Fairly Tainted

Chapter 4

Cleo 

 I hadn’t realized I had fallen asleep until the sun began to rise. The huge windows that let in the sky light slowly bloomed to a soft pinkish orange. I blinked a few times as I took in my surroundings. I heaved a heavy sigh when I realized I wasn’t having a horrible nightmare and I won’t wake up in my bed. 

 “Good morning Queen,” Duncan said softly. I turned to see him sitting up in his makeshift bed upon the floor of the living room. 

 "Good morning Duncan,” I replied with a yawn and stretched my arms out. “Did you sleep well?”

 “I haven’t slept yet,” he replied. I blinked at him in surprise. “I was just about to lay down when you woke up.” 

 “Oh,” I said. “Is everything alright? Was there a problem?”

 “No,” he replied. “I just couldn’t sleep. I kept watch until the sun started to rise and I realized I never went to bed.”

 “You must be exhausted,” I said. 

 “I don’t really require much sleep. As long as I’m outside and I see the sun, I can stay awake for weeks,” he said with a chuckle. 

 “You’re a Sun Fairy?” I asked. 

 “Actually I’m a hybrid,” he replied. “My father was a Sun Fairy and my mother was a Moon Fairy. So I can absorb both elements and energy.”

 “So you never have to sleep?” I whispered to him. 

 “If I chose not to,” he chuckled again at my reaction. “But I do like to sleep at night; my body prefers it.”

 “Must come in handy as a warrior though,” I said. “I’m a Light Fairy, so I feel drained in the darkness unless the moon is full.”

 “Its definitely helped so I don’t mind losing out on a night of sleep every now and then,” he said. He started to get up off his makeshift bed. 

 “What are you doing?” I asked. “You should rest!” 

 “No,” Duncan replied and rolled up the blankets. “I’m alright, I feel like I just had a large coffee with a hundred tablespoons of sugar. I’m ready to go!”

 “Mmm,” I moaned at the sound of coffee. “Coffee sounds delicious.” 

 “How do you like it?” He asked. 

 “With about a hundred tablespoons of sugar and a lot of cream,” I chuckled. 

 “Just like me,” he replied with a wink. 

He sauntered off to the kitchen that was just off to the side of the living room. We had a Keurig that was easily self-explanatory. He searched the fridge for the creamer and grabbed the sugar bowl. I quickly folded up the blankets from the couch and set them aside. When I finished, Duncan came in with two cups of coffee and we sat down on the couch. I took a sip of the coffee and it was delicious 

 “My heavens,” I sighed as I put the cup down. “It’s delicious. I never could get the bitter taste to fully disappear.”

 “I think it stopped being coffee after the fifteenth tablespoon of sugar,” he chuckled. “Are you hungry? I can make some breakfast if you’d like.”

 “Duncan you’ve done more than enough for me,” I said. “Let me make you some breakfast. You’ve saved my life and have been nothing but doting to me.”

 “It’s my honor,” he replied and bowed deeply to me. “You are my Queen. Now that the council has fallen, my job is to take care of you.”

 I got up from the couch when our coffee was finished and brought the cups into the kitchen. I opened the fridge and started to take out breakfast foods; eggs, bacon, some bread and butter. Duncan came to the kitchen and stood beside me. He helped me get the pots and pans out and we made breakfast together.

 Cooking was something that always helped me relax. I always liked to try different things or put a twist on the classics. Duncan knew his way around the kitchen and I found myself really enjoying our time together. He found some ham and peppers in the fridge so we decided to make omelettes. He also helped keep the mess under control; something I wasn’t very good at. 

My father would come home and find almost every pot or dish dirtied after I made dinner. He’d roll his eyes and roll up his sleeves to start soaking the pots and pans before sitting down to dinner. I felt tears spring to my eyes at the memories. 

 “Cleo? Are you okay?” Duncan asked softly as we sat down with our plates.

 “Yes,” I sniffled. “Just thinking about my father is all. He’d always come in to find dishes everywhere while I was cooking. It used to irk him so bad but he always helped me clean up.” 

