Last Fae

Chapter 6 ~ That Night

"You think, the other Mythics attacked you?" I stared at the male Daemon in disbelief.

"What do you mean 'think they attacked me'? I was there, I saw it happen. You attacked and killed the Fae. You wiped out an entire race. For no reason." I was receiving blank and disbelieving stares from around the room.

"We did not!" The Daemon snapped at me, his orange aura flaring.

"I can assure you that we would know if our races were involved in something like that." Jasmine's voice was almost reasonable as her eyes flitted from me to Jasper and back on repeat. What were they talking about? How could they not know what happened. It was only five years ago, everyone but Tia should remember it. Genocide wasn't something that just went away.

My eyes met Jaspers and the fact that they held the same confusion had my breath coming in ragged gasps. I was caught somewhere between horror and anger. How had this happened? How was it even possible to hide something like this from so many people. Were they all lying? Was it some kind of trick?

"Delilah," Jasper's deep rasping voice dragged me back from the downward spiral my thoughts were taking, "Maybe you should tell us exactly what happened to you and the rest of the Fae five years ago." The sound of his calm, level voice helped to soothe my sharp gasping breaths for a brief moment until I realised what he was asking; relive that night for them. Here. Now. I took a deep breath and held it until my lungs were aching for oxygen. I released it, staring into Jaspers entrancing amber eyes.

"It was the middle of the night. We'd been dead asleep. Our small village surrounded by trees was unprotected and an easy target for anyone that wanted to attack. We just never thought anyone would. We were a peaceful people and there should have been no reason for anyone to want to hurt us.

"I woke to a blood curdling scream that echoed through the trees and wrapped me in a layer of terror I couldn't shake free from. The howl of Wolves followed soon after. The shrieks of the Dragons and the song of the Sirens. We were surrounded on all sides. All of the Mythics were there.

"There was no escape. After that first scream, more followed in endless waves. I jumped from my bed and dragged my sister Mia with me. I'd picked her up as we stepped from the bedroom, our parents had disappeared and I knew we didn't have time to search for them. The sound of footsteps outside had urged me on. I raced from the back door of the little cottage the metallic tang of blood hung heavy on the air. I did my best to hide us using my power, I used a glamour to change my appearance and blend in with the other Mythics.

"But my heart pounded too quick in my chest. My breath came in ragged gasps and the glamour didn't work. I don't know how but they saw straight through it. They chased us through the forest until Mia felt like lead in my tired arms and my legs wobbled with every step. They hadn't closed in though. Not until I tripped on a root and hit my head. My eyes had drifted closed as a Wolf moved in from the shadows. When I'd blinked my eyes back open what must have been hours later, the sun had just begun to peak over the horizon. I was a Wolf and my baby sister was dead on the ground beside me. I'd managed to shift back to my Fae form and race back to the village for help.

"When I arrived, everyone was gone. The ground was bathed in blood, every step I took was accompanied by the sickening squelch of grass soaked through with thick coagulating blood. I'd run from the scene like my life depended on it, barely holding back the bile rising in my throat. My eyes had caught on every shadow, my ears picked up every breaking twig terrified that there were more of you waiting in the dark to kill me too. I'd run until I left the woods behind and reached the centre of the town. Until I was surrounded by humans where the Mythics couldn't hurt me without exposing themselves to the Human population. And I've been avoiding you all ever since."

The silence was a void that no one dared fill once the last word left my lips. Wide eyes and horrified expressions studied my every move, and I was only able to quash the urge to fill the silence by allowing my hands to fidget mindlessly with the chains once again.

"Have you been back to the village since?" Jasper asked, an odd look clouding his features.

"No," I whispered, horrified by myself. I'd thought about it in the days that followed; about returning and burying my people. But the terror that had filled me at the thought held me back day after day until eventually too much time had passed. I couldn't bare the thought of seeing them like that, long dead. Even after five years the thought still crossed my mind regularly. "I can't bring myself to do it. What if the bodies are still there? Right where I left them. I didn't even bury them." I feel a tear slide down my cheek and swipe it away only to have it replaced by another.

"If you had gone back, you would have found there was nothing there to bury." The sympathetic glances I was getting set me on edge. What was I missing?

"What do you mean? Did something happen to them? Did someone else bury them?" Jasper watched me for an eternity as I waited for his answer. What did he mean there would have been nothing to bury? He sighed heavily.

"How do I say this?" He muttered to himself, dropping his gaze for a moment before meeting mine once more, resigned to whatever it was he had to tell me. "There was no battle, Delilah. And as far as we can tell, there were never any bodies there at all."