Angus: A Highland Warrior Brief

by Anita Clenney

  ANGUS:

  A Highland Warrior

  Brief

  Anita Clenney

  DEDICATION

  To Caleb and Skylar. I love you.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Blimey, but she was a sight to see. Angus was so caught up admiring Anna's stealth and form—especially her form—he had to duck to avoid the claws of the demon who was trying to disembowel him. He was a lesser demon, a young full-blood, but he was pissed. Really pissed. Angus spared Anna another glance as she crept along the edge of the roof, three stories above the Edinburgh pub. The other demon had circled around behind her. He was an ugly bastard, as most of them were, with thick gray skin, yellow eyes, and pointed teeth.

  "Anna. Behind you!"

  Angus's demon charged again, forcing Angus to focus on his own fight. No use wasting his talisman's power and weakening himself on this lowly demon. He put his foot square in its face. When its head flew back, he sliced the creature's neck with his sword. Blood started to gush a moment before the demon vanished, sword and all. There was no mess to clean up when a warrior killed a demon. The creature simply disappeared along with its weapons, unless it was a halfling, the lowest demon on the totem pole. Halflings had to acquire swords by the normal methods, but full demons could summon weapons or anything made of natural materials just as they summoned their human forms and clothes.

  There were three orders of demons in the hierarchy. The first order was the most powerful, but those demons never came to this dimension. Michael and his angels battled them. The second order was the biggest problem for humans and warriors. Particularly the demons of old, the ancients. They were cunning, evil, and hard to find. Warriors couldn't destroy them unless they were assigned. It was a death sentence otherwise. But demons like these two, the lesser of the full demons, could be killed by any warrior.

  Angus stepped back to check on Anna. She had seen the demon behind her and drawn her sword. Angus didn't doubt Anna's prowess. She was one hell of a warrior, faster and stronger than some males, but the ledge was narrow. There was barely enough room to stand, much less swing a sword. And it was too high for her to jump.

  "Use your talisman," Angus called. Each warrior wore a talisman that belonged only to him or her. It worked similar to a laser. The beam of light the talisman produced was so powerful it would destroy a demon and anything else in its path. The light was even deadly to look at, so a warrior had to be careful if there were others nearby.

  Anna didn't have time to activate her talisman. Her demon lunged. Instead of stepping aside, Anna met his charge, and the impact sent them both over the edge of the roof. With the push of a button, Anna collapsed her sword into a dagger and wrapped both arms around the demon.

  Angus watched in horror as they fell toward him. It seemed to happen in slow motion. In the time it took her to fall, she drove her blade into the demon's chest. He disappeared in mid-air, and Anna landed on her feet next to Angus as graceful as a ballerina.

  He gaped at her and then he got mad. "Bloody hell. Have you got some kind of suicide wish?"

  Anna tucked a section of hair that had fallen from her pony- tail behind her ear and dusted off her black combat pants. "Not me. There are too many demons to kill."

  "Why didn't you get out of his way instead of leaping at him?"

  "He's gone. Why are you complaining?"

  "If he hadn't disappeared on the way down, I'd be flat as an oatcake now." He looked up at the ledge. "How did you do that?" Warriors were stronger and quicker than the average human, and he'd seen Anna do some crazy things, but that jump should have at least broken her leg.

  Anna looked up at the three story building and frowned. "It didn't look that high from up there." Anna slid her dagger inside her boot. "Thanks for the present."

  "How'd it feel?"

  "Good. Nice weight. Collapsed and extended quickly."

  The swords warriors used for day to day fighting could change into a dagger with the push of a button, making it easier to hide inside a boot or under a jacket. In this day and age, a warrior couldn't walk around with a broadsword strapped to his back. "For a minute there I wished I'd given you a parachute."

  She smiled, and his heart quivered. "I'm glad you brought me here. I feel better."

