by Lea Kirk
A slow smile lit her face. “I’ve waited all my life for a guy like you.”
“Twenty-nine years? Pah. A drop in the bucket.” He gave her a teasing grin.
“There’s no way I can compete with you.” Her beautiful laugh filled all the empty spaces in his heart. “I have to ask, you were turned when you were twenty, right?”
“Correct.”
She frowned. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look closer to thirty. I thought vampires were immortal.”
“I believe long-lived would be more accurate. Our bodies age roughly three years each century.”
“Wow.” There was so much awe in that one word. “So, when you look seventy years old you’ll actually be…over a thousand?”
“But of course.” Assuming his best Dracula impression seemed an appropriate way to lighten the mood.
Donnie giggled, then turned away to press her cheek against his chest, but not fast enough to hide her suddenly serious expression.
“What is it?” He stroked her hair. A lone wolf howl came from somewhere in Magic. More joined it.
“Nothing.”
Not true. Something bothered her, but how could he coax it out of her?
She sniffed. “It’s just…I wish—”
Carnwennan vibrated again, so hard it moved across the glass top of the coffee table. Donnie grabbed the dagger before it fell off the edge of the table.
“She’s really excited. What’s going—he what?” Donnie’s gaze locked with his. “The guide called to her. He says we can come to the veil now.”
“We do not know its location.”
“We do now,” she grinned. “He told Carnwennan.”
Mikhail closed his eyes and shook his head. Astounding. Simply astounding. In the end, the time they had spent worrying and trying to figure out the veil’s location was for naught. All they should have done was wait for the Fae to tell them.
Chapter Fourteen
Donnie tightened her grip on Mikhail’s hand and stepped over a stone marking the dirt parking lot. Carnwennan tapped gently against her thigh with each step. Gravel crunched under her shoes as she followed Mikhail along the trail. At least the moon was up now, making everything on the ground glow with an eerie pearlescent light. Bright enough to throw shadows, but still dark enough to stumble on occasion.
Avalon Lake. The veil was at Avalon Lake. A short, fifteen-minute drive away from the Carsons’ house. How obvious was that? Poor Mikhail had been mortified that he hadn’t thought of it as a possibility. Of course, the lake wasn’t in Magic, just nearby.
The path widened and they crossed the beach to the water’s edge. The dark lake surface stretched before them like a gigantic ink blob, except where the trail of moonlight shimmered.
“Now what?” Mikhail asked.
A new direction came from Carnwennan. “Right. We need to go to the right. And walk faster.” The sense of urgency and fear from the dagger was not helping her blood pressure.
Mikhail moved in the direction instructed. “If it is at the other end of the lake, it will take over an hour to walk there.”
With the way things had gone so far, it wouldn’t surprise her if it was on the other side. “I hope it’s closer than that. Carnwennan is freaked out about something.”
He stopped, his body tense as he turned his head from side to side. “We are being followed.”
“By…Ash?” Please, no.
“He is out there. I sense him.”
Not now. Not when they were so close. A gentle tug on her arm got her feet moving again. “We need to hurry, then.”
“Carefully,” Mikhail cautioned. “We shall give wide berth to large bushes and rock formations.”
Gah. He had to say that? But, really, Ash could be anywhere. Didn’t snakes burrow into the sand? What if Ash had done that and was now waiting for them to walk over him?
“Perhaps the veil is in that stand of trees ahead.” Mikhail pointed.
Donnie squinted. There did seem to be a darker patch of something ahead, right at the waterline. A wave of relief came from Carnwennan. Thank god. “That’s it. That’s the place.”
Three minutes later, they entered the shadowy cluster of trees. The faint lap of miniscule waves reached her ears. Carnwennan’s projected excitement rushed over her skin, leaving goose bumps.
Mikhail ducked under a low branch and she stepped through the line of trees after him.
“Lift your foot high, there’s a root,” he murmured. “Now, big step down.”
The ground disappeared and she fell forward. “Whoa.”
