Page 3 of Outcast Fae
We rode in silence, watching my home disappear. We followed several highways, civilization disappearing more and more the longer we drove. Vaughn dozed, lying curled up on the floor, but I stayed awake, watching each turn we took, each town we passed. If there was any way out, I would find it.
I must have dozed off because when we came to a stop, I jumped up in a panic and crawled to the van’s back windows.
We were deep in the trees now, though they looked very different from the ones we’d left behind. The trees near our cottage had been tall and bushy. These were frond-like and tropical. How long had I been out?
Where were we?
As I peered through the van’s tinted windows, both the male and female captors walked into view. They stepped to the side, talking with two other humans in similar attire. Were they handing us over? If I was going to make a move, it had to be now.
The male walked toward the van, leaving his partner back with the others.
I dropped limply on the van floor, closing my eyes and slowing my breathing. I didn’t move when his footsteps reached the doors and I heard a click and the squeak of hinges.
I held my breath, waiting for him to get close enough to strike.
“Watch out!” Vaughn shouted. “She’s going to attack you.”
I lurched up, but it was too late. The van doors slammed before I could even lift my head. I whirled, staring at Vaughn, anger rolling off me in waves.
“Why?” was all I could muster between my clenched teeth.
His eyes shone like hard emeralds as he stared me down. “If I’m stuck here, fae bitch, you sure as hell should be, too.”
Chapter Two
I hadno idea where I was, who my abductors were, or why I was here. In fact, there was only one thing I did know: I hated Vaughn Collins.
He was the reason I was cuffed and sitting in this room.
As soon as he’d tipped them off that I was trying to escape, our abductors had magicked us stiff again. Then, they’d floated us out of the van and into this room.
With my nose pointing straight up, I hadn’t seen much of the building’s facade, only that it was small, dingy, and surrounded by palm trees. Inside, the little waiting area was as hot and muggy as the outside air.
Now that I was sitting and could look around, there wasn’t much to see. The twelve-by-fourteen office held an old desk, a ratty chair, an additional door in the back, and a set of disorganized bookshelves along the far wall. The smell of mildew and stale food saturated the air, the latter coming from a heaping trash bin in the corner. Flies buzzed in the foggy windows and strips of paper clung from the ceiling with insects stuck to them. Unsightly to say the least. Didn’t humans know of sweet basil and its fly-repelling properties?
On the desk, file folders were strewn about. I couldn’t read their contents from where I sat, but the names on each were large enough to make out.
“Tallyndra (Fae)” was written across one and “Vaughn Collins (Warlock)” across another.
Gods, where was I? And why had they taken me from my safe haven?
Since I’d been forced to leave Alanthyl, my home town in the fae realm, I’d been staying at a human college known as the Supernatural Academy. Humans with powers—witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and more—went there to study magic. People there, like the Dean Lynssa McIntosh, had helped me and the orphans and had given us a safe place to live on the campus. The place hadn’t been much, but it had been ours. In the little hut, hidden deep in the woods that surrounded the school, we could sometimes pretend that we were still in our home.
But this? This place was too human for me. I had to get out.
Vaughn and I sat on two metal folding chairs, our hands bound behind our backs. The cuffs were plastic, that strange material that seemed to be everywhere, and I had a feeling I could get out of them if not for the immobilizing magic that kept my muscles stiff.
For his part, Vaughn did nothing but sulk and stare at the floor. A spoiled rich boy if I’d ever seen one. They seemed to be the same everywhere. He’d made a big ruckus a moment ago, mentioning some aunt and what would happen when she found out what they’d done. Was she someone important? Or was it all a hollow threat? Then again, maybe that was why he was here. Kidnapping was a lucrative business, even in Faerie.
I wondered if that was why they’d taken me as well. Kiana, Queen of the Seelie Fae, was my aunt. She’d been in hiding ever since we’d fled from our realm and had many enemies. Maybe I’d been kidnapped to get to her. The question was, would she care? Perhaps not. We’d had our differences, after all.
Which meant I was on my own and escape was my only option.
Our abductors walked into the room, interrupting my thoughts. Tissues were stuffed up the man’s nostrils. Inside, I smiled in satisfaction. They might have magically fixed his broken nose, but he was still suffering. Hopefully, he would remember that the next time he came near me.
The female looked as smug and disgusted as before. She was in her midlife, but tough, maybe ex-military. Hard muscles flexed under her rolled-up sleeves as she drew a cigarette from a pack, put it to her thin lips, and lit it with a snap of her fingers.
“No more funny business from you two,” she said, exhaling a trail of smoke in our faces. “This one might put up with that shit, but I don’t.” She hooked a thumb toward her partner, who rolled his eyes before replying.
