Fourth Rite: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 4)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  The lock on my front door clicked and I froze.

  Fuck.

  When the door opened, I finally forced my body to move, silently stepping toward the door.

  Peeking around the corner, I narrowed my eyes at the elf standing in the middle of my foyer, grateful for the great room layout of my house. But, if I could see him, he could see me. I pulled back a little and listened for him to move.

  The floor creaked beneath him by my bedroom door. Taking the chance, I crept from the hall by the bedroom over to the kitchen, putting my back against the wall next to the entrance.

  I turned my head, trying to get a look at the bedroom. Not seeing him, I peeked around the other side of the wall and gasped when the tip of the blade touched my throat.

  "Do not move."

  "Wouldn't think of it."

  "As bright as you are difficult to kill." He pushed the tip of the blade, driving me back against the wall. Any more and I would have been breathing through my neck.

  He was absolutely beautiful, even more so than Shea. The tips of his pointed ears were much longer, too. They pushed up through his waist-length blond hair that they just couldn't quite capture correctly in the movies. His eyes were green, but instead of a normal, round pupil, they were slit like a cat's. He wasn't the first elf I'd seen, but he might be the last if I didn't come up with a plan.

  "Why are you trying to kill me?"

  He studied my face, tilting his head as he did. "I hit you in the heart. I am sure. Why did you not die?"

  "My friends healed me."

  His eyes narrowed and the blade pricked the skin on my neck. "How? There is no way to heal the dead and it should have been instantaneous."

  The feeling that the less he knew about me, the better I would be, permeated every cell in my body.

  "Tell you what. Let's play let's make a deal. You tell me why you want me dead, and I'll tell you why I'm not."

  His eyes flashed down to the wound, or where the wound should have been, and back to my face. My shirt was low-cut, but not that low.

  The tip of the dagger moved from my throat to just under my chin faster than I could follow. He lifted my head, forcing me to stare at the ceiling. I gasped when his fingers pulled down my collar and traced my skin where he'd put the hole in my heart.

  He stopped and his hand clasped my throat, pulling the blade away at the same time. I looked back down at him to find he had raised an eyebrow in confusion.

  "You can no longer go unchecked in this realm. The hellmouth you summoned nearly destroyed our elfhame. Our king's dying command was to stop you."

  Oh.

  "Well, that wasn't me. I just closed it."

  He scoffed and the dagger flashed, digging into my shoulder. I didn't give him the satisfaction of screaming. Gritting my teeth, I gave him a hateful stare.

  "I'm telling you. It wasn't me, and it was an accident to begin with. If you don't believe me, just fucking kill me."

  "I plan to." He drew the tip of the blade from my flesh and brought it to his face. His eyes moved from mine to the blade and his tongue darted out, tasting my blood. His lip curled and he spat. He was cleaning my floors when we were done. "You're not even a witch."

  "Wait, what?"

  His eyes narrowed. "You do not even know."

  "Know what?"

  "You are going to die not knowing," he said as his lip curled in a sneer. I felt the gathering of his power and felt the murder of his intent. My hand was halfway to his chest when he froze.

  "You will not harm my daughter."

  Half expecting to see my mother behind him, I gasped when a very glowing Candace floated in the air, eyes blazing with fire.

  The hand around my throat pulled away and the elf kneeled, bowing his head. Witches worshipped the Lady. Elves followed the Lord, and not the Christian one. They were the children of the sun and prayed to the god of the hunt, the horned one. But, just like us, they acknowledged the consort of their god and would never invoke their wrath.

  I joined him on the floor.

  "Rise, Daughter."

  I did, but kept my head bowed. It was uncomfortable staring at her, anyway. When I became High Priestess of the Coven of the First Moon, she had used my body to speak to the coven and give us a name. Since then, she had repeatedly channeled herself through Candace. There was no question about the girl's purity of character.

  "You," she said to the elf. "It is as she said. The portal to Gehenna was not created by her, and she went through great lengths to close it. You would slay your savior?"

