New World Order (War of the Fae: Book 4) (32 page)

“I understand.
 
And you’re welcome.”
 
He looked at Chase.
 
“Chase?
 
Ready to go?”

Chase nodded.

I don’t know why I had thought he’d stay with me, but I was disappointed to see Chase leaving so readily.
 
I looked down at my shoes, trying not to start blubbering again.
 
“I guess I’ll see you around, Chase.”

He put his finger under my chin and lifted my head up.
 
“You will.
 
You can count on it.”

I pushed his hand away.
 
He was going to make me cry if he kept being so serious.
 
I looked around me.
 
“Where’s Tim?
 
Anyone seen him?”

Everyone started looking around – some looked up near the ceiling and some looked around on the floor.

I suddenly heard a noise
.
 
“Shhhh!
 
I think I hear something.”

Again the noise came.
 
It sounded like ...

“It’s Tim!” I shouted.
 
“He’s hurt.
 
I hear him somewhere.
 
Watch out!”
 
I pushed Tony to the side.
 
“Look out where you’re stepping.
 
I can’t tell where the sound is coming from.”
 
I cocked my head to the side trying to pick up the noise again.
 
One more time it came, from the direction of the demon.

“Oh, shit,” I said, moving towards the demon’s lifeless body.
 
“Chase, get over here.
 
Finn, help.
 
Get this piece of shit up.”

Chase and Finn rushed over to lift the black carcass up off the floor.
 

Underneath, barely conscious, was Tim.
 
His wings were wrapped around him tightly, making him look like he was in a shimmering, gossamer cocoon.

I leaned over and picked him up, gently placing him in my other hand.
 
I brought my palm up to my face and said softly, “Tim?
 
Buddy?
 
Are you okay?”

His wings looked okay, and I sent a silent thank you up to the heavens for that.
 
I don’t think either one of us could go another three weeks with a grounded pixie.

“Uhhhh,” he groaned out, the sound slightly muffled by his wings covering his face.

“You almost got squished under there.
 
Can you move your legs?”

He kicked my hand weakly with his tiny, little legs.

“How about your arms?”

His wings unfurled and he threw both arms out to his side.
 
He was now lying spread-eagle out in my hand, his eyes still closed.
 
I reached up with my other hand and touched his ribs with my finger.
 
“Can you feel this?”

He started giggling softly.
 
“Stop,” he said, “I’m ticklish.”

I smiled and looked up at my friends who were all standing there looking panicked, waiting to hear the verdict.
 
“He’s okay.
 
Just stunned I think.”

Céline moved her fingers to her heart in relief.
 
They’d been resting over her lips as she waited for the results of my exam.
 

“Well, that’s a relief,” said Finn.
 
“Pixies who can’t fly are ... uh ... a certain special kinda challenge.”

I smiled.
 
“You mean they’re a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah, you could say that,” said Finn, smiling back.

“I can hear you,” said Tim, dryly.
 
“There’s nothing wrong with my hearing, you know.”

“Well, then listen to this:
Thank you.
 
Thank you for sticking that bastard in the eye.
 
You slowed him down and gave Ben and me time to finish him off.
 
You’re the best.”

“The best what?” he asked, his eyes still closed.

“The best pixie.
 
The best roommate.”

“The best demon slayer?”

“Yeah.
 
The best demon slayer.”
 
I walked over to the hall table near the front door and picked up a small bento box – one of the many my mom enjoyed collecting before Rick interfered in her happiness.
 
I opened it up and lined it with a bunch of tissues from the nearby box.
 
I gently put Tim inside.
 
“Here’s a temporary bed for you, ‘til you feel like flying again.”

Tim opened first one eye and then the next.
 
He got a panicked look on his face.
 
“This looks like a coffin!”

“It’s not a coffin, dumb ass.
 
It’s a bento box.”

“Does it have a lid?” he said, still looking suspicious.

“Yes.”

“Don’t put it on.”

I rolled my eyes.
 
“I wasn’t going to ... geez.
 
You think I’d go to all the trouble to rescue you from the crack of that demon’s ass just to suffocate you in a Japanese lunchbox?”

Tim’s eyes almost bugged out of his head.
 
“I was in the crack of that demon’s ass?!”
he yelled.

I laughed in spite of all the horrible things that I’d just gone through.
 
“Yeah.
 
It was hairy too.”

“Oh, no ... ” he gasped, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
 
He sat up and leaned over the edge of the box.

“I’m just kidding!” I said hastily.
 
“No ass crack!
 
No ass crack!”

Tim looked up at me slowly, still hanging onto the edge of the wooden box, his eyes narrowed into slits.
 
“You are pure evil, you know that?”

I shook my head.
 
“No way.
 
I’ve looked in the eyes of pure evil ... in fact, I’ve been propositioned in a highly sexual manner by pure evil, so I know it when I see it.
 
And that ain’t me.”

Tim laid back down.
 
“Pfft.
 
Don’t be so sure.”
 
He closed his eyes and almost immediately started snoring.

I held the lid a few inches away, tempted to put it on the box, just for a second; but I didn’t.
 