Mikhail reached for her, stopping her fall before she hit the ground and drawing her against him. “I have you, love.”
Like he had from the moment they’d met. Looking out for her since before he’d known anything about her except her name.
“I know you do.” She rose up on her toes and kissed his chin. “Okay, so where’s this veil, Carnwennan?”
“Greetings, courier.” The deep, melodic voice behind her was too beautiful to be human.
She whirled around. The man with the amethyst eyes stood right at the line between shadow and moonlight. “Who are you?”
“I am thy guide.” He bowed from his waist. “Greetings, Carnwennan.”
A warm acknowledgement rolled off Carnwennan. He must be the real deal because who else besides the guide would get that kind of response?
Mikhail moved closer, his warmth against her back. Comfort and strength if she needed it.
“If you are,” Mikhail’s voice was a low rumble, as he held her upper arms in a loose grip. “Then where is the veil between realms?”
Behind the guide, the air rippled and shimmered, barely visible under the tree branches. Magical, though, to her human eyes at least. “I see it.”
“Come, courier,” the guide beckoned her forward. “’Tis time for Carnwennan to go home.”
Finally, this was almost over. She turned to face Mikhail. “Don’t worry. In, hand over Carnwennan, out. I promise.”
He bent close until all she could see was the glimmer of moonlight reflecting in his eyes. “I shall wait here for you until the end of time, if I must.”
His lips brushed hers and she opened her mouth, meeting his tongue with hers. If only she could stay here, lost in his kiss.
He pulled back first. “Go. Finish what you started.”
“Okay.” She took a step back, then turned and crossed to where their guide stood waiting. “I’m ready.”
A shout of pain grabbed her attention. She looked back in time to see Mikhail fall to his knees. A giant, pale snake had latched onto his thigh.
Ash.
“No!” She took a step toward him.
Snake-Ash released Mikhail and rose up, his sallow skin glowing eerily by the light of the moon. Then he slithered up the bank toward her.
“Ssso clossse, Donnie McAllissster, but now you will return what isss mine,” Snake-Ash hissed.
“What you stole, you mean.”
Snake-Ash lifted his huge head and made that eerie, dry rasping sound of a laugh. “She hasss more power than you could ever underssstand.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the guide. Wasn’t he going to do anything?
“My purpose here is to send thee through the veil to my queen,” the guide said.
Unbelievable.
The giant snake reared back as he had in the alley in New York. Her heart pounded in her chest. This time she wasn’t going to cower and prepare to die. She needed to live; had someone to live for. She dodged right. A split second later, the ground trembled with the force of the strike impacting the spot where she’d just stood. That was too close for comfort.
“Courier, my hilt, now.”
Donnie jerked at the musical feminine voice that spoke in her mind like a long-forgotten melody. “Carnwennan?”
Ash was pulling back for another strike. She closed her hand around Carnwennan’s hilt. The snake hissed and bobbed.
“Whe
re did you go, thief?” The large silver serpent eyes searched, and a forked tongue slithered out.
“Run, Donnie.” Mikhail’s voice cut through her stupor. He lurched forward, moving so fast he was nothing but a dark blur. Then he was on Ash’s back, his arms wrapped around the thick body.
How could she leave him? The venom was in him. He might be dead before she got back.
“Courier,” Guide said. “Thy love has given thou a great gift at an equally great cost. Will thou let his sacrifice to be in vain?”
“Go, Donnie.” Mikhail bared his own fangs and sank them into the scaly skin. Blood surged over his lips and chin and a shrill, inhuman scream came from the snake. Ash thrashed wildly from side-to-side, but couldn’t shake the determined vampire clinging to him. Was Mikhail really trying to drain Ash?
“Courier, please,” Carnwennan begged.
The sooner she did this, the sooner she could come back to him. She turned and ran through the shimmering veil of air.
~*~
Donnie squinted against the sudden brightness as she stumbled across spongy green turf. One thing was for sure, this wasn’t the New Mexico desert anymore. But had she actually entered the realm of the Fae?
