Hybrid - CHAPTER 3 & 4

The elves had the same platinum blonde hair as Celeste, though not as long. Their hair only reached just below the shoulders, whereas hers cascaded down to her buttocks. It was poker straight, a complete absence of curls. I figured Celeste must curl hers. Again trying to pinpoint an age was impossible. Not one blemish rested on the luminescent skin. With outfits that were identical to that Taylor had worn, the only differences in attire were the bows rested at their sides and the arrows strapped to their backs.
“Darius, Heath, I would like to introduce you to our Nina. I know you are already fully aware of who the young one is, but I make these introductions for her so as she knows of whom you are.”
Darius and Heath both turned to look at me Again with those amazingly blue eyes! If they’re all going to look like this though I’m in for a hell of a time telling them apart! I need not of worried though, they may have looked like identical twins at first glance due to the matching colouring, but the difference physically and in the expressions they wore was radical.
Darius was a giant! Standing at about six seven, he was a mountain of muscle. And boy, he didn’t look the slightest bit pleased to see me. Darius was intimidating all right, and a cold shiver made its way down my spine. It rushed through my body, evolving into dread and nestling its way into the pit of my stomach. “Greetings Nina”, he practically hissed, “so glad that you have finally arrived to save us.”
For the second time I felt like I was going to up chuck. I couldn’t help it, he genuinely looked as though he was about to rip my head off and shit down my neck! Before I had any time to react though, Celeste was in his face, which let’s face it wasn’t a small feat by any means when you take Darius’ size into account. She was damn fast to! The elf managed to move from my side and in front of me so fast that I had only a second to register the movement.
“How DARE you Darius?” she hissed back at him. “I cannot believe you would show such hostility to an honoured guest of King Gregorian and Queen Helena. If you do not control your irrational jealousy towards the child and stand down, I will see to it personally that you are hurled up before the council. Do you really want to risk your guardianship over your foolish pride?”
His face faltered, and he visibly relaxed in defeat, though his eyes bore into Celeste, cold and uncaring. She sniffed at him. “That’s what I thought. In future you are not to address Nina again, unless of course it is to offer a heartfelt and meaningful apology. You may be large in mass my dear Darius, but you know full well not any female would have been assistant to Princess Marianne. You are aware I was once the best rogue in the Gregorian Kingdom. What I lack for in mass and brute strength I more than make up for in the agility and speed that you lack.” She raised one perfectly formed eyebrow questioningly. “I wonder who would win my guardian?”
Darius, who had been quiet throughout this dressing down monologue Celeste had thrown his way, smiled at her. This wasn’t your happy – go – lucky – we’re – best – mates smile, this was a I’d – love – the – chance – for – it – to – come – to – that – bitch smile. “I wonder indeed my sweet.”
Heath, who had been silent throughout this episode, rolled his ice blue eyes with a positively bored expression on his face. I spent only the briefest of seconds pondering why he wasn’t doing anything to defuse the tense situation before his beauty absorbed me. With almond shaped eyes and a strong jaw, Heath was so perfect it hurt my eyes to look at him. Thick blonde brows framed those piercing eyes, and his mouth, bottom lip fuller than the other, made me want to ask him if he were in fact angel, not elf. “You two are forever bickering over something. When will you realise Darius that Lady Athena herself spoke to Brianna and instructed her to bring the young one here. It does not mean the King feels that you are no longer able to protect him. Be calm my brother.”
Heath’s voice wasn’t high like Celeste, nor was it gruff like Darius. Rich, deep, like if dark chocolate had a voice, this would be it. He turned his lean but muscular frame to Celeste. “Sister of mine, you know Darius is oversensitive about the child. But you also know full well he would never do anything to harm one so precious to us. The gods themselves treasure her, and so she too becomes a treasure to him. What happened with Princess Marianne was in no way your fault, so you do not need to over protect Nina to compensate for the failure you feel.”
Celeste bowed her head, for a moment saying nothing. “Heath, you know it was my responsibility to watch over the princess. Though the king himself pardoned me, I shall never pardon myself. It is inexcusable for a rogue to fail. You may think I did no wrong, but there are many others who place the blame at my feet, and they are right in doing so.”
My head was spinning with so many questions I wanted to ask Celeste. What had happened to this princess? How did Celeste fail her? Why was I actually here? And how the hell did these elves think I could protect them? Worse still, protect them from what exactly?
The three suddenly seemed to register I was still present, and they looked at what must have been my very confused expression. Celeste broke out into a serene smile, but this time it was a smile that didn’t reach those amazing eyes. “Come now my Nina, the king and queen await inside the throne room. All will be explained there.”
Darius and Heath each took hold of a giant golden handle, and pulled back the colossal doors. Neither elf showed the slightest strain; in fact they made it look as if the doors were lighter than a feather.
