Highland Darkness

by Lilian Jade

  Angus couldn’t believe that he acted so irrationally; he couldn’t understand why his entire body screamed to touch her. More and more, he yearned to hold her. He hated the fact that her sarcastic little remark about the butt of a gun made him want to pulverize Occam for being so rough with her.

  Once again, Angus reminded himself that he really needed to be able to trust this fae, sooner rather than later. If he didn’t, he was sure to cause her more harm than good. Her voice played on repeat in the back of his head: So much for trust, huh? Angus cleared his plate and left it in the sink before making his way out to the main hall to join the rest of his family.

  In the hallway, Angus froze. She was standing before the front entrance door; if she decided to make a run for it, he wouldn’t be able to stop her from leaving the keep.

  And those other two faes would be out there, just waiting for her to take such a chance. Nay, Angus thought. He would not let them take her, let alone any other soul. Just when Angus was going to call out to her, she yanked her hand away from the door as if she’d been burned, scalded by it even. Turning on her heels, she walked to the door of the main hall and knocked on it.

  Angus took a deep breath of relief and hurried to catch up to his fae. His fae? Where in the hell had that thought come from? Because if there was one thing Angus was sure of, it was that he couldn’t let himself get too close.

  Lilith stood inside the main hall where it was very warm and cozy. There was a roaring fire in the grand fireplace, and a movie blaring on the big screen. She looked around to find that all the seats were occupied by men and women. They all looked happy and at peace. What Lilith wouldn’t give to feel like them for just a moment.

  “Hello,” Lilith said. At her one soft word, all of the men jumped to their feet, ready for a brawl. Lilith jerked back as one of the men actually made a jump for her. But he caught himself once he got a good look at her, stumbling forward just a few steps. Lilith slammed into the wall behind her, crying out in surprise.

  At that moment, Dark And Dangerous stormed in. He looked around the room, taking in the scene. His eyes locked on Lilith’s and widened. Lilly was sure she looked pale and frightened and pathetic as she pressed herself back against the wall, willing her heart rate to come down.

  Lilith heard him growl again. What was up with all the growling?

  In a sudden burst of movement Angus took her by the shoulders. He spun her around, running his hands through her hair to view the cuts on her head. Since when was he suddenly concerned that she had injured herself? That was it, Lilith told herself. No more little miss rag doll.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she said. “Let me go. Now!” Lilith spun around to face him. His eyes looked like obsidian daggers, dark and deadly. His nose flared, he was angry again. Looking down at something. Lilith’s gaze followed his, noticing that his hand was slightly covered in blood. Her blood. It looked strange, as though it had a gold shimmer to it.

  “I’m bleeding again … wh-why do you all keep making me bleed?” Lilith gritted out between clenched teeth. Why didn’t they just kill her and be done with it? She was already a wanted woman. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. “Damn it! I only came in here so I could understand why I am here and to reclaim my belongings. Not because I have a death wish!” Lilith’s voice got louder with every word she spoke. “And all that I’ve experienced since I’ve arrived here is pain. Blood. Blackouts. Blood. Blackouts. And more fucking blood!” Lilith looked about the room, realizing that all eyes were on Dark And Dangerous. Arching her neck up to see that he was standing perfectly still, a look of death in his eyes. What had she done to cause him to be so angry with her?

  Lilith tried to step away from him but realized Angus held her hand in his. Gasping at the sight of their intertwined fingers and how it made her entire body sing at the slightest of touches.

  Lilith frowned up at him, silently asking for her hand back. Yanking his hand away as if she was the scum of the earth.

  “Sorry,” he said in his thick brogue. Lilith wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for her head injury, or for holding her hand.

  “No problem. I’m sure you won’t catch my rabies that easily,” she snapped.

  Dark And Dangerous cleared his throat. “Kate, do you mind fetching a spare seat?” The woman named Kate was pretty and slim. She didn’t look away when Lilith’s eyes met hers, but instead smiled and nodded. The other two women in the room were just as kind and very beautiful, one with sun-kissed blond hair and the other with chocolate-brown hair. Kate’s was a fiery red. The contrast of their hair colors served to make them stand out all the more.

