by Shea Balik
Where Ryley was a complete klutz when it came to dancing, Meghan was as graceful as a gazelle. Her lithe body seemed to just know what to do, as if she were born to create the most beautiful movements on earth.
“Okay, class.” Her teacher called out. “That’s all for today. Make sure you stay safe tonight if you are out trick or treating and I’ll see you on Thursday.”
Several minutes later Meghan came racing out into the entry and threw herself into Ryley’s arms. “Ryley. You came.”
Even as he held on tight, Ryley rolled his eyes at her statement. “Like I had a choice, squirt.”
Meghan pulled away and stuck her tongue out. “I told you to stop calling me that.”
Ryley chuckled. He’d been calling her squirt since she was three years old and toddling after him whenever he was around. “Not gonna happen,” he told her as he ruffled her hair, which would have worked better if it hadn’t been in a perfect bun with enough pins holding it down that not even a hurricane would move a single strand from its tight confines.
“You better slip your jacket on. There’s a chill in the air.” They had been born and raised near the West Coast of Florida, so anything below seventy tended to require a jacket or at least a long-sleeved shirt.
Once she had a coat on, they headed out to his car. “Are you excited to find out what your ability will be?” Meghan was practically jumping up and down with enthusiasm. “I know I can’t wait until I turn twenty-one. I just hope I take after dad’s side of the family.”
Ryley did too, for both of them.
Except… he sighed as they got into his car and shut the doors. He still was praying all of it was nothing more than a fantasy his family had made up through the years. Deep down, he knew it wasn’t. He’d witnessed enough magic to know they hadn’t been making up fairytales. Still, the last thing Ryley had needed was to be burdened with an ability he didn’t want.
His whole life, he’d felt like the oddball and this wouldn’t help. If he was really lucky, the magic would be something innocuous, like the McLaughlin’s. They were a family who had come for visits every few years and followed the Samhain and Beltane also. Mr. McLaughlin could create illusions that seemed so real, Ryley had many times had to reach out just to be sure the object wasn’t really there.
His daughter, Sarah, had the gift of love. She just needed to touch a person in order to locate the one they were meant to marry. Because Ryley was gay and hadn’t told anyone in his family, he’d made certain Sarah never was close enough to touch.
“Ryley,” Meghan said when he didn’t answer her question. “Don’t you want to know what side you take after?”
Not really. But he didn’t want to admit that to her. The last thing he wanted to do was scare his little sister with whatever was currently pushing at his insides to get out. He could almost feel the pure malevolence that resided there.
“Honestly?” Meghan was the one he’d had a connection to that ran far deeper than to his other family members. He’d never lie to her, he just wasn’t sure how much of the truth he could share with a sixteen-year-old without scaring the shit out of her.
“I think I’m just overwhelmed.” It wasn’t exactly a lie; he most definitely was in over his head. He just wished the impending dread that wouldn’t leave him alone, didn’t seem quite so… ominous. “Now that it’s time to find out what my ability will be, I’ll admit to being nervous.”
Meghan reached over the console and took his hand. Her slim fingers held him tightly, giving him a boost of courage. “We’ll all be there. I promise. Nothing bad will happen.”
Even as her lips moved to form the words, Ryley knew she was wrong. He just wished he understood how he knew that.
Pulling into their family’s driveway once more, they quickly got out of the car and headed inside. Dread seemed to hang in the air as they heard their father talking to someone in the kitchen, not having any clue he or Meghan were there. “There has been no word from the Douglas clan in over three months and they missed performing the ritual at the Autumn Equinox.”
“Does this mean it’s started?” Ryley’s mother sounded truly shaken.
Ryley had sent Meghan upstairs to get out of her leotard and start preparing for the bonfire before heading into the kitchen. He found his dad hugging his mom as she cried in his arms. “We have to assume the worst,” his dad told her.
“This can’t be happening.” Mom’s voice was barely loud enough for Ryley to hear, especially as the anxiety he’d been feeling all day rose to astronomical levels, causing the blood in his veins to roar in his ears and drown out everything else.
He’d done his best to ignore the agitation all day, hell, all month, but his worst nightmares were coming true. It would be his twenty-first birthday that would herald the beginning of the end. He was the trigger. The key that would unlock a door held closed for nearly a century by the magic of their kind.
It wasn’t anything anyone else knew, but he did, way deep inside. If only he could figure out why he felt that way. The only thing he was sure of was, try as he might to deny it, Ryley felt he would be the very reason why hell would be unleashed on their world.
CHAPTER 3
“What if I don’t accept my powers?” He asked, startling his parents. “Would that stop them from crossing over?”
For longer than Ryley had been alive, families like his had been performing their rituals on the equinoxes, solstices, Beltane, and Samhain. According to his grandmother Maureen, it was to hold up the veil between their world and the Fae.
From the stories his grandmother used to tell them, their kind had foolishly been entranced by the Seelie, or fairies, as many called them. The fairies’ beauty and allure caused Ryley’s ancestors to leave a gap in the veil for the Seelies to come and go as they pleased.
