His saucer red eyes blinked, and when he cocked his head to watch her face, he looked like a demented cross between Dobby and a Gringotts’s goblin from Harry Potter.
“The false king is yer father. How can we trust ye?”
Eesa coughed again as one of the boggarts helped her rest on a soft tuft of grass, and the small female’s face winced with the effort.
“Gareth, can halfling Sidhe use their light to heal?”
He shook his head. “As far and I know, our magic is for defense and attack.”
“Halflings might not be able to heal the small one, but I can.” At Rémy’s announcement, the grove went quiet.
Xax craned his neck to look at the tall vampire. His lips pulled back over his teeth in warning.
“Uhm, maybe that’s not such a great idea right now,” Gareth cautioned. “You’re not exactly supernatural species of the month.”
Rémy ignored him, taking a tentative step toward the hogboon goblin. Xax raised his hand, and blue magic sparked deadly. The energy bomb flew without warning and Rémy blurred out of the way.
The attack shattered a small bounder, sending rock shrapnel flying and the lesser Fae running for cover.
“Holy crap!” Lane and Gareth dove for the nearest tree.
Gareth covered her with his body as residual energy snapped and fizzed. “Goblins are no joke. They have abilities innate to their breed and pack quite a punch.”
“I know you have no reason to trust me or my nature, but I speak the truth,” Rémy tried again. “I promised with bent knee I would see justice done for you and your mate. She suffered when her blood was taken, and only fate knows what else.”
“Do not speak of it! Ye lips are not worthy.”
Gareth peeked his head around to watch the hogboon ready with another bomb. “Hang on, love.”
Another ball grew in the hogboon goblin’s hand.
“Vampires take blood, it’s true.” He ran for a tree, sparks singeing his cloak before the sizzling ball exploded in the grass where he last stood.
“But it’s also true we have the power to heal!” Rémy lifted a surrendering hand and stepped from cover into the open. “I’m done running from you. As an elder, I take responsibility for the actions of the undead that hurt your mate. Attack if you must, but I’m telling you now my blood can heal. Will heal.”
Xax’s ears flicked and his red eyes narrowed, but the tilt of his head showed he was listening.
“Even a few drops will replenish and do no harm.”
Eesa coughed again, struggling to sit up. “Xax, let him approach.”
The hogboon looked from her to the vampire, uncertainty warring on his face with the need to protect.
“I will not touch her, if that is your wish. Eesa can take a few drops from my wrist directly onto her tongue.”
Eesa winced, beckoning them both, and Xax glanced to the other lesser Fae before giving Rémy a nod.
The elder vampire knelt beside the small female. Using his thumbnail, he pierced the vein in his wrist and held it over her mouth.
The little hogboon goblin hesitated at first, but then licked her cracked lips as blood droplets fell. She grasped hold of Rémy’s wrist and licked the wound, drinking directly from his vein until he gently moved her back.
Her ashen skin now held a lush brown sheen, and her flesh plumped. Dull eyes shined bright red with flecks of green and she took her first easy breath. Holding her hand out to Xax, he helped her to her feet.
“Thank ye,” he said, offering the elder vampire a stocky bow.
Eesa tapped him on the shoulder and then pointed toward a nondescript boulder at the edge of the lilac grove.
He nodded, and then closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he lifted his mate’s hand to his formidable mouth. He kissed her knuckles, and then wrapped his long, clawed fingers around her hand.
“Come.” He gestured for Lane and Gareth to follow. Sparing a look for Rémy, he placed a fist over his heart.
Rémy copied the move. “Don’t worry, my warrior friend. I will protect your mate and your friends until you return. Those that did this to you will meet their final death either by my hand, or by the hand of the Fae halfling at your side. Though I hope she saves the honor for me.”
“If I can, I will,” Lane replied, tapping the canvas bag strapped across her chest.
“Godspeed…princesssss.” Rémy winked, mimicking the hogboon goblin’s speech, and he and the lesser Fae watched the three disappear into the unknown.
