
.

He caught me looking at him.
 
“Listen Jayne, about earlier ... ”

“Yeah, what
was
that all about anyway?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but I do know that as an incubus, whatever sex drive I had before, it’s like, multiplied by a hundred now.
 
Valentine is trying to show me how to control it, but to be
honest,
he’s not that good at controlling it himself, so he’s not a lot of help.
 
Actually,” he paused to laugh, “Jared and Chase were more effective at helping me with that than Valentine has been so far.”

“How so?”

“They threatened to beat the shit out of me if I touched you again.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
 
“It’s not up to them who I touch and who I don’t.”

Spike held up his hand, not looking at me.
 
“I hear ya, Jayne, believe me.
 
But don’t even for a second give me any signal that you’re interested in doing anything with me right now, not even a kiss, unless you’re literally ready to get the life sucked out of you.
 
This isn’t a game.
 
I realized that today.
 
This fae shit is dangerous, and I need to figure it out before I go making any more moves on you.”

He looked at me then, an apology on his face.
 
“It’s nothing personal.
 
You know I ... well, like I said.
 
It’s better if I don’t talk about it now.
 
I’m just gonna go read the sports pages and get my mind off it.”

He turned back to the computer.

The rebel in me wanted to do something to tempt him.
 
The survivor in me, the one who had just fought off thirty wacko elves, told me to leave it alone.
 
For now, that’s what I was going to do.
 
Later though?
 
No promises.

I got into my Internet account and searched for an email from Tony, but there was nothing.
 
I tried not to be upset about it.
 
He’d only been home a day or so, and I wasn’t sure how much that erasing had affected him.

I started a new message:
Hey Tones.
 
What’s up?
 
How’s school?
 
Well, I really miss you.
 
Can’t wait to see you.
 
Hugs!
 
Love, Jayne.

I was afraid to say more than that.
 
I wasn’t even sure what story they gave him, to account for where I was.
 
Did he think I ran away?
 
Did they make him believe I was on vacation?
 
Did they erase me from his mind entirely?

The thought of that instantly got my blood boiling.
 
If they did, there was going to be hell to pay.
 
I’d pull up The Green and put every one of these motherfuckers in a friggin’ coma.
 
I’d ....

“Uh, Jayne?
 
Are you doing something right now?”

I looked over at Spike to see what his problem was.
 
His eyes were glowing red again.
 
“Spiiiike ... ”

The red faded and he chuckled.
 
“Phew!
 
For a second there I thought you were going to Green me or something.”

“Green you? What the hell is that?”

“You know.
 
Send me into the light or whatever you do ... where Finn was earlier.”

I shoved him hard, knocking him halfway out of his chair.

“Shut up, you idiot.”

Spike smiled, holding up his hands waving them back and forth like a crazy clown,
 
“Nooooo!!
 
Don’t go into the liiiigght!!!”

I pointed my finger at him.
 
“Don’t piss me off, incubus boy.”

“Oooh, scary.”
 
His eyes started to glow again.

“Put your shit away, suck fuck.
 
It’s not sexy time right now.”

The glow flared up strong but then died down until it was just a tiny ember, deep in his eyes.

“I love it when you talk dirty to me.”

“Spike, I’m warning you ... ”

“Whatever you say ... Mother.”

I shoved him super hard this time, sending him completely out of his chair.
 
He was laughing his ass off on the floor.
 
He kept pointing at me, trying to talk, but by now he was in hysterics.
 
“
Mo ....
Moth .....
Moth ...”

The door opened and Chase was standing in the doorway.
 
“What’s up?”

Spike and I looked at him in silence for two seconds.
 
Then we both started laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee my pants.
 
Every time I looked at either of them, it got worse.
 
I think the stress of everything that had happened just finally got to me.
 
My laughing seemed to be an overreaction to something that wasn’t very funny, but at the same time, seemed perfectly appropriate.
 
Surviving a near drowning and firing squad skewed my reasoning, I think.

Chase shook his head silently and shut the door, coming in and kicking Spike out of his way so he could sit down at the computer.

He clicked on the mouse a few times and said, “Cool.
 
Martha Stewart has a new cookbook out.”

That was it.
 
I was done for.
 
I was cracking up so badly now I was snorting, just trying to breathe.
 
Tears were pouring down my face.
 
Spike was wheezing on the floor, curled up in a ball.
 
He couldn’t even get up he was laughing so hard.

Chase didn’t even bother looking at us.
 
He was too busy reading reviews on Amazon for the new book.
 
“Looks like a winner, too.”

I put my hand on his shoulder, gasping for air, trying to talk.
 
“Chase ... dude ... you’re killing me ... stop!”

He reached up and patted my hand, saying nothing.

I had just started to get control of myself and Becky walked in.
 
“Hey guys!
 
What’s new?”

Spike sat up, rubbing his hands on his face and then through his unkempt, spikey black hair.
 
“Oh, nothin’ much.
 
Jayne’s been kickin’ fae ass all over the forest.
 
I’m stalking her.
 
Chase is mooning over Martha Stewart.”

I pointed at him.
 
“Do
not
start this all over again.”
 
I hiccupped, trying to keep myself from falling into fits of laughter again.
 
If I wasn’t careful I was
gonna
barf.

“Wow.
 
Looks like I missed all the good stuff.
 
I always miss the good stuff.
 
It’s not fair.”
 
She looked at what Chase was doing.
 
“Oh, Internet.
 
Let me on!”

He tilted his head towards the other two computers.
 

I reached over and hit ‘Send’ on my message and then logged out.
 
Tony was six hours behind me, which I found out by doing a quick online search based on the computer’s IP address location– turns out this Light Fae compound was somewhere in Europe ... France I think – so I wasn’t sure if he’d see the message until much later.
 
Right now he’d be in school.
 
I was going to have to figure out some way to get back here after lights out to check if he sent me a reply.