by Claudy Conn
* * *
“Bloody hell!” he uttered caustically. “A compass to find a Fae Hallow?” He said, staring at it, “It is pointing south … lass.”
“Well, it isn’t supposed to do that exactly,” I said. “Is it pointing to Dublin? I feel it wants me to go to Dublin … Trinity. It’s a feeling I’m getting from it. We should take it there. Rysdale said to let it guide me, so that’s what we have to do.”
“Aye, then, love—to Dublin and Trinity,” he said and took my hand.
“Wait—how is it you know Rysdale?” I asked.
“Know of him. Never had the pleasure of meeting him, but even in our circles he is something of a legend, especially after the war.”
“War—which one?”
“The last one.”
“Okay, but what do you mean, ‘your circles’?” I quizzed. “Want to tell me just what your circle is?”
“I do, but not now,” he answered softly.
“When?”
“Soon,” he answered, grinning like a boy.
There was a boy in this ancient immortal. When that boy came to the surface, it lit up his face and got to me. Does he still want Tara, I wondered fretfully. If she came back to him, would he set me aside? “What are you, Kian of the House of Hara?”
“Ye know what I am. In yer heart, ye have always known,” he answered.
I felt a frown take over my face. What was that supposed to mean? All I knew was that he was an immortal with amazing powers. Did I know what he was? Somewhere in my subconscious, did I know?
He clucked his tongue and said, “Never mind that now.” He shook his head. “What we have now is a problem to solve. Shall we get to it? In a little more than a month, the ritual of Samhain will be upon us. We can’t allow Banks to use the magic of that night to further his plans, and with or without the Hallow he has enough dark magic to do just that.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
He kissed my fingers as he whisked us into his shift.
We stepped out, and I saw the grassy square at Trinity, hemmed in by three buildings. Students were on the move, scurrying around to their classes, calling out greetings and jests to one another. Once upon a time, I had dreamed of attending Trinity. Gone was that dream with so many other goals, lost in the need to avenge my family’s massacre.
No one around us noticed our sudden appearance, or if they had no doubt they thought it a ‘trick of the eye’.
He looked down at me, and I saw a certain excitement in his now blue eyes. I realized that he had used Glamour and once again looked totally human. A trigger tickled my brain. Human Glamour was something witches could easily and readily use to improve their appearance, but so could—
I lost the thought as he demanded, “Hold out yer compass, lass, and let’s see where it takes us”
I did as he asked, and once again it glowed. This time not only did the arrow point the way, but I also felt a definite pull. I broke from him as I used super-speed and allowed the compass to lead me.
He shifted in beside me almost at once, and we stood together looking down the length of Harcourt Street. Vibrations tickled my nerve endings, magical vibrations. The pulse of something unnatural was in the air, and we both stared at an aged red brick building overlooking the wide sidewalk.
The windows were dark, and there was no visible shop entrance, at least not to the human eye. Neither of us were human, though, so we saw it at once, exchanged a glance, and stepped forward.
A sharp pain suddenly shot through me as the wards constructed to keep out supernatural beings shocked me immobile.
“Tara enacted this ward,” he said with a grimace. “Therefore, I can take it down.”
Their bond was so great that they could work on one another’s spells? Jealousy, sharp and tearing, coursed through me.
He flicked his wrist as he chanted in a language I did not recognize. Once again he took my hand, and we shifted.
~ Ten ~
I STEPPED ONTO a wood floor whose expanse seemed endless. The room was decorated in the first style of elegance in hues of soft earth colors.
Candles were lit throughout—on wall sconces, along shelves, and on the many occasional tables of dark, highly polished wood that decorated the room.
A huge fireplace dominated the far wall where dark maroon leather sofas created a cozy sitting area. What the hell?
We were no longer in Kansas.
I knew immediately from the sensation I got that we had stepped into another realm, one that Banks had found (no doubt thanks to Tara) to use when he needed to escape the Human Realm.
The compass Rysdale had given me had done its job.
Magic wards had not kept us out of the portal that allowed us to step through to Banks’ private hideaway, and although the chamber we stood in was decorated in welcoming tones, I felt dark magic pulsing all around me. That was not welcoming at all.
I looked up at Kian, who was not looking at me. He had produced his Death Sword and held it ready.
“I can’t believe Tara has done all this for him,” he said hoarsely. “Can’t she see what he is?”
I swallowed my jealousy. Did he still love her?
Hurt traveled through my blood, and a black cloud took over my thinking. Then I nearly gasped as one of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen stepped out of a shift and walked towards Kian.
Her black hair reached her waist and swayed as she moved. Her face was at once youthful and yet womanly. Her lips were luscious. Her eyes, so deep and blue. They were alien, but I didn’t see a hint of anything ancient in them. In her soft summer sundress of white lace, she was, I thought, breathtaking. Then, what must she do but smile at Kian as she went towards him, hands outstretched.
My heart took a very sharp stab, and I realized I was holding my breath.
“Kian … I have missed you,” she said softly.
He met her halfway and hugged her to himself, and in that moment I felt lost. The air that went into my lungs was too painful to describe.