  "Figured you needed a little distraction." She'd just had a birthday. That always depressed her. He'd smelled these two creatures last night when he stopped by the pub. Demons stunk like nobody's business in their natural form. He'd lost the scent but figured a demon hunt and a new sword would make a nice birthday present for Anna. Nothing like slaying demons to take your mind off your troubles. "Good thing no one saw you sailing off that roof like Spiderman or we'd be facing questions we don't want to answer." The clan's secrets had to be protected at all costs.

  "It's the middle of the night. No one's around. And if anyone had witnessed it, they would have been too busy running for their lives to worry about me."

  Ordinary people had no idea of the danger and nightmares surrounding them because of warriors like Angus and Anna whose purpose was to protect humans from demons who had infiltrated this dimension. "I wonder why they were hanging around here."

  "My demon said something before he lunged." Anna's beautiful eyes narrowed with her frown.

  "What?"

  "He said, 'You warriors are as good as dead.'"

  "Sounds specific."

  Anna nodded. "That's what I thought. I wonder if he knows something we don't."

  "Too bad we couldn't question him."

  "I would have if he hadn't jumped."

  "We'd better warn the clan to step up security," Angus said.

  They made their way back to the clan's headquarters near Beauly. The castle sat in the middle of five hundred acres, surrounded by woods and guarded by warriors who were posted there to keep out intruders, human and demon. To the outside world, the place was a horse farm, but its real purpose was much more clandestine, and the warriors would go to any lengths to keep the castle's secret.

  "Where are you going?" Anna asked when Angus drove past the gate.

  "The tunnel." The hidden tunnel had an entrance on the castle grounds that connected it to the interior of the castle. A bolt hole. It was old, abandoned for the most part, and probably dangerous, but a good way to get in and out without being spotted.

  "Is there a reason you don't want to be seen?"

  Angus shrugged. "Some of the elders are here. I'm keeping a low profile."

  "What have you done now?"

  Angus turned a blank face to her. "Nothing."

  Anna frowned. "Then what are you planning to do? I know you. You've got that look on your face that says you're up to no good. What's going on?"

  He grinned, his excitement getting the best of him. "Come to my room when we get back and I'll show you." When he realized how it must have sounded, his face warmed. "I'm investigating something."

  "Aren't you always, Sherlock? What secrets are you digging up now?"

  "I've found a secret passage."

  "So? The castle is riddled with them," Anna said.

  "This is one I haven't found before. It leads to the Council room."

  "You're eavesdropping on the Council?"

  Angus nodded. "They've called a secret meeting."

  "Aren't secret meetings supposed to be secret? I swear they're going to lock you up one day."

  CHAPTER TWO

  Anna followed Angus's tall form through the narrow passageway. The castle had many secret passages, but she'd never seen this one. It was so small Angus's broad shoulders barely fit. How did he find these things? "Are you sure it's here?"

  "Aye." He stopped, put his ear to the wall and tapped. "I found it last we
ek."

  "And you didn't tell me?" Angus shared all his discoveries with her.

  "You were on a hunt at the time. Probably had your arm down a demon's throat when I found it."

  "The bastard ate my cell phone."

  "You actually thought you could get it back?"

  "It was worth a try. All my contacts were on it." They kept confidential information on the phones, and with a few clicks they could connect to the clan's demon database. A warrior's cell phone was nearly as important as a talisman or sword. Strike that. Nothing was as important as a warrior's talisman. It was almost part of the warrior, like battle marks, the tattoos that marked a warrior according to personal weaknesses and strengths.

  "This is it," Angus said.

  "If the Council ever finds out all the things you've done, you're dead meat. Probably me too." She'd tried to talk him out of this since last night, but Angus was as stubborn as he was curious.

  He turned, white teeth flashing in the dark. "They'll have to catch us first." He pushed something and Anna heard a click. Angus put out his torch. "Quiet now, we're close."

  "I don't know why I let you talk me into these things," Anna grumbled.

  "Because you love mysteries as much as I do."

