by Lea Kirk
“Soothsayer’s Sandwiches this time. They are new, and I have been meaning to try them.” His gaze was drawn to a commotion about a block away.
“Sounds great. What’s going on down there?”
He was not certain, but it seemed prudent to draw Donnie closer to his side. Something was moving toward them at a rapid pace. People jostled to move out of the way, and he glimpsed a flash of bare flesh.
“Curse it. I forgot this is the third Thursday of the month. And,” he glanced at his watch, “it is almost noon.”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“That means we need to step to one side and let Jerry Jenkins and his ghostly ancestor pass.” He guided her against the side of the window of a scarf shop just as a pale, invisible-to-most apparition raced past.
A moment later, long-time, and very visible, Magic resident Jerry Jenkins loped by them wearing nothing more than his birthday suit. Some of the people around them whooped, whistled, and cat-called as Jerry’s sunburned bottom disappeared around a corner.
“Who is he?” Donnie asked.
A strange vibration tickled between his shoulder blades, and he gave his shoulders a casual shrug. “Jerry has lived here longer than most can remember. A while back, Sheriff Theo tried to discourage his monthly jog through town with a long-dead relative, but it did not work so Theo gave up.”
The vibration became stronger. Curses, what was the dagger doing? Staging a coup inside the backpack?
“No, not him,” Donnie said. “Him.”
Mikhail turned. Donnie was staring into the scarf store window at…no one. There was nary a soul inside.
~*~
“Oh. He’s gone now.” Donnie frowned. How did someone disappear like that? She glanced up at Mikhail. “Did you see him?”
The expression on his face was a mixture of concern and anger. “I did not. What did you see?”
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. There was something not right here. Mikhail was the paranormal, she was just a human. If she was seeing things he wasn’t, what did that say about her sanity?
Carnwennan’s excitement plowed through her along with the certainty that the man in the window was their guide.
“What is it, Donnie?” Mikhail stepped closer and lowered his voice as the flow of tourists resumed. “And does it have anything to do with Carnwennan trying to battle her way through nylon?”
“The guy might be our faerie guide.”
His gaze shot back to the window, then searched the crowds, and finally back to her.
He wrapped a tendril of her hair around his finger. “I am uncomfortable with you and Carnwennan being out here any longer. Will you agree to picking up sandwiches and going home to eat by the pool?”
“And going for a swim after? Sure.” She lifted herself up onto her toes and Mikhail met her halfway, touching her lips with a soft kiss.
He pulled back first. “Maybe more than just a swim.”
That sounded like an excellent idea.
Ten minutes later, they walked out of Soothsayer’s with their sandwiches.
“Can you describe him to me?” Mikhail asked as they approached Charlie’s truck. “The man you saw.”
A faint breeze rustled the leaves of the tree overhead. “Sure. He was taller than you, by a lot, thin, kind of angular features on his face, and his eyes were a light purple color.”
Mikhail unlocked the passenger door and pulled it open. “The description does sound like a Fae.”
She slid onto the bench seat and held out her hands for the bags with their lunches. Thank goodness they’d parked under a tree, otherwise the vinyl might be too hot to sit on. She pursed her lips. If the man was their guide, then why hadn’t he come out and spoken to them? Mikhail closed the door with a firm thunk, and she leaned forward to place their lunches on the floor at her feet. As she sat up, the driver door opened and the backpack landed on the bench next to her.
“Fae are so damned unpredictable,” Mikhail grumbled pulling the door closed. Funny how their thoughts were aligned on this.
Thud!
The entire front end of the truck dipped sharply downward. What the hell? She grabbed for the dashboard to keep from smashing face-first into it. A large blob of yellow writhed and coiled on the caved-in hood. No. It couldn’t be. A shriek welled up from her chest.
Ash!
Ice filled her veins, and her heart jammed in her throat. He’d found her, and now she was a dead woman. Her sentence glowed in her executioner’s unblinking, silver eyes.
