Touched by a Sprite

by E. A. Reynolds

  “If you have them produce them, and I’ll call it a momentary lapse in judgement.”

  He chuckled. Sprites were dangerous to demons in so many ways, but demons could beat them in a game of wits when they tried. That’s why the old crone and Payten didn’t stand a chance against Creta.

  The demon was a good strategist.

  “They could be as dead as Snevil. We weren’t set up for surveillance, as I’ve already explained. The matron of the family wasn’t cooperative.”

  There was a brief silence. “Okay. Just get to work. Let me talk to Payten.”

  “With all due respect, ma’am, you’ll have to call her on her line. I’m nearly on E. Besides that, I don’t want her watery hands on my equipment.”

  “You’re going to sensitivity training when you return,” she said darkly and ended the call.

  He smirked. He used his phone to call Astarte, telling her to meet him.

  “So, what are we doing?” Trinity asked. “Our team is here, ready to get to work.”

  Kirkyn nodded to Payten with his chin. “Ask her. Wyatt Earp Junior’s here to take control.” He turned his gaze on Ennis. “She’ll need Baraq back here, because she’ll be short two.”

  “He’ll be better help in the city,” Ennis protested.

  “Two? She has you and Astarte, as well as me and five others,” Trinity protested.

  “Hey.” Astarte sauntered into the room with a folder.

  “I’m heading out,” Kirkyn told her. “Payten’s in charge.”

  “Leaving or getting to work?”

  “Leaving. The fucking sprites have got this under control,” he said. “I’ll take the truck.”

  She shrugged and handed the file over. “I’ll get my pack and meet you back here in five.”

  “Wonderful.” Kirkyn headed for the stairs with her.

  “Wait a minute,” Trinity said, grabbing his arm. “You aren’t going to walk off the job like a crybaby because you can’t be in charge. Man the fuck up. People’s lives are at stake.”

  “I won’t be around to witness the destruction,” he said. “So, what the hell is it to me?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “The dark sprites are as willing to kick the demons out as the light ones,” Darik said from behind him. “Tell us your plan, if you have one. We can get to work on it.”

  “Exactly,” Trinity said. “Ennis, talk to him.”

  “Okay, enough posturing, Kirkyn,” Payten said. “I prefer a verbal report, and we can talk before you form a team to head out to find Alisa and Blade. I want another team to go over the land.”

  Kirkyn gave her a cool stare. “Bancoo is here. He’s planted plants. He laid crystals to enable his team to more easily secure the property.”

  “Where are they? I know they haven’t all been destroyed,” she said.

  “Baylee told me you had a few of those crystals,” Clarity said as Baylee entered the lounge having changed.

  “Did he?” Kirkyn asked softly, and Ennis groaned. “You have your report, Payten. Bancoo’s already got a foothold in the next town. You better take all the help you can get at figuring this out and get yourself some sneakers, because I won’t be walking the land for you.” He gave her a nod.

  “Where are you going? I gave you a direct command.”

  “You’re not my boss, little girl,” he retorted. “Save your breath to converse with the old crone and Trinity. He’ll be of great help.”

  “We need those crystals,” Clarity said.

  “You’ll have to find your own,” he told her and disappeared up the stairs.

  * * * *

  “You have to get him back,” Trinity ordered. “He knows more about those demons than we do, and I’m guessing the sprites don’t have the knowledge either.”

  “I can’t,” Baylee replied. He wanted nothing more than to go running to Kirkyn and beg him to come back, and damn him, but it wasn’t just because of Alisa.

  He wanted Kirkyn for himself, and Baylee almost despised himself for not hating Kirkyn after all this time.

  “The only person who has half a chance is his mate,” Trinity muttered, and Baylee looked at him, shaking his head.

  In his heart, he knew Trinity meant him. However, Baylee didn’t want to deal with that right now, because Kirkyn had hurt him when he’d just walked away after making love to him without so much as a glimmer of regret in his eyes.

