Blood Prophecy: Kallen's Tale (10 page)

Chapter 9

“You’re in love with my
daughter, aren’t you.”  Not a question, a statement.  We’ve been walking along
in silence for the past five minutes, so his voice in the quiet of the snowy
forest is surprising. 

I had planned on having
Xandra be the first person I spoke this out loud to, when I built up the
courage, but I have to be honest with him.  “Yes, I am.”

“We have kept our family
isolated from most of the world in order to keep her safe all these years.  So,
there are a lot of things she’s naïve about that most girls her age aren’t. 
She’s never dated, let alone had a boyfriend before.”  I am aware of all of
this, but I believe it is important to let him have his say without
interruption.  “She’s in love with you, too, though I don’t know if she knows
that yet.” 

He’s quiet for a moment as
he points to an area where wolfs bane grows.  I squat down to dig under the
snow for salvageable leaves.  “I am afraid that her innocence may play a part
in her feelings for you, and I do not want you, or her, to be hurt by that.”

Um, I was expecting this to
be a ‘back off from my innocent daughter’ speech.  Not a ‘my daughter’s going
to break your heart’ speech.  Standing up, I turn to him.  “I fear the same
thing, as well.  I am hoping that she continues to love me as her experience
with the world grows, but I am not naïve.  I understand that first loves are
not always lasting loves.”  I do not really understand that, but it seems like
the right thing to say at the moment.  “I can assure you that her feelings for
me are truly what is in her heart.  Magic does not lie.  It can be manipulated
at times to make things appear different than they are, but it can never change
the truth.”

He crosses his arms over his
chest as he puzzles over what I said.  “What do you mean?”

“I took a chance this
morning, when Xandra worked the mojo bag spell.  I know the spell and how it
works.  If she did not feel true love for me, I would have been tossed around
the room just as her grandmother was.”

He chuckles.  “That was
quite a sight.  I don’t know if any of us said thank you to you for fixing that
mess.”

“No thanks are needed,” I
say as we start moving again.

“So, you were that sure of
my daughter’s feelings?”

“Not completely.”

He gives me an approving
look.  “Well, I do admire your courage.”  We walk along in silence for a few
minutes again before he says, “I think you are good for her.”

My turn to ask, “What do you
mean?”

“We raised her to be strong
willed, knowing that someday she would have to defend herself as she is now. 
But, that is not always a plus when it comes to dealing with people who are not
your enemy.  She is intelligent, but very stubborn.  She is beautiful, but has
a dry, sometimes sarcastic, sense of humor.  And she never lets a thought slip
past without saying it out loud.”

My turn to chuckle.  “Yes,
all of those things are true.”

“Yet, you stand by her side,
ready to defend her from the world, all the while not taking any of her crap. 
You challenge her.  She needs that.”

I’m getting a little
embarrassed now.  “Her good qualities more than make up for her not so good
ones.”

He laughs and puts a cold
hand on my shoulder.  It’s like someone put an icicle in my coat.  “Well put. 
Up ahead is where you’ll find some St. John’s wort.” 

He lets the subject drop and
we spend about an hour finding everything on the Angel’s list.  It feels good
to be out of their stuffy, tension filled house.  My legs are enjoying being
exercised, and I have a chance to clear my head from distracting thoughts. 
When the spirit and I do converse, it is amiable and related more to the forest
than anything else.  I believe he is enjoying being out of the house as well. 
Which, makes us both a little disappointed when we find the last item on the
list and start heading back. 

I am even more disappointed
when I find that Xandra has not risen yet.  I ask the Angel if this is normal,
and of course she does not have a good answer for me.  She is getting on every
nerve in my body.

Xandra’s mother and the
Angel set to work right away when we return.  The items we retrieved are all
laid out on the table along with the many items the Angel had brought from her
home.  As much as I loathe Witch magic, it is fascinating to watch them.  The
Angel is putting everything together, and then she and her daughter alternate making
the spells that bind the magic to each item.  They spend the rest of the day
doing this.

Of course, I do not watch
them
all
day.  I find other ways to spend my time.  In between checking
on Xandra, her father shows me ways that people in this realm spend their free time. 
Some of it is intriguing, and some of it makes me scratch my head.  The
television is in the latter category.  I enjoy seeing plays back home, but I
could not imagine sitting on a coach all day watching them.  I am bored after
ten minutes.

I do enjoy the game
basketball.  I am sure it would be more fun with other players, as Xandra’s
father is not much, well any, competition.  He simply instructs me how to throw
the ball towards the hoop and how to do something called dribbling.  That is
not easy to do in the snow.  But, I do kill an hour perfecting my ability to
get the ball in the hoop from different angles.  

I also spend some time in
the tiny room used as a classroom.  I am amazed at the collection of books. 
They have books on everything from anatomy and physiology, to ancient
mythology.  Some of it
not
myths, most of it laughable.

It is driving me crazy that
Xandra has not woken up yet.  Her grandmother made dinner for us an hour or so
ago.  I volunteered, but since I am not familiar with how to make the same
types of food here as in my realm, she thought it best if she did it.  She made
something called a hamburger for each of us.  Actually, she made two for me and
I downed them both happily.  I am finding that some of the food here is quite
palatable.

I can tell that her parents
are just as anxious as I am about her not waking up.  When I’m not checking on
her, one of them is.  Her grandmother is trying really hard to not let her
anxiety over Xandra’s continued sleep show.  She is not successful.

I am sitting in front of
something called a computer right now.  This is interesting.  Massive amounts
of information found at one’s fingertips.  As with the books, I find much of it
misleading or just plain wrong in regards to Fairies.  But, there are a lot
more that are accurate.  Xandra’s mother should have done more research on this
thing over the years.

