Blood Prophecy: Kallen's Tale (17 page)

Chapter 19

Xandra is shooing them away
now.  Literally, using her hands to make a shooing motion.  The Witches are
stupefied.  They snap out of it when she yells at them again.

Everyone leaves except for
the Witch King.  Maybe she has some special torture planned for him.  I know
wishful thinking on my part.  She does not have the heart for that. 

When they have all gone, she
turns towards the house.  She may have been cocky and confident a minute ago,
but she knows what is waiting for her behind this wall of hers.  Our wrath.

Zac is not wrathful.  “Xan,
you have wings!  That is awesome.  Where’d you get them??  Can I get some,
too?”

She smiles as she scoops her
brother into a hug.  Which he squirms out of as soon as he can.  Mussing his
hair, she says, “Sorry, buddy.  No wings for you.”  She cannot be sure of
that.  After all, he is part Angel.

“Ah, that sucks.  You get
all the cool stuff.”

Xandra wrinkles her nose at
him.  “Yeah, but I get all the mean people coming after me, too.”

“Uh uh, not just you.  Aunt
Barb and I got kidnapped today.”  He says it like it’s the coolest thing in the
whole world.

“Xandra, we need to talk to
you,” her mother says through a jaw clutched together so tightly, if she was
still corporeal, she would not have been able to push air through it to speak.

Xandra looks down at her
brother.  “Um, Zac, I have to talk to Mom and Dad for a few minutes.  Can you
go play in your room for a little while?”

He looks like he wants to
argue until he sees his mother’s face.  He’s a smart boy.  He makes himself
scarce fast.

Xandra gives a nervous
giggle.  “So, should I sit down or do you guys want to kill me standing up?”

“Not funny,” her father
says.  His arms are crossed over his chest and the expression on his face is one
you never want to see on a parent’s face.  A live one or a spirit one.

“Kitchen, now,” her mother
mumbles almost unintelligibly.

All of them except her
grandfather go into the kitchen.  Xandra hangs back.  Pulling her bottom lip
through her teeth, she waits until I look at her.  “I’m sorry,” she mouths but
an apology mouthed across a room just does not cut it.  I am tempted to stay
put, let her deal with her family on her own.  But, I do not.  Every step back
through the living room to the kitchen brings back my fury.

Xandra comes into the
kitchen last.  Her mother is spirit pacing, and is going through the kitchen
chairs, making it difficult for anyone to sit down.  She stops when she sees
Xandra standing in the doorway in her winged glory.

I am surprised when it is
her father who speaks first.  “Of all the selfish, irresponsible, egotistical,
idiotic, reckless, arrogant, foolish things to do, what you did out there
topped the list.  And where the hell did those wings come from?!”

I am betting her father has
never spoken to her like this before.  He has rendered her speechless.  Quite
an accomplishment.

The wings are out in the
open, so I do not believe there is any harm in me telling him.  “They are Angel
wings.”

He rears around to face me. 
“What are you talking about?”

I look at Xandra’s
grandmother.  “I am assuming since the wings are out of the bag, I am not
violating my oath.”  She shakes her head.  “Then perhaps this is a tale for you
to tell.”

After giving me a look that
no Angel should be allowed to give, she goes ahead and tells the story.  Of
course, it is followed by shock bordering on disbelief.  If Xandra did not have
wings on her back, I do not think anyone would have believed her.  Especially
Xandra’s mother.  “Angel.  You’re an Angel?  And now Xandra’s an Angel?”

“I – I don’t quite know what
Xandra is,” she admits.

“No, not technically,” Xandra
says, capturing all of our attention.  She goes on to explain how she learned
about whom she is and why she has wings.  When I was sure that time had
stopped, it had.  At least a fraction of a second, as the Angels pulled her
into their time and sent her back.  Her story also explains why she was so
determined to handle the Witches on her own.  I still am not happy about it. 
She chose to cut me out when I could have helped her.  The Angels did not force
her to do that.

Now that her parents are
appeased, she says, “Um, Mom, Dad, would you mind if I talked to Kallen alone
for a few minutes?” 

Her mother looks at me.  “I
think that would be a good idea.”

Without a word, I walk out
of the kitchen and down the hall towards her bedroom.  She follows a couple of
minutes later.  I am leaning against her dress with my arms crossed over my
chest.  She is not going to win me over as quickly as she did her parents.

“Are you trying to get me
killed?” I ask after she comes in and closes the door.

“What?”  She looks genuinely
confused.

