Bastion of Magic (The Sidhe (Urban Fantasy Series) Book 4)

by S A Archer

  His Touch responded to hers. Just a trickle. Just a hint, her excitement was that infectious. For her, he’d do this. He’d play the drums in front of a mixed crowd of fey and humans so she could sing for them.

  His reflection smiled, just a little, but it was all for her. “Alright. I’m in.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kieran hadn’t spent much time around non-fey since Donovan brought him to the Glamour Club. That seemed like a lifetime ago, instead of the months that it had been. Donovan had changed Kieran’s life. Changed his world. Standing on the threshold overlooking the party around the pool gave him a startling reminder that the reality Donovan provided wasn’t the only one.

  For Tiernan, the world consisted of more than the fey, and their friends and foes. Even the definition of ‘enemy’ was different here, Kieran thought, as Monique slithered past a couple making out by the pool-side bar, her brilliant blue eyes fixed on him with the intensity of a snake. Tiernan obviously trusted the vampire. This wouldn’t be the first time Kieran disagreed with him.

  Not that Kieran didn’t appreciate the vampire’s beauty. Very likely she’d been a model before she’d been turned. Not one of the anorexic fashion models of the day. Her beautifully curvaceous body and exceptional poise reminded him of the classic beauty of Grace Kelly. Only with all that elegance mixed with a good measure of serpentine sensuality. Sexy as hell. But a vampire was a vampire, no matter what package she came in, and he’d had his fill of them.

  So when she glided up close to him, a suggestive smile teasing at her lips, Kieran rested his hand on her hip. Not to draw her closer, but to keep her at a comfortable distance. Clearly she’d expected something different from the raise of her sculpted eyebrows. “Are you not here looking for company for tonight?” Her head tilted to the side as her gaze slid down to his neck. “We could enjoy each other.”

  “I’d rather stick with a fey companion,” he said, although the thought of a human one intrigued him as well, but he didn’t need to share all his business with her. As it was, he was only being polite for Tiernan’s sake, because Kieran personally didn’t care about offending Monique.

  She reached up a tapered finger and glided it over the collection of small pinprick scars. Most people didn’t notice them unless they were up close and staring at his throat. Of course, the vampire probably noticed them right off. “You’ve enjoyed the company of vampires before. Why not now?” Her hand slid down his chest, feeling the shape of his muscles under his shirt.

  Kieran pushed her away, causing her hands to draw back away from him. “I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it.” Fixing her with his dark glare, he knew she got his meaning now.

  He’d been on the streets for years before Donovan found him. The lads he’d run with did their best to protect Kieran, but when the vampires came hunting for his Sidhe blood there wasn’t anything that could stop them. And they came around a lot. They might rough him up when he fought back, but they wouldn’t risk killing off their favorite meal. And he was only ever a meal to them, nothing more. Chasing him down was just part of the game, part of the hunt. That was before he learned his magic; Sound, Touch, Glamour, teleportation. All ways to fight back. He wasn’t anyone’s prey anymore. He was Unseelie. And a deadly one at that, if it came to it.

  The vampire had the decency to lower her gaze and cool her lust. “I see.” Then she wrapped her arms lightly around his elbow and moved to stand beside him, as if he escorted her. Or vice versa. “Then shall we meet some of the fey?” Monique leaned in with familiarity as she murmured close to him. “Brianna is the one making out at the bar. Her aspect is sexuality. I imagine she’d be more than willing to accommodate a handsome young man like yourself.”

  That must be the one who was also Leannan. At some point he’d like to experiment and see if Tiernan was right. At the moment, though, she appeared occupied exploring some guy’s tonsils with her tongue. “Perhaps someone not so busy.”

  She hummed in agreement, and then drew him along the perimeter of the pool towards the garden beyond. “Sierra is usually outside in the evenings.” Monique lifted her chin towards a slender young woman with waist-length black hair moving between the decorative, blooming saplings. Her silken dress flowed beautifully from the spaghetti straps across her pale shoulders. Even though her thin fingers danced along the twigs beside her, her head was tilted back so she watched the darkening sky.

  As they approached, Monique drew Sierra out of her contemplation. “Sierra, darling, you must meet our newest Sidhe. Would you help Kieran feel welcome in our home?” Such a delicate way of saying it, without actually saying it. Monique was practically Seelie.

  Sierra turned towards them, a ready smile on her sweet face. Stars glittered in her dark blue eyes.

  An easy smile tugged at Kieran’s lips in response.

  Monique leaned in closer and whispered, “We take care of our own here.” Her hand closed over his bicep and squeezed. “You’ll see.”

  And he knew she meant for him to someday look past her fangs.

  He doubted that would ever happen, and his face surely showed his thoughts.

  Monique didn’t even flinch, just gave him that Grace Kelly smile and swayed back toward the party.

  Kieran watched her go, the cling of her dress over her bum drawing his eyes. The vampire wanted to lure him into trusting her, which only made him trust her even less.