“Look out.” Mikhail threw himself over her, his weight shoving her backward against the door. Once again, he was the only thing between her and impending doom. Over his shoulder, she watched as Ash’s head flashed toward them. It would be over in an instant. Ash would break through the windshield, sink his fangs into Mikhail, then come after her.
The windshield crackled and caved under the force of the strike, and little shards of glass pelted the dashboard, floor, seat, Mikhail. How had it not completely shattered? It should have, but somehow it remained intact. Even the opaque circle at the point of impact stayed together.
A flash of purple and white outside her window snagged her attention. The truck bounced again as a tall man with flowing white hair landed on Ash’s coils.
“God, Mikhail, it’s the guy I saw in the shop window.” What the hell was he doing?
The faerie’s amethyst gaze met hers, and time seemed to cease.
“The veil at moonrise.”
She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. They didn’t know where the veil was.
The man wrapped his hands around the snake from behind, just under its jaw. A bright, white light flashed, and she slammed her eyelids shut.
Seconds later, excited voices reached her ears. Muffled voices. They must be coming from outside.
“Breathe, Donnie.” How could Mikhail sound so calm after that experience? “Come now, love. Inhale and look at me.”
Breathing. It was simple, right? Just open her mouth and suck in. Air filled her lungs and she blinked her eyes open. Mikhail. He sat half hovering over her, the pressure from his fingers digging into her shoulders. So, he wasn’t as calm as he’d sounded.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Was she? “I…I think so. Oh, my god, Mikhail, look what he did to Charlie’s truck.” No, she obviously was not all right if her first thought was the truck. But, the windshield on her side was useless.
A firm tap on the passenger window drew her attention. A young blonde woman peered in at them. Beyond her, the tourists on the sidewalk gawked, pointed, and made gestures to one another that mimicked something dropping from the sky. Oh, great, they’d all seen what’d happened.
Mikhail reached across and hand-cranked the passenger window down. “Hey, Lacey.”
The young woman peered in. “You guys, okay?”
“I think so.”
Donnie pushed herself upright on the seat. Little pebbles of glass crunched under her shoes. “Where’s Ash?”
Lacey exchanged a look with Mikhail, but he was the one to answer. “Remember I told you how I traveled to Magic?”
The portal thing. “Yeah.”
“The faerie took Ash through one just now. I do not know where to, or how long it will take for him to find his way back. However, he knows you are here and with me and consequently will be single-minded in his determination.”
That was true. Ash would never give up. He’d find a way back as soon as he could.
“Lacey, will you take care of the witnesses?” Mikhail asked. “I shall take Donnie back to the cottage.”
“I’m on it.” Lacey turned away and waved her hand in the direction of the gawking crowd. All the curious expressions went blank, then the flow of tourists started moving again like a paused movie. Not a single one looked in their direction.
Spooky.
~*~
Mikhail moved back to the driver’s side and turned the key. A str
ange grinding came from under the crumpled hood. That couldn’t be good. Lacey placed her hand on the fender and the engine roared to life. He gave her a wave, put the truck in gear, and pulled away from the curb.
Donnie watched in the side mirror as Lacey melted into the crowd. “Who was she?”
“Remember the alien I pointed out at the Krazy Kettles yesterday?” Mikhail asked. “Lacey is his wife.”
A witch married to an alien? “She is a witch, right?”
“Indeed she is, and an excellent one.”
Of course. Because how else could she have started the engine or done whatever it was to the crowd. Reprogrammed them, maybe?
A chill crept over her skin, and she couldn’t suppress a tremor. Oh, god. Ash. He’d found her faster than she’d imagined he would.
“Come over here, Donnie.” Mikhail swept his hand over the bench sending the remaining glass particles crackling to the floorboard. He patted the bench next to him.
He didn’t have to ask twice. She slid her butt across the slick upholstery and the comforting weight of his arm rested over her shoulders. The post-adrenaline rush hit her with wave after wave of uncontrollable shivers. She snuggled against his side.