  “He’s acting like a pussy whipped mama’s boy because his boyfriend won’t talk to him?” Payten demanded.

  “Trinity, give the lady all the help you can,” Ennis said. “Darik, coordinate with the matron sprite to get the city ones involved. Keep me informed. I’m heading back to the city to be with my mate.”

  Baylee didn’t shrink back from Ennis’s stare, nor did he lower his gaze when Trinity looked over.

  “Astarte,” Payten called when the other woman came into sight.

  “Yes?” She joined them, a pack slung over her shoulder.

  “I need to know exactly what Kirkyn found, and I need you to talk to him,” Payten said.

  “I serve his family, not you,” Astarte retorted. “He said we were leaving, so we’re leaving. You want to make your career, do it on your own.” She gave Payten a dirty look and sauntered from the room.

  “Wait.” Baylee went after her. “Did I hear you right? You’re leaving?” Anger rose anew in him.

  “Yes. I’m sure your grandmother will figure this all out. If not, then, you might live through it.”

  “What about Alisa?” he demanded, grabbing her arm. “You can’t just let him leave.” Can’t let him leave me. He felt like a pathetic lovestruck school girl.

  He shouldn’t have kissed Kirkyn. It had been like being clean and sober for a year and taking a drink thinking he could handle it. God knew he couldn’t. He was aching for Kirkyn’s touch even now.

  She pulled out of his grip. “What about her? Give me one good reason why I should care?”

  “Damn you. She doesn’t deserve to die because he’s a heartless bastard.”

  “Ready to go?” Kirkyn asked.

  Baylee glared at him. “How can you do this?”

  He walked past Baylee. “I think we should take the scenic route home,” Kirkyn said. “Let’s get us a place to stay and head out in the morning.”

  “Fine by me,” Astarte replied. “Shame we had to leave here. It’s a pretty place.”

  “It is now,” Kirkyn said. “The lake will begin to rise in three or four hours.” He looked at Baylee. “That’s the first sign of the plants taking over. Slit your throat and jump in. It might stop it.”

  Baylee gasped, pain stabbing through him. His hand shot out and he punched Kirkyn. Kirkyn rubbed his jaw, his gray-blue eyes flickering with something unreadable before going to that bland stare Baylee hated.

  “Ready?” Kirkyn turned to his companion.

  “I should drive,” Astarte suggested.

  “Why? I could use the distraction,” he said and headed out.

  Baylee covered his face with his hands and a sob escaped him. The jackass was just going to let his family die?

  This was even worse than if Kirkyn killed them with his bare hands. Tears fell, hot and wet, burning his face.

  “That won’t help,” Trinity said. “Think. Did Kirkyn tell you anything that might help us?”

  “No,” he said, wiping at a tear. “He just talked about my blood and sprite vibrations being key, but he never said how.”

  “Then, you’re the best hope we have of getting him to do his job,” Trinity said. “You’ll have to get him back by any means necessary.”

  He shook his head bleakly. “I can’t. The song didn’t take this time.”

  “Shit,” Trinity muttered.

  “Why? What?” The man who’d come out with him put a hand on Trinity’s arm as he stared up at him imploringly.

  Trinity shook his head. “You’re not learning your lessons,” he said on a growl. “Pure demons don’t love, pe
r se, and your song is a reminder of your rejection of him.”

  “Ennis does,” the man insisted.

  “He’s in touch with his feelings so to speak, and I’m guessing most demons are to an extent,” Trinity said. “But when they retreat from that, there is only logic.”

  “He’s acting pretty illogically,” Darik muttered.

  “He’s hurting,” Trinity said. “And, Baylee, you aren’t helping. Kirkyn might let us die because you live here.”

  Baylee’s jaw dropped.

  “You can reach him. Tell him how,” Darik said urgently.

  “I don’t know Kirkyn, Darik,” Trinity snapped. “I have facts, not intimate knowledge of every demon in the world. Baylee, you know him. You know how to push his buttons. It’s up to you to make him feel again.”

