A/N: I think my last one-shot was okay. I mean, a number of you guys reviewed that it was good. I appreciate the feedback very much that I decided to write another. How about it? More feedback, 'kay guys?

Saturday

I was once warned by my Hispanic mother to never wander in the woods. My mother was a fanatic of fairytales so she believed in fairies and leprechauns and stuff.

I didn't. Even at the young age of six, fairytales to me were just stories with perfectly, happily ever after endings that are never real. They were too good to be true. Maybe it was because I saw my older sister Max be torn apart by love that I became pessimisstic and cynical of the world.

It doesn't mean I go on hating the world every step I take. I'm just being realistic. Is there such a love story based on a fairytale? No, there isn't. But from the way movies and dramas portray them, they're doing a good job of brainwashing us to think there are such things.

That's why I didn't care about my mother's warning of the woods. It's just the woods. What was the worst thing that could happen? Aside from getting lost and dying of starvation, that is.

I love the woods. The fact that my mother warned me away from it appealed to me more. It's almost the same as liking a bad boy. Once he starts acting like an asshole, you'll find yourself drawn and falling for his every move. Every single abuse he does to you is like magic and you think it's his way of loving you.

The woods are like bad boys. They're dangerous and unpredictable but you just feel so drawn to them.

In my old house in Mesa, Arizona, I had a whole forest as my backyard since we lived at the end of a dead end. Growing up as a kid, I would stand in my patio and just stare at the dark forest. I always wondered what dark secrets those trees were trying to hide.

What are you hiding?

The perfect times to look at the forest were at sunrise and then at sunset. At sunrise, the forest becomes this "promised land". The sun spotlights the front of the forest so the first few trees in the front become bright and practically sparkling from the morning dew. Water droplets on the leaves reflect off the sunlight and everything smells like the sun: clean, crisp, and warm.

At sunset, the forest transforms. Because of the yellowish-orange hue the sun creates when setting, it's like watching an eclipse. When you stand in the middle of my patio and face the front of the forest, you'll see just black. But the sides of the forest are radiant and glowing because of the orange hue created by the sunset.

Everyday, it's like this. I wake up at around five in the morning just to take a peek of the "promised" forest. In the mornings, the forest becomes the epitome of clear and clean innocence. The leaves become a light green color and the water droplets create the illusion that the forest is sparkling and twinkling. I can almost hear bells chiming from out of nowhere.

The forest in the morning is Heaven, you could say. And at night, the forest becomes Hell. Because the forest has its back on the sun, it creates an illusion that the forest is burning from the front slowly spreading to the deep recesses of the forest, the temperature increasing as the fire moves deeper. I can almost feel the burning heat when I close my eyes.

I've been looking at the forest ever since I can remember. I've taken multiple attempts to go explore the forest but every time, my mother stopped me. She would grab me to her tight embrace and slowly smooth the back of my head. She would murmur some things and take me back to the house.

My mother can be pretty superstitious that it's almost ridiculous. Come on, there's no such thing as fairies. Magic does not exist because there are no scientific facts to back it up.

Superstitions. They can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

Saturday afternoon

This is not happening. This is not happening. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING.

I know I said there is no such thing as fairies. I still do. But I just can't accept the fact that right in front of me, there is a pale creature with the most delicate of wings behind his back and floating in the air with a goofy smirk on his overly-handsome face.

WHAT IS THIS?

My first instinct tells me to run. But my brain suddenly lost all of its rational judgment and freezes me to sit still on this stump I'm sitting on. I want to look away, but my eyes are also frozen to stare at the... thing floating (!) right in front of me.

I'm in shock. In every literal sense of the word. The air is charged and I swear I can hear buzzing like any moment now I will get electrocuted if I so much move a millimeter.

The thing finally drops to the ground soundlessly. The moment his feet touch the ground, the ground lights up. As he takes few more steps forward, more bluish-white sparks are emitted.

My heart is screaming and pounding against my rib cage at a fast rate. I'm pretty sure my breathing is also ragged and fast that I'm almost gasping for air. I badly want to run away and scream at the top of my lungs until my voice box cracks.

At each agonizingly slow step he takes, my fear increases a hundredfold. I just want to die.

