Blood of Destiny (Witch Fairy #6)

by Lamer, Bonnie

  Sentences like that sound so normal nowadays. I’m standing in front of my angry ghost mother, who has now been joined by my angry ghost father. The way he’s looking at Kallen, I think he’s been plotting his slow death as well if we came back married. You know, there used to be a time when my family solved its problems without violence.

  “Can we come inside and explain?” I ask, trying to make my eyes big and doe like. I know she can’t resist me when I look like this. I can already see her angry façade starting to crumble.

  She’s not going to go down without a fight, though. “Not until you tell me who that is?” She points her translucent arm towards Ray.

  Yeah, kind of forgot about him when the familial death threats started. “Um, he’s a Fallen Angel. He’s going to stay with us for a little bit.”

  “You certainly do take a lot for granted,” a cool voice says from the doorway. “And you, my grandson, know how much I loathe uninvited company.”

  I’m hoping Kallen fields this one. I turn my doe eyes on him. I get an annoyed look in response. But, he turns to Isla and says, “Yes, I am aware of that, Grandmother. These are extenuating circumstances. If we do not comply, Xandra will lose her wings.”

  “Wings?” Ray says from behind us. Now it’s Kallen’s turn to look sheepish over letting too much information slip out. “What do you mean, wings?”

  Isla gives him a look that would subdue an attacking tiger. “You, stay out here. You two,” she says to me and Kallen, “get in the house, right now. This better be a damn good story.” She spins on her heels and storms into the house with Mom. Dad is apparently on sentry duty, because he stays behind when Kallen and I follow them into the house. This is going to be fun.

  Everyone retreats to the kitchen, our favorite spot for discussing things. I don’t know why. It just seems more personal, I guess. A little too personal at the moment. Sitting down at the marble topped island counter, I try to figure out where to start.

  Apparently, I don’t need to because Isla turns to Kallen. “Where have you been? We have been worried sick.”

  That’s confirmed by Tabitha when she walks behind him and smacks the back of his head. “You are an ungrateful child making us worry so.”

  Kallen rubs the back of his head as he tries to lean out of smacking range. “I apologize. We did not mean to leave so suddenly. We had no choice. We were sent to the Cowan realm by an Angel artifact.”

  Considering our crazy lives, you’d think everyone would go, ‘oh, okay, that explains it.’ But no. We get blank stares and complete silence as they wait for Kallen to continue. Okay, some of the stares are more doubtful than blank.

  “It’s true,” I add for good measure. Too bad there aren’t crickets in the background. This is the perfect situation for them to fill the void of silence.

  “How did you come into possession of an Angel artifact?” Isla finally asks. Mom seems to be content to let her do the grilling.

  I turn pleading eyes to Kallen, hoping he’ll save me from having to explain again, but he shakes his head slightly. Traitor. With a sour look in his direction first, which the back of mind is telling me is undeserved but I’m ignoring it, I turn to Isla and my Mom. I’m really glad Dad stayed out on the terrace at the moment.

  The words pour out of my mouth in an almost unintelligible gush. “Because of the Apsaras magic Kallen and I had sex because the residue of their magic makes you do things that you really want to do even if you weren’t planning to and I panicked afterwards when I saw our rings glowing which makes me really stupid since I love Kallen so much and I want to be married to him. So I made a deal with an Angel who just happened to show up after Kallen fell asleep. He agreed to not record what we did in his history record so it’s like it never happened which is why you guys don’t see our rings glowing. So now it’s this magically kept secret which I definitely regret agreeing to especially since it made it so that Kallen can’t even remember what we did but I can’t change it back or we’d both be in trouble. So now he wants me to do favors for him and I can’t tell any of the other Angels because like I said we’d both get in trouble. So I can’t get out of the deal without losing my wings and who knows what else.” I clamp my mouth shut as hard I can, but it doesn’t do any good. I can’t keep the next words back. “And I might be pregnant.”