  “He doesn’t trust me,” Baylee replied sadly. “He won’t listen.”

  “Then, we better hope the sprites have some ideas.”

  * * * *

  Two hours later, Kirkyn glanced around the hotel room. He’d gone back to town with the intentions of allowing Astarte to meet with Baraq and find out what he’d learned so far.

  The room was quiet, a second-floor suite, and Ennis stood across the room from him with a bottle of water in his hand. His face was tense, the worry clear.

  “Are you going to let them die?” Ennis asked. His tone vibrated with quiet rage. “I’m assuming you told Baylee about the lake because his cousin is someplace where she’ll drown.”

  Kirkyn gave Ennis a look. “Astarte should return soon, and she’ll tell me what Baraq has learned.” He had no intentions of just walking away from his job. He never left a mission incomplete.

  That wasn’t in the nature of a war demon.

  “I guess I was lucky. My mate wanted nothing more than to be with me,” Ennis said. “I can’t imagine how much it must hurt to have yours reject you. Is everyone in your family pure?”

  “Yes, so don’t attempt to appeal to my better nature,” Kirkyn told him coolly. “Because I no longer have one.”

  Ennis let out an amused snort. “You ever thought of just giving him time?”

  “The old crone will have him married off in an effort to produce another of the sprites like him.” He’d given him time, but time had only put more distance between them and made the demon desperate.

  “Those who can live in the human world as well as the Faery?”

  “The new sprites who can do maximum damage and take over the human realm.”

  “Or do good things and bring about change,” Ennis commented.

  The wheels in Kirkyn’s mind turned, and the idea he already had took further form and shape as realization dawned clear and bright.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered and then chuckled. “Get Darik and Trinity back here,” he said.

  “They’re needed out there,” Ennis said carefully.

  He shook his head. “If what just occurred to me is any kind of right, that’s the last place they need to be.”

  “The sprites won’t be able to fight off those demons alone,” Ennis retorted. “And if I’m reading your problem with the alpha wannabe right, she’ll incite the demons to move on the area sooner.”

  Kirkyn gave the other demon a curious look. “She’s gotten people killed aiding her kind in takeover of human land. The attacks were deemed necessary by the Council because she fabricated instances of aggression against her team.”

  “And you left your mate in her hands? I thought you loved him.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Bancoo reviewed the file on the female sprite now in control of the lands he sought. Her record was spotless in terms of the destruction she’d caused. However, those had been humans she’d negotiated with and made war on.

  He would have no problem dismantling her team of sprites without the demon there. Kirkyn had managed to send him and his teams running from every place he’d engaged them.

  After that, he’d managed to rid the areas of the plants left behind before they could do serious damage. There would be lasting effects, but no damage to human life.

  And that left them without a home.

  He pushed out a sigh and glanced over at the woman he’d chosen to be his queen. Her family was one of the most influential in Darth. Many of them would die because they were disbelieving of what was happening as the humans were of global warming.

  “Why don’t we leave him to this and go to Arizona?” she asked. “We stay and perhaps die at Lenno and Creta’s hands, or we live there. We might eventually be able to join the human society as scientists and fix this planet.”

  “We can’t even fix our own home,” he told her grimly.

  “No, but global warming and pollution can ultimately be fixed,” she said. “I already have ideas that will stop some forms of pollution to water.”

  “The plants, but they’ll have to be tempered,” he said. “That would take years of study.”

  “But as scientists, no one would think anything of the changes we’ll be able to effect, and if we can’t save this planet from its inhabitants, we can still change it,” Naressa said.

  He knew she was right.

  “I only ask that you bring my family there,” she said.

  Bancoo nodded. Her request wasn’t one he couldn’t handle.

  * * * *

  “I’ll try to get a meeting with him,” Payten was saying to Clarity. “I’ll make him realize he’s no longer in whatever backward realm he came from and he’s under Council jurisdiction.”

  “Kirkyn said they were demons from Darth,” Trinity commented. “I don’t know much about demons from demon realms, but I don’t think they’re going to just run away because you order them to.”

