Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (49 page)

Finn and Chase tried to grab me but I wiggled away from their grasp.
 
I got three steps forward, hoping to grab Tim and haul him back – maybe shove him in my pocket or something – but I didn’t get there in time.

Ben saw him coming and smirked.
 
He held up a hand and let out a red laser shot of demon flame or whatever it was that was covering him without consuming him.
 
It hit Tim directly in his left wing.

There was a spark where it hit him and some smoke, and then we all watched in horror as Tim started spinning down to the ground in an uncontrolled flameout.
 
I could hear his tiny screams of pain and shock as he went down.

Tim landed with a bounce on the carpet, coming to a rest face down and unmoving.
 
I got there in time to scoop him up quickly and back away.
 
I looked down and saw that his left wing was now a shriveled up lump of melted flesh and bone.
 
His eyes were closed.
 
I couldn’t tell if he was breathing.

“You are
evil
, Ben ... whatever your last name is.
 
Evil to the core.
 
Only the world’s biggest fucking asshole would shoot down a tiny harmless pixie.”

I kept backing up until I felt Chase behind me.
 
He tried to get in front of me, but I wasn’t having it.
 
I turned and handed Tim to Chase.
 
“Hold him.
 
I have to teach our friend a lesson.”

“Jayne, don’t,” said Jared.
 
“We can’t do this here.”

“
Jaaaayne
,” said Spike.
 
“I think you’d better listen to Jared this time.”

“Ben should have thought about that before he killed my friend Tim and tried to take my best friend Tony away from me.”

The Green that I had called up before was still there, waiting for me, humming and buzzing with power.
 
I took it into my body, channeling it through to my arms and then down to my hands.
 
I held it out in front of me like a giant glowing green ball.
 
The power nearly consumed me.
 
I almost put my being inside the glow, but at the last second, I held that little piece back.
 

I watched Ben and the red glow building up behind him, rising over and gathering around from his sides to rest in his hands.
 
The brightness of his red and orange flames matched the glowing green brilliance of my energy.
 
I could hear its snarling roar clashing against the hum of The Green.

There we stood,
face to face
, ready to throw our energy at each other.
 
I stared him in the eyes and he stared right back.
 
I wished right then that I could read his mind.
 
He looked like he was seeing into my soul.
 
Who was this guy?
 
Why did he want Tony so badly?
 
Why was he in that photograph of Tony and me from last year?
 
And why did I want to throw this green nuclear bomb at him but at the same time want him to live?

I’m pretty sure neither of us knew exactly what was going to happen; but whatever it was, it was going to be epic.
 
I lifted my arms over my head, winding up to let The Green go at Ben.

“Wait!
 
Stop!”
yelled
Tony,
his voice sounding like it was far away.
 
“You don’t need to do this ...
Jayne!”
he got past Chase and Jared and stood directly behind me where I could now hear his voice clearly.

“Jayne, I’m coming with you! ...
 
Do you hear me?”
 

He reached his hand through the cool energy of The Green that surrounded me, putting his hand on my shoulder.
 

“Jayne,” he said more calmly now, “I’m coming with you.”

Read on for a sneak peak at

War of the Fae: Book Three
--
-
 
Darkness
and Light

Elle Casey is an American writer who lives in Southern France with her husband, three kids, and Hercules the wonder poodle.
 
In her spare time she writes young adult novels.
 

If you enjoyed this book, please
please
leave positive feedback on Goodreads.com, Amazon.com, or any book blogs you participate in.
 
More positive feedback means Elle can spend more time writing!

Visit her at

www.ElleCasey.com

Darkness & Light

Elle Casey

... Coming April
2011 ...

Read on for a Sneak Peak at BOOK
THREE ....

Tony’s arm rested on my shoulder, sending a sense of peace into my heart.
 
My best friend wanted to stay with me.
 
We didn’t have to be apart anymore.
 
Now all I had to do was figure out what to do about the flaming demon fae standing in front of me with a nuclear bomb in his hands.

“Ben!
 
He doesn’t want to go with you!
 
He’s coming with me!”
 
The roar of our two gathered powers made it difficult to hear, but apparently there was no need for me to yell, because Ben answered me in a perfectly normal tone of voice and I understood him just fine.

“I heard him.
 
But I don’t believe he’s making the decision with all of the information he needs.
 
It’s only fair to him that he go into this with full disclosure, don’t you think?”

His answer was unsettling, but only because I didn’t want Tony to think I was hiding anything.
 
I knew the truth and I had already told it to Tony before Ben showed up.
 
We were the good guys, the Light Fae; he represented the bad guys, the Dark Fae.
 
There was nothing else to tell.

It’s obvious this guy Ben knew something about the use of psychological warfare.
 
