Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale) (37 page)

“I
said… Hey!”  His words ended in a shout as the rats wrestled him to the ground
and shoved a gag in his mouth.

“I
think he said ‘yes.’”  Cinderella decided as Charming thrashed around on the
floor.  “See?  That was definitely a nod.”

Charming
emphatically shook his head.

“None
of this is legal.”  Scarlett looked at the TV camera.  “Cindy is taking over
this kingdom by force.  Once she’s done here, she’ll be coming after the
others.  She’ll be coming after
all
of you.”

“Every
other kingdom in this land would be
thrilled
to have me as their
princess!”  Cinderella seethed.  “I’m the only one worthy of a crown.”  She
looked back to Jack.  “Continue with the service!”

“Do
you Cinderella, benevolent and magnificent princess of our dreams, take this
undeserving wretch to be your doting husband and slave?”

Cinderella
smiled sweetly.  “Until death do us part.”  She promised and daintily dabbed at
her eye with a pink handkerchief.

Trevelyan
went back to taunting Marrok.  “Did you know your woman was Good before you
claimed her?  You must have.  Even I can see it.  How does it feel to fuck a
Good folk just because you
want
to?”  He paused for a beat.  “Wait. 
Don’t tell me.  I want to be surprised when I try her for myself.”

“Oh,
Letty’s full of surprises.”

Scarlett’s
gaze cut over to Marrok, picking up on his tone.  Golden eyes met her and she
knew exactly what he wanted her to do.  For whatever reason, Marrok wanted her
to piss off Trevelyan and she was happy to oblige.

She
really could read the man’s mind.

“I
don’t believe that anyone is all Good or all Bad.”  She told Trevelyan in a
serious tone.  “It’s that kind of thinking that keeps all of us trapped.”

“No,
it’s
me
who’s keeping you trapped.”  Cinderella retorted.  “And once
you’re gone, I’m going to see the rest of the cowering Bad folk in the
Enchanted Forest trapped, too.  Trapped in prisons far away from here, where
their ugly faces and wicked schemes and Bad smells can’t bother me
ever
again!  They can rot there, along with every other bastard in this kingdom
who’s stood against me.”

Letty
kept her voice loud enough so the audience at home could easily hear.  “Well
that proves my point, doesn’t it?  Good and Bad folk are all on your hit list. 
We’re not so different after all.”  She kept her attention on the camera. 
“Anyone who doesn’t want to be ruled over by a temperamental beauty queen
--anyone who thinks we’re better than that-- should probably do something about
it.”

Trevelyan
rolled his eyes.  “You’re kinda preachy, aren’t you?”  He took hold of her
arm.  “No matter.  We can probably find
something
to do with your
mouth.”

“
Stop
talking through my beautiful ceremony!
”  Cinderella shrieked.

Everyone
ignored that.

Letty
wrenched back against the dragon’s hold.  “Do you think I’ll
ever
submit
to you?”

“Absolutely
you will.  Everything you did for Marrok, you’ll do for me.  Count on it.”  He
reached for her, again.

Scarlett’s
foot slammed into his leg.  The kick couldn’t have hurt him
tha
t much. 
He topped her by at least ten inches.  But his expression still darkened at her
resistance.  She felt a surge of satisfaction at that.

Marrok
gave a derisive snort as Trevelyan swore in pain.  “The woman is half your size
and has her wrists tied.  How can you possibly be losing?”

“Shut
up!”  Trevelyan bellowed.  He stabbed a finger at Marrok and Scarlett could see
a green mist begin to move along his skin.  The dragon was coming out.  “Every
night, locked in that cell, I’d listen to you talk about your True Love.  About
how you would give
anything
for her.  About how she would save you.”

“She
will.”

“She
won’t
.”  Trevelyan hissed.  “That’s what I’m about to prove. 
Nothing
is going to save you, Marrok.  After what you did to me, you don’t deserve to
be saved.”

“I
didn’t do a damn thing to you.”  Marrok shot back.  “I just knew killing a
hundred people was a bad idea.  Seems like that would be pretty fucking obvious
to anyone with a brain in his head.”

