by Casey Morgan
Chapter 6
Keira
The next morning, I woke up in the exact same position I fell in the night before. My hair was tangled and clinging to my parched lips. My clothes were carelessly thrown all over the room. It was not good. My tongue felt like I had licked a cactus. I was also more than a little hungover.
I rolled up to a sit cross-legged and it felt like my head was going to crack in two. The pain was awful. I put my hands to my temples and rubbed. Maybe I was more hungover than I thought.
After looking around the bedding for a few minutes, I found and reached into my purse. I had bought some five-hour energy stuff that I heard would cure a hangover. So, I drank that with some aspirin. Then hit the shower.
The day before was such a blur. The wedding and the reception were all a jumbled mess of images in my mind. I tried to think back on what exactly happened, but the amount I drank, and the magnitude of my hangover made that impossible. There was dancing and cake. Four handsome elves with dark hair and dark eyes. And Irish Whiskey, lots of Irish Whiskey. Some one was drinking out of a candle holder and a strange old man was dancing. Then he was laughing at me. Or was that last part a dream?
By the time I got out of the old-time bath tub shower in the bathroom, I was feeling much better. I was, however, starving. A bunch of greasy calories should finish off this hangover. After getting dressed and putting on my face, I went down to the breakfast room. Since Hennessey House was a B&B, breakfast was included, and I could already smell the bacon cooking. Hooray!
The formal dining room was near the pub on the first floor. It had a huge carved wooden table that sat close to twenty people. The whole room was decorated in a cozy way with plaid red and green napkins and curtains. The old wrought iron chandelier that hug over the table was wrapped in evergreen garlands, giving the room a holiday feel. It smelled like Christmas tree.
I poured myself a cup of coffee at the sideboard and slid into one of the wooden chairs. A few other guests were mingling around. I recognized a some from the wedding the day before. For a while, no one approached me, and I was left to sip my coffee in peace.
Suddenly, pain ripped through my head. An electric shock hard enough to make my hands shake and my cup spill.
“I heard someone saw the McDonnells drinking in the square,” an elf murmured to his companion. “They weren’t invited to the wedding, so the swine threw their own party!”
As the elf’s companion laughed, a second bolt of electricity zapped through my head. This blast was hard enough to make me dizzy and my eyes water. Oh right, the curse. Fuck. It wasn’t a dream.
“I heard that Fiona McDonnell is so embarrassed by her family that she no longer leaves the house,” the second elf commented. “Can you imagine the shame she feels having given birth to that lot?”
The pain blossomed in my stomach this time. It caused me to lurch forward and knock my coffee cup completely over. Coffee ran down the table and soaked the flannel table cloth.
“Stop!” I begged the elves. “Please stop talking about the McDonnells!” My breath came in ragged pants.
The two elves turned and stared at me. They were completely clueless to the predicament I was in. To them I was just some strange witch that had dropped her coffee and was eavesdropping.
Ryan, one of Shanna’s husbands, walked in with a serving dish full of eggs. The tall blonde elf took one look at me and quickly saw that I was in pain. He set the container full of eggs down and grabbed a roll of paper towels.
“Ye okay, lass?” he asked a bit surprised. “Do we need to call a healer?”
As I tried to sit up, he tore off a few towels and started cleaning up the spilled coffee.
“The McDonnells put a curse on me last night during the reception,” I explained.
“Those witches are a bad lot,” Ryan hissed.
His words sent more pain through my body and I started twitching. “Stop!” I begged, loud enough that most of the other guests were gathering and listening. “It causes me pain to hear the McDonnells slandered. Please stop talking about them!”
Ryan stood back and looked me over. “Aye, that’s a bad curse, that is,” he said in a hushed voice. “Let me get me aunty. She usually knows how to treat such a thing.”
He hurried out of the room and I slumped in my chair. The two elves who were talking before sat near me looking concerned.
“Can I get you a drink?” one asked.
