Blood Prophecy: Kallen's Tale (13 page)

Xandra stirs and pushes
herself upwards, sliding her back against the cracked wall.  “Dad, I think
she’s telling the truth.”  I grab her elbow to keep her from falling over.  She
may have recovered from her injuries, but she is still weak.

“Xandra, she had to have
known,” I start to say, incredulous that she is defending the one who almost
got her killed.

“No, she didn’t.” 

“How do you know that?” her
father demands. 

She shrugs slightly.  “I
just know, Dad.  She’s telling the truth.” 

For the second time in five
minutes, I am speechless.  Something else I can count on my fingers how many
times this has happened to me.  And each one has been in Xandra’s presence.

Ignoring her father and me,
she turns to her grandmother.  “Grandpa must know that I’m connected to the
spell.  How would he have figured that out?  Have you told him about this
magic?”

“No.  I’ve never said a word
to him.”  That I believe.  It is forbidden for Fallen Angels to willingly speak
of their heritage and of Angel magic.  Xandra was an exception because of her
Angel blood.

Under her breath, Xandra
mumbles, “It’s the light rope.”

My brows scrunch up in
confusion.  “Light rope?  What do you mean?”

She rolls her eyes at me.  I
would be annoyed, but I still have not gotten past the almost dying thing, so
she can do pretty much whatever she wants to at the moment.  “Remember when I
got pulled to the airport – I said there was a rope of light coming from my
belly button.  It was there when I met up with Grandpa, too.  He must have
figured it out.”

Her father again supplies
words for me.  “Son of a…”

“Jim,” his wife admonishes. 
Is this really the time to be concerned about words?

He clears his throat and
tries again.  “So, the bastard knows he can hurt Xandra physically.  How do we
stop him from doing that?”

The Witch has a psychotic
gleam in her eye that I can appreciate.  She probably got that from her father,
but I am okay with that since she is using it appropriately.  “Mother and I
will take care of it.  Kallen, why don’t you help Xandra to her room?  She’s been
through a lot this morning, and she could probably use a little rest.  I’m
going to go introduce my father to some of the security precautions I’ve spread
around the house and mountain over the years.”  If I did not hate him so much,
I might actually feel sorry for the man.  Instead, I am sorry I am going to
miss the show.  But, there is no way I am going to leave Xandra’s side for any
reason at the moment.  Not even for revenge.  I guess love truly is a powerful
thing.  Before coming here, there is not a chance in hell I would have missed
the fight.

“Your mother is right, you
should lie down,” her father says.  “I’m going to go with your mother.”

“That may not be wise,” I
warn.

“Probably not, but I’m not
going to let Julienne face that man alone.”

Love does make us do stupid
things.  “Neither would I.”

Xandra stands up straighter,
trying to look refreshed.  “Shouldn’t I go out there as well?” 

Over my dead body.  “No,
until we figure out how to separate you physically from the spell, we need to
keep you better protected.”  I certainly did not increase her love for me with
that statement.  I know she is angry and frustrated, but I am going to make
sure she is safe. 

With a sour look, she says, “Fine,
I’ll be in the bathroom brushing my teeth.”  Understandable.  The taste of
blood is never pleasant.  I offer my hand when she pushes away from the wall,
but she shakes her head and walks around me. 

Okay, I guess she is not in
the mood for being coddled.  I get that.  But I am determined that she know I
am behaving like this out of love, not some weird chauvinistic thing where I
think she is too weak to fight.  When she closes the bathroom door behind her,
I first check on her mother and grandmother, who seem to be holding their own,
and then I go into her room to wait for her.

As soon as I hear the
bathroom door open, I rise from the bed.  When she enters the room, I gently
grasp her shoulders and back her up against the wall, my forehead on hers.  “Do
not ever scare me like that again.”  My voice is rich with emotion.

She smiles and puts a hand
on my cheek.  “I’ll do my best.”

I whisper, “I love you,” as
I capture her lips with mine in a kiss that says more than any words ever
will.  I kiss her until I have taken her breath away, then I let our lips part. 
My forehead against hers again, I say, “I have never said that to anyone
before, you know.”

Her smile widens.  “I love
you, too.  And I’ve never said that to anyone before, either.”

