Nodding and trying to hide his amusement, he says, “I will do my best.” I don’t believe him.
A picture fills my mind of a grand white house with pillars, surrounded by green rolling lawns and a horse pasture. Raziel is showing me my grandfather’s house in North Carolina. The same house I saw in my dream last night. That’s just great.
Chapter 12
Peeling back the fabric of the realms like pages from a book, I am now physically looking at the house my mother grew up in. The house she escaped from. The house she never planned to return to, and she never did. I wish I could be that lucky. I shake my head. Okay, enough whining. This has to be done and it’s probably a coincidence that the house looks exactly like the one from my dream. Maybe Mom described it to me at some point and that’s how it popped into my subconscious last night.
I could have called Mom and Dad back to accompany us. I’m sure Mom has lots of useful information which would make this journey easier, but the last time I came up against the Witches, they tried to exercise my parents. I’d rather avoid any more attempts along those lines. Besides, they’re on the honeymoon they never had since Mom was already pregnant with me when they met and married and fled to the mountains.
It’s summertime in North Carolina and I can already feel the sticky, humid heat. Over my shoulder, I say, “Follow me.” I step through the passageway.
Kallen is the first to follow. He’s done it enough times that he isn’t worried anything bad will happen. As soon as he steps through, he is hyper-vigilant. His eyes scan the house and acreage for any sign of trouble. So far, it seems no one has noticed the huge tear in the realms. I’m pretty sure they’ll let us know when they do. I expect panic and mayhem will ensue.
Adriel, Alita and then Kegan come through. Adriel turns and blows a kiss to Raziel and he smiles in return, his eyes full of love. Then, she becomes as vigilant as Kallen. I can’t see Nixie come through, but I can feel her energy. Tana steps through cautiously, half expecting to burst into flames or something from the look on her face. Taz comes through last.
Assessing Tana, I note that she’s the only one who looks like she is part of a royal entourage. The rest of us are in jeans, even Adriel who I never imagined in them, and tees. Tana is wearing a long black skirt that hugs her hips but in a way that looks elegant, not trashy. She has on a green, silk tunic style shirt the color of a perfect emerald. I’m told her eyes were once the same color. Considering how much brighter and greener they are than when I first met her, they may eventually be that color again. Her hair is done up in braids perfectly positioned to hide the remaining areas that need to fill in yet on her head. A shawl with a black and green pattern drapes from her shoulders. She stands tall and straight with her shoulders set back and head high. She walks with the air of a queen. I’m not sure how much of it is put on for appearance and how much she is starting to feel like her old self again.
To the four who are not coming with us, I say, “We’ll see you guys soon.” With a final wave, I close the passageway. Just in time for all hell to break loose. The Witches know we’re here.
Witches are running towards us from several different directions. Most of them are big and brawny, the females included, but some must be magically strong vs. physically because they’re pretty scrawny. None of them are happy to see us. Shocker.
“I can sense a protection spell and Fairy trap around the perimeter, which I am sure has been heavily guarded,” Kallen says quietly. “They have not planned for our sudden arrival inside of their wards and spells.”
I grin in satisfaction. “Good.”
“Who are you and where did you come from?” a mammoth of a man shouts.
He runs fast for a man of his size. The guy has to be at least seven feet tall and almost as wide. He’s solid muscle and angry enough to use it. I bet it’s his job to keep intruders from getting on the property. Poor guy. I hope he wasn’t expecting a raise anytime soon.
“I am Xandra and I am Princess of the Witches,” I say in my most pompous voice even though it sounds like I just read a line out of a comic book or something. I feel kind of silly making such a declaration, but it brings several of the Witches scrambling to a stop. Not Mammoth Guy, though. He’s still coming and he’s angrier than he was a minute ago. I’m so good at making new friends.
“No one here recognizes you as Princess,” Mammoth growls. Another shocker.
I shrug. I know my entourage has moved into defensive positions around me. Even if I wasn’t as powerful as I am, the Witches wouldn’t get anywhere near me. “I really don’t care what you recognize.”
He turns his head and spits a glob of goo out of his mouth and then turns back to me. “Then I’ll make you care.”
I can’t help it, really, I can’t. I have to laugh. Guffaw even. Mammoth guy is nonplussed by my reaction. When I finally get my laughing under control, and wipe my amused, watering eyes, I say, “Okay, first, eww. Didn’t your mother ever tell you spitting is disgusting? Nobody wants to see, or step in, your phlegm grenades. And second, you are not in a bad action movie where lines like ‘Then I’ll make you care’ belong. Unless you can back up something like that, you just seem stupid saying it.” Kallen stiffens next to me. I’m sure he’s silently berating me for antagonizing my enemy, but he has to know by now that I will every single time. Maybe a faulty brain wave somewhere inside my head is the problem.
In my peripheral vision, I see Adriel shake her head slightly and roll her eyes. “Stop toying with the fool,” she says, not caring that Mammoth Guy can hear her.
“Who are you to be calling me a fool?” Mammoth growls.
