“Do you really think the other inhabitants of the house would have let you?”
“Ok, so let me get this straight.” She stepped down the stone stairwell. “The cottage is a portal to hell. This house is magical. We’re tainted. And there is a prophecy that wants us to tie the knot and join the forces of good and evil so that we may create balance.”
“The cottage is a portal to a magical world—not really heaven or hell, but more of a crash pad for anything magical. I believe this house suffers from a kind of magical spill over from the cottage portal doorway being opened so much. You can see when someone is coming by the lightning bugs outside. And yes, we are tainted.”
“Well, gee, Mr. Olivier, you make it all sound so romantic.” Valerie chuckled as she reached the bottom. She touched the wood and iron door and looked at him. “Can I open it?”
“Go ahead, Ms. Walsh. You don’t need my permission to roam your house.”
7
Valerie didn’t know what to expect—wine storage, satanic altar? Instead, it looked like the inside of a cottage. A soft glow surrounded them, but she could not find a light source. Lightning bugs flashed just beyond the vine-covered window panes. Chunks of stone littered the dirt floor. An old wooden podium had an imprint in the dust where an open book had recently been. The cottage was quiet, but she knew she didn’t want to be in there.
“Why did you bring me to the cottage?” Valerie turned to confront Troy. His eyes had changed, becoming the demonic red she’d seen before. “Troy? What’s going on? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He shot forward. Valerie cried out in surprise. He grabbed her arm and thrust her behind him. “Stay close. This is magic. We’re supposed to be in the old fallout shelter with a couch and a decent collection of liquor. Not inside the cottage.”
Knowing he was protecting her and not attacking was only a little comforting under the circumstances. “Let’s leave.” She tugged his arm to retreat the way they’d come, but the wood and iron door had vanished.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.” Troy turned slowly to face an open door leading into another room.
“There’s the exit. We can run back to the house.” Valerie tried to push past him.
Troy grabbed her arm tightly to stop her. “Again, don’t think it’s going to be that easy. It looks like something welded it shut.”
“So you’re not even going to try?” She yanked her arm free to go to the door. A low scraping sounded, and she stopped mid-step. “Troy?”
“I hear it.”
She had come forward enough so that she could see into the next room. A crowd of faces stared back at her. All manner of magical creatures had come into the cottage—tiny fairies, brownies, trolls, gremlins, and something she could only assume might be Bigfoot. The ones shining with blue segregated themselves from the red. Good and evil, together in one place. And they all looked very angry.
“Uh, Troy…” She lifted her hand toward the room. A figure pushed forward from behind the gathered, and they parted to let the old demon pass. Next to him stood the sprite from Valerie’s bedroom.
“I got them here,” the sprite said. “The nasty business falls to you. Do what you must.”
The demon smiled as if that idea gave him much pleasure.
“Nasty business?” Valerie repeated. Troy pulled her to his chest.
“If we are to die, we’re taking you with us,” the sprite said. The creatures behind her made strange noises that could only be classified as agreement. The furry Bigfoot swiped a clawed hand as if just waiting to tear into her flesh.
“Time to choose,” the demon said.
“You can’t do this to people!” Valerie cried.
“Valerie, wait,” Troy tugged her arm for her attention. He pressed his forehead to hers, while keeping his eyes on the threat. Whispering, he said, “I would marry you in a heartbeat and not because of a prophecy or to save my own life, but because some things are just known. To answer what you said earlier, if we were normal and I saw you, I’d be smitten. Messy hair, crazy self-taking. It wouldn’t matter. One look and I’d have been yours. In that life, I would have married you for all eternity. I feel that more strongly than I have felt anything in my life. However, if we do what they want, it will never end. They will demand more of us. There is always more.”
“If we were normal, I’d marry you, too. One look when I thought I was normal, and you were all I could think about. I would have loved you for an eternity.”
“I love you now,” he whispered. “Don’t forget that.”
She shook her head denoting she would not.
“Well?” the demon commanded. “I have places to go and much more interesting prophecies to fulfill.”
Troy hugged her tightly. Even with the nearby threat, the feel of him against her was right and safe and perfect. He said near her ear, “Go for the window and get out. Run and keep running. I can fight them off long enough for you to get to your car.”
