Bedeviled

by Maureen Child

  “I can’t be here to train you myself.” He looked past her to where Bezel and Eileen were having what sounded like a spirited conversation. “I have to stay mostly in Otherworld to keep Mab from finding out about you.”

  “Okay, that’s probably good.” She remembered all too well the things Eileen had found out on the Internet. Maggie was in no hurry to face a Faery queen. In fact, she was still looking for a way around all this destiny crapola.

  “You must learn,” he said, looming over her, fixing those pale green eyes on her face until Maggie could almost feel herself getting lost in them. “Listen to Bezel. I’ll come when I can.”

  She shook her head to break whatever spell he held her in. “Just a minute. Look, I’m all for avoiding your queen, but it’s not like I can spend every spare minute listening to your pixie. I’ve got a life to take care of. There are things I have to do. Money to make. Bills to pay.”

  “This is more important than you can imagine.”

  Behind them Maggie could hear Eileen peppering the pixie with questions, and she almost pitied him. Almost. Reaching out, she grabbed hold of the front of Culhane’s shirt, pulled him down closer to her and caught the fresh, almost foresty scent of him. His face was just a breath away from hers, and for a second Maggie wasn’t sure if she wanted to yell at him or just kiss him until she passed out. A moment later, though, she got her wild imagination under control and said, “Trust me when I say I know it’s important. I saw a demon in the grocery store. He said something about taking my power.”

  “They sense it,” he said, nodding. His eyes were solemn, his delicious-looking mouth flattened into a grim line. “This is why you must train. As time passes, more and more of them will come looking for you. Fae power strengthens a demon when he can capture it.”

  “Yeah,” she muttered. “So I heard.”

  “The demon you killed had a mate who is vowing revenge. He’s offering money to any demon who kills you.”

  She sucked in a gulp of air and fought the need to put her head between her knees. “Oh, God.” Terror was ripe and rich inside her when a sudden, horrifying thought occurred. She shot a glance at her niece, still bothering the pixie, then dragged Culhane far enough away that she couldn’t be overheard.

  “What about Eileen?” she asked, keeping her voice as low as possible. “Is she safe with me? Should I send her somewhere? Where can I send her? I’ll call Nora—”

  “The child will be safe enough,” Culhane interrupted her rushed flow of words. “Her Fae blood is so diluted she won’t attract interest from demons, and it is one of the highest Fae laws that no child shall be harmed.”

  “Are all of the Fae law-abiding citizens?” she asked, wanting to be reassured, but still scared.

  “Most,” he said. “But even those that are not wouldn’t harm a child. Even Mab herself would never condone a child’s being harmed.”

  So in some respects Fae society was a lot better than human, she thought. “But if Eileen’s with me, like today at the grocery store, won’t they come after her to get to me?”

  “The demons wouldn’t bother,” he said. “Easy enough to take the power from a recently turned human without involving a child and drawing unnecessary attention from the mortal police.”

  That was good to know, she thought, and her heartbeat settled down a little. At least Eileen was relatively safe. She, on the other hand . . . “Recently turned human. That’s what I am?”

  “Yes, that’s why you must learn, Maggie—to protect yourself. To protect those who will need you.” He lifted one hand to softly stroke her cheek with the tips of his fingers.

  Was that magic she felt zooming around inside her? Or was it something more elemental? Whatever it was, she really liked it, and it was a great distraction from the all-encompassing fear threatening to overtake her.

  Her body was humming and her mind was blurry. As she stared up at him, his mouth curved into a small smile that just barely tipped the corners of his lips. Funny, with him this close to her she forgot about danger, forgot about the misery that was currently her life. . . . She even managed to forget that her niece was just a few feet away from her. All she could think of was Culhane and what he did to her system with a simple glance out of those eyes. She swallowed hard and leaned in closer. He moved, too, and his scent wrapped itself around her, drawing her in, making her want. Need.

  Then he disappeared in a ripple of motion, and Maggie’s hopes dissolved along with her balance. She fell forward a step before she could catch herself, and only hoped no one noticed. When she turned around there was a smirk on the pixie’s face, but he didn’t say anything.

  “You said you owed Culhane a favor,” she said.

  “Yeah.” He looked disgusted by the admission, which only made Maggie more curious.

  “What’d he do for you?”

  Bezel stroked the straggly hairs on his chin. “He introduced me to my wife.”

  “Isn’t that nice?” Eileen asked nobody.

  “Your wife?” Maggie goggled at the hideous little man.

  This mean little pixie had a wife? And Maggie couldn’t find a man who wasn’t a bum, a liar or a Happy Meal? That hardly seemed fair.

  “You want to dial the shrieking down a notch?” He reached up and rubbed his ears. “I got sensitive hearing.”

  “Wow.” Eileen was loving this.

  “Great.” Maggie slumped down to the couch and gave in to the urge to put her head between her knees at last. While she concentrated on her breathing, the pixie kept talking.

