Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (16 page)

“What time is it?” Spike asked, getting up from the floor.

“Almost three,” said Becky, as she surfed the Net.

“We have a big meeting at three-thirty.
 
We all have to go.
 
It’s in the big assembly hall.
 
Anyone know where that is?”

“Yep,” said Chase.

“I’ve never been there,” said Becky.
 
“The couple meetings I’ve been to were in the smaller meeting room – the informal one.”

Spike pulled up a chair from the edge of the room so he could sit behind Becky and me.
 
“So Becks, what’d you do today?”

“Nothing much.
 
Worked on teleporting farther distances.
 
Met some more sprites.
 
I met a totally hot wood sprite today.
 
He is like totally buff, Jayne, you would not believe the muscles on his arms.
 
He ... ”

I grabbed her arm to stop her.
 
I noticed Spike was listening a little too closely, the embers in his eyes flaring up.

I snapped my fingers in front of his face.
 
“Easy there hot stuff.
 
Relax.
 
She’s talking about a wood sprite for fuck’s sake.”

Spike shook his head out of its daze.
 
“Ooops, sorry.
 
I must have been latching onto her arousal.”

Becky looked at him in disgust.
 
“My
arousal
?
 
Ew.
 
Stay away from my arousal, Spike.
 
That’s none of your business.”

He shrugged.
 
“Can’t help it.
 
If it’s sexy talk, yours or anyone else’s, I’m interested.
 
I can sense it from a loooong ways away too.”
 
He moved his eyebrows up and down a few times at us.
 
“So, if you need me, just send me a signal and I’ll
come
runnin’.”
 
He gave us both a lecherous smile.

I whacked him on the arm.
 
“Seriously, Spike.
 
You’re starting to get annoying now.
 
I liked you better when you were more understated about it.”

“You like understated?
 
I can do understated.”

Chase turned in his seat, glaring at Spike.
 
“Cool it down, or I will cool it down for you.”

Spike sat back, putting his hands up in surrender.
 
“Chill, daemon, chill.
 
I’m cool.”
 
He looked at us innocently, like Chase was the crazy one,
 
“We’re all cool here, right girls?”

Chase turned back around, and Spike rolled his eyes.
 

I looked at Chase with new respect.
 
I wondered what daemon tricks he was learning that made Spike afraid of him like that.
 
Man, I wished I’d had Chase with me today.
 
I wondered if he would have gone into that green haze along with all the elves.
 
I’d hate to have to drag him around all wasted too.
 
Finn was bad enough, but at least he was small and easy to maneuver.

Becky and Chase logged off at the same time.
 

“You guys wanna go to the meeting hall now?
 
I don’t think it’s a big deal if we’re early,” said Becky.

We all agreed we might as well go, and left the room, following Chase down the hallway.
 
Soon we were standing in front of a large double door.
 
This one was bigger than any door I’d seen at the compound so far.
 
I wondered why I hadn’t seen the damn thing in all the other trips I’d made this way.
 

Chase pushed the door open and we found ourselves at the back of an amphitheater.
 
There was a space at the opposite end of the room where the speakers or other important people would stand and then a semi-circle shaped table behind that with a single row of ten seats behind it, all of them raised up a couple feet higher than the main standing room area.
 
In front of these were rows and rows of tables curved the opposite direction with aisles cut between them, down the center, and on the ends.
 
These seats were for the audience.
 
There was probably enough room for two hundred fae or more, if you included the spaces on the sides of the room and behind the last row of seats.

Already seated in the single raised row of ten seats at the far end of the room were Dardennes, Niles, Robin, Naida, the wolfman, and several others I didn’t recognize.
 
Several fae were coming in the door behind us, filtering through and taking seats.

I was huddled next to Becky and Spike, Chase standing behind us, when two fae walked by, talking to one another.
 
I overheard part of their conversation.

“Like I said before, we have to be careful ... ” the fae stopped talking when he saw me watching him, grabbing his friend by the elbow and steering him away from us.
 
I saw him say something in the fae’s ear, and the other fae turned around to look at me before his friend jerked his arm and whispered feverishly again.

He didn’t look familiar, so why did he sound like someone I knew?

I nudged Becky.
 
“Hey, Beck.
 
Do you know those fae?”
 
I pointed to the pair who was hurriedly moving away from us.

“Nope.”

“Chase, do you know either of those guys?”

Chase frowned, shaking his head no.

“Why?” asked
Spike.

“I don’t know.
 
I remember his voice from somewhere, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
 

Then it came to me.

“Wait!
 
I know where I’ve heard him before!
 
He was the one outside the bathroom the other night, talking about eliminating fae!”

“Who’s eliminatin’ fae?” said Finn, walking up.

“Shhh!
 
Not so loud.”
 
I looked back over, but the two fae had disappeared into the crowd.

“Where the heck have
you
been?” asked Becky.

“Sheee-it.
 
Cleanin’ up Jayne’s mess.”
 
He flinched.
 
“Ow!
Damn,
Chase, lift weights much?”
 
Finn was rubbing his arm where Chase had just hit him.

