Make Willing the Prey (Dreams by Streetlight) (15 page)

Where did that crazy thought come
from? 
She shook her head and reminded herself where she was.
  …Find a
key.

She sat on the stool and started
rifling through the small vanity drawers when a movement in the mirror caught
her eye.  At the same moment she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She stood and whirled on S.A.,
staring him in the eye.

“You let me go!”

S.A. removed his hand and
retreated slightly.  His clothes looked a little neater.  The tatters weren’t
just mended — it was as if there had never been tatters.  His top hat stood
straight, his shirt was tucked in.  Perhaps it was the light, but he seemed a
little cleaner.  

He held out his hands in a
friendly gesture.  “I fear we may have gotten off on the wrong foot.  I
frequently tend to overreact.  My... nature... gets the best of me.”

“I don’t feel sorry for you.” 
Then to prove that her powers against him still worked, she made the
butterflies disappear.

“I don’t want you to feel sorry
for me.  Mainly, well... I just want you to like me.”

“How could I like you after
everything?”

“I know.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t
know any other way.  I’ve never known any other way.  I didn’t mean to hurt you
and your friend.”

“And Lewis? You didn’t mean to
hurt him either?”

He hesitated only for a moment,
but Sandy noticed his evasion.

“No harm will come to you in this
room.  It is... Seelie.”

“Seelie?”

“There is no word in English.  Or
in fact, in any human tongue.  ‘Good’ is the word that comes closest to its
meaning.”

“Good is a simple enough concept.”

“We fae, we are like you, but not
anything like you.  It’s hard to explain.  You were offended by the methods I
used bringing you here, but in my world, it would all have been fair under both
seelie and unseelie code.  However I was to harm you here, against your will,
that would be unseelie.”

“Why is this room seelie?”

S.A. looked away and paused for a
very long time.  Finally he said, “This is my second favorite room.  It was my
mother’s room.  I wanted you to see it.”

“Why is it still here, untouched
after all this time?”

He again grew quiet.  “Do you
mind... much... if I bring the butterflies back?  They give me a feeling of
calm.”

Sandy hesitated.  “They calm me
down, too.  Like fish at the doctor’s office... Go ahead.  But no creepy shit. 
Rules, just like in the dream last night.  Got it?”

“Thank you.”  The butterflies
reappeared, filling the room again with color.  “Sandy, I don’t wish to harm
you.  I meant it when I said I loved you.”

“Right.  And being thrown against
a wall?  The knife?  The punishments?”

“The knife didn’t mark you.  You
know that it didn’t.”

“It scared the shit out of me. 
And it hurt Lewis.”

“It took a great act of will on
my part, to keep that knife from cutting you.”

“Then why do it in the first
place? Any of it?”

“I was angry.  You were trying to
leave.”

“Of course I’m trying to l—”

He had started crying.  Sobbing,
he curled in on himself and dropped to sitting on the floor.  A butterfly
landed on his shoulder and another on his hat.

“What the... Ok, hey don’t cry. 
Hey.”

“N-n-nobody loves me.”

“That’s... that’s not true.”

“Y-y-es it is.  No one ever wants
to visit me.  N-no one ever stays.”

In spite of herself, Sandy knelt
beside him and put her hand on his back.  The butterflies remained, unperturbed. 
“Listen S.A. if you want people to like you, you just have to go about it
differently, that’s all.  Invite people over, be nice to them, use your
illusions to make them happy.  Let them leave when they want.”

“Really?”  S.A. looked up at her
with swollen eyes.

“Yes.  You could throw a party
for instance.  I’ll bet you could throw a killer party.”

“But people... hurt me.”

“Maybe because you hurt them.”

S.A. broke down sobbing again.  “It’s
all my fault!”  Sandy rolled her eyes but instinct and awkwardness led her to
rub his shoulder. 

“Maybe... Maybe it wasn’t all
your fault.  People hurting you.  Like.  How did they hurt you?”

He sat up straight then, no tears
in his eyes, just fury.  He ripped open his shirt, ripped off his coat.  He
stood, and she could see his torso covered in the same kinds of scars that
adorned Lewis.  But they were all beautiful.  Spirals, knots, parallel lines. 
His translucent skin radiated with their designs.

“S.A. I’m so sorry.  Who did this
to you?”

“My mother.”

“What?  Your mother, the one who
lived in this room?  This seelie room?”

“No.  My step-mother.  My...
human mother.”  His voice trembled with rage.  Sandy shrunk back a little, and
looked at the butterflies to make sure the illusions weren’t turning wicked. 
The room itself remained safe and lovely, in spite of S.A.’s shifting mood.

“Human mother?”

“She... deserved... suffering.”

“Where is your fae mother?”

“Tir Na Nog.  She has always
lived there, and always will.”

“I’m confused.”

“Good.”  S.A. grinned wickedly at
her.

“Now that’s the sort of thing
that makes people dislike you.  Here I am, just trying to help, and you’re
showing happiness at my discomfort.”

He frowned then, and relaxed his
shoulders.

“Where is Tir Na Nog?  From what
I read, I thought this house was in the other world.”

“It’s not.  It’s just a house. 
This room is very close to Tir Na Nog, but it is not the place.”

“Is it some kind of
interdimensional thing?  Is Tir Na Nog superimposed on reality?  On earth?”

“Something like that.  But not
exactly.”

“See?  Talking like rational
beings isn’t so bad.”

“So you’ll marry me?”

Sandy laughed.  “No.”

“You promised.”  S.A. looked
angry again.  But everything seemed safe enough.  The butterflies remained
butterflies.