There were two flaws in what they’d done. First, the fairies, while beguiling and sweet when they wanted to be, were also tricksters, that didn’t care if their actions hurt humans in the process of playing some twisted games.
Second, and probably the biggest issue, was the Seelie were considered good, but as his grandmother always said, with good there must be evil to balance the scales of harmony. That was where the Unseelie came in. Monsters who killed without mercy.
Ever since Ryley’s ancestors realized what they’d done, they’d been trying to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak. But that had proved harder than they had imagined. For Seelie and Unseelie had tasted their world, and now both sides wanted out.
To stop that from happening, eight times a year, they recited the spells that would hold back the Fae, but with each generation, their powers faded and fissures within the veil had started to split.
“Ryley, this has nothing to do with you.” The sorrow and regret he heard in his mom’s voice as she took him in his arms was nearly too much to bear. “We don’t know anything yet.”
The harrumph from his grandma Maureen as she entered the kitchen told a different story. “Lying to the boy isn’t going to do him any good, Brianna,” his grandma chastised her daughter. “If you can’t all feel the difference in the air, then you’re fools.”
“I agree with Maureen.” Grandma Duggan seemed to almost float as she came into the kitchen. “There’s a change in the air.”
Meghan’s grace could be traced directly back to Grandma Duggan. It was one of the reasons Ryley feared tonight. Meghan and Sarah received their beauty and poise from his father’s side of the family.
When his older sister, Sarah, had turned twenty-one, her gifts came from that side of the family. It only stood to reason that Ryley’s clumsiness and quick temper that so closely resembled his Grandma Maureen would infer he would end up with an ability from his mother’s side of the family. Something he wasn’t sure he could handle, much less wanted.
“But this isn’t the first time something has gotten through. The veil has been too weak for years now and creatures have passed through periodically.” Grandma Duggan’s normally crys
tal-clear blue eyes turned dark and stormy as she looked at each person in the room. “The Douglas clan isn’t the first to fall, nor will they be the last. But we have to have faith that we can stop whatever is aggressively clamoring to be released into our realm.”
Grandma Maureen nodded. “The ritual must be completed if we have any chance of holding back the tide.”
Ryley’s mom sighed, “We don’t know anything came through the veil or that the Douglas’s are dead.”
Her mother just arched a brow at her, telling her she was a fool if she believed that nonsense.
But his mom wasn’t one to just back down. She was grandma Maureen’s daughter, after all. “Either way, it doesn’t mean it has anything to do with Ryley’s twenty-first birthday.” She ruffled his hair as if he was still a kid. “As your grandmas have said, other beings have been coming across for a while now.”
Guilt rose up within Ryley for not having truly believed before now that any of this was real. Who was he kidding? There was still a part of his brain that refused to accept what they were saying. Only this time, instead of it being the loudest voice inside of his head, the one warning him of what was to come was clanging a bell so loud that he was surprised none of his family could hear it.
“Okay.” He nodded even though he knew, without question, this had everything to do with him. “I just need to go change and I’ll meet you out there.” He just hoped, for the sake of the world, they were strong enough to keep the veil from fracturing further.
He watched as the rest of his family went out the rear sliding door and made their way around the pool to the field that opened up just beyond a copse of trees. It was where they would have prepared the six-foot stack of wood and twigs for the bonfire.
Ryley sighed. He didn’t want the responsibility of his heritage. Then again, he couldn’t imagine anyone desiring the burden of sustaining a centuries old veil that had been placed to keep humanity protected from those who seek revenge for transgressions that occurred generations ago. At least for humans.
For those bent on forcing the human population to pay for banishing them to the other realm, time has hardly moved. Just an hour on the other side of the veil equates to ten long years on this side.
It meant the scars were still fresh for those who had been exiled, which didn’t bode well for the human race. It had given the others time to whip themselves into a frenzy at the audacity of the weak-minded humans to push them from their homes to live out their days in a place not of their choosing.
The stories his ancestors had told from generation to generation spoke of the conniving ways of the ones they had defeated. The warning had been clear. If the veil were to part, humans would be hunted until every last one was eradicated for their perceived misdeeds.
For no race was as vengeful as that of the Fae.
***
That niggling feeling that had been plaguing Ryley became an insistent urgency. He wasn’t sure why, but the need to be out there with his family consumed him. He changed as quickly as possible into the traditional garb of an emerald green tunic that was belted with a blue sash across his abdomen over tan loose fitting pants.
The outfit’s material was created from the softest of cotton, causing them to feel more like well-worn pajamas than something worn for a ritual. Not that Ryley was complaining. If he had to endure the hours of chanting and dance steps he never seemed to master, at least he would be comfortable.
Slipping on a pair of flip flops that would be taken off when he arrived at the bonfire, Ryley headed out of his room. He could hear Meghan humming in her room. “Almost ready, squirt?”
He smiled at the growl he heard her give and the stomp of her foot from the other side of the door. “I told you not to call me that.”
Ryley chuckled at her antics. “And I told you that wasn’t gonna happen. You coming?”
“I’m almost done. I just have to finish braiding my hair,” she called out.
He would have waited for her, but there was something driving him to move as quickly as he could. “I’ll meet you down there,” he called out as he raced down the steps and headed to the back door.
