Broken Wings, chaps. 4-8

Chapter Four - Lyss

“Dammit!”

I shot up. Not a good move. My head bonked a reading light, after which I used my own choice of swear words. Rubbing my head, I slid out of bed, sitting up to see what had caused me to wake up. Nothing was there, only a sudden feeling that something was watching me. My leg prickled, and I reached down to slap a bug off of it, but I didn’t have time to do anything.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Through my sleepy-ness, I didn’t realize until now that that beetle had funny wings and bright blue eyes.

“Sorry, Ivy. But you shouldn’t sneak up on me like that if you care about your self preservation.” I rubbed my eyes, and picked the beetle up. One of its unusual wings looked crooked. “What happened to your wing, and why are you a junebug crawling across my pajama bottom?” To anyone else, this exchange would have looked peculiar, I thought, but luckily, no one else was here. With a crack, Ivy appeared on my bed, looking slightly dishelved in her clothes from yesterday and crow’s nest hair. The faerie winced, and looked troubled, yet still annoyed.

“You got a brush and a change of clothes? Sorry about waking you, I was about to look for some when I heard a strange noise, fell out of bed, and twisted my wing.” Ivy gritted her teeth, sleep had obviously not helped her injury.

“There’s a whole wardrobe in a drawer under you bed, but what’s this about a strange noise?” I was immediately alert, listening intently to the sounds of morning. The faerie was still in a defensive crouch on bed, talons unsheathed from her toes and fingers.

“Some splattering noise, like a raindrop hitting fire, and strange gurgling.” Ivy hissed, looking around wildly. At least she hasn’t transformed. That’s a start. Then I giggled, recognizing what she heard.

“That is bacon and eggs cooking downstairs.” I sniggered. “Human food!” I was laughing louder now. It was just so funny how she didn’t know.

“When you’ve gotten over your state of hysterics,” she muttered coldly, “you might actually think of freshening up yourself!” I stopped laughing, but I was still smiling.

“Come on, clothes in there, brushes on the bookshelf, and I’ll show you the rest on the way to breakfast.” I apparently was forgiven, and Ivy shifted out of her crouch. Her claws shot back, and she danced over to her bed, and I was confused. Now she was giggling, amusement dancing in her eyes. My eyes asked my question for me. What?

“I thought it may have been the Critei from out legends, when it was something as harmless as human food!” Ivy chuckled once. She went on, probably sensing the confusion I felt. “The Critei is a dreaded beast, enemy to all creatures, but most believe to be a myth now. It was a half-human, half-animal. It had small features of its’ personal animal, for instance, ears, tail, a nose, and whiskers. But for periods of time it could turn into a more powerful version of their animal, like a giant leopard or bear.” She shuddered. “They don’t seem like much at first, but they are known for being bloodthirsty, killing just for fun.” I raised my eyebrows.

“How can there be any myths for human myths?” I questioned. Her story didn’t seem very believable, more like a tale for pups. Ivy didn’t answer, just pursed her lips. She seemed to know I thought her tale wasn’t convincing. “Anyway, enough about that, let’s get dressed, and I’ll show you the rest of the house.” Still frowning, she pulled the drawer and began examining the clothes. I grabbed a tee and some jeans, and exited to the bathroom.

*****

Ivy was wearing a light knitted pullover, paired with corduroys and a black shirt. I sighed. Faeries always knew how to look nice, even in the worst situations. I couldn’t say the same for werewolves, which made me snigger. She ignored me, just gestured to the door. Another thought that made me smile was that, especially corresponding with an early morning scare, Ivy was not a morning person.

“So what else do you have to show me, Lyss? I hope it doesn’t take long. I’m starved!” Her belly agreed with her by rumbling loudly. That made us both laugh. I led her out and back into the circular living room. There was another door she hadn’t noticed before.

“That’s another bathroom.” I told her. “It also has common cures, like honey, comfrey, burdock, etcetera, etcetera.” She looked puzzled, and it took me a minute to figure out why. “Oh. Right, you eat honey. Well, don’t take any; it’s for sore throats. It is not a midnight snack supply!” Ivy snorted, and grinned mischievously.

