Darkness & Light (War of the Fae: Book 3) (33 page)

“Well, there should be. I’m not sure who’s in charge of making them around here, but obviously they’ve been asleep at the wheel.
 
They missed the whole ‘torture is inhumane’ thing too.”

“We are not humans, and so we are not bound to act humane.
 
We act as fae and therefore do what must be done to protect
faekind
.
 
You may leave once you have answered our questions.
 
I believe you have been given enough demonstration of our methods.
 
Do not force us to send you to the Otherworlds.
 
Tell us what we want to know and we will send you back to the Green Forest to find your way back home.”

“Why?
 
So you can destroy my home and everyone I care about?
 
No.
 
No thanks.
 
I’m not cool with that.”
 
This was one cold-hearted bitch – she made Ben look evil-lite.

“What happened to Ben?”
 
I was wondering if he’d been blown up by the tornado that came through.
 
It had seemed designed to put his fire out.
 
It would be awful convenient for the Light Fae if the Dark Fae started blowing each other up.
 
Maybe I could orchestrate another one of those little catastrophes.

“Ben is none of your concern.
 
You should be more concerned about yourself.”

“I’m not
concerned
, I’m
curious
.
 
Big difference.”

Maléna
just looked at me and then left the room.
 
She kept the door open, so I wasted no time going over to it and looking out.
 
She was nowhere to be seen.
 
I ran a few paces down the corridor and tried to open another door, finding myself once again in my own cell.

“
Sonofafuckface
,” I said disgustedly, sighing as I entered the room, shutting the door behind me.
 
“You okay, Tim?”

“Yeah,” he said weakly from my hair.

“Want to come out?”

“No.
 
I’m gonna stay in here for a while.”

“I don’t blame you.
 
I wish I had a giant hair nest I could hide in.”

I
laid
down on the stone bed wondering what time it was, thinking it must be pretty late.
 
I was exhausted.
 
Despite the terrible hard, coldness of the bench, I found myself drifting off.
 
As my brain tried to unwind itself, my sleepy thoughts floated over different parts of the events of the day or days – I really had no idea how long I’d been here.
 

I thought about Ben and warred with myself.
 
Part of me hated him down to his very essence, and another part of me was curious about him.
 
I tried to deny it and ignore it, but things weren’t adding up with him, so it kept my brain interested and wondering, damn traitor that it was to me sometimes.
 
Ben was cruel and did terrible things; he was willing to do anything to reach his goals – even kill me.
 
But he was also showing flashes of compassion or mercy.
 
He could have taken Tony and he didn’t.
 
He could have killed him in the meadow and he didn’t.
 
He could have tortured me more, but he didn’t.
 
None of this was making any sense and it frustrated me.
 
I placated myself by imagining what type of torture I could do to him to get answers to my questions.
 
First, I’d make him sit and listen to Scrum for six hours straight – I’d have a witch do a spell on him so he couldn’t block out the sound of Scrum’s voice and couldn’t fall asleep.
 
Then, I’d feed Tim an entire plate of fruit, and lock Ben and him up in a very small, enclosed
space ...

My happy thoughts were interrupted by another sound at the door.
 

Leck
entered the room, alone this time.
 

Fuck me, not again.
 
My brain was weeping in fright, but I refused to let it show on my face.
 
“Oh, boy.
 
Lucky me,
”
 
I
said, sitting up and fixing him with a bold stare.

Leck
stood in the doorway, saying nothing.

“You won’t beat me at the
staredown
game,
Leck
.
 
I rock at this.”

He still said nothing.
 
He just kept looking at me.
 
It was creeping me out.

“Anyone ever tell you that you have the personality of an ogre?”

I saw a slight, almost imperceptible lifting of one of his eyebrows, but nothing else.
 
I knew I was getting closer to pissing him off, and for some sadistic reason, I really needed to do that – make him angry.
 
I couldn’t use The Green or Blackie against him, but I could use my razor sharp wit.
 
At least, that’s what I told myself.

“No, wait.
 
That would be in an insult to ogres everywhere.
 
I think it would be more accurate to say that you have the personality of an orc ... ”

Leck’s
lips thinned.

“ ...
an
extra stupid one.”

He took three long steps towards me and then gave me the evil eye.
 
The pain exploded in my head.
 
I had time to get a few words out before it became too much to bear.

“ ...
orc
... fucker!”

I rolled off the stone slab, cradling my head in my hands and falling onto the floor.
 
I panted, some part of my brain telling me that it could be possible to breath through the pain, like women did when they were having babies.
 
A few seconds later the only rational part of my brain that was still functioning decided that anyone who says you
can
breathe through intense pain like that has never tried to do it before.
 
Lying bastards.

The agony was so great
,
it overwhelmed my thinking
.
 
Tim was no longer my concern.
 
Ben blowing me up?
 
Okay, fine.
 
Whatever.
 
Tornados carrying me off to never
never
land?
 
Sure.
 
Whatever floats your
boat.
 
Just get this awfulness out of my head, and I’ll agree to anything.

The pain began to recede.
 
