Mercy & the Fey-Beast

Slowly, Jasper placed the rabbit carcass next to Hurges feet. He walked back slowly too, knowing that any small movement could make him as delectable as the rabbit. He stopped next to Mercy, who had her arms crossed and an unimpressed expression on her face, as she also stared at Hurges.

“You know, I have never seen that thing move when ever we are around, yet, you walk around it like its fire.”

“Clearly you have never heard of the stories that Grandad tells then.”

“Clearly.” She said, rolling her eyes. Mercy about faced and went to walk towards the house. “I’ll be inside, where it is warm and doesn’t smell like a sewer.” Mercy wrinkled her nose again, noticing the smell of the beast once more.

“Mercy!”

“What?” she snapped back, as she turned to face Jasper, who was now facing her, but looking behind her with a stunned look about him. He didn’t say anything. “What Jasper?!” Jasper simply rose him arm to point behind her. She felt it then. His breath down her back, moving her long hair like a strong wind. Mercy froze. How was it even possible that it was behind her without her notice? She turned around as slowly as Jasper had given him food. The Fey-Beast’s purple-blue eyes were level with hers, only inches away. Mercy held her breath, frightened for her life. She never had seen her grandfathers Fey-Beast up close before, and with its large eyes and mouth, flat marble like skin and now extending wings, she was terrified.

“Do not be afraid of me, Bertram’s own. You are safe with me.”  Mercy heard, as nobodies lips moved. The voice was that of an angel. She couldn’t think of what to believe, or where to look other than into the Fey’s eyes. “We will talk later, you and I…” The Fey-Beast then looked up at her brother, then back to her, “alone.” Then, the Fey-Beast vanished from before her.

Jasper ran up to his sister and hugged her hard. She merely stood still and tried to process what just happened.

The fey talked to me.

“Mercy? Are you ok?” Jasper asked, shaking her. “We must go tell Grandad.”

“No!”

“No? You could have been killed just a few seconds ago, and now you want to protect that?” He gestured to where the Fey-Beast was being fed moments ago. Frustrated, Jasper turned and headed in a hurry to the house. Mercy sat down on the grass below her, and stared at the house and the mountains that lay behind it.

The fey talked to me.

Mercy contemplated what she was to do next. Search for the beast and demand answers? Wait for her grandfather to approach her where she sat, to give her a lecture about being safe around his beast? She didn’t want either right now, she needed to relax, to meditate. She got up and headed for the caves. The caves were a sacred place for her ancestors, as far as her grandmother and mother were concerned, and Mercy treated it as such. No one except for her ever went into caves these days. With the mossy ground squelching beneath her feet as she crossed the swamp between her home and the caves, she looked up to the now darkening sky, and small rain drops began to fall around her.

“Oh, dang.” She muttered as she hurried up her step. She could also hear her brother calling her from the house, but she continued anyway. Finally reaching the entrance to the cave, she looked back on the swamp she had just crossed, and the fog from the cold winds had settled in quickly. Entering the cave, Mercy ducked her head at the lowered ceilings of the hole, and ran her hands along the art covered walls. This place always brought her peace.

“I knew I would find you here.” A male voice rung out. Mercy froze, again. The same chills she got from the stare down with Hurges came back. She couldn’t see far down the cave, as there wasn’t much light filtering in, and she had no torch on her. Suddenly a fire was lit at the bottom of the cave, in Mercy’s large meditation space. A young man stood next to the new fire, wearing pretty rags for shorts and that was all. He had deep blue to purple hair, and a very angular jaw line.

“Who are you?” Mercy almost whispered.

“I am yours, now Mercy.”

“What?” she stared at the stranger she had now somehow walked closer too. His face was in every way other worldly, and beautiful at the same time. Without even thinking about it, she was directly in front of him now, reaching her hand up to touch his face. His eyes were soft and calm, and heat simply radiated from him. Just as she was about to touch his face, he spoke;

“I am Hurges, I am yours as you are now mine.” She dropped her hand immediately.

“You’re the Fey-Beast!?” he nodded, and this time, held his hand up to her cheek and brushed his hand through her hair that had fallen down.

“I have waited many years for us to be ready to be together.”

Oh boy.

The second chapter Hurges & the Human is now available to read! Click here to get there! Or visit the home page. Thanks, Sammyfiction.