Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall (25 page)

"Me?!  You are blaming
me
for your fall?  Of all the nerve ..."

"Hey!  Lovers quarreling!  Do you mind?  We don't have time for this crap.  This guy is hungry and I have blood, so unless any of you have another idea about how to feed him, I'm going to give him a small taste."  I jerked up my sleeve.  "Garrett, if you turn my soul even a tiny bit black, I will stick my weapon right into your heart and take you with me into darkness, do you understand me?"

"Very clearly," he said, taking my wrist in his.

"Jayne, you do not need to do this," said Shayla, looking a little sick.

"I know.  I'm a big girl, and I need Garrett and what he knows.  I can't let him die or whatever happens to guys like him out here when they starve."

"We turn to ash.  Our souls extinguish, never to walk any of the realms ever again."  He looked directly at Shayla.

I saw a tear in her eye before she turned away from us.

"Go ahead then.  Do what you must, but don't take too much."  I pulled my weapon out of its sheath just in case.

Garrett leaned down and took my wrist into his mouth, biting down hard enough to break the skin with his fangs.

"Mother
fucker
," I said.  "Ooooh,
shit
that hurts."

Shayla slowly turned around, studying my face.  "It hurts?"

Garrett raised an eyebrow but kept his mouth in place, sucking hard on my vein.

"Holy shit, yes."  I hissed with the ache, unable to stop myself.  I held my elbow up with my other hand, trying to support it better, hoping that would help the pain.  But it did nothing.  "Hurry up, Garrett, it feels like my arm's on fire."

Shayla walked over.  "Are you certain?  Perhaps the euphoria is manifesting in strange ways for you."

"Euphoria?  Are you friggin kidding me?"  I started bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet.  "Okay, okay, okay, Garrett, that's enough.  Fuck, that's
enough!"
I yelled, hitting him on the head with my weapon.  A little wisp of smoke rose up from his scalp.

He pulled away, licking my wrist once and then his lips as he straightened.  "Wow.  That was ... something unexpected."  He reached up and patted the top of his head gingerly, looking up at the smudge of soot on his hand left from his blackened hair, frowning but saying nothing further.

Shayla was scowling at him.  "She said it didn't feel good."

He shrugged.  "Well, either I must live with the fact that my talents as a vampire are more than sub-par, or consider an alternative."

"Being ...?"

"Being that perhaps because her blood is not like the others, the effects of our blood-letting might also be different."

"Can we do an x-ray of my soul or something?" I asked, holding my wrist against my tunic.  "Maybe I won't have any black marks at all."

Garrett reached over and put his thumb over the two puncture marks and held my hand above my head.  "Direct pressure, above the heart.  Remember from last time?"

"Oh, yeah.  Sorry, I forgot."

"Consider my mind blown right now," said Tim, coming to stand on my shoulder.  "I never would have thought I'd see that in my lifetime."

"What?" I asked, irritated at the stinging that wouldn't go away.

"Vampire bites hurting and possible immunity from black marks.  We need a witch to look you over."

"Tim says a witch needs to check me out."

"Better a wrathe," said Shayla.

"I know just the guy," I said weakly.  "But I've got to go.  I have an appointment with an elemental in just a little while, and he'll be pissed if I'm late."

"Shall we go with you?" asked Shayla.

"No.  I don't want him to know about you.  He's a pain in the ass and bossy as hell.  I'm sure he'll decide he's the boss of you too and start telling you what to do if he sees you."

"He could try," said Shayla, smiling serenely.

"Ha!  Yeah.  I'd like to see that match-up," said Tim.  "Maybe they should come."

"No.  Just us.  Come on, Tim the Awesome.  I need you to watch my back."

"You know it, Lellamental.  Ride on, oh mulish one."

I pulled my arm out of Garrett's strong grip.  "I hope that will tide you over for a while," I said, pulling a little of The Green into me to help me over the hump of tiredness I was suddenly feeling.  It rushed into me, spreading its warmth and strength into my system.  I couldn't help but smile.  "I'll see you tonight right here.  Either I or someone will come and get you for the meeting in our friend's room."

"We shall await your summons," said Shayla, nodding to me and bowing slightly to Tim.

