The Virgin and the Fae

“W-what?” Charlotte said after a moment, stunned.

“You can control the unicorns. You can command them to kill the Fae.” Jove appeared to be becoming more intent with each word that he spoke and Charlotte began backing away as subtly as she could. “You can rule the three kingdoms.”

“I don’t want to rule anything. I just want to be able to go home.”

He laughed, low and nervously. “That is a different kind of magic entirely. Only the Fae that has taken you from the human world can return you to it. I wish for your sake that Garrick sent another Fae to collect you.”

“No, it was Garrick,” Charlotte said, her voice hoarse.

Again Jove laughed somewhat pitingly and moved towards her. He wanted to grab her. That much Charlotte was certain of. What he would do after catching her she didn’t know.

The only two questions that lingered now in her mind were whether he was telling the truth and whether he would try to harm her.

“You’ll never go home then. Garrick is obsessed with you; I can see it in the way he looks at you. He’ll never let you go. But I can help you—“ He lunged at her and grabbed her exposed wrist forcefully, trying to pull her towards him.

Charlotte screamed and within seconds the air around them shimmered. Garrick and Cronus stood before them.

With a feral growl, Garrick tried to tear Jove’s hand away from her. But Jove was not prepared to let go. His grip tightened and Charlotte felt his hand tugging at her very skin as it was twisted away, twisting her shoulder sickeningly far in its socket until it gave an audible popping noise.

Charlotte fell to her knees, almost vomiting at the initial pain, her arm loose and useless at her side. She pressed her right hand to the shoulder, the pressure helping marginally with the pain. Her vision flickered and then cleared.

It wasn’t broken, probably only dislocated she thought.

She watched dimly as Garrick threw Jove to the floor. His eyes wild.

“He was not to touch her.” Garrick was almost yelling at the two Fae. Cronus looked appalled and frightened, but Charlotte saw a look of defiance in Jove’s eyes.

Maybe she shouldn’t have screamed. Shouldn’t have alerted Garrick. Or had she made the right choice?

Which of these two Fae could she trust? Somehow she knew that it was Garrick who she could most trust—despite his rather abysmal track record—to not hurt her. But which of the two was her true ally in this? Jove? Jove with his dead human lover, Florence, and his wild eyes or Garrick with his soothing promises to keep her safe and his punishments…

She looked between the two men confusedly.

Sensing her dilemma, Jove cried out to her, “Garrick cannot be trusted, human. He will do anything to keep you. He will never let you go!”

“That’s right,” Garrick said, sneering down at Jove. “I will never let her go. Especially, especially not to you. Cronus,”—he never removed his gaze from the prone Jove on the ice floor—“I believe we are done here. Your offers were more than generous, but I am afraid I remain firm on this matter. Charlotte stays with me.”

Cronus only nodded silently, amazed at his usually docile son’s behavior.

“Charlotte,” Garrick said softly, his eyes still locked on Jove, as if daring him to try to move. “Charlotte, stand up.” Once she made it to her feet, he pulled her flush against his chest. His hand snaked possessively around to splay over her stomach.

“Garrick, I am so very sorry about Jove. H-he has never behaved this way before. You have my deepest apologies, my Lord.”

“We are done here. I will not seek retribution for his attack on my property, but if he ever attempts to come near my human again, I will take action.” Cronus nodded in agreement.

“You are very fair, my Lord, thank you.”

And with that, Charlotte felt a slight tug behind her navel and they were gone, appearing seconds later in her bedroom.

Garrick grabbed her shoulders, spinning her around to face him. But Charlotte shrieked in pain at the force, struggling to pull away.

Thinking she was merely being disobedient, Garrick held on to her firm, resisting the urge to beat her. The thought that Jove had touched her made him furious and there was a part of him—a part that was threatening to take over—that wanted desperately to take his anger out on someone. And at the moment, Charlotte was the only someone nearby.