A figure dressed in emerald green stood right in her path. If she couldn’t stop, she’d mow her over. Donnie’s left foot caught against the back of her right and she pitched forward.
No, no, no.
She reached out to catch herself, and the heels of her hands skidded along the grass until her body came to a stop.
Velvety soft grass, softer than a fluffy fleece blanket. Floral scents surrounded her, like the one time she’d been to Hawaii to pick up an antique chest. Only this was sweeter, seductive. Almost as though the plants were singing a spell around her.
Several titters came from around her. The least graceful entry into the realm of the faerie ever had, of course, been witnessed by a crowd. She got her hands under her, pushed herself up to her knees, and inhaled the fragrances of this new realm. Everything seemed more vivid, more real. Even the sky was a deeper, richer blue than in her world. Almost cobalt.
The snickering multitude consisted of at least a dozen beings. All of them were built like the guide. Tall, willowy, with long hair in a variety of colors that fell like silk around their shoulders.
The only one not giggling at her expense was the gorgeous red-headed, green-eyed woman at whose feet she’d landed. The same woman from Carnwennan’s memory.
“Um, are you the queen? “Way to go, Captain Obvious.
The woman made an up gesture with her hand. “Arise, daughter, mine.”
Her light, musical voice cascaded over Donnie. Did all Fae have such beautiful voices? She pushed herself up, and managed to stand up without further embarrassment.
“We have watched thee for thy entire life-span, and we are pleased,” the queen said. “I believe thou hast brought me that which has been absent from us for far too long.”
“This is my queen, courier,” Carnwennan said. Even her voice was like a song…and she definitely sounded female. “She is here to receive me after our long journey.”
The memory of Mikhail stopping Ash before he could attack her, of him sinking his fangs through the scaly skin of her ex-boss, rushed back. A hard shudder rocked her body all the way to her core.
“I need to get back.” She fumbled with her belt. This would be easier if she could stop her hands from shaking. The buckle came free and she tugged it through the loop of the sheath. “Here.”
The woman accepted the dagger like it was a precious child. “Welcome home, my beloved Carnwennan.”
It was over. This part of it, at least. Now she could go back to her world, and Mikhail. She turned to step back through the veil gateway, then froze. It was gone.
“Where’s the veil?” No one answered, but they sure were studying her. She clenched her fists and met the Faerie queen’s gaze. “You can’t keep me here.”
“This is my realm, and I shall do as I please.” The stunning woman tipped her head to one side. “Why would thou wish to return when thou could live with us among unspoilt beauty?”
“Mikhail.” She blinked against the sting of tears rising in her eyes.
The Faerie queen narrowed her eyes. “What is a vampire to thee, daughter?”
“He helped me, saved my life. If he hadn’t been there, I would have died and Carnwennan would be sitting in Ash Merrick’s display case again, being drained of her power.” Power this woman gave it. Wasn’t she the least bit concerned? A warm, wet tear rolled down Donnie’s face, and she swiped the back of her hand over her cheek.
“Is that so?” The queen closed her eyes as though divining something, then opened them again. “Indeed, I see the truth of thy words. But, the one of which thou speaks shall be dead before thy return.”
“There’s no way to save him?” Unless…. “Your blood can turn a vampire back to a human. Isn’t there something you can do about the snake venom?”
The queen’s face darkened, and the ambient noises of Faerie—the chattering of its people, the soft breeze flirting, rustling through vibrant vegetation—suddenly stilled. Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to ask.
A sharp, burning sensation flared against her skin under her shirt, right where her emerald pendant rested. She clawed at the chain and pulled the teardrop stone free. It glowed red.
What the what?
The queen passed Carnwennan to another faerie, and stepped closer to Donnie. “Understand this, daughter: no immortal faerie here would give their blood to a vile vampire. Not even for you.”
More tears streamed down Donnie’s cheeks. Mikhail was right. Faeries couldn’t be trusted. But, showing weakness now could very well get her killed. She swallowed and straightened her spine. “If you’re not going to do anything to help him, let me go back to be with him so he doesn’t have to die alone.”