My tightly closed eyes fought to open.
 
I wanted – no needed – to see if
Leck
was still there.
 
My desperate hope was that he was gone again and I could fall into a deep, dark sleep where the stinging, slicing barbs would no longer be able to reach me.

One eye opened and my hopes were immediately dashed.
 
Leck
still stood there, only now he had a slight smile on his face.
 
He didn’t have to say it – I knew what he was thinking.
 
Now who’s laughing?

I felt like he’d nearly knocked me out with that last hit.
 
Maybe that was the key.
 
Piss him off enough to overdose me, and then I could sleep through it.
 
I looked up at him, now with both eyes open.

“Not bad,” I groaned, “for an orc fucker.”

I had expected my torture to continue with the brain melting, so I was totally unprepared for the kick to the face that I received.
 
It snapped my head backwards and caused me to roll halfway onto my back.
 
I tried to keep my head lifted off the floor a little so I wouldn’t squish my friend, but it was taking all of my concentration.
 
If this guy was going to start physically kicking my ass like this, Tim wasn’t going to make it.
 
So even though the pain from my eye was distracting me from the pain in my head, it changed things.
 
I could no longer afford to bait him and hope for a blackout.

“Shit!
 
What’d you do that for?”

“Tell us what we want to know and it will all stop.”

“Yeah, I got that.
 
And maybe I’d be willing to talk, but I have to go to the bathroom first.”

“No.”

I lifted my head and locked eyes with him, giving him the most withering look I could muster.
 
“Are you seriously going to torture me by making me shit myself?
 
I’m not the only one who will suffer with that one, you know.”

Leck
got a look of extreme distaste on his face, which made me very happy.
 
I tried like hell not to smile.
 
I really didn’t have to go, but I was struggling to think of any way I could both delay the inevitable and also find a place to stash Tim so he wouldn’t get taken down with me in a beating.

“You may use the bathroom.
 
If you take too long, I will send someone in after you.”

I bit back the retort that was ready to fly out of my mouth.
 
I didn’t want to push my luck.
 
I knew this guy was the real deal – a truly black-hearted Dark Fae.
 
It’s like someone had taken away his soul.
 
I shivered thinking about it.
 
Tony could have been made into one of them.

I stood up slowly, trying to ignore the pounding in my eyebrow where
Leck’s
foot had caught me.
 
I could feel something warm trickling down the side of my face – I wasn’t sure if it was sweat or blood.
 
I walked as casually and as confidently as I
could,
only stumbling once.
 
Leck
moved to the side, allowing me to pass by.

I pictured the bathroom in my mind and got there too soon.
 
I wanted to stall as long as possible, even though he’d threatened me about hurrying up.
 
I stood in front of the mirror, noticing that the stuff dripping down my face was indeed blood.
 
He’d split a section of skin above my eyebrow, so I not only had a gaping, bleeding
wound,
I also had a puffy, swollen knot above my eye.
 
At least it wasn’t the eye itself.
 
I slashed some water on my now not so pretty face, trying to rinse the blood away; it only served to make the bleeding worse.

Tim tiptoed out onto my shoulder and just watched me, saying nothing.
 
He had a very sad look on his face.
 
I didn’t say anything because I couldn’t handle his pity right now.
 
If a single traitor tear came out of my eyes, I’d probably turn into a Neanderthal and punch the mirror or something.

There were paper towels near the sink, which I used to try and stop the worst of the bleeding.
 
I’d already stained the heck out of my tunic, but at this point it was hopeless – I don’t know why I bothered with the towels.
 
I was covered not only in blood but also dirt, drool, and I didn’t want to know what else –
please don’t let it be barf
.
 
I threw the wadded up, red-stained papers in the sink and grabbed some more.
 
They soaked up the blood too quickly, and every time I took them off, it pulled the dried blood away and started the bleeding again.
 
Is it possible to bleed to death from an eyebrow cut?

I looked at the huge pile of paper towels in the sink.
 
Then I looked up in the mirror.
 
I stood there for a second, wondering why my brain was nudging me.
 
I saw the toilet behind me in the mirror’s reflection.
 
I grabbed the paper towels and was going to throw them into the trash bin, but changed my mind at the last second, turning and throwing them into the toilet.
 

“What are you doing?” asked Tim.

“I don’t know.”
 
I sat there looking at all the bloody towels in the toilet, watching them sink and become soaked with toilet water, my mind racing.
 
“I was going to leave you in here, but this place is spelled and you can’t fly.
 
You’d starve to death before you could fly away.”

“So don’t leave me here.
 
I want to stay with you.”

“He’s going to beat the piss out of me, Tim; and if he does that you’ll get hurt too.
 
They’ll find you and kill you
,
I know they will
.
 
I can’t let that happen.”

“So what’s with the towels in the toilet?
 
Do you have an idea?”

“I think I do.
 
Maybe.”
 
Did I?
 
Did I have an idea?
 
It was a
long-shot
, but even a long-shot was worth trying.
 
“Just be ready to jump ship and find a place to hide until your wings grow back and you can fly the hell out of here.”