Fey Darkly: Prologue

                                                        Prologue


    Talena Hunched over the counter of "Fantasy Bound", struggling to hold her eyelids open. She gazed around the dusty book store. 'I really should clean this dump up' she thought to herself. She had opened the store early in the morning, and was waiting for her replacement so she could go home. “Fantasy Bound” was a shabby store in the middle of town. Although its murky windows and dusty shelves appealed very little to the town’s people, Talena was drawn to it. She was always a lover of books, fantasy novels to be more specific. The job was also a good excuse to get out of her apartment. She had moved there only a year ago, and she was still adjusting to the change of scenery. She was not used to such a small town, with the eavesdropping occupants. If anything happened in town, everyone had to know about it. And everyone had to be the gossiper. Even with the downside of small town life, she grew to love the town and the neighbors. She could finally call someplace home. 
    Although she loved working in the bookstore, she often struggled to stay awake what with very few customers to bother her. She passed the time by looking through many of the old literature throughout the store. The shelves were fully stocked and stacked high. You needed a ladder to retrieve books from the upper shelves. Talena shuffled around the store, glancing here and there at some of the titles. She paused on a fantasy novel that often caught her eye. "Fiction or Fantasy: Fairytale's revealed". Faeries were not unheard of, but she chuckled as she skimmed through the pages. 'Most faeries are small, almost in the image of Peter Pans Tinkerbell. Faeries are well known as very mischievous creatures, famous only for wreaking havoc on poor souls.' She laughed out loud in spite of herself. Talena looked at herself in the mirror. 'Do I resemble Tinkerbell?' She smiled.
    Talena knew for a fact that not all faeries were small and mischievous. Faeries came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Her being one of them, she found this book insulting. Most faeries lived underground, hiding from the outside world. Though depending on the faeries nature, some made there home in trees, or even smaller wildlife such as flowers. Talena chose a different life. She lived in the human world by choice, although some faeries were exiled to the human world, some would prefer death to the alternative. Unlike her kin, she enjoyed the human world very much. She loved the way they live. With her own apartment and job, she feels more free then living in the underground courts with her kind. A shudder ran through her involuntarily, just thinking about her old home.
    Underground, things were run quite differently. Not unlike the humans, the faeries were divided into class or rank. Poor, middle class, and rich = Bottom feeders, soldiers/common fey, and royalty. Though punishments for crime are much different and sometimes more cruel. You could say that she lived in the human world as a safe haven. She has been hiding from the Queen of HollowSin for the past 6 years, moving from town to town almost like a shadow. If she were found, her punishment would be death by torture. The funny thing is she has no idea what she did to put herself in the evil Queens radar. To her knowledge she wasn’t even noticed by royalty, at least she tried not to be. In the Fey world, the less you were noticed, the less pain you were put through. That is exactly what she did. She tried her hardest to become invisible in the dark courts of HollowSin. She was pondering this when the bell above the door rang.
    Janine shuffled into the dark store, fluttering her eyelids. Coming into the dark store out of the bright sunshine was too extreme a leap for her very human eyes. She was 5'4, only 2 inches taller than her co-worker. Her hair was honey brown, going grey at the roots. Janine kept her hair short to keep cool in the hot June weather. The excuse for her short hair said nothing for her attire, wearing black corduroy pants and a long sleeve purple top.
    Janine threw her purse on the counter and scanned the room.
"Lena! Why are you hiding your head in that book when the sun is shining outside?” Janine asked. Her eyes wrinkled with her genuine smile. Janine was older then Talena by human standards, but by faerie standards, however, Talena could be her great, great grandmother. Lena was her nickname for Janine.
"Just passing time I guess. How could I go out and enjoy the sunshine while I’m in here ‘working’” Talena said in response.
    Janine walked over to her dark corner and glanced at the book over her shoulder.
