Beyond the Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1)

“I believe I misled you,” Colt spoke from beside Elaine. “I am not actually a faery at all really. I’m a...” he mumbled, but it was too quiet to hear what he actually said. Elaine leaned in closer.

“A what?”

“I’m a demon,” Colt admitted.

He expected her to run away or scream, but she looked at him instead like he was joking around. She let out a loud laugh, first faeries, now demons? If he thought she was I’m that dumb she thought he had another thing coming.

“Yeah sure. How exactly am I supposed to believe that? And if you really are a demon, what are you doing here? Aren’t you suppose to be...down there?” Elaine replied nervously while pointing down at the ground.

She knew Colt was more of an intense person, but really, could he be a demon? She thought he wasn’t being serious earlier when he mentioned something about the commander, himself, having demon blood.

“How do you think I frightened that woman away that was with Lorcan? I have powers, Elaine. I am no ordinary faery like you. I hunt them. Until recently though, I’ve been getting this weird feeling. It reminds me of some kind of human thing...emotions. When I helped you unmate your boyfriend is when it really happened though,” he replied while looking away from her.

An awful feeling stirred in the pit of my stomach, but she still encouraged him to continue.

She gulped. “Go on.”

His face was grim. “I should have never given you my blood. I should have told you this from the start, but I knew I’d frighten you away. A demon has never shared blood with another living being, let alone a faery. I know some kind of bond is forming between us, I can feel it. If you don’t trust me anymore I understand.”

Elaine wasn’t sure about the feeling he had, but she was fairly certain it was probably just the friendship growing between them. If he was a demon as he told her, then he probably would not have many friends and would not be familiar with the feeling.

She swallowed hard hoping she wasn’t wrong about her thoughts toward him.

“Colt, you know I trust you. It doesn’t matter to me what you are. You did what I wanted out of the goodness of your heart. You helped me. So what if...you’re a...demon. You’re helping me figure out what I am. We’re in this together, okay?”

He appeared to be ignoring her as he reached below the bed and pulled out a huge iron ax. “Your kindness blinds you.”

He scowled while picking up the weapon. “I hunt bad faeries for hell. Some of the fae look like you and I. it’s not just weres and pixies. I was sent here to collect for my kingdom’s bidding. I just happen to be the commander of this town too,” he explained.

“Well, so...you’re like some kind of hunter that kills bad faeries and ships them off to hell. Got it. Okay,” she said quietly still questioning her sanity.

She guessed that explained his black wings and his grumpy attitude.

However, Elaine figured he was choosing to leave out some pretty big details. She hoped he would tell her soon because Lorcan had hinted at something going on his realm with portals and demons and whatnot.

Colt isn’t evil. He’s not the one they’re looking for, Elaine thought.

His voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

“I’m afraid I have some sort of blood bond with you now. Its already starting to affect me, I have no idea what this might cause. All I know is that the only way for you to rid yourself of it is to kill me.”

Why did he care if there was some so-called bond between them? He was a demon and Elaine knew if he was as bad as he was acting he would have killed her a long time ago. Sure, she didn’t know much of his background, but she assumed he would tell her in time.

He handed her the ax looking stoic as if giving her permission to end him and send him back where he came from.

“This is what you get,” Elaine began. She was secretly glad he was staring at the floor and not her. her hands shook in her struggle to raise the heavy weapon. It stung her skin a little being made of iron.

Then she awkwardly dropped the weapon on the floor to the side of her. She wanted to make a cooler effect like tossing the weapon behind her or something like that. Sadly, the weapon was top-heavy. So it dropped lamely straight down next to where she stood.

“This is what you get for being a meathead. It is called forgiveness. I’m sure in hell they don’t talk about it much,” Elaine said with a half smile resting her hand on his shoulder.

He started to stand back up and she withdrew her hand.

“You might regret letting me live. I am a demon. I was created in hell. I’ve seen things, horrible things, you could never imagine Elaine. Then I come here, I meet you and these weird instincts plague me,” he whispered harshly grabbing both of her shoulders.

His pale eyes stared directly at her, but Elaine felt he was looking at her soul.

She felt trapped, going rigid not having seen this side of him before. “Okay, I believe you. Whatever you’re feeling it’s probably all in your head.”

“It is in my head. It’s like a voice screaming at me constantly to watch you and to protect you. It’s more unnerving than-” he grumbled, but he went quiet afraid he may scare her more.