  “This is Hunter, Kevan and Occam,” Angus said. “And these are their partners Kate, Marissa and Hannah.” Lilith noticed the tone he used. When he introduced his family members to her, he sounded as proud as a mother hen. She smiled inwardly at the comparison.

  Lilith still couldn’t quite bring herself to say hello after all that had transpired between them. She simply nodded instead. The silence that followed was heavy and awkward. Kate slid a wooden Victorian chair towards her, and Lilith sat, thankful to have something to do besides stare at the baboons while they stared at her. Kate gave Lilith a wide smile as she took up her seat next to her partner, Hunter.

  Everyone was once again seated except for Angus. Lilith winced at the mere sight of him. He must have noticed her reaction, because he blinked at her and said, “Are you well … is it your head?”

  Now he was acting all concerned again? Lilith couldn’t keep up with his hot and cold mood swings. “No, I’m fine,” Lilith ground out between clenched teeth. “Please don’t worry about me. I wouldn’t want to worry any of you with my injuries; I just want my things. And you can even ask me whatever questions you think you all need answered—but I have to say whether I’ve got the answers you’re looking for or not is beyond me.”

  “Do you know what you are?” The big brute didn’t waste a second on hesitating. He just got right down to business.

  Lilith was shocked by his abrupt question. She glared at him. “What I am? Um, I’m a human being. What a stupid question. What else could I be?”

  “Nay, you most certainly are not human, fae!” Angus sneered at her.

  His tone was harsh and accusing. Again with the fae thing. Lilith thought there was a limit to how much a person could take, and in that moment, she didn’t think she could handle one bit more of what this fucking ogre was dishing out. “My. Name. Is. Lilith. What don’t you get about that? Stop calling me fae! And I damn well know for a fact that I’m human.” Lilith practically spat her words at him. His eyes seemed to ice over. He held onto his calm, his body looking relaxed and his breathing even. But somewhere beneath that icy stare, Lilith knew that he was just aching to lash out at her once again.

  “Are you sure you know for a fact that you are human? Because I know for a fact,” he spat back out at her, “that you are not. Did your pa not teach you about your family history, lass?”

  It was just like the arrogant prick to assume he knew everything about her, and to try to use whatever misinformation he had to make Lilith look like a clown in front of his family.

  “I was born in Scotland on September 11, 1993. I moved away at the age of five after my … parents died. Then I was raised in New Zealand by my grandfather, Devlin Donahue McGregor. And no, my pa never told me a damn thing about who I am. What I am. Where I come from … I don’t have this,” Lilith spread her arms out wide, gesturing at the sheer volume of loved ones who surrounded Angus. “I don’t have family, okay? No one. Zilch. Nada. I don’t have a damn thing … I’m a fucking nobody, okay? Are you happy with yourself now, Billy Badass?” Lilith hadn’t realized that she was standing toe to toe with the big brute. Her body was tensed, her hands fisted at her sides. She tipped her neck back to meet his eyes.

  She noticed his breathing was coming hard and fast. Her eyes were burning with tears begging to be let free as she stared Angus down. Again s
he could see the hurt and anger in his eyes. Maybe it was meant for her, but that wasn’t her problem.

  “Lilith, sweetheart, there are things your grandfather never told you because he knew that if he did, he would have put you in grave danger,” Kate said.

  Lilith was shocked to hear a woman she’d never met in her life before this night speaking to her like she knew her most intimate family secrets. “Who do you think you are?” Lilith demanded of Kate. “How do you know my papa? Where did you meet him?” Noticing the men tense up readying themselves for a brawl, Lilith, slowly but surely made her way toward the woman.