  "No one loves mysteries as much as you do." She did enjoy a good puzzle, but she was here because of him. Angus kept her grounded. With all his eccentricities and his penchant for breaking the rules, he still represented stability. She'd known him most of her life. There had been times when Angus's friendship had been the only thing that kept Anna sane. When things got too gloomy at her house, Anna would sneak to the castle and find Angus. His father was one of the trainers, so Angus spent a lot of time there. When Anna was with him, she got caught up in his mysteries and forgot how depressing it was to live with a mother who had never wanted her.

  She still loved watching him get lost in a puzzle, blue eyes narrowed, light brown hair messier and messier as he got closer to putting the pieces together. The combination of brains and muscles was totally hot. If she wasn't so set against romance, she might have wanted more from Angus, but while she appreciated his male beauty, she was satisfied with just his friendship. Angus could have any woman he wanted, but he was too wrapped up in his mysteries to worry about love. That made her and Angus a good team. She wasn't sure what he thought about sex. He was a man, and most men wanted sex. Warriors weren't supposed to mate before they were married, but rules didn't always stop them. If Angus was sleeping with someone, he hadn't told her, but then he wouldn't mention sex since he knew about her past.

  She followed him through the tiny door. It was even darker in here. Following his lead, she moved next to the wall and heard the low drone of voices. She could make out some words. Angus put a finger to his lips and slowly moved a small board. A tiny line appeared in the dark. A peep hole.

  "It's disguised at the top of a painting," he explained.

  "Did you put it here?"

  "Believe it or not, no." Angus put his eye to the long, narrow hole and Anna joined him.

  As far as she could tell, all thirteen Elders were there. They weren't dressed in their usual robes and sashes, but ordinary clothes. Dress pants and shirts.

  "Any idea what this meeting is about?" she whispered.

  "The Book of Battles, I think. And I've heard whispers about the Mighty Faelan."

  Faelan Connor was a legendary warrior who had gone missing long ago and was rumored to have been captured by a demon and locked in a time vault, a vault that wouldn't open for one hundred fifty years, a prison of sorts to hold demons until Judgment. Faelan's disappearance happened about the same time the clan's sacred book had vanished. The book was a prophecy listing the outcome of five hundred years of battles fought between warriors and demons, past, present, and future. Which would make the book a deadly weapon in the hands of a demon who could identify the warrior destined to destroy him and then kill the warrior before he was out of diapers. Or kill his parents before he was born.

  Anna and Angus had been looking into the mystery of the missing book for months now. Some believed a demon had the book. But if a demon had it why wasn't he using the book? Others believed Faelan had taken the book and that it was locked in the time vault with him.

  In Faelan's day, Seekers—those with the ability to find lost things—had unsuccessfully searched for Faelan, the time vault key, and the Book of Battles, so the clan must have believed the story then. But time and technology had a way of fading myths.

  Not for Angus. He believed the legend, and he was obsessed with finding the lost warrior and the missing book.

  Anna turned her attention to the Council meeting. The Chief Elder was speaking. His bushy white eyebrows moved up and down his forehead like albino caterpillars. The other Council members were old, mostly gray or white haired, with the exception of one man who was probably in his forties. They were seated around a large table and appeared to be in a heated discussion. Usually the Council was calm and controlled, but Watchers had been warning that trouble was coming. Trouble was always coming for warriors. There were always demons to battle, people to save. But these warnings appeared to be more ominous.

  "Do you smell something?" Angus asked.

  Just as he mentioned it, she caught a male scent. A tall shadow moved deeper inside the hiding place. Anna and Angus both whirled, drawing their daggers as a dim light illuminated a hideous face. Before Anna could attack, someone spoke.

  "It's just us." The light shifted, and the hideous face turned into Shane's handsome one.

  "Shane!" Anna hissed. "Blimey. You looked like a demon with that torch underneath your chin."

  "Give me a hand. I think I'm stuck," someone said behind Shane. A thick head topped with a blond buzz-cut peered over Shane's shoulder. A complete contrast to Shane's long, silky mane. The odd couple.

