The Order of Brigid's Cross - The Wild Hunt (Book 1): The Wild Hunt

by Terri Reid

  “Aye, that would be the case if it were,” she raised an eyebrow and purposely imitated his tone, “Only a piece of metal. But Chrysaor has magic forged into it, and that magic serves the master of the sword. It was testing you to see if you chose white or dark magic.”

  “White or dark?” Sean asked. “This is a sword, not a turkey.”

  She sighed audibly and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t realize you were so dense,” she complained. “And so, let me explain it to you as I would a wee bairn.”

  “Oh, thank you,” he replied sarcastically. “And make sure you speak slowly, too.”

  She grinned. “Magic is very much like electricity,” she explained. “It travels in waves, often using predetermined paths that you humans call ley lines.”

  “Ian has mentioned them to me,” he said.

  “Aye, he’s one of the intelligent ones,” she teased. “So, your electricity has two kinds of currents, alternating or direct. The magic waves can be light, or a power used for good, or they can be dark, a power used for destruction. And magic tools, like swords, can access their power from one of those two sources.”

  “But the Elk King had this sword last,” Sean questioned. “Doesn’t that mean it’s wired for dark power?”

  She shook her head. “As the sword takes on a new owner, it gives the owner the chance to choose the source,” she said.

  “The test,” Sean added.

  “Exactly,” she said. “And the faerie could feel that you and the sword had not yet connected. He was trying to have you use the sword in anger against a foe who had already surrendered to you.”

  “And if I had succumbed?” he asked.

  “Well, the sword and you are partners now,” she said. “And you would have had dark power at your disposal; it’s a temptation that few have been able to resist.”

  “It would have turned me dark, you’re saying.”

  “It would have tried,” she replied. “And if you continued to resist, it might have driven you mad.”

  Sean exhaled slowly and ran his hand through his hair. “Well, there’s a lot about this magic I still need to learn,” he said and then he stopped. “Wait. Why didn’t it do the same for you? You killed him. Are you at risk?”

  She shook her head. “No, my sword and I have been together for a long time,” she said. “It knows my heart and motivation. Besides, I wasn’t killing in anger, I was killing to protect—” She paused for only a moment. “My friend. I was killing to protect my friend.”

  A smile spread across his face, although his heart was not quite satisfied. “Thank you, Em,” he said. “It’s an honor to be considered a friend.”

  “I should have told you about the sword and the test sooner,” she replied, angry at herself for not thinking of it sooner. “And for that, I apologize.”

  He smiled at her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Well, it has been a busy couple of days,” he teased gently. “Thank you for stepping in as you did.”

  Nodding, she smiled back. “You’re welcome.”

  He looked past her to Jamal. “You okay?” he asked.

  Jamal stood up and nodded slowly, looking around as if he were waiting for something else to appear. “I didn’t know the world was so weird.”

  Sean smiled. “Yeah, neither did I.”

  Em and Sean walked across the gym to Jamal. “So, what happened?” Sean asked.

  Jamal shook his head. “I don’t really know,” he replied. “I was doing my schoolwork, and grandma said she was going to lay down for a little bit. A few minutes later I hear her calling for me, needing my help. I get out of the chair and start heading towards her bedroom, but then I realize her voice is coming from out in the hall. I pull the door open and she’s lying on the floor in the hall.”

  “Was she hurt?” Sean asked.

  Jamal shook his head. “I don’t know. Last thing I remember I was running down the hall towards her and then I’m here, tied up,” he said.

  “Well, your grandmother is fine,” Em said. “We just left her a few minutes ago.”

  “She’s not hurt?” he asked.

  “No, it probably wasn’t even her that you saw in the hallway,” Sean said. “These faeries can shape shift and make us think they are someone they’re not.” He turned and smiled at Em. “Right Em?”

  “So we need to be smarter than they are,” she agreed.

  “We should have a code word,” Jamal said. “Something that only we know and we could use to each other to know we’re really who we say we are.”

  “That’s a brilliant idea, kid,” Sean said, placing his arm around Jamal’s shoulder. “Let’s get downstairs and tell everyone else about your idea.”