“Everyone
pay attention to
me!
”  Cinderella shouted.

No
one did.

“You
didn’t have my back.”  The angrier Trevelyan got, the heavier the
transformative smoke grew around his form and the less attention he paid to
Scarlett.  His body got bigger by the second.  It elongated, becoming larger
and eerily dragon-shaped.  “I had to sleep with that bitch Dr. White, because
you
wouldn’t help me get out of there.  Do you know how degrading that was for a
dragon?”

“I’m
about to have you all killed!”  Cinderella screamed.  “The canapés will be
ruined if I don’t get this damn wedding over with soon.  Is that what you
want?  To spoil my reception?!”

“You
slept with Snow White because you
wanted
to, Trev.”  Marrok retorted,
clearly not giving a damn about the temperature of the
hors
d'oeuvres
.  “Letty and I managed to escape without climbing
into her bed.”  He shrugged with the same taunting grace that had made Scarlett
want to punch him a thousand times in share circle.  “Or maybe we’re just
smarter than you.”

“Bastard.” 
The furious word was accompanied by a drift of smoke from between Trevelyan’s
lips.  It could only be a precursor to fire.  “We’ll see how funny you are when
you’re stripped of the one thing that’s ever given you hope.”  He was fully a
dragon, now.  His huge body loomed over Scarlett, his clawed hands reaching for
her.

She
quickly backed away from him, her eyes finding Marrok’s.

If
you see Trevelyan start to turn into his dragon form, you run.

Damn
it.  Letty had no idea why he’d told her that earlier or what he was up to, but
she trusted him.  Marrok had backed plenty of her ideas.  Whatever his plan
was, she was going with it.

Scarlett
took off running.

“Stop
her!”  Cinderella screamed.

Trevelyan
gave a harsh laugh, watching as Letty raced down the aisle between the empty
folding chairs.  “Where do you think you can go that I won’t catch you, woman? 
No place is safe from…”

Marrok
moved.  The rats stumbled back as he shook them off and surged forward.  He
must have been sandbagging his struggles earlier to draw them away from Letty,
because he had no problem throwing them all aside.  Marrok drove his weight
into the shifting mist of Trevelyan’s midsection, sending them to the floor. 
Trevelyan gave a roar of outrage.

“Jesus,
the wolf really is crazy.”  Cinderella declared.

For
once, Letty almost agreed with her.  Nobody sane would tackle a dragon.

She
reached the door and anxiously turned back to watch the fight, trying to
decided what to do.  Trusting Marrok was one thing, but no way was she going to
stand by and watch him slaughtered.  Fifteen feet of enraged monster was too
much for anyone to face alone.

Sure
enough, Trevelyan was getting the upper hand.  He was too big.  Marrok couldn’t
even turn into his wolf-self because of the magic inhibiting bindings on his
wrists.  He was tied-up and helpless.  There was no way he could win against a
gigantic dragon who hated him.

Scarlett
started back towards the men, her heart pounding in her throat.  “Marrok!”

“I
should have killed you years ago!”  Trevelyan had his hands around Marrok’s
neck.  “Die knowing I’ll be finishing off your woman as soon as I’m done with
you.  You’ve lost
everything
and there’s nothing you can do about it,
Wolf!”

Marrok
gaze locked on Trevelyan’s.  “If you think that, you haven’t met my True Love.”

Scarlett
saw a flash of something in his palm and she realized it was the weird vial
he’d put in his pocket earlier.  The rats had taken their guns, but they hadn’t
noticed that little tube.  She heard the crack of glass against the wooden
floor.  What the hell was Marrok…?

Whoosh!

A
cloud of purple smoke enveloped both men, quickly spreading backward to cover
the rats as well.  Scarlett’s eyes widened.  It was the same mystical fog that
the WUB Club used.  The same mystical fog that had knocked Dru out.  The same
mystical fog that put people into goddamn comas.

…And
Marrok had just let it loose.

