Beyond the Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1)

“We should do this in the attic so you can be more...comfortable,” Colt mumbled to himself while walking toward the hallway.

Elaine quickly followed after him. She wanted to be confident in her choice, but she really had no idea what she was getting into.

Colt pulled down the attic ladder again and they climbed up.

“What?” Elaine asked quietly.

Then he snapped out of his daze. He closed the attic door with a slam making her nearly jump out of her skin.

“W-why did you close the door?”

“So no one can hear. This attic is almost soundproof. Rest on the bed, I will explain how this is going to go,” he commanded.

She thought Colt was acting a little paranoid and wondered what exactly he worried someone may hear.

Elaine walked over to the bed and laid down on her side. She got a little jittery. She really had no idea what this unmating thing was going to do to her. Her arms began start to shake and she pressed them into the bed to try to stop them, but it didn’t help at all.

Her voice rose a little, “Do you think he’ll find out right away? Will he feel something?”

“He will. Are you sure you still want to go through with this?”

She nodded her head slowly.

Colt moved to the edge of the bed. “When he mated you, he had to of kissed you. When fae do that their mate’s faery dust will enter their mate’s body, but it has to be a good enough amount. If you digest only a little bit it’s harmless.”

Elaine swallowed hard not exactly recalling this happening to herself.

“We never kissed! He threw it up on me when he kidnapped me.”

Colt’s gaze was downcast and he wondered just what exactly had brought this girl to wander into his shop. Her own family should have told her everything about how her people were made.

He wasn’t sure if she was making things up or not. “Kidnapped? Well, I can smell his stench on you. He is your mate.”

Elaine wondered how someone could smell a faery. Maybe all fae can she thought. Earlier she did hear Lorcan say something about smelling something strange.

“What do I smell like?”

“I will know when you’re unmated,” Colt grumbled.

She nodded her head and tried to relax.

“Most think that mates are life long and you are with them until death. However, there is a way out,” he paused for a moment, but then continued, “The only way for someone to unmate themselves is to get rid of all the faery dust from their mate out of their body. A blood transfusion is the only way to rid the mate bond. Once it’s all out of your body you’ll be unmated. After the transfusion, you might have some side effects.”

“What kind of side effects?”

Colt avoided her worried gaze. “The main thing at risk is your wings. You might lose them or they could...change.”

He scavenged around through the leather bag he had brought up with him. He took out a knife, old looking tubes and two plastic bags.

“Something tells me you’re not a doctor,” Elaine laughed nervously.

Even though she had never given blood, she still feared shots and I couldn’t handle the sight of blood. Lately though, after seeing Lorcan kill people, she grew a little used to it.

“All your blood is going to have to be removed,” Colt informed while stretching a narrow tube.

He was right when he said she wasn’t going to like this.

“Then how-” Elaine began, but his silence was her answer.

“N-no, I don’t want that. I’m not going to make you do that.”

Colt sighed, “The only way you’re going to survive this is if you get blood from someone else to hold you over until all of your mate’s dust is out. The only person near you who has blood is me.”

Elaine didn’t bother asking him if this “procedure” was safe or not. She already knew it wasn’t.

“Okay...” Elaine whispered watching Colt sit down on her bed.

He grabbed her arm carefully making a small quick cut on her upper-arm. She bit her lip watching his every move. Then he cut his arm, but the cut was double the size of hers and she winced at the sight of it. Colt mumbled something at the tubes. It looked like he was talking to himself and Elaine scrunched her nose wondering just what she was getting herself into.

He handed her one of the tubes.

“Hold it against the cut and the blood will come out,” he informed her patiently.

Elaine quickly took the other end of the tube and held her side of the tube against her cut. She didn’t think her blood would flow through it like she guessed Colt assumed it would. A strange sensation tickled the cut on her arm. It was as though a vacuum was pulling it out and her blood started to withdraw from her. her arm started to feel fuzzy, but it wasn’t painful.

“Is this a spell?” Elaine asked him.

“Yes,” he said while holding the other end of the tube.

She watched as her blood poured out of the tube and into the bag he held.

“I think I’m going to be sick. I can’t handle seeing this much blood, Colt.”

Colt frowned seeing her start to panic. “Would you rather be knocked out?”

Elaine’s heart raced as she answered quickly, “No.”

She continued watching her blood flow out and through the tube. She squinted her eyes in an attempt to see any shiny glittering particles, but to her disappointment, she nothing. The only thing she could see was her red blood.

“Why can’t I see his faery dust?”

“When it’s all out you’ll see it,” Colt answered.

Elaine hoped he wasn’t tricking her. After a while, Colt switched out the tube and gave her the other end of it. Feeling bad about having him do this part of the procedure, she moved over so he could sit down better on the tiny bed too.

He slowly sat down beside her and attached his end of the tube to his arm. Soon enough, his blood started flowing through the tube towards her arm. For a brief moment, she wondered if Colt’s blood was going to affect her at all. However, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind for the moment. Right now, she just needed to concentrate on getting this over with.

They were both quiet when finally Colt took the tube away from his arm and hers. The last of her bonded blood was gone as Colt emptied out the last of it into the bag.

“Come see it now, Elaine,” he told her while indicating the bag full of blood on the floor

When she looked inside of it she saw nothing at first, but then she bent down lower and looked closer into the red liquid. A shimmer of sparkling glitter was mixed in the pool of red. Then suddenly, she understood. Lorcan’s faery dust was red which is why it blended in with her blood.

The ill feeling she was pushing down her stomach throughout the blood transfusion decided to relieve itself -- through her mouth. She vomited all over the floor covering it in gross looking liquid.