Darius was the first to speak. “Nina, you are one of our children now, and I will always protect you as if you were born of my flesh. I wish for you to excuse my hostile behaviour. We elves are a proud people, and I myself carry more pride than that. I have spent one hundred and fifty years successfully protecting our kingdom. To have a child come to replace you when that protection is most needed, it is a tremendous blow.”
This giant of an elf who had frightened me only moments before suddenly looked as vulnerable as Celeste had when I had complimented her on her robes. I felt my heart soften towards him, understanding that his lesson in humility was a hard pill for him to swallow. “It’s ok Darius, I understand. We all get hacked off from time to time and say things we don’t mean. Man I can’t even count on my fingers and toes the amount of times I’ve snapped at Keli.”
The mention of my best friends name hit me like a freight train. Pain, so raw it felt physical, clawed at my chest. Would I ever see her again? Would I see any of the others? Were they looking for me?
I suddenly missed home terribly. Stoke On Trent, the place I’d jokingly referred to as ‘Shitty Stoke’ so many times. I remembered my drunken bragging of how one day I’d get out of there, move away to a different country. Well I’d got my wish now hadn’t I? Not just a different country for me, no, would be to bloody easy would that. You’ve only got to get on a plane to see your friends. No sir re, Nina’s got to travel to a totally different dimension where she’ll probably never see her family and friends for the rest of her life!
To my absolute embarrassment I felt tears well up into my eyes and my vision was blurred completely. Squeezing my eyes shut in the hope I could push them back only made them spill over. Something warm and smooth brushed against my cheek, and the voice of dark chocolate whispered into my ear, taking me off guard but not so much that it made me shift involuntarily. “Nina my child,” whispered Heath, “do not be sad. This is a great shock to you, but you will come to feel at home here with us, and you have your friend Taylor to guide you. He had nothing from his world when he came here, and was in terrible pain from grief. But look at him now, how happy here he has become, even taking an elf as a life partner.”
The last thing those words did was elevate my mood. In fact, I swore I heard my heart shatter into a million pieces as Heaths last few words sunk in. There was a sudden sharp stab of pain, and then I felt nothing. Numb. Like somebody had severed my spinal cord and I was now a paraplegic. None of the other three seemed to notice any change in me. I didn’t need to ask what a life partner was. I could be a window licker at the best of times but I was in no way that dumb.
Taylor had betrayed me. He had vanished into another world due to his own stupidity and even though he knew full damn well these elves would be coming back for me he fucked off with some elf bimbo! I had loved him with every fibre of my being. And he had thrown it back in my face. I blanched when I thought of his words yesterday. Calling me babes as he always did, stroking my hair and holding me close as he always had. It had all been an act to get me here. No doubt to save this tramp of his.
I was only vaguely aware of Celeste guiding me into the throne room. Too lost in my own thoughts, the numbness of emotion allowing my brain to think all too clearly. Somewhere in my subconscious I knew we had stopped moving, and that I should be paying attention. It was screaming at me to pay attention, that this was important. Desperately I tried to flip my two threads of consciousness round. I needed to push my thoughts of Taylor to the back of my mind, and bring the voice of reason to the forefront. To this day I don’t know how I managed it, but I did.
Slowly but surely my sight returned to me, and I saw that I was stood before two ancient elves. King Gregorian and Queen Helena, I assumed. I say ancient but I do not mean in appearance. They were the same as the others, the eyes, the hair, and the glorious skin. It was more to do with the aura they radiated. It was one of age and wisdom.
The king and queen sat on two magnificent thrones. I couldn’t see them fully due to them presently being sat upon. But I could see the gold scrolls that their hands rested on, and the red and gold pattered upholstery on the part of the backrest that towered above their heads. It was a deep burgundy red, and the gold scrolling pattern on them matched the design that had been splattered all throughout my bedchamber. Each chair had a crest of gold topping it. King Gregorian’s was decorated with a lightening bolt, and Queen Helena’s bore a peacock feather.
The room itself was circular, and every bit as impressive in size as the doors had been. Its ceiling was a dome of stained glass, decorated by seven men and five women all dressed in togas. The heads of these figures went towards the centre of the glass dome, and above each head was a symbol. A lightning bolt, a trident, a bow, a spear, a grapevine, a flame, and a scroll were the symbols above the men. A peacock feather, a poppy, a dove, a deer, and an owl represented the women. I recognised these symbols, though it took me some time to remember why. Then I realised these elves worshipped gods. Not just any old gods either.
These were the symbols of the twelve Olympians, the ruling gods of Pantheon, a kingdom that sits upon Mount Olympus. Only in my world to the best of my knowledge it was the Greeks who had worshipped these gods and that had been donkey's ago! Sure, we all loved hearing about Zeus and company, and Disney made a wicked cartoon about Hercules, but everybody knew they didn’t really exist. But on second thought, Elves weren’t meant to exist and yet here I was!
In between each pillar that held the beautiful ceiling in place sat rows of elves. They created a sea of pale with their hair, ranging from honey blondes to silver. My ebony locks must have been a stark contrast among this carpet of heads. Then I noticed one other blemish to this carpet, sat not too far from where King Gregorian sat. I turned my head away instantly. His was a face I was not yet ready to see.