“So what’s the last place you want to show me? I don’t think you mentioned just showing me a bathroom and medicine cabinet.” I chuckled. Despite not liking mornings, Ivy was fun to be around.

“Alright, so since this is a safe house, we have to have an extra safe-place incase the enemy find out about us. I’m required to show you, plus I think you’d be grateful to know.” She looked slightly worried, but followed me.

“Has anyone ever found out about the house that you didn’t want too?” Ivy’s eyes flicked from side to side, memorizing each step we took.

“Do you think we would still be here if there had?” I grinned darkly. “It’s this way.” We headed to the staircase.

Ivy

Lyss was leading me to the staircase, I didn’t know if we were eating first, or going to the hideaway. She paused at the top of the stairs, and it seemed she was just putting her hand on the banister to balance herself. However, she twisted one of the poles, and the third from the top stair disappeared.

“It’s simple, Ivy.” She had obviously seen my raised eyebrows. “Invaders would automatically think we used advanced elven magic to hide, so they would use some revealing spell. But this is some dinky human kind, and magic doesn’t expose human hideouts. So we actually put one-way magic hideaway places all over the house, except we never go in. As a result, if they come, they will go into the traps, and be stuck there until we choose to release them!” Lyss smiled reassuringly, and I had to admit, it was a good plan.

“So where’s the real one lead?” I didn’t want to escape into a dark hole to some parallel universe. Lyss was about to reply, when I heard my stomach groan again. “Wait, walk and talk.” We both smiled, my tiredness forgotten, and headed downstairs, with the stair door closing behind us.

“It leads to a sewer. Don’t worry, no one ever used it!” She added, as I recoiled. “It was built, like, ten years ago, but they only half-finished it because they realized the proportions were off. Then, for a very long while, it leads to the sea.” She finished her explanation as we entered the kitchen. When she opened the door, a wave of fresh smells hit the roof of my mouth, nearly knocking me over.

I saw a jar of honey, and fluttered over in my haste. Not a good idea.

“Ouch!” I skidded to a stop, nearly slamming into Gwyn. Muttering an apology, I turned to check out my wing. It wasn’t much better. I heard giggling, and I saw Lyss snigger quietly while she left the room. Probably fetching some more comfrey. My cheeks turned bright red, and everyone else was smiling, too. Harrison alone seemed to take pity on me, and got up.

“Hungry, are we, Ivy?” He smiled, and led me over to the table. One second he was there empty-handed, and in less than a heartbeat, he was there with the honey, a bowl, and a spoon. Gwyn came to sit next to me, with some weird rusty and creamy colored things on a plate. My embarrassment momentarily forgotten, I stared.

“Are those the ‘bacon and eggs’ things Lyss told me about?” I asked. “What’s a bacon?” Gwyn put her hand to her forehead, shaking her head slowly back and forth. Willow had a grin on from ear to ear, and the werewolves appeared trying not to laugh. Even Harrison looked amused.

“What’s so funny?” Lyss was back, comfrey poultice in hand. It was all everyone could do to not go into fits of laughter. I considered mutiny.

Willow looked like she was having trouble breathing as she choked out,

“Lyss…” here she began laughing hysterically. A change from yesterday. “Ivy…bacon…eggs…” She couldn’t say anymore. Willow was laughing so hard she was making a weird hissing sound. I wanted to turn into a butterfly so I’d have two pairs of wings to fly away with, except that would make them laugh even harder. Instead I glared at everyone, and spooned some honey into my bowl.

“Okay, okay, give Ivy a break now.” Harrison announced loudly. It took a minute, but everyone quieted, my question still unanswered. I wasn’t going to push it. Shooting him a grateful look, and he smiled back. Lyss sat down beside me with a bemused yet friendly expression.

“Did you show Ivy around, Lyss?” The vampire was sitting on the counter across from us, subtly getting the attention away from me, of which I was thankful.

“I showed her everything, but we will have to explain what house noises are to her. This morning she jumped on me thinking she heard the Critei of her legends.”

“Can we just keep the subject off of “What Crazy Thing Ivy did Just Now?” I snapped. They were probably going to laugh at that too. They all looked confused, apparently they didn’t know any more about the Critei than Lyss.

