Malina tried to peek a second time, wanting to make sure Dar was unharmed.
“What is she doing in here?” Andras demanded as his eyes narrowed in on Malina. He stood from his chair. “Why isn’t she discontent?”
“Your powers mean nothing to me,” she announced with mock bravado. In reality, she was terrified. The two demons standing next to her husband looked as if they wanted to rip her apart with their bare hands. By sheer willpower, she stayed upright. Part of her wished that her family would come charging in like they normally did to rescue her. For all she wanted to be seen as a powerful warlock, she was terrified.
“Get rid of her,” Andras ordered.
Apep tried to obey.
Dar charged, slamming into the chaos demon. “Don’t touch her!”
Apep fought back. Malina rushed forward, wielding the blade. Dar reached out his hand, and she tossed it to him. He cut Apep on the shoulder. The demon howled as his face morphed into the hideous shape of his true form. Dar threw Apep from the dining room.
Andras’s form shifted into a fierce winged beast with a head that roughly resembled a wrinkled, featherless owl. He attacked Dar for daring to disobey him.
“Dar, by order of the MacGregor, I command you not to die,” Malina yelled. Magick came from the ring in the form of red smoke to force him to obey. Andras’s talon made contact, slashing through Dar’s chest. It should have been a deadly blow, but the wound instantly healed. Andras growled and slashed again.
Dar cried out in pain but did not sustain injuries. Horns thrust out of his head as he too changed forms. She gasped as long teeth protruded from his extended mouth. The image of this manifestation triggered the last of her locked memories. She’d seen his demon, and it had alarmed her to know something so fierce could be living inside her husband. She’d let that fear panic her decisions in those final moments.
Malina would not make that mistake again. She didn’t have time to fear the change in him. She dove forward and touched his arm. Andras tried to swing at her, but Dar blocked the blow.
“All the luck I have is yours,” Malina said, giving him her everything. “And I’m the luckiest woman alive because I’ve had the pleasure of loving a man like you.”
Dar growled as he thrust the blade forward. The lucky aim struck Andras in the chest, and he let out a mighty roar as he began to shake. The demon’s molten blood melted the metal, and the handle fell on the ground with a clank.
Dar swept Malina into an arm covered with hard brown skin and propelled her from the dining room. Apep lay on the floor next to the broken staircase. Seeing Dar in his demon form, he grunted and held up his hands. “Not cool, dude.”
Dar’s body shifted forms, and he returned to his human self. He panted for breath. “That shifting thing never gets easier.”
“What about him?” Malina nodded toward Apep.
“What about me?” Apep demanded. He held his bleeding shoulder and stood up. “I’ll tell you what about me. I’m taking my sexy ass to the airport and getting on the first flight out of here before one you decides to cut it off.” He continued to complain as he stormed out of the front of the house. “So not cool, man. Not cool!”
“The sheriff is here. He’s arresting some people for disorderly conduct and making others go home,” Niall said. “I found Rory and Euann. They’re a little rough for wear but alive. I have them overseeing the evacuation.”
“Daddy?” two voices yelled in unison. “Daddy?”
The twin spirits whisked through the house toward the dining room. Niall instantly went to give chase. Malina and Dar were right behind him.
The girls hovered above the bubbling puddle of demon blood near the hilt of the demon dagger. “Daddy dear, have no fear, we will bring you back to here—ahh!”
A force reached forth from the blood and grabbed hold of the little hellions. It jerked them hard into the bubbling puddle and their screams instantly silenced.
“Good riddance.” Malina sighed in relief.
“Oh, man, I liked that knife,” Niall said, rushing over to pick up the hilt of his destroyed weapon.
“I’ll buy you a new demon blade,” Malina said.
“Or not,” Dar suggested quietly, not letting go of her as he kept his arm around her shoulders. “No reason to arm my brother-in-law who hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Malina said. “Well, ok, he might, but he will come around.”
