Aileen 5 Deleted Scene

Freezing sludge trickled into the top of my boot, soaking the socks inside as my foot broke through the crunchy layer of ice and snow.

Frickin forests. I don’t think I was being overly paranoid when I said they had it out for me.

Twice now I’ve fled through their depths in fear of my life. Somehow, I’d managed to come out alive both times. It still didn’t dispel that itchy feeling beneath my skin urging me to turn around and run.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have the luxury of listening to my instincts at the moment. Not when a job and paycheck were on the line.

With a curse, I yanked my boot out of the snow. A mistake as my other foot slid out from under me and I lost my balance. I landed on my ass before sliding part way down the hill.

A half-hidden rock made contact with my side. Pain shot through me, but the rock did stop my headlong tumble. I rolled onto my back, ignoring the cold as ice and snow worked itself under my coat. Above me, the long skeletal fingers of trees bare of their leaves reached for the sky where stars decorated the velvet night.

Iridescent green and yellow wings blocked my view of the night as the pixie they belonged to landed on my chest.

Inara propped her hands on her waist, a frown of disgust taking up residence on her face. “Could you at least try to act like you know what you’re doing?”

No taller than the length of my hand, Inara’s wings were a work of art with a network of spidery veins in every shade of green imaginable. When they moved it was like watching a tree’s leaves rustle in the breeze. The pint-sized creature would have been considered a beauty if not for the almost alien nature of her features. Her skin held the faintest tinge of green. Her eyes were slightly too big for her face, and her teeth held a point to them you wouldn’t see in any human mouth.

Despite that, Inara managed to command a presence. Small she might be, but her personality was as big and forceful as any of those I knew.

Today, her beauty was marred by a scowl as she glowered at me.

“I think this forest hates me,” I informed her.

Inara snorted, the sound surprisingly loud and emphatic to be coming from such a tiny creature. “It’s not the forest. It’s you.”

This time I didn’t hesitate to brush her off. Inara evaded, rising to hover in midair as I climbed to my feet. I busied myself knocking some of the dirt and snow off my backside. Not that it mattered anymore. The snow had already infiltrated its protection. Escaping its chill was an impossible task until I found a change of clothes.

Finished, I took a second to look around.

At this time of night, Highbanks Metro Park was deserted of humans. At least the law-abiding ones anyway. The park closed at sundown. Being a vampire, I was nocturnal. Daylight visits weren’t exactly practical. They’d be a whole lot of work for not a lot of benefit. Easier to duck the barriers and visit when no one was here anyway.

“Did you find what we’re looking for?” I asked.

“Of course, I did. Not all of us are useless.”

I glared at my friend—and I used the term ‘friend’ loosely. Inara was more like a splinter that refused to go away no matter how much I poked and prodded.

“Since you’re the one who insisted the item was here, I’d hope so.” I studied the forest, the snow bright as it reflected the moonlight. Although it was night, it might as well have been day with how easy it was to see thanks to my superior senses.

“Which way?”

Inara skirted the small trickle of water that pretended to be a stream at the bottom of the ravine. “Follow me.”

I trudged after her, grumbling to myself the entire way.

“I’m surprised you agreed to this,” Inara said over her shoulder. “If you’re caught by the mortal police, they’ll arrest you.”

I paused, my hand on the tree I was using to balance myself. “I didn’t think my concerns mattered to you.”

“They don’t, but if you’re in jail it could draw the type of notice you can’t afford.”

I pushed off the tree and thrashed my way a few feet up the hill. “Then I guess we better not get caught.”

Having said that, I doubted we would. I was the only one in the park and we were pretty far from the trail. The rangers were unlikely to venture all the way out here—or explore any of the numerous ravines that made up the metro park.

For how flat Columbus was, Highbanks was surprisingly hilly. Known for its 100 ft bluff overlooking the Olentangy river, the park had several small creeks running through it that over time had created the ravines and hills riddling its interior.

By day, there was heavy traffic by the denizens of the city looking to breath in a little nature without having to make the hour plus journey out to Hocking Hills. By night, Highbanks saw a different kind of visitor. Ones who didn’t always walk upright or have a human form.

