Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall (17 page)

"What do you think?" he asked, coming one step closer, now just a foot away from me.

I had to look up to see his face, and even this near to him, I could see nothing but Ben in his eyes.  "That is just sicker than sick," I said, disgusted with myself and now not as afraid as I had been.  "I fall asleep after being molested by a naked pixie baby, and now I'm dreaming up demons and ... other fae ... just to freak myself out."  I reached up to push him out of my way.  "Go away.  I'm tired.  I have to get up in the morning and talk to the council."

He grabbed my hands as soon as they touched his chest and clamped onto them, squeezing them hard enough to make me scared again.   This clearly was not the Ben I knew and at least liked now and then.  And pain was still possible here, I quickly realized, making me lose whatever confidence I'd had a second ago.

"Who do you see in front of you?  Who am I, here in your mind?" he demanded angrily.

"Don't you know?" I asked. 
How can he not know he's Ben?

"I would have thought your greatest fear was me as you've seen me before.  Not this fae ... this mystery boy.  Who is it that you fear so deeply?  Tell me!"  He yanked my arms towards him painfully.

I opened my mouth to answer him, but then thought better of it, clamping my jaw shut.  My brain was moving as fast as it could in this weird place with almost no clues to help me figure things out.  The only thing I could come up with was that I should never
ever
give a demon what he wanted.  And since he wanted to know Ben's name, that would be the last thing I told him.

"I don't know who it is.  I've never seen him before in my life," I lied.  I was trying not to freak out any more than necessary, but this demon even smelled like Ben which was wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Don't lie to me," he growled, squeezing my hands harder.

Ben, you stupid jerk, why are you coming to me like this?!
  I didn't know what else to do but yell out in my own head, which was surely a sign I was losing it.  But I was panicking, picturing myself stuck here in this dark place with only the Ben Monster to keep me company for all eternity.  I closed my eyes and focused hard. 
Come to me, Ben.  Come to me.  Save me!

"What are you doing?" he asked, breathing down on me with Ben's breath.

"I'm trying to wake myself up."

He dropped my arms.  "Do you mean to suggest that you cannot reverse this spell?"

My eyes popped open.  "This is a spell?"

"Curse the dragons!" yelled the Ben Monster, spinning away from me, taking a few angry steps before facing me again.  "You are the most inept elemental I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with, do you know that?"

"Pfft. 
Not so inept that I wasn't able to send your sorry ass back to the Underworld."  I was feeling cocky again.

"Not without the help of your lover, the other elemental.  What's his name again ...?  Ben was it?"

My eyes widened. 
Oh, shit.  He knows about Ben
.

The Ben Monster moved back over to stand in front of me, watching me closely.  I tried to school my features to look unconcerned or bland, but he wasn't falling for it.  I could tell the way the smile started to creep across this face.  And it was more than a little disturbing to see Ben looking so happy.  He was usually so brooding; but now I could truly appreciate how gorgeous of a specimen he really was with his demon doppelganger smiling like that.

"Why do I think now that the fae you see standing before you is this elemental ... Ben?"

I shrugged.  "I have no idea.  I'm bound to him, so he'd be the last one to show up as my worst nightmare."

We both turned at the same time we heard the sound.

"Who's there?" I said, my throat constricting on my words, making them squeak out. 
It's probably Gorm, the buggane.  He's next on my list of the last creature I'd like to see in my head at night.

But it wasn't.  As soon as he entered the light, I breathed a sigh of relief.  "Ben," I said, walking quickly over to him and taking his hand in mine.  "Thank the Overworld you came.  I'm stuck in here with this turd, and I don't know how to get out."  I gave him the biggest smile possible, just realizing now that he was about to figure out exactly how I felt about him, seeing Torrie inhabiting his body.

The new Ben looked from me to Torrie and back again.  "What's the meaning of this?" he said haughtily, not sounding at all like Ben.

I dropped his hand like a hot potato and took three quick steps back. 
"Leck?!
  What in the hell are you doing here?"

"What's Ben doing here?" he asked.

"Ah
ha!"
yelled Torrie.  "I
knew
it.  This is Ben!"

