Angelz: Right sorry for the lateness for this chapter. It's been really hot here in the UK (hot for us anyways) and sitting with a boiling hot laptop on my lap as I wrote wasn't exactly appealing. That and the heat makes me lazy, I'm someone who hates hot weather. I live in England for a reason; and it isn't for the nice weather. Anyways, I'm not really happy with the chapter but it was either put it up with me not 100 per cent happy and update today or tweak it but not update until Friday. I've got a college introduction day tomorrow so I'm pretty nervous as it is. Probably why I couldn't really focus on writing this chapter..wish me luck
This chapter is dedicated to: DarkRedRoses. Hope you have a fantastic Birthday! (Enjoy your cake, whatever you decide to make ;p ) Everybody else: Check out her stories, all of them are fantastic and involve the awesome couple that is Niall and Iri.
There was a blur of action as both Niall and Irial dived towards Leslie. She stood, head bowed down, hiding her face and expression. Just as her two beloveds closed in on them Leslie held out a hand, stopping them in their tracks. Fine tremors ran through her body, tiny shakes that made it unclear whether she was crying or laughing.
"Leslie?" Niall sounded cautious, unsure of the heavy silence that hung in the air. Neither Bananach nor Leslie moved or said anything; the War faerie was watching her Queen with a clear, focused expression looking thoughtful. It was an unnerving look on her.
"Mm?" A breath of relief left both Irial and Niall, she sounded okay; a little shaken but okay.
"Come here, Love." Niall held out his hand, Leslie slowly turned and looked up at him. Her eyes were a vivid black, plummeting shadows filled every speck of her iris. She cocked her head to the side, "Leslie, come to me."
Slowly she put one foot in front of the other and made her way towards Niall. She covered the distance between them and came to stand next to her king. He slipped an arm around her waist and guided her behind him, into Irial's awaiting arms. Never once did he allow himself to take his gaze from Bananach.
"Stay away from her." He warned, taking a step forward and letting the abyss guardians leap into life; hissing and glaring at the war faerie. For a brief moment Bananach flinched, a movement Niall had never seen her do. She nodded and grudgingly turned away, with one lingering look at Leslie, Niall and Irial.
As Bananach walked away Seth noticed the shadows leaning towards her as she passed by. The odd look in her eyes hadn't escaped him, something had happened in the globe and it was clear that whatever it was had affected the two women.
Before anyone noticed Seth quietly slipped into the shadows; leaving the three Fey to themselves. After all, Seth needed to make sure that Aislinn was okay after the attack on Eliza. Later he would meditate and allow himself to see the threads of possibilities he'd been able to see ever since becoming faerie. Maybe he'd be able to see something in Leslie's future that would give away any lasting effects from her encounter with Bananach.
It took only a few moments for Seth to reach the Crow's Nest, where he hoped Aislinn still remained. As he entered the club a heavy sense of panic hit him; it hung in the air like an almost tangible thing. Summer Court fey darted around the club, weaving in and out of the crowd of humans who remained. Seth soon found Aislinn in the back corner of the room with Keenan and a throng of their fey surrounding her. Her eyes latched onto Seth and he couldn't ignore the spark that leaped into them. As long as she looked at him like that, as long as she needed Seth to be by her side, he would always be there when she called.
"Seth." Her voice was barely a whimper as she folded herself into his arms, "Leslie, she s-stabbed her." Her voice choked off into tears. Seth hadn't seen her like this before, Aislinn, his Aislinn was strong. He hadn't ever seen her break down like this before.
Keenan stood behind his Queen and gave Seth a look across Aislinn's shoulder. That look told Seth all he needed to know.
The Summer King was furious. His Queen had been hurt and now he wanted revenge.
This couldn't be good.
"Does Leslie seem different to you?" Irial glanced up at the door as Niall entered the room. The Dark King didn't come to sit on the sofa next to Irial, like the former king expected, he started to restlessly pace across the length of the room. Irial raised an eyebrow and motioned to the seat next to him.
"Stop worrying and come sit." Niall let out an exasperated sigh and gave him a long look.