“I’m not leaving you to—”
“This is not a debate. You are no match for them. I—”
“Shut up. Stop trying to be the alpha with me. I told you, I’m not that kind of woman. I’m not leaving you.” Valerie quickly kissed him. “They’ve taken enough from us. I won’t let them force our fates. Not anymore. I’m not doing what they want. But if we’re going down, we’re going down fighting. Together.”
Troy looked like he wanted to argue. Instead, he nodded. “Fighting. Together.”
With a loud yell, he let go of her. He reached for the podium and flung the wood at the demon and sprite. The demon disappeared before it made contact. Troy surged forward to meet the others head on. She instinctively knew he wanted to protect her, even now against impossible odds.
The sprite leaped forward out of the way. Valerie punched it in the face, hard. Her fingers stung at the impact, and she shook her hand, surprised by how much it actually hurt. The sprite flung against the wall, knocking her head.
The other creatures poured out of the room. Blue fairies attacked by air, grabbing the stones from the dirt floor and dropping them like annoying torpedoes. Valerie swatted one away like a fly. The annoying high-pitched ringing started in her ears.
Bigfoot tried to pull Troy into a headlock while two trolls kicked the man’s shins. When she tried to help him, the fairies yanked her hair. And she couldn’t quite see, but she was pretty sure a garden gnome was using her foot as a punching bag. When she tried to kick him off, the pull on her head caused her to lose her balance, and she fell onto the ground.
“What are you doing?” The sprite yelled like a little commander. “Use your magic!”
“Troy!” Valerie yelled, worried for him.
Bigfoot went flying over her, striking the fairies and forcing them to let go of her hair.
“I’m here,” he answered. “Just let me…”
A troll flew the same route as Bigfoot and then another. The high-pitched noise grew louder.
“Stop that,” the sprite screamed.
“I’m not doing it,” Valerie answered. She pushed to her feet.
Troy reached for her, limping as he went to help her up. Blood trickled down the side of his face. “Let’s get out of here.”
The blue light in the room brightened. The high-pitched noise increased. Valerie grabbed her ears. The sprite screamed in pain.
“What’s wrong with everyone?” Troy asked in confusion.
“You can’t hear that ringing?” Valerie held her ears tighter.
“Stop, stop!” the sprite yelled.
The ringing stopped.
Valerie gasped in relief, slowly lowering her hands.
“Now that I have your attention.” They all looked around to see who spoke. A young girl stood by the opened front door. Her brown hair fell straight to her chin and she wore pink shorts with a white and pink striped top.
“Seri?” Troy whispered. “What trick is this?”
Valerie grabbed Troy’s arm and p
ressed close to him. The girl looked like she could have been related to Troy. She had the same brown eyes and the same turn of her nose.
“Get out of here,” the sprite warned, charging the child as if she were a stray cat to be shooed away. “This is none of your concern.”
“This is my house,” Seri answered calmly. “You go.” The sprite poofed into smoke and disappeared. She turned her attention to the creatures picking themselves up off the floor. The fairies grabbed hold of the gnome and zipped out of the house into the woods. Bigfoot and his troll buddies looked as if they wanted to go past, but the little girl stood barring their way. With her hand on a girlish hip, she pointed a finger at Bigfoot. “Trolls don’t know any better, but you do.”
“Seri,” Bigfoot said, the word hoarse. He went to her and kneeled down. Seri patted him on the head and he too puffed into smoke. The trolls ran into the other room, the sound of their feet instantly disappearing mid-stride.
When the magical intruders were all gone, Seri turned toward her brother and then Valerie. “You should not be here.”
Valerie put up her hands to stop the child from sending them away. “No, wait.”
Seri giggled. As she walked, the light coming off her cast onto the walls, showing the cottage as it must appear in a young girl’s imagination—pink flower wallpaper and tiny tables with tea sets, stuffed animals in oversized chairs. However, once she passed a section, the light faded and the cottage again fell to ruin.
“Your parents wish you to know they are well, and you are loved,” Seri said to Valerie before coming to her brother. “You will let me play here, won’t you?”
“Seri?” Troy whispered. He held out his hand but didn’t touch her. Slowly, he sank upon his knees to be at her height.
