Taming The Fae - An Exsilium Short Story (7 page)

“Just watch and see me kick her ass,” Raven
fired back.

We all stopped on the grass and looked at the
so
dead girl striding towards Kasadya.

“You ready to have your ass handed to you?”
Raven announced when she reached Kasadya.

She started with a kick to Kasadya’s torso,
but Kas caught her foot mid-kick and stopped her momentum. Raven’s
smile dropped.

“My turn,” was the only warning Raven got
before Kasadya’s fist ended up in her jaw.

She flew back and landed on the ground.
Shaking her head, she got back up again. She stormed forward, ready
to punch Kas.

Oh, this is not going to end well.
I
closed my eyes, dreading the next seconds.

“That’s cheating!” Raven yelled, so I had to
peak.

“That’s using your abilities to survive.” Kas
smiled at her.

Raven jumped up and stormed forward again,
her eyes blazing.

“Kas, just don’t hurt her too badly,” Ben
called, trying to save Raven.

Kas deflected the blow coming at her. And
with a few quick moves, Raven was flying like a swan, a soon dead
one, but still a swan. She flew up again, but this time she chose
to shift to her Hellhound form. Her eyes flickered briefly between
red and yellow.

Oh not good, really not good.
I looked
at Max, who was watching the show, ready to step in and save Raven.
It must be hard for the hellhounds to lose their cool so quickly.
Kas didn’t shift to hellhound. Instead she gracefully blocked all
of Raven’s punches.

“Kasadya, we don’t have all day,” Chax said
from our left. I actually jumped, not even noticing that he was
there at all.

Kas nodded and punched Raven, who ended up
unconscious on the ground. I closed my eyes, trying to picture
something else.
Hell, Kasadya had a mean punch.
Raven lost
her control on her hellhound form and shifted back to normal, her
body splayed out on the ground.

“Somebody wake the kid. We have work to do,”
Kas stated and walked away.

I didn’t wait for another second. I ran to
Raven, and Ben was right next to me. Ouch, she was going to have a
killer shiner. I looked up and found Kasadya storming back to us.
Dropping Raven like a bag, I made sure I was far away from both of
them. Just before Kas reached her, I could see reason setting
in.

“You have so much to learn, Raven. Stop
trying to fight everyone you see and try to learn from them. I can
help you. We all can help you,” Kas said as she indicated all of
us.

“There is a battle coming, and it’s going to
be brutal. If you are not ready, you won’t last long,” Kas tried to
explain and held her hand out for Raven to grab. Kasadya’s words
sunk in, and I looked at Max again. His eyes were on Kasadya and he
was smiling again. I felt really crappy at that moment, a little
too crappy for my liking.
Why does he keep looking at Kas? Does
he still love her?
Probably, they were dating before …. before
us. That stupid painful stab was in my heart again.

“Okay,” Raven whispered, trying to get up on
her feet without any luck. “I'll stop being cocky.”

Kas helped Raven up and turned to look at
Max. They smiled at each other and I went from crappy to suicidal
in a millisecond.

“We need to find those demon princes and
speed things up. Any suggestions?” she asked him. Furious, I kept
my eyes on the two of them.

“I know, but our options are limited,” Max
replied.

I looked at Kas and all I could see was that
slutty demon princess from the other night. She was mated to Chax,
but she was still flirting with Max. That was just - hold on. Light
bulb moment!

“Um, Kas, what about the princess?” I
suggested.

Kasadya turned around and looked at me,
confused.

“What do you mean?”

I looked around, trying to make sure no one
noticed my insanely jealous moment. “You know, she tried to warn us
about Kali. And she said that she knew what was happening to you,
and that you could help each other.” I whispered the last part,
ashamed that I was acting like this. They were just friends, and I
need to get over that. I looked at Max and found him frowning at
me, but he was also really mad for some reason.

“Let’s tell Chax, and we can let him decide,”
Kasadya suggested, turned around, and walked back into the house.
The others followed, but Max had a death glare fixed on me, pinning
me to the spot. He walked over slowly, freaking scary slowly, and
then stopped in front of me.