Chapter Seventeen
“A concealed portal right in the middle of a State Park.” Lane watched as Xax cut a narrow ribbon in the shimmering membrane warding the entry from prying eyes.
The jagged edge of the rock face seemed monolithic in size and shape, and she wondered if it was naturally occurring or if the Cinn ag Taitneamh had placed it here by design.
A crack spread, wide enough for a man to squeeze past sideways, and Xax stepped through the opening first. When he gave the signal, he stepped to the side, allowing Lane and Gareth to follow.
Lane’s skin tingled as she stepped through the entry and her body shivered. Once through, she wiped her arms and legs with her palms, smoothing her hair as if a film had somehow stuck.
“Ew, that’s got to be by design,” she said, wiggling around.
“Lane, what the hell are you doing?”
She made a face, still smoothing her hair. “You don’t feel that?”
“Feel what? The transition?”
“Is that what you call it? God, it’s like walking through a spider’s web, soft but instinctively icky. Man, if the wards don’t stop you, that creep factor totally does the trick.”
He laughed. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Ugh, no thanks.”
The hogboon goblin turned, lifting a hand to the crevice from the inside to begin the incantation to close the portal.
“Xax, don’t. Leave it open for now.”
His ears flicked. “I cannot. Ye can’t enter further into the Middle Course if the portal be open to the human plane.”
“Middle Course?”
Xax bobbed his furry head. “Yes, mistress. Be what this is. Middle Course. Neither Earth nor Faerie. It be in between.”
“Xax, I understand your predicament, and we appreciate everything you’ve done for us so far, but if you close the rock portal and we get separated or something untoward happens, Lane and I will be trapped.”
Gareth swung an arm toward the myriad tunnels facing them ahead. Xax seemed to consider his point, his red eyes gleaming in the semi-dark.
For a moment his eyes flickered orange and then he smiled a sharp-toothed grin. “Do ye know the Ballad of Tam Lin? Tis a long poem.”
“Yes, why?” Gareth nodded, but raised an eyebrow at the odd question.
“Have ye a silver blade? Best with runes and sigils.”
Gareth nodded, sparing a perplexed look for Lane.
The hogboon goblin tapped the side of his heart-shaped head. “Clever it is, and magic it holds. Say the final lines of the lament and trace a five-pointed star in the air. Any portal ye want will open.” He nodded, giggling to himself. “Tis Goblin magic so be afeared. The portal once opened can suck ye straight through to the other side and keep ye hostage. Tricky it be but use if ye must.”
Xax then closed the rock portal and then turned with a little skip. Since they entered the Middle Course, the little hogboon had energy and his skin seemed to glow even in the dim light.
“You like it here, Xax?” Lane asked.
He bobbed his head, holding his palm toward a wall torch. The end flamed immediately, and Xax motioned for Gareth to take it.
“All Fae folk take sustenance of spirit from Fae-kissed ground. The Middle Course is as close as we exiled can be to our home.”
The tunnels spread in a labyrinth, dark and wet, and Gareth handed the torch to Xax, motioning for him to take the lead.
Lane opened her senses, loo
king for any sign of Eve. She exhaled hard, shaking her head.
“What’s the matter?”
She puffed out another breath into the damp. “I can’t seem to focus. I need to sense Eve, or we’ll end up going in circles.”
“That’s because you’re relying on your witch side. You’re a Raven, but you’re also a halfling Sidhe, and being where we are, you’ll do better tapping into that half.”
She snorted. “I don’t think this is the place or the time for us to get down and dirty, Gareth.”
“I claimed you, love. Your power is right there under the surface for you to try whenever you want. You don’t need me anymore.” He paused with a gorgeous crooked grin. “Well, not to use your magic anyway. For everything else and for toe-curling, mind-shattering—”
“La, la, la, la…I get the picture,” she said singsong, giving him a shut up now or else look.
Xax glanced over his shoulder with a long-toothed grin and a snicker on his lips. Lane cocked back, punching Gareth in the shoulder.
“Ow!”
“See?”
He rubbed his arm. “Don’t be so uptight. Middle Course is halfway to Faerie, and everyone knows the Fae do it magically.”