  "No, my Lady."

  "Tell Prince Renlynn what I have said, and that Dorothea is not to be accosted, anymore. Do you understand?"

  "Aye, my Lady."

  "If he needs to hear the words from my consort, that could be arranged…"

  The elf's eyes flashed in fear. The Lord of the Hunt was just that. If he paid a visitation, death and feast were to follow. I didn't envy him for riling her ire, or for the invocation of his name. "That will not be necessary, Lady. I shall relay the message and the intent."

  "Wise, child of the sun."

  The elf bowed his head again.

  She left him kneeling on the ground. "Daughter. You will go with him."

  "I…what?"

  "You will travel to the elfhame and assure them of your innocence. I send you for another purpose, and you will know it when it arises."

  "Yes, my Lady."

  "Jaeren, I am entrusting my daughter's safety to your hands. Do not disappoint me. Again."

  I swear I heard him whimper.

  "As penance for your attempted assassination, after you have delivered the news to your new king…you will serve my daughter for the period of one century. Do you acknowledge this?"

  "Aye, my Lady." That's what he said, but I'm sure that's not what he was thinking.

  "Fear not, Daughter. You will be back by the next moon. Take this girl with you." She motioned at the body she was occupying. "Take the shadow walker as well."

  "My familiars?"

  "You have little choice. They would perish by the time you returned."

  I nodded. That was my fear, and why I asked.

  "But no more. It would be considered impolite."

  "Yes, my Lady."

  She floated over to me, smiled, and kissed me on my forehead once again. I winced as the Lady's mark flared. Pain made my eyes water and I fought the urge to rub them.

  "I am sorry."

  "For what, my Lady?"

  "For causing you pain. And for many other things."

  I rubbed the spot on my forehead, wondering if it were visible again. "Thank you, my Lady."

  She nodded and the light radiating from Candace ebbed as she slowly lowered to the ground. When the white fire faded from her eyes, Candace blinked. She took one look at the elf starting to stand and holding the knife and kicked him in the face, putting herself between us and backing us away.

  "It's okay, Candace. He's a friend. Now."

  She looked up at me and gasped, spinning and dropping to the ground in front of me.

  "What are you doing? Stand up, sweetie."

  She did and just stood there staring at me, reverently.

  "What?"

  "The mark."

  "Yeah?"

  "It's glowing."

  My fingers shot to back to the place she kissed me. "Hopefully not for long. That's going to be a bitch to conceal."

  "If it doesn't, you should not conceal the mark of the goddess."

  "Well, I can't exactly walk around town with it, either."

  She sighed.

  Dar jumped over the back of the couch and growled, bearing down on Jaeren.

  "Dar, no!"

  He skidded to a stop, ass sliding across the hardwood floor and front paws splayed out in front of him.

  He's not attacking? Dar was utterly confused.

  He already did. Long story.

  We slept through it?

  "Everybody was asleep. Was that some kind o
f spell?"

  Jaeren looked up at me from the floor. "May I stand?"

  "Yes."

  He lifted himself off his knee and replaced the wicked looking, curved dagger back into the sheath behind him. "No. 'Twas the venom of the dream asp."

  "I got bit. By a snake?"

  "Aye."

  "A snake. There was a snake in my house. You let a snake go in my fucking house?" I didn't like snakes.

  "Aye?"

  I punched him in the face. "That's for the snake and shooting me with your little bow."

  Candace's kick had left his nose a little bloody. My punch busted open his lip and my knuckles. I shook my hand to get through the pain and stopped, watching the flesh on my hand knit itself back together. So did Jaeren. He was a little more shocked than me.

  "That's why you did not die."

  "Yep. Vampire familiar. Makes me bloody hard to kill. See what I did there? Bloody hard to kill?"

  He didn't appreciate my humor. "That is not possible, even for a–" He choked on his last word and fell to the ground, out cold.

  "What the hell is going on? Is that the elf?" Jimmy rubbed his face groggily as he walked over to us.