“Orange juice,” I said. “And lots of it.”
Now that everyone knew what was going on, the McDonnells were no longer talked about and I started to feel better. I really needed to figure out a solution to this curse problem. I couldn’t start convulsing just because of gossip. Never knowing when or who was going to bring the bad witches up was going to cause me way too much anxiety. And what if the curse worked long distance? Would I topple over in New York when someone from Luck’s Hollow spoke ill of Ailbe McDonnell?
No, this wasn’t going to work at all. I needed to find a counter spell to this curse and I needed to find it fast.
Connor, Tavish, Ronan, and Seth walked into the dinning room. I wasn’t expecting them and seeing the four brothers brought a huge grin to my face.
“What is this?” I said standing and walking over to give them each a hug.
“We all wanted to be the first to be here,” explained Connor. He frowned and glared at his brothers. “But we all got here at the same time.”
“Yeah, because ye were going to try to leave without us,” accused Seth.
“Weren’t you going to do the same?” said Tavish. He reached over and pushed Seth slightly.
Seth knocked Tavish’s hands away and gave me a big grin. “Yeah, but it would’ve been funny when I did it,” he explained.
“All right then,” said Ronan. “Where’s the food?”
I sat down with the boys and had a quick breakfast of eggs, topped off with some bacon Brody managed to quickly whip up. The greasy mess in my stomach finished off whatever hangover I had left, and I felt great.
“Oh, my God, that’s so much better,” I said grinning from ear to ear. It was so exciting to be surrounded by hot elves who wanted to date me. “I passed out of my bed last night. Spent the whole night face down in the sheets.”
“It was that whiskey Connor kept feedin’ ye,” said Seth. “Ya dirty bastard. Trying to get the lady drunk, I see.”
“If ye don’t like my company,” suggested Connor. “I’ll be happy to drive the lady to sightsee alone.”
“I’m the one with the car,” reminded Seth. “What kind of car is it that ye boys drive? I forget.”
“I have a Vespa,” said Connor, slightly hurt.
“That’s more than the baker boy has got,” laughed Seth.
“My bicycle costs over 2K,” revealed Tavish.
“Really?” said Seth, shocked.
“Aye,” he said. “Why do ye think I’m in a such great shape, dough boy?”
“Ah, ye wee prick,” laughed Seth. “I walked right into that one.”
I was hoping that having breakfast together could be a sign that the boys would be willing to date me in a group. Judging by the way they were zinging each other, I wasn’t sure. I guess friendly competition was okay. I just hoped it didn’t get out of hand.
I took another sip of coffee and frowned. “I’m afraid that sightseeing will have to wait,” I explained to them all. “The curse the McDonnells put on me is getting worse. I really need to get that fixed before we can go on our date. I’m really sorry.”
All the boys frowned.
“The McDonnells are…” Tavish started but I cut him off with the wave of my hand.
“No trash talking,” I insisted. “It hurts.”
“Ye poor thing,” Ronan crooned. “We’ll help ye with the curse. What does that entail?”
I smiled and took his hand. “I’m not quite sure what to do. This is way above what I can do, magic-wise.”
Ryan came back followed by a large elf
woman in a pink floral dress and white apron. This must have been his aunt. At the appearance of the older elf, all my guys stood and gathered behind my chair.
“Aunt Bridget, this is Keira.” Ryan waved a hand at me. “I told her all about your curse.”
Bridget looked at me and sighed. “That’s a bad curse those bastards put on ye. Going to’ take a right bit of work to get it gone.” The roundish elf put her hands on her hips and looked me up and down.
The four boys crowded behind me. All looking over my shoulders and regarding Bridget with a certain amount of reverence. The elf woman took their presence in stride. She didn’t comment on the number of men with me. With two witches in town already committed to polyamorous relationships, many of the town folk didn’t bat an eye to that sort of behavior.
“Ye best bet is to find Devin O’Mally…” Bridget continued.
