Pink Princess Fairytini (Fairy Files #2) (31 page)

Benny roared and started to shift into a dragon. The police yelled at him to stop and the crowd screamed and ran. “Not yet, Benny, it’s too soon,” a small mousey man, who looked like an elf, said. He leaped onto the stage and tried to get close to Benny, but Benny swatted and knocked him back off the stage.

The kids next to Benny writhed and agony creased their faces. Herbert Elderwood’s skin started to go gray and his eyes drained of color. Whatever was happening had to be stopped or he was going to die. There was a good chance he’d die anyway. I met the eyes of Mercury and Vin over the heads of the children and mimed running towards the kids. Mercury and Vin nodded. I looked at Frost, his eyes already on me and he said. “On my count.” Then he met Vin and Mercury’s eyes, showed them three fingers and made a fist.

“One,” he said, raising one finger. “Two,” he said, raising a second finger. “Three.” He raised the third finger and the four of us moved. We raced at the kids, hitting them at stomach level and pushing them away from the child next to them and their connection to Benny.

I fell on the floor on top of Livvy Greenleaves, whose eyes were bloodshot and glassy and whose skin was clammy. I didn’t know how much of a chance she had to survive, but I knew I was a better healer than a fighter and, if the only thing I could do was heal those children, I was going to do it.

“Cover me,” I shouted to Frost, who’d managed to hit two children and separate them as he moved. He pursed his lips, like he wanted to argue, then he nodded.

I pushed my senses under Livvy’s skin and searched until I found the rot in her, the shadows replacing the power and energy she’d once had. She didn’t need to be put back together, she needed her essence, her energy, back. I couldn’t get her essence back from Benny, and I didn’t know if there was enough of the woman left to save.

In the end, it didn’t matter, because I had to try to give her something to keep her alive until we could figure out how to save her in the long term. I focused my healing force on the blackness seeping into her, the death threatening to pull her under, and I imbued it with a little bit of my own essence and energy, plucked from a spot near my heart. I pushed what I could into her, and watched in my mind’s eye as the blackness receded and her internal workings brightened. When I looked at her outer shell, I saw her color had improved and her breathing had become regular. She was still unconscious, but she was going to live.

I moved next to Herbert Elderwood and took in his grey skin and sightless eyes. I felt tears well, as I realized I was too late. I should have started with him. Frost laid a hand on my shoulder. “He was gone before we broke the connection,” he said. “There was nothing you could have done.”

“Buddy’s daughter?” I asked, thinking she must be at least as bad off as Herbert and would need my help.

“They’re gone,” Frost said. He nodded toward Brianna Foxglove, also grey, but awake and twisting in pain. “Focus on the ones here, but be careful not to give too much of yourself.”

Behind us Benny roared and guns exploded. I realized the fighting had been going on for a while, but I’d been lost in a healing daze and hadn’t heard it. I watched as Benny, in full dragon form, rose to the rafters of the mall, broke through the skylight and flew away.

The sun was setting as I finished doing what I could for the last kid, a teenage boy whose name I didn’t know. Ambulances showed up and carted all of the kids away to the hospital. I doubted human doctors would be able to heal them, and they’d find that these kids had traits they’d never seen in any one else before, but there was little I could do to prevent the paramedics from hauling the kids off, and the fae in the Non didn’t exactly have a hospital of their own. Somehow, Frost had convinced the paramedics not to take the kids until I’d done what I could for them.

I stood and looked at my surroundings to see broken glass around us and my friends limping toward me. Mercury appeared to have a broken leg, and Vin was bleeding from the head. Harvey was walking like his entire body was bruised and Brace and Sandra had visible bruises on their faces and arms.

“Benny flew away, but his goons stayed and fought,” Frost said. “They were trying to take the children. They were all arrested, even the trolls. Apparently even troll skin can’t withstand enough volts from a Taser.”

“Think you can heal us?” Mercury asked, when he and Vin were close enough.

“Sure.” I took a step toward him and my world went sideways. I realized I wasn’t seeing any color. Everything was black and white. I tripped on the floor, and then I was falling.

“I told you not to push yourself too hard,” Frost said, as he caught me and lifted me in his arms.

