“Looking for my girls,” Izzy’s father answered in that gruff voice of his that always made her smile.
“Well, here I am. What’s up?”
“I don’t hear your or Marie’s voice quite often enough anymore.”
“I’m sorry, Papa. Things are busy right now.”
“Things are always busy since you met Bain.”
Izzy grinned at the slight irritation in her father’s tone. He liked Bain, but he had trouble letting go of his girls. “Well, if I promise we will do a big get-together as soon as things slow down, would that make it better?”
“Yes, little Iz. You could call your mother and me a little more often, too.”
Izzy felt a small wave of shame; things in the Middle World had been so out of control that she really hadn’t had the time to spend with her family back in the Human realm.
“I’m sorry, Papa. I will call you in a couple days, and we can make a plan, okay?”
“Okay. I love you, Isabelle.”
“I love you, too, Papa.”
Izzy hit end on the call and found that Samira was staring at her. Izzy arched a brow, and Samira smiled.
“You’re lucky to have such love around you… I never knew my parents—I’ve never been loved for more than my magic, and I am no fool, that was never love.”
Izzy’s head tilted to the side. “I’m sorry, and I know how lucky I am. Love is an easy emotion to feel, but not always an easy emotion to control. My guess is you haven’t found the right people to care about and to let care about you… I think Makyle cares for you.”
Samira felt the corners of her mouth tip upwards as she recalled his lips against hers. Why had he kissed her? What the hell had he been thinking?
Izzy laughed lightly. “Whatever you’re thinking about, it’s the first time I’ve seen you truly smile. Is Makyle the cause of that look on your face?”
“Perhaps he is,” Samira replied coyly, as she entered Rowan’s study, making a beeline for the books shelved on the back wall.
Chapter Seven
The banshee’s head tilted at an unearthly angle. Makyle let his good eye crack open to watch the creature. A hot breeze blew across his exposed flesh, he fought back a wince of pain as it slid across his marred skin, not wanting to draw attention from the banshee. He had led so many of them to differing depths of the Underworld, and still, as he looked upon the creature, he was reminded of the cruelty that had led so many of them to his domain. They were truly frightening.
The banshee’s alabaster skin lay over a sharp, skeletal face, and her deep, sunken eyes studied him with an almost curious tinge. Sharp teeth snapped together as she curled her lips and bit against the air. Her head fell back, and a piercing scream rent the night as she called out into the darkness.
He closed his eye as the call brought in the other creatures residing in the forest behind him. The trees came to life with the wails of the souls trapped there. They weren’t all banshees. There were the calls of so many different Fae who had lost their way in life, and found themselves punished in death—sentenced to this place by he and his brothers—and now all he could do was hope for mercy from the merciless. It was poetic in a way, and quite clever of his brothers.
With the release of a breath, he prepared for what this level held for him. He bit back a cry of agony as sharp teeth pierced and slid down his side, slicing his tender flesh and muscle.
****
Samira braced herself against the wall with one hand as her other flew to her side, and she screamed. It took all she had to keep standing as searing pain glided down her ribs from just below her breast to her hip.
Izzy ran to her. Grasping her elbow, she led Samira to the settee, where she helped her to her side and laid her down. “What happened?” Worry laced Izzy’s tone.
“It’s Makyle again.” Samira shuddered the words through the pain. When she lifted her palm from her side, red liquid stained her skin and bled through her white top.
“Son of a bitch,” Izzy growled as she pulled Samira’s top away from the wound. Five deep slashes ran along her pale skin. Izzy would have thought they were claw marks, but the shape seemed off. “What did this?” she asked, as she held her palms above the wound and began the healing process. Her eyes glowed bright blue, and she chanted softly.
“Banshee,” Lothar said from behind them. Izzy’s head swung to see Lothar with a concerned look on his face.
“You sensed her pain?” Izzy asked, as Samira’s skin fully knitted back together. Izzy pulled the fabric back over Samira’s freshly healed wound.
