The blue glow from the house softened as the crowd, one by one, turned on each other.
“Dammit,” Malina swore. “They call this crowd control? I told Rory to mesmerize the sheriff, not convince the crowd to start an all out brawl. Do you see Rory anywhere?”
Dar shook his head in denial. “I don’t think it’s your family doing this.”
“What makes ya say that?” Niall asked.
Dar pointed toward the house. “The fact that you have a chaos demi-demon and a full-blooded discord demon standing in the entryway.”
Malina’s head whipped around.
“Where did they come from?” Niall demanded. He lifted his shirt and pulled a sharp knife from his waist. The flash of carved steel caused a memory to bounce into Malina’s mind. He’d used that knife on Dar to subdue him before setting him on fire. It was a demon blade.
“I believe the chaos demi-demon, Apep, is from Detroit but he likes to pretend he’s from a rich neighborhood in Connecticut. He’s the one who looks like he’s fresh off the runway,” Dar answered. “The other one, Andras, in black leather and metal studs is from a place altogether a bit nastier.”
“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” a townsman raged. Screams sounded as the fighting intensified tenfold.
“He did this,” Niall eyed Dar, his chest lifting in hard breaths as if it took everything he had not to attack. “He brought them here. Raibeart ordered me to leave him unharmed, but I don’t care what that old fool says. He can banish me from the clan for disobeying an elder’s order in battle, but I’ll not let him hurt our family.”
Malina loved her brother, but sometimes he could be very old fashioned in his beliefs. However, since that sense of duty would keep him from trying to stab her husband, Malina decided to use it to her advantage.
“If you do anything without infallible proof, I will never forgive you,” Malina said.
“Ya call that a threat? Ya said the same thing to Euann when he glamoured away your small toe, and ya thought ya had lost it,” Niall taunted. “Sit down little girl and let the men handle things.”
“Say something like that to me again and I swear I will smack you into the next century,” Malina threatened. Irritation filled her as she remembered all the things Niall had ever done to her over the centuries—from boyish pranks to perceived slights to convincing her to kill her husband. Her full attention shifted to her brother, and the urge to fight became strong.
“Show me what ya got, wee lassie,” Niall taunted unconcerned. She desperately wanted to wipe the mocking look of his face. “Like I’d be scared of a warlock that can’t even cast a simple love potion magick spell without nearly killing her own brother and his girlfriend. Or how about the time your snake potion exploded and destroyed the wing of our castle?”
“There is nothing wrong with my magick,” Malina screamed. “I’m every bit a warlock as you are!”
“Tell that to our missing brother,” Niall stated in a harsh voice. “We all know you’re the reason Kenneth is gone. Oh, but we can’t say anything cause poor little Malina may cry, and we can’t have that.”
Malina gasped, her hands balling into fists. She felt as if she’d been struck in the gut. “How dare you blame me for Kenneth. I tried to help him. I tried!”
“A fat lot of good your help did,” Niall quipped. “Do me a favor, if I’m in trouble, don’t try to assist.”
“Oh, don’t worry. You’re in trouble right now, and I can guarantee you I’m not going to stop beating you until you take back every rotten thing you’ve ever said to me!” Malina leaped forward, hands raised to strike.
Chapter 14
“Stop it,” Dar shouted to interrupt the growing argument between brother and sister. He shot forward to pull Malina back before she did something she’d regret. “Neither of you mean what you are saying. I should have seen this earlier, but their nearness doesn’t affect me. That discord you’re feeling right now is misdirected. These feelings are what transpire when non-demon-bloods are in Andras’s presence. What do you think is happening behind us? Everyone here will work themselves into a frenzy, and they won’t recall even seeing Andras let alone that he influence them to do it. I know it’s hard, but try to keep a level head.”
“Stay out of this,” Malina ordered. “This is between my brother and me, and it’s well overdue.”
“Thalla ‘s cagainn bruis,” Niall added. “Ya heard her. Get lost. This is none of your concern. It’s MacGregor business.”