  "Yeah."

  Jimmy kicked him. Hard. In the side. I almost felt bad for letting him, but I wanted the elf to wake up. He pulled back to do it again, but I stopped him.

  "Don't. He's my bodyguard."

  "Oh. What? Say that last part again?"

  "Come, little children, I'll tell you a tale," I said and headed for the coffee. It was too early to be un-caffeinated.

  "Dot, what the hell is going on?" Jimmy was getting impatient and I'd just made it to the coffee maker. Candace slipped in front of me and worked her magic. I was officially giving her the title of pod-barista. She had my mug brewing and three more set to go by the time it made the final squirty noise in my cup.

  She swiped it out of the machine and slid it across the counter into my waiting hand. If my wallet wasn't in my bedroom, I would have pulled out a dollar bill and given it to her. I took a sip, set it back down, and said, "Be right back. I need more clothes."

  "Start your story. I'll get you some pants." Yuki zipped into my room and was back before I started.

  "You're gonna wear grooves in my floor."

  "And you can magically repair them." She handed me my plain gray sweats. The ones I usually saved for laundry day.

  "You have a point. Continue zipping," I said drolly and slipped into their fuzzy warmth.

  "It's actually called swifting."

  "Like the mop thingy?"

  "No, that's swiffing."

  "Hence the name. Otherwise it would be a swifter."

  "Are you two done?"

  "One who swifts," I finished and turned to Jimmy. "Now. So back to the elf."

  "Maybe you should take some Adderall first."

  "You telling me I have ADHD?"

  "Wouldn't think of it."

  I shook my head and continued with my story. The fun of tormenting him, lost. "Speaking of the devil," I said and chuckled softly as Jaerun walked up behind Jimmy, confusedly rubbing his side with one hand and his head with the other. "Welcome back, sleeping beauty."

  "What happened?"

  "You tell me. One minute, you were telling me something, and the next, you were lying on my floor."

  "That's right. I was telling you that you are–" He collapsed on the floor again. I sighed and bent down, lifting his eyelid and checking his pupils. They were completely dilated.

  "What the hell is wrong with him?"

  "He let something called a dream asp loose in the house? Maybe it's biting him?" I mused to myself. I got up and backed away. Not wanting to get within a mile of the damn thing. Candace hopped up on the counter.

  "I think you have a dream ass." Jimmy rubbed my butt.

  "Asp. Snake. Little fangy things."

  "Like Yuki?"

  "With scales."

  Yuki crouched low and circled the elf. "I don't see anything. Maybe it's in his clothes."

  "Strip him," I said jokingly.

  She leaned forward and started undoing his buttons. I debated letting her, when I sighed and told her to stop. "I was kidding."

  "Oh."

  "You just wanted to see the elf naked," Jimmy said with a chuckle.

  "Maybe."

  The elf sat back up. "Again?"

  I nodded. "That snake thingy isn't loose, is it?"

  "No. I released it Underhill when I had no further use for it."

  "Odd. You aren't sick, are you?"

  "I do not understand. With disease?"

  "No. Like a fever and coughing?"

  "Wasting disease?"

  "Never mind. Why do you keep passing out?"

  "I do not know. It seems to happen when I try to tell you…that…you are a–"

  This time he hit his head when he collapsed.

  "You're a what?" Jimmy blinked in confusion.

  "I don't know. He tasted my blood and mentioned that I wasn't a witch. Do elves get sick? What about psychological disorders?"

  "He tasted your blood?"

  "Oh, shit."

  "You didn't familiarize him, did you? You need to come with a warning label."

  "You really want me to walk around with a 'Do not lick' label?"

  "Um. No."

  I thought about it, but I was pretty sure I hadn't. At least I hadn't been able to hear his thoughts. That was usually the first clue. Pretty sure. "I'll tell him to do something stupid when he wakes up."

  "In the meantime, continue with your story."

  "Well, he released the snake in the house, and it knocked us all out. Danny Elfman, over here, crashed through my wards and shields and the pain woke me up."