Spoken with concern. “It’s manifesting while you’re awake now.” Lothar stated.
Samira wiped the salty tears that blurred her vision and nodded. “This is the first time it’s happened like this.”
She didn’t want to be weak, but fear was clinging to her soul and grasping at her heart. The thing about it was, she couldn’t wrap her mind around how much of the fear and pain was solely for herself, and how much of it was for Makyle.
Lothar came and sat next to Samira. He could feel her confusion, and the pain the link was causing. He frowned at Izzy. “We have to hurry. And you and Bain need to talk… one healer needs to stay behind.”
Izzy’s gaze bounced from Lothar to Samira and back to him. He was right; if it was manifesting while she was awake, there was no way they could leave her without a healer close by. “Has Holly gotten any closer to mastering healing?”
Lothar shook his head. “Not really. She hasn’t had the opportunity to practice.”
Izzy nodded. “I’m going to see what we can do in terms of a spell…” She smiled pleadingly at him. “Perhaps you could speak with Bain?”
Lothar chuckled. “You’d do that to me?”
Izzy grinned. “Come on, Lothar, it’s just little ole Bain.”
Lothar shook his head. “Don’t let him hear you call him little.”
Izzy arched a brow.
“I’ll speak with him, but I would suggest you see if there is something you can do to block the physical manifestation of their link while you come up with a spell to link the two of you… There is pretty much no chance Bain will let you go without him.”
Izzy knew he was right. Bain would flip his lid if she tried to go without him. All hell would break loose, and they would lose valuable time fighting over it. There was no chance she was going to stay behind while he went without her.
“You work on the blocking spell, and I will work on the linking spell. We’ll figure it out—and quickly,” Samira added as she stood and headed back to the bookshelf.
Lothar dipped his chin. “I will go speak with the others and let them know what is happening.” He smiled briefly at Izzy and headed out.
****
One blocking spell and a linking spell later, Izzy and Samira parted ways. Feeling accomplished and ready to go, Izzy made her way to the room she shared with Bain. Entering, she found Bain with his elbows resting on his knees as he stared at the polished wood floor.
“That doesn’t bode well,” she said, as she made her way to him.
He lifted his face to her, his violet eyes sad. Reaching out, he pulled her to him, resting his forehead against her stomach.
“Bain, what’s wrong?”
He shook his head as his strong arms tightened around her waist.
“You’re scaring me… talk to me.”
He took a deep breath and lifted his face to catch her gaze. “I love you, Isabelle.”
She smiled and cupped his face. “I love you, too.”
He smiled, but there was melancholy in it. “I know, but things are changing, you’re changing. And with those changes, you are becoming increasingly headstrong.”
She arched a brow. “I thought that was what you loved about me.”
“I do—I love that fire in you. But it scares the shit out of me, too, and I don’t have a great feeling about us going into the Underworld.”
She bit her lip and sighed, then moved to sit i
n his lap, her knees landing softly on the mattress on either side of his hips. “Please don’t ask me to stay behind.”
He shook his head and pushed his finger through her black locks. “I wouldn’t, because I know you won’t. You want to be sure Makyle is safe—”
“It’s not just him. God, Bain! I would never forgive myself if something happened to you while you were out there, trying to rescue him… I am not a warrior, and I don’t know all there is to know about this world, but the one thing I know to my very core is that I can’t live in it without you. So there will never come a day when I won’t follow you.” She smiled, then leaned in and kissed him softly. “I may not be willing to stay behind, but I am absolutely planning to follow your lead. Because together, I know we will both be fine.”
Bain blew out a deep breath; it took little from her to calm his nerves. She really was his heart, and with those few words, he trusted that they could do this.
“Now,” she said, with a mischievous smile, “how much time do we have?”
“Kale, Uriah, and I came up with two plans, both of which require you using some of Holly’s magic, so you’ll need to go see her. Also, we all agree that we really should use the cover of night. So we have a few hours.”