“Gareth, I swear.”
He laughed out loud. “Okay, okay. To save myself some unnecessary bruising, how about you practice your magic. Try an energy ball. Open your hand and concentrate on your palm. Focus. Imagine heat and magic in a blue and white swirl.”
She opened her palm as they walked, and a tiny spark formed, but then went out.
“That’s a good start. Try again, only this time expand it. Hold the thought.”
Lane focused again, and this time the spark held. It swirled in her palm like a tiny blue pulsing galaxy. She blew out a breath, and when she did it spiraled up, growing and coalescing into a sphere.
“Holy shit! Gareth! Look!”
He nodded. “See, I told you. Now wing it at the wall and not my shoulder.”
“Ha. Ha.” She cocked back, hurling the energy ball against the wall. Rock crumbled in a scorched mess and Xax yelled.
“Are ye crazy? Do ye want to bring the entire substrate down on our heads?”
She flashed what she hoped was a sheepish apology but squealed when Gareth swung his arm around her shoulder.
“Now try a repelling light.” He let go of her long enough to palm a handful of rocks from the explosion. “Just concentrate like you did earlier, but instead of thinking destruction, think prevention. The light should be pure yellow and should buzz in your palm rather than pulse.”
She held her hand out again, and this time chanted the word repel over and over in her head. A white light formed, and as it grew it took on a buttery sheen.
It hummed across her skin, and she grinned. “Like holding a glowing vibrator.”
“Yeah, well. Don’t even think about using it the way I know your dirty mind is thinking. You’ll burn your lady bits off.”
With a silent wince, she nodded. “Gotcha. Not a toy.” Holding her palm up, she barely had time to react when Gareth lobbed a rock at her head.
“Hey!” Instinct kicked in and she ducked. “Send up a smoke signal or something to give me a heads-up there, Golden Boy.”
“Nope. What would be the point of that? An opponent isn’t going to telegraph his intentions. You have to be ready.”
Without warning, he threw another, but this time she recalled her power and changed the rock’s trajectory toward the wall instead of her head.
“Very good. Your Sidhe nature is kicking in on a core level. Now try to use that same intuition to sense Eve.”
Gareth whistled, grabbing Xax’s attention ahead. Xax stopped, and he and Gareth waited while Lane focused her Fae gifts to sense the witch.
She closed her eyes and held both hands out to the side, elbows close. A dull white light emanated over each hand, and it spiraled, circling her skin. The power spread up her arms and across her chest and down until it covered her whole body.
She cocked her head, listening. As though moving on autopilot, she turned on her heel, walking like a glowing Halloween ghost until she stood in front of a stone expanse.
Gareth moved to her side, taking her hand. He hissed as her power surged, clinging to his skin as it merged with his underlying essence.
If ever Xax’s fearsome grin could seem approving, it was now. “Warded it be, but tis no wall. Tis a room.”
Lane’s eyes snapped open. “Eve’s inside.”
“Our combined blood crumbled the wards at the Red Veil, so maybe we should give that a try.”
Gareth fished in his pocket for the mini ritual knife. With a flick, he unfolded the jackknife and held it over her hand.
“I’m really starting to hate this. I’m going to look like a teenage cutter.” She winced and held open her palm.
“Stop grumbling. With your Fae abilities, you’ll heal even faster now.” Gareth sliced her palm and then did the same to himself.
Lane snatched the blade from him. “I’ll hang onto this, thank you.”
They clasped hands and like before, power sizzled and burned between them. She mumbled the same spell she used at the vampire club and the two let go of each other to smear the wall with their mingled blood.
The stone groaned and cracked, and then dissolved to nothing. No explosion. No earth fissure to swallow the rock expansion. Just poof. Gone.
“Well, that was anticlimactic.” No sooner did the words leave Lane’s mouth than Leith’s undead trio stepped from the shadows.
Hissing, they attacked, the first backhanding Xax, sending him flying into the tunnel wall. The little hogboon goblin hit with a sickening crack, slumping to the ground.