“What does she need?” Harvey asked. He sounded like he was far away, through a tunnel. I could hear my own heartbeat in my ears and it sounded sluggish and oozy. I’m pretty sure Frost sniffed me.

“She’s dying” Frost said. “She needs her mother. Unless any of you knows a healer?”

“Not my mother,” I said, not sure that anyone could understand me with the way my words were slurring. I had to try, though, because even through the thick fog that had fallen over me I knew I didn’t want to ask my mother for anything. I didn’t want to owe her anything. “Take me to Benny’s. He has a human healer on staff.”

“She’s out of her mind,” someone said.

“Maybe not,” Frost said. Dear Frost. He would take my side. “Between Benny and her mother, I’m not really sure who’s the bigger monster. Anyone have any better ideas?”

We were moving, but I couldn’t open my eyes to see where we were going. “I know someone. I’ll take you to him.” I’m pretty sure that was Buddy’s voice and if he said he knew someone, I trusted him. Buddy knew a lot of people. Except that Buddy had left with his daughter. I must be hallucinating. I tried to fight against the darkness, to argue for my friends not to listen to the Buddy impersonator, but the darkness was so strong. It pulled me under.

I’m not perfect, and neither is anybody else. If they can forgive me, I can forgive them
. –Chloe Frangipani

A lady does not surround herself with people below her station
. –Althea Frangipani

“I’m sorry, man,” a voice high above me said. “That’s the best I can do. If I give her anymore, I’ll be worse off than she is now.”

“She’s not even conscious,” Buddy said, his voice a bit closer. “Can’t you give her a little more?”

I tried to open my eyes, to speak, to tell them I was awake, but I couldn’t do anything.

“Give her a few days, man, and she’ll probably be fine. At least she’s not in danger of dying anymore.”

“Can you take the energy from someone else?” Frost asked.

Silence reigned for several long moments and I wondered if I’d slipped back into unconsciousness. “I don’t know, man. I’ve never heard of anyone doing it.”

“Can we try?” Frost asked. “I’ll push my energy into you and you push it into her.”

“I don’t know—”

Frost growled low in his throat and somebody whimpered. “Okay, let’s try it,” the healer said, his voice breaking just a touch.

I felt a hand on my chest and then light exploded behind my eyelids. Heat flowed into my torso and through every part of my body until I felt like I was burning from the inside out. “Holy shit,” I said, sitting up and pushing the healer’s hand off me. I sucked in long, slow breaths until I could breathe normally, then I glared at Frost. “Do you walk around with that much energy all the time?”

His eyes darkened a smidge. “That was just a taste. You know what we did?”

I nodded. Just a taste? Wow. I felt a bit like what a cocaine addict must feel when they get a hit, everything seemed brighter and sharper and I couldn’t sit still. I leapt to my feet. “Wow. When we used you to heal me, I didn’t get anything like this.”

My eyes almost fell out of my head when Frost’s cheeks tinged pink. “I was worried about you. I may have pushed harder than I intended.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, thanks.”

“Isn’t anyone going to thank me,” the healer said. “I’m pretty sure his energy fried my brain on its way to you.”

I focused on the healer for the first time. He was a scruffy guy, his hair too long and his five-o-clock shadow more like a five day shadow. His eyes were bloodshot, his t-shirt was stained and holey, and he looked familiar.

“Him?’ I asked, spinning on Buddy. “I was dying and you brought me to this…this…stoner pervert.”

“I’m not a pervert,” Jimmy said, his voice just as whiney as I remembered. I’d worked with him in the early days of my career as a bar back at Buddy’s place. Jimmy’d been one of the bartenders and he’d tried to cop a feel every time I came near him.

“He’s the only healer I know,” Buddy said. “The only decent healer other than you.”

I glared at Buddy for a long moment, before I turned my killing gaze on Jimmy. “Your fae?”

“Why is that such a crazy idea?” Jimmy asked. “You always thought you were better than me.”

“Because I don’t smoke while I’m on the job, and I don’t touch anyone who doesn’t want to be touched? I am better than you.”

Buddy stepped between us. “He’s a quarter fairy. The healing ability is strong in him for some reason.”

“You know,” Jimmy said. “I did just save your life. You could at least say thank you.”

I leaned around Buddy. “Why? I’m sure he’s paying you.”