“I hope that faerie kills him.” She pushed the bitter words through her clenched teeth. Killing Ash was the only way to stop him from hunting her.
“The odds are not in his favor against a snake shifter,” Mikhail said.
Maybe not, but at least he’d taken Ash somewhere else. It gave her and Mikhail time to figure out where the veil might be, and get Carnwennan there. “He spoke to me, Mikhail.”
His body startled, and she tipped her head back to see his expression. Suspicious and curious judging by the way his eyebrows had drawn together. “What did he say?”
“To meet him at the veil at moonrise.”
Hope lit his eyes. “Did he by chance give you the location?”
“No.” But, with any luck, Carnwennan would come up with something.
“Figures.” He pulled the steering wheel left and accelerated up the street toward the Carsons’ house.
The truck chugged and jolted, and a grinding of metal parts emitted from under the hood. Charlie must hear them by now.
“I hope Charlie isn’t too pissed.”
“He will be fine. Remember who his mother is, love.”
Right. This whole magic thing took some getting used to. She leaned against him again with her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For throwing yourself on me. For saving my life. It really means a lot.” That sounded incredibly lame. The guy had risked his life for her. Put himself between her and certain death. And all she could say was that it really means a lot?
It means everything. He means everything.
Her heart fluttered in her chest. Holy shit, when had that happened? The scary, blood-sucking vampire had turned into man-of-her-dreams. In just a couple of days.
Mikhail pressed his lips to her temple. Man, she was a goner. There was no denying it, she’d been taken by a vampire.
No. That sounded too much like a romance title reject. Besides, she’d given herself to him willingly, and she would keep giving herself to him.
For as long as he would have her.
Chapter Thirteen
Mikhail stomped toward the side door of the cottage, the sage-scented evening air filling him with every breath and Nonny’s words echoing in his mind.
“The Fae may not let her go.”
He closed his hand around the door latch, and the handle bent under the force of his grip. No matter. If he did not see Donnie now, hold her now, he might take down the cottage stick by stick until he found her. He strode into the cottage and came to a stop at the edge of the living room.
There she was, sitting on the couch, watching him with wide green and gold eyes. His world. His mate. His everything.
And no one, not even a bunch of Fae—especially a bunch of Fae—was going to take her from him.
“Did everything go okay with Charlie?” Donnie’s words broke through his anger, pushed it aside, exposed his greatest fear…losing her.
A vision assailed him, rising unbidden in his mind. Donnie standing before a red-haired Fae female offering Carnwennan to her. The setting was not in this realm, it was too bright, too vivid, too lush. His gaze moved to the coffee table. Carnwennan was there, out of her sheath.
He curled his fingers into fists. “There is no way in hell she is stepping a foot into Faerie.”
Dark certainty washed over him. Donnie was born for this. Born to be the courier who returned Carnwennan to the Fae.
He moved toward the couch with vampire speed. “And I was born to be hers.”
Loss filled him. Keeping her from her destiny would not be allowed.
“Go. To. Hell.”
“Stop it!” Donnie smacked her palm against his chest, but she was glaring at the infernal dagger. “Both of you.”
Stopping was not an option. Protecting her was. He grasped her by her shoulders, and lifted her until her mouth was centimeters from his. “Donnie McAllister, please do not do anything tonight that might bring you to harm. I cannot live without you.”
He slanted his mouth over hers, delved his tongue between her soft lips, and poured out all his desperation and love into her. A heartbeat later she softened, leaning into him. The touch of her hands across his back and the satin of her tongue moving with his brought a sense of reassurance. She was his as much as he was hers. He ended the kiss with a gentle peck and pulled back.
“Promise me?”
Her eyes filled with tears and she nodded. “I promise.”
Relief washed through him. “Thank you.”
“What brought that on? Did something happen with Charlie?”
