Mistfall (10 page)

It was time to let Luca in on my secret life.
I spent the next half hour giving him the condensed version of my
life until this point, omitting parts where other people were
concerned. He may be my only ally right now and I had a feeling I
was going to need all the friends I could get.

“I’ve led a rather cloistered life,” I
finished.

“Well, that explains a few questions I’ve had
about you.”

“Only a few?” I had to laugh. He may not have
thought his question was as funny as I did, but it felt good to
have something to laugh about.

Luca made his way over to the fire and placed
his hand on the ground. Beneath his hand the earth erupted. Thick,
woody vines appeared and grew rapidly. They entwined themselves
around each other, like snakes, weaving in and out until they
formed a round, cylindrical shape. Once they were done growing,
they melted into each other, solidifying, forming a log.

“Have a seat,” Luca gestured to his creation.
He had a big grin on his face showing he was proud of his work. I
have to say it was rather impressive.

I sat next to him and took a moment to
collect my thoughts. I had dreamed about John again.
What is
wrong with me?
There was something that nagged me about the
dream, something wrong with it, but I couldn’t put a finger on
what. I didn’t spend too much time on it though, after all, it was
just a dream. Right now I had questions for Luca.

“So,” I looked up, “why are you here and what
is the Wildwood?”

“After I checked on your friend, I raced back
her to find you. I told you I didn’t like the idea of you going to
see the Fae. It just didn’t sit right with me to leave you out here
on your own.”

Melissa!
My tone was edgy. “How is
she? Is she safe?”

Luca patted my knee. “She’s fine. I gave her
the keys to my place. She’ll be safe there for now.”

“Oh my God Luca, thank you!”I squealed as I
ambushed him with a hug. I think he may have thought I was going to
tackle him again as he was slightly hesitant to return the
embrace.

I pulled away and he put his arm around my
waist, scooting me closer, not ready to let go of me yet.

“The Wildwood,” he began, “is a dominion of
the Fae. It’s easiest to think of it as asylum for wayward
Otherworlders. The residents of this forest hold no allegiance to
anyone. Out of respect though, they defer to the Fae.”

“I was wondering why the few people I met
today didn’t try to kill me. I thought it was just luck.”

“Probably more afraid of you than anything,”
he admitted.

“Yeah well, there is that whole ‘evil
incarnate’ label that goes along with being Iblian.”

I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my
eyes. This felt good, the fire warming me up and being snuggled
next to Luca, safe and sound. He was slowly rubbing circles on my
upper arm with his thumb. I could have stayed in his embrace for
hours. Sadly, this night wasn’t going to allow for such
luxuries.

“Are you awake?” Luca nudged me with his
shoulder.

“Barely,” I admitted. “What is it?”

“I was just wondering. Is there any way I can
still get you to run away with me?”

It’s not that I hadn’t given any thought to
his previous offer of protection. He seemed warm, caring and kind.
Luca said he had the ability to protect me. I could do much
worse.

But did I really want to live the rest of my
life in hiding. Always looking over my shoulder, looking out for
the next threat? I was outted now and the freedom that came with it
was refreshing, even with its bittersweet undertones. I already
knew my answer. I would fight my enemies as an Iblian jinn.
Powerful, deadly, and fearsome.

“I’m sorry Luca, but I can’t.”

“Why? Why not come with me?” he begged.

I turned to him, face to face. “I’ve never
been a shy, frightened little butterfly. I’m tired of hiding, the
camouflage, and constantly checking my back. It’s high time I take
back what’s mine.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And that would
be?”

“My life. I want my life back.”

Our conversation was interrupted as the air
shimmered before us. Hailz appeared amid the flurry of purple and
gold. Luca, unprepared for her sudden intrusion and snake-like
appearance, fell off the back of the log in surprise.

It was hard, very hard in fact, but I managed
to stifle my laughter.

“Hailz, did you have to show up so abruptly?”
I asked while holding my side (it was in stitches).

She chortled. “I would apologize, but I’m not
sorry.”

Luca got to his feet and stormed towards
Hailz. “You think that’s funny?”