Dar was more worried about the two demons on the doorstep than he was about Niall the Neanderthal’s mounting anger. When Malina described the bog-man coming from the floor, he’d been concerned that it might have been a creature clawing its way from the fire realm. He had hoped his luck would hold out and that it really was a bog dweller.
“Stupid ghost brats,” he muttered. Dar needed an infusion of good luck, but this chaotic crowd was not the place to try to get some. He looked at Niall. Brother and sister were yelling at each other in Gaelic, reciting grievances that had to have occurred nearly three hundred years prior. Dar took a cautious step around the siblings before reaching out to touch Niall’s back. The man jerked, but Dar managed to pull good luck from the angry warlock. As Niall turned, Malina landed a punch on his jaw.
Dar couldn’t help but grin. “Sorry, champ, but your sister is going to win this fight. Maybe next time you’ll think twice before trying to kill me.”
Malina punched a second time before Niall could form an answer.
He knew the moment Apep’s and Andras’s eyes found him. A cold chill worked its way up his spine. Common sense told him to run away, and to take Malina with him. It was also the cowardly thing to do.
“Stay here, Malina,” Dar commanded, wishing it sounded less like an order the second the words left his mouth. For once he hoped she’d listen to him.
“Bite me, Dar,” Malina retorted. She took a step toward the house. “I’m not scared of a little chaos and discord.”
“Still trying to prove yourself worthy of being a MacGregor?” Dar taunted, trying anything to make her come to her senses. “Just going to march impulsively into danger so that Niall will have to come and rescue you again.”
“What is he talking about?” Niall rubbed his jaw.
“Nothing. Dar is being an ass.” Malina glared at Dar, only to start bickering with her brother again. “And no, Niall, that doesn’t mean I want you to kill him for me now.”
“I didn’t ask if I could kill him, but now that ya mention it—” Niall defended.
“Everything is death and killing with you,” Malina interrupted. “Complain, complain, stomp around, complain, and demand to always have your way. There are no shades of gray in your black and white views. Everyone is either good or evil, with you or against you, a screw-up or—”
“Oh, I’d say ya are very much a screw-up,” Niall put forth with a snort, “and I’m always cleaning up your relationship messes.”
“I never asked you to,” she cried. “You never give me a chance to take care of myself. That’s your whole overbearing mode of operation, Niall. All of you take great pleasure in trying to tell me how wrong I am. Since I was born with a birthmark on my ass, witch hunters came after me. That meant it was my fault Aunt Elspeth died getting me to England. I was raised British, so it’s my fault I’m not Scot enough to be a real MacGregor. I can’t possibly understand the clan ways.”
“Is cuma liom sa diabhal,” Niall muttered. “I don’t care if your feelings are hurt. We treat ya like a child because ya act like a child. If ya want to be seen as an adult then grow up. Ya make bad decisions Malina, and ya always have. Ya are reckless and wild, with no thought of how your actions affect the rest of us. Case and point, ya married a fucking demon.”
“Well, I have news for you, you’re never going to be able to kill Dar because I love him,” she declared. “I love him! And you’re just going to have to learn to live with that fact. I love a demon.”
“Dar, d
on’t stand out there with all the mortals. Do come say hello,” Andras called. “It’s been a long time.”
Malina’s declaration gave him immense pleasure, but he wished she’d stop yelling it. He didn’t want her bringing demonic attention to herself. Malina and Niall might fight but had to believe they wouldn’t kill each other. She was safer outside having her moment of sibling rivalry than in the house. Dar straightened his suit and lifted his chin as he went to where he was summoned.
“I see you received our invitation.” Andras grinned. The demon snapped his fingers, and the blue beacon disappeared, leaving the lawn in darkness compared to what it had been before.
Should Andras change out of his leather vest and pants, he would be the complete picture of normality. Though tall and broad, his human disguise was deceptively unmemorable. Strands of hair were combed over to hide his balding head. He was neither ugly nor handsome, neither fat nor thin. If a person had no reason to talk to him, they would probably not recall what he looked like. However, right now, he resembled a middle-aged man on his way to a bondage convention.