 “You’re father was a wonderful man,” he replied and gently laid his hand upon mine. “He’ll be so proud of you for stepping up and taking care of the kingdom.”

 “I don’t really have a choice,” I sighed. “I can’t let his hard work go to waste. And I can’t let the same fate befall my kin.” 

 A knock on the door made us both jump in surprise. Duncan immediately got up and went to the door. He peeped through the hole before opening it to reveal two fairy girls from Holy Light. 

 “Princess Cleo!” The taller one cried out when she saw me. Her sister nudged her hard in the ribs. “Oops, I mean Queen Cleo!”

 “Hadley, Hailey,” I replied and walked over to the door. “It’s still Cleo girls. What are you doing here so early?”

 “Captain Xavier sent us,” Hadley spoke up. Hailey was busy staring open mouthed at Duncan who returned to the table to nibble at his omelette.

 “Has he arrived?” I asked. She nodded and elbowed Hailey 

 “Yes,” Hailey said snapping her eyes back to me and turning a bit pink. “Who’s that Cleo?” 

 “My name is Duncan,” he said turning his attention to the girls. “I’m a council warrior. But now I’ve vowed my life to protect the Queen.” 

 “Is he your consort Cleo?” Hailey whispered to me.

 “No,” I chuckled. “I’ve known him a day, barely a few hours longer than I’ve been Queen. But he’s been a very good friend since we met. Let the captain know I will meet him out on the front grounds. I sure he’ll want to set up a cottage for his colony.” 

 The girls smiled at me and eyed Duncan again. He smiled a handsome smile at the girls and they burst into a fit of giggles before they ran down the path. I closed the door behind them and turned to Duncan.

 “They’re adorable,” he said with a chuckle. 

 “They’re quite fond of you already,” I laughed. “I suppose I should go change.”

 I stared at the stairs that lead up to the bedrooms. With a deep breath I rushed up the stairs and ran as fast as I could to my room. I made sure to ignore the doors of father and Chloe’s room and dashed to my door. I opened it up and jumped inside. I pushed all the sad feelings away as I quickly changed into leggings and thin long sleeve. I brushed my hair out but I was just going to put up in a pony tail anyway. I hated having my hair in my face. 

 When I was finished I walked to my door and took a deep breath. I opened it up and walked down the hall. I approached Chloes door first. The door was slightly ajar as though she had just run out for a second. I resisted the urge to push it open; wishing I’d be able to see her sitting on her bed reading or playing on her phone. I missed her dearly. I continued past her door and eyed my fathers. His bedroom door was always closed. He used to lock it when Chloe and I were little since we were always getting into everything. Slowly I walked down the steps. Duncan had finished cleaning the kitchen of dirty pans and rinsed off our plates. I smiled at him. 

 “Thank you,” I said. “It’s been really nice having you here Duncan. I really can’t express how much it means to me.”

 “Anything to make the day a little easier for you,” he replied as he finished wiping off the counter. “Are you ready to go?” 

 “Yes,” I sighed. “Captain Xavier does not like to be held up.” 

 Duncan followed me out of the cottage and down the path. We walked towards the center of the village where the main lawn is. I saw Captain Xavier standing beside his consort, Stella. They were a light fairy colony like ours.

 “Cleovanna!” Stella cried when she saw me. “Oh my child!” 

 I hugged her close and then Xavier. We all touched hands for a moment in greeting. I looked them over closely. Xavier was tall for a fairy almost over six feet. Stella was more than a foot shorter than him and it was kind of funny to see her control the relationship. His long blond hair matched hers with thin braids decorating their hair. It was intricate and beautiful and never the same thing twice. They had bright yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the dawning sun. 

 “Stella, Xavier,” I said after we let go of each other hands. “Meet Duncan, the warrior that saved me and has been assisting me.” 

 Xavier shook Duncan’s forearm as warriors do. Xavier was one of our fiercest warriors for Holy Light. When he met Stella he told my father about wanting to settle down so father made him a captain of our closest colony. He’s done a very good job of keeping his colony in line. 