    "I see. You’re still entertaining yourself with faeries, vampyres and other such nonsense? When will you take your head out of these books and find a handsome young man to sweep you off your feet?" Talena stared at her blankly for a moment. A smile crept over her face, she couldn't help herself. She had someone in mind, not that she could share this information with Janine. She liked to keep her life as private as possible and did not wish any news to get to the gossipers eager ears. A handsome young man came into the store a few times this week. Never buying anything, but gazing her way whenever he thought she wasn't looking. Finally, yesterday he gained the courage to approach her. He introduced himself as Viktor, and asked if she would accompany him to the Theatre the following weekend. Just thinking about it made her blush in embarrassment. Janine looked pleased.
    "Oooh! You already have a special someone after you, eh? Oh now don’t worry. I won’t pry, though it would be nice to give me a little information." Janine raised her eyebrows at Talena with a playful smile spread across her face.
    Talena shook her pleas off and strolled across the store towards the employee break room, laughing at Janine. She grabbed her coat off the hook and grabbed her purse from behind the counter.
“I will only give you this,” Talena said peering over her shoulder at Janine. “I may or may not have certain plans for this weekend that may or may not have something to do with someone of the opposite gender.” She winked at Janine, teasing her. Janine looked at her and burst out laughing. "You’re a feisty one, Lena. Now you get out of here. Go home and relax, or better yet, go out with this 'Mystery man' and have a great time!" she advised.
    Talena waved her farewell and stepped out onto the street. The sun was shining so brightly she was almost blind after the dank light of the store. She pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and headed down the street. Her thoughts drifted back to the handsome Viktor. Handsome,  indeed he was. But there was something else about him that attracted her. As lonely as Talena was, she tried to shy away from male humans. Mixing always ended badly with her kind. She thought back to Enelwyn and Baxter, who fell madly in love some years ago. Enelwyn was a sprite and Baxter was human, like Viktor. They kept their love a secret for almost 2 years, until they were discovered by a Feyfly. Feyfly’s are very small creature, the size of a butterfly at best. The small creature was gliding around the dungeons of HollowSin when he discovered the lovers embracing each other. They pleaded with the small fey to keep their secret, but unfortunately for them, the Feyfly valued its own life more then being honorable. Talena wept for them for days. They were judged immediately, and sentenced to live out the rest of there lives close enough to touch, but unable to do more. Enelwyn’s ears had been ripped off, so she could never again hear the voice of her love, and Baxter’s eyes had been gouged out by the very fey who betrayed them. They were put into cells opposite each other. They could reach out there hands to interlock there fingers, but could not hear or see each other. The moment she shed her final tear for them, she vowed to never allow herself to endure such pain or loss. But she had to wonder about Viktor. Could there be more to him then he was letting on? She only knew that there was something in his aura that drew her to him. She tried to wander her mind to other things.
    She was just rounding the corner when she heard the blast. It sounded like thousands of gunshots all at once. Talena froze. At first her mind was clouded and her ears rang from the great noise. She slowly turned around to see billowing smoke rising from the street she just left. She stole a peek around the corner, praying what she thought wasn’t true, couldn’t be true! She saw pitch black smoke rising not far down the street, near “Fantasy’s Bound”. Everything went in slow motion. She stumbled down the sidewalk toward the smoke. She stared in awe at what was her workplace. The door and windows were blown away, leaving gaping holes behind that looked like the hollow face of a jack-o-lantern. Black smoke billowed through the windows and above the street. Her world slanted and blurred. 'Janine!' she thought to herself. She ran toward the burning building, but it was too late. As she approached the door the ceiling caved in. A wordless scream escaped her throat.
    She fell to the sidewalk, tears overflowing from her eyes. She heard the sirens screaming down the street towards her. She couldn't feel anything. She was numb. Then familiar warmth filled her. Anger. As the police units and medical services came to a stop in front of the store, she vowed then and there that she would find whoever did this and they would pay severely for the pain they caused her.

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