  Blank is definitely not the word that I would use to describe their faces now. Not doubtful, either. I’m pretty sure they believe every word that I just said. I turn scared eyes to Kallen, who looks just as scared, and he comes behind me, wrapping his arms around me and resting his chin on my head. I feel like he’s wrapped me in a cocoon of safety and I love him the more for it.

  “We tried to rectify the situation with Dagda, but he refused to marry us,” Kallen explains. “Then the Angel returned and gave Xandra the artifact. It almost immediately sent us hurtling to the Cowan realm.”

  “Damn right he refused to marry you,” an angry male voice says from the door. “He has no right to allow my daughter to get married without my permission.” That shade of red I turned in Ireland? It was nothing compared to this. My dad just heard me say I had sex for the first time and that I might be pregnant. I’d crawl under the counter and never come out if it wasn’t solid underneath. Kallen drops his arms and moves to my side, only holding my hand now. I think it’s a show of respect to my dad but I wish he hadn’t moved.

  “Jim,” Mom floats to his side and puts a hand on his shoulder.

  Dad reacts the same way I do when Kallen does that to me. “Julienne, I will not be shushed. Our daughter is too young to get married! I may not be able to prevent them from having sex, but I can damn well keep her from making what could be a huge mistake. She’s met ONE boy. One. And she wants to marry him!”

  Good thing Dad’s looking at Mom and not Kallen. I think any affection he once had for my dad is gone. At least for the moment.

  “I hope I am not intruding,” Ray says from the doorway.

  “As a matter of fact, you are. This is a family matter,” Tabitha says, rising from her stool. I think if he comes any closer she’s going to smack him in the back of the head.

  Ray nods his head. “I understand that. Unfortunately, the volume of your discussion makes it as easily heard from the terrace as from here. As I am not familiar with the area, I am leery to stroll about. Therefore, I thought it best not to continue eavesdropping.”

  Tabitha’s about to say something, but Ray speaks first. “I have had the opportunity to observe this young couple over the last two days, and I have to say, I have rarely seen a love as strong as theirs. As an Angel, I have had the opportunity to observe many great loves over the ages and all of the characteristics are here. Love was made to be a tricky business to make true love possible. Therefore, wrong paths are sometimes taken. Many believe they have to,” he pauses a heartbeat, “lose at love several times before they know what they truly desire. That is simply not the case. The love that these two feel for each other would be the same if they had chosen hundreds of partners before meeting each other. In each heart, there is room for one true love. There may be other loves along the way, but the heart knows when it has found the one. These two young people enjoy each other’s company, they share humor and worry alike, they protect each other, and most importantly, they give to each other a love that is pure. A love that comes from that part of the heart reserved for true love. There simply is no room for doubt on the subject. I have looked at true love, and this is it.”

  Wow. Ray just spiked to the top of my favorite people list at the moment. Not only has he defended us, he’s managed to steal the voices of everyone present. Not the way I do it, with magic, but with words. I sneak a peek at Kallen and he’s looking at Ray in a whole new light as well.

  After a moment of complete and utter silence, Tabitha stands up. “You look like you haven’t had a decent bite to eat in years,” she says to Ray. “Sit down and I’ll make you some supper.”

  With a broad grin, Ray sits down at
the counter. “Thank you, ma’am. I would appreciate a bite to eat.” Turning to Isla, he says, “I am afraid that I am in the dark as much as Xandra is regarding my presence being necessary here, but I would love it if you could see it in your heart to allow me to stay. I will prove myself to be helpful in any number of ways – odd jobs around the house, keeping up your immaculate landscaping, perhaps even building you a coach that truly expresses your power and beauty.”

  There is no way that Isla’s going to fall for that dribble. She’s opening her mouth to speak, and I’m tempted to cover my ears. I’m afraid of the language she’s probably going to use. “I am sure that is not necessary, but you are welcome to stay.”

  Now, it’s my mouth hanging open. I look up at Mom and Dad, expecting them to be fuming over Ray’s interruption, but they’re off in the corner now whispering like crazy to each other. And I don’t think it’s about how to kill me and Kallen. They don’t even look mad anymore.

