Between The Realms

Between the Realms.

Elle Casey.

Dedication.

To Susan Macias, gifted artist and devoted fan.

CHAPTER ONE.

EVERYONE STOOD AROUND BEN"S ROOM looking a little sh.e.l.l shocked. Then Tim spoke up.

"Did she just say she"d see you on the other side, or did my child warp my hearing stuffing polly b.a.l.l.s in my ears?" He tilted his head to the right and smacked the left side of it a few times.

"Your child probably did stuff polly b.a.l.l.s in your ears, but you still heard right," I said. "They want us to go into the Gray." I looked around at the others. "Right? That"s what she meant?"

"I believe she meant more than that, actually," said Dardennes, shaking his head.

Celine was frowning and looking at me like a worried mother hen.

"Well, don"t keep us in suspense. What"s the plan?" I asked, looking from one silver elf to the other.

"I think before we discuss that, we first need to address the issue sitting on our doorstep." Dardennes went to the entrance of Ben"s room and turned around, his hand resting on the door handle. "Those of you who feel you can be of service to the community right now by repelling this advance against us, please follow me. The rest of you, do what you can to a.s.sist us from inside the compound. I a.s.sume there will be some wounded at the very least. Please ready the medical teams." And with that, he stepped out into the hallway.

I took one look at Ben and strode over to the door. Tim flew up from the table and landed on my shoulder as I went. Jared and Niles were already on their way out of the room ahead of me.

"Onward, brave mule!" yelled Tim, sounding way too enthusiastic for a pixie about to meet some nasty Underworld creatures. "Let"s go fry us some vampire b.u.t.ts!"

"I"m not even sure how much vampire b.u.t.t I"m capable of frying with this thing," I mumbled, pulling Blackie out of its sheath and holding it in front of me. I looked back at Celine and Red. "Are you guys going out or staying in?"

"We will work from within," said Celine. "Be careful, Jayne."

"I"ll do the best I can," I said, just before leaving the room and breaking into a jog down the hallway behind Dardennes. He sure could move fast for an old dude. I was soon short of breath.

Ben came up beside me a few moments later, a weapon strapped to his leg that looked suspiciously like mine, only it wasn"t black; it was more amber-brown than anything. He had no problem keeping up and wasn"t even breathing hard.

"Nice firepower," I said, glancing down at his leg and then ahead again, back to focusing on not tripping over the uneven ground. His feet made soft padding sounds on the stone, while mine made more of a slapping noise. No way would I ever be able to sneak up on anyone in a hurry. It was frustrating to think that Ben was better than me at this, too.

"Family heirloom," was all he said.

I frowned, knowing it was Garrett who"d killed the dragon that Ben"s weapon had probably belonged to back when it was functioning as a fang. And there was no mistaking Ben"s and Garrett"s resemblance. One of these days when I wasn"t busy bailing my a.s.s out of trouble, I was going to have to ask Ben about that. Or maybe Garrett. Something told me I"d get straighter answers out of him.

Dardennes stopped at a door I hadn"t seen before and motioned for Jared and Niles to continue on. "You two take the other main entrances. We"ll start here."

Jared and Niles wasted no time, running off into the darkness of the long hallway. I was tempted to laugh at Niles, his tiny legs were moving so fast they were nearly a blur, but I couldn"t quite work up the response knowing there was grave danger waiting for all of us on the other side of the doors. Niles might be small, but he was a brave little cuss.

Dardennes rested his hand on the wood and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply once and then exhaling.

I waited quietly wondering what the h.e.l.l he was doing. Ben reached down and squeezed my hand once before letting it go, also remaining completely silent.

Dardennes opened his eyes after about ten seconds. "Okay. There are vampires, orcs, and at least one demon outside. The demon could be in any form, so don"t let your guard down. And as you know from seeing Garrett, vampires also look like regular fae."

"What do you mean by "any form"? Can the demon look like someone we know? Or be another kind of monster?" I asked.

"Anyone. Anything. Go with your gut. A demon shifter will always seem a little off to you. Whatever you do, don"t ignore your inner compa.s.s." And with that he opened the door, immediately bringing the sounds of battle crashing into our ears.

CHAPTER TWO.

