Blog Story #21

Sorry it took so long to return but I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. It’s a little short but I did it so yay! LOL

Finn didn’t remember when he fell asleep but waking up was a special hell filled with spine-bending, soul-piercing, brain-melting agony he would recall to his grave.

Pain surged, twisted and dove down deep into his bones in a grinding, aching force of evil.

“Shh, hold on sweetness,” A voice, Finn thought he should recognize, whispered in his ear.

He wiggled, trying to shrug off their hold. Anything against his skin was more punishment than soothing. He trembled and tried to scoot away from his burning skin but couldn’t escape himself. Something wasn’t right. This couldn’t be a gift, not this hell.

“It’ll be all right,” another possible male spoke. Voices distorted through his throbbing headache.

“You’ll get through this.” Finn had given up trying to discern who said what. Did it even matter when he wouldn’t live past the next few minutes?

Cool, welcome wetness coated his forehead. A sigh escaped.

“There you go. You’re almost through You’ll be fine.”

Was he? How could anyone tell? Were there signs to determine when it would all be over. Even his wings ached inside his back, trembling as if someone had shoved a cattle prod against his spine. A scream ripped from his chest. Halfway through, the yell transformed into a howl as if a feral beast had been trapped inside his chest and now was set free.

“He’s magnificent,” someone whispered.

Blackness swallowed him, a blissful relief.

Grey light faded the pitch black surrounding him. Finn took another step, closer toward what appeared to be a thin forest of willowy trees. The firm footing of nothing but blackness turned mossy. Was this an improvement or further proof of his insanity? If this was his dream where did he come up with this strange forest with bone white trees and grayish moss that sent wafts of orange scent where ever he put his feet.

“Greetings, dearest.” A light soprano voice tinkled through the air like wind chimes in a gentle breeze.

Finn’s head snapped to the side to get a better view of this visitor.

Terrible beauty was what he found. Her voice might be ephemeral, but her eyes burned with a possessive light.

“Do I know you?” Shouldn’t he at least be acquainted with someone calling him dearest?

“In deeper ways, then you think,” she replied cryptically. “You have always known me.”

“Hmm.” He had no response to that. Damn, cryptic fae.  “What are we doing here?” Fae weren’t know for forthright responses, and her fluttering wings betrayed her species.

 “I know what you are doing here? It is your dream.” She offered a sly smile.

“And why are you here?”

“I’m your great, great grandmother.”

Finn stepped closer. “Are you?” Upon closer inspection he could spot a shared eye color and perhaps the cheekbones, but they didn’t appear too much alike.

“Yes.” She sighed as if he was being purposely difficult. “We are much alike.”

Between one blink to the next the beautiful woman changed to a faerie dog. Her fur glowed greener than the moss at her feet, her tail coiled in a curl that would’ve been adorable if she didn’t have enormous paws that could swipe a man’s head from his shoulders. Tipping back her head she released a low howl.

Finn rubbed his arms, soothing the bumps that erupted across them at the sound.

“You are a Coin-Sith.”

She changed back in a flash. “As are you,” she grinned.

“What does that mean for me?”

“You will have to wait and see.”

Finn gritted his teeth.

“Now don’t be like that?” Her eyes glowed in her colorless environment. “You need to relax and enjoy life, my child. You’ve been too serious. Those beautiful men around you can take care of that.”

Finn coughed. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Her sharklike grin was too salacious to belong to a woman who claimed to be his great, great grandmother.

Finn rubbed his sweaty palms on the cotton drawstring pants he was oddly dressed in. A favorite outfit from his college days. Unfortunately it had been eaten by a heavy duty dryer at the laundromat years go.

“I’m here to find out who is killing the fae.” He enunciated each word as if talking to a child.

She waved a hand as if brushing way the issue. “Yes, yes, very important but you need to have fun. These people will die one way or another but you need to learn to live.” Another wide smile sent shivers down his spine.

“Do you know who is killing people?”

She tapped a finger to her chin. “Yes, but if I told you it would take away from your reputation. You need to be seen solving this case if you don’t want to be thrown into the category of another useless royal.”

“How about a hint?”

“Are you asking for help?” Her eyes lit up like mini moons.

“No!” Finn cleared his throat. “I’m not asking for anything you don’t want to provide freely.”  He’d be damned if he got caught up in faerie trickery.

“You are cleverer then I expected.” She pouted, beautifully. “Look in the dark corners.”

“Thank you for your words. What is your name?”

“Cassandra, but you can call me grandmother.”

“Then good day, grandmother.”

“Merry meet, grandson.” She flashed a wicked smile.

How long had she been watching him? Finn opened his eyes to find three beautiful fae staring down at him. Criss, Krane and Amon were all staring at him with wide eyes.

“G-good morning.” Finn’s voice came out raspy.

Amon helped him set up and Criss handed over a glass of water. Finn drained it in several long gulps. “Thank you. What happened?”

“You went through your magical transformation,” Amon replied.

“Yes, but how do we figure out what skills I got?”

Krane offered a wide grin. “For you we can just look in the mirror.”

Finn accepted the hand mirror. “What are you doing here?”

“Guarding.” Krane replied, unaffected by Finn’s confusion.

Finn lifted the mirror and gasped. Shadows flowed around him like puppies begging for a treat. “What the hell am I?”

Amon grinned. “The rarest of fae. A necromancer.”

Finn stared at his image unable to process the change. “Fuck.”