Smoke in Moonlight (CELTIC ELEMENTALS)

by Heather R. Blair

  Aillen went oddly still, his face blanked out for perhaps a second.

  "Guard says no, why the hell would you ask that?"

  Aine shrugged and something flickered in her glance at Lacey, before she turned to her brother. "I thought she might try and bring a weapon."

  Aillen laughed and the sound boomed through the cavern. "She did. It's right here." He seized Lacey's wrist in one of those foul hands and with the other he extended a sharp yellowed nail. He watched Lacey's eyes as he drove it into her wrist. She pressed her lips together at the keen burst of pain. Maybe she wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer, but Lacey couldn't bear to give this loathsome thing an iota of pleasure for free. Like his minions, she knew Aillen would savor her agony. Just as Aine had warned her he would.

  Aine. Lacey kept her eyes on Aillen, but could just see Aine in her peripheral vision. There was another wild card in the stupid plan. They didn't know what she would do and Aidan adamantly refused to consider that she'd be any help whatsoever.

  "Never count on the gods, Lacey." The vampire had warned her. "Don't even count on me... Or Ronan. Count only on yourself." She only hoped that this time she could.

  Aillen seemed to relish her small defiance. A interested look crossed his face. Perhaps she should have cried out after all.

  He gave her that slimy smile again before lifting his blood-stained fingers to his nose, inhaling deeply. "Chain her, Orthannach. I want to see what she's really made of." He began to lick his fingers one by one.

  Sound and light rushed past her as the nightmare with the whip spun her around face-first into the wall, lifting her arms above her head in its misshapen claws. Dimly, as if down a long tunnel she heard Aine's voice, shrill with frustration--and maybe real fear?

  "You'll kill her, you fool! A mortal won't stand one lash from that beast."

  There was a click as the heavy manacle bit into her wrists. Lacey hoped that Aine was wrong. She had to survive…just a little bit longer anyway.

  "She's already come. Willingly. Why wait?" Aillen sounded almost bored. "I want to draw the wolf with the sounds of his woman's screams, I want to see him cower..."

  "Not bloody likely." Lacey tried to turn toward the rumbling growl of Ronan's voice, she twisted the chains until they bit deeply into her wrists. He shouldn't be here yet! Surely not yet. Aidan was supposed to intercept him, tell him what they had planned. Aidan had been confident he could get to Ronan before he entered Knockdoon's caverns.

  Had the vampire been wrong?

  Lacey could read nothing from the hard slice of profile she could see. Ronan was stalking through the crowds of demons, his head high. Those terrible, babbling cackles stilled as he passed. He was naked, as she'd last seen him and the torchlight danced over his muscled body.

  Lacey's throat tightened at the sight of him. He looked magnificent. This man that she loved.

  She wished she had told him so, but at least he would know by the end of the night-one way or the other.

  Ronan didn't look a bit afraid, though there was something in his face as he drew nearer, something awfully final in the half-glance he chanced her way. Their eyes caught and held.

  It was less than a second, but it was enough to say all that could be said. Lacey turned away and pressed a smile into the bloody stone. Even as tears fell and smoked on the hot stone.

  "Ah, see, here. Another comes so willingly. I'm beginning to think I misjudged you, sister dear. I may just have to reward your loyalty. What an odd thought." Aillen turned from Aine and faced Ronan with a huge saw-toothed grin. "Welcome to my party, it’s so good of you to show up. Seeing as you're the guest of honor and all." Shrieks and cackles again filled the air, finally making the stone walls ring like a chorus of demented bells.

  Aillen lifted his hand and the awful noise ceased instantly. "Hmmm, decisions, decisions. Who to kill first?"

  "I'm here, Aillen. You don't need her to kill me now." Ronan was making the effort, but Lacey could tell he didn't believe his words would have any effect on Aillen. And they didn't. Except to make him smile that monstrous smile.

  "Need her? Ah, but I do. See, she sacrifices herself, for you. Breaking my lovely sister's curse and then--you become human, completely and totally human. I want that, Ronan. I really want that before I let you die. Such an enchanting web my sister wove, however accidentally. Will you beg for your woman's life?"

