Crimson Dawn

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Crimson Dawn Page 27

by Ronnie Massey


  "Yeah, OK, Val," she said sarcastically with the touch of a grin on her face. With my shields firmly in place, Irulan had no idea that I was dead serious. I didn't say a thing to make her believe otherwise. It was best that way.

  A shrill whistle from Irulan and we were off. As we rode, Irulan did her quick-change mojo. She transformed her jeans and shirt into a crimson silk, wide-legged pants suit. Complete with an ankle length duster that trailed behind her in the wind, like a regal cape. "So, when are you gonna teach me that trick?" I called out.

  Irulan tsked and urged Frost to run faster. "This is Fae magic, Valeria, accomplished by manipulating the ether surrounding Faerie. A huge step up from the abilities we're born with. You've got to walk before you can fly, baby. Right now, you've just managed to crawl."

  So much for a vote of confidence. We rode through the forest until I could see a paved road between the trees. I was about to lead Blaze out into the open when Irulan called for me to stop. "Wait," she said and waved a hand in front of me. "You're royalty. You need to look the part."

  I was almost too scared to look down. If she had me decked out in some frilly froufrou dress and tiara, I was going to flip my lid. "It's OK, Val, you're gonna like it.” I took a deep breath and looked down at my clothes. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part, she didn't stray far from what I like to wear when I'm on a hunt. I was in black leather - a motocross-type suit that had a thick, golden band with a purple one inside it crisscrossing my stomach to break-up the black of the jacket. The same band ran down either pants leg.

  I held up both hands to admire the leather gloves. On the back of each glove was the same family crest that had been enough proof to give FaeVar a reason to save my life.

  "There's also a scabbard for Bas that bears the same crest,” Irulan said, with just a note of smugness.

  I pulled Bas from the holster in the saddle and smiled. As I reached back and slid one grandfather's sword into the scabbard bearing the mark of another grandfather, I saw the significance of the act. The two were a perfect fit, just like the joining of my two distinct natures. We were ready.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The ride into Storm's Keep wasn't what I was expecting. To start with, the houses we passed were nothing like the houses in the smaller villages I'd seen since arriving. These houses looked like any cottage I'd find on my side of the divide. "What gives?" I asked Irulan as we passed more and more of the updated houses.

  Irulan looked around with a dissatisfied frown and urged Frost to pick up his pace. "My cousin's doing.” She said it as if the words put a bad taste in her mouth. "When Fazion took the throne, he decided he wanted Storm’s Keep to become a model of the future for the Fae. But instead of forging a path of our own, he looked at Tir Nam Beo and decided that we needed to follow in their footsteps."

  We rode past the grouping of cottages and found ourselves on a street lined with shops and what I thought must be apartment buildings. "Are you shitting me?” I asked as I looked over at a shop that appeared to be the Fae version of Starbucks. I focused my eyes through the window and saw a familiar coffee house setup. I smiled to myself until I noticed the shopkeeper frowning at me from behind the counter.

  She looked at me with pure disdain and hurried to the front of the shop to lower a curtain to block my view. "Well I'll be damned.” I turned to look at a nearby bookstore and received the same treatment. In shop after shop, business after business it was the same, first dirty looks, then curtains were drawn. . Some people even went so far as to lock their doors and place 'closed' signs in the windows.

  Irulan sighed and patted Frost on the side of his neck. The negative vibes the townies were throwing in our direction visibly agitated the horse. "I told you what to expect, Val. Being the Light Court doesn't make these high and mighty Tuathas better that your grandfather's Fomori. It just makes them hypocrites."

  We rode out of the shopping district of Storm’s Keep and into what appeared to be an upscale, suburban neighborhood. I looked at some of the immense houses and saw that a few of them reminded me of my own parents’ house minus the acreage. "Nice houses, but I don't think I'd want all that house five feet up someone else's ass."

  Irulan looked over at me and smiled. "The homes are just a façade Val. Most of the living quarters are underneath in Faerie mounds. Believe me, they've got plenty of space."

  We rode through the sub-division and came to a fork in the road. In one direction, there was a wide, two-lane road. In the other, a narrow, overgrown path that was no better than a walkway. "Please tell me we don't have to go traipsing through these weeds and thorns."

  Irulan shrugged her shoulders. "Fine," she said as she directed Frost onto the footpath. "I won’t tell you. Just make sure you stay directly behind me."

  I pulled Blaze's reins, and he headed into the brush behind Irulan and Frost. It was slow going through the vegetation, but after fifteen minutes, Irulan brought her horse to a stop.

  Thick, gnarled, thorny vines covered the ground. The wicked looking vines were so dense that I couldn't see the ground beneath. "Do you think maybe you could have stopped us somewhere a little more foot friendly?”

  Irulan shot me a look of total annoyance as she moved to dismount her steed. I started to follow her, but she held up a hand to stop me. "Don't. Stay on Blaze until I tell you it's OK."

