Page 24 of A Wicked Dance of Obsidian and Light (Echoes of Darkness #1)

Sprawled on a blanket in the garden near the fairy house, I’m drawing a portrait of my new friend Amanda. “Heeeey,” I whine when her form flickers and turns transparent.

Her eyes widen. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was doing it again,” she says, her body fully materializing in front of me.

“S’ok,” I tell her. I stick out my tongue in concentration, and my eyebrows draw together as I erase the lines of her mouth and start again. The sun is warming up my skin, making pretty shadows dance on the leaves in the forest. A breeze ruffles my hair softly, and a smile spreads on my face.

I’m wearing my favorite blue dress with white flowers on it. I heard Daddy telling Mommy earlier today before leaving that he saved a boy, and we will meet him tonight. I’m so excited butterflies are fighting for space in my stomach. I can’t wait to see him. I never meet other kids; my Mommy says it’s not safe for me, but maybe this boy will live with us, and then he will be my friend. I have lots of friends, but it would be nice if, for once, I could actually play with someone who can hold something in their hand or throw a ball.

“I’m done.” I smile at Amanda and turn my sketchbook over so she can see the finished drawing.

“Her nose is a little bigger in reality, don’t you think?” Chester says as he pops out of thin air next to me. He’s a cranky old man with a crooked nose and a shiny bald head. He looks like one of those desert vultures I saw in the animal documentary Mommy put on the TV for me to watch earlier today.

Amanda scowls at him. “You’re one to talk.”

Her eyes soften as her gaze flicks to mine. “It’s lovely. Thank you! You’re very talented for being only five years old.”

I smile brightly. “I know; Mommy tells me I’m going to be an artist.”

“Iris, where are you?” Mommy shouts while looking for me in a panic from the back door of the house. Our house looks exactly like the one in the book my Mommy reads to me every night before going to sleep, The Fairy Princess , but it’s so much bigger.

Living here is the best thing ever because I can play in the forest all the time. Mommy and Daddy play with me, too. I love it when Daddy pushes me in the swing; I always tell him, “Higher, Daddy! I want to touch the clouds with my fingers!” and he always does as I ask while I squeal in delight.

“I’m here, Mommy! In the garden,” I shout back.

“Honey, we need to leave. Something happened, and it’s not safe here anymore.”

“But, Mooom!” My chest heaves, and my lower lip wobbles as tears stream down my face. “I don’t want to move to another house again, I love the fairy house and, a-and Daddy is b-bringing a boy! I want to play with him! And…and my hands are dirty,” I say through gulps of air and hiccups.

I grip my sketchbook as she picks me up and hurries to the car while keeping my head on her chest. I start sobbing, and Mommy’s blouse gets wet. We move a lot, and I don’t want to leave this house.

“I know, baby. I’m so sorry, but we need to leave. The boy will come visit when we find a new home, okay? I promise,” she says while putting me in the safety seat and snapping the seatbelt in place. She closes my door, jogs around the car, and opens the driver’s door, sliding in behind the wheel.

“Hold on, okay? Mommy’s going to drive faster than usual,” she says while looking at me over her right shoulder as she starts reversing the car in the driveway. I’m still crying, so I just sniffle and nod. While she drives off in a hurry, I take a look through the back window as the fairy house gets smaller and smaller in the distance. Then ugly, giant monsters appear on the front lawn, and start running after the car.

I wake with a jolt, a pained moan leaving my mouth as I blink a few times, trying to clear the sleep cobwebs from my mind. The dream clings to me—I can still feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the soft breeze combing through my hair as the image of my mother flashes through my mind.

A sharp pain pierces my brain, bringing me into the present. Another broken moan breaks loose as I stir slightly. Trying to bring my hand to my temple, I realize I can’t. Something cold and heavy presses into my wrists. A shiver passes through my body, locking my muscles painfully. It’s so damn cold.

What the hell? Where am I?

My chest expands with my next breath, and it feels as though I’m inhaling fire as the dense, musty air clings to my lungs. I can tell I have at least one or two broken ribs. My vision finally clears somewhat, though it’s pretty dark, the only light provided by a sconce on the wall to my right, holding two flickering candles. My legs are secured in shackles, my hands bound at my back, and the cold, rough floor digs into the skin on my right side. It chills me to the bone.

