To Fall for the Fae | 11 (M)
Pairing: Andrew Hozier-Byrne/Original Female Character
Genre: Fantasy, Modern, Romance, Smut, Fluff, Angst
Words: Chapter 11: 2,080 words
Summary: Andrew Hozier-Byrne unknowingly searches for the woman that pulled him from the bog 3,000 years ago. Unknown to either of them that in this modern world their souls are still intertwined from the life they shared long ago. She is unavailable, he’s not giving up. Will the woman that inspires his music be wooed by his songs or will he lose his chance? That’s Wasteland, Baby!
Note: A/N: This is a story requested by my best friend to be written about her favorite musician. I have been inspiried by his songs and specific lines. Any reference to his music is used in the name of inspiration and creating art. I do not own any of his music. Any reference to Hozier in this story is fictional and used by the author in the name of crafting art. I want to thank all who read it. I have fallen in love with writing this story and would love to hear from you. It will be written in installments. The finished story will be at the very least over 50,000 words. The next chapter will be explicit. That is not allowed on Tumblr so it will be posted on AO3 only. Please ask me for a link if you want to read it.
To Fall for the Fae: Chapter 11
The Forest Father came slowly to his senses as hands reached under his arms. He felt his body slowly being dragged through into or out of the woods he was still unsure. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his stomach heaved. If he wasn’t dead and this was the less than impressive afterlife of the fae then he had a very bad concussion. He reckoned if he wasn’t dead he soon would be. He grasped a hand to his forehead too weak to fight whatever fate he was about to meet. His hand came away sticky. He looked up at it and it was silver wit blood. He registered the canopy of leaves above him even though his vision doubled then tripled as he did. He was still in the woods.
“Damn it.” He began to mumble but a hand clamped around his mouth and a voice shushed him.
“Be quiet, they’re probably still close by.” Willow Woman’s voice made him jerk from his dazed state and he tried to jerk out of her grasp. Still unsteady he did nothing more than flail like a fish. She sighed with a deep sound of exasperation but began to drag him again.
“You have to get out of here.”
“Shush. I already told you they could be close. The whole damn village is more than happy to let you bleed to death out in these woods. I’m the only one foolish enough to come in after you. It’s almost dark we need to get to the tree line.” He noted the way the shadows of the trees had grown tall since he had been out. She was right if nothing else he needed to get her out.
“Help me up you damnable woman. You ‘should’ have left me for dead.” He grumbled under her breath. He was pretty sure she heard as she jerked him to his feet a little rougher than necessary. She gave him a harsh look and he knew for certain that she had. If it had been any other situation he would have grinned at her. Now was not the time though. He took a few steps and stumbled. His vision was swimming as he tried to stand straight. He clutched an arm to his side where the beast had struck him. He at least had a few broken ribs from the force it had hit him with. They were built like tanks those monsters.
Willow Woman tucked an arm his waist and he leaned against her letting her lead I'm towards the tree line. They made slow progress as he tripped over every obstacle in his path including his own two feet. He wanted to scream in frustration. He contemplated shoving her away and telling her to go on her own. He knew his Madison though, she was stubborn, she wouldn’t go without him and he’d only succeed in shaving off a few minutes of the sunlight they had left to waste.
They broke the trees right as the last rays of sun left the cursed forest. Howls broke out behind them and they didn't stop to see if the Cuul had decided to follow them. What appeared to be the whole of the village stood a few paces away holding burning torches. It lit up their faces as they stared grimly past them at the forest behind.
“Were you successful?” The Elder asked in a voice that held too much hope for how little faith she held in her heart.
“I don’t know.” Andrew’s words were slurred as the adrenaline that had been driving him along since his waking, the intense desire to see Willow Woman safe, drained from him.
“Curse you mother. He’s hurt and you don’t give a damn. Leave all of you!” She shouted commanding the crowd that stood holding vigil for them. With faces etched with exhaustion the crowd began to disperse. They’d come at the request of the Elder when she had seen Madison running into the woods after Forest Father had yet to show when the sun began to set. None of them had been steadfast enough to brave the woods to find her. Instead they stood on the outskirts already planning her funeral.
“Willow Woman you are a fool chasing into the woods like that.”
“He knows my name mother you can drop my title.” The Elder looked genuinely shocked by the news but quickly composed herself.
“Fine Madison. That doesn’t change the fact that you could have been killed. I’ve allowed this...” she searched for the word she wanted. “...infatuation to go on so long as you remained safe. Now you’re putting your life on the line? For him? Are you planning to commit treason as well? Leave the clan. He can hardly take care of himself let alone you.”
“Mother, for the love of all things green please be quiet.” Andrew was fading in and out of the conversation but he was catching snatches of it and it did nothing to quell his fears he held over their relationship. Willow Woman was bound and determined to drag him half dead back to her cabin so she kept him on his feet though just barely as they trudged away from her mother and the cursed woods. No one had stuck around long enough to help her so she’d have to do it herself.
