“I won’t let you go,” I said swallowing a painful sob.
“You must,” he said, coughing up a mouthful of blood, “your world depends on it.”
My heart sank. My hands cupped his cheeks. “I don’t love him, you know,” I cried, tears streaming down my eyes. “I thought I did. I thought if it were all perfect. I’d be…”
Blane’s fingertips softly lingered over my cheeks, “Aye, lass.”
“I’d be happy,” I blurted out, his eyes grew dim. I couldn’t control my emotions anymore. “I love…”
“You mustn’t,” he said cutting me off.
“But, I do…”
Blane’s eyes closed shut and I began to weep, throwing my arms over his bloody chest, shaking him violently to wake up, and to come back to me.
Chapter 17
♦♦♦
Izzy
Pushing through the prickly bramble, its thorns tearing against my skin, I made my way back to the Ghillie Dhu, stopping on the edge of the thicket, spying on Lainahwyn hovering over Blane’s wounded body. Here we go again, shaking my head. This demon just does not give up!
Swiftly, I ran back toward the Dryads, leaping over fallen logs, tree branches slapping against my face, landing next to the Bloody Baron’s pike, entangled in the curled branch of a Dryad. My eyes skirted over to the Bloody Baron’s impaled body, gushing out ebony blood, giggling like a drunken sailor. I sighed. At least he was happy and not hurting anyone. That was the logic I used, wondering if leaving him there was the right thing to do. No time to think about that now, I thought, snatching the heavy iron pike out from the mangled branch.
I darted back into the dense green copse, the iron pike clasped in my hand. This time when I peeked through lush brush, Lainahwyn was hunched over Anabel’s body.
I hoisted up the weighty iron pike over my head, straining to keep it up in the air, arching my body back. “Pull!” I screamed into the clearing, hoping that Anabel would have some wits about her, and hurling the pike into the heavens.
Poof!
Lainahwyn disappeared into a cloud of dark smoke, just as she did in the labyrinth. Thank goodness, I said to myself, heaving out a deep sigh of relief.
Anabel crawled over to Blane, cuddling up to him and saying some mushy love stuff, like I love you or What would I be without you? You know all that heartfelt crap that you watch on Lifetime.
I had two wounded patients on my hand. Basically, I was screwed. I knew there was no way I could carry both of them back.
The bark of the Ghillie Dhu’s tree began to vibrate, crackling as he peeled off its trunk, morphing into a small man, callous and rough like a tree. I blinked in astonishment, amazed as he stood before me.
“You have done a great service to my people,” he said, holding out his crusty hand.
I raised my brow. How about that? This Ghillie Dhu can walk? My hand met his in a rather rigid handshake.
“We aim to please,” I said with a wink.
“You must leave our sanctuary now.”
“Yeah, I have just a bit of an issue with carrying these two back,” I said, throwing my thumb back at the two love birds, not knowing how to get them back to Leigheas in Dunvarghan Castle.
He snapped his timber fingers in the air. Two massive Dryads crept out of the grove, stomping on gnarled rooted legs, one in the shape of a massive oak, and the other in the form of a flaking white birch tree. Their faces soft, nymph-like, molded into the bark of the tree, they shifted their branch-like arms under Anabel and Blane’s body, raising them up to their bosoms.
Blane’s body fell limp. I cringed inside, hoping I wasn’t too late.
Anabel reached out to me. “Thank you, Izzy,” she said softly, creeping in and out of consciousness.
I was in utter disbelief. Did I just get a “thank you” from her royal highness? Someone pinch me now, because I think the end of the world must be upon us!
A smile was plastered across my face as we left the grove, following the massive Dryads, pounding across the grassy knoll.
Edgar was staring out into the hills toward Lainahwyn’s lair, his suspenders dangling down at his waist.
“Edgar!” I yelled, smacking him hard against the back of his head. Really, it was more like a love pat than a smack.
He turned around slowly, dazed, unhindered by my thump on the crown of his head.
“I just saw the most beautiful woman. More beautiful than Lara Croft, Tomb Raider,” he said with a snort, wiping his index finger across his nose.
