by Kristie Cook
Rina smiled knowingly. Also a telepath, she knew exactly the problems Alexis and I faced. “I believe it would be a perfect gift. Do you have specific plans?”
“I was thinking our beach house in the Keys.”
“Do you think it is safe?”
“We’ll be fine for a night.”
Rina pressed her lips tightly before finally nodding. “Shall I check if the jet is available?”
“That would be appreciated.” I leaned my elbows on my knees as she closed her eyes and fell silent for a moment.
“Hmm ... there is time to take you to Florida tomorrow, Christmas Eve, but it would not be able to retrieve you for three days.”
“We need to be back by Christmas morning for Dorian,” I said as I did the calculations in my head. “With warlock speed there and back, we’d only need the jet for about ten hours on Christmas Eve. It can be back here by four in the morning Christmas Day, if that’s okay.”
Rina lifted a brow. “That is not much time alone.”
No, not at all, I thought, but I shrugged. “We’ll take what we can get.”
“Very well. We can do that. I wish I could give you more time.”
I stood. “I appreciate this. Hopefully, Alexis will, too.”
I’d barely left Rina’s office before more plans started running through my mind. I had several phone calls to make to Miami and the Keys to prepare for this perfect night. We’d only get about four hours alone, but I’d make those the best four hours for Alexis that I could. Before diving into those calls, I swung by the kitchen for breakfast and found Blossom busy baking, her blond hair piled on top of her head and flour smudged under her big, hazel eyes.
“Hey, Tristan,” she greeted with her usual bubbly self. “Guess what? Jax says he might take me to Australia. Isn’t that cool? I’ve never been to Australia. Well, actually, I’ve never been out of the United States, except for now, of course, but this island barely counts since it’s only Amadis, and we haven’t seen any of Greece or the rest of Europe, which you know, is fine, I’m just happy to be here with you guys for Christmas, but if we could get off-island and go to Australia, that would be incredible. We’d only get like four or five days, but still, I’d love to see the Outback where Jax is from and all the animals—” She paused, seemingly to take a breath, but she tilted her head. “Alexis didn’t like the animals, did she? Didn’t something happen to her?”
I chuckled at the memory of my wife with the kangaroo. If Alexis were here, she would have hit me.
“I don’t think Australia is exactly her favorite place on the planet,” I said as I opened the refrigerator and dug around for food. Ophelia, who made an amazing breakfast, must have been busy with other work since it was past normal breakfast time. Or maybe Blossom had run the older witch off with all her babbling.
“Hopefully Jax and I will have a much better time, and I can tell her all about it, and maybe she’ll want to give it another chance.” Blossom handed me a plate of cinnamon buns and cookies she’d apparently been baking.
“Maybe,” I said as I stuffed a bun in my mouth, grabbed a cookie, and headed for the door. I gave her a wave and ducked out before she started rambling about something else. Blossom had a huge heart, but her brain ran non-stop, as did her mouth. I didn’t have time for a chat if I was going to prepare this special gift for Alexis.
I went to the media room, the only place in the mansion with electricity and anything 21st-century like telephones, to make my calls.
“G’day, mate,” Jax, the were-crocodile, said from his place in front of one of the computers. “You got a minute? I don’t know how to run this damn thing.” He held a mouse in his hand and pointed it at the screen like a TV remote. “I can’t even get this whirly-gig to work.”
He’d only left the Outback recently after forty years of isolation, and he was a proud old boy, but I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re going to break something. What the hell are you trying to do?”
“Trying to get to Australia,” he said, his voice full of frustration. “I made a bit of a promise to Blossom and don’t know that I can keep it.”
“Ah.” Knowing the frustration of trying to impress a lady, I felt bad for teasing him. I sat down next to him and took over the computer, looking at flights from Athens to Sydney.
He let out a low whistle when I told him the price. “They’re proud of their flights, are they? I don’t exactly have millions sittin’ around in my shack.”