  Ronan's face could have been carved of granite. "No. You won't spare her no matter what I do."

  Aillen sighed. "Well, you might change your mind when you hear her screaming. Orthannach?" Lacey could feel the excitement bubbling through the demon crowd as she pressed her lips so tightly together they ached. That horrible whistling sound rang through the air and her whole body tensed for inevitable agony...but nothing happened.

  Except a collective gasp from dozens of misshapen throats. Lacey wrenched herself around again and saw a huge wolf standing above her, the tail of the whip in his teeth as he coiled his body and yanked his sleek dark head around.

  The demon Orthannach lost his balance and toppled to the stone floor with an almighty crash.

  When Lacey's eyes flicked back to Ronan, he was gone, gray smoke drifting in the air where he had stood. Her chains had been pulled straight out of the wall, their heavy weight pulling her arms down to the cave floor.

  Aillen cursed and before anyone else could move, he reached out an arm and yanked Lacey to him. He jerked her hair back with one hand and raked his filthy sharpened nails over her throat in one vicious slash.

  Lacey felt the gush of blood as it poured over her collarbone.

  It was so warm, almost hot. The world started to tilt every so slowly as vertigo swept through her. Strangely, there was no pain. None at all. Aillen let her slump to the ground, stepping away as she crumpled.

  Lacey heard an agonized howl that filled the whole cavern, the vibrations unmatched by any of the cacophony before. It rose and rose until Lacey felt her hair standing on end where she lay and Aillen clamped his hands over his ears. But he was smiling.

  A huge victorious smile as Ronan's body shimmered into being before him- his human body.

  Then there was a shout from somewhere in the midst of the crowd. Lacey had no strength turn her head anymore, but she recognized Aidan's voice and smiled.

  "Aye Ronan! Goddamn it, get off me you soulless bastards! Ronan, catch!"

  Aidan's aim was true, but Ronan didn't catch the sword his friend had thrown, he was staring down at her, his expression agonized.

  The scabbard thumped to the floor at his feet. Lacey saw the dust rise from the stone. She tried to open her mouth, to tell him not to lose this chance but her eyes closed. So heavy--so very sleepy. She could still hear, even though it sounded as someone was turning the volume notch by notch. She finally heard what she needed to hear… The sharp hum of the sword singing through the air, followed by a hollow thump…then sound faded out altogether. Lacey smiled, if only in her mind. Ronan was safe. Nothing else mattered now.

  And the blackness swept her away.

  "Bite her. Change her! I don’t care what she is, as long as she comes back. Whatever it is you do, do it! Damme, Aidan! I'm begging you."

  The Changelings had all dissipated into dust when their master had been killed and the other Fomorians had scattered in blind fear. The stone cave was empty now, except for the four of them next to the wall where Aine had been whipped and Lacey had fallen-Aidan, Aine, and Ronan who was cradling Lacey's blood-soaked head in his hands.

  "No." Aidan's voice was quiet, but utterly final. "It's too late, mate."

  Ronan picked up Lacey's limp body in his arms and his gaze fell on Aine, who trembled at his look. "You! You did this, all of it...bring her back! Damme, woman-for once do something to help me!"

  Aine's lower lip trembled. "Ronan, I'm so sorry," she whispered and it crossed the part of his mind still functioning that for once she was telling the truth. "But I can't..."

  "I...however, bring one
who can." The voice rang through the stone chamber like a newly forged bell, strong and clear.

  Ronan looked up and saw Lugh striding into the cavern, his very presence and the light from his immense figure causing Aidan to wince and sidle into the shadows.

  Lugh spared Aidan a glance, seeming to dim slightly before beckoning to someone behind him. Ronan was damn sure he had never been glad to see Bav in his life, but now his knees actually weakened as hope grabbed his breaking heart in two hard hands.

  Bav smiled up at him almost roguishly before bending over Lacey, tossing her scarlet curls over one pale shoulder. She withdrew a simple silk satchel from inside her white robes and scattered a glittering gold powder over Lacey's face, before bending down and pressing her mouth to Lacey's blue and bloodstained lips. The goddess exhaled once, long and deep.

