. I gave myself time for the largest wave of emotion to subside.
"I am a demon," I said slowly, testing the words. "I am fairy."
The world didn't end. No one gasped or cried out, and there was nothing to
suggest anything was wrong anywhere else in the world in that moment. My entire
perception and understanding of everything was shifting into a new alignment, but
that did not affect anything or anyone but me. My eyes were drawn to Breandan's
face. We stared at each other. Over the worst of my freak out, I had decided to make
everything his fault, and I wondered what part of him to hit first.
His expression turned from wary to amused. "See, you're not surprised. You
knew you were different."
I ducked my head to let my hair fall forward and cover my face. "I wish I'd
reacted with hysteria now, like stabbed you with a stick and run screaming."
Lips curving he shook his head once. "You're taking this well," he explained.
"Better than we'd hoped for." I opened my mouth to ask who this "we" was he
kept referring to, but he kept on talking. "The world has changed with demons out in
the open and the fact you are training to be–" His expression hardened briefly. "Your
reaction is not what I expected, good, but unexpected."
"What did you think I would do?"
He shrugged. "Violence."
The word described how I would have expected to react, but I didn't feel
aggressive. I was exhausted, confused and a little giddy. Maybe I was having a vivid
dream, or an outer body experience. "Give me longer, I'm working up to it."
"Do you want to talk about it? That helps females."
His eyes fell from mine as the violence he was waiting for seeped through my
calm and poisoned my voice. "No." I threw the word at him with the force of an
accusation.
"I'm sorry."
I narrowed my eyes. "You need to work speaking plainly."
"The awakening was painful for you." His mouth twisted around the word.
"Your nature should not have been released so crudely without you knowing what
you truly are. It may seem like I'm being cruel with my words, but we don't have a lot of time and now you have broken the spell you will find it harder to conceal what
you are."
It was like he was speaking the dead languages to me. One minute, I understood
and followed his train of thought, the next I was being dunked head first into the sea
when I'd thought I was standing in a field.
"You're not making any sense. You talk like I already know what you're
referring to. And I don't."
"Your true form was concealed, a powerful casting. It suppressed and hid your
fairy nature to keep you safe."
I bit my lip. "I really am a fairy too?"
"What else would you be?"
I stopped, and my fingers curled under into fists. "You called me a demon girl. I
could be a shifter, or have goblin blood or be a witch." I sniffled. Unattractive, but
needed since my nose was running. I was still trying not to cry, and the stinging
pressure had to be released somehow.
My voice was muffled and my nose felt thick. "They all look human too."
"Oh, Rae. You look like a human because of your glamour."
My frustration was replaced with confusion and curiosity. "My glamour?" I
waited for him to elaborate. He said nothing. I did the only thing I could do and
applied logic to try and understand. I felt sick.
"Vampires can do what you describe. Glamour a human when they need to trick
and feed."
Was that it? I was I some freaky vampire-fairy hybrid that was going to go mad
and massacre a load of people?
"No." His hand cut the air in a strong motion. "What you refer to is purely mind
control. The dead ones dress up compulsion to make it seem harmless. Fairy glamour
is a small enchantment allowing us to look completely human." He placed a hand to
his heart, to his lips and reached as if to touch me. "Magic to our being is air to
breathe and water to drink."
The barrier over him rippled again.
"The glamour is that shield over you." My hand swiped feebly but the curiosity
in my tone was evident. "The barrier I can't see through or feel." His mouth tugged
into a secret smile. Then he looked back over his shoulder, tapped his foot impatiently. I frowned. "You still need to go after the vampire you sensed back
there?"
His face smoothed into relief. "Yes, yes I do."
"Then show me. Prove what you are." I stopped and crossed my arms over my
chest. "The quicker you do the quicker you can go."
Breandan took a long look at me then glowed with an inner light. His face was
fiercely beautiful, the perfect features sharpened. His ears had elongated, pointed at
the tips and curved into a slender elliptical shape. He looked different. Other.
The desire to hold him had increased in pressure, and was a force attacking all
angles.
"Why do I feel like this?" I asked quietly. "I don't think I even like you. How
can I feel like this? Like I've known you my whole life. When you touch me I feel
complete. When you speak, I accept everything because you said it."
"The feeling of dislike is mutual, but I'm beginning to think I was born for
you." He sighed. "This will not be easy. Of course I would be the one to see you
first."
He pointed to somewhere behind me and turned his head slowly from left to
right, like he was considering something. I looked over my shoulder. We had reached
the Wall and the sudden crackling energy in the air allowed me to sense he was doing
something big. The red wires stopped humming and cooled to pewter metal instead
blazing red with electricity. The wires pinged and unraveled leaving a hole big
enough for me to pass through at a stoop.
He jerked his head toward it. "Go now. Be safe and we will come for you."
Then he was gone. Apparently fairies didn't do long goodbyes. He was there then he
wasn't.
I was alone again in the forest but at least I wasn't lost anymore. The sun was
nearly done creeping up too. I slipped through the hole in the Wall, and the moment I
did it knitted back together, but not before a dark streak dived through.
Every hair on my body stood on end. This was no fairy or Cleric. The
movement was too liquid and quick to belong to anything, but a dead one. All I could
think was run. I turned, tripped over a tree root and fell flat on my face. A mouth full
of dirt, I crawled forward then decided I wanted to see it coming rather than be
jumped from behind, and flipped round to scuttle back.