He probably invented the term a hundred years ago or something.
 
You never could tell the age of a fae from the looks of him.
 
On the outside, he was a seriously, amazingly awesome-looking human boy of eighteen.
 
On the inside, he was probably a three hundred and fifty year old, ugly ass
serpent,
using a spell to mesmerize me into thinking he was this hot guy.
 
I gave myself a mental shake – I couldn’t keep focusing on his looks
;
 
I
had to concentrate on the blackness of his soul.

“Tony knows everything.
 
I already told him before you came in, uninvited and unwanted I might add.”

Ben broke his gaze from me and looked at Tony.
 
“Did she tell you that she’s going to force you to fight in a war?
 
That you’re going to have to kill other fae?”

I felt Tony’s hand leave my shoulder, bringing me a moment of unease.
 
I’d just spent thirty minutes convincing Tony he needed to go with me and then everything would be okay.
 
But I knew he didn’t like the idea of violence; and apparently so did Ben.

“Tony knows enough to make a good decision, which he already did.
 
So why don’t you just get the hell outta here so we can be on our way?”

“Um, Jayne?” said Tony’s scared voice from behind me.
 
“I ... I really don’t want to be a part of a war ... ”

His voice trailed off, but I knew what this meant.
 
I had to do something to salvage the situation as best I could.

I fixed Ben with my angriest look.
 
“Power down, asshole, so we can talk about this without blowing up the neighborhood.”

“I will if you will,” he said, eyebrow raised in challenge.

I eased back on my hold over The Green, letting it know I wanted it to go back through the ley line below Tony’s house and down into the Earth where it existed when I wasn’t calling it up and using it to do my bidding.

I saw the red glow that had amassed itself in Ben’s hands get lighter and dissipate up his arms and around the back of his body.
 
Soon we were both standing there looking like regular teenagers again.
 
No more glowing and no more roaring or humming.

I looked at the guys to my left and right.
 
They all visibly relaxed from their fight-ready stances, but still remained wary.
 

“I don’t trust him,” said Finn.

“Me neither,” said Spike.

Chase and Jared reserved judgment.
 
Tim remained motionless in Chase’s hand.

“Well, I do,” said Tony.

I looked at Tony with frustration.
 
“Dammit, Tony, what the hell?
 
I thought we went over this?”

“No, we did.
 
I’m not saying I’m going anywhere with him or not going with you.
 
I’m just saying I trust him.
 
He’s been nice to me, Jayne, and he hasn’t done anything to hurt me.
 
And apparently, he could have if he had wanted to.”
 
He looked up at Ben, giving him a nervous smile.

This was so typical of Tony, giving someone the benefit of the doubt, even when that someone was a fucking demon.

“Listen, Tony, I get it that you felt abandoned when I stayed in the forest and you came back here,” he started to interrupt, and I was fairly certain he was going to say something about not ever having been in the forest, so I held up my hand to shut him up, “and I know you don’t remember being there, but you
were
, and I’ll be happy to prove that to you when we get back.
 
But we need to go.”
 
I looked back over at Ben.
 
“You may trust him, but we sure as hell don’t; and I have a friend to take care of.”
 
I gestured with my head to Tim, who was lying in Chase’s hands, his blackened stump of a wing sticking out from his side.

“He’s breathing,” said Chase.

“Well, thankfully he’s unconscious, because I know for a fact that having a wing taken off is painful – I’m sure having one
burned
off is excruciating.”
 
I shot Ben a look that conveyed what a piece of shit I thought he was.

Tony looked at Tim and got a sick look on his face.
 
Ben was going to ignore my comment but then he saw Tony’s face too.

“Tony, you need to understand – pixies are very dangerous.
 
They may look small and cute, but he was coming over to pixelate me.
 
I was only defending myself.”

Tony looked at me for confirmation, making me feel uncomfortable.
 
Why
was I having
to defend my friend who was only saving us from Ben?

“Tim, as you’ve conveniently forgotten, was only saving us.
 
From you!”

“I did nothing.
 
You’re the one who issued the threats.
 
I was only defending myself.”

The further this conversation went, the worse I felt.
 
Somehow Ben was turning everything around to make me look like the bad guy in this whole thing.
 
I know my face was expressing my frustration, and as I looked at him to respond, I saw him smile smugly.
 
Fucker thought he had me up a tree.

“Don’t stand there and act like you’re mister honest guy.
 
You never told Tony you were fae, and you never told Tony what your true intentions were, either.”
 
I looked at Tony and continued, “Ask him, Tony.
 
Ask him why he didn’t tell you.
 
You trusted a guy who was lying to you and hiding things.”

Just then there was a banging on Tony’s door.