Page 2 of Outcast Fae

Sitting up, I scrambled to the door and yanked on the handle, but it was locked.

“There’s no use. You won’t get out.”

Whirling toward the voice, I saw I wasn’t alone.

A teen male sat against the far wall, his arms resting on his knees. Under the weak light that shone inside our space, I took in his symmetrical human features, light brown hair, chestnut-colored skin, and muscular physique. Even sitting down, he was tall and broad, the kind of man that starred in TV commercials on those programs the children were always watching. He had to be eighteen or nineteen and privileged, judging from the expensive watch on his wrist.

Was he an ally or a foe? His icy glare made me think it was the latter.

I didn’t have time to make up my mind. My attackers were walking away. In a panic, I tried the door again, then banged on the back windows, the only two in this section of the van.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Help.”

“Like I said, there’s no use,” he said, his tone full of annoyance. “No one can hear you. This whole van is totally sealed by magic, though, I heardyour kinddoesn’t have any, so what would you know?” He glanced behind my back at my wings, his mouth twisted.

Your kind?He’d said it like a curse, like he wasn’t keen on sharing a van with a fae. So he was one ofthose. I’d met my share of haters during my short time in this godsforsaken realm.

Doors shut. The van’s engine started, a low rumbling that sent my heart hammering even harder. Where would they take me? Nothing in the empty van indicated where we were going or why. And just because they hadn’t harmed me yet, didn’t mean they weren’t going to.

I banged on the window desperately, but the human was right, the vehicle was sealed. No one could hear me.

The van lurched. I fought to keep my balance, watching my derelict, little home get smaller and smaller. I pressed a hand to the glass.

Gods, the children. I’d been taking care of them since we arrived here, since our land was destroyed.

“Are you crying?” the human asked, his green eyes narrowing.

I swiped at my cheeks, getting rid of all traces before facing him. “Who are these people? Why did they take us?”

He ground his teeth, making his jaw work back and forth. “They’re trash, that’s what they are. They’ll be sorry.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“The extraction team. They’ve been sent by those who will teach us a lesson.”

“Teach us a lesson? What does that mean?”

His only answer was a frown as if he didn’t want to waste words on the likes of me.

I was being kidnapped to be taught a lesson? That made no sense. What lesson was I meant to learn? I’d already been educated on genocide, the murder of my people, and the destruction of my homeland.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

His eyes darted back to me, tracing me up and down as if taking in my measure for the first time. Finally, he answered. “Vaughn. And yours?”

“Tallyndra,” I said.

He shrugged, clamming up, unwilling to talk.

A fae hater, for sure.

After our world had been poisoned by The Bane, a madman bent on revenge, my people had come here as refugees. We didn’t want to be here any more than the humans wanted us here, but we had nowhere else to go. Still, many called us a blight on society. They blamed crime on us and called us savages.

I’d avoided the bulk of this, living in isolation in a home provided by a group of humans who didn’t hate us, but I’d heard the stories and seen the hate on TV. There were those that thought we were vile. That still wanted us dead, the way The Bane had.

Maybe Vaughn was one of those.

Either way, if that was true, he coulde fhèinhimself.