“Blane,” I called out, my hands wrapped around my bleeding stomach.
He raced to my side, his eyes raking over my bloodied body and my blood-red shirt.
I collapsed into his arms.
“Anabel,” Blane whimpered, tears swelling in his eyes as he lay me down, “you used yer powers didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I whispered, my eyes fluttering. I could feel the Moon Pendant begin to drain me of my strength.
Blane tenderly swept away a few strands of hair out of my face, examining the gashes the Nuckelavee had gored into my body. “I must get Leigheas,” he said choking back on a sob, “these wounds are too deep. You will not be strong enough to charge the Moon Pendant, nay even, close the Portal.”
I gazed into his misty blue eyes, slowly fading away in his arms.
Blane bent down, kissing my forehead. “I do love you, Anabel,” he whispered softly into my ear. “You do look like Rose, but it is you that I love, lass.”
My heart soared. He did love me. I sighed happily in his warm arms.
“You’re feisty,” Blane laughed, rocking me back and forth, awaiting for Leigheas to arrive, “affectionate, and determined to do your duty, by never losing control.”
I giggled inside from his last comment, never losing control, but I had, finally, I let go of my control, giving it over to the Moon Pendant, and it saved me.
I closed my eyes and drifted off.
“Doona leave me, lass,” Blane mumbled, squeezing me in his arms.
Chapter 24
♦♦♦
Anabel
Blane crushed his arms around me, holding me tightly, kissing his velvety lips on my face repeatedly. He loved me. It was me, not Rose.
I opened my eyes, tracing my finger lightly along his strong jaw line, smiling. “I love you too.”
Blane leaned in to kiss my lips.
An unnatural shadow cast upon his face. Blane winced, his body jolting upright with an alarmed look etched upon his face.
Lainahwyn melted out of the shadows with an army of Màrmann behind her.
“Perfect timing, just in time to open the Portal fully,” purred Lainahwyn, her poised body standing beside me, her eyes gazing up at the full moon, hanging low in the sky. “I hardly expected you to pass the Nuckelavee,” she stated, bending over as her blade-like nail glided toward my neck, closer to the Moon Pendant.
Blane ripped off his iron sporran from his waist, centering it upon my blood-drenched chest.
Lainahwyn hissed at Blane as he rose to his feet drawing out his sword. She waved her hand at the crowd of Màrmann, a swarm of them attacking Blane, yanking his sword out of his hand, wrestling his body onto the ground. Blane laid face-down, his arms tied securely behind his back, helpless to do anything.
I heard the sound of footsteps running from the tree line.
Vyx raced out of the darkness, covered in sweat. “Never mind,” he yelled, panting heavily, a twisted grin on his face as he held up a piece of parchment. “I’ve got the Dragon Spell!”
“The Dragon Spell?” I murmured to myself, remembering the ancient scroll Izzy had brought back from New York.
“Glorious!” exclaimed Lainahwyn, a shimmering smile dancing on her face. “Welcome to my world, MacAlpin. It is about to explode all around you.”
“My Love, we have three mortals in your den,” Vyx stated obligingly, “shall I have the Màrmann bring them to the standing stones?”
“Yes,” she declared glaring at Blane’s bonded body. “Take him, but leave her,” Lainahwyn’s eyes shifted toward the MääGord standing stones on the horizon. “Tie her up!”
A handful of decrepit hands coiled a thick link chain around my hands and feet, preventing me from moving, snatching away the iron sporran, tossing it into the brush.
Lainahwyn crouched down beside me, one of her long fingers tilting my head to the side, allowing me to see the towering tips of the MääGord standing stones, black against the purple painted sky.
“Now, you can watch from here, MacAlpin,” Lainahwyn said demurely. “As I take over the Portal and rob you of your love.”
Lainahwyn turned away with her army of Màrmann, setting out in quick strides, marching toward the MääGord standing stones.
♦♦♦
Izzy
I lay there sprawled out on a cold stone slab, tucked away deep inside the demon’s lair, spread-eagle, face-down, blood trickling from my mouth. The Màrmann hovered over me like vultures, their mouths drooling, swooping in, poking me with their sharp claws, testing to see if their prey was dead or alive, itching to get a taste of my most precious blood.