Her tongue darted in and out of her mouth. “I
do actually. It’s not every day when you can take one of the-.”
Luca lunged for Hailz before she could finish what she was
saying.

“Luca!” I shouted. “What the hell? Get off of
her!”

I guess I really didn’t need to worry about
Hailz getting hurt. She seemed to have the upper hand in this
fight.

Hailz had managed to coil herself tightly
around Luca’s torso. You could tell she was restraining herself
from crushing him to death. It doesn’t take provocation to make
Hailz kill, she did it for sport.

“Why did you attack her?” I was still a
little shocked at his overreaction. Luca tried to speak, but only
managed to gasp for air.

“Um Hailz? Could you let him go?” I
asked.

“I’d rather not. In fact, I’m rather inclined
t watch him die. Slowly, of course. A rush job is never as much
fun. You barely have time to watch the life slip from their
eyes.”

Great, out of all the jinn out there I get
the murderous psychopath.
Then again, I do have fun killing my
enemies too, so what does that say about me?

“Hailz, I’d really like it if you didn’t kill
him.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Fine, but I’m not
letting him go until I leave.”

I crossed my arms. “Wait a second. Aren’t you
supposed to do what I tell you now that you’ve bound yourself to
me?”

“Learning curve,” she replied
sarcastically.

Luca, no longer having his ribs slowly
crushed, had finally quit wheezing.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

“I’m fine,” he replied grudgingly.

“Why did you attack Hailz?”

“That vile, lowly beast and I have a long
standing argument,” he sneered. “Oof!”

Hailz had momentarily tightened her grip on
Luca.

Wonderful, my only two allies hate each
other.

“I’m sure the story of the rivalry between
the two of you is an interesting one,” I began.

“That it is, would you like to hear it?”
Hailz interrupted.

“For another day,” I added, shifting my
weight to my other foot. “What are you doing here Hailz?” It wasn’t
like her to pay a social visit.

“The Master requests an audience with you
this morning.”

“Right,” I rolled my eyes, “he requested.

“Semantics,” she retorted.

Luca was mumbling his feelings on Iblis’s
request when Hailz’s tail slid across his mouth, gagging him. My
stomach heaved at the thought of tasting a slimy snake tail in my
mouth.

“As enticing as meeting the source of all
evil is, I’m going to have to pass.” Did I mention that sarcasm is
my second language?

Hailz was nonchalant in her response. “The
Master thought that might be your answer, so he asks you this: Who
will you turn to when all the world turns against you?”

She didn’t give me a chance to respond. Hailz
disappeared in her usual flurry of magical dust, leaving a rather
angry Luca in her wake.

He wiped his hand against his mouth
attempting to remove the Hailz aftertaste. “You let her bind
herself to you?” he asked at me incredulously.

“I didn’t have a choice,” I said flatly.

He started pacing back and forth, holding a
silent argument with himself.

I sat back down on the log, waiting for the
oncoming storm.

Luca stood in front of me, opening his mouth
to say something and quickly closing it again. He did this a few
more times before I decided to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Luca, I don’t know what you two have against
each other but-.” He cut me off. I was getting tired of being cut
off mid-sentence.

He ran his hand through his sandy blond hair
in frustration. “That’s the problem, you don’t understand. You’ve
effectively made yourself the enemy by allying yourself with the
Underworld.”

“Does it matter? I’m already an enemy of the
state.” I used air quotes with the ‘enemy of the state’ bit.

The muscle in Luca’s jaw clenched. “It’s not
a joking matter. Perhaps it’s not too late. Tell me, what did she
bind herself to? If we destroy the object, the bond will be broken.
It’ll be like none of this ever happened.”

Luca had proved himself a trustworthy ally,
thus far, but there was no way I would give that information up.
Not even to the gods themselves.

“It’s a dagger. I only had one in my bag. It
was innocuous enough to go unnoticed.”

Luca’s anger abated at that. “Good. Will you
grab it? I don’t want you accidentally leaving it in a corpse. I’ll
hang on to it for now.”

My spidey senses were tingling. But, since I
wasn’t giving him Hailz’s real object, I didn’t have a problem
giving it to him in order to find out if he was deceiving me.