  I took another look at the vines and saw that they were actually moving as if they were more than just plants. The vines twisted and undulated, as they seemed to stretch towards Irulan.

  "Exactly what are these things, Irulan?" I asked as I drew my legs up farther away from the ground. For the moment, they didn't seem interested in me, but I didn't want to take any chances.

  "It's Witches' Weed, Valeria."

  "That's a name. It doesn't tell me what it is."

  "What does it look like, smart ass? It's a vine, a very deadly vine. You wouldn't live over a day if one of those thorns pierced your skin."

  My unease spiked, and I leaned forward in the saddle looking at Irulan as if she'd lost her mind. "If it's so damn deadly then why are you standing in the middle of it like you don't have a care in the world?"

  "Witches’ Weed is deadly to everyone but the person that cultivated it. You see, witches used it in olden days as a security system of sorts. If a witch wanted something protected, they'd hide it and cover the entrance with Witches’ Weed."

  "Let me guess. You planted all this lovely foliage that we're ass deep in."

  Irulan poked her tongue out at me as she reached down and thrust her hand into the mess of vines. "You guessed right."

  "So, what are you trying to keep safe?"

  I felt the unmistakable shimmer of magic and Irulan straightened up with a smile on her face. The carpet of vines slowly receded into the earth revealing an old wooden door laid into the ground.

  "My back door into the royal mound.” Irulan released a small burst of energy and the door evaporated. I watched as she slowly descended into the earth before stopping to look back at me.

  "Well, are you coming, or what?"

  I dismounted from Blaze and followed Irulan into the ground. As I descended a set of earthen stairs, I was surprised at what I found. Instead of the cold dampness that I was expecting, I found myself in a wide stone hallway. There were torches of green fire lining walls covered in mosaics.

  I walked over to a wall and ran a hand across the intricate pattern of a man's bearded face. "These are amazing, Irulan. I've never seen anything quite like it."

  Irulan reached past me and laid her hand over mine, pressing it into the wall. "Hi, Daddy," she said. "It's me. I know it's been awhile since I talked to you but I haven't been in the tunnels in decades. I want you to meet Valeria. She's someone special, and I'm sure you'd love her. She's my wife, Daddy."

  She pulled away and moved farther down the corridor before I could question her. I spared one look back at Jesob's likeness before I followed her. She talked about her father even less
than she did her mother, but the tone she used when she talked to his picture was void of the venom she reserved for Fredonia.

  As much as I wanted to question her, I left it alone. It was a conversation for another time and place. "How far do we have to go before we reach the throne room?"

  "That's a hard question to answer," Irulan said. "Remember when I said the door to Faerie changes according to need? Well, it's the same thing here in the mound. It anticipates and changes accordingly."

  "Well that seems easy enough. Why don't we just stand still and wish for a door?"

  Irulan frowned and took my hand as she stood up straighter and dropped her glamour. "It's not quite that easy, Valeria," she said in a rushed whisper. "Stand directly by my side and don't say a word."

  I didn't have time to ask her what was going on. The wall beside us began to groan as the stone parted. When the opening was big enough, a single Tuatha male came through and cut off our path.

  In spite of the nervousness, I felt coming off her, Irulan smiled. She let my hand go to hurry to his side. The intruding male frowned at me before turning his attention to her. The moment he laid his eyes on her, they lit up with familiarity and a broad smile erupted on his face.

  "Fazion!" Irulan cried as she flung herself into his outstretched arms.

  "Sister," he laughed, as he spun her around in a circle. He eased her to the ground and pulled her to his side. "It's been too long since I laid eyes on you, Irulan."

  Irulan looked slightly embarrassed. "It's been less than ten months since I was here, Fazion."

  "I don't care," he said in a voice that sounded straight out of the Tudors. "I'll never become accustomed to you living in Tir Nam Beo. I miss not seeing you every day. I have no one to chase girls with me, and Francesca's head is so far up her husband’s ass that she barely gets to spend more than two hours a day with me."

  Irulan poked him in the side and laughed. "You are a grown man and the King of the Tuatha De Danann. One would think you could survive without us by now."

  The family reunion was touching, and I hated to be rude, but I had places to go and people to see. Over five minutes had passed before I cleared my throat hoping to gain their attention. Caught up in their conversation, Irulan didn't hear me, but Fazion did, loud and clear.

  I'll be damned if the obnoxious jerk didn't angle his body, so that both he and Irulan's backs were turned to me. To top it off, he looked back at me and curled his lip as if he was knee deep in cow manure and the smell was about to make him heave. I closed the distance between us, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around. "Hold up, asshole!"

  Irulan's face lit up with shock and anger. Good, she was about to let her tool of a cousin have it. To my utter amazement, she tightened her arm around Fazion's waist and scowled at me.

  "Val, what in the hell is wrong with you? Do you not realize you just broke about fifteen rules of etiquette? Fazion's guards could lock you up for what you just did."