I shook my head, wrenching back his forearm, urging him to follow the Dryads to Dunvarghan Castle, thundering through the hillside.
“It’s just a matter of time before that one goes,” I laughed observing Edgar, staggering along the high grass, torn between following us and going to Lainahwyn’s lair. Mindlessly, he stepped on a bright bluebell, its stem poking up out of the earth like a lollipop, his heel crushing the bluebell’s silky petals, destroying its hopes of seeing the sunrise in the morning, its fragrance now gone forever.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my stomach rumbling, spewing acid violently as it churned.
“Fergus!”
Chapter 18
♦♦♦
Izzy
The Dryads had laid Blane and Anabel’s bodies onto the ancient cobblestones near Dunvarghan Castle’s moat. Luckily, the Heathers were able to carry them back into the castle, lassoing their thick rope-like vines out from their flowering purple feet, twirling them around Blane and Anabel’s arms and legs, elevating them high above the moat, flying them into the Great Hall, and laying Anabel down on one of the chunky sofas and Blane on the other.
A rage began to bubble up through my blood as we entered the Great Hall. After seeing Edgar, stomp on that bluebell. I had Fergus on my mind. I needed to get him out of the Baobhan Sith’s lair, instead of babysitting Anabel all the time.
Edgar stammered around the Great Hall, all googly eyed, his neck straining back to study the gold-framed portraits lining the stone walls. I think he was finally coming out of his trance, because I believe he peed himself when he saw Slu hopping out of the shadows on one foot, a crooked tooth snaring on his bottom lip, bobbing toward his master, bleeding on the couch.
Edgar shook his head and then snuggled next to Anabel. Her veins had turned to a blackish green, stemming from the Moon Pendant, its putrid coloring threading throughout her body, slowly subsiding as she rested.
Leigheas materialized in a twinkling cloud of stars and stood next to Blane’s side. She laid her gnarled hands over Blane’s shoulder wound, emitting a brilliant glowing aura into his gash.
Blane moaned, his eyes fluttering open as Leigheas continued to heal him. His hand shot out, clamping down on Leigheas’s white shimmering hands. “Heal the Guardian first,” he ordered, choking on his breath.
Leigheas flinched, abruptly stopping the white light, coursing through her hands. “There are too many wounds, Sentinel; I cannot heal you both fully,” she argued with a furrowed brow.
“We are all here to make sure she succeeds.”
Leigheas nodded her head and approached Anabel, placing her wrinkled hands atop of her chest, a white healing light appeared, flowing over her like a wave, bringing Anabel back from her slumber.
Edgar stepped away while Leigheas began to heal Anabel, straying down the low lit corridors, snapping pictures of the faeries with his iPhone, observing the ancient antiquities looming in the castle.
Anabel awoke, shifting her weight around, sitting up straight as Leigheas glided over to Blane.
My lips tightened, biting down on them hard, holding back as much anger as I possibly could, until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “This is insane, Anabel!” I hollered.
Anabel took a deep breath. “You know, that’s the first time you used my name.”
“I’ve downgraded you to peasant girl,” I scowled, steaming inside, a boiling pot ready to spill over, knowing I had to do something and I had to do it soon! “Since,
I keep saving your arse!”
“You didn’t save anyone’s arse!” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Really?” My eyes flashed angrily. “Who got rid of the Bloody Baron and used his pike to get rid of that demon?”
“Who hurled the pike at her?”
“Stop it!” barked Blane, stumbling to his feet, limping over to Anabel’s side.
“Blane!” purred Anabel.
“We have time to save, Fergus,” I pleaded. “Let’s go now and then we can have an extra hand to fight the Nuckelavee.” I was hoping my logic would make sense to them, but they looked at me like I had two heads. I continued anyway. “Heck, we can have two. I’m sure his dad will help. Leigheas can heal them and they’ll be as good as new.”
Blane looked over his shoulder. Leigheas body lay crippled in the corner, her skin a pasty grey, her body flaccid with her arms curled around her knees.