Izzy slid her hands down his chest, reaching for his belt. She bit her bottom lip as she pulled it loose.
“I have a plan for those few hours. You want to hear about it? Or would you rather I just show you?” she asked sensually.
Bain grinned devilishly while a low rumble emanated from deep within his chest. “Show me, sweetheart.” With those words, she pushed against his shoulder, sending his back to the mattress, and reached for the hem of her shirt.
Chapter Eight
Bain pulled a thin black hood over Izzy’s head. Holding the sides, he smiled down at her. “You ready, sweetheart?”
She took a deep breath. “I think so.”
Bain lifted his gaze to Kale and Uriah, who stood close behind her. “Ready, boys?”
Kale grinned, and Uriah dipped his chin. They each placed a palm on her shoulder, and Bain cupped her face.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“You got this, Iz,” Kale said encouragingly.
“Of course she does,” Uriah agreed.
Izzy blew out a deep breath and cleared her mind. She searched for the part of her that was filled with Makyle’s magic, with his essence. Calm fell over her as his power flowed and sparked in her veins.
Next, she called on Makyle himself. She pulled up all the memories that sat so readily in her mind. The twinkle in his diamond eyes the first time he saw her use magic, the sardonic smile he would bestow upon her as she eagerly questioned him about the world he brought her into. She remembered the fierce way he fought for Makiah and the warriors, the way his wings looked like armor, and how his body moved in flight. The way his muscles looked like liquid grace as he fought. She recalled everything that made Makyle the demi-god he was.
Finally, she remembered the pure love she felt when he hugged her and told her he was proud of her. With all those things ready to lead her to where she needed to be, she searched for Holly’s magic and let it take her and the warriors deep into the dark domain of the Underworld.
Heat was the first thing she felt after being lost in the abyss of flashing. The next was the embrace of strong arms as they pulled her from wherever they had landed.
“Come on, sweetheart, wake up.” Bain ran his fingers gently over her cheek. Encouraging her to open her beautiful eyes.
“Is she all right?” Kale asked.
“Yeah, she’s coming around.”
“Oh, son of a bitch,” she murmured. “I fucking hate flashing.”
Uriah chuckled. “She really is spending too much time with you, Bain.”
“Not possible,” Bain argued with an arched brow that dared Uriah to suggest something so ludicrous once more.
“It’s not just Bain’s fault… you all have mouths like sailors,” she groaned, as she cracked open her eyes and sat up.
“Holy crap, it worked?” Izzy took in the dark sand she sat upon and the river of fire that flowed in mesmerizing elegance, snaking through the terrain. Thick, black silhouettes stood in the distance, lit by the heated glow of the river. Izzy’s gaze lifted to Kale, who stood in guard stance but seemed less than aware of anything around him.
“Think he just found his next tattoo?” Izzy asked, as Bain helped her to her feet.
Bain studied the youngest warrior for a brief minute. “That, or he thinks he’s fallen into a wet dream.”
Izzy and Uriah both shook their heads at him as Kale chuckled. “Kat is all the wet dream I need. Besides, big man, you don’t want to know about the things that used to get me off in my sleep.”
He grinned and winked at Izzy. Bain growled, narrowing his violet eyes.
“Oh gross, Kale.” Izzy brushed the sand from her pants and pushed past the warriors to get a better look at the legendary river.
Bain grinned. “You’re just not her type.”
“Ah, but in my drea—” Kale was cut off by a solid shove to the side of his head.
“Do not finish that sentence,” Bain warned.
Kale laughed as Uriah broke into their banter. “Time to focus, gentlemen.”
Izzy scoffed. “Gentlemen? Uriah, you are so kind with your words; right now, they are both being jackasses.”
Bain ran up behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist, and lifted them into the sky. Izzy yelped and spun to slap his chest as soon as they landed on the other side of the river.
