Death of a dark court fairy
Chapter one
Ailish woke up with the hangover from hell. Her head felt like it would explode and her mouth was as dry as the Sahara desert. She groaned as she turned over and opened her eyes. The room she was in was unfamiliar. 'Great, another one night stand" she thought. She had no memory of what she did the night before and no idea where she was. She sat up slowly as a feeling of nausea begin to form in her stomach. "Shit, where's the bathroom." She saw a door to her left and ran to the toilet. "Jack Daniels and coke doesn't taste so good when it comes back up". She stood up and walked to the sink to splash water on her face. She was shocked when she looked in the mirror. A black eye, a split lip and scratches on her neck were not the signs of a good night. "What the Fuck happened last night?". She walked back into the bedroom and searched for her clothes. She noticed blood on the sheets and a feeling of unease began to wash over her. There were bloody handprints on the wall too. "I have to get out of here." She got dressed and walked towards the door but when she tried to open it she found it was locked. She began to panic. "Hello? Somebody open the door please? Hello?". She banged on the door as loud as she could. "Help! I'm stuck in here! Please? Please open the door" she screamed. She heard footsteps and the lock opened with a click. "Oh thanks so much, I don't no wat I'm doing here, I just .." she began but her words caught in her throat when she saw who opened the door. He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, not a traditional beauty but he was gorgeous to her. Her heart began to beat faster, her knee's felt weak and she was overcome with the desire to touch him. All her fear and panic disappeared. Her mind began to swim and the only coherent thought she had was that she must touch him. She reached out and put her hand on his chest. "Kiss him, kiss him now!". She leaned forward but he held her at arms length "Slow down there missy, I thought you would be worn out after last night. Feisty little mortal, aren't you?" he laughed. His voice made her shiver with pleasure. "Come to bed" Ailish purred in her sultriest voice. "Not yet" he whispered in her ear, "Now you sleep, you need your rest if you want to survive another night".
Iriall locked the door once the mortal had fallen into a deep sleep. Being the king of the dark court, he knew how to handle mortals, being a gancanagh he knew well the effect he had on mortals. It was a regular occurrence in the dark court to take mortals and keep them until they were completely used up. Most mortals didn't survive and those that did usually ended up in asylums but that was not his concern. His concern was the welfare of the dark court and right now the dark fey were growing weaker by the day. Iriall hoped that his ink exchange would be put in place soon. Then he would be able to nourish his court once again.
Chapter 2
Ailish had been missing for 8 days now and the police were no closer to finding her. She had went out to the crows nest with two of her friends and her boyfriend but towards the end of the night they had become separated. Her boyfriend, Jack, had explained to police that he thought he saw Ailish leave the crows nest with a girl but he was drunk and not a reliable witness. He described the girl as extremely beautiful with long flaming red hair down to her waist and piercing bright green eyes. He said his instinct had told him the girl was trouble and he had tried to follow them but they seemed to disappear. He explained that he had wandered around the streets for 2 hours trying to find Ailish but to no avail. The police produced a sketch of the girl and put the image on the local news, asking anyone with information to come forward. That was on the third day of Ailish disappearing and nothing of use to the investigation had been discovered since.
Jack was a shadow of his former self. Before Ailish went missing he was the fun loving Jack the lad that was friends with everyone. Now he was a recluse shutting everyone out and staying in his room. Ailish was the love of his life. For 3years he had been totally head over heels for her. They had lived together for the past 11 months and shared everything with each other. Since she had gone missing he felt like he was missing a piece of himself. Without her bright beautiful smile he felt only darkness and depression.
He blamed himself for not watching Ailish more closely that night. He replayed the night over and over in his head but no explanation came to mind. Except the red haired girl. He knew that she had taken Ailish away from the crows nest but to where? He wondered if Ailish had run away with the girl but he couldn't believe that she had. She was having a tough couple of weeks but she loved him. She wouldn't just up and leave would she? Without even a goodbye? No. That wasn't Ailish. Something must have happened. As Jack sorted through his angry mix of emotions and thoughts he sipped a beer to calm himself down. He decided he would hunt down the red haired girl. She would have answers and he swore to himself he would not stop until he found Ailish.