“You can’t do this Willow Woman!” Her mother cried to her as they gained enough distance that it was no longer safe for the Elder to use her common name.
“Damned if I do, damned if I don’t!” Madison called back over her shoulder without a glance back.
He stood awkwardly inside the doorway scuffing one shoe against the other rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
“Ehm...” He stated awkwardly unsure of what to do or say. It was ridiculous. He had bedded plenty of women. It wasn’t like he was some untapped virgin. Still he took a moment to try to breathe. This felt...different. There seemed to be a tenderness to their connection. Some type of deep meaning that he didn’t grasp yet. The way she looked at him he saw something stronger than lust. There was a depth to the way she looked at him. She looked at him like she’d known him far longer than a few nights. As if they had spent enough time talking to fill an entire lifetime. As if she knew his body like the back of her eyelids.
When he looked at her finally alone in that hotel room, no random onlookers, no restaurant goers, no fans, he could feel it too. An eerie sense of familiarity. He didn’t know her yet when his hazel eyes met hers like green gemstones he could feel a connection he had not felt. ‘Not in this lifetime’ that voice deep inside of him whispered.
“Ehm...” He mumbled again when the tension and intensity of her stare on him grew too great.
“Come here.” She spoke it softly. It wasn’t an order or a demand. It held the weight of a request. He obliged her coming closer to her that hand still rubbing at the back of is neck. She was tall enough that when he came to stand in front of her she could reach up and tug the hair tie out of his hair. The curls fell gently to his shoulders.
“Lie down on the bed. Please.” Her voice was so soft it almost had a dreamlike quality to it. There was no part of him body, mind, or soul that wanted to deny that request. He shrugged out of his denim jacket and laid down on his back staring up at her his hand clasped across his stomach. She took his hands gently and guided them to his sides. She gazed down at him with an adoration he had never seen in a woman’s face before. ‘If this is love...’ he thought absently but stopped before his mind could get the better of him.
“Did you want me to do...?” He trailed off as she silenced him with a soft flick of her hand. She was still gazing down at him.
“Shh. I want to see something.” She moved slowly to the bed not taking her eyes off of his face. That intensity hung between them but it didn’t crackle with electricity. Instead it flowed like a long winding river. From one of them to the other and back again. She came to lay beside him. He turned his head so that he could look at her. She held her head up with one hand resting against her face. She gave him a warm smile when their eyes met again. With a trembling hand she traced the plains of his face. Ran a finger down the middle of his forehead over the tip of his nose and over his lips. He kissed her finger gently as it passed his lips and her smile grew wider.
She stroked the side of his throat. Moved her fingertips to graze the hollow of his throat.
Oh god did it ache to touch him. Every emotion she had ever held for him came flooding back. Every aching bit of love she had locked deep within herself to keep from eating her alive in his absence broke free. The cage she held his memory inside of her shattered. The emotions threaten to overtake her. She leaned down and let her lips brush his featherlight.
She surprised him by laying her head down on his chest. Despite being an unexpected reaction he wrapped his arms around her. There was something so right about holding her in these poisoned arms. She stayed like that for several long minutes listening to the heart beating in his chest. The heartbeat she had not heard in this lifetime. He stroked his fingers through her hair needing no more than to feel her body against his. Finally she lifted her head and gazed down at him. That intensity began to build again as their eyes met. She kissed him again with just the slightest bit of pressure.
“Make love to me.” She whispered.
The Snake trudged up and down the same bit of sidewalk for the twentieth time. Her scent ended here. It criss crossed the whole damn downtown like she was wandering around for hours. With how flighty she was it wouldn’t surprise me.
He smelled someone next to her. Someone...familiar. He couldn’t place the scent though. Not in his filing cabinet of scents from this lifetime. He cursed the loss of all the scents he had built up over all the years he’d hunted.
The street was abandoned at this hour and he was too angry at this point to care much who saw him as he leaned close to the sidewalk and took in a deep inhale. There she was...then a few inches later he couldn’t smell her at all. She smelled her companion, musky and spicy, clearly male and that familiarity annoyed him more.
He would not return to Bates without her. Especially now that he knew that she was off running around with another man. Let her explain that one. He was likely to get his head ripped off if he had to tell his master that. Kill the messenger his lord would. No let her take the fall for her sins.
He cursed. The scent went dead, covered up by the strong scent of her companion. He spit on the ground. Damn the man whoever he was. He motioned to car parked a few paces behind him with the lights still on illuminating the cold empty sidewalk The Snake was walking on. It drove up to meet him and he climbed into the backseat but not before surveying the street once more and spitting on the sidewalk when he didn’t find her hiding behind one of the street lamps watching him.
He’d been annoyed before. Now he was straight pissed. She better hope this man she was running round with killed her in a fit a passion because if he didn’t The Snake would do it in a far far less pleasant way. The promise to bring her home in one piece be damned.
They were always saving each other.
Such was the fate of the fae.