“So what’s a Critei-whatsit and what did you think was it?” Willow questioned, making my face go red again. Everyone looked at me expectantly, and so I prepared to be laughed at, and began.

“According to our legends, a long time ago there was a monstrous creature. During its’ few times of peace, it appeared human from far away. Up close it was something different. Each one had an animal chosen for them at their creation, it could be anything from a mouse to an elephant, but generally they had predatorily behavior. So for instance, let’s say one was part cat. In human form they would have a few cat-like features, maybe whiskers, a tail and ears. They weren’t dangerous then, except for their ruthless planning. But when they wanted to be dangerous,” I swallowed, “they could transform into a huge version of their counterpart. As I put it earlier, a cat with a huge growth spurt. They killed for the fun of it, and everyone lived in fear of them, because it took a great many warriors to kill even one.” They listened. It seemed an interesting story to them, but I don’t think they actually believed it. Felix and Kapri went back to eating, though Gwyn and Skye still looked intrigued.

“Well that’s a great legend, but what did you think could have been the Critei?” Skye asked, “We have legends of our own, but not half as cool!” She chuckled, and Lyss shot an amused glance at her.

“Well, Lyss said it was that thing called bacon and eggs sizzling in their pan. I thought it was one because sometimes they make weird noises to try to scare mortals out of their homes, so he can polish them off in the street.” I thought that they were going to laugh, but apparently the expression on my face made them think better of it.

I turned to Harrison.

“So, when is the patrol going today?” I was curious, plus I wanted to go. It wasn’t going to be fun, being cooped up in here all the time, plus faeries sometimes have strange side affects to not spending their energy up.

“A few hours, around noon; why?” His voice was light, the question open. I was beginning to like Harrison.

“Well, I was wondering if I could go with them… it would be just Lyss and Willow, and what if they ran into trouble? And I know the woods there, seeing as I used to live nearby, and as long as I put on that oil I have upstairs my wing will be fine…” I looked at him hopefully, not entirely sure whether my charade had been enough to convince him. Harrison leaned back, still perched on the counter. His red eyes turned toward the ceiling. Finally, he looked at me, straight into my eyes. It was sort of dizzying, and for a heartbeat, I lost my train of thought.

“I am not going to say no, I am not here to order you about, but I think it would be best if you stayed here. Your wing still needs rest, especially after you twisted it again, and they are probably looking for your scent around the border incase you tried to sneak back. I don’t think it would be a good idea.” While he had been talking, I took a bite of honey. I grumbled, but decided to stay. He was most likely stating the truth. Darned vampires. I thought. Why do they have to always be right and attractive?

I nodded unemotionally; and since I had finished my nectar, flitted across the room to put my things away.

Chapter Five - Ivy

It was drizzling by the time I got back to the circular room. Felix had gathered everyone but Willow and Lyss for a game of cards. I plopped myself in a squishy violet chair, and eyed the wolf.

“So, what do you guys do when you aren’t fighting, plotting, sleeping, or patrolling?” It seemed pretty mellow to me, but I wondered if there was any rules or guidelines. Harrison didn’t appear to want to force anyone, but I doubted he would allow ancient disputes get in the way of anything. He clearly seemed at ease with all the legends and what not about certain things being others cold-blooded enemies.

Felix chuckled. “We can pretty much do anything we want, except kill each other, I’d guess. Harrison doesn’t like violence, and he doesn’t tolerate it here for prejudiced reasons. However, he can be good fun whenever we do come up with something to do. Sometimes we play fight, or cards, you get the idea.” He grinned mischievously.

By this time, Harrison had come up.

“Hey Felix, can we have some help? Kapri would like to come join, but we need another hand. He doesn’t like it when I carry him.” Felix looked up, and was about to say something, but I interrupted.

“I can bring him, Harrison.” Both men raised their eyebrows, but I ignored them and streaked downstairs. Kapri was sitting in a kitchen chair; Gwyn and Skye appeared to be trying to reason with him.

“Kapri, Ivy says she would like to help.” Harrison apparently could run fast, too. “What do you think?”

Kapri looked at me like I was crazy, Gwyn snorted, and Skye eyed me with a perplexed expression.