“Do ya know how hard it is to find demon steel?” Niall asked.
“Be happy it went to save the family.” Malina looked around the destroyed home. “Ma and da are going to be so pissed when they get back. That’s what you should be worried about. Not an old weapon.”
Niall dropped the broken hilt and turned his full attention to Dar. “It looks like we owe ya a bit of gratitude for helping rid the house of…” Niall motioned to the blood on the floor.
“You’re welcome—” Dar started to accept when Niall cut him off.
“But since you’re the one who caused all this, I guess that kind of makes the whole gratitude thing null and void.” Niall gave a small nod of approval. “I still don’t like my sister married to a demon, so I’ll be keeping an eye on ya, but as far as demons go, I guess you’re not as bad as some.”
“Uh, thanks?” Dar answered.
“Don’t get comfortable. I may not be intending to kill ya now, but if ya hurt her…” Niall let his word trail off meaningfully.
“Fair enough,” Dar said. The men locked eyes for several moments before they each nodded as if they came to an unspoken alpha male understanding.
“Do you think they re-rented our hotel room?” Malina led him toward the door. “There is no way I’m staying here tonight. Plus, we need to return the van to Harrison. I have a feeling we might need him after looking at this place. It’s going to take a lot of magick and time to whip this house back into shape.”
“I’m betting luck will be on our side.” Dar grinned.
“Damn,” Rory appeared through the door. “Look at this place.”
“I’m not sleeping here tonight,” Euann announced, joining Rory briefly in the entryway. “If ya need me, I’ll be crashing at Erik and Lydia’s. I feel dirty. Mrs. Callister kept trying to touch me, and I need to forget tonight ever happened.”
The sound of Euann’s footsteps quickly dissipated.
“Are ya going to remind him about the gremians?” Malina asked Rory.
Her cousin grinned and headed toward the stairs. “Nah, I think he’ll remember it soon enough.”
“Can I confess one last thing?” she asked as Dar led her out the door to the nearly empty lawn.
“Do I want to know?” Dar forced a worried frown.
“You are ass ugly in demon form,” she said with a laugh.
“I’ll have you know, doll face, I’m considered damn hot among demons.” Dar grinned, pulling her closer.
“Well, I much prefer you like this,” she whispered, leaning up to kiss him.
“Looking like a human?” he supplied.
“No, as my husband standing next to me.” Malina gazed deeply into his eyes. “I love you, Dar. Since that first confession, I have loved you.”
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Dar rushed into the room he shared with his wife in MacGregor mansion and slammed the door. They were in the middle of repairs, but it was slow going. Much of the plant life was dormant for the winter, and they didn’t want to kill off the entire forest trying to fix the ruined mansion. Though the room was clean, it had rips in the wallpaper and splintered molding. A mystery stain on the wall looked like someone had splatted a ball of black tar. There was not much she could do for the time being. The common rooms were being renovated first, with those seen by any visiting outsiders receiving priority.
Malina glanced up from where she lay on the bed and chuckled. Dar had his ear pressed to the wood and was breathing hard. Her mother had insisted he don the MacGregor tartan while representing the lo
cal charity she was trying to establish. The kilt he wore had smears of white paint as if he’d run into a wall during whatever great escape he was now at the tail end of.
“That kilt looks good on you,” Malina said, leaning over to get a better view of his legs. Damn, but her husband was sexy. A thousand years wouldn’t cool her ardor for him. “Do me a favor and give it a little shake.”
When he turned, his eyes were rounded in fear. “Quick, cast a protection spell so this door can’t be opened.”
Malina did no such thing as she turned back to her magazine to nonchalantly flip a page. “I warned you that no good deed goes unpunished, but you wanted to be the noble son-in-law.”