“Nina my child!”, bellowed the king, “welcome to the Gregorian Kingdom of the Elves. I am sure you have many questions for us, but first let me tell you our story. I’m sure it will provide you with most of the answers that you seek.” He leant forwards, as if to get a better look at me, and ran his fingers through his long, snow-white beard.
“In this world, everything your world regards as mythical, or folklore, actually exists. In fact humans are the minority group and most of the other races are fairly small. The largest species are Elf, Demon, Dwarf, and Vampire.”
My head was swimming. I thought I’d accepted the whole elf thing pretty damn well, but this was getting to be all too much.
King Gregorian, blue eyed and white haired just like all the rest, took a moment to pinch the brow of his large roman nose. He seemed as though he was stressed, and awfully tired.
The king continued. “There are squabbles between the races, as there are fights, but never anything on a level to cause concern. Each group has strict laws and even stricter courts and this has kept peace in our world.”
King Gregorian looked to his right, and beckoned somebody with his fingers. An elf woman stepped forwards. She wore what looked like a monks habit, but it was the same burgundy red as the upholstery on the thrones. When she turned to look at me, there was no flash of blue in her eyes that I was expecting to see. Instead her pupils were completely white. This elf was blind. Despite that, she seemed to see me.
“Nina, meet Brianna. She is our shaman. Do you know what a shaman is?”
I shook my head. “No your majesty, I’ve never heard of one in my life.”
The King nodded his head in acknowledgment. “I thought this may be the case my darling child. A shaman is somebody blessed by the gods. It is a mixed blessing. Though the chosen one is given the gift of being able to see into other worlds, his or her ability to see in the world they exist it taken from them. A shaman can not only see into these worlds, but also can pass messages and in some cases pass things through the portholes.”
Brianna suddenly stumbled and let out a moan of pain. Quick as a flash two male elves were by her side to support her. After a second I realised it was Darius and Heath. They led the shaman out of sight, behind where the other elves sat.
King Gregorian shook his head sadly. “Do not believe this is an easy feat. Tremendous study, huge amount of magic’s, and a great ordeal of pain are the cost for such occurrences. Brianna was weakened so badly last time it took her the whole year to be strong enough to reach through into your world again. Queen Helena and I instructed her to rest after yesterday, but she wanted to see you so badly my Nina.”
He cleared his throat and continued. “A shaman is also gifted with the ability to heal traumas of the soul, and is able to communicate with the gods themselves. Conversation with the gods is only possible when they want to speak, Brianna cannot speak to them whenever she chooses.”
Heath stepped from behind the others and stood beside the King. After whispering something that seemed to settle his majesty, he turned to walk away, catching my eye as he did so.
The look was so intense I never even noticed that I’d stopped breathing. Heaths piercing blue eyes seemed to look into my soul, and despite myself, I felt butterflies in the pit of my stomach. No! You seriously cannot be reacting to a complete stranger that way! What about Taylor, remember Nina? You know, the guy who’s totally shat on five years of being together and is now shacked up with some elf floozy?
“Nina? Are you ok my young one?” Oops, I’d been completely zoned out. Concentrate Nina you dumb ass!
“Yes King Gregorian, I’m sorry, it’s just a lot to take in is all.”
He smiled at me. “I understand. We are almost through now, and then you may retire to your bedchamber.”
At a loss for words, and thinking about how it’d be a cold day in hell before I’d be dropping off to sleep at a decent hour tonight, I just stood there grinning like an idiot and bobbed my head slightly for him to continue. “As I was saying Nina, the gods spoke to Brianna one night. They told her that a child had been born in another world, and that it had been a terrible mistake. Lady Athena, our virgin goddess of wisdom informed Brianna that you should have been born of our world, though she did not tell her which race you were meant to of been or why the mistake occurred in the first place. Brianna was simply instructed to allow you to live in your current world until you had turned eighteen and then to bring you here.
As you know, it took a lot to get you here, and even more preparation. Brianna didn’t even have the right magic’s available till just before your twentieth. That of course failed, and it wasn’t until yesterday she was able to try again. Thankfully this time we were successful.” His majesty looked quite smug about that last statement.
“Lady Athena and the rest of the gods wanted you here so badly because you are the key to the survival of our world Nina. You were born a mage, known as a witch in your dimension. Only rather than having to use arcane magic and study like other mages, you were born different. Your abilities lie in the field of divine magic. This simply put means that you don’t need to study and cast spells like others of your kind. Instead your power lies within, and you only have to ask the gods for it to work.”
The light faded from his eyes suddenly. “A war is coming my child, and you will be the only one strong enough to defeat the leader of our opposing army. Until she is bought down, her army won’t stop until is has destroyed and dominated every corner of this earth.”