TIM IMMEDIATELY BUZZED OFF TO go pixie the h.e.l.l out of someone, I don"t know who. I lost sight of him in seconds. I wasted no time wading into the fray myself, pulling The Green up into me just in case I might need it and holding my fang out in front as a deterrent to keep the monsters at bay. I didn"t put a shield around me since it would have made it impossible for me to get at anyone. Blackie and I had work to do.

The threat of my weapon held out like a sword worked to keep the creatures back for the most part. The smart ones anyway. One not-very-bright orc came at me, ignoring my open threat, and soon realized his stupidity when he got too close. I used Blackie to slice a clean burn across his stomach and then sank it almost to the end into his shoulder. It went through him like b.u.t.ter, burning dragonfire the entire way.

His roars of pain were sickening to me, and the sound of his body being burned into ash was just plain disgusting. I expected to feel only satisfaction, but bringing pain to someone made me feel guilty, even if he was an evil beast. The smell of his death was like a noxious gas, irritating my nostrils and making me wish there were some polly b.a.l.l.s up there.

I jerked the hand holding the weapon away from him as fast as I could, eager to put some distance between us. The beast"s black acid-blood drained out of him, sizzling as it hit the ground. He fell to his knees first and then onto his face, no longer moving except for an occasional twitch.

I smiled without humor at my fairly easily-won victory, proud that I"d come in and whooped b.u.t.t without even using my elements, but sick that I"d been forced into doing it. I wanted to kick his lifeless body and yell, "Why can"t you just leave us alone!" But I didn"t bother because I knew the answer would make no sense to me.

My victory was unfortunately short-lived. I didn"t realize that there was someone behind me until it was too late. I was grabbed into a not totally unpleasant embrace, someone"s face coming down by my ear.

My captor whispered, "Well, well, well, who do we have here?"

The sounds of battle faded a little for me as I considered who it was. I would have jabbed this force-hugger backhand-style with Blackie if I hadn"t recognized his voice. My hand froze in mid-stab. I couldn"t very well kill the guy who was not only on my side but was also pretty d.a.m.n cute and had worked wonders on the dark spots that had cropped up on my soul not that long ago. I kind of owed him a non-stabbing at this point, even if he was pretty stupid for grabbing me in the middle of a battle.

"Let go, dumba.s.s. I need to go kill that friggin demon over there." The one I gestured to wasn"t hard to pinpoint as one of the bad guys, since he"d come out in his full leathery-skinned and horned regalia. He looked almost as nasty as Torrie had at my mom"s house. I couldn"t wait to send him back to the Underworld where he belonged. I looked around for Ben, knowing it was possible we"d have to work together to accomplish that goal. Those full-on demons were d.a.m.n hard to kill, in my experience.

Spike didn"t let go. "Let us just leave. They have everything in hand here. We are no longer needed."

I was going to argue back, but then I stopped myself. Why does Spike sound like Garrett? Dardennes" earlier warning rang like an alarm bell in my head. A shiver ran through me as I realized how close I could be standing to a possible imposter. A demon! And this particular demon"s face was about an inch from mine, his body resting up against my back. Do they suck blood? Is he going to bite me? Am I going to die because I wasn"t alert enough? How many times did my math teacher tell me I was going to regret not paying attention one day?

"Heh, heh ... who says you can never use what you learn in math cla.s.s out in the real world?" I asked.

"Pardon me?"

"Never mind. I"m just ... losing it a little. So ... yeah, let"s get the h.e.l.l out of here," I said, standing straighter, a.s.suming he"d let me go if I agreed to go with him. He obviously had to die, but I had to be cool about how I managed it.

He stood with me, but didn"t release his grip.

Dammit. "Spike, if you want me to leave, you"re going to have to ease up on the choke hold. You know I like to cuddle and everything, but this isn"t really the best place for it. Let"s go into the woods where no one will see us." I tried to sound convincing, and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to start waving my weapon around. I didn"t want to leave the scene of battle, but if I didn"t take a quick break to kill off this demon, I was going to be out for good; and then I"d be of no use to anyone. I slid Blackie into its sheath to show this possible demon I was totally going along with his bulls.h.i.t. He was going to be so sorry when I unleashed on him. Pretending to be my friend. Dirtbag.