I’m not talking deer either.

“There it is.” Inara shot ahead of me, unhampered by having to pick her way through a foot of snow courtesy of one of the few real snowfalls this season. In a day or two, the temperature would probably flip again, melting most of what remained.

Meanwhile, the sun was a distant memory for those who were lucky enough to not be nocturnal. This was Ohio. That meant gray skies with intermittent sunny days until spring.

“Will you hurry up?” Inara snarled.

I slogged toward her with a glare. “Some of us weren’t blessed with wings.”

Nearing the base of the tree Inara had indicated was our destination, I stopped to stare. Trees in Highbanks weren’t exactly a rare sight, but ones like this were.  

It looked old. Probably older than anything in the park. Tall with a thick trunk, its branches were gnarled and twisted, creating a mushroom like canopy. The width of its crown suggested it had had plenty of access to sun during its growing years. Most trees in a forest tended to grow tall and narrow, their branches competing with those around them for light.

I slipped into my magic sight to take a closer look. Hundreds of threads ran from the forest around us and into tree, some spearing deep into the ground. Magical roots, I realized, each feeding the tree in some way.

“What is this?” I breathed.

And how did it get here?

There was no way a tree of this age and size could have existed in the park without everyone being made aware. Humans would have flocked to its base to stage selfies and marvel at its beauty. 

Inara alighted on my shoulder. “It was grown from a seed of the Yggdrasil tree.”

“The world tree?”

Once upon a time, I would have had no point of reference for what she was talking about. My knowledge of mythology was limited. Beyond the heavy hitters like the Greek Pantheon and vampires and werewolves, I would have been lost. I’d made it a point to correct that oversight since joining the ranks of the supernatural.

It turns out ignorance was not bliss, but a good way to end up dead.

“One of them, yeah.”

“Are you going to elaborate?”

Inara’s wings batted me in the face as she used my shoulder as a springboard to launch into the air. “I don’t have time to educate you in something as basic as this. Let’s just say this is a considerably smaller version of the world tree, and it has what we’re looking for.”

I sent a skeptical glance at the tree, unconvinced

“Go on then. The nut we seek is up there.” Inara pointed to a branch at least twenty feet off the ground.

“Why can’t you get it?”

She was the one with wings, after all.

“You’re the one who accepted the kappa’s request. It’s only fitting you do the work.”

True, but she’d been the one to recommend the client to me. She was also the one who’d insisted on tagging along despite rarely helping with my job.

All this made me think there was something I wasn’t seeing.

With a mental shrug, I dismissed my concerns.

When weren’t the pixies working an angle? Sometimes it was better to go along and keep my eyes open. Usually, I ended up learning something, even if it was what not to do for the next time.

“Fine.” I shrugged out of the backpack I’d brought and lowered it to the ground.

The tree loomed like an expectant professor, waiting to see what I’d do. I grabbed the first branch and swung onto it. A sigh echoed from the air around me.

I froze with one leg wrapped around the branch while the other dangled. “What was that?”

“It’s nothing. You worry too much. Stop dilly dallying.”

I ignored her, my senses trained on what was happening in the tree above me. It sounded like a pack of squirrels were sprinting over the branches.

“I don’t think that’s nothing.”

In fact, I was pretty certain of it.

Despite my reservations, I pulled myself the rest of the way up and used the trunk to balance as I reached for the next branch.

Inara hovered a few feet outside the tree’s perimeter, her gaze trained on the canopy.

“It’d be nice to know what has you so spooked.” I bellied up to another branch.

“I’m not spooked.”

Could have fooled me.

Seconds later, I judged myself sufficiently high enough off the ground and started shimmying along the branch toward the seed. It dangled just out of reach above me. I stretched, my fingers brushing its side as color burst into my peripheral vision. Wings in every shade imaginable swarmed toward me.

Pixies. A lot of them.

I didn’t have time to be surprised as Inara bared her teeth in a blood thirsty smile and dove toward them.