His delicately beautiful wings flutters against the slight breeze and I stare, mesmerized by his wings. My breath catches somewhere in my throat when he drops to one knee and we are almost nose-to-nose.

He raises his hand, takes a sliver of my long brown hair, slides his long, pale fingers through it. "Your name?" His voice says in such a velvety, accented voice. I shiver at the way my heart beat even faster (if that's even possible).

I force myself to answer in a small voice, "Ella..."

He flashes me a charming smile. Heart, stop beating faster! "What brings you to my humble home?"

I stare at him. His pale bluish-gray eyes stare back at me, twinkling with sinful enticement. His skin is so amazingly pale and blemish-free that I can see his veins. Somehow with his paleness, it greatly enhanced his high cheekbones, aristocratic nose, and sharp jaw line. Right away, my conscience yells to me that he's dangerous.

WELL, DUH. He's clearly a superstition come back to life!

"I... I got lost." I still find myself frozen underneath his gaze and unable to answer coherently.

His long fingers gently tip up my chin and I look up at him. Because of the slight breeze, I smell his scent; he smells faintly like the sun. However, I smell something else coming off of him. Like something... burning. Burnt wood.

I just have to say it. "You're not... real, right?"

His smile falls, but the corners of his eyes crinkles. "You can see me right now, can't you?"

I nod. "What if I'm just dreaming? How can I tell if you're actually real?"

He pulls his fingers away and I take a deep breath. "I exist now, don't I? Of course I'm real."

I shake my head vigorously and stand up. "No. No, I'm dreaming right now. This is all just a dream." I turn my back to him and start to run away. It doesn't even matter what direction I'm running to.

Two seconds later, he's already right in front of me and I fall backwards as I collide into his chest. His bare chest. I stay sitted and recoil back when he starts to move.

"I won't hurt you." There's that enchanting accented voice again. Please stop!

I blink furiously to keep the tears from coming out. I don't want this thing to see me cry.

"Please," I whimper. I'm scared. I'm so scared I could pee any second now.

I shake my head and start to stand up. His pale hand places itself on my right wrist and I open my mouth to scream.

In milliseconds, he has his hand covering my mouth and I black out.

Sunday morning

I gasp for air and open my eyes. It's still dark, but sunlight is creeping in through my thin gray curtains.

I turn my head and look around. I'm back in my room. But how?

Swinging my legs over my bed, I look down at my clothes. It's the same clothes I wore yesterday.

Then, it was all a dream? I feel my lips breaking into a smile and relief washes over me.

Up until I see the purple nightshade right beside my pillow.

I scream.

Sunday morning, continued

I'm pretty sure it was real. I know it was real because I would never bring flowers to my room. Flowers have pollen and I don't like pollen all over my stuff. I'm a clean freak.

So it doesn't make sense that I would have a flower right beside my pillow. My mother knows I don't like flowers in my room because they're a hassle and create more dirt to be cleaned.

THAT GUY FROM THE FOREST WAS REAL. He's real and I would willingly cut off my right hand to prove it.

Sunday afternoon

I asked my mother about fairies. She was suspicious but I told her I was reading a novel about fairies and that I got curious.

This kid called Curiosity has been annoying the hell out of me since the day I saw that guy. I found myself getting curious and wanting to know more about him. And I'm not usually curious. My sister Max is. It's practically her middle name.

Mother told me that fairies are real. They live mostly in the woods (duh), commonly have green eyes, and does not like people trespassing their homes.

That guy didn't look like he hated me trespassing his home. And he had blue eyes.

And that fairies cannot lie. "Like literally", my mother said. I tried to correct her by saying she misused the word "literally" but I stopped myself because I know she'll slap me if I did that.

Oh, and one more thing: fairies don't like being given gratitude; rather, they want something in return that will carry remembrance.

Do I already owe him something?

Monday

After making sure Mom's car has left the garage, I waited for the sound of the engine to fade into the distance. Then I kick off my comforter and run downstairs.

Today is the day I'm going to see that fairy-slash-angel-slash-whatever and prove to myself that my mother's silly superstitions are real. OMG. My worst fears are going to come true. I should be scared out of mind but I'm not.

I'm suprisingly excited despite the fact that I could get killed by him once I prove to the world that he's real. My mood right now just does not make any sense at all.