  A new hand stroked down his arm and Kieran returned his attention to the lovely Sidhe woman beside him. There was something delicate and sweet about her that reminded him of a fairy. As her fingers slipped into his the magic of her Touch exhaled into him. Kieran’s hand closed over hers. His eyes closed as he breathed her in. The glitter of starlight flickered in his mind’s eye, her personal magic coloring her Touch. When he opened his eyes he already felt better.

  Smiling, she drew him further from the lights of the pool party. “Watch the stars come out with me?”

  As long as she was willing to Touch him, he was game for anything.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Malcolm didn’t know why they’d worried about their ears. He didn’t think anybody could see them anyway. The place was huge. At least three times the size of the Glamour Club. Fog machines spewed mist from either side of the stage. Colored spotlights flickered and spun, making the dancing crowd an undulating darkness except for when a stray beam of light cut across a swath of them. The lights over the stage made them sweat, even with the electric fans blowing back their hair.

  The band hadn’t had time to come up with music of their own yet, so all of the songs they played tonight were covers of popular songs that they all knew. All of them showed off Kaitlin’s voice, with Joel backing her up, and Griffin and Malcolm adding support now and then. None of the songs had challenging drum solos, so Malcolm could play almost on automatic pilot. He watched the show as Kaitlin and Joel began the duet by Seether, ‘Broken’. The two of them made the song heart-wrenching and powerful.

  They did the same thing with ‘Bring Me to Life’, by Evanescence. Kaitlin poured emotion into that one, making Malcolm remember the time when she nearly Faded.

  Same thing for the next song by Katy Perry called ‘Wide Awake’.

  But then they switch things up with ‘Just Dance’ by Lady Gaga. Kaitlin danced for the crowd. Sliding her hips side to side, showing off the suede britches which laced up the side to reveal skin from her ankles to her waist. She wore a sleeveless leather halter that laced up the front and showed off her cleavage. Malcolm caught himself staring at her, mesmerize by the way she moved. She was as beautiful as any of the Sidhe, but somehow she captivated him more than any of the others.

  He could see her magic roll off her and over the crowd. They moved as she moved. When she raised her arm above her head and swept over towards the right the crowd followed her, leaning the same
direction. Then when she came back the other way they went that way, too.

  That her magic did that didn’t surprise him. What did get his attention was how it seemed to echo back to her. Like a magical feedback that strengthened her the more she sang.

  Then Kaitlin started into the romantic stuff. The first one was the fun little song, ‘Call Me, Maybe’, by Carly Rae Jepsen. When she sang about skin showing Joel and Griffin peeled off their T-shirts and tossed them into the crowd, a bunch of girls cheered in approval. The sweat glistened on their toned bodies with every move they made.

  The final song slowed things down a bit again. Kaitlin switched to ‘Breathless’ by the Irish band, The Corrs. And that’s when he really noticed that she was no longer singing to the crowd but to him. She glided her hands over her breasts and then down her hips as she shimmied. She looked right at him. It almost made him mess up and he had to lower his head and watch what he was doing.

  Malcolm twirled the sticks as the concert came to an end and the others gave their bows. Joel took the mic and introduced Kaitlin to the crowd. Then himself and Griffin. Finally, he waved for Malcolm to join them. Malcolm was more comfortable behind the drums than in front of them, but he left his sticks on the snare drum and came around to join them.

  Joel grabbed him by his wrist and raised his arm. “And on the drums, Malcolm!”

  A whole bunch of girls screamed and whistled. Some started shouting, “Take off your shirt!”

  Even though Joel gave a questioning look to Malcolm, he already knew the answer. Back when they played in the Glamour Club, The Fury had often taken off their shirts, but Malcolm never would. He wasn’t about to now, either. Malcolm gave a little shake of his head which only made the girls scream louder. And for a minute he thought they might start to riot.

  But Joel covered for him by distracting the crowd. “Hey DJ, play us something we can dance to!” As the music started piping through the club, Joel and Griffin each plucked a fey girl out of the crowd and started dancing with her on the stage.

  Kaitlin turned towards Malcolm and wrapped her arms around his neck. As they began to dance his hands settled on her hips. He knew, even though the crowd began to dance too, many were still watching them. But then Kaitlin cupped the sides of Malcolm’s head and made him look at her. Magic danced in her eyes and across her skin, making her luminescent to him. Music, mingled with her Touch, flared from her hands and into Malcolm like a deep, cleansing inhale. Like he’d been holding his breath forever. “Dance with me,” she said, and a pretty smile lit up her face.

  The kind of dancing Malcolm knew wasn’t the up close kind. When she pressed her body against his, so close that one of her thighs slipped between his, he just froze.

  Kaitlin laughed a little as she moved against him. “Like this.” Her hips moved and Malcolm followed her lead. It wasn’t difficult, with her soft, warm body nuzzled all up against his. Being fey, dancing came second nature, even if he’d never done it this way before. But before he knew it, Kaitlin’s face was burrowed against his neck and his arms were wrapped tight around her waist.

  The dancing lost its complexity, becoming a hug and sway instead. With just enough grind to it that his awareness of her changed. Heated excitement prickled over him and gathered in the stiffening arousal trapped between them.

  Kaitlin felt it too, and her face tilted up. Her eyes searched his.