“The leprechaun?” Seth asked, in a shocked and hushed voice.
I glanced over my shoulder and into his amber colored eyes. I had never met or talked to a leprechaun before, from the quizzical expression on Seth’s face, I gathered that folks around here didn’t talk to leprechaun’s much either. Which seemed odd for Ireland.
Bridget tutted, and I turned back to her. “Devin’s a good egg,” she explained slowly, like she was talking to a child. “If anyone would know how to lift that curse, he would. I’ve sought his advice more than once. If you don’t abuse his trust or ask for money, leprechauns can be decent folk.”
Tavish ran a hand through his dark hair. He and his brothers didn’t seem to believe Bridget, but I felt like there really wasn’t any other option. If the wise elf woman told us to talk to the leprechaun, then that’s what we would do.
I reached out and put a hand on the elf woman’s arm and smiled at her. “Thank you for the advice. How do we find Mr. O’Mally?” I asked her.
Bridget brought her hand up and scratched her chin some. “He has a farm to the northeast of town proper. Out by the ruins of the old church.”
“Okay, I bet we can find that.” I looked to the boys for confirmation. Connor nodded enthusiastically.
“Devin uses an invisibility spell on the farm, lass. So, it’s up to him to find you. Best to just drive to the church’s ruins and wait,” Bridget explained.
I nodded and thanked her again. Asking the boys to wait outside, I ran upstairs to grab my coat. Leaving the bed and breakfast, I walked out the door immersed in my thoughts.
Of course, there was no guarantee I’d end up with any of these guys, much less all four. They were definitely getting me to forget about Manny. Who could choose out of these hunks? They were all so attentive toward me and as much as I didn’t want to admit, I was attracted to them all. I wanted to have sex with them all. Why was that so bad? Am I a bad person for thinking that? It wasn’t like I didn’t make it clear to them, right? I’m not forcing them to come along, am I?
“Keira,” said Connor, snapping his fingers at me. “Ye all right there, luv? Ye went away for a minute.”
“Oh, sorry, jet lag, I guess,” I said. “Before we get to the church, I need to hit a shop that sells a prepaid cellphone. Otherwise, my carrier’s going to screw me on the roaming charges if I have to use my phone.”
“Two stores down,” offered Ronan pointing. “I can show you.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I’ll be right back. You guys, be nice to one another.”
As soon as I left, I glanced back, and the boys were all fighting with each other. They were probably mad that they weren’t helping me out alone. Oh, well. They were all amazingly cute. Were there any others? No, Keira. Four’s enough. At least these four guys know each other and are brothers. I couldn’t possibly parlay a fifth. That’s just plain greedy.
I popped into the shop and got my prepaid phone. I switched off mine and threw it into the bottom of my bag. Now I wouldn’t have to contend with Manny’s ridiculous attempts to win me back. Who was he kidding? I don’t think he really wanted me anyway. It was like he was more upset that we broke up, rather than he needed me or loved me. I think he was just insulted he didn’t get tired of me first or something.
When I walked back to Hennessey House, the boys suddenly stopped talking and turned to me. Their exchange appeared to be a bit heated, but not overly so.
“Everything all right?” I asked. “We’re all good here?”
“Yeah-yeah,” assured Seth. “We’re all mates. We were just talking like friends do.”
“Actually, we were arguing over who was driving,” admitted Ronan.
“Ronan,” Seth muttered, putting a hand to his forehead. “Why’d you go and say that?”
“Because it’s true and we should get her input as well,” he said and then turned to me. “I have a minivan for work. Holds more people. We’ll be more comfortable if I drive.”
“Fine then, drive,” said Seth immediately. “I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. I just didn’t want to come back all the way over here to get my car.”
“It’s no trouble,” assured Ronan. “C’mon. We’ll take a little tour on the way over to the ruins.”
We headed around the back of the building. Ronan’s mini-van looked a bit old, but he assured us it would probably start. Once we got on the road, I felt better about that statement.