My other sight caught a burst of green as Inara fired some sort of magic at them. The swarm parted, dodging easily.

Inara fled into the canopy, the enemy pixies following. The high-pitched sound of battle cries echoed from the branches.

“I knew it wasn’t nothing.”

I stretched for the seed a second time. Almost there. Almost.

A pixie dropped onto it, the seed bobbing under his weight. His head was shaved both sides and he held twin swords in his hands. He straightened and aimed a pointy toothed smile at me.

“Oh crap.”

This was going to suck.

Wings the color of burnt umber stretched and then closed behind him. “Don’t think we forgot about you, fanger.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

My bluff did nothing more than piss him off. The pixie snarled and raised his swords. I jerked my head back, barely avoiding having one plunged into my eye.

A shimmer of air below me and to the right caught my attention for the briefest of seconds before the pixie dive bombing me pulled it back to where it belonged.

“Think you can steal for us, fanger?” he roared. “My clan will rip out your entrails and decorate our home with them.”

“As lovely as that sounds, I think I’ll pass.”

I retreated along the branch as the pixie drove me away from the seed I’d been targeting. An amber glow coalesced around one of his swords. Magic. I squeaked as he flung it toward me, ducking out of the way and nearly losing my balance in the process.

Heat splintered the air, leaving the beginnings of a blister on my shoulder.

My pain took a back seat as I gaped at the smoldering hole it left in the trunk.

“Look what you’ve made me do,” the pixie screeched. “Hold still so I don’t damage our territory further.”

My expression was incredulous. Was he serious? Who in their right mind would let him shoot them with that fiery ball of magic? Not me, that was for certain.

I shoved to standing, holding my hands out in front of me in a placating gesture. “Look—we don’t have to do this.”

His snort was inelegant. “You’re part of a rival court trying to take what’s ours. Of course, we have to do this.”

My hand’s dropped. “I’m not part of a court.”

The pixie pointed his swords at me and launched himself through the air.

Fine, if that’s how he wanted to be. I could play rough too.

I leapt onto another branch, dodging out of the pixie’s way before powering toward the seed he was protecting. Magic built behind me, sending fluctuations through the air. I ducked and rolled, somehow managing to not fall off the branch.

I gained my feet and leapt for the seed. My hand closed around it. I yanked, already twisting my body in preparation for the fall.

“You irritating blood sucker,” the pixie roared. To the swarm— “She has our seed.”

I landed in a crouch, taking only enough time to grab my backpack and chance a quick glance above me. The pixies broke off their chase of Inara, their cries turning furious at the sight of me on the ground with the seed.

Time to go.

The forest flew by as I stumble-ran through it at a faster speed than I had on my approach. It turns out the possibility of imminent death provided proper motivation to get my ass in gear. I forged over the snow shrouded landscape with only one thought on my mind—escape.

Amber magic whistled through the air, narrowly missing hitting me in the back. It splashed against a tree, splintering the trunk.

This! This right here was why I avoided forests! No good ever came of entering them.

I swerved left and then right in rapid succession. Two more balls of magic flew by me. Both a little too close for comfort.

The pixie was gaining on me.

A giant door of magic sprang into existence in front of me. I ground to a halt, my feet sliding out from under me once again as I threw myself back. Invitation radiated out of that door. A warmth that wrapped around my limbs, nudging me forward.

I resisted. Unknown magic was rarely a good thing. No way was I stepping through with no idea of what awaited me on the other side.

The magic grew insistent, the urge to obey the unspoken summons almost impossible to ignore.

I retreated a step and then another, forgetting momentarily the threat that had sent me into headlong flight in the first place. The portal, because that’s what I thought it was, advanced on me.

“Got you, fanger scum!”

I ducked, hitting the snow-covered ground face first and getting a mouthful of snow and dirt. The pixie’s magic sailed over my head. It hit the portal and disappeared.

The pixie’s wings buzzed as he came to an abrupt stop, his expression showing confusion and fear. “What is a fae door doing in these woods?”

“That’s a good question. Also, what is a fae door?”