  “Never met him,” she said. “Never got the chance to.” Kate smiled kindly as she spoke, and Lilith found she couldn’t be mad at the woman. “Like Angus said, you are a fae.” Kate gave a small, apologetic shrug as she spoke the word. “Your grandfather couldn’t chance you being caught and killed. So he took you from—well, there is no easy way to explain this, so I’ll just be out with it—Devlin Donahue brought you from the year 1415 to 1993. Lilith, you were actually born somewhere around the year 1410.”

  Kate stopped for a moment to look Lilith over. She observed Lilith carefully and then resumed talking. “Lilith, I don’t know how you’re taking all this right now, but I wouldn’t lie to you.”

  Lilith didn’t know how she was taking it. Deep down she felt as if she had never belonged in this time. Is that why she had always connected to all the stories papa had told her? But even if he was trying to protect her, he should have warned her. He should have taught her to defend herself. Taught her something, anything “So let’s say you’re right,” Lilith spoke. “Let’s say I am this … fae or whatever it’s called. Let’s say I was born in the year 1410, I’m being hunted, and I’m out of place by about six hundred years or so. Say I’m stuck in a time where men hurt me, where they try to slam guns in my head and throw me into walls. If I’m to believe all that,” Lilith said, “I’ve gotta have more proof.”

  Lilith turned to Kate. For some reason, out of all the people there, she felt she could truly trust Kate. She might even trust Kate with her own life, if it came to that. Funny, because Lilith didn’t trust many people easily—let alone the people she was with now. Kate met Lilith half way taking up her hand, Kate gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze.

  “Come. I believe this might just be proof enough for you,” Kate glanced toward Angus. Lilith saw Kate give him just a hint of a smile as she led her from the room.

  Angus was surprised at the way Kate had handled the woman—he still couldn’t even bring himself to call her by name. Angus nodded in thanks to Kate as the two women left the main hall. He hated the way he had gotten under the fae skin with his harsh words, how she had held back her tears not, wanting to seem weak in front of him or his family. She was really starting to get to him; it touched him deeply to hear that she had no one here to count on. She was isolated and alone, and he had a large family he felt close to, not to mention friends.

  “Och. Thank the lord Kate was here,” Hunter said to Angus, snapping him out of his daydream.

  Angus looked to Hunter, then to his other two brothers. “I am sorry for the way that I acted. I don’t know what got into me.” All three smiled back at him mischievously. “What?” Angus asked. “What do you all find so damn funny?”

  “It’s none of our business. We shouldn’t go poking our nose where it’s not needed,” Occam said as he kissed Hannah on the forehead.

  “Och, aye Angus, leave us out of it,” Kevan added. Then he bent and whispered something in Marissa’s ear.

  “Will someone tell me what has all your knickers in a twist?” Angus said, damn near ready to rip his hair out.

  “It is the way you respond to Lilith, as if she belonged to you,” came Kate’s sweet voice. Angus turned to find her in the doorway. “Which she most certainly does not right?” Kate stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind her.

  That was absurd. Wasn’t it? Nay, it was the nature of a fae to be alluring. Fae were like the?…. walking sex. That’s what it is, Angus thought to himself. Although he wouldn’t mind her belonging to him—but that would never happen; she was not human. “Nay lass, it is the way of a fae to make a human want her—it is said to be their glamor.” Angus heard his brothers grunting in agreement. “We mere humans fall for it every time, and in the end it traps us. Nay lass, I don’t claim that fae … I wouldn’t even consider bedding such a thing—she is not human, nor will she ever be.”

  Angus was so focused on denying Kate’s suggestion that he didn’t think about where the fae might be. He noticed Kate gazing over his shoulder, her eyebrows lifting. Angus knew what it was before he even turned around. Kate fixed her gaze back to him and glared, shooting daggers his way. He ignored her death stare, turning to see that the fae was standing in the doorway.

  Angus could see by the pure anger in her eyes that she had overheard him. He cursed himself for not being more careful. But what was done could never be undone. Angus watched as she let go of the door handle to walk past him and take up a seat at the far side of the room. She placed all her things on the table beside her.