Around midnight, I start
getting tired.  I have already offered my help numerous times to Xandra’s
mother and grandmother, only to be told that they have it under control.  I
believe her mother was being honest.  Her grandmother I am convinced simply
does not want me to touch any of the items for fear that I will alter them
somehow. 

“Why don’t you head off to
bed,” Xandra’s father says to me.  “I’m worried about Xandra and it’ll make me
feel better if you’re with her.”  I believe he is only being polite because I
yawned for the seventh time, but I will not argue. 

“Kallen, if you could put up
a circle before you go, we would appreciate it,” her mother says.

That is easily done.  I am
able to hold large circles for extended periods of time, which will aid in the Witches
having difficulty figuring out what we are up to.  With a smile, I concentrate
for a moment, imagining the space I want to be inside the circle, and create
it.  “It is done.”

“Thank you,” the Witch
spirit says with a tired smile.  Spirits do not sleep, but I now see they can
suffer from emotional exhaustion.

I wander back down the hall
I have travelled too many times to count today.  Opening Xandra’s bedroom door,
I step inside quietly, not bothering to turn on the light.  There is just
enough light making it in through the blinds for me to see the bed.  And see
that she still has not moved from the position she was in when I first brought
her in here.  Her breathing is slow and even.  I so badly want to shake her
awake, if only to be sure that she will wake again.

Silently making my way to
the bed, I trade my jeans for pajama pants and crawl into bed next to her. 
Turning on my side, I trace the outline of her face with my finger.  Her lips
curl up ever so slightly.  Even in her sleep she enjoys my touch.  If I was not
already in love with her, I would say that simple thought made me love her. 
Rolling over onto my back, I close my eyes.  Between having my brain be on
constant alert for any signs of magical beings approaching, and keeping a
circle this large in place, I doubt I will get much sleep.

Surprisingly, the next time
I open my eyes, it is early morning.  It is the feeling that Xandra is awake
that wakes me.  I am on my stomach with my head lying on my arms, and when I
open my eyes, there she is, looking back at me.

“You were sleeping the sleep
of the dead.  I am glad to see you have returned to us.” 

She stretches and yawns.  “Did
I miss dinner?  I’m starved.”

I raise my brows in
amusement.  “You only missed it by several hours.”

She scowls at me.  “What do
you mean?  It doesn’t look that dark out yet.  Why did you guys eat so early?”

Now I get it, and it makes
me chuckle.  “What time do you think it is?”

I see her eyes flutter to
the clock on the bedside table.  “Five thirty.”

I laugh.  “Good guess.  AM
or PM?”

Her eyes narrow and she
stubbornly says, “PM.”

I am glad to see she is
herself again.  “Guess again.  That is not the sun setting,” I say, pointing to
the window.  “That is the sun rising.”

“What?  Why did you guys let
me sleep so long?” she asks with great amounts of irritation in her voice.

I raise a brow as I say, “It
was not our choice.  You proved to be a more powerful conduit for the spell
than your grandmother thought you would be.  You were unable to be roused as
your body adjusted to the onslaught of magic racing between you and the
protection circle.”

She groans and closes her
eyes.  “I can’t believe I wasted a whole day being passed out.  Is there ever
going to be any magic that I can do right?” 

I chuckle again.  There is
not a simple answer to that.  “The question is not can you do the magic
correctly, the question is, are you too powerful to perform certain spells
without ramifications.  The answer is yes.”

“Maybe I should just have
you and Mom bind my powers again and call it good.”

She has to be joking.  “Why
would you willingly give up your magic?”

She shrugs.  “I haven’t
needed it the last seventeen years.  What do I need it for now?”

Is the spell affecting her
common sense?  “Namely, to keep yourself alive.”

“But if my powers are bound,
no one would have to worry about me.  I wouldn’t be a threat to anyone.”

Again, she cannot be
serious.  Even she cannot be that naïve.  Hell, I saw some of the things that
are on the television and the internet.  It is not as if she has spent her life
ignorant to the ways of power of and evil, even if she was isolated here in the
mountains.  “The simple fact that you exist at all, is enough of a threat to
scare even the most powerful Witch.  No one would trust that you would allow
your magic to remain bound.”

She rolls her eyes.  “That
sounds like a great future – constantly battling to stay alive.  What if I let
the Witan do it?”

She has gone too far, now. 
Anger is seething out of every word, as I say, “I would sooner see you dead
myself than let those monsters get their hands on you.  If they bothered to
keep you alive at all, they would keep you in a mindless stasis for the rest of
your days.  You would cease to be, either way.”

Her eyes are open wide.  “Wow,
tell me how you really feel about it.”

I scowl.  Sometimes, she
makes no sense.  “I did...”

Holding up a hand, she cuts
me off.  “I was being facetious.”  Okay, maybe I won’t have to kill her
myself.  I take a deep, calming breath as she continues.  “I get that you
really don’t want me to have the Witan bind my powers.  It’s just a little
overwhelming that there are always going to be people who want me dead.”

I know how she feels.  It
overwhelms me, as well.  If anything ever happens to her, I know it will make
me insane.  I slide an arm around her waist and pull her closer.  “Then maybe
you should spend more time thinking about people who very much want you alive.”

She smiles and touches my
lips lightly with hers.  “Seriously, my life is always going to be one battle
after another, isn’t it?”

I want to tell her no.  Or
at the very least that I will protect her from anything that comes her way. 
But neither of those things is true.  I can protect her from some things, but I
cannot be prepared for every possibility every moment of the day, and neither
can she.  Yes, there will always be danger lurking around corners in her life. 
I try to come up with the most positive answer I can, but I do not believe I
sell it well.  “Hopefully, once you have proven yourself stronger than the
Witan, you will be left alone.”