“What does he mean, he was cleaning up your mess?” asked Becky.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Yeah, let’s focus on the fae eliminating other fae, why don’t we,” said Spike.

“Tell us,” said Becky.

“Come closer.”
 
I motioned for everyone to move in for a huddle.
 
I didn’t want anyone else listening in; I had no idea who was friends with who in this place.

“I was in the bathroom the other night, getting ready to come out, and I heard voices in the hallway.
 
They stopped right in front of the door, so I was able to hear what they were saying – something about me being the one they were looking for maybe and that they needed to eliminate some people.
 
Something about how certain changelings or fae couldn’t be around when they started something.”

“Started what?” asked Finn.

“I have no idea.”

“Are you sure they mentioned you, specifically?” asked Spike.

“Yes, they said, ‘the changeling Jayne’.
 
That part I do remember, very clearly.”

“And they used the word ‘eliminate’?” asked Finn.

“Yes.
 
It freaked me out.
 
I thought they were talking about
... ,
” I bent in closer and lowered my voice even more, “ ... killing someone or
someones
.”

Becky’s eyes bugged out.
 
“Maybe they meant us.
 
Like us changelings.”

We all looked at each other, simultaneously exchanging worried glances.

A familiar voice rang out in the room, interrupting our discussion.
 
“Thank you all for coming, if you could please find a seat so we can begin, that would be appreciated.”

“Let’s talk about this later tonight at dinner,” said Finn.
 

We all nodded our agreement, walking towards the aisle that cut through the center of the amphitheater.
 
When we got there, we realized there weren’t any seats left, so we all stood behind the back row.

I looked around at all the fae gathered in the room.
 
They were all shapes and sizes.
 
Some looked just like my friends and me.
 
Others were obviously not human – fae like Gander and even Niles.
 
He could pass as a human dwarf, but all his commando gear made it less likely that he’d be able to blend in.
 
A couple fae were standing next to the head table; I didn’t need a fae identification table to know they were ogres, like Ivar.
 
They were huge and had big eyebrow ridges.
 
I looked up at Chase who was standing to my left.
 
He wasn’t as big as them, but I could see how Dardennes might have wondered if he had some ogre blood.
 
He looked like a Viking ogre or something, if there was such a thing, with his blond hair, blue eyes, and high cheekbones.
 
I tried not to let my gaze linger on his amazing body, but it was hard.
 
He was like a male model – the athletic type.
 
I had to force myself to look away so I wouldn’t put Spike on alert again.

All of the fae wore moccasins and some sort of tunic over their pants, but that’s where the similarities of dress ended.
 
There had to be at least ten different colors of tunics and several different types of pants too.
 
I was wearing jeans, but some of the fae had on stretchy pants; some even wore tights.
 
I looked at Spike, and for the first time realized he was wearing all black as his fae uniform.
 
It suited him perfectly.

Some of the fae also wore jewelry; the sprites especially had the most beautiful necklaces.
 
I noticed for the first time that these tunics we had on
were
great for low-hanging chains.
 
I wondered if I could get Netter to find me a cool necklace.
 

I saw Finn lift his head in greeting at a green elf who was sitting in a group of fae, all wearing the same dark green tunic Finn had on.
 
I wondered if he was one of the elves I had whammied earlier.

As soon as Dardennes began speaking again, the room became instantly quiet.
 

“Fae friends and family.
 
Thank you for coming to this meeting on such short notice.
 
We have some important business to attend to and some things to discuss.
 
We decided after some events occurred today, that it could not wait for our regularly scheduled assembly.”

Dardennes looked to the back of the room and locked eyes with me.
 
“Changeling Jayne, will you please come to the front.”

I panicked and grabbed Chase by the arm.
 
I had a terrible feeling that I was in trouble.
 
This was like going to the Vice Principal’s office, only with a huge audience of people watching, some of whom I’d recently put into near-comas.
 
There’s no way this could be good.

Chase peeled me off his arm and enveloped my hand in his big, strong
,
warm one
.
 
He began walking up the aisle bringing me with him.
 
My heart was fluttering in my chest from the apprehension, but I felt much better having him with me.
 
Screw being a strong, independent woman.
 
I wanted my daemon with me.

“Thank you Chase, but you may remain in the back,” said Dardennes.

“No!” I said a little too loudly.
 
Then in a calmer voice I said, “He stays with me.”

I looked up at Chase and he nodded, squeezing my hand to let me know he was okay with it.

“As you wish.”

We arrived at the front of the room, facing the head table full of who I assumed were the elders of the fae council we had heard mentioned a few times.
 
Only one seat was empty – the one in front of Dardennes.
 
He remained standing, facing Chase and me and the rest of the fae in the amphitheater, the head table between him and us.

Dardennes leaned forward a bit and spoke in a low tone, just for me.
 
“Jayne, please turn and face the attendees.”

I turned nervously, looking out at all of the faces in front of me.
 
I felt like I was on trial.
 
I don’t know what I would have done if Chase hadn’t been there with me.
 
Probably peed my pants or puked on myself.
 
I tried not to squeeze his hand too hard.