  “Not when they’ve already begun to poison the area,” Darik said. “I think—”

  “I didn’t invite your advice,” Payten told him bitterly. “I know what I’m doing. Contrary to Kirkyn’s belief.”

  “What about the crystals?” Baylee asked. “I’ve seen what they can do, and what is your plan for getting rid of the plants already taking hold out there? The air already smells different.”

  “We can kill the plants,” she said, exasperated.

  “How?” Baylee demanded. “We’ve already tried a few things, and nothing is working. Kirkyn was the one with the plan. You need to swallow your pride and get him back before we end up dead.”

  “Baylee,” Clarity snapped.

  He stormed out without a word. Kirkyn. I hate you for doing this.

  Baylee stepped outside and drew in a deep breath. Then, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and glared at it before inputting a number. He didn’t know if it had been changed or not, but he decided to take a chance.

  “How can I help you?”

  “It’s Baylee.”

  The silence that stretched out made his heart pound. His fingers grew clammy on the phone, and his stomach tightened in fear.

  Baylee frowned as his gaze fixed on a flicker of color. The shields around the hotel danced.

  The movement of a small man had him pushing away from the wall. The figure was barely four feet tall and he held a hand up in the direction of a tree, which bowed under the stress of the power’s call.

  “The shields are going to be torn down,” Baylee said more to himself as he moved a few steps forward.

  The tree pulled back against the energy and leaves were shaken loose.

  “He’s attacking the tree?”

  “No, he’s not, Baylee,” Kirkyn said in his ear. “He’s attempting to control it. What else do you see?”

  “It’s hard to describe,” he said, squinting. “Flecks of color that could be chips of rock or something.”

  “Go inside and tell the old crone to reinforce the shields now. I’m on my way.”

  “Hurry, Kirkyn. I have a feeling Payten is going to fuck this up.”

  “That would be an understatement,” Kirkyn said, and Baylee shivered at the intimate softness of his voice. “Baylee,
I left one crystal in my room. Get it and crush it, sprinkling parts of it near the entrance. Mix it with your blood first, and then give Trinity part of that. Tell him and his people to sprinkle that around the perimeter, especially near the lake.”

  “You wouldn’t be doing this to hurt me, would you?”

  “When I’m ready to kill you, it’ll be face to face, but right now, your safety is my priority,” Kirkyn told him. “Go now. If I’m right, Bancoo’s buddy has sent out his team for a recon attack.”

  “How much blood?”

  “You’ll know when it’s right,” Kirkyn told him. “Go.”

  He ended the call and rushed inside to the tune of raised voices.

  “Gram.” He pulled up short in the lounge. “They’re trying to break the shield. We need to reinforce it.”

  Clarity was on her feet. “Payten, change and give us a hand.”

  “Okay, but I’m not versed in large coverage shields,” she said. “My team usually takes care of that.”

  “Sounds like Kirkyn was right about you,” Baylee muttered. “Trinity, I need to talk to you a minute.” He was heading for the stairs and hoped Trinity followed.

  “What is it?” Trinity asked urgently. “We need to shore up the protections as soon as possible.”

  “I called Kirkyn to ask for him to come back, and I saw the shields going down and he told me what to do.”

  “You trust him?” Darik asked with a frown.

  “Baylee, the reason Kirkyn is going to kill you is pretty simple,” Trinity said. “He’s going insane without you. Your energies have joined, creating a harmonic bond that, once broken, will destabilize the remaining humanness in him.”

  “Your love is keeping him sane and emotionally stable,” Darik said as he moved into the room.

  “Absolutely right, sweetheart,” Trinity said. “So, what did he tell you to do?”

  He didn’t know that, but Baylee didn’t know what to do with that information.

  “Why’d you break up with him?” Darik asked.

  “I found out he was a demon,” Baylee admitted in a small voice. “Back then, I wasn’t prepared to handle anything beyond what I was.”