“You are such a bitch,” Jimmy said. “You’ve always—”

“That’s enough,” Frost said. He grabbed my arm and started dragging me from the room, a room I now realized must be Jimmy’s living room. It was surprisingly neat and clean, with rather high-end looking furniture. “Let’s go, Chloe.”

I dug my heels in because…well, just on principle. Energy was pinging around my insides and sparking me into action. I wanted to do something, anything. My preferences would be fighting or sex, and I didn’t see Harvey anywhere. “He called me a bitch,” I said. “Aren’t you going to defend my honor, or at least step aside while I defend my own honor?”

“You called him a stoner pervert,” Frost said. “You’re even. Save that energy for Benny, we need to find out what he’s done with the rest of the kids.”

“That’s right,” I said. “Where’s Harvey, Mercury, Vin, Brace, and Sandra?” Then I remembered the last time I’d seen them, they were all hurt. “Did Jimmy heal them?”

“Harvey’s fine,” Frost said. “He stayed until we knew you’d be okay, but then he took off to see if he could get some information about where Benny might have gone. He hoped someone was tracking him.” He led me out the door and into the hall outside Jimmy’s apartment. “The others are okay. Mercury has a broken leg and Vin has a concussion, but Sandra and Brace are good enough to meet us at Benny’s as soon as I call them.”

I jerked my hand free of Frost’s and jumped in front of him. “I can heal them! I have so much energy, now. Let’s go.” I started down the hall and decided to take the stairs to the street level. Frost followed behind me, chuckling.

Outside, the sky had darkened and a heavy rain fell. I started down the street, letting the rain cool my skin, still heated from the influx of Frost’s energy. I walked about ten steps, Frost following me without saying a word, when I realized I had no idea where we were. The street was lined with trees and the sidewalk ended about a foot away in a grassy field. Past the field were stand-alone houses. “Where the hell are we?” I asked, spinning around to face Frost.

He gave me the biggest, most heart-stopping grin, his hair wet, the rain running down the planes of his face, making me want to catch them with my tongue. I mean, making me want to find a dry place to get us out of the rain. “We’re in the suburbs.”

I looked around and shuddered. The suburbs. I hated the suburbs. Granted, I happened to be currently living in the suburbs, but that was temporary. Right now, I needed to be in the city, close to Benny and my friends. “Where’s your bike?”

I didn’t think it was possible, but Frost’s grin widened. “We can’t ride in the rain. We’ll take a cab.”

“A cab? From the suburbs? I can’t afford that.”

Buddy stepped up behind Frost. “I think whatever you did back there fried her brain.”

“No,” Frost said. “She’s just a little drunk on the wolf. I’ve seen it before.”

Frost bent at the waist and threw me over his shoulder, one hand planted firmly on my ass to hold me in place. “Stop groping me and put me down, you big, furry beast,” I shouted.

Frost dropped me into the back of a cab and slid in next to me. Buddy sat in the back with us, so that Frost’s body was in full contact with mine. Which made me uncomfortable because I really hated him at the moment. “Where are you taking me?”

“To see Benny.”

“No, I need to heal Mercury and Vin.”

“No,” Frost said. “You need your energy to face Benny. He’s not going to be happy with you.”

That shut me up for a moment. Fighting a big, angry dragon overwhelmed even my super-charged brain. “How are we going to fight him?”

“We are going to try to avoid fighting him,” Frost said. “But Brace has your sword.”

“Oh, that’s good,” I said, not feeling the least bit confident.

“We’re pretty sure Benny’s injured,” Buddy said. “According to Harvey, Benny encountered some officers outside the mall and they got a few more shots at him and made contact. I think he lost his shield when we broke his connection to the kids.”

“And we took out a few of his goons,” Frost said. “Ten of them were arrested.”

“Great,” I said, my energy waning just a bit at the prospect that faced us. “Then this should be a piece of cake.”

Benny wasn’t at his house, at least not where we could see him. Frost had called Harvey, but Harvey said his colleagues had lost sight of Benny over the river. So, we’d met Brace, Sandra, and Hieronymus at the gatekeeper’s abode. Hieronymus had heard rumors of Benny’s public display even in Rubalia and come to help us out. “He’s got to be somewhere nursing his wounds,” I said to the solitary goon at the door. “We just want to talk to him. To find out where the kids are.”