I clicked a few buttons on the website and redid the search. “It’s not as expensive if you wait until after the holidays.”
“I think we’ll have to get back to Amadis business after the holidays.” Jax rubbed his bald head. “It’s all right, mate. I’ll figure somethin’ else to do for the lass.”
I’d just heard Blossom talk non-stop about the trip. The disappointment would flatten her. “Let me do it for you. I have the money. She doesn’t even have to know.”
Jax’s head popped up, and his dark eyes were wide. “Hell, no. Nice of you to offer, but I don’t take charity.”
“It’s not charity—”
The were-croc jumped to his feet and was at the door. “No worries, mate.”
I hurried out the door after him and convinced him to follow me to Rina’s office. He would never ask her permission to use the Amadis jet, but I would.
“I am sorry, Tristan, but tomorrow was the only time the jet was available, and you have already reserved it,” she said.
Jax clapped his hand on my shoulder and said, “Like I said, no worries, mate. I appreciate you tryin’ though.”
He strode down the dark hallway for the main part of the house. I looked at Rina and pushed my hands through my hair, then blew out a breath.
“Give them our reservation,” I said. “He doesn’t have anything else to give her for Christmas.”
“Are you certain, Tristan?” Rina asked. “And your gift for Alexis?”
“I’ll figure something else out.”
Chapter 2
I still hadn’t thought of what to do for Alexis when she returned in the early afternoon from her off-island trip with Sophia.
“Did you have a good morning?” I asked her as she sat down for a late lunch with me. I hoped she’d drop some hints of what she was getting me so that maybe it would provide some ideas of what to do for her.
“Do you remember our honeymoon?” she asked out of the blue. “So peaceful, just you and me on the beach, hardly any cares in the world ...”
I grinned. “I remember it quite well.”
She scowled. “Well, it was nothing like that. The Norman world is a madhouse with everyone running around shopping for last minute gifts. People are crazy. And then Sheree and Vanessa came with us for protection and about drove me insane. They were both looking for just the right gift for Owen, that dog, and they seem to think they’ll be getting something terribly romantic from him, but I know Owen—”
“They said that in front of each other?” I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.
She laughed. “No. Their freakin’ thoughts were so loud and excited, I couldn’t help but hear them even when I wasn’t trying.” She massaged her temples for a moment, then looked at me with those mesmerizing brown eyes. “You know what I wish existed? A faerie stone that calmed everyone the eff down.”
I rubbed her shoulder for a while as a new plan formed in my mind. I’d given up our opportunity for a mini-retreat to our honeymoon spot by letting Jax and Blossom use the jet, but if she wanted a faerie stone, that was something I might be able to provide.
“I need to go,” I said before kissing her goodbye.
“Where?”
I tweaked her chin and repeated her words back to her. “You’ll find out Christmas Eve.”
She tilted her head, but I only winked before darting out of the room.
I flashed to the village, and then contacted Bree the way she had shown me.
“I need to ask you something,” I said when she appeared in front
of me at the end of the pier that jutted out into the Aegean Sea, and I told her my idea for Alexis’s present.
When I finished, Bree looked at me with a golden eyebrow raised. “You ask a faerie for a favor?”
I narrowed my eyes. “If that’s what it takes.”
I’d hoped for special privileges, but should have known better. It didn’t matter, though. Alexis’s happiness—and peace—would be worth it.
Bree smiled warmly. “I won’t charge you, but if we run into any faeries in the Otherworld, I can’t guarantee anything.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
Bree turned toward me, placed her hands on my head and her thumbs over my eyes, forcing me to close them. The air shuddered around us, and she released me. Although it seemed as though we still stood on the pier at the Amadis village, we weren’t really there anymore. She’d brought us through the veil. I knew we’d entered the Otherworld immediately—my chest squeezed painfully.
“What do we need to do?” I asked, pressing my hand to my chest as I followed her off the pier. We didn’t sink into the ocean, but, rather, traversed the Otherworld. Breathing became more and more difficult. “I’d forgotten how much it hurts to be here.”