“Leigheas has limitations,” he said, wincing as he moved his bandaged right leg, where the Bloody Baron ripped through his calf, “as do I. She won’t be right ‘til dawn.”
I couldn’t believe these two. “I helped you both,” I conveyed, the pot bubbling uncontrollably, beginning to spew water onto the stovetop. “And you can’t even have my back? Fergus could be dead!” My nostrils flared as I pounded my hand down on a mahogany table, pieces of fruit went flying through the air. “You’ll have his blood on your hands!”
“I have everyone’s blood on my hands,” whimpered Anabel, crying into her fleshy palms. “The weight is too much.”
I scoffed.
Anabel was too much, now she’s playing the victim part? She doesn’t care for anyone else, except for what she wants. She couldn’t give a rat’s arse of what the Baobhan Sith will do once the Portal was open, she doesn’t care about Fergus, or Edgar, or even Blane. All she cares about is what is good for her. Control of the Moon Pendant equals power.
“Are you crying because if you fail the Portal will be open?” I asked deliberately, “And all of mankind will be subjected to the wrath of a Baobhan Sith? Who only thinks of us as cockroaches infesting the earth? A demon seeking to suck the life-force out of every man, woman, and child and eating them as a light afternoon snack?”
Anabel’s dollish green eyes fluttered under her long lashes. Nothing came out of her mouth, just silence.
“Or is it because you can’t have what you truly want?” I gazed at Blane, and then hovered above Anabel, my fingertips lingering above the Moon Pendant. I could feel the energy surging through it. I have to admit, it felt good. “To have all the control you ever desired, control over your life, everyone’s life, and control over the Moon Pendant. You don’t care if you help anyone. Let’s get real here, sistah! You just want its power!”
The sharp point of a knife’s tip lay under my neck. “Cease, or be deceased,” growled Blane.
I tilted my neck back, feeling the blade’s tip pinching at my vein. I threw my hands up, pulling away from the blade. I didn’t think Braveheart had it in him. I must’ve hit a nerve with that what her royal highness really wants bit.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
Blane lowered the blade, slipping it back into his scabbard. “No one is to threaten the Guardian!” he demanded.
“Guardian?” I laughed, shaking my head, not believing what I was hearing. “To hell with this,” I seethed, pounding my feet across the stone floor, storming out of the Great Hall. “To hell with you all!”
Chapter 19
♦♦♦
Anabel
Izzy threw a temper tantrum and bolted out of the Great Hall, huffing and puffing, making obscene suggestions that I only wanted to control the Moon Pendant for my own selfish reasons. She was wrong. She had to be wrong. My mind began to swirl, speeding around like a car on a racetrack, sparks of energy flashing in my mind’s eye. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus my thoughts. All I knew is that I needed to be the Guardian of the Moon Pendant.
I leaned into Blane, brushing away a few strands of hair off his forehead. “You’re right,” I whispered, choking back on a sob, placing the tip of my nose to his, a tear trickling down my cheek. “We can never be together.”
“Aye,” he replied, gliding his finger across the bow of my upper lip. “Lass, now yer turning into a true Guardian.”
My lips trembled, aching to press them against his perfectly sculpted lips. “I must charge the Moon Pendant and stop Lainahwyn.”
Blane splayed his fingers, running them through my deep red hair. “So much beauty and courage,” he said sweetly, his crystal blue eyes staring into mine.
My heart pounded.
“Mayhap, that is why I fell in love with you.”
His words lanced straight through the very core of me and I couldn’t hold back any longer. We both leaned in, our lips melting together in one perfect passionate kiss. A flash of heat swelled inside of me, spreading throughout my body as fast as lightning. I was weak in his arms, purring for his affection, unable to deny our intense love for one another. What am I going to do without him? I tossed that thought out of my mind and focused on his warm arms, crushing against my tingling body.
“That is not the way the Scots say hello,” said Edgar’s irritated voice, pecking into my eardrum.
Blane and I separated immediately.
Edgar held up his iPhone. “I Googled it!” he brooded, snapping his suspenders back on, spinning around on his heels, and marching out of the Great Hall.