“Yes, it’s great to know that I’m a pain to be around,” Elaine joked, but her mind was screaming at him admitting to hearing voices too.

“I’m serious.”

“Alright, then just ignore the feeling. It will have to go away at some point right?”

“I really don’t know. I’ve never heard of a demon sharing blood with a fae or any other being for that matter.” He grunted.

“There has to be some way we can figure out what it might do to us,” Elaine replied with frustration.

She was too afraid to bring up the word Lorcan used to what he’d done to her. She hoped it wasn’t the case with Colt now.

“There is actually, but I’d rather just avoid going,” he drew out slowly.

“Tell me.”

“A seer, but most people avoid them. They might tell us more than we need to know. They should know what my demon blood will do to you. They can only see glimpses of what is to come though so nothing is for certain,” Colt explained.

“We should have gone to the seer in the first place! I bet they know where my parents are! While Lorcan and I were together, he said one of my parents would have had to of been a faery for me to be able to turn. Do you think they are both faery or am I part fae?” Elaine breathed out giddily.

“Calm down. I don’t think this is a good idea. If we figure out what you are on our own it may take more time, but it will be safer,” he countered.

Elaine began to beg. She was desperate to meet her true parents and finally figure things out. She just wanted stability. “I don’t know how much time I have left though. I need to go back to my home, I have to figure out what happened to my parents. Colt, I need to know. Please.”

A moment passed and she watched him as he internally debated over it.

“Fine. Here’s the deal though. After we go to the seer, I’m taking you back to your home. I do not mean your human home. I mean your real home.”

“Perfect!” Elaine grinned.

He spoke with new urgency, “We need to leave now.”

“How long is it going to take us to get there?”

“About ten minutes.”

“Seriously?” Elaine wondered if the seer lived right in town. It would be convenient.

“Come on,” Colt told her carefully while holding his hand out for her to take.

She raised an eyebrow and put her hand in his. Oddly, Colt wasn’t walking out of the room though. He remained still and just stood there holding her hand as if unsure where they were going.

“We won’t need to leave this room.”

“What?” Elaine questioned.

“Stand close to me. Don’t let go,” he warned her in a serious tone.

She shuffled close to his side looking up at him uneasily. She took a deep breath, the heaviness of her cloak made the back of her neck start to sweat as the heavy material weighed down on her.

“Where are we going?” Elaine asked him curiously.

“You know where we’re going,” he said darkly.

Elaine jumped as she spotted something move along the darkness of the wall’s shadow. The shadow seeped down into the floor growing as dozens of mini shadows scattered toward it. The growing shadow crawled toward them. She knew it was part of his powers, but she still wasn’t at ease seeing it move toward them.

She inched closer to him with new worry. “I actually really don’t know.”

“Do not be afraid. This is how we’re going to get there,” he said in a tired voice.

Elaine wondered if his shadow power was going to take them there, wherever “there” was. She watched in amazement as the shadow formed a circle on the ground.

She tried not to panic, but her voice gave her away, “I’m g-guessing we’re going to have to jump into that hole or whatever it is.”

“Not exactly, we will cross over it and when we don’t let go of me,” he reminded her.

“Alright, but before we do this, just tell me where we are going so I know beforehand.”

“You know where we’re going,” Colt repeated.

“Just tell me, please,” Elaine begged.

The smirk on his face grew and he leaned down to her eye level. “We are going to hell.”

His pale eyes shine with mischief and Elaine’s heart raced as her brain teetered on the edge of losing its sense of reasoning. She felt like a fish out of water and stared wide-eyed at him.

“Oh,” she whispered.

“Any second thoughts?” he asked.

He started walking toward the black shadowy circle on the floor pulling her along with him.

She tried to sound brave, “N-nope. Let’s go.”

They stood at the edge of the circle. Murky shadows wavered below them.

“I will protect you, relax,” he assured her while giving her hand a tight squeeze. She thought it was more like a death grip though.

Instead of jumping in the dark shadowy circle as Elaine thought they would, the shadows rose up off the floor forming the shape of a wall. Colt started walking toward it, but her body refused to move at first. She took a deep breath and then forced herself to walk.

She clutched his muscular arm desperately with her other hand that he wasn’t holding. She needed to be brave. However, Colt and her now stand just a foot away from the shadowy wall. Like the baby she was pretending not to act like, she shoved her head into his chest preferring not to see the shadows of the wall as they entered the demon’s makeshift portal.

A cold sensation slithered up her arms as they stepped through together leaving the faery realm behind.