“Stop!” She screamed, louder this time. “Stop, please, it hurts, please stop it!” It took a moment before he did release her. Even in her pain-addled mind, she recognized his hesitation and she feared it.

“What is wrong?”

“My shoulder, I think, I think that it has been dislocated. I need help, please it hurts so much.” Charlotte was crying, softly, though the pain had subsided somewhat with
his hands gone.

“Dislocated?” Garrick asked with some bewilderment, staring at her shoulder.

And then he was gone. Only a shimmer in the air remained where only milliseconds ago he had stood.

“Seriously?” Charlotte yelled to the empty room. She turned and stumbled towards the Tylenol bottle.

The cap hadn’t even been properly replaced so she had no difficulty shaking out 2 white pills.

“God, my liver is going to be destroyed if I stay here much longer.” She grumbled to herself, trying to focus on something other than the pain.

Damn acetaminophen. Why couldn’t she just have had a bottle of Motrin in her bag? A fever-reducing, pain-reliever with no liver-damaging properties—we have a winner! A voice thought in her mind, sounding oddly like a game show announcer describing what was behind door number two.

“Really, Garrick, this is getting ridiculous. Every time your human gets sick, you can’t just drop in announced and demand Hugh come play doctor.” Charlotte recognized the woman’s voice. She turned to see Garrick—looking angry, as usual—with Kaelyn in somewhat rumbled clothing. Hugh stood behind her, clad only in tattered pants, with a blank expression on his face.

Charlotte felt sickened to note that there were long bloodied gashes across his chest.

“Kaelyn, as long as you remain in my kingdom, I can do what I wish with your human. And with you,” he added rather menacingly.

Kaelyn blanched. “Yes, my Lord.”

“Hugh, help her. You’ll understand what’s wrong and how to fix it.” Hugh looked as if he desperately wanted to speak, to declare that he might very well have no idea what was wrong with Charlotte or if he did, he might not be able to fix it; but Kaelyn’s hard stare forced him towards Charlotte. He was worried that this might not be as easy to fix as a low-grade fever.

“W-w-what’s wrong?” Hugh asked Charlotte softly, stuttering from fear of potential punishment from Garrick. Taking pity on his fear, Charlotte took a steadying breath and then spoke.

“It’s alright. I know what needs to be done, but I will need your help. All you have to do is follow my instructions, alright?” Hugh nodded, relieved at how calm Charlotte sounded, although her tone was belied by the wetness about her eyes and her grimaces of pain.

“My shoulder has been dislocated. I am almost certain that is all this is. I need your help to…umm…relocate it. You are going to have to take my clothes off so that—“

“No,” Garrick cut in rather forcefully, instantly objecting to the idea of the human male seeing Charlotte naked.

“Honestly, Garrick, you are being ridiculous,” Kaelyn said, having regained her composure.

“So you’ve said.”

“Just let Hugh do what’s he is told. What is she wearing, Garrick?” Kaelyn asked; the human’s clothes only just then registering.

“It’s not important.”

“The gods it isn’t! Where were you?”

Charlotte gave a short laugh. “She asks as many questions as I do.”

Kaelyn turned her glare on the girl. “You were not spoken to, human.”

Charlotte wished she could shrug. Instead she asked Garrick, “Could you give Hugh your knife?” Nodding to the blade sheathed on his belt. “Please, just…just trust me,” she pleaded. Charlotte knew that she would be unable to maintain this façade of calm for much longer. The pain was coming in waves now and she needed her shoulder put back in place sooner rather than later.

Garrick looked at her, considering her plea before extending the blade out to Hugh, who took it with hesitation and confusion still written across his face.

The knife’s blade was silvery-white with a somewhat golden hue that gleaned in the light. Charlotte wondered what metal it was passingly. It clearly was not iron.
Perhaps Jove had told the truth about that much at least.

Hugh returned to her, the knife in his hand.

“Okay, I need you to cut off my jacket and then my shirt. Alright?”

“I-I can’t just help you take them off?” Hugh asked, panicking at the thought of what Garrick would do if he placed the knife against the human.

