Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (4 page)

I looked at him like he was nuts.
 
“Keep dreaming, fire boy.
 
I’m not interested.”

“Something about you tells me otherwise.
 
I can sense a heat coming from you, even though you have a remarkably cool touch with those hands of yours.”

“Yeah, well that giant head you have precariously balanced on your shoulders is plenty powerful enough to cool me down, believe me.”
 
I turned and walked away with my back straight and my head up, tossing my hair and yelling over my shoulder, “Stay out of my forest, asshole!”

I caught the look on his face before I turned back.
 
He was smiling bitterly, his eyes narrowed at my retreating form.

I strode out of the diner and walked up to Chase, taking the box with Tim inside from his hands.
 

“Ready?” asked Jared, searching my face.
 
“Everything okay with Ben?”

“Yep.
 
I told him to leave us the hell alone.
 
Let’s go.”

Jared pulled out his phone to call for a taxi.
 

Spike sidled up and nudged me.
 
“Things got a little hot in there, eh?”

“Shut up.”
 
I grinned, refusing to rise to his bait but unable to stay totally stern about it.

Spike smiled.
 
“You know, incubi are really good at helping people ... work off their energy.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, not bothered by the suggestive look on his face, even though his timing wasn’t exactly the best.
 
He never quit.
 
Sometimes it was annoying, but tonight, for some reason, it gave me sense of security.
 
After feeling the chemistry flying between Ben and me, the relaxed sexiness of Spike seemed like a much easier thing to manage.

“Yeah.
 
You should let me show you what I’ve learned.”
 
He wiggled his eyebrows up and down at me.
 
“I’ve heard I’m pretty good.”

I frowned at him with my eyes but my mouth stayed in a semi-grin.
 
“Ew,
Spike.
 
No bragging about your sex life.
 
That’s just gross.”

“I’m not talking about sex – although, I’ve had no complaints there either.
 
I’m talking about what I do as an incubus.
 
My ... special talents.
 
I think you could use them right now.”

“Right
now
, right now?” I asked, curious about what he meant.
 
Was it something he could do while we were walking?
 
I was confused.

He laughed.
 
“No, not right this second.
 
But when we get back to the hotel ... ”

I slapped him lightly on the arm.
 
“Thanks, but I have roommates and too much on my mind.
 
Maybe when we get back to the forest you can ... uh ... show me your stuff.”

Spike smiled, rubbing his hands together.
 
“Oh goody.”
 
He looked at me.
 
“It’s a date.
 
I promise, you won’t be disappointed.”

I laughed to myself.
 
I loved his enthusiasm.
 
He was never discouraged and no matter how many times I rejected his overtures, he always came back making more of them.
 
There was something to be said for undying affection.

I walked over to Tony.
 
“So, are you completely freaked out, or what?”

He smiled gently.
 
“I am pretty freaked out.
 
But I’ll survive.”

I put my arm around his waist.
 
“I’m so friggin’ glad you’re here with me, Tones.
 
I was lost without you.”

He put his arm over my shoulders.
 
“Me too.
 
It was a lot ... quieter without you here.”

“That must’ve sucked.”

“Yep.
 
Sure did.”
 
Tony looked over my head at the guys who were standing a few feet away, near where the taxi would soon be.
 
“So, what’s next?”

“Well, we have a couple hotel rooms downtown.
 
I think we’re going to stay there for the rest of the night, what’s left of it anyway, and then get on the plane tomorrow.”

“Did you already buy tickets?”

“No, we don’t need to.
 
It’s a private jet.”

Tony nodded slowly.
 
“Nice.”

“Yeah.
 
You’ve been on it before.
 
You just forgot.”

“That’s just so weird for me to believe.”

“Yeah, I know.
 
I’m sorry about that.
 
Maybe when you see some of the stuff, your memory will come back.”

“I don’t know.
 
Even after seeing that little guy fly around, I didn’t remember anything.”

“Yeah, but you remembered Spike’s teeth.
 
And you’d never met Tim before, so there’s no reason why he would trigger any memories.”

“Why was that?
 
About the teeth, I mean?
 
That’s
kinda
weird, isn’t it? ...
that
I’d forgot all that other stuff but remember his teeth?”

I didn’t really want to talk about this, but
Tony remembering
stuff was a good sign, and I wanted to encourage it.
 
“Yeah, well, see I ... uh ... was ...
am
... a little obsessed with Spike’s smile and his teeth.
 
And what with you vibing me all the time and knowing sometimes what I’m feeling or thinking about, well, you were kind of exposed to a lot of me staring at him, thinking about him ... you get the picture.”

Tony was nodding.
 
“I guess that makes sense.
 
I was still vibing you, you know.
 
When you were gone.”

“Oh yeah?
 
Like what did you feel?”

“Various things.
 
Anger a lot at first.
 
Then surprise and happiness.
 
The last few weeks I got a lot of happy vibes.
 
Also feelings like you were proud – of yourself, I mean.”
 