  "That is not possible, but I wondered how you had awoken," Jaeren said and sat back up. He hoisted himself up off the floor using the kitchen counter.

  "Welcome back for the third time…"

  "I am not well."

  "You mean you're sick."

  "No. I am not well. Elves do not get sick." He put air quotes around the sick part. Somebody had been watching human television.

  "Why do you keep taking naps on my floor?"

  "I do not know." He was getting angry.

  "Bark like a dog."

  "What?"

  "Bark like a dog."

  "I will do no such thing!"

  "Well, he's not my familiar."

  "That is ludicrous. An elf cannot be tamed by a witch."

  "That's what they said about vampires," Yuki said testily.

  "Demons, too. Right, Dar?"

  Woof.

  "Well, I am no familiar."

  "We established that. Just trying to figure out why you keep rebooting."

  "Rebooting?"

  "Never mind. You keep passing out every time you try to say what I am!" I turned around and grabbed a pad and pen from by the phone. "Write it down."

  He took the pen and drew a line on the paper. He started writing a word in elvish and got two strokes in before he crumpled like a sack of rice. He hit his face against the counter before falling to the floor.

  "That's gonna leave a mark," Jimmy said with a wince.

  "Not that he doesn't deserve it, but what the hell is going on?"

  "The goddess is preventing him from telling you," Candace answered.

  "Dot?"

  I turned to Jimmy. "What?"

  "What's that on your forehead?"

  "It's still there? Why are you just noticing it now?"

  "Well, you were pantless up until a few minutes ago… Plus, it's not very noticeable."

  "Good. That means it's fading. And what, you didn't notice because I was standing here in my underwear? You're such a man."

  "Thank you."

  "Not exactly a compliment. Okay. Long story, short. He showed up, tried to kill me, the goddess took over Candace, and told us to go to faerie land."

  "Is that in New Jersey?"

  "No. It's apparently right here. The hellmo
uth caused all kinds of hell there, and the king is dead. Fearing for the safety of their realm, he put out a hit on me before he croaked."

  "Elves do not croak," Jaeren said and picked himself up off the floor.

  "Figure of speech. Morning, sunshine…"

  He nodded, rubbing his forehead. "It would appear that–"

  "The goddess doesn't want me to know whatever it is you're trying to tell me. Yeah. We figured that part out."

  He nodded, giving me a half-disgusted look. "There are more pressing matters to deal with. Believe what you think you know."

  "Well, I'm not fae blooded if that's where you're going with this."

  He held up his hand. "I do not wish to play a guessing game. Your secret is safe with me and from you. I will not risk further injury."

  "Awww. But I was having fun."

  "Dorothea…we are stuck together for the next century… Could we maintain a modicum of civility? And dignity."

  "Yeah. Bashing your face on my counter top isn't very dignified."

  "Neither is baiting me."

  I held my hand up and covered Jimmy's mouth. "No!"

  The elf glowered at me.

  "Not going to shoot me, stab me, or sick snakes on me?" I stared at the elf.

  "That would fall outside the parameters of keeping you safe. So, you have my word."

  "Fine. Coffee?"

  Jimmy pulled my hand away from his mouth. "Hundred years?"

  "Yeah. While you were sleeping, I got another bodyguard."

  "He said baiting," Jimmy said with a boyish chuckle.

  Chapter 7

  "Mom, you're going to have to move into the motel. It's not like we can have an elf check in…"

  "But…"

  "I'm sorry, Miranda, but Josie's right. Things are happening way too fast. Any more supernatural rumors and we'll be facing lynch mobs."

  "I understand, but…"

  "Mom. I'm sorry." You could hear it in her voice. She wasn't. Not even a little.

  "Will you listen to me for a minute?"

  We both shut up and stared at her expectantly.

  "As I was trying to say… Your assistant was very helpful. I gave him the name of the delightful apartment complex that Shea moved into and he not only found me a vacant unit but also secured it for me. I was planning on moving this evening."