"That's not Ben's voice," said Leck, narrowing his eyes.  "An imposter."  He turned to me.  "I ask you again.  Why have I been compelled in her, and what is this imposter doing with Ben's corpus?"

"Probably the same thing you are doing with it," said Torrie, cockily.  "Apparently this young elemental fears him and us.  Quite charming when you get past the fact that we have been brought here by a fool who does not know how to release us or herself."

"You cannot be serious," said Leck, at first appearing as if he thought Torrie were joking, but then getting an angry look on his face.  "Oh, for the love of ..."

"Hey!  I'm standing right here!  No need to be rude about it."

"What do you expect for us to do?" asked Leck in his most obnoxiously stuck-up voice.  "Act as good buddies like you and your little water sprite and green elf friends, and sit in a circle playing pat-a-cake?"

"Wow, Leck.  Being Maléna's right hand wrathe has really done wonders for your personality."  I wasn't sure who was worse between the two of them.  She was a pain in my ass, but Leck had actually tortured me a couple times when Ben had held me captive.  I wasn't one bit sorry I'd interrupted Leck's sleep to drag him in here.  Anything I could do to pay him back was fine by me.

"You are acquainted with Maléna?  The silver elf?" asked Torrie, some of the menace missing from his tone.

Leck lifted his chin, which looked ridiculous on Ben's face since it seemed to be a sign of self-bolstered confidence.  Ben didn't need things like that.  

"We are more than acquaintances."

Torrie's lip curled in disgust.  "I can only see you as this Ben fae now, but even so ... I am not impressed."

Leck was getting ready to let Torrie have it, so I stepped between the two Ben imposters and held up my hands.  "Okay, boys, let's drop the super stupid jealousy act and move on, shall we?  I mean, seriously ... she didn't like you when you were alive, Torrie, so trust me - she's going to hate you now.  Not only are you ugly as sin, but you smell bad, too.  And Leck, you are her do-boy, plain and simple.  I hope you haven't fooled yourself into thinking otherwise.  She could probably have anyone she wants; she's not going to settle for a simpering wrathe who can't control his temper."

"Did you just call me ugly?"

"Did you just accuse
me
of
simpering?"

Both Bens stood staring at me with mouths agape.

Before I could answer, another voice came out of the darkness.  

"Who's there?"

A fae who looked like the real Ben walked into the light, joining us.  I breathed a sigh of relief when the voice and face matched.  

"Is it really you, Ben?" I asked, moving closer to put my hand on his arm.  I squeezed it, finding it warm and solid.  I searched his eyes for answers, but they looked exactly like the other Bens' eyes.

"Where are we?" he asked me.  He looked at the other two.  "And why are there three of me here?"

"Wellll ...," I started, nervously, "see, I was having this dream, I guess, and I somehow managed to pull the demon Torrie and the wrathe Leck in here.  And I'm not sure how to send them out or how wake up at this point."

"And you called me to help you," he asked, his expression neutral.

"That's the gist of it, yeah."

"Which one of you is Torrie?" Ben asked, looking from one to the other.

Neither answered, so I pointed to him.  "That one."

"Did you answer a call or were you compelled?"

"Compelled," he admitted.

"And what about you?" he asked Leck.

"Compelled," he said, sighing.

"So I am the only one summoned?"

The other two Bens nodded.

"What's the difference?  What does it mean?" I asked.  It seemed significant, the way he acted, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.  All of the biggest jerks I knew were here and I wanted
none
of them here.  How they got here didn't matter to me.  I just wanted them all gone.

The real Ben turned to me, his face a mask of coldness.  "End this now, Jayne.  I have to get my sleep.  We face a challenge from Maléna tomorrow, and I cannot enter it tired."

"A challenge?" asked Torrie.  "How interesting.  What are the stakes?"

"None of your business," Ben said over his shoulder.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance," said Torrie, a hint of slyness entering his voice.  

Normally I would run from it, but in this case, I thought better of it.  "Like what kind of assistance?" I asked, curious about what a spurned lover of Maléna might be willing to offer.

"Shut your mouth, demon!" yelled Leck.  "You have no place in Here and Now business!"