Instead I went back to where my friends were mingling and talking to each other at the bottom of the stairs.
 
Someone had dragged the demon into the dining room.
 
I could just see his feet sticking out of the entranceway.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked no one in particular.

Tony answered, “I’ve asked the twins to stay and help take care of your mom.
 
I’m afraid if you call someone official, there’s going to be a problem with the police.”
 
He reached out and took my hand.
 
“She’s been murdered, you know,” he finished softly, “and you’re the only one here.
 
Rick’s gone.”

“So what do you think we should do?” I asked, confused.

Céline stepped in to explain.
 
“There is a fae community nearby that can help.
 
A service will come and prepare her body for the flight. We will take her back with us and conduct a departure ceremony for her there.”

“Departure?”

“A funeral,” explained Tony, “fae-style.”

I nodded my head, not trusting myself to speak.
 
I hugged Tim’s box to me, my eyes seeking out and finding Chase nearby.
 

He stepped over and put his hand on my shoulder.
 
“I’ll see you soon.
 
Hopefully not in another emergency situation like this.”

I got a panicked feeling all of a sudden.
 
“Wait!
 
What about Tony’s house?!”

Chase shook his head.
 
“Don’t worry about it.
 
We already stopped by there ... Ben’s idea.
 
There’s a note on the counter from his parents saying they’re out of town at some convention.
 
I didn’t sense any danger there.”

I smiled weakly.
 
“Okay.
 
Thanks.
 
For everything.”

I saw Tony and Ben exchange looks, Tony obviously relieved to find that his parents hadn’t been murdered like my mom had.
 
I tried not to be bitter about that and mostly succeeded.
 
I didn’t want Tony experiencing even one ounce of the pain I was at that moment.

Chase took his hand away and walked towards the front door, Ben following behind.
 
I didn’t say anything to him because I had already thanked him enough.
 
The time would come when I’d force him to tell me the whole truth about who he is and why he’d been hiding in the background of my life for so long.
 
But today was not that day.
 

Today was the day I had to prepare my mother’s body for burial and remove any signs of her massacre and the demon’s presence from my house.
 
I needed to be able to walk the human world without worrying about being arrested for her murder one day.
 
We had to make it look as if she and her loser husband had just disappeared.

It was going to be, hands down, the worst day of my entire life.

After cleaning up the scene of the crime and having the twins use their talents on the van driver to make him forget about the body-sized package we had gently loaded into his vehicle, we were on our way back to the airport.
 
Before long, we arrived at our destination and worked out a plan where the twins would cause a diversion near the welcome desk inside the airport so we could slip by and get to the waiting plane with our oversized package – my mom’s body held in Finn’s arms and covered in Céline’s cloak.

As soon as we were at the foot of the private jet’s stairs, Ivar came out to greet us, rushing down to carefully take my mother’s bundled body from Finn.
 
For some reason rigor mortis had not yet set in, so she lay limply cocooned, like someone who had just passed out.
 
I didn’t want to think about why that was – why her dead body wasn’t acting like a normal cadaver.
 
I knew she was gone and wasn’t coming back.
 
I didn’t doubt Tony’s guidance in the Gray for a second.
 

The trip back to the Light Fae compound was uneventful for the most part, unless you count my sudden attacks of sorrow that frequently sent me into the bathroom to try and calm myself and wash off my face.
 
Eventually I fell into a fitful but exhausted sleep.
 
I dreamed of darkness and demons and my mother’s battered face.
 
Even in sleep I could not escape the misery that now threatened to overtake all of me.
 
One thing I could not get past was the fact that Céline somehow knew who this demon was.

I woke to a very quiet cabin, everyone asleep around me, with still a bit more than an hour left to go in the flight.
 
I could hear Tim snoring in his bento box bed.
 
I was hoping to ask Céline the question that had been bothering me, but a quick look at her seat told me she wasn’t there.
 
I got up and gingerly made my way around Tony’s sleeping form to go find her.

Céline was sitting at a desk in the back of the plane, just inside a narrow doorway that led to the small office.
 

I entered and closed the door behind me, standing in front of her on the other side of the desk.
 

She glanced up at me and gave me a weak smile.
 

I could tell from her red-rimmed eyes that she had been crying too.
 

“Are your tears for my mother, or for Torrie?”

Céline’s eyes widened at my question and then dropped down to look at the desktop for a moment.
 

I waited breathlessly for her answer.
 
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if she said ‘Torrie.’

“I was worried about
you
, actually.”
 
She looked up at me.
 
“To have seen your mother ... tortured that way.
 
No child should be made to suffer so.”

I sat down wearily in the seat across from her.
 
“No woman should have to endure that kind of beating.”

Céline nodded her head.
 
“True.
 
Yes, you are right.”

“She was a pretty crappy mom at times; but she could have been a lot worse.
 
A lot.
 
She didn’t deserve to live with that piece of shit demon.”

Céline shook her head.
 
“I don’t know what it is with certain women ... they see a spark of potential in someone, maybe – and they think they can turn that spark into a fire of brilliance ... turn a beast into a prince perhaps.”