I shook my head at her formality where Tim was concerned.  As I walked to the door, I said, "One day you're going to tell me all your dirty little secrets, Tim.  I'm serious."

"I can start with one right now if you'd like."

"Okay, shoot," I said, pulling the door open, hoping I'd hear about his medals of honor.

"I'm not wearing underwear.  The beast is unleashed!"

I laughed despite the horrible images of pixie packages that his admission created in my mind.  "You're a sick little pixieman, you know that?"

"You said dirty secrets, and I served one up, hot and fresh.  So you can hardly complain," he said haughtily, flying out ahead of me in the hallway, going towards the door that would lead us to the green elf training grounds.

"Whatever."  I let my mind wander from Tim's dirty secret over to my training with Ben.  I was nervous on many levels, not the least of which being that this would be the first opportunity he would have to ask me why I'd pulled him into my dream and put his face on my nightmares.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I ARRIVED AT THE TRAINING ground to find a whole crew of daemon guardians, Ben, and Samantha waiting for me.

"It's about time," said Samantha, turning her back to me and walking over to stand closer to Ben.  Her cape swirled out behind her, making her witchy status impossible to ignore.  My lip curled with disgust at her arrogance.

Ben glanced at her but said nothing.

I noticed he didn't move away either. 
Stupid jerk.

I looked over at Scrum and nodded.  He smiled and waved back, never one to be reserved or cool.  The familiarity of his openness gave me a little boost of courage just when I was needing it, so I smiled back gratefully.

"Let the games begin," said Tim quietly in my ear.

"You said it," I whispered back.

"Witch bitch, coming at ya, two o'clock," hissed Tim.

I didn't think about it, I just did it.  I pulled the Green into me and threw up a shield between Samantha and me.  Whatever spell she'd tried to throw at me bounced off and hit her in the gut, throwing her backwards to land on her ass.

Tim started singing off-key.  "I'm rubbeeerrrrr and you're gluuuueee, whatever spell you throw at me will bounce back to youuuuu!"

I laughed.  "You rock the party, you know that, Tim?"

"You know it, Lellamental.  Don't let that bitch get away with that shit."

"Careful with the potty-mouth, Tim.  I don't want Abby climbing all up in my ass over your descent into madness."

"Yeah, you're right.  Consider my act cleaned up.  Go get that Jezebel and show her who the red-headed step-child of the Blackthorn family
really
is."

"On second thought, I think it's more effective when you use swear words."

"Yeah.  You're right.  Let's bag that bitch."

Samantha was standing again, poised and ready to hurl something else at me.  Ben held up his hand to stop her, but I ignored his attempt at making peace.  Samantha was here without an invitation, deliberately trying to mess with me, and I meant to show her that it was a mistake to piss me off like that. 
This is my house!

I used the spell that Maggie had inadvertently taught me, sending a message out to a nearby tree, hoping it had legs under Samantha's feet.

It didn't disappoint.  Big, gnarly roots burst out of the ground and wrapped themselves around her feet and calves, rooting her to the spot.  I pictured some vines coming out of the brush to tie her hands together, and they raced to do my bidding.  Within five seconds, she was trussed up tight, unable to move her hands or her legs.  I slowly lowered the power shield between us, but didn't let my hold on the Green go.  I had no idea what she was capable of on a good day or in a good mood; and now she was what Finn would describe as madder than a wet hen.

"Let me out of this, Jayne!" she spat, struggling against her bonds.

"You started it," I said.  "Don't think I didn't sense you winding up to throw something else at me.  I can feel you in the Green, Samantha."  I'd never really thought about it too hard before, but as I said it, the feeling came in so crystal clear that I almost surprised myself with it.  I
could
feel her there.  Even when she wasn't near me, I could get a sense of her presence.  I cocked my head, staring at her, wondering if it was because we were related or if it was something else.  I'd done it with the green elves before, but they were so connected to the energy in the forest, it had been easy.

"Let her go, Jayne," sighed Ben.  "She's not here to cause any trouble.  She's here to help us."

"Shuh.
  Yeah, right."  I laughed bitterly.  "That's all she's ever done, right?  Tried to help?"

"Exactly," he said.  "Let her go."  He was getting angry now.  I could tell not only by his tone but by the heat I could sense coming from him.