“You should lay down. I will get you water and something to eat,” Colt mumbled while practically ripping the attic door from the floor.

She could see how pale his face was and sat down on the bed. Her stomach rumbled again and she hoped she wouldn’t throw up again. Colt stan returned after a few minutes to her bedside with a glass of water. She gratefully gulped down the water, but perhaps too quickly. Before she could turn away from him she threw up on him.

“Sorry.”

A towel was shoved against her face as Colt began to clean her up.

“Thank you,” Elaine said after he finished wiping her face. Colt started to clean up the floor next. Elaine still felt a little dizzy, but she tried to stand to help him clean up the mess she made.

“I can take care of it.”

Just as she spoke, her legs gave out from under her and she fell back on the bed passing out.

***

Elaine woke up and found the floor around the bed clean. The strong odor of her vomit was gone as well. The attic door was open and she quickly climbed down. Seeing Colt wasn’t in the front of the shop, she headed down the hallway toward the back room. The fire crackled and popped. Colt was sitting on his chair.

“Thanks for cleaning up the mess and me.”

Colt nodded his head and started to walk over to his work table when a deafening loud knock echoed in the direction of the front of the shop. Elaine jumped, immediately she rushed over to Colt. He looks warily toward the hallway and tilted his head to the side.

Then Colt shoved her against his chest locking her in place with his arms.

“Not a sound,” he whispered in a low tone from above her.

A strange hazy sensation rippled from her feet to her face. Her body shivered involuntarily against Colt. Then an odd prickly feeling formed all over her skin sending her heart into overdrive. Even so, she remained silent against him.

The banging on the door continued growing louder.

Even though she could only see the fabric of Colt’s shirt she thought they weren’t standing by his work table anymore. She could feel this weird sensation like something was covering her out of sight, but she was still in the room.

The banging suddenly stopped and then a loud thud resounded as she imagined the front door being burst through.

“Seriously Lorcan, what are we doing here? This place is a dump,” Silvia asked loudly.

“Shut up!” Lorcan retorted angrily.

Elaine felt the urge to turn around and go see what was going on, but the hold Colt had on her wouldn’t let her move to do so. Their footsteps sounded closer. Close enough that they had to be in the same room now as Colt and her.

“It’s gone,” Lorcan spat.

Silvia snorted. “What? You mean you dragged me out here with you just to follow some scent or whatever and now it’s gone?”

“Who is the owner of this shop?” Lorcan hissed.

“How should I know? Maybe they’re here with us...” Silvia whispered.

“I guess you might be right. I’m going to investigate the front of the shop. You look around here for anything. If you find the owner come get me,” Elaine heard Lorcan say.

She could hear his footsteps walking away and a door shut. She assumed it must be the one at the end of the hallway. She knew now that Silvia must still be alone with them in the room.

Elaine could hear the sounds of things being lifted and thrown around. She thought Silvia must be rummaging around Colt’s iron tools. She wondered if the mer had some immunity to iron or perhaps she had a spell on to protect herself.

A few minutes passed and the room became quiet.

“I know you’re in here,” Silvia whispered.

Elaine heard a sharp screeching noise. She thought it sounded like Silvia was dragging something on the floor like a weapon.

Silvia spoke with new rage and irritation, “Don’t play games with me! I’m going to find you and when I do I’m going to kill you for my sweet Lorcan.”

Elaine was actually almost glad she couldn’t see the mer woman. She probably looked just as crazy as she sounded. Her footsteps gradually sounded closer and closer to Colt and her. Elaine closed her eyes hoping the faery woman would just leave already.

Suddenly, Elaine heard a clattering noise. Silvia must have dropped whatever she was dragging across the floor.

Her voice sounded frantic, “What? Who’s there?”

Elaine went rigid when she felt something rush behind her like a gentle whoosh of wind. She was thinking there must be something in the room with them. She wondered if Colt saw what it was because a loud shriek came from Silvia like she saw a ghost or something.

Strangely, Elaine felt like Colt was fading or something, but she could still feel his arms were holding her. However, she couldn’t see his shirt in front of her face anymore as the room seemed to have grown much darker all of the sudden.

Silvia’s voice wavered, “You don’t scare me.”

Then she started screaming to the top of her lungs in terror. Her loud footsteps retreated and then Elaine heard her begin screaming again further away toward the front of the shop.

“Lorcan! Lorcan! Get out! Get out of h-here now! Hurry!” Silvia yelled frantically.

Elaine heard Lorcan shout back. “What? What happened?”

“S-something w-was in there!”

“I will take a look,” Lorcan replied sounding annoyed.

Elaine heard them enter back into the room.

“There’s nothing here, Silvia. Surely this is just one of your many attempts to desperately get my attention.” Lorcan laughed, but then his voice turned serious as he added, “Let’s go. This was a waste of time.”

“Well, looks like we were both imagining things then,” Silvia said grumpily.

Elaine could hear the last of their faint footsteps fade away into nothing. Then the house got quiet again.

Colt’s hold on her loosened and she stepped away from him to turn around to see the room. A couple of iron weapons lay scattered across the floor. However, an ax was about five feet from Colt and her. A long scratch mark on the floor trailed behind it. She didn’t even know Silvia was that close behind her!

“We need to get out of here” Colt chided while picking up his ax and inspecting it.

Elaine nodded in agreement. The sooner she thought they could get away from Lorcan and from this town, the better. One thing still bothered her though. She knew Colt showed her some of his powers, but he never really told her exactly what she is. One thing was for certain though, whatever was in that room that scared Silvia did not come from her.

It came from Colt.