Along the way, Ronan pointed out some other places where activities were happening in Luck’s Hollow. Once we got this curse taken care of, there was lots of fun to be had.
Chapter 7
Keira
We reached the ruins of the old church on the outskirts of town, but there wasn’t much there. Two of the stone and mortar walls were mostly intact and covered in vines. The rest of the walls were now only low piles of rock, three to four feet tall, that were easy to see into and around. An arch or two sat in the tall grass surrounding us, looking like magical doorways into other realms, but in reality, they held nothing.
We walked around the ruins. There was no evidence that anyone had been here recently. The grass didn’t even look trampled down. Although, since I had never met a leprechaun before I wasn’t sure what to look for. This place, however, looked like it had been deserted for quite a while.
Feeling a bit discouraged, I leaned against a wall and tapped my foot. “I suppose we just wait,” I told the guys. “Bridget did say that Mr. O’Mally would find us.”
Connor immediately piped up. “I can give a tour,” he announced.
He was so excited that his face was beaming. So, I smiled and shrugged, giving him the go ahead.
As we walked around the ruins of the church, Connor rattled off the various assorted facts associated with it. To be honest, it was a bit of a blur. While Connor knew his history, he wasn’t much of a presenter. He was just so excited to be in his element, he was rattling off information very quick. We all decided just to go along with it, nodding and smiling, because we didn’t want him repeating the information.
Probably the most interesting thing about the ruins was the fact that after the Vikings burned the church, it was abandoned. But later, farmers and locals would steal the stone from that church building to build houses and walls and whatever else they were building in the area. Connor was part of a group that had recovered some of the original stones and brought them back to where they belonged.
I found this funny because the church was over a thousand years old, but some of the other structures who used the stones were two hundred to four hundred years old. They said that Hennessey house was close to five hundred years old. It was like the other ones were considered “new” and could be pulled apart just to get at the old stones that were used for this church. This church that no one used. The whole process seemed crazy to me, but Connor was very excited about it. And he was cute when he was excited.
Connor was pointing out a feature of an arched window in the nave, when I decided to reach out and take his hand. His bubbling enthusiasm had gotten to me and I had to touch him. At first, he seemed a little shocked, his cheeks
reddened, and he stopped his lecture. I leaned forward and kissed his stilled lips.
Seth grunted behind me. “If you’re sharing those lips, then give em to me too.”
I shrugged, turned away from Connor and kissed Seth. His lips were a bit firmer than his little brother’s, but still soft. Suddenly, I wanted to see how the other two boys’ lips would feel as well.
I held out a hand to Tavish and when he put his hand in mine, I pulled him close. His lips were buttery like the cakes he baked. Their touch was soft and delicate.
Ronan was the last to try. I rushed into his arms. He put his hands on my waist and pulled me up to my tiptoes. His kiss just brushed my lips at first. Then he kissed me again more deeply and with more passion. His tongue sought mine parting my lips, tentatively at first and then desperately. I lost myself a bit in Ronan’s kiss.
But really, each kiss had been magical. It was going to be hard to choose between the boys.
I pulled away from Ronan. I was quickly going to be carried away by my desires and we had come here for a very different reason; the curse. I needed to find the leprechaun.
They elves were all crowding around me now. They looked like they were ready for more kissing or wanted to get their hands on my body.
“Not yet, boys,” I breathed, putting my hands up to slow their movements and backing towards a wall. “Remember we might not be alone.”
“Or we might be,” Seth said winking. “I don’t see any leprechauns around.” He advanced on me, as did the others.
They were all smiling and had desire in their amber eyes.
“Just one more kiss, darlin’,” said Ronan, reaching for me. “Then we will get back to searching. I promise.”
I giggled and backed away some more. Tavish leaned forward and tried to grab at me. I jumped away, just out of his reach. He lurched forward and started chasing me. Then the others did as well. I screamed, giggled, and ran. It was like we were little kids again and playing tag on a playground.