Using my core muscles and pushing against the slab of stone with my shoulder, I manage to lift my upper body to a sitting position. Scooting forward, dragging my ass on the cold floor, I crane my head over my shoulder and see my hands are also in a pair of heavy shackles attached by a short chain, just like my legs. Only this chain is secured with another in an iron ring embedded into the wall at my back.

Great. Just my luck.

I pull on my restraints with as much strength as I can muster at this moment. But I only manage to make the shackles dig painfully into my skin. The clanking sound of the metal bounces off the walls loudly with my next attempt.

“Motherfucker,” I swear through clenched teeth.

“You’re awake,” a feminine voice whispers. At first, I think I’m hallucinating, but as my eyes get accustomed to the scarce lighting, the silhouette of a woman materializes. She’s sitting on top of a mattress on the floor to my far left. “How are you feeling?” she asks in the same soft tone.

“As if a speeding car crashed into me, and then a giant decided to play football with my head,” I grumble and blink slowly, trying to make out my surroundings.

My eyes adjust to the lack of light in small increments. The ancient-looking walls made of weathered stone appear first, the flickering candle casting shadows that dance across the uneven surface. They’re covered in a thick layer of grime, and there might be a mural of an angel beneath the dirt, but I can’t be sure.

Next is the low vaulted ceiling. Thick cobwebs hang from it like creepy garlands. As I blink a few more times, the woman sitting on the mattress takes shape completely, hugging her knees to her chest, the candlelight making her sepia skin glow. Her otherworldly beauty shines through, even if it’s pretty clear she’s been here a while. I can tell by the unkempt state of her clothes. Also, her long, curly chestnut hair falls limply over her shoulders.

Her legs are shackled just like mine, but instead of her hands being bound at her back and secured to the wall, she has a metal collar around her neck with a crystal in the center that’s secured to the wall with a chain. Several empty foam mattresses are strewn across the stone floor, and there’s also a bucket in the corner.

“What’s your name?” I ask her.

“I’m Ophelia,” she responds in a hushed tone. “But you can call me Lia.”

“I’m Iris. I would say it’s nice to meet you, but I would be lying, given the circumstances.”

Lia snickers at my words. “Yeah…I know the feeling.” Her gaze flicks rapidly to the stairs in the dark corner as her dark skin pales slightly. “Try keeping your voice low. They don’t like it when we talk.”

“Oh,” I whisper and scoot backward to rest my back on the cold stone wall. “Were you here when they brought me in? How long have I been out?”

She nods, sawing her lower lip between her teeth. “I’m not sure. About twelve hours. It’s hard to tell since we have no windows here.”

“How long have you been here?”

Fuck.

My bladder feels as if it’s about to burst. I suppose the bucket is some sort of a makeshift toilet. How the hell am I supposed to reach it or even use it with my hands and feet bound?

Lia pops a shoulder. “I don’t know…two weeks and a half, maybe three.”

“Do you know why they took you?”

She arches an eyebrow and tucks her hair beneath her ears. I gasp and do a double take at her pointy ears.

No, that’s impossible.

But how do you explain the ears then, Iris?

I dart out my tongue to moisten my cracked lips and tilt my head. “Are you—?”

Lia cuts me off. “Fae? Yup.”

“B-but how?” I stutter. “I don’t understand. How is it possible? I thought the fae fled the human realm hundreds of years ago because of the vampires.”

“That’s true. The vampires hunted the fae almost to extinction, and my people were forced to leave through portals back into Faerie or risk being enslaved by vampires and used for our blood.” Her eyebrows draw together as she sighs. “Unfortunately, a war between the Seelie and Unseelie courts started about fifty years ago. My family was forced to cross back to the human realm when I was just a baby and start a new life here. There are many of us hiding under the pretense of being mortals.”

My eyebrows knit together as I shake my head in disbelief. “I don’t understand. How the heck haven’t I heard about faeries being back until now?”

“We use magic to hide in plain sight, but the vampires manage to find us anyway. They hunt us down using lycans. They use an aetherium crystal to strip us of our powers when they capture us. That’s what you see embedded in the collar.”