With a smile, I say, “Oh, I’m being rude. Let me introduce you to my friend Adriel. She’s an Angel of Death.” I don’t feel the need to explain she’s a Fallen Angel and Adriel doesn’t, either. Glad we’re on the same page.
Mammoth’s eyes grow big and round. His voice is nervous as he says, “Why is she here?” Huh, I guess Angel of Death trumps Witch Fairy on the fear inducing scale.
I’m tempted to tell him something that will really scare him, but Kallen’s raised brows and grim lips tell me this isn’t the time for that. Fine. “Where is my grandfather,” I ask in lieu of answering Mammoth’s question.
Mammoth gets ready to spit in disgust again, but then his eyes travel to Adriel and he swallows the glob of saliva back. Okay, that’s just as gross as spitting. “Our King does not recognize you as his granddaughter.”
Well, that’s news to me. But I’m not going to act like it bothers me. Once a relative tries to kill you a couple of times, the family bond gets stretched a bit thin. “That’s okay, he’s not much of a grandfather anyway,” I say with a smile. “Where is he?”
“Safe from you,” a redheaded Witch says. He’s not as big as Mammoth but he still looks mean. Even with the generous sprinkling of freckles on his pale skin. Some of them are kind of dark and should probably be looked at. He is in serious danger of getting skin cancer.
“Let me have a go at the wanker,” Taz says, coming forward and positioning himself in front of me. “A few good bites and scratches to his face and lips ought to loosen up his tongue.”
Several of the Witches take a step back. To them, Taz’s words sound like growling and gnashing of his teeth. “What is that thing?” a blonde female Witch asks. There aren’t any Tasmanian devils in this part of the realm, so I’m not surprised by her ignorance.
“He’s my Familiar,” I say and watch as more of the Witches step back. I guess they know Familiars aren’t made from good magic. “Right now he wants to chew this guy’s lips off so his tongue has more room to work.” I jab my thumb in Mammoth’s direction.
Meanwhile, Mammoth’s mouth is moving, forming a spell. Suddenly, a Witch bottle buried nearby explodes from the ground in front of us. Kallen and I throw up a wall of magic, preventing the projectiles it was filled with from harming us. I silently berate myself for not paying better attention.
The bottle appears to have be
en filled with iron nails so they were definitely expecting us. The nails wouldn’t hurt me like the others, except that piercing my skin with any kind of nails would be painful, but Kallen, Alita, Tana and Kegan would be poisoned by the iron. Now, I’m annoyed, bordering on angry.
I shake my head. “Why? Why do people like you always have to push my buttons?”
Before Mammoth can respond with something that would probably annoy me even more, I take away his voice. Then, I steal a move from a rodeo I watched once. I circle his ankles and wrists with magical rope and pull them tightly together, hog-tying him. He falls to the ground with a dull thump, speechless even though his lips are moving. I drop the wall of magic surrounding our group and say to Taz, “Why don’t you go say hi.”
“I suppose you won’t really let me eat the wanker’s lips,” he says. I give him a look that says no. Still, he waddles his little body over to mammoth and a collective breath is taken in by the Witches as they wait for the damage his pointy little teeth will wrought. They are in such shock at what happened to Mammoth, they don’t even try to stop him.
Instead of biting him, Taz sniffs the fallen Witch’s face. He pulls his nose back and hacks like he’s trying to cough up a hair ball. “What has he been eating? He smells like rotten gator covered in spoiled eggs. I eat dead things and wouldn’t lower myself to take a bite from him.”
“It’s probably steroids you’re smelling,” I reply and Mammoth’s eyes shoot to me regardless of his fear of Taz. Meeting his gaze, I say, “Taz thinks you stink too badly to eat.”
I hear Kegan bark out a laugh. “I have seen him eat day old bird brains. How badly does the guy smell?” The Witch glares at him from the ground.
“Perhaps we could move this along,” Kallen says stiffly.
He’s right. “Taz, leave the guy alone now.” With a last snarl that shows exactly how big and sharp his teeth are, Taz waddles back to me. Tabitha should stop giving him so much bacon, his belly’s getting pretty round.
“Look, you guys,” I say to the group of Witches who look much less confident in their ability to stop me than they did a few minutes ago. “I’m not here to hurt any of you. I just want to know where my grandfather is. He and I have some things to discuss.”
A new Witch has joined us. She had walked calmly from the house to where we are, no fear showing on her face, no hurry to join the others. She has medium length dark brown hair, almost black, and some of her facial features are distinctly Korean. She is gorgeous and she knows it.
Walking past the other Witches as if they’re not there, she comes right up to me and holds out her hand. “Hello, my name is Jadyn and you must be Xandra.”
Is this some sort of ruse to get my defenses down? Even if it is, I still shake her hand. “Hello,” is all I can think to say. I’m not used to non-Humans greeting me politely.
“I was your Grandmother’s assistant before she left,” Jadyn says. Emphasis on left? Do the other Witches not know she returned to her Angel form? Do they even know she is an Angel? “She asked me to stay on in order to assist you when you arrived.”