  Angus swung his head around to Kate. “Kate, darling, may I speak with you?” Without waiting for an answer, Angus huffed past the door and into the hallway. Kate took her sweet time, but she finally appeared. Angus shut the door quietly. “Are you crazy?” he said, whispering as loudly as he possibly could to convey his anger to Kate. “You think we should be leaving her alone for even a second? What if she decided to kill us all? You never know with that type.”

  “Maybe you should try trusting her. She has told us all she knows. I take it that she doesn’t often open up and tell people her business, and she has offered us more information about herself than she probably should have. You need to trust her or you will kill her,” Kate said coldly. Her words made Angus wince yet again, remembering how he had handled the fae so roughly.

  Instead of retorting, Angus took a big, calming breath. He forced a smile for Kate and then went back into the main hall.

  As Angus walked over to the fae, she stood protectively in front of the table, as though fearful Angus would try to take away her possessions again. As though she could do anything about it if he wanted to, he thought, amused by her bravery. “Kate said it was okay that I got my things back and … well you said so yourself after we ate dinner,” the fae told him, clutching at a small jewelry box that looked exactly like his own.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “My word is gold.”

  At that she glared up at him. “Your word means shit to me,” she said without looking away from him. “Did you go through any of my things?”

  He would have if he could have, Angus thought to himself. The only thing he and his brothers went through was her handbag, where he found a folded napkin with a very well-known bar owner’s name and number on it. He had slipped it into his back pocket without thinking twice about it, as if it were a natural reflex. “Nay, just your handbag,” he said.

  The woman glared at him a bit more, before turning her attention to the jewelry box at hand. “You find anything useful in my handbag?” she asked. She pulled at the lid of the box.

  “Nay,” said Angus in unison with his brothers. He never took his eyes off the small gold jewelry box. Just like that, it opened for her without a key.

  “How did you do that?” said Kevan.

  “Do what?” said the fae.

  “Open … your jewelry box?”

  Lilith looked at Kevan, feeling utterly puzzled by their line of questioning over her little jewelry box. “I opened it like you would open up any other box. Like this,” they watched as she opened and closed it three times just to make sure they all understood.

  They all looked at her as if she had grown two heads. Lilith turned to see that Angus was hovering over her. Did he want a closer look at the jewelry box? She really didn’t feel like giving into anything that man wanted—but if she was going to get him to trust her, then this mi
ght be a good way to start. “Here,” she sighed. Take a look.” Lilith handed him the gold box which held all of her paperwork. There was her letter from her grandfather, two deposit slips, and the land and house ownership papers. She let them all take a look at everything inside.

  As Lilith grabbed her set of keys off the table, Angus asked, “What of the suitcase?” Lilith looked to him and understood that they couldn’t open the case either. She observed the suitcase, realizing that something had happened to it while she was knocked out upstairs. So the case they all presumed was hers really was hers—only now there was a large, gold, Celtic panel on the top of it. She wanted to speak the truth so that they were all on the same page.

  “To be honest, I don’t know what happened to the case. The last time I saw it, it was in the boot of my rented car, and it was all black and plain. I haven’t yet opened it … well, at least I can’t recall that I ever opened it … I can’t explain what happened with it upstairs. But I can give it a go using this key.”

  Angus handed her the suitcase. He and his family watched silently, their expressions intensely observant. Lilith found the key and put it in the key slot of the suitcase. She turned the key clockwise and the case popped open. Everyone in the room gasped at what they saw in the case—even Lilith, who was shocked to find all the glorious gold-colored artefacts.

  There was a gold-plated book, with script on the cover etched in rose gold that read, “The Way of the Tuatha de Danann.Written by Delvaka Donahuette McGregor.” There were also two long, slim, white-gold dirks, with a blood-red ruby imbedded at the hilt of each. The blades gleamed in the overhead light, looking as sharp as they promised. And there were two rose-gold balls, about the size of golf balls, with writing scrolled around each one.