It was official. These goddamn elves had lost their pretty little minds. I looked at the King and Queen, identical as twins (well, apart from the beard). For the first time I realised they were also dressed the same. In fact, they were wearing the same as Brianna had been. It dawned on me that as they had a dress code dependant on rank in the Gregorian Kingdom, this meant that the shaman was regarded as royalty. I wondered where I ranked in all this madness.
I opened my gob and said the first thing that popped into my head. “Your Highness, who is the leader of this army, and have you all lost your sanity?”
I couldn’t help myself. These nut jobs were going to get me killed! Magical abilities? Did they have crack in this world, cause they sure were acting like they’d been smoking the pipe? I’d had enough, it was too much for me to take in, and I was experiencing too many emotions in a short space of time. Quite simply, my brain was frying.
Not that these stupid elves were noticing my mental implosion. They were more interested in this, well; I could only call it a lecture. Cram as much information as they could as quickly as they could. That way they could ship me off to wherever they wanted and train me up. But that was only so I could go fight some psycho bitch that wanted to slaughter everything till her and her bum chums were the only ones left alive.
The King looked at me solemnly. “I can assure you we elves are perfectly stable Nina. You just need to rest, and you will in a moment.
The female in charge of this army is my daughter, Princess Marianne. She began a courtship with a vampire, which is against our laws as it is so dangerous.
Vampires in our world were granted a fountain of blood by the gods so they would not drink from others. This does not make them in any way safe, nor can we afford to risk everybody’s safety by creating life from these kinds of unions.
However, she betrayed her own people to continue her relationship, killing innocents in the process before fleeing to the vampire Kingdom of Durant. As much as it pains me, she must be stopped at all costs.”
Then my brain finally caved completely. The overload was done and fry time was here. My final memory was of seeing the polished marble floor coming towards me.



Somebody was whispering. Straining to make out what was being said, the first thing I noticed was that they sounded pissed. No, it wasn’t one voice. It was two. The first voice tinkled like a wind chime, Celeste. The second voice was deep, accented. Stokie accent. I groaned inwardly.
Taylor was the last person I wanted to be near right now. The confrontation we would undoubtedly end up having, well, I just wasn’t ready for that yet.
“Celeste just let me come in. I only want to talk to her for a minute. Frankly you shouldn’t even be getting in my way cause what goes on between me and Nina is none of your fucking business!”
There was a growl. Huh, that’s weird. I swear I didn’t notice any dogs earlier. Then it dawned on me. That was no dog. That was Celeste! “Watch how you speak to me boy! I could kill you where you stand before your tiny little mind even registered what was happening. In fact from what we’ve just heard from your mouth I can’t see King Gregorian punishing me too greatly for it either.”
“Hey, for starters I’m not a boy. And secondly, you may have your fancy speed tricks on your side, but I’m pretty handy with a sword now. So any time you want to go for it you just say so. I’ll be ready for you.”
Celeste giggled. It sounded like a naughty schoolgirl caught in the act. “My child, you amuse me greatly. You have courage, standing up to one such as me. Either that, or your very foolish and do not hold your life in great value. Personally I think it’s blatant stupidity.”
Time to call time out. Reluctantly I opened my eyes, but kept my gaze straight up to the ceiling. “Guys, I am awake you know. You may as well just let him in. The sooner we get this over with the better.”
I heard the door creak slightly, and heavy footsteps slapping against my mosaic floor. Never once did I hear Celeste make any sound. Those elves tread light, bet one of those guys could sneak up behind you and have your throat slit before you even knew anybody was there. I was taken aback by my sudden morbid thought. Realistically though I knew it was probably because I was in such a dark mood.
My beloved traitor perched himself on the end of my bed. Not that I’d watched him do this, I just felt the bed dip near my feet. Feeling like somebody had poured sand in my mouth, I licked my lips and began. “So tell me if I’ve got any of this wrong. You ended up in this world because you’re a dim wit, cried over all of us you’d left behind for a little bit, then decided we, no, I, didn’t matter anymore?”
“It wasn’t like that babe. Ok I made a mistake, and that’s how I ended up here. But I thought Cutter was going to hurt somebody. Have you met that guy yet? Seriously, he’s a fierce looking dude!”
Lifting one finger to silence him and squeezing my eyes shut in frustration I continued. “Fine, I understand you only did what you did cause you were trying to protect the rest of us. You weren’t to know you were going to end up here. But don’t you get that it’s not that I’m angry about?” I finally lifted my head off my purple silk sheets and looked at him.
Taylor was so handsome. Over the years he had gone from being my friend, to my confidant, then later my lover, and finally he had become my life. It was stupid of me to have held this thought that he would always be mine, with me through everything life threw our way till we were old and grey.