I leapt to my feet, chasing after him through the castle’s corridors and out the main door.
The balls of my feet skipped across the cobblestone bridge. I had almost reached Edgar. I could see the moon reflecting off his shiny combed hair. He was heading down the grassy hill. I had to tell him, it was the right thing to do.
My arm wrenched back unexpectedly, whirling me around to meet Izzy’s intense blue eyes.
“This is your last chance, Anabel,” she demanded, her hand clamped solidly around my wrist, squeezing tightly as she pressed her fingertips into my tender skin. “We need to rescue, Fergus!”
“No,” I argued back, spitting irritably. “I need to stop, Lainahwyn!”
“We can catch her in her lair,” Izzy disputed. “Unsuspecting.”
She just never gives up! How many times do I have to tell her?
I yanked my arm away from her grip. “We’ll stop her by charging the Moon Pendant and closing the Portal.”
“When are you going to get it through your thick skull?” she said, looking at me as if I was a crazed woman. “You’re not strong enough! Mom failed on the third task. So did, Rose.”
“The Moon Pendant is mine!” I said enraged, my nostrils fuming.
Izzy’s face relaxed, her eyes turned pensive, inching away from me. “You were never going to give it to me were you?” Izzy said coolly.
“You wouldn’t be able to control it,” I hissed, infuriated that she even tried to disobey my wishes.
She stepped back slowly, her face stoic. “I know what I have to do now…” Izzy said, traipsing away, her black leather coat billowing behind her.
I took a deep breath and continued my chase after, Edgar. Hiking through the rocky hillside, I found him near a moss cover boulder on the edge of Lainahwyn’s cave.
“Edgar!” I called out.
Edgar halted, pivoting around to face me. He’d been wandering as if he was in was in some sort of delirious trance.
“I…” I stammered, pausing on my words, not knowing what to say to him.
“If you’re going to bring up the inappropriate moment when I found you with another man,” he uttered, his head hanging low and then rose up to meet my eyes. “We’ll, more like a warrior from Braveheart or a younger version of Rob Roy, but still one that contains the x and y chromosome. Well, yes. I was deeply disturbed.”
I slowly moved in front of him, standing face to face.
“Especially,” he continued, “because of the fact that your lips were jo
ined together, swapping more germs than if you drank a glass of water from the garbage compactor scene in Star Wars.”
My palm cupped his rosy cheek. “Edgar, sweet, Edgar,” I said softly.
“How could you?” he brooded, “You lied to me! You’re not the girl I knew in High School.”
I didn’t know how to explain everything to him. I was tongue tied. “Edgar, a lot has happened since I last saw you in New York.”
“Yes, I agree,” he said. “I’ve met the Fae and saw the most beautiful woman in the world. Who turns out to be a blood sucking vampiric faery. A very charming land this Scotland.”
“Edgar, I have changed, too.”
“You’ve only changed, to the fact, that you’re now sworn to continue your family’s most honorable oath as the Guardian of the Moon Pendant, close the apocalyptic Portal from the Otherworld, and kill the evil vampire lady. But otherwise I see no difference,” he shrugged.
I smirked. He was quite adorable at times.
“True,” I said pinching my lips into a half smile, lingering in his chocolate eyes, hoping that the truth would come out of my mouth. “But… my heart has changed.”
“In what way?”
“I know,” I said trembling, as my hand slid into my pocket, pulling out the engagement ring he had given me, holding it up before him between my fingertips, its gold fading in the light. “We’re not meant to be.”
“This is all very vague, Anabel,” he griped. “What exactly do you mean?”
I took the palm of his hand, placing the golden ring in the center of it. “It’s over, Edgar. I care for you, but my heart is…”
His fingers folded around the ring tightly. “I see,” he pouted. “No more kisses.”
“No more kisses,” I whispered.
Edgar swallowed hard, his teeth fiddling with a piece of skin on his lower lip. He pouted hard and then spun around on his heels and stumbled off into the night.
My heart did break after letting Edgar go, but I knew it was more painful to keep him. He’d never survive in Scotland. And my heart was already stolen by a handsome Highlander named, Blane.
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