  He guided Jamal to the door, then stopped and turned to Em. “We don’t know if there are any more of them in the church,” he stated. “Do you want to take lead or should I?”

  She moved in front of the two of them, her sword in front of her. “I’ll take lead,” she said. “But don’t forget to watch your back.”

  They traveled down the corridor to the staircase, Sean with one arm still around Jamal’s shoulders and the other hand clenching his sword. Em was a few steps ahead of them, prepared for an attack. They reached the staircase, and once again, Em started ahead of them, peering over the railing to make sure they were alone.

  Jamal looked up at Sean. “I don’t get it,” he whispered. “Why do they want me so bad? Other folks have seen those monsters, not just me.”

  “That’s a good question,” Sean replied. “And one that we need to figure out soon, to keep you safe.”

  Chapter Forty-one

  When Ian stepped up into the stairwell, all Em saw was a shadow, and she immediately sprang into action. With one hand on the banister and the other grasping her sword, she pushed herself up and over the banister to the stairs on the other side. Landing with ease, she leapt the few remaining stairs to engage the threat.

  All Ian saw was a darkened figure, sword in hand, jumping at him. Feinting to the side, he pushed off the wall of the stairwell, came in low and grabbed his attacker’s arm, slapping it back against the brick wall.

  “Why you….” Em shouted, struggling to get out of his grip.

  “Em?” Ian asked.

  She froze. “Ian?” she said and looked down at the man who captured her arm. “What the hell are you doing? Sneaking up on us like that? I could have killed you.”

  “I was just coming up to help,” he said, releasing her arm. “And didn’t think it was very strategic to announce myself before coming up the stairs.”

  “Is everyone okay?” Sean asked, running down the stairs, his sword in one hand and his gun in the other with Jamal following close behind.

  Sighing, Em nodded. “Yes, Sean, it’s Ian coming up to help,” she said, and then she turned to Ian. “And we were coming down, thinking the same thing.” She rubbed her forearm, still stinging from his hold. “That’s quite a move. Where did you learn it?”

  “It’s called aikido,” Ian said. “It’s a defensive martial art. I’ll show you some of the moves.”

  “I’d like that,” she replied, following him down the stairs. “How’s Father Jack?”

  “He’s angry,” Ian said. “Mostly at the faeries, but there’s a little reserved for himself. He seems to think he should have known they would have come here to the church.”

  “And why should he have known?” Em asked as they all walked back down the hall together. “They’ve never come to the church before.”

  “Never?” Sean asked, stopping in his tracks. “You’ve never had an attack like this before?”

  She looked at him. “No. Why? Should that concern us?”

  He looked up and down the hall slowly. “Let’s just wait on the rest of this conversation until I can be sure we aren’t being heard,” he said.

  As soon as they entered Father Jack’s apartment, Jamal was enfolded in his grandmother’s arms. “I was so scared for you,” she sobbed, and then she stood back and shook
him gently. “Don’t you never do something like this again.”

  Jamal grinned at her and hugged her again. “Yes, ma’am, I won’t,” he said.

  Sean walked over to the kitchen where the faerie sat, tied to a chair, the handcuffs no longer on his wrists. He looked over at Father Jack, who sat on the other side of the table, and raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “Well, I couldn’t bear to hear him suffer,” Father Jack said, not needing Sean to express his question vocally.

  “And how can you be sure he won’t escape?” Sean asked.

  Father Jack held up a high-end squirt gun and pointed it at the faerie. “Holy water,” he replied. “This thing can shoot over twenty feet.”

  Biting back a smile, Sean nodded and then pulled up a chair and placed it close to the faerie. “I have a few questions for you,” he said. “And if you don’t answer them quickly enough, I’m going to have my friend Em encourage you to talk. She’s a little pissed at you already, so if I were you, I’d talk.”

  The faerie looked over at Em who’d entered the kitchen and was leaning against the wall, cleaning the edge of her sword with a towel. “I’m just now wiping off the remains of your friend,” she said. “If you’d do me the favor of not speaking with Sean, I can save myself an additional clean-up.”