“What brings you guys to town?” Dar asked as if he didn’t already know.
Apep’s unconcerned posture was deceiving. “Like you could keep a place this powerful all to yourself. I’m surprised at you, Darragh. You used to be so cool.”
“I love it when you boys argue,” Andras said, stepping back and lifting his hand to invite Dar into the home as if he was the new owner.
“Would it help if I apologized?” Dar asked.
“It might.” Apep gave a little pout.
“Then I’m sorry,” Dar said. “That wasn’t cool of me.”
“Thank you,” Apep accepted the apology.
“Come inside out of the mosh pit,” Andras insisted. “We’ll let the humans play for a while. It is a beautiful thing, but they do tend to get loud.”
Inside the house was a ruin of what it had once been. The marble floors were cracked as if the earth had torn apart beneath the foundation. What few light fixtures that had not been ripped from the walls flickered with intermittent power. A fire pit burned in the middle of the front hall, giving light and heat to the large space. The banister had fallen off both sides of the stairs and lay in pieces on the floor.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Andras asked though it wasn’t a question. “I had to relocate a goblin to the back gardens and exorcise some ghosts, but other than that it was what they call move-in ready. I hear I have you to thank for that. Genius really, giving luck to ghosts and lower level supernaturals like you did. You must have been building up your power stores for years.”
“Decades,” Dar corrected, thinking of how he’d spent all those years in Vegas hoarding extra luck so he could come get his revenge. It looked like he was going to receive that long-standing wish. The irony was, he no longer wanted revenge. If he were honest, he never truly wanted to retaliate. He’d told himself he did so that he felt warranted in coming after her. Despite everything, he had never stopped loving her. All he wanted in this world was the chance to be with Malina.
“Impressive,” Andras allowed. “I have been trying to break into this location for years and thanks to you and your luck, here I am. Had I known you had so much ambition to prove yourself a real demon, I would have paid more attention to you. Seducing a MacGregor warlock for information, patiently siphoning enough luck so no one would notice you were doing it, and then sneaking here to crack open a portal so that demons may have access to the ley lines? You are a true dark artist.”
Dar had been trying to do none of those things. Nonetheless, in the presence of one so formidable, a demon who even now stirred the darker longings inside Dar’s most primal of powers, he felt it best not to point that fact out. So far, neither demon was trying to kill him, and he’d like to keep it that way.
“Daddy’s here. Have great fear,” singsong voices chanted from above and the sound of small feet bounced across the landing. Dar frowned. He’d thought Andras had evicted all the spirits. The ghost children couldn’t be seen, only heard. “He will rip you ear to ear. Limb to limb. End to end.”
“Quiet girls,” Andras ordered with a small smile of parental approval. “Daddy’s working.”
The ghost girls giggled.
Daddy? Dar thought. Figures.
“My daughters are very impressed by you, and they do not impress easily,” Andras admitted. “I’ve had them here keeping an eye on things for me.”
“So was that you they saw crawling out of the bathroom floor?” Dar asked conversationally. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“No, that was me,” Apep said a little bitterly. “And I can say I didn’t expect to have to be clawing my way back from hell because someone I thought was my friend decided to send me packing.”
“I took a more direct route,” Andras gestured toward the crevice in the floor. “I don’t care for the bog lands separating the realms. The moisture and heat aren’t good on my leathers.”
“Daddy, please, don’t make us stay.” One of the girls appeared, looking as innocent and precious as any human child.
“We so do wish to go and play,” the second one joined in, also emerging from nothingness.
“Fine, but no killing,” Andras instructed. “Daddy needs the disharmony to get big and strong.”
The girls giggled and ran out the front door without bothering to open it.
“Do you have children?” Andras asked. When both men shook their heads in denial, he added, “They are so much work.”
Dar highly doubted the demon of discord was an attentive father, especially knowing his children had been running around Earth tormenting humans and playing on the ley lines while daddy was in the fire realm.
“What are the little hellions’ names?” Apep asked.