The reason I had felt so numb dawned on me. Though a part of me deep within would always love him, the active part of me had stopped loving him. I didn’t know exactly when this had happened, but I realised the reason why. This last year I’d been grieving his memory instead of actively loving him. Of course it hurt to be replaced, and Taylor was going to get some serious shit from me for it, but he wasn’t missing anymore. He was alive and well. There was no hole in my life or corpse in the ground to grieve over. With no love, and no grief, there was nothing left for me to feel for him, at least not in that way. Like I mentioned before, I wasn’t going to let him off for starting a new relationship when he knew I was coming. Taylor could of waited for me, done the right thing and ended it between us first. He’d still betrayed me and I was still angry over it.
Giving me puppy dog eyes, (same as he did every time he knew he was in the shit), Taylor looked me straight in the eye. “Yeah babes, I get why you’re mad. Celeste told me that Heath dude let it slip I was in a relationship when he was trying to make you feel better. Don’t blame those guys though. Everybody just thought you were my friend.
See, I got here and I was in shock and shit, and I was crying for you. Cutter was questioning me, asking me what you were to me, and I said that you were my best friend in the world. Later on when I realised they’d taken it literally that you were my best friend, I didn’t want to correct them.”
My eyes narrowed, and Taylor held his hands out in front of him, palms up. Pleading with me. “You should have seen how they were already looking at me Nina! Those elves may as well of had pity scratched into their foreheads cause the looks were so obvious! I’m not that smart Nina, you know that, but I have my pride and I didn’t want them feeling even sorrier for me. So I kept my mouth shut and eventually things got better. People started respecting me rather than treating me like some sort of lame animal.”
A lump had formed, so I tried to clear my throat. Couldn’t believe I was actually feeling pity for him myself. My number one problem in life, I’m a pushover. Confrontation is something I dislike immensely, and I have this ability to look at things from another person’s point of view. Which bites me square in the ass at times like these. “Seeing where you’re coming from with that, I really am. But the fact remains that you’re telling me after all our time together you didn’t correct these elves about the woman you were supposedly in love with because of your PRIDE? You know what I think Tay? I think it wasn’t cause you wanted to keep your pride; it’s cause you were too much of a fucking pussy to take being looked at like that for a while longer. But even despite that, you could of kept your mouth shut like you did and waited for me. Why did you get with somebody else when we hadn’t even broken up? You KNEW I was coming!”
Taylor sighed. “Brianna was in such bad shape, I didn’t really believe she’d live let alone actually get you here. Figured you all would of moved on with your lives back home, and I should try the same. I promise you I never meant to hurt you.”
“Yeah well you did Tay, big time. Just because I can see it your way doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt like hell, and that I’m not furious with you over it. Now I just need you out of my face, leave me alone. I’ll find you when I’m good and ready.”
Leaning forward and taking my hand, his voice became desperate. “Babes please. I just got you back after all this time. You’re my only link to home, I’ve got so many questions to ask you, and I need to know about the others. My mum, how’s my mum? And is my dad ok? Can’t we just put this behind us and move on? I’ll leave Shania, explain it to her, she’ll understand.”
Ripping my hand from his grasp I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. Every blood cell in my body was boiling, I was furious. “How DARE you think you can come to me after what you’ve done and make demands at me to answer your questions? If the others knew about you not being able to keep it in your pants they’d be as repulsed as I am and you know it. See that’s the difference between us Taylor, I would of waited till Brianna had tried again before I even thought about moving on. In all the time since I last saw you, I haven’t let one guy touch me and all along you were here getting yourself some! Then you have the nerve to tell me you’ll leave your girlfriend like you think I’d even want you back! You’re a dog, and you disgust me. Now GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY ROOM!”
Taylor shot up from my bed like it was suddenly covered in hot coals and stormed out of my bedchamber, slamming the door so hard behind him the chandelier shook. Celeste had already left, probably when she let him in. Now I was alone with my thoughts to keep me company. Great.

Chapter 4

Music filled every inch of the throne room; it was perfectly designed for acoustics. Swaying my hips to the beat of the quirky little pop number I loved, I closed my eyes and pretended I was back home. I imagined myself on the dance floor of our cheesy nightclub in Hanley, Stoke On Trent’s city centre.
         Feeling the silk of the dress Celeste had picked out for me, I smiled inwardly at how glamorous I must look here tonight, if completely overdressed. I sensed that somebody was near me, and then I felt something cold and wet brush against my hand.
         Yanking my eyes open, my heart skipped a beat. Keli was stood right in front of me, waving a cherry VK in my face. She grinned. “Sorry hun but they were out of apple, and I know you like cherry so I just got one of those.”
         Frowning in confusion as to how Keli had got here, and wondering how the heck she’d found VK alchopops in Dianthia, I stammered my reply of thanks and took a moment to look around.
         I certainly wasn’t in Kansas anymore! Somehow I’d been transported home, and once that realisation sank in it felt like ten tonne had lifted from my shoulders. My eyes welling up with tears of relief, I threw myself on Keli, holding her in a tight embrace.
