The Problem With Fairy Tales

Chapter 10

Sebastian and Valerie both sat on a worn out leather couch in a the lofty area of an abandoned warehouse.  They were surrounded by dust and debris, empty beer bottles and a pizza box that contained nothing more than a few crumbs. Valerie had eaten most, and now, as she finished off the last slice, she sat back with an appreciative sigh.

"Now that I've gone out of my way to you supply you with this cheesy goodness,"  Sebastian started jokingly, opening another beer bottle, "I feel that it's only fair that you give me something in return as well."

Valerie studied him for a moment, then raised an eyebrow.  "If you think that I'm going to sleep with you because you bought me pizza, you have another thing coming."

The ebony haired male let out a surprised bark of laughter, his blue eyes dancing mischievously.  He over-dramatically placed a hand to his heart, faking an injury.  "You wound me, Valerie.  I thought that you would know me well enough by now to know that I would never expect such a thing."

She gave him a deadpan look.  "I've known you for less than a day.  And might I remind you that we only met because you had me kidnapped."  She took a sip from her beer.  The fourth one for the day, to be exact.

"The past is in the past.  Let it go."

"Are you quoting Frozen?"

"My point is," Sebastian started again, clearing his throat a bit awkwardly, "that the favour I'm asking of you isn't that big.  And I'm sure that it'll be mutually beneficial."  Another swig of beer.  "From what I've gathered, Hayden has complicated your life quite a bit with all of his mating rubbish.  And I've already told you that I have a score to settle with him.  So, I was thinking that we could take care of both of our problems."

"I'm not going to help you kill him," Valerie said, though she didn't sound as adamant about that as she would have liked to.

"There you go again, that sense of humour of yours."  Sebastian chuckled.  "No, no.  I don't mean that we should kill him.  I meant that we should find a way to break the mating bond between you two." 

Valerie was skeptical.   "You could do that?"

"Well, it's not easy, but if we have enough time, enough patience, and just a bit of magic, I'm sure it'll be possible."

For the first time, Valerie let the ghost of a smile spread across her lips.  A bit of hope bloomed inside her; this was all too good to be true.  "And what would you be getting out of this?  I don't see how this is helping you."

"The satisfaction of knowing that the damn spoiled bastard won't get something he wants for once in his life will be enough for me."

Valerie studied him for a moment, still some what skeptical.  After a while, she let herself get excited, a ghost of a smile spread across her full lips.  "OK, then.  Say I agree to this plan of yours, how do you propose we go about it?  Hayden seems way too interested in this soulmate thing to just let me break the so-called 'bond'."

Sebastian smiled conspiratorially, as if letting her in on a top secret plan.  "Maybe I could 'kidnapp' you once a week?  Then we can brainstorm ways of breaking the bond.  And every time, we can make him stress a bit to find you.  How's that sound?"

Valerie hesitated, but after a while she rolled her brown eyes.  "Oh, what the hell.  Can't get any worse than this."  She downed the last of her beer, and after wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she stuck her hand out for him to shake.  "Deal."

Things to remember before cursing Valerie for her stupidity:

▪ She wasn't entirely sober.
▪ Sebastian actually gave her a choice in the matter.
▪ She didn't know that making a deal with a faerie was eternally bonding.
▪ He did give her pizza, so...

Sebastian grabbed her hand in a vice like grip, and purred, "Deal."  

Gone was the mask of friendliness, replaced instead with a look of pure, untamed wickedness.  For a split second, Valerie could have sworn that she saw lighting dancing in his blue eyes.  "And so the end began"

And just before Valerie could ask him what he meant by that, a dagger flew across the room, and sunk deep into his chest.

~

Finding Sebastian Blakely had been too easy.

Since that fateful day 50 years ago, no one from the Circle had so much as gotten a glimpse of the infamous Sebastian Blakely, king of the Unseelie Court.  At least, no one that still lived to tell about it. 

Hayden had searched high and low to find the male for years, and now, in a matter of minutes, he had found him.

Too easy. 

But even as the voice in his head kept telling him that this seemed too good to be true, Hayden couldn't simply do nothing.  Valerie, his mate, was sitting mere inched away from that... thing.  Something had to be done. 

And that something just happened to be throwing a blade into his heart. 

Hayden missed his target with a few inches, the blade sinking a bit to the left of his heart instead.  Blue black blood slowly started to stain the white shirt that Sebastian was wearing, and for a sickening moment of silence, everyone just stared at the growing red stain.  

The injured male let out a barking laugh.  "We haven't seen each other for 50 years, and you chose to start the reunion with a blade to the chest.  I can't say that I'm surprised."  No one moved a muscled as he slowly pulled the dagger out without so much as a wince.

And then, in a movement too fast to register, he threw the dagger up at one of the alcoves.  It hit it's target, and a member of the Circle came falling down. 

Sebastian smiled darkly.  "Oops?"  

All hell broke lose, members of the Circle breaking in through the glass windows with a crash.  Lightning blue blades blazing, a total of twenty soldiers came surging for Sebastian, battle cries escaping from their lips.  Arrows came flying towards the ebony haired male, but in a blink of an eye, he was no longer there.   Arrows and daggers alike made their mark on the couch cushion, and Valerie let out a scream.

From atop an alcove, a dark chuckle was heard.  "It was nice seeing you all again, but you know me;  not really one for big crowds.  I'll be on my way now."  His blue eyes latched onto Valerie's brown ones, and she couldn't look away.  "I'll see you in a week's time, little one."

And with that, the king of the Unseelie Court disappeared.