“That’s the human part of you that knows it’s not supposed to be here yet,” Bree said, tossing her golden hair over her shoulder to look at me. “We need to—”
She wasn’t able to finish her sentence. A creature with bat wings, horns, and a body like a human heavyweight boxer—a female boxer—flew at me with a sword raised. A demon.
“You attract them like an angel,” Bree said with dismay.
I didn’t have the same defenses in the Otherworld as I did in the Earthly realm. When the demon swung her sword at me, it sliced through my skin like butter. I bit back a howl of pain and charged. Her wings beat at the air, but I grabbed onto her hoof before she rose too high, then climbed up her trunk-like legs and wrestled her to the ground. She fought back, digging her claws into me and snapping her jaw full of needles too close to my face for comfort.
“I’ve fought worse demons than you,” I growled. Nothing was worse than the demons inside. Of course, Alexis had helped me beat the one that used to control me. Just the thought of her now—of our love, of leaving her if this demon won—gave me the boost of strength I needed.
My power had a lesser effect on the beast, but I blasted it at her anyway. It didn’t paralyze her, but her movements slowed. With a feint here and a perfectly placed kick there, I was able to steal her sword even as my lungs seized painfully. Pushing through the agony, I swung the blade upwards and sliced it across her neck. My ears nearly exploded with the sound she made as she picked up her head and disappeared. Demons couldn’t be killed in the Otherworld, but hopefully I’d deterred her from coming back—and any others from attacking.
“Let’s hurry,” Bree whispered.
Traveling through the Otherworld was disorienting. The farther away we moved from the veil, the farther Earth fell away, as though we ascended through the atmosphere, but we didn’t rise into the Heavens. From what Bree had told me, only the Angels could rise into the Heavens. The faeries occupied a different part of the Otherworld that somewhat resembled Earth, but … wasn’t. We followed a path, presumably toward their city, but it never came into view. When we entered a meadow of wildflowers, Bree stopped, fell to her knees, and dug her hands into the ground. They eventually emerged, producing a yellow stone that looked like citrine the size of a walnut. She closed her hands around the stone and murmured something in fae, then she held the stone out to me.
“I have given it the quality of peace,” she said. As soon as I took it from her, two familiar faeries popped into the meadow.
“Oh! Wot is this?” asked the purple-haired one who I’d met before in England. In the Earthly realm, she went by the name Debbie.
“This is a delight for the eyes,” Stacey, the pink-haired fae, answered. She danced around me, and a long-nailed finger stroked my cheek. Her Yorkshire, England, accent was less apparent in this realm. “Did you miss us? Needed to come for a visit?”
“I need the faerie stone,” I said matter-of-factly, not wanting to get involved in their faerie antics. “For my wife.”
Both faeries scowled at the reminder of my love. They didn’t have the same effect on me because of it, which apparently annoyed them. They deserved to be annoyed for all the trouble the fae caused for everyone else, but an unhappy faerie wasn’t a good thing.
“And why should we do anything for you?” asked a third familiar voice. Jessica, another purple-haired faerie, had appeared.
“What will you do for us?” demanded her sister, Lisa, tossing her blue hair. She and her sister had also lost the heavy twang of their accents—Southern U.S. when they were on Earth.
“He doesn’t have to do anything,” Bree said, standing by my side. “He’s—”
“We know who he is,” Debbie said. “What he is.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Stacey added.
“He doesn’t get special treatment,” Jessica agreed.
“What do you want?” I asked. There was no use arguing with them, and I needed to get out of here. After the fight with the demon, not only my chest ached, but so did the rest of my body.
Lisa twirled a lock of her blue hair around her finger. “We’ll let you know when the time comes.”
“Beware,” said Jessica, “if you take that stone, you will owe us.”
I bowed my head and said through gritted teeth, “I understand.”