The pixie turned on me, a snarl of rage on his face. “You brought this here. You’ll pay dearly for this.”

The pixie dove at me just as the door got tired of waiting and rushed at me. I rolled out of its way. The pixie wasn’t as lucky, his headlong plunge leading him directly into its path.

In the next second, the door and its prey vanished.

“Holy—”  I gaped at the empty air.

“Run!” Inara streaked past me.

I pointed. “But—”

“Questions later. Running now.”

My gaze landed on the forest behind her and the very large swarm of multicolored wings. Nausea rose.

“That’s a lot of pixies,” I whispered.

“No shit. That’s why I advise running.” Inara took her own advice, fleeing through the trees.

I pushed off the ground as a pixie screamed in rage and pointed at the empty air where the first pixie had disappeared.

“She sent Brendan through her door. Kill the interlopers.”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no.

I scrambled to my feet and followed Inara. We dashed through the woods, the trees a blur as I pushed for every speck of my vampire speed.

“You didn’t tell me the seed would be guarded by a swarm of pixies,” I shouted.

Magic splashed around us, leaving singe marks and broken branches behind on the trees. Inara wove through the forest, her wings a blur as she kept pace with me. “It’s the offspring of the Yggdrasil tree; of course, it’s guarded by someone.”

That would have been handy information to know before I upset a whole court of her brethren.

“There had to be other ways to do this,” I snarled. “I don’t need more enemies.”

“Vampire—you’re built to collect enemies.”

I hated that she was right. Hated more that I probably wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.

“I suggest you move faster,” Inara ordered. “You don’t want to see what they do to people who’ve breached their territory.”

“I told you coming here was a bad idea.”

Forests and me just didn’t mix.

*

I broke through the trees, relief filling me at the glimpse of my car up ahead. Somehow, someway, we’d made it.

My satisfaction was cut short as a man straightened from where he’d been leaning against the car’s side. My heart dropped before recognition set in at the sight of the man’s white hair and pale skin that practically glowed under the light of the moon.

There was only one person I knew with that particular combination of features. Connor. The long-lost son of my sire, and the man I’d rescued a few months ago from being stuck in the form of a stag.

He moved with a grace that was almost feral, his gaze steady and calm as he watched our approach.

“Get in the car!” I screamed as the first wave of pixies reached the tree line.

Connor’s head tilted. There was no unease. No fear. None of the emotion you’d expect at facing a swarm of pixies. Just curiosity—and maybe a touch of bemusement. “Why is a court of pixies chasing you?”

I yanked the keys out of my pocket and hit the unlock button. “In. The. Car.”

Connor was slow to obey, more preoccupied with his study of the pixies.

I didn’t bother with him, yanking open my door. I climbed into the car, Inara slipping in seconds before I slammed the door shut. Finally safe, or at least as close to as I would get until I was away from here, I sat for a moment and stared out the windshield at the forest beyond.

To my surprise, there was no colorful cloud of pixie wings set to descend on us. They’d stalled at the border of the forest, glaring at my car from the safety of the trees.

“Why did they stop?”

“It’s the border of their territory.” Inara alighted on my dash to send a dismissive glance at the pixies. “They won’t cross it.”

“You couldn’t have told me this earlier?”

Inara lifted a shoulder. “There’s always a chance I could be wrong.”

The passenger side door opened, and Connor slid inside. He shut the door after him. I wasted no time in starting the car, wanting to be far from here before the pixies decided to cross their border. The car tires squealed as I slammed on the gaze and shot toward the road.

“You didn’t answer my question. Why is a court of pixies after you?”

I darted a glance at my faux brother, wondering how much I should share. “It’s business. That’s all I can tell you.”

The best part was that I wasn’t even lying. We really were here for business, and if I wanted to keep making money, I couldn’t go shooting my mouth off whenever someone asked me what I was doing or who I was doing it for. If my time with Hermes Courier Service had taught me anything, it was that confidentiality was king.

“Does our sire know of your activities?”

I hit the turn signal and headed for the highway and my next stop on the night’s agenda.