“Sure, no problem, I said. I walked back to
the makeshift tent and opened my canvas bag. Kneeling down, my back
to Luca, I rifled through the clothes and myriad of deadly weapons
I had packed. I grabbed a dagger and set it on the ground so I
could refasten the straps on the bag. Something hard cracked
against the back of my skull, turning my world to black.

There were two things I was aware of upon
regaining consciousness. The first was that I was alive. The skull
splitting headache I was experiencing was evidence of that. The
second was that I was somewhere not nice.

I opened my eyes and looked around. Somewhere
a lamp was giving off a faint glow. The light was unable to
penetrate the surrounding darkness to give me any clues of my
current whereabouts.

The feeling of a glass shard repeatedly being
poked around in my head made it difficult to rid myself of the
headache right away. I remained on my side while my magic grew
strong enough to overcome the pounding, piercing ache.

That taken care of, I sat up, assessing my
situation. Lying down or sitting upright, the scenery was black as
pitch, aside from the dampened glow of a lantern. I summoned up my
own light in the form of a warm, golden orb of fire. I tossed it
into the air to illuminate my blindness.

I was greeted by the confines of an
oubliette. What’s an oubliette? It’s a cell, without windows or an
entrance/exit (except my magic of course). A person only ends up in
one if they are meant to be forgotten.

It explained why I wasn’t chained up. I was
pretty sure my magic would be useless to open the sealed door, but
gave it a try anyway. I felt out with my mind for the door and was
greeted by static. I tried again, this time just lobbing fire
balls, electrical orbs, and whatever else I could think of at the
walls, ceiling and floor. One by one, each assault fizzled out. I
felt like a fly trying to stop a freight train.

My magic, with its limitless resources,
seemed to be relegated to the inside of this bedroom sized prison.
“Thank Hades I’m not claustrophobic,” I mentioned to the walls.

I was wondering if it was Luca who had used
me for batting practice when cracks began appearing on one wall.
The cracks stretched out into vertical, parallel lines. Once they
had reached a certain height, slightly taller than I was, a new
crack grew and connected the two lines creating a door.

The door gave a bone-crushing groan as the
stone grated against the floor, revealing Luca.

“Speaking of the bastard,” I said.

“I believe the phrase is ‘speaking of the
devil,’ he responded softly, his eyes focused not on me, but the
ground.

“Nope.” I got up from the cold floor and
walked over to him. “The terminology is quite correct in this
case.” Luca’s eyes would not meet mine. His attention was focused
everywhere else.

“What did you do Luca?” I demanded. He didn’t
answer and continued staring at the floor.

Toe to toe with him, I pushed him hard
against his chest. “Tell me!” I shouted as he stumbled back a step
or two. I lurched forward to hit him…I mean inquire further when
King Abel entered the oubliette.

The Erlking Abelard, or King Abel as he was
going by these days, it seems, is my captor. A rather imposing
figure, built more like a hulking Viking than elf, Abel could
command a room with his presence alone. He looked like he was in
his mid-forties, but that probably meant he was closer to four
hundred and fifty years than forty-five. He was wearing a very
expensive, tailored Italian suit. Whatever business the Elves did
in the human world must pay very, very well. Luca and Abel shared
the same turquoise eyes, which wasn’t a normal Elf trait.

“Oh leave the boy alone,” Abel said,
emphasizing on the word boy. He followed orders.”

“I didn’t know you were so well versed in war
criminalese Abel,” I retorted.

“That’s King Abel Magdalene.”

My surly mood was further amplified by the
full use of my name. I didn’t like it and if anyone was going to
call me by my full name, it sure wasn’t going to be Snap, Crackle,
and Pop.

“You’re not my king, Abel.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he
forewarned me.

I knew I wouldn’t get away with it, but I
took a few shots at him anyway. Instead of using fireballs, I opted
for lightening.

“Screw you Abel,” I snarled and whipped the
electrified bolts towards him. They were absorbed by an invisible
wall.
Elves don’t have this kind of magic. What kind of fire was
Abel playing with?