Funny, Grandma didn’t say anything about that. It seems like an important detail to leave out in our conversation this morning. Or this is just a convenient story to lull me into a false sense of security. I’m leaning more towards the latter. “Assist me with what?”
Jadyn smiles. “With whatever you need.”
I notice the other Witches are giving Jadyn nasty looks. They obviously don’t like her. That’s a point in her favor, I guess. “Where is my grandfather?” I ask for what feels like the hundredth time.
“He was meeting with his Witan. They retreated to the safety of a circle when word of your arrival reached them,” she says. “Despite the security team in place,” she gives Mammoth a disgusted look over her shoulder, “they felt the need to hide.”
I almost laugh at their ignorance but I don’t want to show my hand just yet. The Witches don’t know I can pass through other people’s circles. “Can you bring me to them?”
She’s confused why I would ask that since circles are between realms, but she quickly schools her face. “I can bring you to the place I believe they made the circle,” Jadyn says. I can tell she’s still nonplussed, but her face no longer shows any sign of it.
“Perfect,” I say. “Lead the way.”
“Jadyn,” the redheaded Witch says sharply. “You will not do this. You will not bring these…these creatures in front of the Witan.”
I notice he didn’t say King. Something tells me things have changed from when Grandma was here. I wonder how long ago in this realm’s time that she left. Time moves differently here than in the Fairy realm. It’s slower for some reason. It’s not a good idea to ask the Witches, though. That would make me look unprepared, and maybe even stupid, since they don’t know about the time difference, or anything really about the Fairy realm.
With a touch of steel in his calm voice, Kallen says to the redhead, “She will.” There’s no room for argument in those two words.
That doesn’t stop the redhead, though. Silly guy, Kallen is a lot more powerful than he is. “Who are you to say what anyone will do?”
I answer before Kallen has a chance to show him. He would hate himself later if he threw the first blow. “He’s my husband and one of the most powerful Fairies in existence. I suggest you not push him because you will lose.” In the back of my mind, I can feel Tana pulling magic. I guess she doesn’t like the redhead mouthing off to Kallen, either.
Not wanting to admonish her in front of the Witches, I pull a little magic and gently touch it against hers. This is risky because if her magic goes on the attack, mine will as well. Fortunately, she takes the hint and lets her magic go.
“Your husband?” Jadyn says in surprise. “Your grandmother did not mention you had been wed.”
That’s because she wasn’t invited to the ceremony, nor did it cross my mind to invite her. Embarrassed, I say, “She didn’t know.”
“Oh,” is Jadyn’s response. I am definitely not going to make Granddaughter of the Year in her eyes.
“Wedding details aside, can we move this along? Can you bring us to the Witch without a fight, or are your friends going to try to stop us?” Adriel asks. I love that she makes me look patient. Kallen tries to scowl at her brashness but he’s too glad she said what he was thinking to put any real effort into it.
Jadyn looks at the other Witches assembled and then says pointedly, “These are not my friends.”
I figured that out already. It doesn’t make me trust her yet, though. “Great, we have that settled. Now, fight or not fight, that’s the question.”
She smiles at my lame attempt to mangle a phrase from Shakespeare. “I do not believe there will be a fight today.”
Why did she say today? That implies there will be one on another day. If that’s the case, does she know which one? I’ll ask her later in private.
“Then lead the way,” Kallen says gruffly, his eyes not leaving the redhead.
“Jadyn,” the redhead growls again.
Her response is a spell muttered under her breath so he can’t hear it. I can, though. Reaching into her pocket for what looks like a twig, she says, “Though wind, water, air and fire seek to bring them down, rooted trees must hold their ground. With the borrowed power of the goddess and the mighty oak, your ability to move has been revoked. Stand still as the tallest tree, your roots take seed until the goddess sets you free.”
While the redheaded Witch tries to move his feet that are now magically stuck to the ground, Tana says to Jadyn, “You say a spell as if you know the mind of the Goddess. No good can come from that.”
I agree with Tana even if she sounds like the harbinger of doom. No good can come from claiming to know the wants and desires of a goddess, or a god. They tend to get a bit testy about that. Speaking of testy. “Where. Is. My. Grandfather?” I ask yet again, this time enunciating each word like they are time bombs set to go off in the next ten sec
onds. The longer we stand here, the more hostile the Witches get, making it more likely I will have to hurt them. “Please take us to him now.”
With a curt nod and an ‘I’m laughing at you and you can’t do anything about it’ look in the redhead’s direction, Jadyn spins and begins walking towards the house. My entourage and I follow. None of the Witches say anything except the redhead who is shouting naughty, naughty words at Jadyn’s back. I think my ears will start bleeding if I have to listen to him much longer. So I take his voice away, too. Mammoth is still lying silent and hogtied on the ground. I’m going to leave him that way for a while.
Jadyn stops in front of a massive pair of oak doors. A Giant could pass through them with ease. I hear her chant something but I can’t make out what she’s saying this time. The door on the right pops open. I guess it has a magical lock on it. And Jadyn didn’t want us to hear what it is. Interesting.
Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10) Page 9