“What demon princess? I can’t remember
meeting a demon princess, Nanini. Is there something I should know
before I walk into that house and find out from someone else
?”
Sweet baby faes, he was really pissed.

I swallowed hard, wondering how he would take
the news.

Max

Her huge eyes looked back at me. I saw her
swallow a lump in her throat.
They would not have been that
stupid, would they?

“Um, maybe we should go inside and let Kas
explain this,” Nanini suggested.

I stepped to the side and indicated with my
hand for her to take the lead. She blasted past me and almost
knocked the door into pieces.
That can only mean one thing: they
did do a stupid thing
. Furious, I stormed into the house and
found everyone in the lounge. Kasadya was asking Chax to remain
calm until she had fully explained everything. Michael, the
Archangel, was already there and also took a seat, waiting for some
explanation.

I searched and found Nanini hiding behind
Lada. Not one of us were going to like this, of that I was sure. I
leaned against the wall and kept my eyes on Nanini.

“Okay, so you guys remember that night we
were in the little fishing town with all the cats?” Kasadya asked,
looking at Chax and all the males. Not one of us nodded, but we did
glare at her. We all woke up in the house, on the floor, with no
idea what happened but a huge bump on our heads. Clearly, the girls
knocked us out for some insane reason. Chax shifted us all back
instantly and we found them standing in a dark alley talking with
each other. We almost lost it that night. More Archangels shifted
in.

“Well, you guys lost it because Luxuria was
there with all her demons. While you were gone, she offered to help
us to get the so-called death charm off Kali in return for a
favor.” Nanini looked at me with huge eyes. Mine, on the other
hand, were trying to kill each female in the room.

Chax closed his eyes and tried to remain
calm.
How could they be that stupid?
A demon princess was no
walk in the park. They were pure evil and too powerful for a few
females. They could have been killed.

“Why didn’t you tell me this?!” Chax finally
yelled after remaining silent long enough.

“I didn’t think it was such a big deal.”
Kasadya replied.

“Do you know how dangerous she can be?!” Chax
fumed.

“Chax, come on! It’s over, done. Let’s try
and logically think about this,” Michael interjected.

“Indeed,” Chax replied. He was as furious as
I was. Not even Lotan was taking this well. The girls really placed
all their lives in danger by trying to negotiate with a demon
princess.

“So, what are we going to do?” Raphael asked,
leaning against the door frame of the lounge. Chax walked around
the packed room, his face strained as he thought it over.

“It might be another trap,” he said, rubbing
the stubble on his chin.

“Definitely a trap, but can we use it to our
advantage?” Michael asked, his eyes fixed on Chax.

“Might as well try. Yesterday delivered
nothing. Time is running out for us,” Chax finally said, turning
around to look at us.

“She said you should just call out to her?”
he asked Kasadya.

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

“Then we meet her on our grounds,” Chax said,
indicating for us to prepare for a shift.

“Caim, I want you and Zurita to stay behind
with Raven. Her training needs to be quick and efficient,” Chax
instructed Caim, who nodded in agreement.

Furious and really pissed off at the girls,
Chax led us outside to the gate. The Archangels shifted out, and I
took the opportunity to glare at Nanini. She was still trying to
stay clear of me. But she wouldn’t be able to for long.

Chax shifted us to an open field. There were
no houses or anything around, just a barren field with a small
scattering of trees nearby.

“I want the rest of you to form a circle
around Kasadya and me. If this demon so much as steps close, you
kill her,” Chax instructed us.

We spread out and I made sure to stand right
next to Nanini.

“Are you going to make a big deal out of
this?” she whispered.

“Yes,” was my only reply.

“Call her,” Chax instructed Kasadya.

“Luxuria!” Kasadya yelled.

Waiting, Nanini continued on, “You know we
saved all of you that night, right?”

“And almost got killed.” I looked around,
waiting for this demon princess.

“No, we didn’t. We had it all under control,”
Nanini insisted.