  "Niall?" Angus slid the board back in place and turned on his light.

  Shane gave Niall a hand, and he squirmed out of the small space where he'd hidden. "That's the problem with eavesdropping," Niall said. "It's always bloody cramped. I hate being cramped."

  "What are you doing here?" Anna whispered. Niall wasn't much for snooping. He was more of a confront-and-kill kind of guy.

  "He's bored," Shane said. "He hasn't had a decent demon in a month. It was this or bowling."

  "We heard the Council was having some kind of secret meeting about the Book of Battles. I want to know what they're saying."

  "He brought me along in case he got trapped," Shane said.

  Niall shrugged his massive shoulders. "These passages must have been built for fairies. A person could get stuck in here and starve to death."

  "Not everyone has a body as broad as the Loch Ness Monster," Shane said.

  "Talk, pretty boy. I might not be as quick as you, but I've killed as many demons as you and your lightning sword."

  "You should have said something when we came in," Anna said. "You scared a year off my life."

  Shane chuckled softly. "You? Scared?"

  "We didn't say anything because we thought you were looking for.. .uh, some privacy." Niall's grin told what kind of privacy he meant.

  "Idiots," Anna said. Everyone knew she and Angus were just friends.

  "How did you know about this place?" Angus sounded a bit jealous.

  "You're not the only one who can snoop," Niall said.

  "Angus just does it better than you," Shane said.

  "We're all here," Angus said. "Let's see what they're talking about." He uncovered the opening, and they all crowded close, but sometimes the voices were too low to understand.

  "Wish I could read lips," Niall said. "Wait, Big Chief said something. He said 'The Watchers can't be discounted.'"

  "Several have dreamed about the Book of Battles," the Chief Elder continued. "Walter fears that the clan may be destroyed if we don't find it."

  "You know Walter has become quite unstable lately," the youngest elder said. "His dreams are bizarre, more fantasy than
reality. I mean animals shifting into humans." The elder shook his head. "I'm not certain we can take his warnings seriously."

  "Walter's the odd one, isn't he?" Niall whispered beside Anna.

  "They're all odd," Shane said.

  Watchers did tend to be a bit weird, but Anna remembered Walter as stranger than most.

  The Chief Elder was speaking again. "Walter may be eccentric, but his warnings have been accurate. We cannot afford to ignore this one. We must find the book."

  "Which, if the stories are true," another elder said, "rests with Faelan Connor."

  "I sometimes wonder if the legend is true," the youngest elder said, confirming Anna's earlier thoughts.

  An ancient-looking elder folded his shaky hands. "That's because you're young. I remember as a wee lad how the story struck us with awe. Every warrior wanted to be the one to find the Mighty Faelan's time vault key."

  "And we know Faelan lived and that he was a great warrior," a bald elder said. "Many of our warriors are descended from his family."

  "That doesn't mean the stories are true," the younger elder said. "They could have been exaggerated. Or created for a purpose."

  "But we have the Seeker's word," the bald elder said.

  The younger elder shrugged. "The Seeker could have made a mistake. We can't put our faith in legends. We must find another way to counter Druan."

  "How?" a gaunt elder asked. "The ancient demons can't be destroyed unless they're assigned to a warrior. That should be evidence that Faelan is in fact still with us. Michael would have surely reassigned another warrior to destroy Druan if Faelan were dead. I believe Faelan is trapped in the time vault. What I don't understand is why he would have taken the Book of Battles. We know he was an honorable man. Not a thief."

  "If he did, he must have had good reason," the Chief Elder said. "I prefer to believe that he hid it than the alternative."

  "You mean a demon has it?" the gray-haired elder asked. "Walter claims he's had dreams about Druan."

  The Chief Elder nodded. "He's not the only one. It's very troubling. If Druan is preparing another virus it could be catastrophic. We must find the key to Faelan's time vault. That's the only way to know for certain if he's there. If he is, we need his talisman."