by Claudy Conn
I pumped and humped into him with shameless abandon and then I tensed and called out his name as he brought and joined me in climax.
It was over too soon.
Kallem has more stamina than I ever imagined possible, but a second and third round with my talented hunk while we waited for the machine beast to wake was, he whispered, not possible.
I pouted and wanted to cuddle, but he shook his head, and I heard what he had already heard.
The beast machine had wakened.
We heard the sound of the hum increase with enormous power, and we knew we were headed for a battle.
Kallem flicked his wrist and we were dressed and shifting to the mouth of the canyon. He waved his hand to clear the mist and we saw the beast machine was alive and well and clawing at the White Magic in winged angel form.
“Kallem, how are we going to destroy this thing? It seems stronger than ever.”
“We aren’t going to destroy it,” he said. “It is going to destroy itself.”
“How?”
“It is foraging, refueling, and storing all in unison, depleting Rucker at an enormous rate. Rucker is rich in oil and it is satisfied at the moment to just keep doing what it has been. Fine. We let it.” He put up a hand to stall my objection. “What if we put a clogging element into the oil?” he said, and had my shoulders. “Dilly, I have to go into the canyon without it seeing me. I will cloak myself with the Féth Fiada, the Fae’s ability to be invisible, and it won’t have a clue I’m there contaminating its fuel supply.”
The whirring sound of the machine grew stronger and we exchanged glances.
“Brilliant, Kallem. You are brilliant.”
Kallem pulled up to his full height and laughed. “Right then, I’m going in. Baby, stay here so I can get this done.”
I grabbed his black T-shirt. “No. Where you go, I go.”
He smiled. “I want to shift to the center of the conflict where it is feeding. I have to contaminate the oil without it knowing. You won’t be able to breathe inside the earth and I have to concentrate.”
“Shield me, as you are going to shield yourself.”
He towered over me, so I squared my shoulders, ready for an argument.
He said, “I can’t. I need to do this on my own, and Dilly, you need to trust me to do it.”
He was right. He didn’t need a distraction. I couldn’t breathe deep inside Rucker oil. I conceded, “Okay.”
I couldn’t believe my lips formed the word. Just like that—okay? I adore this prince. I do trust his judgment. He is forever surprising me. He is forever taking me seriously. The time had come for me to take him seriously and let him do his thing. It is called trust. I trust him.
He hugged me and bent to whisper, “Baby, you know that you are so much more than a mind-blowing lay. You are everything I could ever want. A warrior, an extraordinary witch, a smart, quick-thinking person of style, and full of kindness, and did I say, a fantastic piece of ass?”
I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Then go—go quickly and you can come back and remind me how fantastic you are in bed.”
He was gone and invisible, but I watched the beast machine as it scavenged for fuel.
It was a monster of unbelievable proportions. It emitted powerful magical sparks in every direction as it sucked out Rucker oil.
The White Magic Gramps had created continued to try and distract it with bolts of white and blue lightning, but I think it scarcely slowed the beast machine down.
It seemed agile for a machine of its size, and I was fascinated with its ability to maintain its position as it foraged.
It was also able to expand and contract.
It snapped its head around as though it sensed Kallem was near and blew fire from its mouth, and that mouth was full of row after row of chomping spikes I supposed were meant to represent teeth.
“Oh, holy shit,” I said. “Kallem…?” I worried. Everything it did had me so absorbed, I never heard anyone approach.
I never saw anyone until it was too late.
I felt it with its full force, though.
Something slammed down on the top of my head. Pain shot through me and I groaned. “No, oh no.”
The world went dark, except for the stars. Why were the stars out already? Stars…everywhere, and then everything went black.
~ Eight ~
I WOKE UP TO the sound of thunder.
Through the loud explosion of the storm, past the flash of a sizzling zap of lightning that streaked through the sky, I heard another sound. My name.
Someone was calling my name. I wished whoever was repeating my name over and over would stop. My head ached so.
Rain poured down, drenching me and brought me back to full consciousness.
“What the hell?” I said, and tried to push onto one elbow. Nothing. I was still flat on my back, rain drenching me.
I opened my eyes wide and discovered I was spread-eagled on the grass, both wrists and ankles were tied to a metal stake in the ground. Around me, a blue fire burned bright through the heavy downpour, the blue fire was not diminished. Magic.
“Dilly!”
I blinked and lifted my head as best I could and saw Cole beside me. He too was tied spread-eagled, but the fire that burned around him was red hot. His fire wasn’t magic. It was real and real fire like that is deadly to Rucker vampires.
This was bad.
I closed my eyes and went into myself. I had to connect with the elements to turn off the blaze around Cole. Silently chanting the words, and feeling one with the white hot flames, I was able to extinguish the burning circle around Cole.
Whew! Yay me. One down, now mine.
Now, to get him untied.
“Hold on, Cole…I’ll…” I said, and was interrupted.
Another, hateful voice, which went through my insides and turned on my ire, spoke up from the shadows. I lifted my head as best I could and saw and heard him clap his hands as he stepped forward, closer to me.
