Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (31 page)

Some of them looked at me in shock.
 
Others looked to their neighbors – probably checking to see if they heard me right.
 

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, walking over to the buffet.
 
The fae who were there tried to casually move out of my way while acting like they weren’t.
 
Idiots
.
 

“Don’t worry about it, Tim – they’ll get used to the idea.”
 
I grabbed a plate at the end of the line.
 
“What do pixies like to eat?” I said to no one in particular, hoping Tim would tell me in my ear.
 
But the noise had started up again in the room, so I couldn’t hear what he was saying, even though he was trying.

I felt someone bump my elbow.
 
I looked down and Niles was standing there.
 
I was ready for him to start up with me again, so I was instantly on my guard.
 
But Niles held up his hands in front of him.
 
“I’m not here for a fight,” he said in his gruff voice.
 
“I came ... to apologize.”

Apologize?
 
Niles?
 
“Have we just been pixied, or did I just hear you say you wanted to apologize?”

“No need to make this harder than it needs to be,” he said gruffly.

“No need to make it easier than it needs to be,” I said, angrily.

If my eyes weren’t fooling me, the edges of his mouth turned up a fraction.
 
“Fair enough.
 
Just so you know, pixies eat fruit.”
 
He turned and walked back to his spot at one of the tables now set up on the edges of the room.
 

I saw that he was sitting with the group that had confronted Tim and me in Dardennes’ office.
 
I shot them all a dirty look, but they didn’t return it.
 
Instead, they all looked a little chagrined.
 
Good
.
 
Let them stew in that for a while.
 
I put some sandwichy looking
meats
on my plate and some different fruit from a fruit platter at the end of the line.
 
I went and found a seat with my friends.

“What the heck was
that
all about?” said Becky breathlessly.
 
“Man, oh man, you always bring the drama.
 
I don’t know whether I should be jealous or feel sorry for you.”

“Believe me, you should feel sorry for me.
 
But if you give me pity right now, I might slap you.”

“So, my little trouble-maker, what have you done to get all of the fae so upset this time?” asked Spike, a smile in his amber-colored eyes.

“Well, when he’s ready, I’ll have Tim show you.”

“Who’s Tim?” asked Finn.

“You’ll see.” I said mysteriously, digging into my dinner.

“Tim.
 
Lunchtime.
 
Come on out.
 
Better hurry up or I’m gonna eat your fruit.”

I felt him moving but he didn’t come out.
 

“I know you’ve gotta be hungry.
 
You were in that bell jar for at least a day.”
 

I felt more crawling around.
 
Then his light steps on my shoulder.
 
A couple seconds later, he was buzzing in the air next to my ear.
 

“They’re not going to freak out – are you guys?” I said, looking at my friends, giving them a warning look and then rolling my eyes.
 
I was trying to let them know Tim was a bit of a wuss.
 

Slowly he buzzed out from beside me so that he was hovering above my plate.
 

Becky gasped and then smiled with glee.
 
“Oh my goodness, he is so freakin’
cute!”
 
She started to reach her hand out towards him, but she yelped and jerked it back when he zipped over and slapped her finger.
 
“What the heck’d you do that for?” she asked, her feelings hurt.

I laughed at his indignant look.
 
“He’s not cute, Becky.
 
Just because he’s small, doesn’t make him cute.
 
He’s a serious badass.
 
He could pixie this entire place and send everyone here to eternal la-la land.”

Becky’s eyes got huge and she slowly put her hand under the table, as far from Tim as she could.
 
“S-sorry.
 
T-t-tim.”

He buzzed back towards her with a huge grin on his face.
 
He spun around in the air until he was just a blur of wings.
 
He came to rest just a few inches from her nose.
 

Becky sat there, stunned and unmoving, now looking at him cross-eyed because he was so close.

“Tim, back up.
 
You’re too close.
 
You’re going to give her a heart attack.”

I nudged Becky, breaking her trance.
 
She looked over at me, still in shock.

“He’s not going to hurt you.
 
He promised to keep his pixie dust or whatever to himself.
 
Hey – can you pass me the salt?”

Finn handed me the salt, the entire time not taking his eyes off Tim.

“You mean to tell me ... this little ... I mean this tough ole pixie ... can take out this entire room all by himself?”
 
Finn was obviously in awe.

“Yes.
 
Like I said ... he’s a badass.”

Then badass Tim swooped down and tried to grab a strawberry from my plate.
 
I had a feeling he planned on taking it back to my hair to eat it, and I wasn’t going for that at all.
 
I didn’t need to worry though, since the strawberry was obviously too heavy for him.

Finn watched the little pixie struggle and tried to hide his smile behind the back of his hand.
 
“I guess physical strength ain’t in his bag-o-tricks.”

Tim looked up at him and scowled.

“Tsk, tsk, Finn.
 
Haven’t you learned yet?
 
Small doesn’t mean weak.
 
In the fae world, small usually means concentrated.
 
As in
concentrated power
.”

Tim stood, trying to look
all nonchalant
, but he was obviously preening.
 
He ran his palm across the side of his hair, smoothing it down, flexing his teeny tiny arm muscle as he put his hand down.
 

Holy bat balls, this little guy was friggin’ hilarious.
 
I just hoped they weren’t going to banish him to some damn pixie colony any time soon.
 