"She has no business here with us.  This is
my
training, not hers."  As soon as the words were out of my mouth I regretted them, but only because they sounded petulant.  I had wanted to sound confident and sure of myself, but I'd chosen the wrong words or something.  I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, not sure how to get out of the situation with any dignity.

"We have only one day to train.  She can help us short-cut the process.  She offered to be here, okay?  We need to accept whatever assistance anyone is willing to give."

"If you can vouch that she'll keep her dirty spells off me, I'll let her go," I said, lifting my chin.

"My spells aren't dirty!" screeched Samantha.

"That's a matter of perspective," said Tim quietly in my ear.

"Word, pixieman," I said, holding up my index finger for a high-one.  His tiny little hand made contact and I smiled, knowing Tim had my back.

"I will vouch for Samantha that she will do nothing to harm you today."

I tilted my head to the side, unable to stop the snide remark from coming out.  "Isn't that sweet?"  I looked over at Samantha, wanting to gouge her eyes out at the satisfaction I saw there.  "Don't get too excited," I said to her.  "His emotions come and go like the wind he commands.  Trust me on this."

"That's
enough
, Jayne," warned Ben.

I asked the trees and vines to let Samantha go as I walked towards the two of them. 
"Is
it?  Says who, Ben?  You?  Are you in charge of
me
now, too?  Maléna, the council, all the fae in the Green Forest, and now me too?"

"Uhhh, Jayne?  Are you sure you want to go there?" asked Tim, sounding nervous.

I didn't care what Tim or anyone else thought about me just then.  All I knew was that I felt like a total fool, letting myself get hitched to Ben the way I had.  I'd fallen for a stupid kiss and a cute face, and now for the rest of my life I was going to be bossed around by this pig of a guy who couldn't keep his hands off the one person in the entire universe I couldn't stand to be around without wanting to strangle her.

Samantha took two steps back as I got closer, looking nervously from me to Ben.

"Stop, Jayne," said Ben, holding out his hands.

I pulled the Green fully up into me and then asked Water to join the Earth's power that was humming through my body.  I had snapped, I knew that now, but the freedom from reason felt amazing.  I'd held the power at bay for too long, trying to be responsible and nice and mature and everything else everyone expected of me. 
Not anymore!
I shrieked in my own head.  I felt a crazy laugh bubbling up from within me and I let it out, reveling in the madness of it.

Ben pulled his Fire and Wind into him in less than a second, letting it swirl around in a miniature cyclone of power.  Samantha ran away to join the daemon guardians, who I noticed were backing well out of our way, mingling in with the trees.

"Back down!" yelled Ben.

"Go to hell!" I yelled back, shooting out a ray of Green power into his gut, hoping to blow him across the field at the very least.

He took the punch to his middle, bending over for a moment before he stood straight up again and roared.  His body stood a full foot taller, his entire form ablaze with fire.  The wind whipped leaves and grass and even small branches around us, but none of it could touch me in my power bubble.

I laughed maniacally, feeling high with the energy, deciding to go completely nuts and throw some Water at him.  I never played with that element, not feeling as confident with it, but today, in this moment, I totally didn't care.  I opened my mouth and felt the water coming from me, up through the ground and into my body and out of my jaws to drown Ben and his fire.

A tidal wave of my anger hit him full in the face, extinguishing his flames in an instant and sending him under a bubbling blue cover where he floated, a shocked look frozen on his face.  The wind died down to nothing and the only sound I could hear now was the roar of the oceans I commanded and the hum of the Green in me, the cracking of its energy surrounding us.

"Jayne!" came a tiny voice through the pulsing din.  "Jayne!  You're killing him!"  It was Tim, and he sounded scared.  

I tried to ignore it, but he was so damn persistent.  

"Jayne!  Stop!  It's the taint!  It's the taint!  The vampire!  Let him go!"

I was confused for a second. 
What in the hell is he talking about?  Taint?  What taint?
  I looked down at my wrist, which had suddenly started to tingle so badly it itched.  I scratched at it absently and flinched when my nail caught the open wound. 
Black.  It's black
.  Four puncture marks surrounded by rotten-looking flesh. 
Ew.  What happened to my arm?