"Leslie." He murmured as he came to sit down, "Something's wrong with Leslie."
"I know." The simple truth of the words set a heavy mood in the air. The two fey sat in silence for a few moments before Irial spoke again, "Bananach has also been acting strange. I'd be lying if I said that that didn't worry me." He blew out long breath.
"What do we do?" Niall questioned. Irial shrugged.
"Ask her what happened? Force her to tell us if she refuses? I truly don't know, Niall. Leslie has always been her own person and if she doesn't want to do something she won't. She might not tell us." The pair stared at each other for a few more moments.
Irial stood up and held out a hand to his king. "Come on, we're not going to find out what's wrong if we sit in here and mope around." He gave a dazzling smile, "let's go find our Queen."
Throbbing music greeted the two Kings as they opened the double, dark oak doors that led into Leslie's domain. The Queen had claimed the east wing of the building the Dark Court used as its headquarters. The large rectangular room was robbed of any natural light only the flashing disco lights gave any glimpse into the dancing fey inside. Irial gave a reluctant laugh,
"I'll give her this; she knows how to keep the court entertained." Niall gave him a dry look but couldn't help but let a smile pull at his lips, with a roll of his eyes he stepped into the room.
With the doors shut the throbbing of the music became a pounding beat that slammed into them as they weaved through the crowd and started to search for Leslie. After a few minutes of searching they regrouped.
"I can't see her." Niall had to raise his voice in order to be heard over to noise of the make-shift club. Irial shook his head, frowning, and continued to glance around the room.
"It's too dark." He muttered. Niall started to ask him to speak louder. Irial waved his words away. Something had caught his eye, in the middle of the room a crowd had gathered in a large circle. The fey all babbled excitedly and nudged each other eagerly. In simultaneous agreement Niall and Irial made their way towards the thong of fey.
The circle parted; allowing them access to the inner ring. Stood there, centre stage, was Leslie. A fierce glint was present in her eyes as she focused her attention on the three figures who also occupied the centre of the circle. Two were Dark Court fey, nothing out of the ordinary, but the third figure wasn't faerie.
When Irial had ruled the court he'd had no problem with his fey taking humans as pets or play things, however, when Niall took control he had limited the court's freedom when it came to humans. He still allowed them to take humans as their own but there were strict rules on how far they were allowed to go until they broke them.
Leslie, his queen, stood in front of the two fey who held between them a human, one who held a crazed look in his eyes as he franticly tried to edge closer to Leslie. A frantic look of pleasure bordering on insanity crossed her face as she motioned for the two fey to release the human. He dived for Leslie, she laughed and side stepped him and once more let the two fey capture him.
Niall could taste the sickly sweet lust that poured off of the human. The sharp tang of desperation only enhanced the appeal of his emotions. It was clear that she'd been tormenting him for a while.
"Leslie." She turned almost lazily to face him. A defiant tilt of her head warned Niall that she still wasn't herself, the satisfied look in her eyes turned to a harsh, cold look. She's never looked at him like that, at least, not until after the incident with Bananach. Since the incident Leslie had been more distant, less willing to be near Irial or Niall. "We need to talk to yo-"
"Mind if we join you, Love?" Irial cut Niall off and moved over to Leslie, he settled just behind her and leaned closer so his mouth was closer to her ear. Idly he kissed along her neck. A low growl rumbled in her chest but she allowed Irial to continue.
"Who am I to say no?" She murmured, whilst flicking a cautious look at Niall who stood, mouth agape, watching as Irial joined Leslie in enjoying the human. Irial, once more a Gancanagh was addictive to humans that meant with only one touch from him Leslie's 'toy' would be hooked.
Why would Irial abandon Niall? Didn't he understand that something was wrong with Leslie? She would never allow herself to hurt a human, after all that was why she had wanted to escape Huntsdale after first of all finding out Niall's true nature. She was scared of losing herself, wasn't she?
"Niall?" Irial questioned, "Are you joining us?" He held out a hand, an invitation to join in on the feeding frenzy that was bound to start as soon as Leslie allowed it.
Would he join them and help Leslie lose herself amongst the Dark Court like she once feared?