“What was I supposed to say? She blames me for the house being wrecked, and for the entire town being suspicious of this family, and for the paranormal investigators Euann keeps having to chase off the property.” Dar gestured around the room. “I have to make it right somehow. They’re your family, and you’re my wife. And, when you refused to let her throw us a second wedding, I had to do something to smooth things over. She wanted to start a local charity to help with family PR and to give back to the community, well, so be it. Now that I think about it, she probably blames me for the wedding thing too. She keeps making comments about doves and garland and how pretty it would be to host events in the back garden someday.”
“No, trust me. My saying no to her stupid second wedding idea is all on me,” Malina assured him.
“Don’t you want to marry me again?” he asked.
“Let’s not chance it. The last wedding night didn’t go too well. Besides, things have worked out as they are meant to be. We have each other. You are my handsome, sexy husband—”
“And you are my brilliant, lovely, aggravating wife,” he inserted. “But if it makes her happy to do a small ceremony for us…”
“I love her. She’s my ma. I do not want to be lifted up on a fluffy white cloud in angel wings while a choir of cherubs sings medieval ballads for forty minutes and shoots a bridge of arrows for me to float slowly under. At which time the flame of eternal love would be passed around, and everyone would give a prepared speech on the beauty of marriage. Gold glitter would rain down on us as we say our vows, bags of which will be dropped by spellbound doves.”
He arched a brow.
“I’m not kidding. I saw the wedding planner book she kept for me once. That was idea number sixty-three, and trust me when I say it was the best one. If you think the angel wings are bad, I’m pretty sure she had the groom in a silk diaper thing and furs to mimic the cherub theme.”
Dar looked stricken. “Would she settle for a compromise? We could have a simple ceremony.”
Malina laughed by way of response. Margareta did nothing halfway or simple. “I told you before you even met her that she would try to manipulate you with guilt into doing something you’d later regret. That’s all she’s doing, and it’s working. You’ll have to learn to say no.”
“I thought you were exaggerating about her, but you weren’t. This isn’t just a guilt trip. I think your ma might actually want me dead.” He looked more concerned than the numerous times Niall had threatened his life. “What is with everyone in your family trying to kill me all the time? Did I tell you Lydia blames me for the gremians wrecking her lotion supply?”
“That is your fault,” Malina pointed out. “As is the goblin who won’t leave the back gardens.”
“How much luck does everyone think I have? Your ma has me infusing so many people that—shh!” He pressed his ear to the door to listen. Whispering, he said, “I think she’s coming for me. Tell her I’m not here.”
“I take it today’s charity work did not go like you thought it would.” Malina didn’t lower her voice. The footsteps belonged to Rory, not her ma, so she wasn’t too concerned. If anything, Malina knew how to avoid her mother.
“After we establish Wisconsin, she wants me to fly to the family charities in Africa with her, then Singapore, then a jaunt through Eastern Europe. I don’t know how to tell her that I’m almost tapped out just handling the central Wisconsin area. There is only so much good luck to go around, and she has me siphoning in all the bad. I tell you, doll face, she’s cunning. She must be trying to kill me with my own powers because I married you without her blessing. I didn’t understand fully when you said you were the only daughter and that made you a delicate flower to be protected.”
Malina, seeing his concern wasn’t going to ebb, sat up and faced him. “Tell me why you think my ma is trying to kill you.”
“All the bad luck I have to take in. Today a chandelier almost fell on my head when Erik and Iain became distracted while installing it, something exploded in the kitchen, something exploded in the bathroom, a pipe burst in the living room—yes, the living room—and the front door blew open with a gust of wind and knocked me on the head.” He lifted his hair to show her the red mark. “The only competent worker down there is Harrison, and we’re trying to hide all hints of magick from him, so that means I have to absorb every unlucky thing he might run into as well. Any more bad luck and I’m not going to live to see our sixtieth wedding anniversary coming up.”
“I think you mean fifty-eight,” Malina put forth. She reached to her side and flipped a couple of more pages.
“What are you doing in here, anyway?” He paused to listen one last time before lightly tiptoeing to the bed.
