by Claudy Conn
Banks stood sneering at the Titan. He laughed, and the beautiful woman being dragged away by Kian still pulled against his hold as she snapped at him, “I hate you. Do you hear me? This is over. I don’t need you. He is everything I want.”
The guy she called Kian looked hurt and angry, but he wouldn’t let go of her wrist.
“Hate me, do ye?” Kian snapped at her. “After all we have been through? Ye hate me?” He shook his head. “Och, lass, ye know as I do that just isn’t true. Well, no matter. I love ye. I love ye enough for us both.”
Well, he certainly had an Irish accent, I thought, transfixed by this scene.
Banks growled, his face an ugly smirk, “She wants me, and I mean to give her what she wants.”
I stared at the image of Banks. I wanted to put my fist through the Orb and into his chest and tear out his heart just like he did to my mother. Had it only been hours ago?
I wanted to chop off his head with a dull ax. I wanted to set him ablaze. I wanted him to live through the torture until there was nothing left of him.
I didn’t realize how badly I was shaking until I felt Mike’s arm go around me. He took my hand and made me touch the pink crystal again.
I calmed down. Pink crystal is potent to a supernatural.
I knew I had to learn everything I could so I could use it against Banks. I knew fury would make me act rashly. I knew I needed to be calm when I found and confronted him.
Then the mist in the Orb blurred, and the vision it had given us was gone.
“Bring it back, Mike. I need to figure out where and when this was.”
“I can’t. The Orb shows us only what it will, but it has been showing me that particular scene over and over for days,” Mike said quietly.
“What does it mean? Has it happened already, and if so, when?”
“I think it happened some weeks, even months ago.”
“Is it Ireland?” I asked.
“I am certain it is,” Mike said. “Didn’t you hear the music—Irish music? It was as though the Orb were telling us.”
He was right—I had heard it, a lilting sound that came not from the scene but from the Orb. “Yes,” I answered, feeling some excitement, pleased to have one piece of the puzzle in place.
Mike sighed. “My gut tells me that is where Banks has gone now.” He shook his head. “I put out feelers for him, but it is as though he has transported … magically … and vanished.”
“How could he do that?”
“Not certain, but what I do know is that the next few weeks are going to be very rough on you because I mean to train you from morning till night—till you drop. When we are done, there won’t be any Olympic gymnast move you can’t execute, any jump you can’t take. There won’t be a weapon, ancient or modern, you won’t know how to use. You will be a toned killing machine because you will need to be.”
The door flew open, and Tanya shouted, “Harley!” She hurried to me and took me into her arms, and that did it. I let go.
What happened then wasn’t pretty. I broke down, and everything I had been holding back since I arrived at their place came bursting out of me. I sobbed from somewhere deep inside, and my body was racked with my anguish. When I was done, I was so exhausted I couldn’t move.
Mike picked me up and took me to their guestroom, and Tanya covered me with a thick quilt. Her long, silky black hair fell across my cheek, and I found it oddly comforting as I closed my eyes and wished all the horror gone. Tanya put a damp rag that smelled of rose water to my face and whispered ancient Shatchwaanie words. After that, well, everything went dark.
~ Two ~
I PUT DOWN the suitcases and took one last look at myself in the mirror. What I saw was a stranger. Oh, same long red hair. Same amber eyes, although they now seemed lit with green and something else—determination. Yet, a stranger looked back at me. Inside, I was different.
I stared at myself and wondered when my body had become so sculptured and fine. I had always had a trim and neat figure, but now …? Well, I was so much firmer and somehow oozing with sexuality. Tanya said it was because I’d turned twenty-one and reached my magical maturity.
In addition to that, my emotions were accompanied by an array of sparks—dangerous sparks that contained magic. I had—for the most part—learned to control them.
I wasn’t sure what that was all about, but Mike and Tanya said only supernaturals could actually see it.