  I couldn't believe my ears. This S.O.B was egging me on, and I'm the one chewed out for it? "Are you serious?" I demanded as I pointed an accusing finger in his direction. "He deliberately turned you away from me, so you couldn't see I was trying to get your attention, and then he looked at me as if I were a leper or something worse. He had it coming."

  Through the years, I never had any reason to doubt Irulan's willingness to stand up for me, until now. She looked between her cousin and me and didn't say a single word in my defense. I was angry, but most of all, I was hurt.

  Fazion looked down his nose at me and sneered. "You need to remember your place, Fomori dog.” He turned around and began leading Irulan down the hall away from me. "Honestly, Irulan," he said. "I would have thought you would have learned your lesson by now. You need to find different stock to pick your chambermaids from."

  This jerk actually thought I was the hired help. Fazion's statement swept the hurt of Irulan's silence away. She might not be willing to stand up to him for us, but I was damn sure going to stand up for myself.

  I felt something inside of me snap as I strode forward and gripped Fazion's arm. This time when I spun him around, his eyes widened in disbelief. For the briefest of moments, I saw my reflection in his eyes. My face had shifted, but that wasn't news to me. What did catch me off guard was the glowing tiara that sat atop my head. The blue of my eyes had also bled out and entirely filled my eyes again, but this time they swirled with thunderstorm-like clouds.

  I growled as I pulled him out of Irulan's arm and hoisted him into the air by his throat.

  "I don't give a damn who you are. You have no idea who you're dealing with. I will kick your ass up one side of Faerie and down the other. Then I'll let my brothers come and kick your ass, then my father, and then both of my grandfathers. I'm sure they'd love an excuse to bring their guards and beat down your door."

  I shook him once more for good measure before tossing him to the ground. This time I looked down my nose at him. "And furthermore, not only am I a member of the Fourth and Fifth great Vampire houses, I'm a Princess. I will not be spoken to with disrespect!"

  Irulan reached to take my hand, but I batted it away from her. "Don't! You should have taken my hand five minutes ago. It's too late now. Just show me where I need to go so I can end this, and then, I will be more than happy to go home. I've had enough of this god-awful place to last me a lifetime."

  I took off down the hall without waiting for her. In the back of my head, I heard Kether admonishing Irulan, but I was too riled up to pay them any attention. The need to get away from her was winning over the need to find Tristan. At this moment, I couldn't have cared less.

  I kept going, ignoring Irulan's pleas for me to stop and Fazion's incessant drivel about her not following after something so beneath her. I didn't even notice the fact that Kether had come to sit on my shoulder until I heard his shrill scream for me to stop.

  "They're coming, Princess, do you hear me? You've got to stop NOW!!” He was hovering in front of me waving his arms back and forth when I looked up.

  I stopped, refusing to look back at Irulan for even a second. "Who, Kether? Who's coming? Tristan?"

  I felt my hands shift, and the door inside me keeping in check my newfound powers opened wide. I heard Fazion gasp behind me, but I continued to ignore him and Irulan.

  "No, Princess, don't show your hand yet," barked Kether. "You have to control yourself. The King's Manticores are coming to intercept you.” He looked back at Irulan and shook his head with disappointment.

  "I understand your fears, Highness," he said to her. "But your continued silence is not recommended. The Manticores will alert the Abomination to Valeria's presence, and she can't have that. She needs the element of surprise."

  I saw the pain of internal conflict mar every inch of Irulan's face, but for the life of me, I couldn't bring myself to sympathize with her. As I struggled to gain control of my emotions, I dropped my shields enough to let Irulan feel the hurt that was coursing through me.

  She flinched as my emotions bombarded her. I know I shouldn't have done it. Irulan was so new at being able to tap into another person's thoughts that it had to hurt, but part of me wanted her to hurt just as much as my heart did.

  Kether looked towards the empty hall before us and buzzed over to her face. "You must make a decision, Nightingale, before it is made for you."

  No sooner had Irulan taken a step in my direction than Fazion jerked her back behind him. "I will not see you cower to vermin!” He yelled right before the air around me became too thick to breathe. My hands flew to my throat as I dropped to my knees struggling to draw air into my lungs. OK, lack of oxygen was one way to take me out quickly. You can't fight if you can’t breathe.

  I felt my features shift to normal as I became lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. Irulan shrieked and tried to come to me, but Fazion refused to let her go. "NO! You will let this happen! It is not a request, but an order from your King!"

  A part of me heard Kether's cries, bu
t I couldn't make out what he was saying. I was well on my way to la-la land if something didn't give. I was just about to slide into oblivion when a rush of air filled my chest.

  I fell forward onto my arms, my chest rapidly heaving in and out trying to make up for the moments of suffocation.

  "Stop the Manticores, Fazion," Irulan said as she gripped my shoulders and pulled me to my feet. I looked down and saw Fazion sprawled across the ground. About damn time. I was too dizzy to be mad at her. I just stood there and listened as Fazion balked.

  "I don't believe this. You would turn against your family for that thing?"

 

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