 “Queen Cleovanna,” Xavier said and smiled at me. “It does have a beautiful ring to it. But my heart is shattered for our family.”

 “Have you been able to reach Terry?” I asked. I had tried to call him but his phone was off. Terry lived off the main campus and lived in Xavier’s colony.

 “No,” he sighed. “We even tried to call the hotel but they said he checked out already.”

 “Maybe he’s on his way home,” Stella said and rubbed my arm soothingly. 

 “I hope so,” Xavier sighed. “But he’s going to be awfully surprised to find everyone has vacated.”

 “Where’s your colony?” I asked looking around. There were only Stella and Xavier. No other vehicles. Xavier smiled at me then began to chant and close his eyes. I looked behind him and saw the air begin to shimmer and go wavy. Standing behind him were twelve huge SUVs. It was shocking to see the open space around us suddenly fill up with cars. 

I saw the doors of the cars open and blonde haired fairies began to get out. They looked around themselves excitedly. 

 “We didn’t want anyone who may be watching to know you have reinforcements coming,” he replied. “So let’s get us some shelter!” Xavier turned and clapped his hands. 

The fairies who were milling out of the cars hurried over to an empty space. A huge circle was formed as they held hands and bowed their heads. The air in the center of their circle began to shimmer and wave as the cars had done. Slowly a building began to appear as if being projected on a screen. An exact replica of the other cottages appeared slowly. It was see through at first but as the fairies began to murmur faster it became more solid until it was finally arrived.

 “This ought to work!” Xavier smiled up at the conjured house. “Should be enough space for all of the colonies. We can make another if needed later.”

 The fairies opened the door and hurried inside. They excitedly chatted with each other as they went to claim their rooms. Xavier led us through the doors and I gasped. There were several floors stacked upon each other; the balconies overlooked the massive staircase that was centered in the main hall. Fairies flew up and into the balconies as they claimed their rooms. 

 “How many rooms are there?” I heard Duncan mutter. 

 “Three hundred and fifty two,” Xavier replied with a smile. “We can add more if we need too.” 

 “Three hundred fifty rooms?” Duncan gasped. “How many fairies are coming?” 

 “We have six colonies,” I said. “Roughly thirty to sixty fairies per colony.” 

 “How will you hide that many fairies from the humans?”

 “We blend in quite well,” Xavier replied. “Many of us prefer to stay in though. Each floor is equipped with three or four kitchens. Everything remains stocked. And since there are so many fairies inside the cottage basically sustains itself without draining us.”

 “That’s amazing,” Duncan whispered again. 

 “So what do we do next?” I asked Captain Xavier. He smiled sadly at me. 

 “We will wait for the other captains to arrive,” he replied. “Then we will discuss our next move. In the meantime, I think we should get training. We are up against a war. I also have one of my men looking into Victor. We need to find out where he is so that we can get Chloe home.”

 “I hope she’s alright,” I said. “I can’t feel our bond. It’s like there is a wall that I can get through.” 

 “That’s because she’s amongst vampires,” he said. “As long as she is with them, you will not be able to reach her through any bond of a fae.”

 “Would I still be able to feel it if something were to happen to her?” I asked. “Like if she was hurt or…or…”

 Xavier put a finger to my lips to stop me from completing my sentence. I don’t think I could have anyway. He looked sadly at me.

 “I’m not sure,” he replied. “Our knowledge of vampires is limited.” 

 “Is there any hope at all that she’s going to be okay?” I whispered to him.

 “Chloe is a fighter,” Xavier replied. “She may have not known that you were still alive. Maybe she thought surrendering was would make sure she lived long enough to find a way out of this.” 

 “We need to find her Xavier,” I said firmly. “We need to bring her home. I can’t rule this kingdom alone. I need her by my side.”

 “We will do everything in our power to bring back Princess Chloe,” Duncan vowed beside me. “But you are not alone. We will be by your side no matter what happens.”