  Catching me looking at them, Dad gives me a sad smile. Taking Mom’s ghost hand in his, he leads her back to the counter. With a deep breath, he looks at Kallen, not me. “I was out of line before. I know that you love my daughter and she loves you. If it is what you truly want,” he looks at me now, “then you have our permission to marry.”

  I’m pretty sure the hinges on my jaw have stopped working. I don’t think even WD-40 could make them close my mouth again. They’ve all gone crazy. Ray is working some weird mojo magic on them and they don’t even feel it. Even if I haven’t felt him pull any magic since we got back, he has to be.

  “Can we get back to the favors I owe this Angel?” I ask, feeling the need to change the subject. I don’t know why I sound snarky, but I do. For some reason, I guess I didn’t want them to like Ray, even if he did settle things down. I still don’t trust him or Ambriel.

  Isla’s eyes snap back to me. “Yes. Tell us how this artifact works.”

  I take the rock out of my pocket with my free hand. They can call it an artifact all they want, but it’s still just a rock to me. I set it down on the counter to let them see it. Isla reaches out to touch it, but Kallen stops her. “Grandmother, it may only be touched by an Angel.” Isla pulls her hand back.

  “What does it do?” she asks.

  I shrug and pick it up again. “I don’t really know. All I did when it brought us to Ray was think ‘take me and Kallen to the Angel.’”

  I am getting it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. That’s all there is to it. I’m getting it tattooed there so I can see it every time I close my eyes. Think about what you are saying before you say it!

  Chapter 11

  I am so glad that Kallen and I were still holding hands so we can fall together even if that sounds selfish. I wonder what it looked like to everyone else. Did they see the big, dark hole that sucked us in? Or did we just disappear without a trace?

  Like before, the bottom of this black tunnel is coming all too soon. From what I can tell right now, it’s a fifty-fifty chance if we are going to land on a small, rocky island or fall into the water. The landscape is similar to that of Tory Island. Are we back in Ireland? If so, it would have been nice to have picked up the other Angel while we were there the first time, saving us this lovely trip back.

  It looks like it’s going to be the rock we hit. That’s okay, hitting the water at this speed would probably hurt. A lot. Simultaneously, Kallen and I use magic and prepare our invisible bean bag to soften our fall. What we don’t expect is for the rock to push back against our magic.

  It’s not like it’s rearing up and attacking us, but the land is definitely moving like it’s irritated by the magic pressing against it. Something in the distance catches my eye, despite the impending doom I’m foreseeing due to the land moving, and it looks like a head. A turtle head to be exact. A turtle head that is bigger than Isla’s house.

  Half of the head is mouth. A big, gaping mouth that is emitting a loud, piercing noise now. I’ve heard that the Blue Whale is the loudest creature on earth. I bet whatever this is would push the whale out of the top spot. I feel like my ear drums are going to shatter. I have to let go of Kallen’s hand so I can cover both of my ears. He does the same.

  We’re trying to hold our magic steady so we can still avoid the water, but landing on a giant turtle doesn’t seem like the best idea in the world. I don’t see a smooth landing for us at this point. I suppose landing on or near a mammoth turtle never is smooth.

  The turtle’s large mouth is open as it rotates to get closer to us. Even though it’s a slow moving creature, it’s only a forty-five degree turn for it to catch us with its pseudo teeth instead of us landing on its back or in the water. Now it feels like we’re falling in slow motion like in the movies. I seem to have plenty of time to imagine myself a turtle snack. I wonder if he’s going to chew us up, or if he will just swallow us and his stomach does the rest? I imagine neither option is pleasant so the point is probably moot.

  With a last ditch effort to save us, I pull my magic away from trying to provide us with a soft landing, and I throw it at the turtle’s head. Kallen does the same. This causes it to rear its head back just enough so that we can avoid its mouth. It also means that we hit the water instead of the turtle’s back.