I open the door to my patio, put on my boots, and secure my Mom's blazer around me. It's still six in the morning and the breeze is suprisingly chilly despite the season being summer.

Stepping out, I close the door behind me. My heart start to pound in my chest at the thought of meeting the fantastical creature. I have to admit, for a mythical creature, he's really good-looking. Like, really. You know, unreal and unimaginable beauty.

With one last look at the forest, I take in a deep breath, release it, and start to sprint to the woods.

Oh, the euphoria of the cold wind in my hair.

"Are you... real?"

I finally found him right where I saw him last. He's sitting on the exact same stump I sat on two days ago. Except, he has his chin on one raised knee and is smiling. His posture look like he knew I was going to come.

I'm breathing hard, my heart rapidly pounding, and he just sits there and stares at me.

Then he throws up his hands and stretches. Surprised, I take steps backwards until I feel a rough tree trunk digging into my back. My hand flies to my chest and I try to slow down the beating of my heart.

I watch him turn his back to me, unfurl his white wings, and stretch his long arms over his head. His arm muscles contract and once again, I'm mesmerized. I drop my eyes to the ground once he turns forward.

"Well, it took you long enough to come back and find me. What kept you so long?" He asks in his bewitching accented voice and I find myself wanting to swoon.

I mentally shake my head and say, "You didn't answer my question. Are you real?"

He sighs loudly and folds his wings back in. He ruffles his short pale blond hair and walks to my direction. "Look, I'll get to the point. I'm a fairy, and yes, I'm real. And so are brownies, changelings, leprechauns, etcetera."

For the second time this week, I black out.

"My sweet, wake up," says by a voice with a deep, smoky tone. My eyes immediately open and I find myself staring into his pale blue eyes. I open my mouth to scream out of fear but his pale hand covers my mouth before the sound could come out.

This is so wrong. There's no such thing as fairies! THERE JUST ISN'T ANY SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT THEY EXIST!

"If I take my hand off your soft, pink lips, will you promise that you won't scream?" He asks and I vigorously shake my head no. He closes his eyes for a second and sighs.

I want to go home. I want to wake up from this nightmare!

"My sweet," His voice is deep and husky, different from any I've ever heard before. Only then I notice the worry sparkling his blue eyes and I find myself yielding a little. "Please don't scream. I won't hurt you because I am physically unable to do that." My eyes search his beautiful face for any sign of dishonesty; there isn't any.

Finally I nod. The corners of his eyes crinkle slightly and he slowly pulls his hand away, his fingertips running through my lips in the process.

He also pulls his arm off my back (which I just noticed) and sits me up. He fixes my hair and I drop my head down because I can feel my cheeks turning red. Every time his skin touches mine, I always feel a small electric current zap me. And when he pulls away, where his fingers were previously, I feel a surge of warmth.

His hands capture my hands and I look up. I realize his pale hair has a tint of faint red and that his bangs are covering three-fourths of his forehead. His hair is not that long; in fact, I would even say it's actually short except it's covering his ears.

"I will go insane if you keep looking at me like that," he says, his voice deep and slow. Damn. I could feel another blush coming; but before I could hide my face away, he captures my chin and keeps my head from turning.

This is so wrong. "Let me go. I want to go home. I shouldn't have been here-" His lips are suddenly brushing against mine before I could even finish my sentence.

My eyes widen and I put up my hands to push him away. I push as hard as I can and start to rub off the remaining taste of him on my lips.

It burned. His lips on mine almost scorched my lips off. When he brushed his lips on mine, I swear my lips sizzled at his touch. Despite the literally-hot kiss, I didn't feel pain. In fact, I'm finding myself... wanting more of him. THIS IS INSANE.

I stand up and start to walk away. I desperately want to get away from him now. I pull the sleeves of my mother's blazer so there isn't any patch of skin that's exposed.

But his hand circles around my wrist (thank goodness for the fabric) and turns me around. He pulls me into him (bare chest!) and I'm surprised to feel a heart beating on his chest, which is palpitating rapidly (WHY?).

Again, his hand is caressing my cheek. "You know I can't just let you leave after seeing me."

"Let me go. And please stop touching me. It literally hurts." And amazingly hot.

But he doesn't seem to hear me since his thumb is doing magical things on my neck. "Ella," There's that voice again. Damn it! "Do you know what happens to a human trespassing a fairy's home?"