“Eve! She’s shackled to the bed! Gareth! Grab her!”
Eve screamed, but Lane kept her eyes on the three vampires as they advanced. Her body shimmered with power, attracting them like moths to a flame.
With a snarl, the first advanced. He moved in a weird shuffle with lips curled over stained fangs.
“Lane! Watch out!”
Gareth raced for the sword on the wall. He yanked it from its bracket, cracking the pommel. “Damn it to hell!”
He fisted the crucifer grip with both hands. Sigils sparked to life despite the crack. He lifted it high with a battle cry, and the blade swung with a spark slicing through Eve’s chains.
Freed, she clamored to the corner of the room while he pivoted around to help Lane.
“Over here, leeches!” He sliced the blade over his hand, letting the blood well and drip to the floor in a crimson path. “You want Fae blood, come and get it!”
They turned in unison, their eyes yellow and streaked with black veins.
“It’s like an episode of the fucking Walking Dead,” Lane circled around the other way.
“Yeah, except with fangs.”
Gareth gripped the hilt tight, holding his ground until the first vampire closed in with a snarl. He swung the blade, severing its undead head from its shoulders. The others shrieked but kept advancing.
Lane dug in her canvas bag, pulling out a thin metallic net. It glistened in her hand like liquid silver. She swung the precious metal over her head high and wide before throwing fishing net style over the remaining vampires.
They crumpled to the ground, their pallid flesh sloughing in gray ribbons under the silver net.
“Is there anything else in that bag I should know about, Mary Poppins?” Gareth exhaled.
Resting the sword against the wall, he dragged them into the tunnel corridor, leaving them for Rémy. The other had already turned to ash, but at least he’d have these two to use for amends with the Weres.
“Check Xax. I’ll get Eve,” she said, scanning the room’s shadows for her friend.
The room was suddenly alight, and her hand flew to shield her eyes as she squinted, blind.
“Hello, Lane.” The voice that spoke her name was definitely male and definitely not Gareth’s.
“Who are you
?” Her eyes adjusted to see a tall, blond, ethereally beautiful man standing over Eve with his fingers twisted in her dark hair.
He stared at her the same way she stared at him, assessing and wondering. There was no question who he was. They had the same eyes. The same lithe frame.
“Leith.” His name was a whispered curse on her tongue.
He inclined his head. “I knew it was only a matter of time before you figured out how to find your friend.”
Letting go of Eve’s hair, he gave her a rough shove toward the far corner. Her friend cried out, and the sound of her pain tightened Lane’s jaw.
Outside, Xax got to his feet despite a small red trickle from the gash at his temple. He shook his head, holding onto Gareth’s arm, but the two turned at Eve’s cry.
“Lane!” Gareth let go of the little hogboon goblin, rushing for the room again.
Leith’s eyes jerked toward the broken wards, and in seconds white fire shot from both hands, knocking Gareth back toward the tunnel wall.
“Gareth!”
Leith waved one hand, the motion sending Lane crashing toward the pallet bed. Another blitz of pure white fire pinned Gareth to the wall. Then the flash grew, as though feeding on Gareth’s own power until there was nothing left. He was gone. No scorch marks. No ashes. Nothing.
“No!”
Pain sluiced through her veins and a shriek ripped from her core. Rage as white hot as Leith’s blitz coursed through her veins. She turned for the sword against the wall.
“I wouldn’t if I were you, my dear.” Leith tsked, holding a short blade to Eve’s throat.
Her fingers curled around the hilt. Anger and fear swelled. What should she do? With a snarl, she lifted the sword and plunged it into the dirt. The ground rumbled, opening into a deep crevasse. Dirt and rock crumbled into the gap, but Leith simply laughed. A wave of his hand closed the rift, the ground swallowing the sword with it.
“Little girl, there is so much you need to learn. So much I will teach you once you’re at my side.”
Her body shook with rage and pain. Heat scorched her palms and she hurled two fireballs at his head. He deflected them with ease, smirking as they barely singed the walls.
Bewitch Me: The Red Veil Diaries: A Witchy/Fae Romance Page 14