I doubt the Màrmann ever had female blood before, let alone a MacAlpin, most of their food were wayward travelers, local Scottish men or the naïve backpacker, lured in by their demon’s hypnotic voice. I felt their hesitation, their boots shuffling side to side, lips smacking, even salivating, not knowing if I was as delicious as they thought I’d be. If only the Bloody Baron were here to let them know that indeed, my nectar was the sweetest of the sweet.
But, seriously, it didn’t matter anymore.
I was dead.
Toast.
End of the line.
Kicked the bucket.
Kaput!
Lights out.
Six feet under.
It’s over, buddy.
The End!
The Ankou had arrived and he didn’t look like he was stopping by for crumpets and tea.
So who cares if the Màrmann throw back a couple of pints of my blood? I didn’t need it. So, drink up I say. Follow it back with a beer chaser and a couple of nips of whiskey and we’ll make it my last happy hour. A final going away party!
Except now…I was the beverage of choice.
Isn’t it funny how quickly things change?
I started to remember the last time I had faced death. I was just fifteen years old when I got my first job as a cocktail waitress at a local club, making a whopping minimum wage plus tips. I was so proud of myself for getting the job, though others in my family barely even noticed I was gone.
One night, in our dry closet at the club, I was pouring out bowls of dried nuts to put on the bar, the night manager wandered into the closet with me, closing the door behind him. At first, I wasn’t sure what he was doing as he clamped his dirty hands around my waist, yanking me closer to him, his hands crawling all over me, pressing me into him, forcing himself on me. I tried to scream, but no one heard me. All of the staff was downstairs in a meeting.
When I came home that night, I told my mother and Anabel what had happened, that I was violated and sexually assaulted. They didn’t believe me. They scoffed it off like it was my own fault. What did I do to provoke him? What were you wearing? Stop flirting so much! Layoff the makeup and button up your blouse!
I didn’t go to the police.
I quit my job that night and never returned.
For months, I sat alone in my dark dungeon. Crying every night, curled up in a fetal position, wishing someone could hear me, see me, understand my pain. But, no one did. No one had cared. The hurt grew and enveloped my soul. I couldn’t take it anymore. So, I did the unthinkable. I slit my wrists.
It just so happened that Anabel was in a serious frenzy that night over a pair of earrings she was searching for and entered my room, discovering me in my bed, lying in a pool of blood. Just like the one I was laying in now.
I never looked back on that day again. It was foolish. I was helpless and weak.
Once.
And it was never going to happen again! Not today, not tomorrow, never!
My past was not going to define me anymore. I wasn’t a naïve girl trapped in a closet with a sleazy rapist. I was not the victim anymore. I was a survivor! And damn it. This was not the end of my story.
I felt a surge of energy tingling through my lifeless body, coming from the fake Moon Pendant that was hooked tightly around my neck.
My eyes sprang open. I was still alive!
> A deep raspy voice pricked at my ears. “I thought you’d be my next shipment,” the Ankou said.
I blinked a few times, starring at the grim Ankou, cloaked in an inky rawhide robe, his bony fingers cradling a scythe.
“Residual charge,” the Ankou mentioned, pointing at the duplicate Moon Pendant around my neck.
The lingering energy in the duplicate Moon Pendant, which Granny and my great Aunt Rose had created, had brought me back to life with its remaining energy.
The palms of my hands pushed my body up from the chilly floor. I scanned the room quickly. The Màrmann had gone, scared off by the presence of the Ankou no doubt. Edgar’s lanky body was gone as well.
It was just me and the Ankou, twirling his lethal scythe between his scrawny fingers, his smoldering motorcycle parked inside the cave, attached to a peculiar sidecar made of bones, housing a shabby skeleton dog, wagging its tail eagerly as it sat inside it.
“Don’t worry,” the Ankou remarked, tilting his coal-like eyes at me with a wink, “I’ll be coming for you soon enough.”
“Yeah,” I coughed up a mouthful of blood, spitting it to the ground. I darted my eyes around. I had to get to get out of this cave quick. “Sorry about that,” I apologized, rising to my feet, beaming a quirky smile at the Ankou. “But, I’ve got plans.”