I’d been trained to use everything I had, and Mike had told me a few days before that I was ready. He said I had turned into a dynamite killing machine, and the sorry truth was that was what I had become. I wasn’t sorry, though; I was damn glad of it.
I could almost taste his blood.
Tanya and Mike had done some quiet investigating during the month I stayed with them and learned that Banks did, as Mike had told me, totally vanish from the area.
Some of his lesser beta pack members had taken over my clan’s homes and thriving businesses, but their alpha leader was nowhere to be found.
Oddly enough, my parents’ home remained empty. No one had moved in there.
We asked the Orb to locate Banks, and it showed us Dublin. It showed us Trinity, but it did not show us Banks.
If he was in Dublin, we asked each other, why? Why Dublin? What was there?
“Fae Relics,” Tanya finally concluded. “He is after Fae Relics.”
“What for?” This worried me.
“Fae Relics have more power than any of us can imagine, though I’m not certain he knows how to tap into one if he finds it,” Tanya said thoughtfully.
“You will be careful, Harley. He will have beta guards at his sides and watching his back,” Mike said grimly.
And on that note, off I went. Luckily, money wasn’t an issue. My parents had seen to that.
I would have to be careful and keep a low profile. I didn’t want Banks to know I was alive until the time came to strike at him.
I wanted to use the element of surprise when I confronted and destroyed him.
Tanya didn’t want me to go. She wanted me to wait for him to return and take him on with them as backup. I wasn’t about to risk one more person to Banks.
I couldn’t have any more of my dear ones hurt or killed. I just couldn’t. This was something I had to do alone.
* * *
Okay, I wanted to blend in with the humans, so I spent my first night in Dublin in a luxury hotel not far from Trinity. It was handy and busy, and I wouldn’t stand out as an American, as quite a few were there milling about. It was also within easy walking distance to a few places I was certain vampires would congregate. I waited for the sun, which wasn’t shining brightly, to set.
A little reconnaissance couldn’t hurt.
I spent an hour chatting up a few vamps and got the latest gossip. The word on their scene was that a new hybrid was in town and that he was dangerous to the vamp community. Most of the vamps I talked to warned me to keep my head low.
I got thirsty.
As I obviously couldn’t go through customs with packages of blood, and I couldn’t hunt in the city, I stopped by a butcher’s shop.
No problem—no raised brow. Pig’s blood was used in making their ‘blood sausage’.
I got a few pints, returned to my hotel room, and after a long swig stuffed the rest into the fridge. I spelled the fridge not to open for anyone but me. I made sure the ‘do not disturb’ hung on my doorknob, as I didn’t want maid service either.
As it happened, being a witch hybrid had many pluses. I could go much longer without the need or craving for blood, and lately I seemed to need much less blood than I used to. A side-effect from my mom’s magic? I wasn’t sure.
I replaced my jean outfit with a black leather jacket, white tank top, black leather oh-so-tight-fitting pants, and black boots to die for with four-inch heels. Killer boots, I thought, since the heels were silver. In my inner jacket pocket I had a switchblade of silver that when opened was a good eight inches. I meant
business.
It was nine in the evening when I hit Temple Bar, which was in full swing. I meandered about, stopped on a corner, and pulled out my phone. I carried a picture that Mike had managed to obtain of Banks, and I sauntered up to a vampire standing just inside the doorway of a dark pub.
He, like the others, obviously thought I was just a vamp like himself. He sniffed the air around me, pulled a face, and said, “What—couldn’t ye wait for the night to get a meal, lass? Pig’s blood?”
I shrugged. “Hungry. Now …” I held up Banks’s photo to his face. “Seen him?”
“Aye.” He nodded. “Bastard American hybrid. Coming here, threatening us. Blackguard!” The vamp spat onto the ground.
“Where does he … er stay?” I asked.
“No one knows.” He pointed with his chin. “But he’ll be here soon, with that little immortal bitch of his. Come on, lass … come in and have a Guinness with me.”
