After the Fall Read online

  Contents

  Title page

  Other Books by Elle Casey

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other Books by Elle Casey

  Acknowledgments

  Clash of the Otherworlds

  Book Three

  Portal Guardians

  Elle Casey

  Other Books by Elle Casey

  Apocalypsis: Book 1, Kahayatle

  Apocalypsis: Book 2, Warpaint

  Apocalypsis: Book 3, Exodus

  *Apocalypsis: Book 4, Haven

  War of the Fae: Book One, The Changelings

  War of the Fae: Book Two, Call to Arms

  War of the Fae: Book Three, Darkness & Light

  War of the Fae: Book Four, New World Order

  Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall

  Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 2, Between the Realms

  *Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 3, Portal Guardians

  My Vampire Summer

  *My Vampire Fall

  *My Vampire Winter

  *My Vampire Spring

  Wrecked

  *Reckless

  *Coming soon

  Dedication

  To Derek Emmons.

  An incredibly generous and gifted photographer and artist.

  COPYRIGHT NOTICE

  © 2012 Elle Casey, all rights reserved, worldwide. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, emailed, uploaded to or downloaded from a file-sharing site, or copied without author permission. If you did not pay for this ebook or receive it via a free, author-authorized promotion directly through Amazon, you are in violation of this copyright, and the author respectfully asks that you please support artistic expression and help promote anti-piracy efforts by buying a copy of this ebook at www.Amazon.com or at the Amazon outlet that serves your country.

  Elle Casey thanks you deeply for your understanding and support.

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHASE AND I HOVERED OVER a blindingly beautiful meadow before coming down for a soft landing next to Beau and Spike. They were near the edge of a ring of trees that rimmed the grassy area and appeared to be deep in conversation, but they immediately stopped talking to acknowledge our arrival. Chase put me down on my feet and stepped away.

  "Hey," said Spike, a cautious smile exposing a hint of teeth. "All better now?"

  I dropped my backpack to the ground and cleared my throat, trying to move past the awkwardness that was making my throat close up a little. "Yeah. Back to the old me." It was like I didn't even know Spike anymore, now that I knew him too well. The flippant answer he'd probably been expecting from me wouldn't come to my lips. All of our casual ease with one another was simply gone as I realized the cute, tattooed guy standing before me could be the one other person on earth besides Tony who truly cared for me, no matter what. That was some powerful shit, and apparently, my body had a mind of its own. Not only could I not come up with the awesome retort I should have, sweat was beading up under my nose and in my armpits. Great. I'm going to be running around the Overworld with B.O. I reached up casually to wipe my lip off, fake coughing to cover my attempts at trying to get my equilibrium back.

  "Good," he said. "I was starting to think our trip was over before it even really started."

  "No such luck. You're stuck dragon-hunting with me." And Ben-hunting too, but that's a whole other animal I haven't yet decided how to deal with. I looked over at Beau. "So, are you our escort now or what? You said if I could get us here, you'd help us out."

  He nodded once, saying nothing - his usual mode of communication.

  "Awesome," said Spike. He rubbed his hands together. "So where to first?" He looked from Beau to Chase and then me.

  "I need to either find our friends or a dragon," I said.

  "They are not in the same place," said Beau.

  I looked over at Chase. "What should we do?"

  Chase spoke only to me, Spike not even part of his equation. "I can't be involved in what you do here. I have to go. I'm sorry." His wings opened in preparation for flight again, the expression on his face impossible to read.

  I shrugged, trying hard to feel okay with it. He'd made himself clear, and for the first time in my life, I didn't feel like fighting something that wasn't my idea. It made zero sense to my heart, but at the same time, it just felt right to let him go. An annoying expression my mom used to say flitted across my memory, something about letting things go to find out if they're truly yours or whatever. It was frightening to think my mother's wisdom was guiding my life right now. Shit was bad. But at least I knew there was an angel out there somewhere who cared about what happened to me. That was way better than nobody caring at all.

  "When will I see you again?" I asked, telling myself that whatever his answer was, I was going to be cool with it.

  "I can't say. Whenever you're finished doing what you need to do in the Here and Now. Could be a decade or five thousand years, it's out of my hands."

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

  "Well, dude, it was nice knowing ya," said Spike, holding out his fist.

  Chase bumped it with his. "Take care of her," he said.

  "Til my dying day," said Spike. "Or until she tells me to get the hell away and stay the hell away." He flashed his crazy-sexy teeth at me, making my heart skip a beat.

  "Not gonna happen," I said, risking a smile in return. My lip trembled a bit, but my heart felt lighter already. I looked over at my guardian angel, noticing it didn't hurt quite so much this time to see his imposing figure standing there, ready to leave me for the final time. "See ya, Chase. Hopefully much later rather than sooner." And I meant it. I was no longer eager to end my days in the Here and Now just so I could be with him again. I had a life to live, fae to take care of, and cuss words to invent - and I was pretty sure that last item was frowned on here.