  He wanted her to Touch him with her music and magic so badly that he Touched her. The urgency and need he felt coursed from his fingertips into her skin. “I want…” Malcolm was never good at saying things. Especially things he felt so strongly. Instead he let the Touch talk for him, all his feelings and wants.

  They came together then. Mouths joining. Her magic, all that wonderful music, pouring into him. A fey felt music deeply, Malcolm knew it was true. Music reached into the soul of what they were. That’s why they danced and sang and played music as much as they did.

  Only, Kaitlin was music on the inside. Her magic was music. Tasting her magic was intoxicating. He drank her Touch into him, losing himself into it.

  Some part of him was aware that he pushed his hands under her shirt, needing more skin to Touch. She spun him around, or maybe the stage just seemed to spin as the magic overwhelmed his senses. In a moment she’d pulled him backstage. With the dizzying slip of teleportation Malcolm felt himself falling, tumbling backward and landing on a bed in the room he’d been given and scaring Tom Cat off of it. Kaitlin fell with him.

  Their clothes were in the way of the Touching, and Malcolm wanted more. Pulling and pushing, hands fumbled, but soon nothing interfered with the magic.

  The music filled his senses, harmonies and rhythms, different and yet the same. All interlaced with the magic in a perfect blend. He needed it more. Desired it fiercely. Had to go deeper into it.

  They moved against each other, driven by the magic and joined by it. All of it washing together. Malcolm rode the high, the elation of the magic filling his senses, of the music rolling through him. Rolling with her, he reached deep inside her for more. Needing to Touch her there.

  Heat and sweat mingled like their bodies, moving and sliding, with perfect timing. The magic and music grew more and more intense with each stroke of joining. There was sound, so much sound. Music and a thumping rhythm that thundered through him. Gasps and screams and moans. Until it was too much to hold back. Unable to resist, the Touch exploded between them, tearing at his senses until he knew nothing but the power of the glorious shattering. Magic shredding him into nothing and completing him at the same time.

  Malcolm collapsed, still tangled with Kaitlin and the sheets. Even though he kinda knew what was happening, he hadn’t gotten past the sensation and the magic to really put it all together in his mind. Now that it was over, and he was knackered almost to the point of passing out, did he really realize what they’d done.

  But this had been so much more than just sex between them.

  She Touched him still, a spent and weak Touch that hummed with something like contentment. Like the purr of a cat. His arms draped over Kaitlin, as her body curled against his. Closing his eyes, he surrendered to the exhaustion.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sierra was a lovely girl, and more than generous with her Touch. Far into the evening, beneath the shine of her stars, they chatted about nothing important. It didn’t matter really, as long as she Touched him. However, when the night grew long, she declined his invitation to share his bed.

  So much for everyone in this place taking care of their own.

  Even with his magical hunger freshly satisfied, Kieran shunned the thought of going to bed alone. The pain and the nightmares loomed over an empty bed like evil spirits. Better to avoid sleep altogether than face a night alone. If he’d the strength to teleport the distance, then he’d have taken himself back to the Isle of Fey, or even returned to the realm for the night, where he had friends who would satisfy his need.

  For now, he trolled the mansion for anyone awake and willing. If nothing else, he might even endure a few hours in Monique’s arms just to avoid being alone. That’s how bad he despised the feeling.

  The few groups he passed seemed in close conversation now, discussing whatever business kept them up so late. Kieran strode past, hunting for someone more likely interested in the kind of distraction he had to offer. Inside the mansion he glanced into every room he passed, finding most of them empty.

  Cursing to himself for not having a companion set up in advance, Kieran broke into a jog. Desperation raked at his soul, like werewolf claws. He hated this. Hated it. Hated that he’d not had the chance to have a contingency plan in place. Hated that he even needed to think about one.

  Kieran stuck his head into one of the TV lounges, and almost missed the guy laying on the sofa. He hesitated, staring at him, trying to tell in a fraction o
f a second what type of creature he was. His hands clenched on the door frame at either side of him, debating about shoving away and continuing the search if the bloke turned out to be a vampire or a werewolf. Not that he’d ever imagined seeing either of those flopped on a sofa wearing a t-shirt and sweats.

  “Hey.” The guy raised up on an elbow and gave Kieran a nod. “Can’t sleep either?”

  Human. Kieran was willing to lay money on it. He shrugged his shoulders, and managed to loosen just a bit of the tension that had built up between them. “Something like that.”

  “Riley,” he said, by way of introduction. “And you’re Kieran, right? The new Sidhe lieutenant?”

  “Yeah.” Kieran stepped into the room. “You’re one of the enchanted?” It was a pretty good guess, he figured. Maybe not terribly smooth to ask it right out like that, but at this point he didn’t care.

  “Bang on.” Riley sat up and then pointed to the telly. “Dr. Who marathon. Best way to spend a sleepless night.”

  Kieran could think of lots of worse ways. “Thanks.” He crossed the thick carpeted floor over to the leather sofa. When he dropped into the spot where Riley had laid his head before he sank into the soft cushion.

  Unexpectedly, Riley spread out once more, the side of his head pillowing on Kieran’s thigh.

  He blinked down at the bloke, who just glanced back up at him. “This OK?” Riley asked.