Those two words bound the contract more tightly than any written one on Earth, and as soon as I said them, Bree took us out of the Otherworld. We appeared in the woods near the matriarch’s mansion, and I gasped like a fish out of water. I fell to my hands and knees, struggling for a deep breath. Minutes passed before I could finally breathe normally. By then, my injuries had also healed. Only the rips in my clothes showed any evidence of the fight with the demon, but when I rose to my feet, I still rolled my neck and shoulders and shook out my limbs, making sure I was truly free of the pain.
“You’re okay?” Bree asked, and I nodded. “I hope this does what you desire.”
She gave me a quick and awkward hug before disappearing. Although the pain was gone, I still felt stiff as I made my way past the training gym and to the mansion. I reached for the handle when the wooden door flew open.
“Men,” Vanessa snarled as she nearly mowed me down. She blurred off for the beach.
As soon as I entered the foyer, Sheree stomped past me.
“Men,” she growled around elongated teeth as she headed for the back of the building.
Owen stood at the bottom of the stairs, his blond hair standing in all directions and his blue eyes wild with confusion.
“What’s up, Scarecrow?” I asked.
“Women!” he snapped, and without another word, he disappeared.
I closed the front door and shook my head with bewilderment.
“I told you, they need a calming stone,” Alexis said as she strode out of the sitting room and over to me. “If only they existed.”
“They need one?” I asked as she wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head against my chest.
She snorted. “Yeah. As many as possible. Crap really hit the fan. I told Owen this would happen, but he never wants to listen to me. Now I’ll probably have to clean up his mess.” She let out a sigh when I closed my arms around her. “At least I have you to calm me. You’ve always had that effect on me. Too bad we couldn’t bottle it.”
My brows pinched together. “I still do that for you?”
She looked up at me and gave me that smile I love. “Always. Thank God. Otherwise, I’d be worse than I already am. Worse than them!”
She laid her cheek against my chest and moved her hands down my back. When she shifted and her hip pressed against mine, she froze for a minute before her hand dove into my pocket.
“I thought you were just glad to see me, but I guess not,” s
he said when she pulled the stone from my pocket. “What is this? It kind of looks like that one ugly birthstone. I was always so glad mine is an amethyst. I couldn’t imagine having to wear something like this. What’s that yellow one called?”
“Citrine,” I muttered, and then I blew out a breath of frustration. “And that’s a faerie stone for calm and peace.”
A smile broke out on her face. “Really? You got it for them? Oh, Tristan! You should give it to Owen, and then he can give it to them for Christmas. Oh! He can put it in a piece of jewelry like you did for me. They’d never know, but damn, would it make life a little easier for all of us.”
Her excitement was contagious, and I couldn’t help but return her smile. Her happiness made me happy, but I couldn’t exactly say that was supposed to have been her Christmas gift. Now what was I going to do? I snatched the stone from her and crushed it in my fist before shoving the pieces into my pocket.
She laced her fingers through my other hand and pulled me toward the stairs.
“Looks like you need to change before dinner,” she said. “What happened to your clothes anyway? They’re all ripped up.”
I grunted, but kept my thoughts clear in case she snooped my mind for the truth. “Nothing, my love. Just a little ramble in the woods. Don’t worry about me.”
Chapter 3
Sleep evaded me. I stared at the ceiling as Alexis slept in my arms, my mind running through possible gift options and tossing them away as garbage because none of them were just right. Christmas Eve would dawn in a few hours, and I had nothing to give her. How could I let this happen? The more I thought about it, the more worked up I became, and the more likely I’d wake her with my thundering heart. Very carefully, I slipped out of bed without waking her and flashed to the training gym.
I went through my aikido routine as the gray light of dawn filtered through the rafters, hoping to distract myself so my subconscious could work on my problem, but I still had no solution after two hours of practice. After some calming stretches and exercises, I flashed to the village for art supplies and returned to the gym, where I’d have privacy.