  Lacey's chest rose as Bav's breath was forced into her. The thick gash on her throat knitted itself as he watched and color seeped back into her skin like pigment in a developing photograph.

  "Neat trick, that." Ronan heard Aidan mutter before Lacey blinked and turned her head to smile at him in confusion.

  "Didn't I die? Wow, I was really sure I was dying this time…even more sure than when Aidan bit me..."

  "Aidan what?!" Ronan's growl of rage made the chamber echo again, but Lacey silenced him with a kiss.

  They came out from under the granite lip of Knockdoon in the deep dark that preceded the dawn. Ronan with his arms still wrapped too tightly around Lacey. It made it hard to breathe, but she didn't have the heart to tell him to loosen his grip.

  She'd seen the tear streaks on his bloody, bruised face when she'd opened her eyes. The awesome depth of grief in his grey eyes when he'd looked down at her as the sword had hit the stone.

  Ronan Fitzpatrick loved her. If she had to put up with a cracked rib or two, she was more than willingly to deal.

  Lacey inhaled deeply of the misty green Irish night, happier than she'd ever imagined it was possible to be. Lugh and Bav and Aine remained in the underground chamber, sorting whatever needed to be sorted. Lacey had got the expression Aine was in a lot of trouble, but also that the goddess had managed to right something as well.

  Ronan had passed the sun-god his sword without comment before they left the gods to it, but Lugh had dipped his head slightly.

  "Well done, lad. Well done." Then those fierce blue eyes had turned to Aine and Lacey had truly felt for the diminutive goddess, even after all she'd put them through. Then she'd caught the heat hidden behind Lugh’s anger and smiled to herself. The gods loved, too. Who knew?

  He dipped his head and brushed her hair with his lips. "Damme, woman, you smell like fire and brimstone and blood. I think a shower is in order."

  Lacey's belly tightened. "Only if you join me."

  "Try and keep me out." She leaned back and let the rumble of his laughter vibrate through her body. She wanted to ask him something but was nervous. She trailed her fingers over the rough strong fingers laced over her belly and heard him sigh. "What is it, Lacey?"

  "Well......does this mean you're not....I mean, is the curse truly broken or...." She could feel him smile against her ear before he pulled her down the forest path.

  "I am no longer faoladh, Lacey."

  "Wow," she said softly, thinking about a millennium and a half of living under the shadow of a curse and unable to wrap her mind around the fact that for Ronan it was truly over. "Doesn't that feel...."

  "Wonderful. Oh gods, Lacey, it feels wonderful." Ronan breathed, straightening and suddenly swooping her high into the air. "And it makes it much simpler to make plans. I was worried about the moon being on the rise and all, but now....well, how does tomorrow sound? Or rather, today?"

  "T-t-t-oday?!" Lacey squeaked as he let her slide down hard against his body, his arms wrapped around her thighs. “For what?” But she thought she knew what he had in mind.

  Her heart was pounding as he smiled up at her.

  "Well, damme, it will probably take a week if we tell Mam and them-I suppose we will have to though. Have ye a problem with handfasting?"

  She cupped her hands around the hard planes of his face and smiled, her blood racing but her heart sure. "No damn problem at all, Fitzpatrick."

  It was only after a long, hot shower in which they managed to crack more than a few of Michael's handmade tiles-when they were lying warm and moist, naked bodies pressed together from shoulder to hip and hip to ankle on the big bed that Ronan frowned.

  "Where'd Aidan get to?"

  Lacey shrugged and tried to snuggle even closer. "Didn't you hear him say he was coming back to let Moiré know everything was alright? He said now that you were slow and bloody human again it was the least he could do. But personally I think he wanted to get away before you started asking about him biting me."

  "Aye," Ronan muttered, but he looked suddenly anxious and sat bolt upright. Stalking to the odd cabinet in the corner and rummaging, muttering to himself. "I suppose I wouldn't smell him anymore, would I? Damme, that's inconvenient." There was a sudden curse in Gaelic she didn’t have to understand to know was furious.

  Ronan straightened slowly and looked at Lacey. His face bloodless and pale under his damp black hair.

  "What? What, Ronan?! You're scaring me." Lacey sat and wrapped the comforter around her, feeling chilled at the look in those misty eyes.

