Elle continued to stare off into the black woods that seemed to be filled with dancing shadows and eerie eyes that watched their every move. She shook her head as her mouth dropped open and a very un-Elle like squeak emerged. She snapped her mouth closed and took several deep breaths as she attempted to gather herself. Finally she met the gaze of the Alpha. “I’m sorry but I’m trying to figure out how it is possible that we are here. How it is possible that Lorelle was able to bring us here?”

“And where is here?” Cynthia asked.

Elle’s eyes never left Alina’s as she answered, “The dark forest in the realm of the fae.”

Alina stumbled back and nearly touched one of the trees again, but caught herself and pulled back. Her eyes grew wider and she shook her head, attempting to deny the words that penetrated her ears. “That can’t be,” she whispered, “It’s not possible.”

“I know,” Elle agreed, “but our presence here suggests otherwise.”

“I hate to break into this obviously shocking moment, but could you please share with us what you know so that we can properly freak out?” Jen asked matter-of-fact like.

“It’s not something that is talked about, ever,” Elle told her.

“Well circumstances have changed, so I think it’s time to start talking about the fae’s dirty little secret.”

“I think we better all sit down for this,” Alina told the group.

“Crap,” Jacque murmured, “it’s never a good sign when they tell us we need to sit down.”

“Have to agree with you there wolf-princess. It usually means they’re about to drop a new supernatural creature in our laps and I swear if it’s a sparkling vampire then I’m going to push someone off the ledge of ridiculousness we are all perched on like morons,” Jen huffed as she sat on the ground, attempting at gracefulness, but failing miserably because of her swollen belly.

“Is it a giant centipede that releases slimy secretions as it crushes everything around it?” Sally asked.

The group collectively turned and looked at the healer with furrowed foreheads and raised eyebrows.

“What?” she mumbled. “It could happen.”

“Okay, I take it back. Sparkling vampires are a step up from Sally’s random slime infested centipede. Where did you come up with that, gypsy? I mean is that your one great fear like people who are terrified of spiders? What would fear of giant centipedes be called anyways? Pede-acrophobia?” All the eyes had now swung around to Jen who didn’t seem to notice the incredulous looks.

“If you girls are quite done, I can enlighten you as to why Elle and I are so shocked at our appearance here,” Alina waited.

“Ignore me,” Jen told her. “It’s the hormones. Being pregnant has somehow caused me to ramble about completely unimportant things and expectothers to care. I’ll be crying in a minute.”

Lilly patted Jen's leg sympathetically before turning back to Alina.

“A very long time ago, before even I was born, and before the great purge of the witches, there was an evil that was unleashed in the realm of the fae,” Alina paused and looked at Elle. “Maybe you should tell it since you lived through it.”

Elle nodded, but didn’t look pleased with the idea. She pulled her knees up to her chest and glanced down at the ground. Her face glazed over as she allowed herself to be pulled back into the past, a past better left forgotten. “The fae have always been the most powerful of the supernatural beings. I have often questioned the Fates’ wisdom of giving one race such supremacy. Power can be very heady. It beguiles the wielder and seduces with the promise of greatness, all the while hiding the truth behind the shiny exterior. Sacrifice is the most important part of being the strongest. Those who refuse to make sacrifices, but instead use the power for selfish gain, begin to rot on the inside. With every act of self-indulgence or with every choice of turning a blind eye to those in need, a piece of that person dies. They become blind to their own egocentricities and so drunk on the authority that all they desire is more and they will do anything to acquire it. We have seen that first hand with Desdemona, but she was not the first."

“One of our own, the most powerful of our people, abused his power, and he sacrificed many using their blood and spirits to fuel his need for more. There was so much malice in him and so much desire to conquer and rule that his very presence began to kill our land. Not only was his evil killing everything around him, but he also was creating offspring from human children, and they were given the title of witch or wizard.”

“Shut! Up!” Jacque’s words were echoed by others. “The fae were the creators of the witches?”

Elle frowned. “No, only one fae was responsible. Volcan. I will only say his name once because names are powerful. He is the one who created the witches and wizards. He used his own blood to fill them with his magic, and then he released them back into the human world. Blinded by his need to defeat and control, it never dawned on him that his creation might turn from him and seek out their own desires. Once we realized what he was creating and letting loose, we knew he had to be stopped. He couldn’t be allowed to destroy the human world. So we destroyed him. It was a long and bloody fight with many lives lost. But in the end we killed him.”

“If he’s dead, why is this forest still on lockdown…and so creepy?” Sally asked.

“Sometimes the infiltration of evil is so profound, so abundant, that it cannot be uncontaminated. There was nothing we could do to purge the evil inside so we had to contain it. That way it could not seek out those who might be easily swayed by its lure.”