“Ivy, no offense or anything… but aren’t you a little…”

“Small?” Skye finished Kapri’s sentence for him. I rolled my eyes, and stalked over to him.

“Shove over, Skye. I’ve got this.” I muttered. She wasn’t the one who said ‘no offense.’ Kapri looked nervous, but I just gently fluttered my wings, which lifted me up a few feet. This gave me a good view of the hall, and everyone was there, looking at me with exasperation. “Don’t worry, Kapri, I won’t claw you.” I unsheathed my claws, Gwyn looked nervous, but I couldn’t see Kapri’s face.

Gripping his arms in my hands, my talons wrapped around with a firm hold, I began fluttering faster. Both wings kept beating, causing air to ruffle everyone’s hair. My arms suddenly had more pressure on them, and I knew Kapri was being lifted out of his chair.

Over the wind, I heard everyone’s gasps. Apparently they didn’t know how strong faeries were. I headed toward the stairs, Kapris’ long legs a foot above the ground. Harrison was already opening the door, and I flew the elf up the stairs, the others trailing along behind.

Kapri was pretty light, but by the time I sat him in my purple chair only a moment later, my wing was aching.

“How was that, Kapri?” I asked, after sitting down cross-legged on the floor. That made him laugh.

“At first I was concerned… I am pretty big to carry, plus you don’t look exceptionally strong,” I grinned and flexed my invisible muscles, and my stick arms didn’t change. “But it was interesting. I never thought I’d fly!” Everyone gathered around the table, and I hoped now they wouldn’t laugh at me anymore. Felix began dealing, and everyone was content.

Chapter Six - Ivy

“So, how was your patrol?” Lyss had returned, and was helping me set up a small hammock in the top corner of our room. She had already helped me with one in the Circle Room. Lyss snorted.

“I’ll bet you had more fun here. I hate it when we don’t find anything! All we found was a funny scent, we had a hunting contest, and I listened to Willow chatter.” My brow furrowed.

“How do you two have hunting contests? I didn’t even know elves could run fast!” I glanced out the window toward the mountains.

“Humans were right about one thing when they came up with their legends, elves are extremely skilled with the bow, and they have excellent sight and hearing. Even little Willow rarely misses. As for the running, they have human running speed, except they have exceptional stamina. But I carry Willow, since she doesn’t have much yet….”

“So you can turn into a wolf any time? Skye said some wolves couldn’t. Is there any of the full moon stuff that mortals think, for you?” There was so much I didn’t know about my new friends, and it interested me greatly.

“Anytime I want, except I still have the dumb moon quirk. Skye was right. We’re all lucky, some wolves only transform when the moon is full, depends on who bit them.” She sighed. Apparently Lyss didn’t like her “quirk.” “So how was your day? Did Felix trick you into playing gin? He’s the master, caught me when I first joined his pack.” She grinned.

“No gin, the others rescued me from that one! We played hearts, in which Harrison crushed us…. and I carried Kapri…. and we had battle practice.” I remembered earlier. I would never have guessed the Circle Room could also be put to that use. “Skye still won’t believe that I crushed her, but Felix was harder… and Harrison was to busy.” An errant thought came to me as I flew up to the now finished hammock.

“How old is he, anyway?” Lyss looked up at me as she replied,

“He can’t remember when he was bitten, but his actual age is around seventeen or eighteen… so you beat Skye, huh? She’s probably ticked. Doesn’t like a wounded ego.” This made us both chuckle; apparently Lyss had her own share of battle stories. I shivered at a draft from downstairs.

Suddenly I froze. The small wind brought a feeling of terror. I didn’t hear or smell anything, but fear adds a certain flavor to the air.

“Something’s wrong.” I heard the quickened breath of everyone downstairs, and I knew the dusk patrol had returned.

“Skye and Harrison.” Lyss muttered. I leapt down and skittered downstairs, the essence of silence. I could hear Lyss right behind me. We reached the kitchen in less then a second. I was about to pull open the door, when Lyss pulled me back. Her nostrils were flaring, picking up a scent.

“Back up a bit. Someone’s in there.” I did as she asked, and she started shivering. Her figure distorted, and her limbs elongated. Her hair started growing, and she dropped down to all fours. Her already long limbs extended, and her head turned pointy. In a second, she had transformed into a large, copper wolf.