  "Aidan stole the vial, Lacey. The potion of Aillen’s… and if I know that cursed bastard, he's going to try and use it."

  "But.... But, Aidan wouldn't, he wouldn't use it to hurt anyone. I mean, well, he wouldn’t, would he?” Lacey couldn't understand why Ronan looked so incredibly tense. Aidan was his friend and he might be a little,-okay, so way more than a little-dangerous. Still, Lacey couldn’t really see why letting him try to see the sun was such a horrible thing. Hell, she figured he deserved it after all he’d done for them.

  "Nay, it's not Aidan that worries me. He only longs to see the sun once more. But-if it gets back to the others....if any of them get any idea of what that stuff can do. They will have to know he is back by now. Lacey.... try to imagine? The other vampires aren’t like Aiden-they are worse, so much worse than Aillen’s demons. Vampires, kept to the dark for centuries, their numbers low, haven't been much a threat to humans. Sunlight keeps them humble and cautious. But...."

  "....if they could hunt in the daytime..." Lacey breathed, following his logic, and feeling colder by the second as she remembered the heavy lethargy and the glowing power of Aidan's strange gaze, the needle-sharp bite of those curved fangs.

  "If vampires no longer had to fear the light…if they no longer had to hide… Gods, Lacey, it'll be hell on earth."

  Coming FALL 2014

  Aidan’s story…

  BLOOD IN FIRE

  Cast of Characters

  and List of Irish Gaelic

  words/phrases

  Aine, goddess of the moon, patroness of werewolves

  Aillen, Fomorian prince, half brother to Aine, ruler of demons and Changelings

  An bhfuil tú go hiomlán gan chiall, tá tú bean dÚsachtach

  Dhraíocht-Irish Gaelic, roughly- Are you completely without sense, you crazy woman?

  Bav, the woman in her prime form of the goddess trinity known as the Morrighan, goddess of death, cycles and war, patroness of the vampires, her other forms are Anu, the crone and Machu, the maiden

  bitseach-Irish Gaelic, bitch

  Brehon-judge, or arbitrator, also used in the term ‘brehon law’ This was a largely hereditary role, taken on by several clans in ancient Ireland

  Brigid, goddesss of hearth and home and fire

  claíomh na gréine-Irish Gaelic, sword of the sun, term used for Lugh’s sword, in Ronan’s possession. It can only be wielded by those Lugh gives his blessing to.

  Cúchulainn, legendary hero of the Red Branch, half-human son to Lugh the Long hand

  Changelings or the Sluagh-undead creatures formed from lost and damned souls to do the bidding of Aill
en

  Eire-Irish Gaelic, Ireland

  Damnú air-Irish Gaelic, basically damn it--or sod it. Expression of frustration

  Fand-fairy queen, former wife to Manannán mac Lir, lover of Cúchulainn

  faoladh-werewolf, werewolves are not traditionally ‘evil’ in Irish folklore, they were more protectors, but they were considered extremely dangerous

  craiceann a bhualadh le do thoin-Irish Gaelic, basically, go fuck yourself

  Fomorians-the demon gods who ruled before the Tuatha de Danaan

  ghrian siúlóir-Irish Gaelic, loosely sun walker, or one who walks in the sun

  luchóg-Irish Gaelic, mouse

  Lugh of the Long Hand-current king of the Tuatha de Danaan, foster son to Manannán mac Lir-god of the sea- and grandson to Balor, king of the Fomorians. Lugh killed Balor to end the war of the gods. He is the god of the sun, the term ‘long-hand’, or sometimes said as long-arm is given for his deadly prowess with his spear.

  Natilus, Catholic priest

  Ní thuigim déithe-Irish Gaelic, I don’t understand gods

  Nuada, former king of the Tuatha de Danaan, killed by Balor

  Orthannach, demon henchman and executioner for Aillen

  Mac Giolla Phadraig-ancient name of the Fitzpatrick clan

  Manannán mac Lir, god of the sea and horses, foster father of Lugh of the Long Hand

  Tá fáilte romhat sa teach seo, mo dheartháir-Irish Gaelic, you are welcome in this house, my brother