“I did, but that was under
duress. I don’t like being coerced.  Perhaps that’s not a fae concept.  You
see, when humans are forced to agree to something against their will, or
tricked into agreeing to something, we don’t consider that fair play.  It’s
against the rules.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Poisoning me took something very
valuable from me.  It took my health and threatened to take my life.  I had to
choose between marriage and death.  You see?”

“But you weren’t really
poisoned.  That was illusion.”

“Perhaps, but I had no way of
knowing that.”

S.A. poked at the floor
thoughtfully.  “We are so different, humans and fae.  That’s what I love about you. 
But,” he looked into her eyes.  “I want you to understand me.”

“Well, if we talk enough... but—”

“No talking.  There is another
way.”

“And what’s that?”

“I can show you my mind.”

Sandy recoiled.  She had no
desire to see the ugly things that must exist in his head.

A tear fell from S.A.’s eye.  “I
knew it.  No one wants to understand me.”

“No, that’s not it.  Look, you
have to understand if I’m a bit defensive after everything I’ve been through.”

He nodded meekly.  “What if I
assure you that I will do nothing against your will?”

“Don’t be silly. How would I know
you will keep your promise?”

S.A. reached into his pocket and
pulled out a silver necklace.  The pendant was a simple Celtic trinity knot. 
Sandy jerked back from it slightly.

“I can’t accept any more gifts
from you.”

“It isn’t a gift.  It’s a spell. 
If you let me place this around your neck, it will protect you, and I will be
unable to do anything against your will.”

“And I’m supposed to believe
that?”

“Fae are honor bound by such
spells.  Even imps.  If you’d like, you can cast the spell yourself.”

“How?”

“The same way you made the
butterflies disappear.”

“Just believe it?”

“Yes.  Say these words, ‘I share
your mind / we think as one / but nothing against / my will be done’.  Say them
three times, then put on the necklace.”

Sandy eyed him skeptically. 

“Look it up in your book if you
want to.”

She weighed her options.  Nothing
bad had happened to her in this room, just like he had promised.  Nothing even
remotely creepy.  The door downstairs was firmly locked, and there were no
other obvious exits.  The iron ring still weighed cooly on her finger.  She
knew how to make the illusions disappear.

Armchair psychotherapy might be
the only way out for her and her friends.  And it wasn’t like she was letting
him into her mind... She might convince him to let them go.  Or she might learn
something there that could help her escape.

“I’ll do it.”  Taking the
necklace, she said the words three times, pouring her soul into each syllable: 

‘I share your mind

we think as one

but nothing against

my will be done’

Then she placed the chain around
her neck.

Suddenly her point of view
shifted.  She saw herself out of his eyes.  She felt delight, mirth,
grin-inducing glee.  Then she saw herself take on a worried look.  There was no
telling what she, herself, was feeling.  She only knew S.A.’s world.  His was
her only perspective.

Her first instinct was to go back
to her own mind, but she didn’t know how.  Then she was overcome with elation. 
It felt
good
to be S.A.

A crow looked up from the bed
with one eye cocked.  Its small black claws dug into the lace pillow.  A
blue-green wing hung from its mouth.  It plucked another butterfly from the air
and choked it down.

S.A. stood and held out his hand,
and she watched herself take it.  He kissed it lightly.  She tasted her own
hand on his lips.  He let go of her hand long enough to push aside the wardrobe
to reveal a low secret door.  He opened it, took her hand again, and led her
through.

“This... This is my favorite room.”

The room remained dark until he
sent a surge of energy through his body.  She felt it too as it coursed through
his veins.  Candles lit.  Thousands of white candles of every shape and size
lit in brilliance.  She didn’t know candlelight could be so bright.  This room,
this was his sanctuary, his unseelie place.  No rules here.

He looked down at her, she looked
back up at him with the expression of naughty little child who was facing her
father.  She felt his power, felt the control he had over her.  Total control. 
What a rush!  Now she would be his thrall forever.  No more loneliness, no more
sadness, no more pain.  She looked at the fear in her own eyes, and felt a
swelling in her groin.  How different it felt, a penis.  What a powerful
organ!  What a frightened girl!  What a lovely, beautiful, kind, innocent,
brave, intelligent girl!  All his! 

Pleasure zipped through him.

He stepped up to her, and, unlike
all the other times, she did not back away.  Holding her chin, he kissed her. 
A tear rolled down her cheek, but she could not feel herself.  Only him.  Only
his desire. 

She reveled in it.  Sandy’s will
was his.  She would not flee.

“Now, about our engagement...”

He watched her nod.  “We’ll be
married soon.  And I, well I do things a slightly different order.”  He backed
her up against the wall.  There were no candles here, just the wood of an old,
decaying wall.  She wanted nothing more than to push this girl there, hold her
there, pin her...

Instead, he ripped her shirt off,
ripped her bra away.  Vines grew out of the wall, wrapping around her arms,
holding her still.  Can’t have the girl flinching, can’t have the body falling
to the floor.  She felt his overwhelming desire to crush her throat, but he
tempered it.  With deft control, he grabbed a candle and poured it over her
shoulders, her breasts.  She heard herself scream, she watched herself fight
against the vines.

She understood S.A. now.  It was
simple.  He was cruel, and she loved him.

He became aware of Jina and Lewis
then.  Jina wanted to go someplace she shouldn’t.

“Help me Sandy.  Your friend
wants to come rescue you.  But you don’t want to leave, do you?”

No,
Sandy
thought.

“Good.  Lend me power.  Think
about bricks.  You believe, ever so much, in bricks.”