  “Just so you know,” he said in that scratchy voice, “pixies and Faeries don’t really get along, so I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to be.”

  “I’m not a Faery.” Her voice was muffled.

  “Not yet.”

  That got her head up fast. “What?”

  “You’re changing. Turning. Hell, don’t you listen? Culhane just told you that. And as much as I hate most Faeries, they’re still better than humans, so it’s a good thing, as far as I can see.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “You’re turning into a Faery?” Eileen’s eyes went wild and wide as she looked at her. “This is so huge, Aunt Maggie! When you’re a Faery can you make me one?”

  “Oh, for . . .” Bezel shot the girl a glare, then fixed those chilling eyes on Maggie again. “Listen up, lady. I’m here to train you, and I will. But that doesn’t mean I have to like you. So I’ll teach, you listen, everything’ll work out. Until some demon kills you.”

  Maggie just sat there staring at him.

  “So where do I sleep? You got a good-size tree out back?”

  “An oak,” Eileen said.

  “Show me.”

  The girl and the pixie left together, with Sheba right behind them. Maggie slumped onto the couch and didn’t even try to fight it when she started floating.

  Could her life suck any worse?

  She closed her eyes as she hit the ceiling and bobbed there like a pool toy. “This is just fabulous,” she muttered. “I’ve got the hots for a Faery warrior, a pixie with a grudge is here to teach me how to use powers he doesn’t think I should have so I can fight a queen I don’t want to fight. Oh, and a pissed-off demon husband wants me dead.”

  Good times.

  “Wake up!”

  “Huh? What?”

  Nora Donovan shook her sister’s shoulder again and gave her a pinch just for good measure.

  “Hey!” Maggie’s eyes flew open and she looked blearily up at her. “Nora? You’re home early?”

  “Of course I’m home early,” she said, dropping onto the side of Maggie’s bed. “Eileen texted me last night about what’s been happening, and I cannot believe that you didn’t tell me!”

  “Um, uh, Nora . . .” Maggie pushed herself up on her elbows and frowned at the pale wash of light outside her window. “It’s not even morning yet. God.” She dropped back onto her pillow with a groan and closed her eyes again.

  “No, you
don’t.” Nora reached over, picked up a pillow and smacked her sister in the head with it. She’d hopped a plane as soon as she’d gotten Eileen’s text, and she wasn’t going to wait another minute to hear about what had happened in her absence.

  Nora’s dark red hair was the same shade as her sister’s, but the similarities ended there. She wore her hair short and spiky, and her eyes, Donovan blue, were tipped up at the corners, contributing to her elfin look. At the moment her mouth had the same stubborn tilt that all Donovan women seemed to possess.

  “Damn it, Maggie, wake up and talk to me.” Nora felt as tight as the hide drawn across the top of Weeping Buffalo’s drum. Ever since she got her daughter’s text message about what had been happening at home, she’d been unable to think of anything else.

  Now that she was here and could get some answers, she couldn’t even wake up her younger sister. “Don’t make me use Grandma’s never-fail wake-up call. . . .”

  Maggie slitted one eye open. “If you dump a glass of ice water in my face, I’ll have to kill you.”

  “Yeah, but you’d be awake. Now talk to me. I’ve been traveling for hours to get home.”

  Maggie sighed, rubbed her eyes and muttered, “God, Nora, what did Eileen tell you, anyway?”

  “Only what you should have told me. That you’re turning into a Faery.”

  “Oh, crap.”

  “Is it true?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How can you not know?” She wanted to pull her hair out, but then thought about yanking on Maggie’s instead. Hers was longer, and this was all her fault anyway. “You are or you’re not. This is not something you guess about.”

  “It is if you don’t want to think about it.” Maggie closed her eyes again.

  “I’m not leaving until you’ve told me everything, so you can forget about going back to sleep, girl.”

  “You are such a pain.”

  “So I’ve been told. I’ve learned to live with it, and so should you. Talk already.”

  She did. And once she got going the words seemed to tumble out of her mouth in such a rush that Nora could hardly keep up. Her heart galloped in her chest and her stomach was spinning by the time Maggie finished speaking, and Nora realized that what she was feeling was fury.

  “I can’t believe this. This is so unfair.” She pushed off the bed, walked three steps, then spun around and stabbed one finger at her sister in accusation. “How come you’re the one with Faery power? I’m the one who’s into this stuff. I’m the one who believes in everything that you’ve always laughed at.” She threw her hands wide in complete exasperation. “I’m the one who was always begging Gran to tell me about the Fae! I even have a Faery tattoo on my butt!”

  “Really?” Maggie lifted one eyebrow. “You never told me that.”

  Grumbling under her breath, Nora kicked one of Maggie’s shoes out of her way as she started pacing again. “My tattoo isn’t the point.” She whirled around to look at her sister. “I don’t even believe this is happening.”

