The Revelation Night Series 1 & 2 & #3 for NaNo

RAVERS Chapter 3 Cursed Fae-tale

Gerard stepped through the mirror. He smiled as he glanced around the familiar room, this manor always worked its magic for him. Never had anyone he brought here failed to succumb, male or female. They all surrendered to him. In the end, he always got to savor the succulence of a soul freely given, a delicacy few of his kind had the patience to cultivate. Kneeling to place his hand on Quinn's arm, Gerard glowed his most benevolent.

"Quinn? Quinn, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she gazed at him through the malaise of the hallucinogenic pollen and the lulling magic of this place, she was a butterfly trapped in a spider's web.

"Gerard?" She murmured when he whispered her name.

"I am here, mon loup. What is troubling you?"

Shalom gasped and sat up straighter, shaking her head violently to clear it. When she looked at him, her eyes were bright and intense. "Gerard! You have to help me get out of here. Take me with you," she begged in a deliberate whisper, her hands clutching his. "I think he wants to hurt my baby."

"This is a dream, dear Quinn, a projection of my soul reaching to yours. I am still trying to find you. I found your house near Westcliff, but you weren't there." The lie rolled easily from his lips that pursed more with discontentment than concern. "Who wants to hurt your baby?"

"The butler. I found him in one of the books."

Shalom rose and laid aside the book she was reading on the cushions and went to a shelf. The book she pulled was Compendium des Anges et des Démons. She opened it to a page, showing Gerard the image of a dark fae, and the description of his duty. He did not know she could read French and thus she found the truth in a book he did not remember was here.

"See? You have to find me, Gerard. I've tried to escape, but he is always right there to stop me. I am in the mountains of Colorado. Please Gerard, I don't want him to get my baby," her hushed voice had a frantic edge as her eyes relayed her worried determination to save her baby.

He was confounded. Her soul shined with an awareness that it shouldn't hold in this place. She managed to resist the magic in a way no one ever had. Gerard feigned concern, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.

"Has he done anything to you, Quinn? Touched you or hurt you?"

Shalom shook her head rapidly. "No, but he's been drugging my tea to make my wolf sleepy, so she can't help me escape. You must believe me, Gerard. Something is very wrong here. It seems like the perfect place, like I am safe, but it isn't and I'm not." She put her hand over his heart, and he squeezed it as he knew she expected. "He's a dark fae, a Demonus, and this whole place is a trap. Just like the castle in Beauty and the Beast, but I am not Belle and I will not give in or give him my child."

Gerard wondered what Sebastian did to reveal himself to this clever little wolf. Her fierceness delighted him in its savoriness, as much as her resistance angered and frustrated him.

He took her face in his hands and put his forehead against hers, looking into her eyes, "Listen carefully Quinn, if he is a dark fae, he must not know you know. You must not do anything that might anger him. They are very dangerous creatures. They feed on fear and suffering, the way light fae feed on love. I promise I will not stop looking for you until you are with me and safe." She nodded against his head. "I need to know everything you can tell me about where you are." He only asked because he needed to know exactly how much she figured out.

"I... I know we are very high in the mountains; the air is very thin. I have been to Breckenridge and Telluride and Monarch, and I am not in one of those places. There is a set of ragged red peaks to the north, it reminds me of the Maroon Bells but, they aren't the right shape. There are no roads to the castle. I don't know how we got here or how he gets the groceries for my meals or the flowers for my room. I..." Quinn faltered then added in a rush of panic, "I am scared, Gerard."