He looked at me intently.
 
“I know you’re happy there.
 
That’s one reason I was willing to give this a shot.
 
It has to be something special to have helped you get over ... that stuff that was going on at your house and to make you feel good again.”

Just then the taxi pulled up, saving me from that embarrassing conversation.

“Come on, let’s go to the hotel.”

Luckily, Jared had told them to send a van-sized taxi, so we all fit in without a problem.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked after we were all inside the van.
 
“
We sleeping
here tonight?”

“No.
 
We need to get back right away.
 
I’ve arranged for the plane to take us out tonight.”

“Ain’t it a little late?” asked Finn, yawning.

“Yeah, it’s late; but it’s better to fly at night.
 
We can sleep and avoid the jet lag.”

“Where exactly are we going?” asked Tony.

I opened my mouth to respond and then realized I didn’t really know the answer to that question.
 
I mean
,
I knew it was the Green Forest, but I doubted that name existed on any human map.
 

“Yeah, where are we going, exactly?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you later,” said Jared, motioning to the taxi driver, indicating his desire to keep our location secret from the outside world.

Spike spoke up.
 
“What time will we arrive there?”

“After our drive from the airport?
 
About three or four in the
afternoon,
give or take.”

Good
.
 
That would give me enough time to visit with Maggie in the woods and get Tim fixed up.

We arrived at the hotel and rode up the elevator to our rooms.
 
We had to retrieve our stuff that we’d left there.
 
Seemed a shame to not even use the rooms we’d already paid for, but I was anxious to get back.
 
A part of me was worried that Ben’s easy release of Tony and me was some kind of scam that was going to come back and bite me on the ass.

“Aren’t you going to be too tired to deal with all this stuff – with me I mean – when we get back?” asked Tony as we walked out of the hotel lobby with our bags on our backs, Tim’s box tucked under my left arm.

“Are you kidding me?
 
I get up every day at oh-five-thirty, thank you very much.”

“Wow.
 
That’s impressive.”

“Tony, you are looking at a very finely tuned, warrior fae machine.”
 
I gave him a bicep curl with my free arm for effect.
 
“I get up at the crack of my ass dawn and work until I drop at the end of the day.
 
Just like everyone else.
 
Just like
you
will.”
 
I gave him my most brilliant smile and tweaked his nose, for the sole purpose of annoying him.
 
I hadn’t mentioned that little tidbit of waking up insanely early before, so it was kinda fun to share it now – get him back for making me panic around Ben, thinking for a couple of tense seconds that he was going to change his mind and stay behind.

Jared walked up to me, nodding at Tony who was now scowling playfully at me.
 
“Jayne, can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

“Sure.
 
Tony, go wait with Chase, would you?”
 
I knew I could count on Chase to look out for him, just in case Ben decided to make an appearance.

“What’s up?” I asked when we were well away from the group.

“I just wanted to talk to you about the issue we still have with bringing Tony back with us.
 
We really haven’t discussed it.
 
I figured before there wasn’t any point unless we actually convinced him to come.”

“Okay.
 
Shoot.”

“You remember the rule, right?
 
That once a candidate has refused to become a changeling, he can never make the change?”

My ears started burning with fear and a touch of anger.
 
“Yeah, I remember.
 
They’re just going to have to change the rules.”

Jared shook his head slowly, looking down at the ground.
 
“I don’t think you should plan on that happening.”

“Well, what the hell did we come all the way out here for, then?”

Jared shrugged.
 
“It was better than leaving him to Ben.”

“Ben would have let him change,” I said accusingly.
 
“He would have forced it on him.
 
So if the Dark Fae would do it, why won’t the Light?”

“I don’t know why the rules are what they are.
 
I just know this council in particular is set on following them.
 
They’re very traditional.
 
They don’t make change easily.”

“Well, they can sit with their thumbs up their
asses
all day for all I care.
 
Tony is making the change or else.”

“Or else what?” asked Jared, searching my eyes.

“Or else I’m leaving with him.”

Jared sighed in resignation.
 
“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Yeah.
 
Let’s do that,” I said bitterly.
 
Friggin’ council
.
 
They weren’t going to decide for me what Tony and I did.
 
I’d had enough of adults in my life making stupid decisions that affected me negatively.
 
If they couldn’t see reason, I’d ... I’d ... well, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do, but whatever it was, it wouldn’t involve me blowing off my friend ever again.

Jared and I walked over to the shuttle that had arrived and parked in the valet area in front of the hotel.
 
“Don’t stress over it too much,” he said.
 
“I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

“Yeah.”

Jared opened the door so we could all climb in.
 

“Hey Jared?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.
 
For all this, I mean.
 
For helping me get Tony back.
 
I owe you one.”

Jared smiled briefly.
 
“No problem.”
 
He climbed in last, closing the door behind him.

I was sitting next to Tony in the front row of seats.
 
I reached over and took Tim’s box from him.
 
“How is he?”