He loosened his hold on me, but didn"t completely let go. He kept his arm around my shoulders and began leading me off, away from the action. "I"ve been thinking about you," he said, sounding so much like Spike it was freaking me out.

"Oh yeah? That"s nice." Not! Not at all, you demon f.u.c.k. You"re going to die with extra pain just because you decided to impersonate my friend.

"I was hoping you and I would get some private time together so I could tell you how I really feel. Women like that, don"t they? To know the private thoughts of men?"

I tried not to cringe outwardly. This guy was seriously creepy but wearing Spike"s skin. I wanted to punch him in the face. We were getting farther and farther away from the battle and my friends, and I was tensing up with thinking about leaving them behind. I was no use to them out here in the woods. If anyone lost his life behind me while I was messing around with this t.u.r.d, I was going to kill him twice.

I turned my attention back to the demon and his question about women. "Sure. We like all that s.h.i.t. Tell me your inner thoughts and secrets, dude. I"m a good listener." Lies, lies, and more lies. I"m totally going to stab you in, like, one minute or less. Possibly in the d.i.c.k since you"re insulting my right to be a chick right now.

We made our way through the trees, the sounds of the fight fading behind us. He loosened his grip some more and moved to hold my hand instead. I was glad to have him farther away from me, but disappointed that stabbing him was going to be harder now. His hand felt so much like Spike"s when it slid into mine, it caused me a moment of hesitation. How can he possibly feel so much like my friend and not be my friend?

"I have thought about you every day since I first saw you in Miami."

I nearly choked on that one, tripping on purpose to cover my surprise. How can he possibly know about that? Is this really Spike? Maybe I"m wrong about him. I looked at him sideways, watching him walk along beside me. His hand felt like Spike"s, warm and solid, and I was willing to bet there"d even be callouses on his fingertips from his guitar-playing. He looked exactly like him.

He looked up, giving me his most charming smile. Those teeth of his were so perfectly and exactly Spike, it made my heart trip over itself. I was reminded how they"d captured my attention from the very first moment I saw him.

"You are so beautiful and you do not even know it. That is one of your most special charms. I would wager that you have never heard this about yourself. Am I correct?"

Okay, for sure not Spike. But a d.a.m.n good imposter and a seriously talented complimenter.

"You"re right. No one"s ever said that." I wanted what he said to be true, but since it was a demon laying it on so thick probably with the goal of eating my soul, I knew it wasn"t.

"It is true," he a.s.sured me. "And I have longed to be with you as your lover since that day. There is something very special about you that draws me in and will not let me go."

"Yeah. I"ve heard that you"re-special-speech a few times now."

"No, I am not speaking of you being special as the Mother of all fae. I know that is what they call you. But I mean in another way. Just as you. Jayne."

I was getting upset at what he was saying now, and I wasn"t even sure why. Why is a demon telling me nice stuff about myself? Shouldn"t he be trying to eat me right now?

"Spike, I don"t understand. Why are you saying these things to me?"

He stopped walking and tugged on my hand to make me stop too, pulling me closer. I went willingly, mainly because it made him easier to kill, but also because he looked so much like Spike and now he was sounding like such a nice version of him, that he was hard to resist. What if I"m wrong? What if it"s really him? Do I even want to be hearing these things from Spike? I was so confused it wasn"t even funny. I knew in the back of my mind there was a big problem with demons trying to get into our compound, and my friends were back there battling them. But I had to deal with this more immediate problem first. If I let this demon get away from me, who knew what would happen to the real Spike. And if I let my guard down worrying about my friends, he might be able to work his nasty demon magic on me and then I"d be lost forever.

He spoke again, reaching up to tuck some flyaway hair behind my ear. "I have stood by while you pined after Chase, the one who will never have you. I have watched you be bound to Ben while knowing all the while you did not wish it. I have left you alone time and time again, even when I knew it was the wrong thing to do. I have bent to your will on each and every occasion. But not this time. This time, you will bend to mine." He slid his hand over to rest behind my neck and gently pulled me towards him.

My mouth came open, but no words would come. This fae before me knew way too much about my life not to be Spike. But his speech pattern was so old-fashioned there was no way he could be Spike. I was so messed up in the head I didn"t have the presence of mind to stop him when he leaned in to kiss me.

CHAPTER THREE.