“Jackass.”
Bain chuckled and buried his face in the crook of her neck. “But I am your jackass, sweetheart.”
Izzy sighed. Yes, he was her jackass, her love, and she couldn’t imagine him being any different. Uriah and Kale landed next to them. Both pulled their wings back as soon as their booted feet hit the black sand. They all wore black pants loaded down with weapons, black T-shirts, and black hooded sweatshirts to hide their features. In the dead of night in the Underworld, surrounded by so much darkness, they were easily hidden among the landscape.
Kale lifted his chin towards the mass of trees about a mile from them. “That’s Kore.” He smiled at Izzy. “You did good. We're damn close.”
Izzy smiled. She really had hoped to land closer to Makyle, to keep their time in this domain to a minimum, but for only having flashed a handful of times—mostly by accident—she’d done all right. Lacing her fingers with Bain’s, they all set out towards the forest. Keeping on the ground and out of the sky was the safest way to travel.
****
Samira smiled as her vision cleared and she found herself back in the castle with eager faces staring down at her.
“They made it, and from what Kale was saying, they aren’t far from Kore.”
Holly blew out a deep breath. “Thank the Gods.”
Cree smiled. “I had no doubt this would work.”
Holly smirked. “It’s easy when your omniscient… we don’t have the luxury of foresight.”
Cree arched a brow. “Neither do I, most days. ” he said with a humorless smile.
Holly instantly felt bad. Cree didn’t talk much about it, but they all knew his visions were spotty at best lately. “Sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be. If I’ve learned anything from my gift, it’s that all things happen for a reason. Perhaps there are things I am not meant to see.”
Lothar felt a wave of sadness flow through the room. He squeezed Holly’s small hand—it was her pain that he felt. The sting of regret, born of the years lost with her family, only to find her way back to them and then for them all to lose Rowan. Not to mention the sadness they all felt for what her death had done to their leader.
It was no secret that Rowan’s death weighed heavily on Cree and had changed something very crucial in him. Cree blamed himself, but as time went on, Lothar saw Cree crawling out of the darkness that consumed him because of it. Rowan was gone, a
nd she would forever be missed. However, Cree finally seemed to understand that he wasn’t meant to stop it, and though it hurt his pride and shattered his heart, some things were inevitable. Just like the fact that Cree knew all too well when the end would come for each of them. There is no changing the facts. Death is the unavoidable end for everything that lives.
Cree stood. “It’s time to tighten down the castle. The Immortal Rulers won’t waste much time in coming after Makyle.” Looking to Samira, he smiled genuinely at her. “Are you sure you want to be here for this?”
She nodded. “I don’t plan to run. Plus, I owe Makyle my li—well, I owe him a lot of things, and I believe I can start my repayment by helping you. I think just being in the Middle World has strengthened what is left of my magic. So the least I can do is help protect your home.”
Cree held a hand out to her. She took it cautiously, but smiled as he pulled her to her feet. “Let’s see what you got.”
Holly grinned as the two left the room. “He just needs something to fight for.”
Lothar nodded. It was true; Cree was at his best when he was in full warrior mode.
Chapter Nine
Samira walked the grounds of the light castle, placing large crystals around its perimeter. The sun lightly shone off the randomly shaped clear rocks, causing rainbows to reflect off them. They were one of the most powerful tools she had for casting spells. There had been a time when all she had needed was a flick of her fingers to completely hide a castle of this size. Now she needed crystals for a simple warding spell. The spell and cystals may not stop the Immortal Rulers from entering the grounds, but they would slow them down and at least give Cree and the others a little warning that they had arrived. And they would come; there was no doubt in her mind.
With a smile, she placed the last crystal near the far gardens. She lifted her gaze to the sky to see Holly and Lothar heading out to make a sweep over the lands. When she turned to head back towards the castle, she saw Cree.
Immortal Awakening: Immortal Heart Page 4