  Amazingly, hitting the water from such a height is just as hard and cold as I imagined it would be. It feels like doing a belly flop at a thousand miles per hour. Every last bit of oxygen that my lungs were trying to hold onto has been pushed out by the impact. This means that if I don’t get back to the surface really fast, I’m going to drown. When the downward momentum finally releases me, I kick hard with my legs to propel me towards the light above that must be the surface. Each kick gets harder as my body reacts to being suffocated.

  Someone grasps my hand, and I pull magic in reaction. Something I should have thought of before. Suddenly, I’m rocketing to the surface, and the hand on my wrist is coming with me. I’m not sure whose hand it is, but it’s not Kallen’s.

  Unfortunately, when I use magic out of fear I tend to overreact a tad bit. Which means that I shoot out of the water like a bullet. Whoever is holding onto my arm screams, and I finally look down to see who it is. Seriously? Mermaids are real, too? And I think I’m giving her a heart attack. I hope she’s not the last one.

  So distracted am I with the fact that I have a Mermaid grasping my hand for dear life, I have completely forgotten about the giant turtle. Amazing, I know. But I did. It didn’t forget about me, though. I’m about to hit it with magic again when I feel Kallen’s magic beating me to it. He zaps the turtle in the eye, causing its head to jerk back and keeping me and the Mermaid from being turtle food. God, I love him.

  Now I’m free to use my magic to slow our descent. I’d try to shake the Mermaid off from me to make it easier, but she looks terrified. I don’t have the heart to do it. We splash down into the water and this time I only sink a few feet. The Mermaid finally lets go and we both swim to the surface. Ah, oxygen. Such a wonderful thing.

  Kallen swims over to us. “Are you okay?” he asks. I nod.

  “We should leave this area before the Zaratan remembers it is hungry,” a shaky voice next to me says. “Come.”

  Imagine an Olympic sprinter saying ‘follow me’ and then starts running. That’s what it’s like to swim with a Mermaid. Remember, I’m from Colorado. We ski, we don’t swim. Basically, I tread water well and can do a simple breast stroke I learned from swimming in the pool in Aunt Barb’s apartment building in Denver a few times. Dad wanted to make sure I wouldn’t drown, but I’m far from a strong swimmer. Kallen knows this and even though he could probably keep up with her, he matches his speed to mine. In an effort to help me swim a little faster, he makes us both wet suits and flippers. He keeps giving worried glances towards the Zataran turtle which is making me even more nervous, but I am picking up speed now.

  The Mermaid is about a hundred yards ahead of us when she figures out that we’re not right behind her. Reversing herself, she swims ba
ck to us. “We really must hurry. This Zaratan had been sleeping for two hundred years before your magic woke him. He will be terribly hungry.”

  I’d be hungry too if I slept for two hundred years. I now have a whole new appreciation for how close we are to being turtle toast. And apparently, fear does make me swim faster.

  Considering the size and reach of the Zaratan, it’s a good ten minutes before we’re far enough away for the wrinkle lines on the Mermaid’s forehead to smooth out. Looking back, the Zaratan has its head under water now, presumably looking for fish to eat since it couldn’t have us. I am still in awe of an island size turtle. I’m pretty sure now that we’re not in Ireland this time.

  “I am curious how you have come to be here,” the Mermaid says. “Our realms have been closed to each other for quite some time. We have seen to it.” Nope, definitely not Ireland. The Mermaids apparently have their own realm that they don’t want to leave. I guess that explains why no one sees them anymore.

  This is my first chance to really look at her. As with most magical people, she is stunning. Her hair is deep brown and her skin is well tanned and looks smooth as porcelain. Since she probably spends most of her time in the water, I assume that it’s natural, not tanned. I haven’t really been able to see her tail, so I have no idea what it looks like. I’m fairly certain it’s fishy. “Um, I hate to be a pain, but I can only tread water for so long. Is there land here that isn’t a giant turtle?” I certainly can’t see any. I guess I could magic myself a boat.