“Very good, dearest Dilly. You have a talent for witchcraft that is most impressive. Indeed, we will do well together. The fire around your vampire was stolen from the depths of hell. Yet, you vanquished its power.” He smirked at me and for a moment, I wondered if his cunning could be used against him. He thought himself so very brilliant. He went rattling on, waving his hand in the air. “It will, however, take a great deal more from you if you mean to save the vampire. You see, I have a spectacular death planned for him.”
My heart lurched.
I froze for a moment as Morlan’s free hand, which had been behind his back, appeared and swung an ordinary axe to and fro. He meant to chop off Cole’s head. He was going to kill Cole.
Do something, do something, my thoughts banged into each other.
“Leave him alone, Morlan. I will do anything you want. Just leave him alone.”
“No. You will do exactly as I want, but he has to die. You care too much about him. I can’t have you care for anyone other than myself.”
A bubble built upon itself in my blood and curdled. The bubbles multiplied and bam, I knew what I had to do. I am a witch, damn it, a witch!
Again, I conjured the words from an old and useful spell. Such a simple one actually, and I had learned it as a child.
And it worked.
The axe that hung so threateningly in Morlan’s hands was ripped out of his hold and flung across the room.
He cursed and scrambled after it. Ha, I was on it and up in the air it went, pointed directly at him. I found it a simple thing to wield it with my mind. Not even using the magic of the ‘key’. Not resorting to Dark Magic, just basic White Magic.
However, the time for multi-tasking had arrived.
With my little finger, because I was showing off to Cole, I freed him of his ties.
He jumped to his feet, his fangs on display, and his eyes glazed with hatred as he grabbed hold of the axe I still held out of Morlan’s reach.
Morlan jumped the blue flame a
round me, which I had not yet been able to extinguish. He was on me, untying my tethers, as he growled, “Don’t come any closer vampire…or I will hurt her.”
Blue fire? I searched my enchantment file kept always open in my head. Ah, there it is.
Blue fire gone.
Morlan surprised me then, and wrapping us up in his black cloud, he transported us elsewhere. I heard Cole’s rage as he shouted after us.
“Damn you, Morlan!”
* * * * *
I was still soaking wet.
My long hair was knotted and dripping. My once pretty black cocktail dress no longer just dirty. It now hung like a rag around my body. And I was shoeless.
Didn’t know Rucker had so many caves, but here I was, once again in a cave, this time with El Creepo. Damn, had it only been a short while ago when Kallem and I had made love in a similar setting. How life can change with the passing of a moment.
I stared at my surroundings and realized this cave was steeped in Morlan’s Dark Magic.
Morlan grabbed my hands. I yanked out of his hold and threatened, “Touch me again, and I won’t hold back. I don’t need a weapon to destroy you, Morlan, all I need is this.” I pointed to my heart and then my head. “Key…remember.”
“You hate me, I know. I see that now. I will never be able to take you willingly, so I have decided to have you any way I can. I don’t know why it is, but you are the female that haunts my passions. Also, as you say, you are the ‘key’ and I need the ‘key’ to complete my goals.”
“I don’t know what this place is…I don’t know what you hope to accomplish by bringing me here. Apparently, you have forgotten that I have the ability to come and go at will.” I sneered at him. “All I have to do is ask the key to take me where I want to go.”
“Go ahead then. Do it…escape,” he said.
And then I realized what was different.
An iron bracelet was around both ankles and a chain was attached to each bracelet and then to the ground.
Why was he so sure that I couldn’t break free of the iron? I am a witch, not a Fae. Iron does not affect me in any way.
I went inside myself and found the door home. But I couldn’t get it to open. My key wasn’t working. Why? What the hell?
“The key was given to your grandfather, or so I was told, by a Royal Fae. Iron cannot be wielded by Fae. I created a cage of iron. The key will not work in here.” He turned abruptly, and said over his shoulder, “I will be back in a short while. I have certain matters that need attention.”
Good, he left, which would give me time to figure out my next move. Think, Dilly, think.
I was dealing with an idiot.
While I was wearing iron, the ‘key’ wouldn’t work. But I am a witch…an über witch. All I needed to do was detach the iron bracelets.
He had used Dark Magic to confine me here with iron chains. I just needed to find a spell to counteract his. Damn, damn…it had to be something I studied. Iron. He knew about iron.
Hallows evolve over time. Gramps had said, Hallows evolve over time. How would that serve me? Could I ask the ‘key’ for help?
This Hallow would take me anywhere except to the land of the Fae, but could it help me in my present predicament? Could it take me to another time?
Yes, it whispered to me. Yes.
It spoke
Holy Hot Shit! The damn thing spoke in my head. It had never done that before.
Thee never needed me to speak before. Now you do. I have grown fond of thee. I am ancient and well pleased to offer you my protection. Thee are mated to a Royal and thus, I shall be reunited with my prince. This pleases me.
What should we do? I asked.
You aren’t ready, but when you are, call my name and we shall travel in time. I may not pass through the iron in the present, but I shall create a void where time returns us and there will be no iron to stop our journey.
What do you mean, I’m not ready? Ready. Ready. Damned ready! I answered, and my temper was amped up.