  His eyes widening, the faerie sat back in his chair. “You killed Tup?” he asked.

  “Aye, I did,” she replied easily. “And I have no qualms about killing another faerie before the day is through.”

  The faerie turned to Sean. “What is it you want from me?” he asked.

  “Why were you sent here?” Sean asked.

  “I was supposed to distract the mongrel,” he replied. “While Tup got the boy.”

  “Are there more of you?” Sean asked.

  Shaking his head, the faerie looked very nervous. “No, just the two of us,” he stammered. “That’s all they thought it would take.”

  “They? Who are they?” Em asked, stepping closer to the table.

  “I don’t know,” he stammered, his voice shaking. “Tup got the orders. I followed Tup. He told me where to find you, told me to read your thoughts and when I found that—”

  Em slammed her sword on the table, desperate to stop the faerie’s babbling before he admitted to all in the room that her thoughts had been about Sean and his body. “Enough,” she commanded. “Why only me? Why not the others?”

  The faerie shrugged. “None of the rest were considered a threat,” he replied evenly.

  “Well, I have to say I’m more than slightly offended,” Ian remarked. “And so Tup came for the boy. Why is Jamal so important to you?”

  “I don’t know,” the faerie pleaded. “Truly. I only know that we were supposed to take him from here and deliver him to the Elk King.”

  Jamal gasped. “The Elk King?”

  “Why does the Elk King need the boy?” Sean asked.

  “The Elk King would not need Jamal,” Gillian inserted. “The Elk King is an assassin; his only focus is the hunt. He is guided by others, more powerful than he. He would not have asked for Jamal.”

  “But if he got him…” Ian left the end of the sentence hanging, and Gillian quickly nodded.

  “Were you sent by Aengus?” Father Jack asked.

  “No, Tup hates Aengus and all the aristocracy who think they are better than the faeries they betrayed,” the faerie spat. “He wanted to see Aengus buried deep in the depths of Tir Na Nog.”

  Father Jack nodded. “Well, unfortunately for you, Aengus is the only representative of the Sidhe we have an agreement with,” he said. “So, we will be returning you to him.”

  “But he’ll kill me,” the faerie cried.

  “Like you would have killed Jamal?” Sean asked, feeling no sympathy for the creature. “Somehow I can’t bring myself to feel any pity for you.”

  “We will encourage Aengus to spare your life,” Father Jack said, “if you continue to cooperate with us.”

  The faerie eagerly nodded his head. “Oh, aye, I’ll cooperate in any way you wish,” he said.

  “Well, we’ll just see about that,” Father Jack replied skeptically.

  Chapter Forty-two

  The corridor that led from the chapel on the first floor to the parking lot door was quiet except for the constant ticking of the clock positioned next to the door to the lab. Sean leaned against the brick wall and waited, watching the monitor on the wall that displayed the view from the hidden camera in the parking lot.

  “Any sign of them?” Ian asked, coming out of the lab.

  Sean shook his head. “No, nothing,” he said. “I’ve also asked Pete to join us. It never hurts to have a genius attorney on your side.”

  Ian nodded. “I agree,” he said, leaning on the wall across from Sean. “And he has a little more in the game now.”

  “Yes, he does,” Sean agreed grimly.

  “Seems like you have a little more in the game, too,” Ian observed casually.

  Sean turned his eyes from the monitor to Ian. “Are you going all psychologist on me now?” he asked, one eyebrow lifted.

  Smiling slightly, Ian nodded, acknowledging the hit. “Aye, well, that does tend to be my default mode,” he confessed. “If it’s not scientist mode.”

  “I guess we can’t help but be who we are,” Sean acknowledged. “So, doc, what do you want to know?”

  “What happened to Em?” Ian asked.

  Shrugging, Sean turned his gaze away from Ian back to the monitor. “She won’t tell me,” he said, and Ian could hear the hurt in Sean’s voice.

  “Why not?” Ian asked.