I’m speechless as she continues, “I thought that the vampires hunting us down was just a cautionary tale our parents used to tell us at bedtime when we were little. Until I woke up in the middle of the night with a lycan snarling on top of me on my bed.”

“That’s fucked up,” I mumble.

She lets out a bitter laugh. “This whole thing is fucked up.”

I clear my scratchy throat. “Why do they want your blood so much, though? I heard some stories about the fae blood allowing vampires to walk in the sunlight. Is it true?”

She rests her chin on top of her knees. “It is. It also heals them, makes them stronger, induces euphoria like no other. Imagine heroin times a thousand. There’s nothing more coveted by vampires than faerie blood.”

Taking a moment to absorb all of this, I test my restraints again. They bite into my skin viciously and seem to tighten as my efforts increase.

What the fuck?

“Stop doing that! The chains are spelled,” Lia whispers harshly. “It’s impossible to escape. Me and the others tried almost every day.”

I wince in pain and inhale deeply. “There were others?”

Lia makes a gesture with her hand in the air. “What do you think the other mattresses are for?”

Trying to ease the pressure from the restraints, I flex my fingers and rotate my wrists and ankles slowly. “What happened to them?”

She sucks in a shaky breath. “I’m not sure. There were four other fae women when they brought me here. After a few days, the vampires took them, and I never saw them again. I’ve been alone in this cell until they brought you in.” Her swallow is audible, and concern is evident in the creases around her eyes. “I think…I think they sell us. That’s what the others said. That there’s a black market for faeries. These vampires sell us in auction to the highest bidder.”

My jaw drops. “Holy shit.”

“Mmhm.” She looks away and starts whispering again after a few beats of silence. “So, why are you here? You’re a hellseeker, right? I’ve only heard stories about your kind.”

The sound of a door being unlocked and the creak of rusty hinges echoes, traveling down the stairs. Before I can answer Lia, a male vampire zips through the air and pins her to the stone wall by her throat. “You should know the rules by now. No fucking talking!” he screams in her face, and she crumbles within herself, making her body as small as possible, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your size, dipshit?” I snap and jump to my feet. The short chain connecting the shackles on my ankles hinder my balance, but I manage it. My ribs scream in protest and my vision blurs slightly with the movement.

He uses the dizzying speed again, letting go of Lia and appearing in front of me. “Shut the fuck up, cunt!” he snarls and backhands me hard on my already bruised cheek.

Pain singes me as my head snaps to the side, and I bite my tongue, drawing blood. I regain my balance, turn my head, and send a glob of spit mixed with blood right in between his eyes.

His nostrils flare, and he puffs air out of them like a bull in a fighting arena. “You’re going to wish you didn’t do that!” He wipes the spit away and lunges at me. I sidestep, and before he can grab ahold of me, I headbutt him as hard as I can. Blood shoots out of his nose like a geyser, and he sways on his feet.

A deep belly laugh bubbles out of me. “Who’s the cunt now?” I feel as though a fiery knife is piercing my already throbbing brain, and nausea overtakes me with the intense pain, but it was totally worth it.

Until he sends a powerful kick to my chest. The sole of his boot lands with such force I’m sure it left a deep imprint on my sternum. My back collides with the wall with a loud thud and a crack. A breath saws out of my lungs as I slide on the cold stone floor, inhaling fire instead of air. I think he just broke another rib. I don’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much pain I’m in, though. I bite the inside of my cheek so hard the taste of copper invades my mouth, and my nails bite into my palms with how hard I’m clenching my fists, but I don’t make a sound.

“You’re not so tough anymore, huh?” he snorts a derisive laugh before walking away. The reverb of his steps feels like a jagged knife slicing through my brain. “Stand up. You’re coming with me,” he snaps, and the clang of metal against stone echoes off the walls as he grabs Lia’s chain.

“No, p-please,” Lia pleads in a coaxing tone, her voice shaky.

“Let her go,” I manage to get out through clenched teeth, but my voice is barely above a broken whisper. The room starts swaying in front of my eyes like a ship navigating treacherous waters.

Lia’s desperate pleas resonate loudly as the vampire pulls her toward the stairs. There’s nothing I can do about it. Guilt tightens around me like a venomous serpent, twisting my stomach into knots.