“It is over now. The prophecy is fulfilled.” Seri merely stood before him. “You can smile again, Troy.”
“Over? Do you mean they are all dead?” Valerie asked.
“Why would they be dead?” The girl frowned. “You are married. Balance is restored. I am told it’s not a very interesting prophecy, but it’s important. I did not like dying for it, but I am told what is done is done.”
“We didn’t marry,” Troy said. He looked up at her.
“But we can be,” Valerie said quickly. “You did not die in vain. We—”
Seri laughed. “True marriage is more than cake and parties. Though, you should have a party. You should have a great many parties. In this place of magic, intentions are known. You are married, more so than if you had spoken the words in a church. The soul knows. Magic knows. The cottage knows. Evil took care of the sacrifices. Now, hopefully, good will see to it they leave you be.”
When Valerie looked into Troy’s eyes, she felt it was true. She felt balance with him, a streak of wild and untamed, mixed with steadfastness and safety.
“You will let me play here, won’t you, Troy?” Seri insisted. “They will not kill me a second time.”
“You may have whatever you wish,” Troy said. “Just don’t go.”
Troy lifted his arms as if he would hug her. Seri smiled, the kind of impish look young girls get when they are about to perform a very neat trick. She lifted her arm as if she would hug him but instead touched Valerie’s stomach. Heat fused into her as Seri’s hand slipped past her skin into her abdomen.
Valerie grabbed Troy’s arm as Seri’s soul slipped inside her, drawn into her stomach. When the child disappeared, she covered the heated flesh only to feel it cool.
“What just happened?” Troy asked, covering her hand with his. “Valerie? Are you possessed? Seri?”
“I…I,” Valerie whispered. “I think I’m…pregnant.”
Troy stared at her for a shocked moment and then smiled. He nodded as if willing her to confirm it again. “Yeah?”
“I feel…” Valerie bit her lip. “Fulfilled.”
Troy shouted in pleasure and swooped her into his arms. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Valerie couldn’t concentrate past the rush of emotions swimming inside her. She held on to him tightly as he carried her out of the cottage, up the path toward the manor. “It’s like you said. We are the product of fate.”
“I love you, Valerie.” He stopped on the front lawn to press his lips to hers. Lightning bugs danced around them, tiny stars in the late hour. He refused to set her down. His eyes filled with hints of red. The demon blood did not go away, but the effects of it had seemed to settle. “Though we had no say in the matter, we are preordained, a joining of both sides, a balance. I feel my balance in you.”
“And I have found the meaning of life with you.” Valerie kissed her husband, knowing that the true meaning of marriage was more than rings and vows. It was a feeling, a need to give, the ability to accept. “For eternity.”
Epilogue
The old demon looked down at the sprite, not caring for the stench of good that came from her. “It is done just as it needed to be. The prophecy is fulfilled, and we remain intact for another thousand years.” He paused, only to begrudgingly add, “The fight was a nice touch.”
“A simple motivator, but fear for your life tends to push feelings to the surface in humans quickly enough.” The sprite sighed, appearing tired.
“I thought you did not like getting your hands dirty.” The demon chuckled. He was invigorated by having won yet again. Another prophecy completed. It was a magical high like no other.
“I prefer talking and reason, but those two are damaged in the brainpan. Nothing to be done for it.” The sprite stepped away from him.
“It often happens with the tainted-bloods,” he agreed. The sprite disappeared and he moved to go. The demon lost interest in watching the kissing couple on the lawn surrounded by lightning bugs. There was no mischief to be had here anymore, and he was a busy man with lots of prophecies to fulfill and many people to see. The demon touched his necklace thoughtfully. “Good riddance to you love birds. I think it’s time I visited the Jeqon sisters. I’m sure they’re just dying to see me.”
The End
Want to see what the prophecy demon is up to with the unsuspecting Jeqon sisters? Check out the new serial, Circle of Six: Slaine.
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About the Author, Natasha Logan
NY Times and USA TODAY Bestselling Author
Everyone needs a little magic in their lives.
Natasha loves writing about magical creatures both good and bad. She is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author.
Please visit her online at www.NatashaLogan.com
Also by Natasha Logan
Urban Fantasy Paranormal Romance
Circle of Six: Slaine
Six Part Serial
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Under His Spell Page 4