“Daughter, the blood of the Fae—my blood—flows through thy veins.” Anger flashed in her jewel-green eyes, the same color as Donnie’s pendant—when it wasn’t glowing an angry red. “If thou wishes to save thy love, then do so thyself.”
The queen raised one hand and made a pushing motion. Donnie’s body lifted off the ground and flew backward into darkness.
~*~
The impact drove the breath from Donnie’s lungs. She slid across the damp, sandy ground on her back before her head smacked into something large and fleshy. Her realm-to-realm entries really sucked. At least she was pretty sure she was back in her own world. It was night again, and the stars looked right.
What had she run into anyway? She reached a hand over her head. Smooth, cold, and slippery. She turned her head, let out a yelp, and scrambled away from Ash’s snake body.
“The serpent met his demise whilst thou was gone, courier.” The guide extended his long-fingered hand toward her.
Over her dead body would she accept help from a faerie. Not after the shitty treatment she’d just experienced. She glared up at him. “What did the queen mean by her blood flows through my veins?”
“Exactly that.” He withdrew his offered hand. “Thou art a human descendant of a child she had with her mortal lover.”
“You mean I’m part faerie?”
“Aye.”
Excitement welled up from deep inside her. If she was even a little bit faerie, her blood might be able to save Mikhail.
“Where’s Mikhail?” She strained to peer into the darkness. There. The shadow slumped against a rock near the waterline must be him.
Before she could move, the guide grabbed her with one hand by the front of her shirt and lifted her until she stood on her feet.
“Thou will need this, courier,” he said. In his other hand, he held a long, sheathed dagger.
“Carnwennan?” The faerie queen had given Carnwennan to him? To her?
“My presence is but temporary, Donnie.” Carnwennan’s voice flowed through her mind. “I must go back, but I could not leave thee to face this alone.
I have a debt to pay to both of thee. And my queen agrees, it is your hereditary privilege.”
Donnie’s hand trembled as she reached out to take the dagger from the guide’s hands. “Thank you for coming back.”
She clutched Carnwennan to her chest and moved toward Mikhail, stepping over Ash’s dead serpentine body.
“The pleasure is mine, friend. Thy vampire does not look well.”
That was an understatement. Mikhail’s breath rattled, and his face was contorted with pain. For once he looked like a vampire, pale, with black outlining his lips and encircling his eyes. Was that from the snake’s venom, or from drinking its blood?
She kneeled at his side and placed Carnwennan on her lap. Reaching out one hand, she stroked her fingertips over his face and brushed back his hair. His eyes snapped open, recognition shining in their now-black depths.
“You…back,” he murmured.
“I won’t leave you. And, I can help you.” Please let him accept. “It turns out that I’m a descendant of the Faerie queen. At least, that’s what they tell me.”
His lips curled, exposing his fangs. Then he turned his head away. “They lie.” His words were dry and harsh. “I would have seen your lineage.”
Just like he did with other paranormals.
“No, they didn’t lie. It’s really true.” And even if it wasn’t, what was the worst that could happen? She’d die here with him, and that knowledge didn’t bother her as much as it would have a few days ago.
“Go…Don-nie. Let me die…alone.”
Like hell she would. She straightened her spine and raised her chin. This wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth it, no matter what happened. She pulled Carnwennan from her sheath with a soft hiss.
A low, feral growl of warning came from him. “Do not…do this…Donnie.”
She pressed the tip of her finger against the magical blade and her skin parted under the pressure. How odd that it didn’t sting, but that could be Carnwennan’s doing. A drop of blood welled out, and Mikhail’s nostrils flared.
“Too late.” She touched her finger against his lips.
Mikhail moved with vampire speed. In less time than it took to inhale, she found herself on her back. The weight of his body pinned her to the damp bank, the water lapping against her, soaking through her clothing. His fangs seemed longer now than they had yesterday, white and shiny in the moonlight. Beautiful and lethal all at once. Her heart raced with a combination of excitement and a touch of fear.