“I want new clothes,” Malina said, grabbing the magazine. “The ghost destroyed my wardrobe. Everything is either ripped, stained, or dripping with ectoplasm, and I’m trying to replace the pieces I lost.”
Dar eyed the large stack of outfits and accessories she’d already materialized. “How many business suits do you need?” He lifted a pair of pants that would be too short for her. “Is there something you should tell me? Are you shrinking?”
“I’m making some of it for a shelter that helps women find jobs and dress for the interviews. I normally do it, but this shipment will keep my parents from getting mad about my using magick for selfish reasons. Don’t worry,” she said. Malina lifted her hand to touch a cute retro dress with cherries on the white material. “Ooh, now this is pretty.”
“Wait a minute.” He frowned as he picked up a suit jacket from the pile. “This doesn’t look like anything a woman would wear.”
“Surprise?” she said, trying not to look guilty.
“I have clothes,” he stated.
“Well, yeah, I was going to talk to you about that. Now, baby, you know I love you, but it’s time for you to join the new century. Your suits are…” she tried to think of a delicate way to phrase her thoughts.
“I like my suits,” he protested. “They’re hand tailored by the best there ever was in Vegas. You can’t find them like this anymore.”
“Raibeart is right. You look like a lounge lizard,” Malina blurted. “And they are starting to get holes in them. This last week was not kind to anyone’s wardrobe.”
“But…?” He crossed to a chair where his favorite jacket hung and brushed it off with the back of his hand. “I thought maybe you could use a little magick to fix that.”
“Dar, are ya in there?” Margareta yelled. A knock sounded on their door.
Dar shook his head in denial, begging Malina with his eyes to be quiet.
Malina frowned and slid off the bed. She opened the door to face her mother. “Hi, ma. Every time I see you, you look better and better. Those regeneration treatments did the trick.”
On the surface, Margareta MacGregor’s petite form hardly looked intimidating enough to cause grown men to quake in their boots, but she had a way about her that made people want to obey. A worker passed behind her in the hall humming a tune.
Margareta waited until the man had passed before speaking. “I need Dar. There are some people I want him to meet downstairs in the—”
“About that. Dar thinks you are trying to kill him because you’re forcing him to take on so much bad luck,” Malina stated bluntly. Her mot
her looked as if she would argue, so she rushed on, “He doesn’t want to disappoint you, so he’d do it if it was up to him, but I’m not going to let him.”
“Let me talk to him,” she said.
“Sorry. If I learned anything from watching you with my father, it’s how to get my way in a marriage. He’s done for now.”
Her mother gave her a look that was a cross between annoyance and pride.
“If you ever, ever, want any chance of me giving you grandchildren over the next say twenty to fifty years, then I’m going to need my husband alive and well.”
“Grandchildren?” Margareta repeated, her face lighting up.
“Yeah, Dar wants a bunch of them. I’m not so sure, but he’s—” Malina could barely get the words out.
“Do ya know what ya two need? A nice trip away from all this construction. Think of it as an overdue honeymoon. I’ll make the arrangements. Ya just relax and be ready to go in a couple of days.” Margareta started to leave only to pause. “Ya know, there is something about that lad that I like. I can’t quite place it, but…” She gave an approving nod.
“Sounds great, ma, thank you.” Malina tried to shut the door, but Margareta stopped her.
“So, does Dar need help finding a ring for ya?” her ma inquired, not for the first time. “A wife really should wear a ring. It’s what’s done.”
“That’s enough, ma.” Malina shut the door and waited a few seconds until they had privacy. She smiled and gave a playful blink of her lashes as she turned to look at him. “I did mention I love you, right?”
“Once or twice.” He grinned. “Thank you for that.”
“If you want to thank me, how about you help me pick out some of these clothes?” She crossed over to one of the tabbed magazines.
Cauldrons and Confessions (Warlocks MacGregor Book 4) Page 14