"Much as you might like to believe that, I must assure you, it is not correct," said Torrie, turning back to me before continuing.  "Send the wrathe away, and we shall talk.  I'm sure we can reach an agreement."

"Send them both away, Jayne.  We need to leave here.  Dwelling in your mind for too long is never a good idea," said the real Ben.

I bugged my eyes out at him and put my hands on my hips.  "Don't you think I would have already done that if I knew how? 
Shit,
that's why I called you!  Help me send everyone away. 
Including
you."

Ben's lips pressed into a thin line for a few seconds before he answered quietly, so only I would hear.  "You will answer for this later.  But for now, you may send all of us back by just making it so."

My mouth dropped open and stayed that way until I had the presence of mind to start talking again.  I whisper-yelled back at him, "Are you fucking kidding me?  That's not an
answer
.  That's not a method for undoing this mess!  Give me something real I can use, you idiot!"

Ben's nostrils flared.  "Use the power of your mind.  That's what got them here in the first place.  Apparently, you hate me so much, you've drawn in your worst fears and put my face on them."  He shook his head in disgust.  "I don't know why I've bothered.  Just send us away.  Picture it in your mind."

I was pissed.  "You act as if you're the only one trying to make this work.  But when you do try, you do it for a little while and then you just act like an ass again.  Like right now, for example."

"Better than acting like a spoiled bitch."

"Ass!"
I yelled, pushing him hard in the chest.

He flew backwards, into the darkness, as if I had some kind of super-strength that lifted him right off his feet.  And then I heard nothing more.

"Ben?" I called out tentatively.  "Are you there?"

"I think you may consider him de-summoned," said Leck, snickering.

"Oh yeah?  Well, guess what, Leck?  You can consider yourself de-summoned
too!"
  I strode up to him and gave him a two-fisted punch to the chest. 
"Ass!"

He went flying off into the blackness too, leaving me alone with Torrie.

"Technically, he would be de-compelled," said Torrie, barely controlling his laughter.

I walked over and raised my fist into his face.  "Shut up, or I'll de-compell you too before you have a chance to make me a deal I know I shouldn't take."

He lifted an eyebrow.  "And you do the de-compelling so well.  I like your style, elemental."

I nodded, actually kind of proud of myself.  "Yeah, me too.  Who'd-a-thought the magic word would be
ass
?  I like it."

"I'm quite sure you could use any word you wished, or even no word at all."

"No thanks.  I'll keep using
ass
.  It seems to fit the situation perfectly."

Torrie wisely said nothing, briefly giving me the illusion that I was in control here.  

I mentally slapped myself to bring my brain back to reality.  Nothing good could ever come of me forgetting who he was and what he'd done.  Even wrapped up in a pretty face and body, he was still evil to the bone.  I'd seen his real soul, and it was as ugly as sin.

"So what's your proposal?" I asked.  "I need to know Maléna's weak spots.  I want to either get a full-on kill-shot on that bitch or figure out some way to incapacitate her so I can at least win this challenge."

"What, may I ask, are the stakes?"

"Head of the council, I think."  I decided the less Torrie knew the better, but if the gleam in his eye was any indication, it was motivating for him to think he was going to help me take her down a few notches, so I added, "Essentially the question is whether Maléna answers to elementals, or elementals answer to Maléna."

Torrie nodded.  "I can help you.  The question is, what will I get in return?"

I laughed.  "Before you even go there, I have to tell you that you can keep your demon wiener to yourself.  I'm not interested in giving birth to the spawn of the devil, and there is nothing you could give me that would make that happen.  I'd kill myself first."

"I'm sorry you find laying with me so distasteful.  Your mother didn't seem to share your abhorrence."

I reached my hand out and slapped him hard across the face, sending his head sharply to the side.

"Don't you
ever
talk about my mother again, do you hear me?!  One more word of disrespect towards her and I will
rip
your friggin
head
off!"  I was shaking with the sudden flare of anger and disgust that took over me.  The light in my mind turned a sickly green.  Flashbacks of my mother's beaten and bloody body assailed my inner eye.  I felt sick to my stomach and wanted to cry with the memory.  This beast had done that to her.  He was the one who'd ruined that part of my life.  Never again would I have a human home to go back to.