         Peering over her shoulder I looked around our naff little club, greedily absorbing all the little details like a sponge. Everywhere you looked there was dark wood. The floors and steps were wood, as were the bars and the tables and chairs that scattered about in front of them. With mustard coloured walls, and artificially old pictures hanging from them, Jumpin’ Jaks was decked out in an imitation of a bar from a western. Among the disco lighting that pulsed a continuous cycle of red, blue, yellow, then green, were stark chandeliers, black as soot and covered in cobwebs. The dance floor itself was in the shape of an arch, with a raised banister surrounding it that had four sets of steps at intervals. Those steps led up to the seating area and the two bars, where you could relax and watch those that were dancing, if you so wished. Usually it was where girls sat when their feet hurt too much, and I was usually in this group of girls thanks to the ridiculously high heels I insisted on wearing.
         Keli pulled out of my embrace. “God girl let me get some air! When since did you become so chuffed over an alchopop anyways? You’re usually moaning your ass off cause they’ve never got no cider in!”
         I beamed at her, feeling excited and giddy. “I’m just really happy to be here is all.”
         She raised her eyebrows at me questioningly. “Erm, ok then. Never known you so chuffed to be here before. I mean, your always saying ‘same shit, different week’ when we come here. You feeling ok?”
         Rolling my eyes at her, I tutted. “Jeez Keli stop being such a killjoy! I’m fine, now let’s go dance till I have to go sit down cause my feet hurt.”
         Keli laughed, and the sound warmed my soul. “Well if you didn’t wear those bloody stupid shoes like you do then you wouldn’t have to go sit down every time we come out.”
         “Yes but if I didn’t wear them you’d only have to listen to me moan cause everybody was stepping on my feet. Least this way it doesn’t hurt me as much.”
         Holding her hands up in defeat, she began to say something, but froze before the words came. At first she looked surprised, but the mightily pleased. “Hey Nina, you want turn around and check out the fit as fuck guy that’s coming our way. Even better, he’s looking right at you!”
“Don’t be so friggin’ stupid Keli, you’re probably mistaken.” I turned round for a nosey none the less. Hey, come on, I’m just like any other warm blooded female. If somebody says a guy is hot, I’m going to look out of sheer curiosity!
Long platinum blonde hair fell to his shoulders, and his eyes were an icy blue. With his chiselled features and those uneven lips I would have recognised him anywhere. It was my angel with the dark chocolate voice. Heath was wearing a thin blue jumper that matched the colour of his eyes exactly, with dark blue jeans and black shoes. The sweater was very fitted, and clearly defined his muscular chest, broad shoulders, and narrow waist.
Heath stood before me, and cupped my face with his hands. I shiver of pleasure ran down my spine as his pale hands made contact with my skin. He looked at me earnestly, seeing into my soul once again. “You know your dreaming again don’t you Nina?”
I nodded miserably. “Yes, I knew deep down. I wanted so much for it to be real though. I miss my friends, my family, and my home. Dianthia isn’t where I want to be. Can’t I please go back? I’m no mage, there’s nothing magic about me. I’m just a girl who’s scared and lonely here.”
“Nina.” Heath looked pained, as if he was having some internal conflict in his mind. Confusion seemed to flitter across his perfect features. His expression smoothed, and he took a deep breath, as if he’d resided himself to something. “Nina, since the moment I laid my eyes on you, you blinded me. From the moment I spoke to you, I had to fight to stop my words from tumbling out for fear their intensity would frighten you. And the moment I caught your sent, you intoxicated my senses. I don’t know why I feel so strongly for you when you are a stranger to me, but I feel in my soul that it is something magical. It emanates from your every pore, and though you do not believe in yourself yet, you soon will. You are frightened and lonely, and there would be something inhuman about you if you didn’t feel that way. But know this my darling Nina. Until you believe in yourself I will believe for you. Until you no longer feel scared I will be by your side to protect you. And till you no longer feel lonely, I will be here to embrace you. And once you no longer have these doubts and fears, I will still be there, doing this for you.”
Wow. That was a speech and a half. When did my dreams start being so vivid? Words eluded me. I stood there like some gap-toothed yokel waiting for my power of speech to come back. “Heath, I honestly don’t know what to say.”
The elf looked nervous. “Well, I guess what I’m asking you my Nina, is are you drawn to me?”
Knowing the answer as soon as he asked it, I replied. “Yes. When you look at me it’s like your seeing into my soul, and I think you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. My body responds to you without the thought even passing through my mind.”
And then he gently tilted my face up towards his, and kissed me.



I awoke with a start. Man, that was some dream! What was even crazier was that my body had responded to the dream. My breathing was ragged, and I could feel the heat pulsing between my thighs. It was as though Heath had really kissed me. The attraction I now felt for him was overpowering, and I’d never in my life wanted somebody physically so badly.
Somebody had turned off the lights in my room, probably Celeste. I wasn’t quite sure how long I’d been asleep. I figured not long as it was still dark outside. Sitting up in my gigantic bed and realised I was still in my dress, and my hair was still in its fancy donut. Deciding to unravel my hair first, I winced when I discovered my scalp was tender from having it up for so long. I was just running my fingers through it when there was a quiet tapping at my door.