I shake my head. This skin-to-skin contact is turning my brain to mush. "I don't know and I don't care. Please stop that!"

Again, he just continues whatever he's doing. With his other hand, he slips it inside my blazer and wraps around the side of my waist. I jump and try to push him away.

"We hold the human captive and never let him go. Like a slave, you could say." Caught by the sultry tone in his voice, I stay still and hold his gaze.

I suddenly remember what my mother told me about fairies. "What's your name?"

He flashes one of his alluring smiles and it's making my heart pound faster. With all the heart pounding I've experienced, it's almost equivalent to running a marathon twice in one day. It's like experiencing a never-ending workout. And I hate exercise.

He pulls away and takes a few steps away from me. He stands straight to his full height, unfurls his magnificent wings and does a ninety-degree bow. Still bowing, he reaches out his hand and looks up at me with those eyes.

If women can flirt under their lashes, well, so could men. And he's doing an amazing job of it. Not to mention, his eyelashes are thick and long. Damn him.

"Call me Ignus. Or Iggy as other fairies call me." He straightens himself to his full height once again and stands in front of me.

I'm free! My mother told me a rather important fact about fairies. If you learn a particular fairy's name and say it, you can summon the fairy and force it to do whatever you want. Like a slave, to put it into his words.

I give him my most devilish smile. "Well, Iggy," I look at him seriously. Then he starts to twitch and wince, as if in pain. YES! "Come here."

And he actually comes! He stands in front of me, silent and waiting for my next command. "Kneel," I order him.

And he kneels! My heart is no longer racing because of fear; it's racing because of relief and excitement. I lay a hand on top of pale head and feel his hair. It's like touching the softest silk. I tip his head up so he's looking up at me.

"I'm going to leave. You are not going to follow me. You are not going to interfere with my life. Okay?"

He nods. His pale blue eyes stare back at me, shining with amusement. WHAT? Isn't he supposed to be scared or alarmed at least? But he looks like he's enjoying it!

"And lastly, you will now show yourself to me at all from now on. You hear me?"

He nods and I pull him up to stand. He has lovely eyes, but that look is driving me insane. It's like he's taunting me with those eyes. I could force him to kill himself right now.

Iggy bends his head and whispers into my ear. "May I say one last thing, Mistress?"

I nod, ignoring the fact that his breath on my ear is wonderfully warm.

"You're also technically wrapped under my finger, since I kissed you first."

I immediately push him away. That's not possible! I'm not his-

"Mistress, will you come back into my embrace?" That damned look in his face is going to be obliterated by my fist. I try to make my hand into a fist but my feet are moving instead.

A couple of involuntary steps later, I'm in front of him and his hands are on me again. "Damn you. Remove your hands from me."

He immediately pulls away and smirks. "Ella, pucker up."

My lips immediately jut out at his command. "Iggy, kneel."

He kneels. "My sweet, lean down."

I lean down until my nose is touching his. No, no. This is not happening. "Iggy-"

His pale hand reaches out and his burning lips are immediately leaving and permanenly scorching my lips with his mark.

It's like the sun embracing me. The warmth, the softness, the scent; it's unbelievable. The kiss leaves behind a searing heat that my hands instinctively curl
into fists. I want to keep the heat and never let it go.

He pulls away and rests his forehead against mine. His pale blue eyes stare back at me with wonder.

"I've heard stories about you. You're dangerous, mysterious, and utterly irresistible. I should be scared," I murmur.

His rosy lips spread into a warm smile. His eyes crinkle in happiness. "So I've heard. Will you come back?"

I bite into his lower lip. He gasps. "I don't believe in fairies. You're just a dream. Wake me up now."

"It doesn't matter now. I've fallen deep into your brown eyes; I will follow you wherever you go."

That last sentence alone should be screaming "CREEPER" and I should be alarmed. But it's screaming "TAKE ME". His pale blue eyes stare back at me, flashing brightly with deep longing and sadness.

It would seem I'm actually living a fairytale now. Funny how things work out in the end.

"You'll be my fairy forever. Can you live with that?"

"I've lived for thousands of years. Forever is nothing."

A/N: This is the first time this year that I wrote a story with more than 4000 words. Anyway, leave feedback. I'm probably going to publish more one-shots this year. RnR?