“No, listen to me—forget about Garrick. I need your help. My shoulder has been dislocated. In order to relocate it, listen to me—“ she saw his attempt to look back at Kaelyn for directions—“listen to me, in order to relocate it, you are going to need to be able to see the joint sliding back into place.” Hugh looked like he wanted to vomit now. “Jesus, okay, this isn’t going to work. Garrick?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes.” Garrick took a step forward.

“I need your help.” God, that felt awful to say. Garrick looked like he was smugly about to reply, but Charlotte cut in. “But, BUT if you are going to help me and not just make this worse, I will need you to follow exactly what I tell you to do and not question me. Can you do that?”

“By the gods, Garrick, she is without a doubt the most ill-mannered—“

“Not now, Kaelyn. Take Hugh and return to your afternoon’s activities.” Reproach seemed to drip from Garrick’s tone.

“No!” Charlotte yelled, a bit louder than she’d intended, but the pain was getting worse. “No, we will need them. Just stay a little longer, Kaelyn—“

“Garrick, she actually addressed me. What kind—“

“Charlotte, continue.” Garrick said softly. And Kaelyn understood. There was to be no more baiting her King over his human. Now matters were serious.

Charlotte knew as well. This was the closest he was going to come to telling her he would follow her orders.

“Garrick, take the knife from Hugh.” Garrick did so, moving quietly across the carpeted floor. “And I need you to cut off this jacket. Place the knife at the neckline, that’s right, and hold the fabric. Now, cut down the length of the sleeve.” Garrick did so. Once that was done, Charlotte instructed him to cut the fabric beneath her arm that ran along her side, and then the jacket was unzipped and slipped off her right arm.

“Now the same thing with the shirt.” Garrick did so. This time with greater ease, the cotton gave beneath the blade more easily than the down jacket had. Garrick winced at the site of the splotched skin surrounding her shoulder. The area was red and already bruising and swelling. And then he saw it. Something protruded awkwardly underneath her skin on that shoulder. A rounded nodule that pressed taut up against her skin.

“What is that?” he asked, staring disgustedly at the deformation of her skin. A wild, leaping thought caught in her throat.

Could it work?

“This is worse than I thought. You have to take me to a hospital. You have to take me back to the human world.”
Garrick’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll bring a doctor here and we can keep him”—or her, Charlotte corrected, mentally, instinctively—“here for when you get sick. Kaelyn, go fetch us a doctor.”

“No!” Charlotte yelled. She had tried, feebly, but still, to see if she could escape back to the human world. Despite her own failure, she would not, could not, allow another human to be trapped by the Fae on her account.

“I thought as much. That was very wrong of you, Charlotte, especially after your request for me to trust you.”

“Don’t worry,” Charlotte spat back, anger helping her cope with the pain. “You’ll get your chance to punish me soon enough. Hugh, hold me. Garrick, get her to hold me as well.” After Kaelyn’s objections to being addressed directly, Charlotte decided that Garrick had better do the talking.

Despite his fury with his human, Garrick nodded to Kaelyn who approached them. She eyed the girl clad in her bra and jeans with interest. Spunky, she thought silently.

“Garrick, cut the bra strap and remove the bra.” Garrick did as she requested with mild hesitation. He didn’t like her this exposed in front of the human.

“I am going to kneel. Hugh needs to hold on to the base of my neck and my left shoulder, and hold on tightly.” She looked at Hugh, catching his nauseated eyes. “Look at me. I need you to stay with me. I need you to hold me very tightly to keep me steady. Can you do that?” Hugh nodded.

Oh God, he was going to throw up soon, Charlotte could just tell.

Turning to Kaelyn, she said, “I need you to keep my entire body steady. Brace my right side, and do not allow me to move any further towards you.” Kaeyln looked annoyed, but intrigued, and kneeled down beside Charlotte, wrapping an arm around her waist and bracing against her chest.