She said the words.  She
loves me, too.  In a vain attempt to conceal just how happy that makes me, I
stand up straight and chuckle.  With my hands on her cheeks, I stroke her silky
smooth skin with my thumbs.  “In all fairness, you have been caged in this
lonely house in the mountains.  You have not had much opportunity to spend time
in the company of males your own age.  Perhaps I should not feel as special as
that statement would imply.”

Her brows rise.  “Afraid you
wouldn’t stand up under competition?”

Perceptive.  I chuckle
again.  “Perhaps.  Suffice it to say, I am pleased not to face any.”

I can tell she does not want
to change the subject, but she does.  “Did you check on Mom and Grandma?”

I drop my hands and step
back to give her some space.  And to keep me from picking her up and carrying
her to the bed where I want to continue kissing her until the rest of the world
disappears.  “Yes, while you were brushing your teeth.  They seem to have
things well in hand.  Your grandfather is quite surprised by the amount of
Witch’s bottles your mother has buried.  He is having a difficult time avoiding
them.”

“Is your circle still
holding?”

She doubts me?  It is her
grandmother who deserves her doubt.  “Yes.  If you were not connected
physically to your protection spell, you would not have felt any of the things
you have this morning.  How are you feeling?”

She shrugs.  “I’m fine now. 
Nothing hurts, so I’m good.”

“I was not speaking only of
the physical sense.”  The emotional strain has to be hitting her hard.

She grimaces.  “Give me time
to answer that one.  Things are flying at me so fast; I can’t keep up with my
emotions.”

I cannot resist pulling her
into my arms and holding her close to me.  Resting my chin on her head, I say, “I
am afraid I understand that much too well.”

“You’re doing that nice and
sweet thing again.”

“My apologies, I will try to
work more derogatory statements and sarcasm into our conversations.”

She laughs.  “Thank you, I
appreciate it.”  Pulling out of my arms, she looks down at her outfit.  “I need
to get out of these clothes.  They have blood all over them.”

I would love to help her
with that.  Which means I should probably leave the room before I offer.  “I
will check on your father while you do that.  I am afraid he will get caught in
magical cross-fire.”

I see the worry in her
eyes.  “Yeah, me too.”

Chapter 11

Her father is safe.  He is
smart enough to stay out of the way, but I can tell he is enjoying the show. 
What in the world is taking Xandra so long to get dressed?  And then the
thought hits me that something sinister could be going on.

Tapping on her bedroom door,
I say, “Xandra, are you alright?”

“Yes,” she croaks.  That was
a no, then.  Opening the door, I find her kneeling on the floor, out of
breath.  I am at her side in a flash.  With my hands on her shoulders, I ask, “What
happened?”

She is having a hard time
catching her breath.  What did they do to her this time?  Every second that she
struggles for the breath to speak, increases my anger tenfold.  “I met,” she
gasps.  “Louhi.”  Breath.  “And Midar.” 

I put my hands on her cheeks
and raise her face so I can see her better.  “Are you alright?  Did they harm
you?”  My kill list is growing by the second.

She shakes her head and her
breathing begins to calm.  “No.  But they scared the crap out of me.  They’re
horrible looking!”

I lean back into a sitting
position, laughing.  Only she would respond like this.  “They are horrible
looking?  You fight two Pooka warriors without flinching, but you are
frightened by two old men because you do not like how they look?”

Her bottom lips sticks out
slightly into a cute little pout.  “You didn’t see them.  I’m going to have
nightmares about them.  Louhi especially.”

I am ready to roll on the
floor laughing.  Now, I want to see these guys just to know what one has to
look like to rattle her so.  She must be teased about this.  “Then it is lucky
for me that I did not see them.  I would hate to have us both cowering in our
sleep.”

She glares at me.  “It’s not
funny.”

It is getting funnier by the
second.  “I disagree.  I am quite amused.”

In response, she uses the
palms of her hands to push me backwards.  I like this game.  I grab her wrists
and take her with me as I go back.  Her luscious body is now sprawled on top of
mine in a way that is clearing my mind of anything else.  “Mm, much better,” I
grin up at her glowering face.

“I take it you’ve used up
your nice and sweet allotment for the day?”

God, I love teasing her.  “I
believe I may have even dipped into tomorrow’s share.”

“You’re a jerk.”