I glared at her. “I am already on the verge
of killing you. Don’t make it worse.”

“No, really? Like I don’t feel all your
emotions? You really have to work on them.”
She was going to be
the end of me.

Finally, the demon princess shifted in.

“Hellhound, you finally started thinking. Who
knew you had such potential?” She smiled at Kasadya, but when her
eyes met Chax, she took a step back.

“Chax,” she breathed.

“Luxuria,” he replied, his eyebrows frowning
at her.

Nanini laughed softly next to me. I dared to
look at her.

“Sorry, it’s just this girl is so funny. All
“I am Miss World” and that.” Nanini was having a ball, while we
were waiting for the demon princess to try and kill someone.

“This is not the time, Nanini,” I barked
back.

She chocked on her laugh and looked at me.
“You are such a spoilsport.”

I bit down on my tongue that wanted to give
her a few more sentences.

Suddenly the demon princess shifted out.
Relaxing, I regained my footing.

“Any suggestions on keeping the demons
grounded?” Chax asked, not looking directly at anyone as he watched
our surroundings.

Silence greeted him. We stood there for a
while, thinking, before Chax shifted us back to his house. Once
there, we all started brainstorming about a solution.

“I have nothing,” Lada said, spread out on
the couch.

“Ditto,” Nanini said from behind the
couch.

She had crawled to that spot earlier, looking
for a place in the sun. Her golden hair radiated in the sunlight
and became a distraction for me.

“It’s not like we can stop a shift,” I said,
walking up and down.

Kasadya jumped up and looked at Chax.

“Chax, when we met your brother in the
ice-lands, you did something that prevented me from shifting. What
did you do?”

He was leaning against the wall and staring
outside through the window. At her question, he turned and looked
at her, his eyes narrowed.

“I used our link with Corra and blocked you.
It’s like a charm,” he replied.

We watched in silence as something dawned on
him.

“If we are able to do the same charm to them,
we might be able to stop them,” he finished and looked at Abby.

“Abby, will you be able to use a blocking
spell like with Corra and infuse it something like a circle?” Chax
asked. I was already right next to both of them.

“Can it be placed into something that can
contain it and then be released when needed?” I asked, catching on
quickly.

“I might just have something we can use,” Ben
interjected.

“Then let’s get to it,” I suggested and led
the way to Ben and Abby’s lab downstairs.

It was going to be a long night for us.

Nanini

I woke up feeling like crap. Even though I
ate last night, it felt like I had no energy. With difficulty, I
got dressed, brushed my teeth, and made my way to the kitchen. I
stopped at the door and watched Max place a plate on the table.

“I have made you something to eat.” He
indicated the plate and turned around to the fridge.

It was a trap.
I looked around waiting
for the boogey man or something to jump up. Max closed the fridge
door and had a bunch of stuff in his arms. When he noticed that I
was still standing there, he stopped his progress and looked at
me.

“Eat, Nanini. I still have to make breakfast
for the others,” he said with a smile.

Okay, apparently he wasn’t mad at me anymore.
I spent most of the night lying in bed remembering his face when
Kas told him about our little adventure without them. And I felt
like crap all through it. I sat down at the table and looked at the
sandwich.
It looked freaking amazing.
I grabbed it and
almost stuck half of it in my mouth. Chewing, I closed my eyes and
enjoyed every molecule bursting inside my mouth.

“Do you know how beautiful you are when you
do that?” Max’s declaration had my eyes flashing open.

He was leaning against the counter looking at
me. I felt the blush that crept up from my neck towards my face.
Oh no.

“Even more when you blush like that,” he went
on.

I was the color of blood now. “Don’t do
that.”

“What? Tell you how beautiful you are?” Max
wasn’t going to back off.

“Yes, I don’t like it.” I was suddenly on
‘flee and save yourself’ mode. I looked at the door and decided to
get the hell out of there.

“Ompf!” I smashed right into Max. He grabbed
hold of me and didn’t let go. I struggled and even tried to bite
him but he was just too powerful. His hand grabbed my chin and he
forced me to look at him.