Unable to resist, Kaelyn teased, “My, Garrick, what soft skin she has.” Her hand moved upwards, making as if to touch Charlotte’s breast.

Garrick only glowered.

Charlotte wanted to say something ballsy like ‘if you touch me, I will bite you.’ But now really wasn’t the time.

“Garrick,” Charlotte looked up at him with somewhat fearful eyes.

“Why are you scared?” he asked abruptly.

“I’m not,” she lied. “This just hurts a lot. Okay, what you need to do is—when I tell you to—you will lift my arm slightly, then pull down hard while pushing it in against me.”

“And this will make you better?”

God, I hope so, Charlotte thought.

Suddenly, the awful image that she might bite off her tongue swum into view.

“Wait, Garrick, I need you to cut off a large chunk of that shirt and stuff it in my mouth, alright? Don’t ask why, just do it.” While Garrick sliced off a large piece of fabric, Charlotte continued. “When you pull my arm, there can be no hesitation. Just…do it on my nod.” Garrick nodded grimly, with dawning awareness of how exactly she intended for this to work. He stuffed the rag into her mouth, white cotton keeping her jaw apart and unable to close. He watched her close her eye, take a steadying breath through her nose, and then open her eyes. Charlotte nodded.

Garrick gave a hard jerk and he saw the hard protrusion slip back beneath her skin. Bone scraped horribly across bone and he saw Charlotte straining. Her neck bulged and her throat worked to produce screams that were muffled by the cloth. And then there came an audible popping noise as her shoulder found its socket.

Hugh turned his head to the side and vomited.

Charlotte gasped and cried against her gag.

Garrick and Kaelyn stared at one another, uncomfortably reminded of how fragile their precious pets were.

Charlotte shook her right arm away from Kaelyn. She removed the cotton gag and then gingerly fingered the tender flesh of her left shoulder.

It smarted but otherwise the severe pain was gone. Her skin smoothed over her rounded shoulder as if nothing had happened.

Gratefully, Charlotte murmured a soft, “Thank you,” to Garrick.

“I never meant for you to get hurt. Not like that,” he said, still somewhat stunned at what he had just done to Charlotte. The scraping of bones still resounded within his mind.

There was a flare of anger in Charlotte’s eyes, but he watched her as she quickly tempered it, regaining control.

“Of course you didn’t.” Was all she said after a moment.

Hugh retched again behind her.

Charlotte was used to people who responded to bodily matters—like dislocated shoulders—with such visceral reactions. People who fainted at the sight of blood or inserted needles or broken bones.

Truthfully, Charlotte was thankful for her detachment from her body. She’d never have been able to handle what had just happened if a voice inside her had been screaming: ‘Holy fuck, that’s my bone!’

She knew the attitude came from when she’d had leukemia. How else could she understand what was going on if not by enforcing the dichotomy? My body is sick. But I—and everything that ‘I’ encompasses—I am healthy. The body—her body—stopped belonging to how she defined ‘self’ very early on as a child as a result.

Charlotte rolled both shoulders. Her left appeared to have somewhat limited mobility, but with some icing and Tylenol—Sorry, liver—she would be fine.

“Will Hugh be alright?” Charlotte asked looking at the shaking human. “Maybe someone should clean those cuts.” They had stopped bleeding for the most part and the gashes were beginning to turn a brackish brown color from the drying blood.

“He’ll be fine,” Kaelyn said dismissively.

“But he is bleeding,” she persisted.

“That was the point,” Kaelyn responded significantly. “Garrick, I believe that now we are no longer needed. Your leave?”

Garrick nodded. “Thank you, Kaelyn.”

She picked up the shaking Hugh and, with a shimmer, they were gone.

A/N: As always, thank you to those who rated and reviewed! If anyone has suggestions or questions about where this story is going, I'd love to hear them. I have a vague idea but I mostly feel like I'm making things up as I go along. Also, if you ever do dislocate something DO NOT TRY THIS. Go see a doctor or medical professional for help. Thanks for reading and if you have a second, please review!