  Meeting Ian’s eyes again, Sean tried not to let his emotions show. “I don’t know, doc,” he replied tersely. “I thought explaining her actions was your job.”

  Ian grinned. “It is, yes,” he said. “But I wanted to hear what you thought.”

  “I think she doesn’t trust me,” Sean said. “No, I know she doesn’t trust me.” He stood up and began to pace. “If you could have seen the hate and the anger. Really, Ian, she wanted to hurt me when I walked into that gym this morning.”

  “Well, we know that the faerie disguised himself as you,” Ian said slowly as he dissected the situation. “So, what could you do that would hurt Em enough that she would be angry enough to attack you?”

  Shaking his head, Sean stopped pacing for a moment. “What?”

  “Em’s vulnerable areas,” Ian said. “What are they? For example, if you beat her in a sword fight would she be upset?”

  “No, she would be pleased,” Sean said. “She doesn’t seem to have that kind of an ego.” He smiled slightly. “Granted, she’d go at you harder next time, but you ought to consider that a compliment.”

  “So, the faerie didn’t fence with her,” Ian said. “We can rule that out. What would leave Em most vulnerable?”

  Frustrated, Sean continued to pace. “She’s just not vulnerable,” he said. “She’s powerful and confident and damn near a superhero. Except for her total distrust of men…”

  Ian stood up. He and Sean stared at each other for a moment. “He seduced her,” Sean said. “He came on to her.”

  Ian nodded. “And she trusted him, because she thought it was you,” he said, nodding in agreement.

  Sean exhaled slowly. “When I backed her against the wall and trapped her sword, she actually pleaded with me not to hurt her again,” he said softly. “I didn’t even think about it then. But that’s the only thing that would really hurt her.”

  “She’s afraid of becoming her mother,” Ian said. “She doesn’t want to be attracted to anyone.”

  “So what do we do?” Sean asked. “Just ignore it, like she wants us to?”

  “Well, if she was your partner on the force, and you had a problem between the two of you, what would you do?” Ian asked.

  “We’d have to talk it out,” Sean replied immediately. “Partners need to trust each other.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too,” Ian said
easily. “You need to talk to her.”

  Sean’s attention was drawn to the monitor as a car pulled into the parking lot. He recognized it as Pete’s and started towards the door. Ian reached out and caught Sean’s arm. “I know it’s different,” he said pointedly, “but that only makes it more important to take care of it.”

  “But, damn it, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Sean stated angrily.

  “Yeah, and neither did she,” Ian replied. “But it seems the faeries are able to discern our weaknesses and use them against us. You are her greatest weakness. What does that tell you about her feelings for you?”

  Sean closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “Yeah, I get it,” he said. “I was one of the few humans she actually trusted. I’ve got to help her trust again.”

  Sean moved past Ian and walked out the door to the parking lot to greet Pete. Ian watched his clueless friend walk away and shook his head. “You dunderhead,” he whispered.

  Chapter Forty-three

  Sean walked across the lot towards Pete’s car. The autumn day was bright and crisp with no clouds in the bright blue sky, and pieces of gravel on the ground actually sparkled in the sunshine. Sean stopped and stared at them for a moment. Natural phenomenon or magic, he wondered. Crap, I’m losing my mind.

  Pete opened his car door, reached over and pulled his wheelchair out, setting it up next to the car. “Morning,” Pete called as he hefted himself from the driver seat to the chair. “Anything interesting going on in your life today?”

  Sean shrugged casually as he walked up to Pete. “No, man, pretty ordinary day,” Sean replied as he listed things off. “I fought two fairies, was impersonated by one of them, sword fought with Em because the guy that impersonated me was not nice to her, jumped down from a gym balcony and found out that pirate movies lie…” He thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah, my captain put me on permanent Order of Brigid’s Cross assignment. So, how are you doing?”

  Pete actually chuckled and shook his head. “Boy, you live a boring life,” he replied as he moved the wheelchair towards the door. “Okay, after an evening of nearly being seduced by a naked faerie, I had a night of fairly bizarre dreams.”