He was cheering me up, and I’m pretty sure it was all-natural cheer and not the pixified kind.

We all finished dinner and went to Spike’s room after.
 
None of us had ever been there before.
 
It looked pretty much like my room, the only difference being that he had some artsy stuff on his dresser.
 
He also had a silver token tray that was similar to
mine,
only it had different scrollwork on the edges.

I walked over to the dresser and picked up the silver art thing sitting there.
 
It was a heavy pendant on an ancient-looking chain.
 
I held it up, watching it swing back and forth in front of me.
 
Tim flew over and grabbed the pendant, swinging on it,
a
big smile on his face.
 
He was like a little kid at the park.

Spike walked over and watched him swing from behind my shoulder.
 

“This is cool.
 
What is it?” I asked.

“It’s a cross.”
 
And it didn’t look like a normal Christian cross either.
 
It had some different elements on it and the cross part was symmetrical.

“I can
see
that.
 
Are you religious or something?”
 
I was kind of surprised that he’d have a cross.
 
I remembered when we first saw Valentine in the
forest,
we’d all assumed he was a vampire.
 
He had bitten Chase on the neck and looked like he was sucking his blood, even though later Chase told us he was sucking the life force out of him.
 
I had seen blood in Valentine’s teeth, so I wasn’t totally convinced.

“No, I’m not religious at all really.
 
It’s just that as part of my training, I have to focus on something to help me find my center.
 
You know, get control of myself so my urges don’t get the better of me.
 
Lots of incubi use these cross medallions.
 
I think this cross comes from some area of the world where this particular design has a special history or something.”
 

Spike leaned in and sniffed my neck.
 
The sensation sent shivers up and down my spine.
 

“Spike.
 
Focus on the cross.
 
Find your center.”

He chuckled.
 
“Give that to me.”
 
He grabbed for it, sending Tim away in a flurry of pixie wings.
 
Tim stayed buzzing over my opposite shoulder, cranky that he’d been evicted from his swing.

“I have a question about incubuses,” I said.

“The plural of incubus isn’t incubuses.
 
It’s incubi.”

“Okay, so incubi then.
 
How come Valentine isn’t a vampire?
 
I mean, he sucked Chase’s blood – we all saw him do it.”

Spike looked confused as to why I even asked the question.
 
“Because he’s not undead?”

“Undead?
 
What’s that?
 
I mean, does it mean something other than like a zombie or whatever?”

“Not really.
 
Well,
kinda
.
 
I guess it’s a little complicated.
 
I’m just learning some of this stuff myself.”

“I was wondering about that too,” said Becky.
 
“Valentine bit Chase.
 
Does that mean you’re
gonna
bite people too, Spike?
 
Are you like a vampire?”

I was impressed by Becky’s attitude.
 
She was so matter of fact about it.
 
I had been worried about offending him – I guess I shouldn’t have.

“The way it was explained to me, if I understood it right, is that when a fae is alive, here in this world, guys like me are incubi.
 
The girl version is the succubus.
 
I can’t wait to meet one actually.”
 
His started rubbing his hands together, the red in his eyes firing up at the thought.

I grabbed the pendant away from him and waved in front of his face again.
 
“Focus!
 
Tell us the story, dope.”

Spike shook his head.
 
“Oh, yeah.
 
So, anyway, as I was saying,” he shot me a dirty look, “when I’m alive here, I’m an incubus.
 
My life span is a few thousand years or so.
 
I thought at first I’d be immortal, but apparently no fae is immortal – although some of them live a really, really long time and are hard to kill.
 
So anyway, when I die, I’m going to go to one of the Otherworlds.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about that from Gregale, the gray elf,” I said.

Spike continued.
 
“So if I somehow earn the privilege, and I’m not sure exactly how I do that, I end up in the Overworld.”

“So, what, is that like heaven?” asked Finn.

“Yeah.
 
I guess.
 
And then if I somehow screw something up, I end up in the Underworld.”

“Don’t tell me, lemme guess ... hell?” said Finn.

“Well, maybe.
 
Not exactly.
 
But, yeah.
 
And if I go to the Underworld, I join the legions of undead, apparently.”

“Holy moly, what happens then?” asked Becky, anxiously.

“Then I become a vampire.
 
Incubi become vampires in the Underworld.
 
We’re similar, but not the same.”

“I hate to say it, but this is interesting as hell,” I said.

“Why do you hate to say it?” asked Spike.

“I don’t know.
 
Vampires?
 
The Underworld?
 
It’s
kinda
creepy.
 
So what about the blood sucking while you’re an incubus?
 
Isn’t that a vampire thing?”

“Well, I’ve never done it before, but apparently the incubus gets his ... energy from sucking the sexual or life energy out of other creatures.
 
Humans are the best, but fae are pretty decent too – some more than others ... ” with this he gave me a pointed look, which was on one hand, flattering, and on another, scary.
 
“And Valentine says that if you pierce the skin of the ... energy giver ... the feeling is more intense and the flow stronger.
 
Like you pierce the shell and it comes pouring out better.”
 
He chuckled, a little self-consciously.
 
“I was told to picture a bag of sugar.
 
You can suck on the outside of the bag and eventually you’ll taste the sweetness.
 
But cut a hole in the bag, and all the sugar comes pouring out, really fast.
 
You can get a pretty big sugar rush doing it that way.”