  “Me neither.”

  The coming dawn slid into the room through the white lace curtains. The two women stared at each other, and Nora said, “You don’t look any different, if you were wondering.”

  “Actually”—Maggie pulled her hair back on the right and said—“now that you mention it, are my ears starting to look a little pointy?”

  Nora walked closer and leaned in for a better look. “No more than they already were. Don’t you remember me telling you that Gran said the reason our ears were sort of tilted up is because of our Fae blood?”

  “No, I don’t remember that at all.”

  “Honest to God, this is just so unfair. I know all the stories and you get the Faery dust. How is this right?”

  “Beats me.” Maggie looked up at her. “Did Grandma say anything else I should know about? Like, did she ever mention Mab or a guy named Culhane?”

  “Culhane?” Nora frowned. “Is he the one Eileen said is a hunk?”

  “Hunk and a half,” Maggie muttered, but she didn’t sound happy about it. “He makes me so mad, and then the very next minute he’s got me all hot and bothered and hoping he just tosses me onto the floor and—”

  “Why do you have one hand tied to the bedpost?” Nora’s eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open as she slapped Maggie in the face with a pillow again. “You’re not into weird stuff with this Culhane guy with Eileen in the house? Oh, my God, you Faery slut, you.”

  “No!” Maggie would have given anything for another hour or two of sleep, but that was for damn sure not going to happen. “God, it’s too early for this. This isn’t kinky, and there is no me and Culhane. I just . . . tend to . . . float if I’m not tied down.”

  “Float?” Nora’s eyes were still bugging. And even so, she managed to look gorgeous. Talk about unfair. “You mean like flying? You can freaking fly?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Nora pushed a stack of clothes off a chair and dropped into it. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at her younger sister and muttered, “And this is all happening because you took Joe’s stuff back to him.”

  “Basically. If I hadn’t gone there I never would have run into that creepy thing and wouldn’t have had to kill it and get submarined by a gold tornado. . . .” Something occurred to her, and Maggie smiled. “Which makes this sort of your fault. You’re the one who said I should go see Joe. Clean break and all that shit.”

  “Well, if I’d known what would happen I would have gone for you.”

  The thought of tiny little Nora facing down that man-eating demon was enough to terrify Maggie. “No, you wouldn’t,” she said softly. “It was scary, Nor. Seriously scary, and this whole thing has me freaked out like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve got this gorgeous Fae warrior popping in and out of my life—”

  “Culhane.”

  “Yes.”

  “How gorgeous?

  Maggie sighed. “The stuff dreams are made of.”

  “Wow . . .”

  “And I’ve got a bunch of demons after me, and a pixie from hell who’s snarkier than we are. . . .”

  “Is that him sleeping in the oak out back? I thought I heard snoring when I came in.”

  “Bezel. Yep, that’s him. He refused to sleep in a human’s ‘box.’ ” Maggie smiled wryly, remembering watching the pixie scramble up the tree with as much ease as a chimpanzee. He’d tucked himself onto a wide branch, then given her the evil eye and told her to leave him in peace.

  Pushing up from the chair again, Nora walked to her sister’s side. She shoved Maggie’s legs over and sat down on the bed. “Man, I leave home for a few days, all hell breaks loose, and nobody even bothers to tell me about it until after the fact.”

  “I was going to tell you. . . .”

  “No, you weren’t.” Nora gave her a look.

  “No, I wasn’t. I couldn’t think of a way to tell you on the phone, and you sounded happy, damn it. I didn’t want you to worry, and . . .” Scooting into a sitting position, Maggie pushed her hair back, scrubbed her hands over her face and admitted, “I knew you’d be bent out of shape about this.”

  Nora huffed out a breath. “Can you blame me?”

  “Hey, it may look like a good time to you, but trust me, so far it hasn’t been all happy, shiny party time, you know.”

  “Right, right.” Nora blew out a breath. “I’m still jealous.”

  “Can’t think why.”

  “I know. That just makes it worse.” Then she shrugged. “I checked in on Eileen before I came to wake you.”

  “She’s fine.”

  “Yeah, but I had to see for myself. She’s really young to be dealing with Faeries and pixies.”

  “If it helps any, I think Bezel’s afraid of her.”

  Nora laughed, and some of the tension in her body drained away. Maggie looked at her and knew that her sister was both excited and terrified. It felt good to know that someone else was experiencing the same kinds of em
otions she herself was.

  “After I got Eileen’s text I went a little nuts,” Nora admitted. “I checked out of the motel, packed everything up and caught the first flight out. All I could think about was getting back here. Making sure you and Eileen were okay. I barely had time to say good-bye to Quinn before running to the airport.”

  “That’s right,” Maggie said. “Where is this new guy? Thought he was coming home with you.”

  “I left in such a hurry he couldn’t come along. He said he had a few things to wrap up first.”