I threw back my beautiful covers and slid out of my bed. To my surprise it wasn’t as cold outside of the duvet as I thought it was going to be. The mosaic flooring had a chill to it though, as somebody had also gone to the trouble of removing my heels, Celeste again, I figured. I opened my door and was half surprised and half embarrassed to see Heath stood on the other side.
I blushed. “Erm, hey Heath, is everything ok?”
“Of course it is. I feel much better now that we have been honest with each other, my darling Nina.”
“I don’t understand what you mean?” Though I had a horrible feeling that he somehow knew about my dream, I knew it was impossible. My dreams were private to me, and only I could know what happened in them.
“You pulled me into your dream Nina, surely you remember it? It was much too vivid to have slipped by the conscious part of your mind unnoticed.”
Or maybe not so private after all! I was absolutely mortified! Not only had I had a dream in which my mind had made him declare passions for me and made him kiss me, he had been aware of it! This was one of those moments where I wanted the ground to open into a huge chasm and swallow me whole. “Oh my god Heath, I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to pull you into my dream or make you say and do those things. I honestly didn’t know I could do that I promise you!”
The elf began to chuckle at me. I personally didn’t like him finding my shame and embarrassment funny but I didn’t want to make things any worse. “Silly Nina. You may have pulled me into your dream, but you cannot make the person you pull in say or do what you wish. They have complete control over that. What happened between us in that dream was as real as if we were doing it now. Which, by the way, if you were being honest in your dream, is what we should be doing right now.” He flashed me a wicked smile.
Giggling back I nervously, I was just relieved being sucked into my subconscious hadn’t put him out. I was also shitting myself because I knew what this was leading to, and I knew I wasn’t going to do anything to stop it. I’d never been so reckless before. Taylor was the only guy I’d ever had as a lover, and he was the same age as me, and human. God only knew how old this man was, and lets not forget he was an elf also. What if they did something freaky, or they were rough or something else just as unfortunate for me?
Heath seemed to notice my nerves and how tense I was. “Nina, if this is not what you desire, I will walk away. But if you do wish for me to stay with you tonight, I can assure you the way in which elves make love is no different from human, and I will not hurt you.”
Panicking that I had ruined it because I didn’t want Heath to leave, I spoke quickly. “I don’t want you to leave, stay with me tonight. I meant what I said to you in the dream.”
         He smiled at me warmly. “Good” was all he said before he stepped into my room and closed the door behind him.



         Heath’s lips were on mine before I’d even had chance to say a word. Soft at first, they soon bore down on me with an intensity that almost hurt from the need to succumb to lust. My heart was hammering in my chest, a mixture of uncertainty and hesitance at first. But as I felt my body responding, my own need became as urgent as his, and any doubts over what I was doing soon evaporated from my mind.
Pulling my body close against his, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his beautiful shimmering hair. He let out a small sigh of satisfaction, and made his way down to my neck, leaving a trail of blazing skin wherever his lips made contact. Letting out a sigh of my own, I tilted my head back as he made his way down my collarbone.
I could feel the silk of my dress rubbing against my nipples, and they ached to be touched. As if he could read my mind, Heath slid his hands up from my waist and began to rub them through the sheer material. A tremor ran down my spine, and I felt a heat inside me like I’d never encountered before.
Patience was not something I would have tonight. Next time, should there ever be one, I would take the time to explore, to taste. But tonight was about satisfying a raw urgent need unlike anything I’d ever known existed.
Gently pushing him away, I turned and made my way over to the enormous bed. Turning to face him so that he would see every inch of my body, I pulled at the lace fastening at the back of the dress before peeling it over my head, leaving me in nothing but a sheer black thong and the golden heels.
Heath’s eyes scanned me from head to toe, the gasp that left his mouth a sign that he was impressed with what he saw. Not that I needed that as a hint. The soft butter coloured trousers he wore were tight enough to show fully his reaction to me. Looking me straight in the eyes, I could see the desire smouldering there and I knew he didn’t have it in him to draw this out any longer than I did.
Already barefoot, he unlaced his trousers, pulling them down slowly, teasing me by making me wait to see him. I wasn’t disappointed with what I saw. In fact it was my turn to gasp at the impressiveness. Kicking them to one side, I beckoned him over with my finger. He didn’t keep me waiting.
Laying me across the bed, Heath slid my thong off, and took a last moment to look at me. I took the opportunity to do the same. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. His lean muscles flexing under his pale skin, with his perfect face, and those amazing eyes! I’d died and gone to heaven.
Climbing on top of me, he pulled me into his arms for another passionate kiss. Caught up in the excitement, my breath came fast and hard as he slowly positioned himself and entered me for the first time.
Feeling myself wrap around him the heat intensified and I instinctively arched myself against his groin, wanting to feel every bit of him. A low growl erupted from the back of his throat, and his tempo quickly increased.