Time travel is a lost art and it is one that must not be taken lightly. Thy life must be in immediate danger before I will allow thee to travel into the past.
You are the past, speaking in thy and thee. I was angry. Your prince put you in my grandfather’s hands. He in turn allowed you the honor of residing in my father’s brain or gut, wherever you are. Now, you are in me. Work with me here.
It is true. What you say is true. I loved your father. His was a kind mind, and I enjoyed seeing the world through his eyes. I offered to save him when Morlan came. I tried to force him to use me, but he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to take a life. So, I did what I could to help him live on.
So, that is how…
I paced the few steps I could take before the chain held me back. Here I am, talking to something inside of me. Was it a living entity? I tried another argument. Look around, Fae Hallow—key—whatever. You don’t want to send me into the past until I am in danger. I am in danger of the worst kind. Morlan is a nutcase and he means me harm. He means to use you to get to the Chamber.
True, but still, we must leave time travel to our last resort. You and I are forever. I will honor thee…you, Dilly, by residing with you until my prince deems otherwise. But we must try other means. You are a witch. A very skilled witch. He has created wards to keep you here, but I believe you can break through those wards and the chains that hold you. It will be painful.
Not a fan of pain.
Right, okay. I don’t give up easy so I offered, How about just letting me go back in time with my memory intact…let’s say an hour before I got here. Fair? Can’t mess anything up if we just go back an hour.
My ‘key’ didn’t respond. It didn’t speak. I drew a blank.
Oh, this was so not good. Not good at all.
How was I supposed to get out of here? My magic isn’t affected by iron in any shape, way, or form. I should be able to get past Morlan’s idiotic warlock wards. Super witch style, I called on my transporting smoke. Purple clouds engulfed me, and when the clouds vanished, there I stood, still in my cell.
Morlan was back.
I spun around to the sound of his harsh laugh. He had seen me draw on my transporting smoke.
“Dilly, I told you, I have been preparing for this for a very long time. I have spelled this place to contain you. A lock of your hair, your blood when I sent the claw to grab you out of the attic you were hiding in…all went into the spell. You are mine.”
“I will never be yours and take a step nearer and I will kill you slowly,” I said, wondering if I could get up enough magic to do just that.
He stepped closer.
I was nearly close enough to slap his face, but as I aimed, he grabbed my wrist. “Not a nice way for us to start.”
“Oh, and taking me prisoner here, that is a nice way?” I shouted back at him.
“Unfortunately, I cannot stay and debate this with you. It seems you have many admirers, Dilly. One of them has managed to shut down the beast in the canyon. I mean to make certain he doesn’t get in my way again.”
“I loathe you,” I told him, all the while worrying now about Kallem.
“And still, I will have my tongue down your throat and my cock deep inside you!” he snapped.
I choked on my own saliva as I felt myself reach puking point.
In a cloud of black smoke, he was gone.
Okay, I was in deep shit! Fuck…but this was the worst shit ever!
Hallow—talk to me. Help me now.
~ Nine ~
THIS WASN’T JUST A CAVE. It was a small prison.
Above my head were rows of iron bars set four inches apart. Three walls of stone were lined in the same manner.
The mouth of the cave had been warded to prevent my exit.
I slumped down to the stone floor and started twirling a strand of my wet, dirty, black hair around my finger.
Would Kallem be able to find me with iron hiding me away? No.
I was in a tightly closed
jar with no way out.
I tried spell after spell to break down the bars, or at least undo my chains. Nothing. I needed the specific spell he had used when binding the iron cuffs at my ankles.
I tried calling on the key again. No response.
And then a soft breeze touched me and a voice, a beloved voice, said, “Dilly—Dilly…remember what I told you when you came home frustrated about your lessons. You hadn’t been able to break the chains that held you—remember, Dilly. I told you then that it doesn’t matter what the chains are made of. It doesn’t matter what spell was used to tether you to the chains. There is a spell that a superior witch—you, can call on. You know it well. Remember the field of traps I took you to. Remember…remember that.”
Was I hallucinating? Had that been my father’s voice? I picked up on a scent. His scent. He smelled of earth and spice. This was my dad. My dad.
The field of traps was an exercise all young witches and warlocks must undertake and succeed at before they can move on to the next class.
One of the traps I had to overcome was the one where I walked into an ambush. Older witches had chained me to a tree and cut me so that it would attract predators.
It was horrible, but he was right. I figured out what to do as vultures circled me in the air and a wild boar loomed not one hundred feet away.
It came to me all at once. I couldn’t believe my fellow witches or my family would leave me to be mauled, but something told me that was just what I was going to experience. Up to that point, all my experiences with the traps had been…or seemed real. I had experienced real pain when I failed.
The enchantment came to me then in a flash, as it did now.
“Yes, yes, yes,” I said before I silently recited the spell.
The iron bracelets came undone. The door to the cage swung open at my command, and I marched to the mouth of the cave with more than a little determination. Who did Morlan think he was trying to keep this super witch down? I hesitated only a moment and put my foot forward.
Bam, I was flung back with a force that landed me on my ass.
Shit, that hurt. Ohh, and that was going to leave a bruise.