I KNEW WITHIN SECONDS THAT this couldn"t possibly be my incubus friend touching his lips to mine, trying to bring it to a deeper level. I"d kissed him before, and he had a signature style that normally melted every part of me. This was not it.

I pushed him away forcefully, pulling Blackie out as soon as my hands were free from his chest. I held it out in front of me, point first, bending my knees a little as I readied myself for a fight. I was going to end this jacka.s.s and then get my b.u.t.t back to the business of saving my family.

He stood straight, looking at me curiously. "What are you doing, Jayne? You know that you want to kiss me. I can feel it in my heart. It comes from you as a thread of heat you cannot deny."

"I might want to kiss Spike. Maybe. But you aren"t him, so back the f.u.c.k off or I"m going to spear you through your imposter heart." I waved my stick a little to add a bit spice to my threat. Hopefully, he knew what I held in my hand and it would make an impression.

He seemed completely unfazed by my dragon fang. "Imposter? Jayne, are you feeling well? It is me, Spike. You know, the human boy who bought you pizza?"

My nostrils flared with anger and my jaw clenched in frustration. When I could find my voice again, I responded. "I don"t know how you fished into Spike"s head to get all that information, but whatever. I"m not falling for your s.h.i.t." I tried to look around without taking my eyes completely off him. "Ben!" I yelled out into the trees around me. I knew I was going to need some help. This guy was most definitely a demon, and I hadn"t been able to manage one by myself before, so I didn"t want to try and deal with one alone now, especially a demon as wily as this one who"d been smart enough to come at me as Spike and not a horned and leathery Torrie.

"Ben is not your friend," said the Spike imposter in a low voice. "He is with them." He looked left and right, suddenly nervous.

"Yeah, I know. That"s why I"m calling him over here with us, so we can send your sorry demon a.s.s back to the Underworld where it belongs." I was feeling more confident now, knowing the idea of Ben concerned him.

"You misunderstand me. He is with them there ... where you wish to send me. You are wrong to trust him and not me with your safety."

"You are not Spike, okay?!" I yelled. "Nothing you say can convince me of that, so shut the h.e.l.l up!" I hated that demons used my friends against me and tried to trick me into mistrusting people who were supposed to have my back.

The man in front of me sighed and dropped his chin. "I am everything Spike is and more."

"No. You are less, because right now, you"re lying to me ... and Spike would never do that."

He picked his head up and looked me in the eye. "You are quite right about that. He is most dedicated to you. More than you could ever know."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Now at least he was fessing up. The truth of his words rang like bells in my heart. For that split second, I totally knew how Maggie felt when she yelled out, Truth! "How could you possibly know all this about Spike? About us?" I felt like I was starting to unwrap the mystery that surrounded him, and my heart rate picked up at the prospect.

He shrugged. "It is part and parcel of a possession. I am privy to all manner of things your friend wishes to keep from you."

I instantly felt sick to my stomach. The idea of hurrying up to kill him off and getting back to the fight that I could hear still going on just past the edge of the trees went flying out of my head. "Are you saying that you"re ... possessing my friend right now? Like his body?" Can I kill a demon doing a possession without killing the host?

"I am possessing him, mind and body. The only thing I have yet to take is his soul. I have you to thank for that."

"You don"t look very grateful," I said, shifting my weight from my left foot to my right, wondering what a person does with a possessing demon to get him out of the place he shouldn"t be, worried stabbing Spike"s body would end his life, regardless of the fact that his soul was still his own.

"Truly, I am not thankful. But now that I have been in his mind and felt you against me, I know that I can go no further with this possession."

"Say what, now?" One minute the guy was a happy demon, the next he"s a lovesick idiot. I thought fae left this s.h.i.t behind when they died, but apparently not.

"A love this strong and abiding is a rare thing. I cannot destroy it without ruining my chances at another lifetime in the Here and Now. I must leave you now and return from whence I came." He turned as if to leave.

"Wait a minute!" I was panicking. He"d taken Spike"s mind and body and now was going to just walk away with it? Over my dead body! "You"re not going anywhere, dude. I want to know how the h.e.l.l you did this and where Spike really is. You can"t just disappear on me."

He smiled at me sadly. "I believe I can." He walked away quickly disappearing into the trees, leaving me standing there alone.