My feet sped across the floor, leaping into the air and straddling the motorcycle, revving the engine rowdily, listening to its engine roar, and then peeling out of the throne room in a burst of black exhaust fumes.
“Roxy!” shouted the Ankou, his arms outstretched toward his undead dog, cradled within the stolen sidecar, his black tongue lapping in the wind as I sped away.
I gazed over my shoulder, my hair swirling around wildly in the wind, winking at the Ankou mischievously, thanking him for the ride.
We raced through the dark tunnels, me and Roxy, rushing past the prickly skeletons of men wishing they were us, seeking out to destroy the demon that drained them of their lives. I whizzed toward the area where Fergus and his dad were, slamming on the brakes, frustrated that they were both gone, taken away by the demon no doubt.
I gassed the engine up again, ready to rescue Anabel and Blane, a plume of black smoke spewing out of the exhaust, speeding down the narrow tunnel, and continuing our escape out of the demon’s lair. I glanced over at Roxy, her mouth grinning mischievously, a white humerus bone clenched within her tarred teeth, a skeleton’s hand dangling from its joint, and her patchy ears flapping uncontrollably in the wind.
I laughed. Dogs will be dogs.
“Buckle up, Roxy,” I said to the animated skeleton dog, wagging its bony tail rapidly.
We burst out of the cave, ramping off a few rocks and vaulting into the air, doing a pop a wheelie for a few yards and then slamming back down onto the hillside. The bike clunked, choking from the misty hillside as we broke through a layer of low clouds.
There she was, Anabel, tied up and bleeding on a hillside near the shore.
I spun the bike around, doing a few donuts until the motorcycle came to a complete stop.
“Anabel!” I screamed, jumping off the bike and sliding through the wet grass, landing on my knees next to Anabel’s bloodied body.
Anabel’s eyes slit open, her lips quivering. “Izzy,” she said in a confused state. “You came back for me. I thought…”
“Shhh…” I whisper, stroking her face, examining the three slashes on her left cheek, “you thought wrong.”
My hands grasped onto my shirt, yanking open the top part of my shirt, exposing the dummy Moon Pendant that Granny had given me before we left to see the Ghillie Dhu. “Cool, huh?” I said with a boisterous laugh. “They totally believed me!” Then I unclasped it and slipped it into my pocket.
“A decoy!” Anabel muttered, her face lit up with a smile.
“It was all, Granny,” I gushed excitedly, happy that we both weren’t both dead. “She’s one smart cookie. We wanted to keep Lainahwyn away from you while you had to deal with the Nuckelavee.” I fiddled with the chains around Anabel’s wrists, and then tapped my two fingers at my forehead. “Sorry about walloping you. I had to sort of make it look real with Edgar watching.”
I snatched the bone from Roxy’s mouth and wedged it between the chains wrapped around Anabel’s wrists.
“I’m such a fool, Izzy,” Anabel blurted out in tears, slinking her hands out of the chains and then her feet. “I’ve turned into Hilda the Gorilla and I didn’t even see it.”
I ripped a long strip of fabric from my shirt and began soaking up her bloody cheek.
“You know, I’d love to hear an apology, but we’re kind of in a bit of a trouble right now,” I informed her, throwing her arm around my shoulder, both of us rising to our fumbling feet, her body leaning up against me, dragging her over to the stolen motorcycle. “The Moon Pendant is almost fully charged?”
“Yes,” Anabel whimpered, her bloodied body slipped from my grip, her knees buckling down to the dew-drenched grass.
“Cause,” I cringed in pain, scooping her back up, and hoisting her into the sidecar next to Roxy, “that’s the only thing we have now.”
“But,” Anabel murmured, her eyelids heavy, “I used its powers and I’m…”
Anabel’s eyes rolled back into her head, all of her limbs lay listless.
Great, she’s completely useless after using the Moon Pendant’s powers. I’d smack her back into consciousness, but I guess that would be cruel with the day she had.
I straddled the sheepskin seat, revved the engine, and burned rubber down the heather blanketed hillside toward the farmhouse, rolling over the low iron fence that gated Granny’s house.