  Chase nodded before opening up his wings the rest of the way and stroking them down once hard, launching himself up into the air where he soon joined the other angels zooming in and out of the clouds above our heads.

  "That is some crazy you-know-what," said Spike, watching Chase's form disappear into the distance, getting smaller and smaller with each passing second until we couldn't see him anymore.

  "Yeah. You aren't kidding." I expected to feel empty at his departure, but instead, my heart felt full and light.

  Spike looked at me. "Can you believe we thought he was some dude from Maryland?"

  I laughed as the irony hit me. "Hey, that's funny. Get it? Maryland? Merry-land? Happy place? Heaven? Overworld?"

  Spike shook his head. "Do you think that was intentional? If so, that guy's got a messed up sense of humor."

  "These angels are tricky; you can't trust 'em," I said, sparing a glance for our silent escort who was staring off into the trees, probably ignoring me.
r />   Spike looked over at him and raised his eyebrows at me, but said nothing.

  "So where to, Beau?" I asked.

  He had stopped staring at the trees and now was looking at the sky off in the distance. "I cannot give you advice. I am only here to guide you to where you want to go; but I advise you to get out of this area as soon as possible."

  Something in his tone made the words even more ominous than they already were. "Why?"

  "Because you aren't supposed to be here." His eyes were glued to a spot in the sky where a couple of dark specks could be seen amongst the fluffy clouds. They were getting bigger by the second.

  "Soooo ... we're like breaking a rule? What's that mean? Are we going to get arrested? Put in an Overworld prison?"

  "Not exactly," he said, distractedly.

  Spike and I exchanged looks, and he appeared to be as concerned as I was at this point.

  "Jayne?" asked the angel, still looking at the sky.

  "Yeah?"

  "Run."

  My heart surged and the sound of my own blood pumping through my veins flooded my ears. "What?" I said in a strangled voice, praying that I'd mis-heard him.

  "Run. For the trees. Now!" Beau's wings opened in a rush of wind and sound as he turned his back to us and launched himself into the air.

  I had no time to think before Spike had grabbed our backpacks and my hand and began dragging me towards the dark forest. My brain finally kicked in and sent the signal to my feel to start moving before whatever scares the shit out of an angel came to eat me.

  "What is it?" I screeched at Spike as we sprinted for the trees.

  "I have no idea," he said breathlessly, "an angel tells me to run, I run."

  "Why aren't you going faster?" I asked, wondering why he wasn't using his supersonic incubus speed to get us the hell out of there.

  "Don't know. Can't," was all he could manage. He was huffing and puffing as much as I was.

  We made it to the edge of the trees before the first sounds of awfulness hit my ears. I turned in time to see two angels with huge black wings crashing into Beau in midair.

  "Don't yell!" urged Spike desperately, drawing my attention away from them and back to our escape. "I think we'd better try to get out of here without them seeing us! I don't think they're friends." He pulled me deeper into the trees, still running but now slowed by all the fallen branches and hidden dips and lumps under the dead leaves.

  "I think it's too late for that," I wheezed, trying to keep up with him. He might not have had his super-speed here, but that didn't mean he was slow. I had to struggle to stay with him, the only thing keeping me from being left in the dust the fact that he was holding onto my hand with an iron grip.

  "Yeah, well, I have no idea how good their tracking skills are in the woods, but they can't fly here," he said. "Trees are too thick."

  "Let's hope so," I said, grabbing my backpack from Spike and throwing it over my shoulder without breaking stride.

  The forest quickly got darker, the trees growing closer together and their branches heavier with leaves. The temperature dropped considerably, but it wasn't unwelcome since I was sweating my butt off and still hoping B.O. wasn't in my near future. I cared whether I was going to offend the sensibilities of my dragon-hunting partner, which told me a lot about how my feelings were changing towards him. But there was no time to ponder that development, since something awful was happening, and I had no friggin idea where we were or where we were headed, only that bad things were trying to off my angel guide.

  "Ah-uh-ah-uh-ah-uh-ahhhh!"

  I stopped in mid-stride, my breath coming in gasps, spinning around to see what or who was following me.

  Spike kept going which ended up jerking my arm hard in his direction. If our hands hadn't come apart from the force, I would have done a face-plant into the dirt for sure.

  "What'd you stop for?" he asked, freezing three paces away, his breath coming in gasps.

  "Didn't you hear that?" I asked, desperately searching the nearby area for my pursuer.

  "Hear what?"

  "That ... thing ... yelling!" I couldn't identify anything nearby that could have made that sound, since I knew it wasn't coming from me, and Spike had been in front of me the whole time.

  He shook his head. "No. The only thing I can hear is us gasping for air."

  "Uhhhh ... momma ... ," came the voice again.

  I spun around once more, looking at the ground for the small fae that I knew must be there.

  Spike laughed absently. "What are you doing? Is that a new dance? The panic dance?"