“Sure … a bit later,” I said and turned away. I was meandering slowly through Temple Bar when suddenly and from behind a strong arm went around my waist and a hand covered my mouth.
A dominant male voice, low-throttled and full with authority hissed in my ear, “Don’t fuss, lass. I’m not going to hurt ye.”
I was lifted off the ground, and then suddenly we were moving through space and time. Then he—not I—landed on his feet. I—I was still in the air, dangling above the ground.
I bit his hand. Hybrid here, sharp fangs. Basic, not magical, but expedient.
He howled out a curse and demanded, “What the bloody hell did ye do that for?”
“What did I do that for? Who the hell are you, and what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing—putting your hands on me? And put me down!”
He complied, and I turned to face him.
I couldn’t believe it. It was the Titan! He was the one in Mike’s Orb. Then I went from staring open-mouthed at him to taking a quick scan of my surroundings. Where was I? Sarsen standing stones made a circle around us. We stood in the middle of its grassy plain, and Dublin was nowhere in sight.
How did he do that? What was he besides an immortal that he could transport us like that?
I stood now as quietly as I could while I considered my situation.
He stood like a giant, big and strong, with his blue eyes blazing at me.
I couldn’t help but note that his tawny hair framed his too, way too handsome face in a most eye-candy way. He wore a long-sleeved jean shirt, faded Lauren jeans, and black leather boots with silver tips. Whoa. He was hot! I mean, so hot. But I wasn’t there for hot. I wasn’t there for ‘crushing’ on some hottie. Definitely, hot was out of the question. I told myself I was not impressed with him, even as my body bent closer towards his. I was aware immediately that I was drawn to him as though pulled by magnets right up against him.
He took a step closer, and my blood began to rush around inside me. My breath definitely hitched, and my body screamed, Touch, touch, touch. I wanted things I hadn’t thought about in the last two months—erotic things.
I swallowed and with sheer force of will put out my hand as I took a step back.
He made an exasperated sound and said, “Ye little fool. I had to get ye away as fast as I could. Ye have been asking questions up and down Temple Bar, making a spectacle of yerself. Don’t ye think he will know if ye keep at it?” the Titan growled at me.
I went very still and tried to act nonchalant. “Who—he?”
“Who do ye think, lass? Don’t play games with me, and we’ll do.” He eyed me from the top of my head to my ankles and then back up again, lingering at my breasts, and I realized my nipples were hard and pressing up against my white tank top, right through my lacey bra, begging him to reach over and … I pulled my tight leather jacket closed, and he smirked. He actually smirked.
“Where are we?” I asked as I looked around for a street. There was none. It was grassy slopes for as far as the eye could see. Could I make a run for it? My speed was absolutely faster than it had ever been.
“Ye be at the Tartan Dolmens where he can’t hear or see us,” he said quietly. “Now, do ye want to tell me who ye are and why ye are looking for Banks?”
There it was, out in the open.
~ Three ~
“BANKS?” I SAID, NOT wanting to give anything away. I knew only one thing. His woman had left him for Banks, and he had tried to stop her from leaving. This thing with him and Banks was personal. So was mine, but over the last month I had learned from Tanya and Mike a few things about Banks that made it more than that.
Banks had gone to Ireland to obtain a Fae Relic for a reason. There was a big picture. We hadn’t quite figured it out, but Banks with more power, well, that was just an unacceptable threat.
Bottom line—I didn’t trust the gorgeous Titan in front of me. I no longer was capable of trusting anything or anyone, other than Mike and Tanya.
He eyed me and said impatiently, “Don’t play games, lass. Ye know who I am talking about. I’ve been watching ye work Temple Bar and yer fellow vamps all day.” He leaned in and took a long sniff of me before I could jump away.
I managed to give him a warning look and objected to his sniffing. “Hey!”
“Ye smell of clover and heather. How is that when ye are clearly a vampire?” he asked.
I glared at him.