That
was why he’d made her promise to run.  That was why he’d drawn Trevelyan’s
attention by pissing him off.  Marrok must’ve gotten some portable version of
the purple smoke from her grandmother’s weapon cachet and he hadn’t wanted
Letty to be hit with it, too.  He’d been protecting her.  Which meant, this had
been his plan to beat the dragon all along.

No
wonder the idiot didn’t tell her about his idea.  She never would have agreed
to anything so dangerous!

Scarlett
gave a panicked cry as Marrok collapsed.  Trevelyan toppled over beside him,
his body shifting back into human form.  The rats were falling, too.  The gas
was doing what Rumpelstiltskin had always insisted it would do and flattening
everyone in its path.  Within seconds, Cinderella, Jack, Charming, and Letty
were the only ones left conscious in the entire room.  Even that small dose of
purple smoke had knocked out everyone else.

Letty’s
whole world stopped as she gaped at Marrok’s motionless form.  He wasn’t
moving.  He
couldn’t
move
.
  He was trapped in magical sleep.

“
Marrok!
”

“Great.” 
Cinderella threw up her hands in frustration.  “There go our witnesses.”  She
looked over at Jack.  “Can we finish the ceremony without witnesses?”

“It’s
your kingdom now, highness.  We can do whatever you decree.”

Cinderella
beamed.  “Well,
finally
the world makes sense, then.  Keep going with
the vows.”

Scarlett
ignored that inanity.  She raced forward, all her attention on Marrok.  The concentrated
burst of purple smoke was dissipating quickly, which was fortunate since she
wasn’t thinking clearly enough to wait.

“Marrok?” 
She collapsed to her knees beside him.  “What kind of kamikaze bullshit was
that?! 
Huh?!
”  Scarlett stared down at his still face and tried to
breathe.  “Don’t do this to me!  When you said you’d die for me, it was
supposed to be metaphorical!  Open your eyes. 
Please
open your eyes.” 
She shook his shoulder trying to rouse him.  “
Marrok
.”

He
had to wake-up.  She couldn’t survive without him.  He was her True Love.

Scarlett
froze.

Wait… 
He was her
True Love
.

Letty
could’ve cried as relief flooded her system.  She could fix this.  The purple
smoke wasn’t permanent.  It could be cured with True Love’s kiss!  Suddenly,
Marrok’s plan didn’t seem quite so suicidally stupid, after all.  He’d set this
up because he’d known she could awaken him, again.

She
leaned over, her mouth finding his.

This
had to work.  If it didn’t, she’d beat him to death in his sleep.  The smooth warmth
of his lips beneath hers caused her insides to dip.  Even unconscious, the man
was addictive.  If she lost him, she had no idea what she would do.  Marrok
meant everything to her.  He was…

…kissing
her back!

He
was kissing her back!

Within
seconds, Marrok was awake and participating in the embrace.  One big hand came
up to tangle in her hair, pulling her closer.  Scarlett found herself smiling
widely as he tugged her down on top of him.

“Oh
thank God.”  She drew back to touch his cheek with her palm.  “Don’t you
ever
do something like that again!  You almost gave me a heart attack, you jackass! 
You don’t get to plan anything else without telling me.  What would’ve happened
if something went wrong?”

“What
could’ve gone wrong?  You’re my True Love.”  He grinned.  “I knew you’d save
me.”

Scarlett
looked into his clear golden eyes and saw total trust.  How could she be mad at
someone who had such complete faith in her?  She shook her head.  “You and I
are just destined to save each other forever, I think.”

“All
the more reason you should propose soon.”

Scarlett
nearly laughed.  There just wasn’t a better time to do this than when they were
surrounded by people in mystical comas, and Cinderella was trying to take over
the world, and Charming was chained to a pillar.  She and Marrok didn’t do
anything the traditional way.

“Are
you sure you want to be my husband?  Even after this?

“Baby,
I’m
positive
.  I vote we go home to the Enchanted Forest and corral a
non-rodent minister, right after we’re done here.”  He gave her another kiss,
his voice dipping lower.  “And, by the way, I’m
already
your husband.”