  "No, idiot, what was that?" The thought that I might actually be going crazy crossed my mind. Hearing voices in my head had never brought good news into my life.

  "What was what?" He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Come on, Jayne, stop messing around. We have to get out of here."

  I walked over and grabbed Spike by the upper arms and stared into his eyes. "I am not fucking around. Something is here, and it keeps sneaking up behind me and moaning."

  Spikes eyes opened wide, and then he leaned towards me, peeking over my shoulder to look behind my back.

  I turned my head to look with him, afraid of what I'd see standing there.

  Spike stood straight again and blinked twice before smiling and whispering, "There's nothing there except your backpack."

  "Momma! Momma! Papa! I want my mommaaaaaaaaa!!" came a wail from behind me again.

  I grabbed the strap of my bag and whipped the thing off my back, leaving it to dangle between us.

  "Please tell me you heard that, Spike."

  He laughed. "You are seriously losing it. The only thing talking here is you and me."

  "Oh no, oh no, oh NO!" I babbled, in full freak-out mode now. "This cannot be happening, no friggin way can this possibly be happening!"

  "What? What's happening?" asked Spike, bemused by my seemingly unbalanced behavior.

  I was praying I was not going to find what I thought I was going to find in my backpack. I hurriedly unzipped the various pockets, reaching my hand in carefully to each one. As I came up empty in the first and second places I checked, my heart began to return to its normal rhythm; but in the last pocket, when I touched something soft that shouldn't have been in there, my heart sank all the way down to my toes. "Oh fuck me sideways." My jaw dropped open and cocked to the side as the realization hit me.

  "What?" asked Spike, squatting down next to me.

  "You are not going to fucking believe this," I said, shaking my head slowly, feeling the movements inside my bag that told me my little passenger was climbing on board.

  I pulled my hand out of the pocket and held it out in front of me, bringing it up so that it rested directly between Spike's face and mine. "Say hello to our hitchhiker."

  The tiny baby pixie, barely bigger than a largish bumblebee, sat up in my hand, his hair sticking out in every direction. "Hello, Lellamental!" he said in a cheery voice. "Where's my momma?"

  Spike's eyes almost fell out of his head. "Holy crap ... is that ... ?"

  I nodded, unable to speak over the horror of it.

  "Oh, dude ... you are in so much trouble," he said in a hushed tone.

  I shook my head, trying to imagine the reaction of Abby and Tim to the fact that their child was with me hunting dragons in the Otherworlds and on the run from some mean angels intent on kicking our guide's ass and maybe ours too. It was too awful to contemplate, so I shut it down immediately.

  "Willy, what in the ... umm ... heck are you doing in my backpack?"

  "I'm-a find a dragon."

  My head would not sit still, slowly moving left and right trying to deny the situation. "No, you're not, Willy. You were supposed to stay with your momma and papa in the garden."

  "No. I don't wanna." He stood up, his pants falling down in the back a little to reveal his tiny butt crack. "I'm goin' wif you, Lellamental. I'm-a find a dragon and I'm-a go in his nose, and I'm-a play polly balls with him." He nodded his
head once for emphasis.

  "What'd he say?" asked Spike, staring intently at the little winged rebel in my hand.

  I looked at Spike meaningfully once before responding to Willy. "No, you're not. You are not going to find a dragon or stick shit up in his nose."

  "Dat's a bad word. Shit. My momma says."

  I sighed heavily. "Yeah. It is a bad word. Don't say it."

  "But you did."

  "Yeah, well, I'm older."

  "If you're older it isn't a bad word anymore?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

  "No, it's still a bad word when you're older."

  "Then you can't say it. Momma says. 'N if you do say it, that big man has to wash your mouth out with ladybug pee. Momma says dat too."

  "Well your momma can ..."

  Spike grabbed my arm. "Uh, Jayne ... not sure you want to go there. I'm not exactly sure what the little guy's saying, but I can see you getting feisty, and we have a problem bigger than your colorful language to deal with right now."

  I smiled in spite of my frustration. "Colorful language. I like that."

  "Good. Now let's get the heck out of here."

  I stood back up, cupping my hand around the pain in the ass pixie. "That wasn't very colorful, Spike. I like hell better."

  "Yeah, I know. I'll leave the color to you. I'll just bring the music."

  My heart filled with something that felt suspiciously like joy. "Color and music. We make a good team."

  He flashed me one of his sneaky, sexy smiles. "Yeah, we do. Come on."

  He grabbed my backpack, zipped up the pockets, and held it out for me to put on my back.

  I slipped into the straps, asking, "Where to now?"

  "I don't know. Away from that meadow seems as good an idea as anything else at this point."

  "I'm hungry," said Willy.

  I started walking behind Spike who was doing his best to move branches and other obstacles out of my way, now that my attention was partially taken by the pest in my hand. "Too bad. I don't have any food for you right now."

  "Dat's not very nice, Lellamental. My momma never says too bad. She gives me food."