Her voice was musical when she laughed, and she said, “So then, why have you come?”
Focus, I told myself, but her voice, tinged with a light Gaelic accent, tore through me agonizingly.
“I have missed ye, Tara. It has been long—too long,” he said.
I turned my back to them. I closed my eyes. I heard his voice, soft and loving as he spoke to her. “Tara … ye don’t know what he is. He is all wrong not only for ye, but for anyone. Tara, Banks is a monster.”
I had moved away, but I heard her stomp her foot and turned back to stare at her as she wagged a finger at him. “The only wrong one is you. The only monster is you, coming here to upset me.” She seemed to regret her words and touched his cheek, and I wanted to rip her hands off him.
She looked at him imploringly. “I have chosen him. You should accept that, Kian.”
All at once she noticed me and arched a curious brow. “Well now, look at all that flaming hair … what is she?”
“This is—”
“I’m Harley,” I said, walking towards her. “I am here to tell you that the magic you are enabling Banks to use is hurting more people than you can imagine.” If she turned from Banks, she would turn to Kian. I bolstered myself for that eventuality.
All at once, I heard a voice bellow out, “YOU!”
Banks arrived through a side door and stepped towards me.
I felt a sneer take over my mouth as I stepped to meet him, my fists itching to plant themselves in his flesh. Not on his flesh—but in it. That need throbbed inside me.
He said, “I left you for dead. You died. I know you died.” He seemed astonished even more than he seemed angry.
All my hatred came welling up, but I controlled it.
I gave him a derisive once over. He stood there in his shiny black leather coat over a white shirt and black leather pants, cocky and self-assured. I thought him grotesque.
The itch to kill him on the spot made me twitch from h
ead to toe. “That’s right, I died because you killed me.” I glanced at Tara. “Are you listening? Just before my twenty-first birthday, your lover cold-heartedly killed me and everyone I loved.”
I saw the shock on her face. Ah, she had no idea what she had enabled. I turned to focus on her for the moment. I needed to shift her away from his influence, and that would take some doing.
I told her, as I looked over my shoulder at Banks, “I died slow, Tara … just like he wanted me to. I died with my mom, her heart torn out and thrown beside her dead body only a few feet from me. I died after watching my dad’s head torn off by him.” I glared from him to her. “You gave him the means, didn’t you? You didn’t know why he wanted his pack to have the ability to shift into wolf during daylight, but you gave him that power, and he used it to massacre my entire family, my clan.”
“But … but why would he do that?” Tara asked me. She took a small movement towards Banks and asked, “Is it true … did you do that?”
“She is a liar!” he snarled.
With super-speed I was on her and put both my hands to her forehead before she or Banks could stop me.
“Tara, see the truth. See my memory. It is undeniable.”
I pushed the ugly memory of that day into her mind, and she saw it all.
She nearly collapsed, but Kian was instantly there to hold her steady, frowning darkly. Could he see the memories I had put in her head? How could he do that? Were they so close? I felt sick as I saw his hand on the side of her head, giving her comfort.
Through the memory I allowed her, Tara could see it all. She saw her lover, Banks, mutilate my mother and father. She saw his pack tear through my clan. She saw me die—she saw and felt the horror of that day.
Her face contorted with disgust, and she pushed me away and turned into Kian’s waiting arms.
I am not sure how to describe what I felt. Satisfaction that I had ended her relationship with a monster? Yes, but also grief for myself, as I believed I had now lost Kian to her.
In that moment I was vulnerable. Watching them, I forgot about Banks. How could I have been so stupid? That moment was all it took.
Mistakes are made because emotions get in the way of logic. I had done what I had sworn to myself I wouldn’t do. I had allowed myself to fall in love before my mission was concluded, and falling in love had left me … in trouble.
I forgot Mike’s rule to never, ever give my back to an enemy.
My world tilted as a silver knife dipped in poison cut the side of my neck open.
I was immune to the poison of silver. It had no effect on me, but evidently Banks had prepared something new. He was just the sort to cover his bases. Just the sort to plan for the chance he’d encounter a supernatural immune to the silver.
The unfamiliar poison sped through my blood, and though I fought it, though my magic worked to heal my body, I felt darkness come over me … and though I was unwilling, although I fought it, that darkness took hold.
* * *
Someone called to me: Wake up, Harley—wake up!
I knew that voice. It was mine.
That voice was something I had built into my psyche.
I could feel my body repair itself, take control of the poison and neutralize it.
How long had I been out?
Where was I? It looked to be cave-like enclosure—no, more of a tunnel. It was damp, slimy, and dark.
I focused my vamp eyesight and saw that Banks had somehow linked my left wrist to a chain hooked into a natural stone wall.
I smirked to myself. Chains wouldn’t hold me. I yanked. Nothing. Like what? I yanked again. Still nothing, and then I saw through the dim light that both the chain and the cuff holding me were made of gold. A memory clicked into my head: the Golden Wiele!
Tara was not only an immortal. She was a Fae, or if not a Fae then she had access to Fae equipment. This was a ‘Wiele’ made to hold Fae in place and keep them from shifting. My mother had often told me tales of the Fae.