“Thomas and I have mutually decided ignorance is bliss. He doesn’t ask and I never tell.”

I had what you’d call a difficult relationship with my sire. He’d turned me against my will, nearly killing me in the process. Granted, he’d been acting under a curse that forced him to kill any he tried to turn into a vampire, but since I hadn’t asked to become a vampire, I held a grudge none the less.

It was only stupid luck I survived.

It’s kind of hard to forgive the man who played a vital role in your destruction. Unfortunately, walking away from your sire was equally hard.

There were things I needed to know; things only he could teach me. Going it alone hadn’t worked out so well for me. Now we had an uneasy truce.

Connor’s head tilted, those eerie eyes locking on me. “I think there is more than you’re telling me.”

 “What gives you that idea?”

Connor faced forward. “Our sire is not so reasonable.”

His words startled a laugh out of me. Good to know Connor shared the same reservations about Thomas as I did.

The corners of his lips tilted up an infinitesimal amount, a barely there smile that was as loud as a shout for a man who normally held no expression.

“Why were you waiting for me?” I asked.

Inara lifted off the dash and fluttered toward the back seat. It was a semblance of privacy—an unexpected action from a pixie who did everything she could to annoy me at any given moment.

Connor’s expression was faintly pensive as he stared out the window. “You understand this modern era.”

“I should since I was born in it.”

“I am no longer the stag, yet I feel as lost as when I was him.” Connor stared down at his hands, opening and closing them as if to assure himself they were actual hands and hadn’t reverted to hooves.

Had he been any other vampire I might have responded with a sarcastic quip. But this was Connor, probably one of the few who’s vampiredom had gone even more astray than my own.

“It’ll get better with time,” I assured him.

He inclined his head. “Yes, it will. That’s why I’m here.”

No. Please no. Please don’t ask what I think you’re going to ask.

I fought the urge to bang my head against the steering wheel. I should have known his presence would mean trouble. If only I could turn back time and leave him in the forest. But no, that wouldn’t have ended well for me either. Thomas was nothing if not protective of his first turned.

“I would like to join you and your business,” he continued.

I was shaking my head no before the last word was even out of his mouth. “I don’t think so.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

There it was. An echo of both Thomas and Liam. The confidence. The arrogance. Connor might have been separated from them for centuries, but he still carried many of the same mannerisms.

Even if I’d trusted that he’d come to me for exactly the reason he’d outlined and not as part of some Machiavellian scheme of Thomas’s, he’d inherited too much of the other two to be trusted.

Rather than outline my numerous concerns, I settled for saying. “Thomas would never let you.”

A sly humor crept into Connor’s expression, a reminder that he’d spent the last few centuries in the company of the fae. Not exactly a group that was known for their truthfulness or sense of camaraderie. No, they much preferred deception and stabbing each other in the back instead.

I had a feeling some of those tendencies might have rubbed off on Connor. Worse, vampires weren’t exactly known for dealing with each other on the up and up either.

“You would do well to consider my offer. Someone like me would be an asset to your business.”

Inara’s snort came from the back seat. “That’s why she has me.”

“You realize pixies can be a treacherous lot,” Connor pointed out.

This time it was my turn to snort. “And vampires aren’t?”

He inclined his head to concede my point. “I want a chance to repay the kindness you’ve done me. Please let me.”

It was a tempting offer; don’t get me wrong. Having another person on board would be helpful. I’d had to turn down more than one job because we didn’t have the manpower or magic to play in those leagues. Some of those opportunities had been rather lucrative.

But no. Better not to take the chance. Connor was a hand grenade I didn’t want to set off.

For once, things were going well. The business I’d started when the sphinx asked me to look for the person who’d broken into his vault was finally taking off. Even the vampire thing was working out. I saw no reason to upset the apple cart.

“No,” I said with an air of finality. “Whatever is going on between you and Thomas, I want no part of it.”

I’d already been down that road with my sire. As far as I was concerned, the more I steered clear of him, the better.

Connor’s expression was still, no hint of his feelings leaking through. “I understand. You want me to prove myself worthy. Consider it done.”