Andras appeared confused for a moment and frowned. “One is E-vil-ah-something. I think the other girl is named… Jeffery? It’ll come to me. Who can remember these things?”
Dar managed to glance at the door without drawing too much notice to his concern for Malina. He hoped her brother was taking it easy on her. She talked tough, but she always reminded him of a delicate little flower. Or course, he’d never tell her that.
“Now, what do you say we find something to drink,” Andras offered. “I’m sure the former tenants must have left something behind.”
Andras strode ahead of them, revealing the fact that oval holes had been cut out of the backside of his black leather pants. There was nothing to obstruct the view of his two tanned cheeks. One had the tattooed face of an owl on it and the other a pair of angel wings. Dar coughed, trying to hide his surprise.
Apep gave him a cynical look of understanding. Under his breath, he said, “Don’t ask him about it. They’re into some pretty weird shit in the fire realm, and some stories can’t be unheard.”
Chapter 15
Malina screamed at the top of her lungs as she pinned Niall to the ground by pressing her knees on his stomach. She then proceeded to strike his shoulders and chest with her fists. He didn’t fight back as he moaned in a daze. “How dare you take away the one thing in this stupid life that I’ve ever loved, and who ever loved me? You and your bullshit missions and sense of honor.” As she struck, magick lit up around her hands to compound the impact. “You told me he was evil. You promised me you had proof. You made me believe…” She sniffed back tears as her strikes became weaker. “You made me give him up.” She sniffed again. “You forced me to choose between my heart and my family, and it was all for nothing. He’s not who you said he was, whom you swore to me on our family honor that he was. He didn’t kill anyone and how is he ever going to trust me? I led him to his death.” She took a sharp, shaky breath as her animosity toward Niall turned inward. “How’s he ever going to love me again? I don’t deserve it. Euann’s right. I’m never going to have love. I remember all of it now. I brought him to you and didn’t stop you from stabbing him. We set him on fire and the smell…”
She swa
yed weakly as the memory completely flooded her senses. The front lawn turned into desert sand, and the dark sky turned to dusk. The red fire in the desert grave roared angrily as she looked down into it. Dar was dead. She wanted to jump in and die too.
“I feel dizzy,” she whispered.
Malina fell to the side. She wasn’t sure how long she lay in darkness, but when she came to she was again on the MacGregor lawn. Dar was alive. Fate had given her another chance.
People still argued around them, some becoming more violent, some crying and screeching. They were lost in their heightened states. However, Malina’s anger had all turned inward where it belonged. Somehow that feeling of self-hate broke whatever enchantment the discord demon had wrought over her.
“Niall?” She crawled to her brother to touch his face. He blinked heavily before again closing his eyes. She remembered slamming him pretty hard with concentrated balls of magick. There had been a lot of pent-up feelings behind the attack, and she doubted he’d wake up anytime soon.
“Dar?” Malina glanced at the house, half expecting him to be where she’d last seen him—walking toward the front door. The blue glow was gone from the house, and instead, the gentle flicker of orange firelight had replaced it inside the windows.
Malina didn’t think as she grabbed the demon blade from her brother’s waist and ran toward the house. She placed her ear to the door and listened. A fairy tried to buzz past her face to distract her. Its red eyes shone in the dark. Malina squished it against the door to stop its racket before wiping her hand on her sweatpants.
Although she couldn’t hear voices, she felt Dar as surely as if she stood next to him. Malina pushed through the door and followed her feelings toward the dining room. She changed a small peek around the corner before quickly hiding. The three demons sat on chairs with no table. Broken bits of wood and car parts were thrown haphazardly around the room.
“No, I swear it,” Apep affirmed. “The saying at the time was, luck be a Leahy because he helped some high rollers hit big in order to score us some sweet concert tickets. Someone misunderstood and started saying luck be a lady. I had no idea you had bigger plans back them. I thought you were just a happy-go-lucky party boy. Had I known, I would have offered to help.”
Cauldrons and Confessions (Warlocks MacGregor Book 4) Page 13