He moved around the pool and angled across the backyard, cutting through a small grove of trees. He couldn’t put his finger on what was pushing him to hurry, but soon he broke out into a run.
The bright orange glow of the bonfire could be seen through the last remaining trees as he nearly reached the clearing. The smoke wafted through the air, stinging his eyes and searing his lungs as he continued forward.
Just as he was about to step out of the tree line a hand grabbed him from behind, clamping over his mouth, while a second wrapped around his waist, pulling him back against a wall of solid flesh.
“Don’t make a sound.” The soft breath coming from a deep voice brushed over his ear.
A shiver went straight down Ryley’s spine, while his dick twitched in interest. He had no idea what was going on, but he didn’t fear the man who held him. If anything, Ryley wished he could turn around and see if the stranger looked as good as he sounded.
That was when he noticed something was wrong. Terror flowed through Ryley even as his gaze took in the sight before him.
Staring over at the bonfire he could just make out figures moving around but something didn’t seem right. The distance was still quite far, but Ryley knew the figures he saw weren’t his family. They were too tall, and their bodies seemed… off.
Ryley felt his mind scream as he took in humped forms littering the ground. He couldn’t see them clearly, but he knew, in his soul, who those bodies belonged to.
CHAPTER 4
Desperately, Ryley wanted to close his eyes as he witnessed the glint of a knife slash downward into one of those heaped forms. Blood dripped from the edge as the wielder brought it back up into the air, a howl of satisfaction echoing through the air around Ryley, as if taunting him.
His throat burned as a scream tried to claw its way up from deep within. The hand across his mouth stopped Ryley from giving it more voice than a soft muffle. The need to go to his family, to save them from what he was beginning to understand were creatures from the other realm, overwhelmed any sense of self-preservation.
Without thought of what he was about to do, Ryley jabbed his elbow into the man holding him. If the hand hadn’t still been over his mouth, Ryley would have cursed loudly as pain shot through the sensitive nerves around his elbow, radiating up his arm and into his shoulder. It had been like trying to hit a brick wall.
Who was this guy?
Lips brushed his ear. “Quiet, unless you want to die with your family.”
Stunned at the words, Ryley renewed his struggle against his captor. The choice wasn’t his to make. Ryley had to help his family.
“Stop it.” The voice was still hushed but now with an edge of steel in it causing Ryley to pause. He was helpless to do anything but obey.
“Now, I’m going to lift my hand from your mouth, but you need to understand the repercussions of making any noise.” Forcing Ryley to stare at his now dead family, the voice said, “You can’t help them any longer. They have gone to the great beyond.”
Great beyond? Who was this guy?
“Yelling will only get us killed, too. I’m hoping you have enough sense to keep your mouth shut.” His tone was harsh, clearly insinuating he didn’t have much hope of Ryley having any sense.
Incensed at being treated like a child but knowing he was right about drawing the attention of whoever slaughtered Ryley’s family, he sagged back against the wall of flesh and nodded his understanding.
Strong fingers lifted slowly away from Ryley’s mouth, as if the guy was waiting for Ryley to make a mistake and prove he couldn’t be trusted. When his hand was finally removed, Ryley turned to face the stranger.
His breath caught as Ryley’s gaze took in what had to be the largest, scariest, most beautiful man he’d ever seen – a warrior to the core. He towered over Ryley with emerald eyes flashing a warning wh
ile he looked at Ryley as if he could see straight into Ryley’s soul. It was unnerving, to say the least.
Lust slammed into Ryley. Only the stench of burning wood, along with the foreign grunts and moans of the creatures that had just murdered Ryley’s family, kept him from making a fool of himself by offering up his mouth for a kiss.
The heavy shadows didn’t let Ryley discern the exact shade of the stranger’s hair, but he guessed it to be somewhere between blond and brown. However, the color wasn’t what drew Ryley’s eyes. It was the untamed locks; its wildness only accentuated the dangerous aura that surrounded this man.
The fierce expression he wore sent a mix of need and trepidation through Ryley’s core. His eyes seemed to almost glow in the night as he warily watched Ryley as if on guard for anything, including Ryley causing them to be seen by the monsters that were starting to head their way.
Meghan.
The creatures were heading for the house. “My little sister is inside.” Thankfully, he’d been able to keep his voice to nothing more than a whisper, but Ryley didn’t wait for the stranger to help as he raced back through the trees toward the house.
A cry ripped through the air and he no longer cared who heard him as he yelled, “Meghan.”
He reached the back patio just as his sister threw open the sliding glass door with a creature too close behind her for her to have hope of escaping. Sharp claws grasped her arm, yanking her back.
Meghan opened her mouth to shout to Ryley, but the sound was cut off before a bloodcurdling scream of pain and terror was forced from her body.
“Meghan.” Rage seethed within Ryley, spilling out of his body in flames so hot they melted all they touched. The water in the pool that separated him from the house boiled. The glass doors shattered, and the metal frame turned molten as it dripped to the ground. A roar shook the house as the blaze of orange and deep red ignited the creature that had dared to assault his sister.