Okay, what I needed to do was figure out how deep the pin was embedded into the concrete wall. I scanned it, but at my back I sensed someone’s approach.
Banks.
He laughed, and the sound was maniacal.
Suddenly, I knew where I was. I had never been here, but I knew the history of Dublin very well. These were the famed tunnels that ran under the Customs House and fanned out in the city. An escape route in ancient times, some said, for smugglers and their like.
Okay, I had to remain calm. Taunt him. So I put on a derisive face and said, “You don’t know what you’re dealing with, and now you won’t have your little Tara to help you, will you? She didn’t know what you were doing. Now she does.”
He laughed again. “I don’t need her anymore. I have what I want. I have the Hallow.”
For a moment my heart stopped, and then I remembered that Kian had said he wouldn’t know how to use it. I taunted him again. “So what—you really are an idiot if you think a Fae Hallow of such power will respond to you—a hybrid.”
“It will respond. I am working on that … and I am so much more than a hybrid now.”
I discovered the nothingness in his eyes. They were all black—completely black. Something more than Carsen Banks inhabited his body. He had gone over to the dark side, but it was more than that.
“Now, it is time for me to leave, but first, I am going to slit your throat and wrists. You will bleed out and be helpless. I would like to watch you lose your life’s blood. I would like to stay to set you on fire. But I haven’t the time. I’m going to leave you to the rats.”
This couldn’t be happening. I was supposed to avenge my parents. I was supposed to end his life … but there he was on top once again. No!
In one swift movement he was on me and carrying out his threat.
I watched the blood pour from my wrists, felt it run down my chest, and wished I could have seen Kian one last time …
But he was with Tara.
~ Eleven ~
FATIGUE ENVELOPED ME—the kind that saps your strength and leaves you falling into an abyss.
Shame slapped me—the kind that told me I had known better than to give myself to a man whose heart belonged to someone else. The kind that sneered at me and told me I should have put my mission first and avenged my parents and my clan.
This wasn’t how I had envisioned as the result of my meeting with Banks.
I had let my guard down. I had put my feelings for Kian ahead of my goal to eliminate Carsen Banks.
How could I have been so inept?
This was on me. Stupid, stupid me. With all my power, I had turned into a simpering miss, distracted because of love.
I had one advantage left to me. Banks didn’t know exactly what I was. I had the ability to heal faster, so much faster than when I was just a vampire. Yes, but would I heal before I lost too much blood? I didn’t think so. Even with the power of three, I could feel my blood gushing out of my body faster than I could heal the wounds.
The poison was a mere distraction to my senses—it meant nothing, and I knew that my inner witch had already identified the antidote and fought off the toxin. As I stared, however, at the pool of blood pouring out of my dangling wrist, I knew I was in deep shit. No one would know where I was.
Rats!
First one, then two, and I had just enough strength to kick them away. More of them came, and it was all I could do not to scream when two, then three started crawling up my leg.
No … oh no …
* * *
I managed to use the last bit of strength I owned to call on my magic and scatter the rats. I hung there as my wounds sealed themselves. It felt like an interminable time. My hope, and I am always hoping, was that though he loved Tara, Kian would try to save me.
It couldn’t end like this. I had to get to Banks and destroy him and his murderous pack. I had to. I willed myself to stay awake, though it was difficult for me to even see past the haze before my eyes.
A
ll at once, I had to blink. Was I hallucinating?
My immortal stood before me, a hulking, beautiful Titan.
Was he? Was he really here?
His curse echoed in the cavernous tunnel as he punched a hole in the concrete wall behind me.
This was real. He was really there.
I tried to say his name, but nothing came out of my parched lips. I was sadly dehydrated.
Another moment later, he had freed me from the wall but not the magical gold chain. I felt his wonderful arms go around me as he held me close and got me to my feet.
Heedless of the fact that a gold chain dragged heavily from my wrist, he scooped me up and held me against himself.
The loss of blood must have made me too light-headed to remain conscious, for suddenly everything vanished. When I awoke, I was in his bed.
Tara was bending over me, putting a lukewarm wet rag to my face. It smelled of rose water. She then rubbed it over my chest and whispered, “Ah, there you are, back with us.”
She turned to Kian, who was hovering over her, his face drawn with worry, and told him. “She is a fighter, your hybrid.” She sighed. “I don’t know what the queen will say to all this, but oh, Kian, I do like her.”
Like, what?
I didn’t speak because I couldn’t. Kian’s hand was on her shoulder as he said, “A moment, Tara … I need a moment with my lass.”
She lowered her lashes and moved out of my line of vision.
He plopped down beside me and touched my cheek with one finger. He said, his voice hoarse with emotion, “You had me sick with worry, lass. I don’t remember ever feeling that way before.”
Tara returned and put a hand on his shoulder.
Seeing him pat her hand made me want to die.
He was lost to me, and that one thought overrode all others. I would heal, and I would go after Carsen Banks and his homicidal pack. Afterwards, I would just crawl into some cave and die.
He put his hand over my eyes and in the voice of many said, “Sleep, sweet love, sleep.”