“You do like to point that out.” 
She lets out a small squeal as I roll us over.  Now, I am the one on top.  I
cannot decide which I like better.  They both feel so good.  “Funny how you
seem to like me anyway.”

“Isn’t it?  I must have been
dropped on my head when I was a baby.”

She can always make me laugh
with her dry wit.  Giving her a quick kiss before I give in to temptation, I
roll off from her and stand up.  Holding my hand out, she places hers in mine
and I pull her to her feet.  “Now, I believe you should tell me a little bit
more about these scary fellows you met.”

She groans.  “Grandpa told
them that I’m connected to the protection spell and if they scry for me, I
come.  Like a dog.”

All thoughts of teasing her
drain from my mind.  “That is unfortunate.  Have you tried simply not going to
where the spell wants to take you?”

She rolls her eyes.  “No,
because I’m a complete moron.”  I choose to ignore her sarcasm at the moment. 
“If I don’t go, then as long as they keep scrying for me, I feel like I’m being
struck by lightning.”

“That does sound
unpleasant.”

“No, really, it’s great. 
I’m actually starting to like it.” 

I give her a hard look.  “Being
facetious is not helping.”

She sighs.  “What can we
do?”

“We need to figure out a way
to counteract that effect.  Or channel it somewhere else.”

Confusion washes over her
face.  “How would we do that?”

A thought strikes.  Maybe
she does not have to be the one who suffers the pain.  That makes me smile.  “Perhaps
the rope of light you mentioned is for that purpose.”

“Huh?” 

I love her eloquence at
times.  “Perhaps you are meant to channel your pain through that rope of
light.  It’s not meant to draw you out, but to punish whoever is trying to call
you.”

She frowns.  “So I have to
intentionally torture these people?” 

After all they have done to
her, she is still leery to cause harm.  I want to shake her, make her
understand.  But, on the other hand, I would not have her any other way.  Her
heart beats purer than mine, I believe.  She has an inner goodness that I hope
to aspire to someday.  That does not change reality, though.  “Did you think
that you would be able to get through this without intentionally hurting
anyone?”

I can tell what she wants to
say, but instead, she says, “No, I guess not.”

“And are they not
intentionally causing you harm?”

“I guess.”  Not that long
ago, blood was spurting from her mouth like a volcano erupting and her response
is ‘I guess?’  Okay, I am over the whole more innocent than me thing.

Before I have a chance to
convey my feelings, she falls to her knees.  Dammit.  Kneeling in front of her,
I say, “Xandra, focus.  Pull on your magic and use it to force the pain outward
through the light.  But you need to keep your mind here.”

She is still doubtful as she
closes her eyes to better concentrate.  I can tell the second her consciousness
is elsewhere.  Her body slumps ever so slightly.  I sigh.  I hope she at least
takes the first half of my advice and channels the pain.

Just as I could tell when
she left, I can tell when she returns several minutes later.  Relief washes
through me as I put my hands on her shoulders.  “Xandra, are you alright?”

She opens her eyes and
smiles.  I can tell right away that she did take my advice.  “Yes.”

“Was it the same two men?”

She nods.  “Yeah, Louhi and
Midar.  And yes, they’re still just as horrible looking.”

I laugh.  Still more worried
about their looks than their power.  “I assume you were successful in
channeling the pain?”

“Yup, and they didn’t like
it at all.  Midar was scared, but I think I just made Louhi really mad.  He
said they have protection against ‘my kind of magic.’  Whatever that means.”

“I am sure he meant Fairy
magic.”

She looks thoughtful for a
moment.  “Could they really have things that would make them immune to Fairy
magic?”

“No.  They may have
talismans or amulets that will temporarily fend off Fairy magic, but nothing
that would protect them indefinitely.”  She looks relieved.

Standing up, I hold my hand
out to her.  “Come.”

“You know I hate it when you
treat me like a dog.”

I have no idea what she is
talking about now.  Which earns me an eye roll.  “When you tell me to come. 
You’re as bad as those guys.”

She did not just compare me
to those Witches.  It is amazing how she can flip a conversation around and
change my mood from happy to angry in a heartbeat.  “Am I supposed to beg you
on humbled knee?  Perhaps I should prostrate myself in front of you?  Would
that be better?”  She has a retort on her lips, but I do not want to hear it.  “We
should find the others and tell them what you have been able to do.”  I turn
and walk out the door.