Jack walked into the park feeling dejected. Nobody at The Crows Nest knew who the red haired girl was and The Crows Nest was his last hope. He sat down on a bench about to give up hope when he saw a flash of red from the corner of his eye. He turned quickly and there she was. Sitting by the fountain, talking to herself, was the girl who could answer his questions. "Hey, hey you at the fountain." He called. She turned and looked him up and down. He ran towards her and she began to laugh. He sat down on the side of the fountain next to her. "What is your name?" He asked. "Ok Mr mortal I will play with you" she said teasingly "my name is Rua and you are? ". "Jack" he replied quickly "and you were the last person to see my girlfriend." She looked at him as if she pitied him. "And who, pray tell, is your precious little girly friend?" She laughed. Jack was infuriated. Who is this bitch laughing and joking while Ailish is God knows where? He grabbed her arm tightly, "Listen my girlfriend Ailish is missing for almost two weeks and you have something to do with it." Quick as a flash she twisted his arm behind his back. The pain was excruciating. "You listen to me you insolent little nobody, you will never put your hands on me again. And as for your whore she was bored of you. Wanted a little fun, you know? So I showed her a good time and I guess she didn't want to leave. She has moved onto bigger and better things. If you ever approach me again I will kill you" and with that she dug her nails into his arm so hard she drew blood.
Chapter Three
Ailish woke up on the floor. Her whole body ached and she felt weak and sick. She struggled to open her eyes. She looked around the room and saw things that made her skin crawl. There was blood on the floor and splattered across the walls. There was another girl and a boy crumpled on the floor near where she was lying. The boy had his throat slit and was lying in a large pool of blood. "Hey" she tried to shout but it was a barely audible whisper that came out. She began to vomit until there was nothing left in her stomach. She tried to get up but she was too weak. She wanted to cry and scream and run. She wanted the saviour to come back and hold her. But was he her saviour or was he the one inflicting all this pain on her? She could not think straight. She heard voices and Iriall and Gabriel entered the room. "Three casualties, no wait this one is awake" Gabriel said after kicking her in the ribs to check. "She has not much left to give" said Iriall. Gabriel picked Ailish up but she had passed out. " I think its time to get rid of her. Pity, she was fun to play with." Gabriel said and he began carry her out of the house.
Ailish woke up in a dark alley. It was raining heavily and she was freezing. She tried to get up but was too weak. She felt dizzy and faint. "Where am I" she thought. She recognised this alley it was near the crows nest. She managed to stand up using the wall as support. She tried to call for help but no words came out of her mouth. She tried to take a step forward but she didn't have enough strength and fell to the ground. She hit her head and felt something hot trickling down her neck.
When Ailish woke again she felt slightly better. She was in a hospital and Jack was by her side. She had multiple injuries including a cracked skull, fractured ribs and many lacerations. She was deyhdrated and malnourished. Jack could not stand seeing her like this. "Hey sweetie, its me, Jack. How are you feeling?" He asked lovingly. But Ailish began to panic. Where was the saviour? She needed him. She needed him right now. "Where is he? Where is he? Let go of me! I want him now! I need him now! Get away from me!" She screamed and thrashed until he let go. A nurse came rushing into the room and asked Jack to leave. The nurse restrained Ailish and a doctor injected her with a sedative to calm her. She fell back into a calm sleep and began to dream of her saviour.
Jack left the hospital in a fitful rage. He felt his blood boil with anger and he vowed he would make Rua pay. He rushed home to pick up the shotgun he used for hunting and began his new hunt to find Rua. He would make her pay for the part she played in Ailish's torture.
He found her in the same alleyway that Ailish had been found in. She was with a man that Jack recognised as the junkie from his apartment block. He was sitting on the ground high as a kite. "I thought I warned you to stay away from me" Rua raged. Jack took the shotgun out from under his jacket and pointed it at Rua's head. She began laughing hysterically "Silly boy, mortal weapons cannot harm me" she said "but I applaud your bravery". "You are going to pay for what you did to Ailish." He screamed. "Go ahead, I might enjoy it" she mocked. He pulled the trigger and she fell to the floor with a loud thud. He stood perfectly still for what seemed like an eternity. Then he ran. He ran and ran as fast as his feet would let him. He reached the edge of the city and began to throw up. He was crying furiously as he put the shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Epilogue
Ailish sat in the asylum where she had been residing for the past two months. She had been refusing food for 6 days and was spitting her meds out and hiding them in her underwear. The only thing she thought about was her saviour. Why hasn't he come for me? If I could just touch him everything would be ok she thought. She sat on the floor as she swallowed pill after pill. Her last thought was of Iriall, her saviour.