I unsheathed my claws, and tugged my shoes off. I pointed to myself, and then a small window above the door. Lyss nodded. I flew up, not even noticing my aching wing, and slipped through the window. A strange sight met my gaze, and I fluttered into a corner to watch.

Standing in the center of the room, was a vampire. I knew from the pale skin, and the beauty that made her different in every move. She wasn’t that much taller than my own four feet seven, but she held a pose of power. Her brown hair was in a tight bun on the back of her head, and she was clothed in crimson robes. Harrison, Felix, Skye, Gwyn, and Kapri stood against the wall. I didn’t see why they hadn’t attacked her, until I saw something squirming in her grasp.

It was Willow.

Nobody gave any sign that they saw me, but I knew they had. Everyone but the vampire and Willow, who were facing the opposite direction. Seeing enough, I flitted back past the window.

Lyss stood, waiting. Through a dozen movements with my hands, I showed what was happening. Lyss gave a silent growl. We both knew that the vampire would hear the first whisper.

I sheathed and unsheathed my claws, gesturing for her to wait for my signal. Lyss nodded, and already I was back in the room. I was scared stiff. I knew I had to rescue Willow, but I didn’t know how. One wrong move and those hands would just make one move - to snap Willow’s neck.

Then it came to me. A perfect plan. I thought back to when I read the Faerie News about a new vampire coven at large. In the article, there was a picture of the leader, in the same cloak as the mosquito in front of me. They called themselves ‘supreme’ and ‘the rightful leaders’. I grinned at my luck.

Drifting silently to the floor, I began to shimmer, and as with all faerie things, I had quickly turned into an exact copy of the Leading Vampire.

Chapter Seven – Ivy

This new height almost was disorienting, and almost made me fall over. However, I knew I had to ignore it.

I stalked over to her, and flashed my hand out.

“Give her to me.” My voice was low and guttural, and it surprised me. As soon as she saw who I appeared to be, she fell into a bow, and shoved Willow toward me.

“Oh highest Master, thank you so for coming.” I kicked her, an immense pleasure.

“Stop groveling, you wretched excuse for a vampire.” The bloodsucker was already up on her feet, but was clutching her side where I kicked her. I looked down into Willow’s eyes. She seemed terrified. I was glad she didn’t know who I was, for I wasn’t sure she could act the part. Gripping her shoulders firmly, I spun to look at the vampire.

“Good work catching these fools, I’m sure some of them will make a tasty snack.” Hoping she didn’t notice the shake in my voice, I gestured to the elves and wolves, with butterflies in my belly. “You may go. I can take it from here.” Pointing to the door, I pushed Willow toward her parents, and I walked behind the brunette, taking away any means of escape.

The vampire turned and shook my hand, muttering a farewell. She turned and pushed the door open. A gasp escaped her mouth, for Lyss was waiting, coiled for a spring. She let out an enormous howl, and pounced.

It wasn’t much of a fight. The wolf slammed into the leech, pushing her onto the kitchen floor. Harrison was already there with a silver knife, and with a quick flick of his wrist, it was over. Knife in her heart, her last snarl still etched on her lips. All three of us backed away.

My back was to my friends, still standing against the wall in shock. My mind was blank. The last time I had killed someone had been five or ten years ago…which brought back memories that didn’t want to be remembered. I shuddered, and my brain was foggy.

It was in that state when I heard something whistling through the air. My instincts were slow, but self-preservation kicked in. I dived out of the way just in time. It happened in the space of a heartbeat. Sometimes those reflexes come in handy I thought. And then the other part of my brain asked where the noise had come from.

I whipped around, my eyes zeroing in on a silver-tipped arrow dug into the wall where I had just been standing.

“WHY AREN’T YOU KILLING HIM?” Willow screeched, her eyes spluttering tears. She already had another arrow in her bow, and in a split second, my brain cleared up. I still looked like a vampire; I still looked like the person who appeared to want to kill Willow. Another arrow whizzed by me, but this time Harrison caught it mid-air, an inch from my face. In another heartbeat, I turned to honey on the floor. I felt a pain on my head, the world began to spin, and everything went black.