Letting out a moan of pure ecstasy, I knew I wasn’t going to last long. I could already feel the pressure inside me building and sure enough, I felt my whole body stiffen as I exploded into a wave of relief.
Moments later, Heath groaned, and I felt him tensing inside me as he too reached his climax.



Utter disbelief. That’s what I was feeling, along with smug satisfaction. I was shocked at myself, that I had been so confident with him, like he had been a partner I’d been taking to bed for months.
We were in the bed properly now, wrapped up in each other and totally oblivious to the rest of the world. Well, I was, I couldn’t be definite about Heath but he defiantly seemed that way. He was stroking my hair, an action that made me completely melt into the bed. I closed my eyes, just enjoying the first physical contact in over a year.
“My darling Nina”, he whispered. “Will you allow me to stay the night, or do you wish me to steal away before the servants awake?”
I opened my eyes in confusion and looked as his chiselled face. For the first time since I’d met him he looked vulnerable. A flash of uncertainty passed across his face, which he hid quickly. Not quickly enough for me not to notice it though. Suddenly it dawned on me that he was asking me if I was intending to keep him a dirty little secret, or if I wanted things to go further.
Smiling at him I murmured softly. “Heath, you are worth more than being used for my own satisfaction and then thrown out on your ass. I don’t know what this is between us, but I do know I want you to stay the night with me.”
Leaning in and kissing me gently on the forehead, something I love by the way, it seemed as though the nightmare of Dianthia had turned into a wonderful dream. Feeling more relaxed than I had in a long time, I let sleep take me.



Whatever was making that tapping noise it was irritating me to death. I scowled and squeezed my eyes tighter together. “Keli whatever your doing will you shut up girl!”
A hesitant voice replied. “Nina babe, its me, Tay. We got to talk. I’ve been up all night thinking about how I can make things right between us. I spoke to Shania last night, explained things. I ended it. I ended it for you.”
Reality hit me like a cold hard slap in the face. Memories came flooding back from yesterday, last night, and what I had done!
Yanking open my eyes the first thing I saw was Heath sat up in my bed. He was looking at me with an amused expression on his face, his hair tucked behind his adorable elf ears.
Yes Taylor had hurt me, badly. But I wasn’t prepared to hurt him back out of spite. Heath needed to disappear, and fast! Not that I wasn’t going to tell Taylor, but there was a better way for him to find out than this.
I opened my mouth to hiss at Heath to hide, but it was too late. Taylor opened the door and came waltzing in before waiting to be invited.
Shock covered his face, quickly followed by pain, and then anger. His hands clenched into fists by his sides and he began to visibly shake. Face turning red, eyes blazing, Taylor spat his next words with venom I never knew he possessed. “I come down here to try and make things right, and your in bed with, with HIM! You’ve been here two days Nina, and one of those you were unconscious! What in HELL is wrong with you? My Nina would never be such, such a SLUT!
I spent last night telling Shania that you were a good girl, loyal. And as if I believed that you really had spent all this time morning me, saving yourself for my return. I bet you’ve fucked half of Stoke On Trent by now!”
Tears welled up in my eyes. Taylor had never spoken to me so disrespectfully. I felt dirty, ashamed. My cheeks were burning and I didn’t know where to look. It was Heath that came to my defence.
“Taylor, how dare you enter a lady’s bedchamber without an invitation? You may have had a previous relationship with Nina but it does not give you the right to judge her actions. You two have parted ways and that was out of your own doing and stupidity.
Yes, I admit we have jumped into things head first, but I have not felt a bond this intense in my hundred and fifty years. It is a mutual bond, and it is also none of your business. You do not have to like it, but if you ever speak to her with anything than less than the utmost respect in future I will challenge you. And believe you and me child, you will fall.”
Wow. A hundred and fifty years old. That was the biggest understatement for an older man I had ever come across!
My heart soared that he had defended me, that I hadn’t been a conquest of lust. That he too felt something more. I also made a mental note to find out what this challenge thing was, and what you fell off if you lost.
Taylor hadn’t liked it, whatever it meant. His eyes had narrowed at Heath and I could tell he was holding himself back from saying more. Obviously this challenge was something he wasn’t willing to face anytime soon. “Fine”, he answered coolly before storming out of my room for the second time in less than twenty-four hours.
I turned to Heath. “Thank you. You didn’t have to defend me but you did and I’m grateful.”
Beaming at me, he chuckled. “My precious Nina, you are part of my soul, whether I want it or not. Zeus himself must have paired us together such is the electricity that passes between us. You are my Lady and I will defend and honour you beyond even my last breath, I swear it.”
Bloody hell I loved the way these elf men talked. It was like something out of a fairy tale. Looking up at him from under my lashes, I did my best attempt at looking coy. “So then my darling Heath”, I practically purred at him. “What’s for breakfast?”
Flashing me a wicked grin he growled. “Come here and I’ll show you!” With that, he pulled me under the duvet. Squealing in mock horror, my tension from Taylor’s visit disappeared.