He sniffed the air without leaning into me then, and it was as though he tasted the air as his tongue licked his sensual lips. He said, “Aye … a vampire that drinks animal blood and …” He smacked his forehead. “Right then, ye have wolf. Nae, it isn’t just wolf, but shifter—but yer real scent comes from …” He grinned, evidently proud of himself. “Witch. Ye be a white witch.”
What was this guy? Immortal, yes, but what kind of immortal?
I casually looked around, and as I turned back to him, I took a quiet but long sniff of air. I didn’t want him to notice and as easily as I could told him, “And you …” He was delicious and smelled of pine, sea salt, and vanilla. “What …? Are you Fae?”
“Am I?” he answered. “Now I’m not certain what makes ye say that, but we’ll let it go since I don’t mean to confirm or deny.”
A twitch worked my body as his gaze swept slowly over me. I was physically drawn to him and had to fight to hide it.
“Did ye like it, lass?”
“Like it?” I truly had no idea what he was talking about.
“My scent?” he answered, and there it was—a cocky, arrogant smile that snapped me back to myself.
“Oh, puh-lease! Don’t flatter yourself,” I told him.
“Well, what is it ye Americans say? Ah, yes, crush. Don’t be crushing on me, lass, for as lovely as ye are, and ye are that, I don’t have the time for romance.”
“Again, don’t flatter yourself …” I thought it was time to drop my bomb. “Er … Kian O’Hara.” Oooh, I knew that I had surprised him!
He raised both brows and eyed me questioningly. “Now how would ye be knowing m’name, Harlow McDagus?”
Okay, flush hit right back. I chewed my bottom lip. He had followed me around Harcourt and Temple Bar, so he must have followed me back to the hotel and discovered my name. He was an immortal, perhaps a Fae, and they had lots of magic tricks.
“They call me Harley.” I tried to sound unconcerned.
“Answer m’question, Harley,” he insisted. “How do ye know m’name?”
And then the world went black!
* * *
I couldn’t see a thing and stood immobile. This wasn’t just a dark night.
A moment ago we stood beneath stars and a crescent moon. Now … nothing, just pitch black. I couldn’t see my feet on the ground or my hand in front of my face. I knew—I tried.
The Titan managed though. He took the hand I was holding in front of my face and said, “Och, aye then, Tara … what have ye done? Can’t ye see he is using ye?”
“Tara? Done?” His hold on my hand was tight—never letting go tight. I tried
to pull away, but there it was; he wasn’t letting go.
“Aye, she has put a spell in and around Dublin,” he answered, and his voice held deep disappointment.
“But … we aren’t even in Dublin?”
He didn’t bother to answer me, so I asked again, “Where are we?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, and I heard him chant something in what sounded like the ancient Gaelic my mom used when implementing magic.
The darkness wasn’t natural, and when the Titan was finished, we once again stood beneath the moon and all the bright stars. It was a clear night. My vision as vampire, wolf, and witch was exceptional at night. Once again, I could see the five-foot-high dolmens surrounding us.
“Whoa,” I said. “Did you just …?”
“Aye, I was able to eliminate the effects of Tara’s spell in and around us, but in Dublin it is still dark. We have to go there at once.” He ran his free hand through his glorious tawny locks glinting in the dim light and added, “At times she is no more than a wayward child, but in the end, I know I can get through to her.” He shook his head. “Right, then, off we go.”
He was talking about the woman I had seen him with, in the Orb. He referred to her as Tara. She was the woman who had left him for Banks. She had told him she hated him, but he still wanted her back.
Something absurd nipped at me—like what? Jealousy? Ridiculous, but there it was flying and buzzing around my head, taking nips out of my flesh.
What the hell?
“Can you override her spell?” I asked.
“Aye, that I can, and that I will.” He already had my hand in his and pulled me in close. I shuddered with sensation, the wrong kind of sensation as I felt his steely body. Lust—sex? Really? My head and body, both purring for him and, yes, wet … I was wet and wanting.
He eyed me sharply for a moment and asked, “Are ye ready, lass?”