Chapter 25
♦♦♦
Izzy
I felt a twinge of relief, when we finally bumped over the low lying iron fence surrounding Granny’s farmhouse. We were at the cusp of the MääGord standing stones and had a good advantage point to be protected from Lainahwyn’s attacks. Unfortunately, I glanced over at Anabel, reclining in the sidecar with blood streaming down her nose, her hair tangled with globules of blood, her face covered in salty sweat.
Yup, Anabel was a big ‘ol mess!
Braking hard, the Ankou’s motorcycle growled to a complete stop. I flipped down the kickstand, securing it and twisting the skeleton key out of the ignition, sliding it into my pocket. Quickly, I swung my leg off the bike, still vibrating from the journey, helping Anabel out of the boney sidecar, laying her torn and tattered body onto the soft grass.
Granny floated out of the farmhouse, ectoplasm and all. Plumface and Skullsplitter waddled behind her, coming to greet us, carrying a chalice of green foam and a handful of sterile bandages.
Skullsplitter’s eyes beamed at the smoldering motorcycle, his tiny hands gliding along its steel frame. “Nice ride,” he said delightedly, nodding repetitively with a bit of swag.
Roxy’s head popped out of the sidecar excitedly, wiggling her tail fiercely, spying on Skullsplitter’s tiny frame, his body covered in a leather jacket and silvery spiked boots. She sprung from her seat in one quick swoop, bouncing her frail skeleton body onto him, tumbling him down to the ground, flat on his back as she licked his Trow face repeatedly.
Plumface slowly peeled back Anabel’s gooey shirt, revealing her shredded upper body, still oozing with blood.
“You poor thing,” said Plumface, applying some green foam onto her wounds.
Anabel winced in pain.
“Where have you been?” shrilled Granny, her wispy finger gesturing to the MääGord standing stones. “Lainahwyn and the Màrmann are here!”
My eyes skidded up toward the MääGord standing stones still glowing with a magnetic blue mist from the stone faerie’s energy, Lainahwyn and her posse of Màrmann poured into the circle of stones, standing on the inside ring. Vyx followed along, dragging Fergus, Hamish, and Edgar behind in a thick metallic linked chains, their feet scuffling along the grass. Blane was outside the stone circle, held back by a handful o
f Màrmann.
“She has the Dragon Spell,” I warned Granny.
Granny’s cloud-like eyebrows furrowed, wailing, “I have the Dragon Scroll!”
My head dropped low as I lifted up my shirt, revealing the Dragon Spell tattoo, inked into my body.
“Izzy!” cried Granny, flashing her eyes up toward Fergus, Hamish, and Edgar. “And now she three mortals to boot!”
“What do we do?” I asked.
“This changes everything,” stated Granny, pivoting around me as if she were pacing back and forth. “If she opens that Portal with the Dragon Spell, Anabel won’t be able to close it.”
“I thought the Moon Pendant controls the Portal?”
“It does,” Granny continued, “but once fully opened, it stays open for nineteen years.”
I gulped.
I heard a loud ruckus coming from the edge of the standing stones. Quickly, I whipped my head around to see what it was. A handful of Màrmann were fighting aggressively just on the outskirts of the standing stone. It was Blane. He’d escaped and was battling the Màrmann off bare fisted, snapping necks, twisting limbs, kicking the undead Màrmann down to the ground.
“Let him go!” bellowed Lainahwyn to the remaining Màrmann.
The Màrmann did as they were commanded to do, releasing Blane as he trotted down the grassy hillside toward us.
Lainahwyn stood before the center slab of stone, the one etched with the double-winged dragon on it, her body bathed in the silvery moonlight. “Place the mortals before the MääGord ceremonial stone.”
“Yes, My Love,” Vyx replied, pushing the scraggly trio of Fergus, Hamish, and Edgar toward the ceremonial stone.
“And remove any iron!” ordered Lainahwyn to Vyx.
Vyx stopped abruptly, sneering at me from afar, ripping off Fergus’ iron necklace and tossing it into the thick underbrush.
“Can you hear me MacAlpins?” Lainahwyn’s voice boomed, her pearly eyes radiant and narrowing in on us. “Now you will watch me open the Portal.”
Vyx kicked the hollow of each man’s knee hard, one by one, starting with Fergus, each one buckled to the ground, crumpling down onto their knees, kneeling before the MääGord ceremonial stone.
Guardian of the Moon Pendant Page 20