He lowered himself onto the couch and pulled her into his lap. “Charlie is fine, especially once his mother said she could repair the damage to the truck. But, their primary concern was you.”
“Me?” She frowned. “They shouldn’t worry. I have you.”
“At the risk of sounding egotistical, this is true.” Although the dagger had tried to convince him otherwise. “I will do everything to keep you from harm. But, if you walk into Faerie, they will entice you to stay. A few minutes there could be centuries here.”
“It is? Is that true, Carnwennan?” She turned to the dagger. A moment passed then she nodded. “Why did you choose me?”
The flow of air-conditioned air stilled. The sounds of the crickets and the watery bubbles from the pool outside faded into a deep silence. Mikhail stiffened as Fae magic encompassed them. The oppressive threat from a few minutes ago was absent, but it would be unwise to let down his guard.
His gaze was drawn to an expanding shimmer in the space above Carnwennan. It solidified into the image of the regal red-headed woman from his earlier vision. In her hands she cradled an alabaster-handled dagger, its pure-white sheath untouched by signs of age. It could only be Carnwennan when it was new.
Was Donnie seeing this too? He glanced at her. Her wide-eyed gaze was on the scene forming before them.
The woman spoke, her voice like a song but her words foreign. Foreign, but understandable.
“Carnwennan, thou art my most favored of the magical weapons I shall gift the mortal king,” Love for the dagger shone in her emerald eyes. “Therefore, I have gifted thee with an extra spell to curse any mortal who might covet thee enough to keep thee from me. A curse that will affect the thief and all his descendants for eternity.”
The woman’s hair glinted as though stirred by a soft breeze, yet the air in the living room remained still. Mikhail stroked his fingers over Donnie’s forearm. “This is a memory we are seeing, love. One of Carnwennan’s.”
The faerie vision woman raised the dagger and kissed its sheath. “No, my love, do not fret. I will send one to thee who will bring thee safely home to me. Thou shalt recognize the courier on sight, and they will be touched by thy plight and c
arry thee to the veil between realms. We shall be reunited with thee there.”
The vision faded, and the normal sounds of the night filtered back into the space.
Mikhail tightened his hold around Donnie’s waist. “Please do not do this, Donnie.” He never begged, but he had also never had so much to lose.
She snuggled into his arms and reached up to cup his cheek in her hand. “I didn’t come all this way to quit now, Mikhail. I have to finish this, or Ash will never go away.”
He turned his head and brushed his lips against her palm. “Then I shall come with you.”
A rattling-buzz drew his attention. Carnwennan vibrated, and a wave of anger and foreboding washed over him.
Donnie startled in his arms. “Oh. Oh. Oh.” At each exclamation, her eyes widened more. “You can’t come. They’ll kill you. The second you cross through the veil, they will end you.”
“Do not ask me to do the impossible.” He was not easy to kill, and he was not completely defenseless.
Her shoulders sagged. “I’m not kidding, Mikhail. Please, don’t try to come through with me. I’ll do a drop-and-run. I won’t give them time to try and trick me.”
It was not a perfect compromise, but it was satisfactory. He gave his head a single nod, and she smiled. The deal was made, for better or for worse. He drew her warm soft body close, rested his chin atop her head, and gazed at the darkness outside the living room windows.
Even without using his vampire vision, the tops of the mountains, back-lit by the glow of the soon-to-rise moon, were clear. He extended his vision. If Ash was out there, it would be good to have advance warning. He searched the desert beyond the Carsons’ domain. Nothing, except a pack of coyotes a mile away.
“Mikhail?” The warm puff of Donnie’s breath touched his neck.
He loved hearing his name from her lips. “Yes?”
“What’s all the stuff you were saying about being made for me?”
He leaned back a fraction to take in her precious features. “You are my one mate. The one I was born to be with.”
“Doesn’t that mean I was made for you too? Why don’t you say that?”
He took a strand of her dark hair between his thumb and forefinger. “That would be awful presumptive of me to speak for you.”