“I asked – are you trying to
get me killed?” 

“No.”  She still seems
ignorant of what I am talking about.  Seriously?

“Your actions belie the
truth in that word.”

Now, she has the nerve to
get frustrated with me.  “Will you please tell me what you’re talking about?”

I push away from the dresser
and stand in front of her.  “You do recall that I have taken a blood oath, do
you not?”

“Yeah, what does that have
to do with anything?”  And then it hits her.  “Oh.”

“It is difficult to protect
a life as if it’s my own when I am locked in a house by the magic of the person
I am supposed to be protecting.”

“So, even if I don’t need
your help, under the oath you still have to try to protect me or you could
die.”  I give her a ‘glad you finally figured it out’ look.  “Did I mention
that I’m sorry?”

Not out loud.  “No, I do not
believe you have.” 

Her face falls.  “Do you
hate me now?”

What the hell?  My brows
furrow together.  “Is your world so black and white that I must either love you
or hate you?”

“No.  But you look really,
really mad.”

“Then my physical form is
adequately expressing my feelings.”

Looking up at me through
those long black lashes, she gives me an amazing smile.  “What can I do to make
you not mad at me anymore?” 

I absolutely should not let
her get away with this.  I say that over and over to myself as I scoop her into
my arms, being careful of her wings, of course, and toss her lightly on the
bed.  She is still smiling.  I am definitely going to let her get away with
this.

Looking down at her, I say,
“I would ask you to promise never to do it again, but I believe you to be too
pig-headed to actually follow through with that.”

She laughs. “Gee, thanks.”

Stretching out on the bed
next her, I cannot help touching her wings.  They are beautiful.  And silky
soft, like her skin.  “You scared me near to death when you suddenly had
wings.  I thought you had died.”  At least, I did after her grandmother brought
the idea up.

“I think everyone did.  I
even asked the other Angels that when I first met them.”

I shake my head.  “As I said
before, you certainly do keep life interesting.” 

“I really am sorry.  I
didn’t want any of you to get hurt.”

“I know.”  I do not let her
say another word.  I capture her lips in mine.  Opening her lips for me, she
lets me delve into her sweet mouth, matching my tongue stroke for stroke. 
Everything that has happened in the past few days is forgotten.  There is
nothing else in the universe besides Xandra, me and the feel of our lips
meeting.  I could spend centuries like this.  That is a good thing, because in
this realm, I will have centuries to enjoy her lips on mine. 

After what seems like a
lifetime, I part our lips gently.  I can see my love mirrored in her green
eyes.  She is still smiling. 

“Want to go flying?” she
asks.  “I want to test these wings out while I have them.”

I chuckle.  “I would enjoy
watching you try to manage flying.”

“Hey,” she punches me
lightly in the arm.  “I flew outside and I did okay.”

Standing up, I hold my hand
out to her.  “We shall see.”

Just as we enter the
kitchen, the doorbell rings.  Everyone is instantly on guard.  I swear, my head
must be seriously messed up because my senses are trying to tell me it is
someone who could not possibly be here.

I walk to the door with
Xandra, and when it opens, I know my jaw drops.  I do not believe I am
imagining this.  That truly is my grandmother standing there, waiting to be
invited in.

I find my voice again after
a moment.  “Grandmother?”  Xandra looks up at me in surprise.  Well, she can
join the club.  She cannot possibly be more surprised than I am at the moment.

Grandmother reaches out and
pats my cheek.  “Hello, my dear grandson.”  Turning to Xandra, she holds out
her hand.  “You are Xandra.  My name is Isla, Kallen’s grandmother.  It is a
pleasure to finally meet you.”

Xandra’s hand is shaking
slightly when it meets Grandmother’s.  “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“Your wings are beautiful,
may I?”  Xandra, still in shock, nods.  Grandmother reaches out and touches one
of her feathers.  Letting her hand fall back to her side, she says, “Now that
you finally know your true destiny, we have a lot of work to do.  Are your
parents in there?” she asks pointing towards the kitchen.  Xandra nods.

“You knew all along, before
you sent me here, and you didn’t tell me?” 

She grins.  “Of course not,
you needed to follow your destiny on your own.  I simply gave you a little push
in the right direction.”  The tearful good byes, the pep talks about doing what
must be done.  All shams to cover up the fact that she knew she was sending me
to find my true love.  And all the while, she knew we would see each other
again.  Since I am so happy at the moment, I guess I cannot really be mad at
her. 

Turning back to Xandra, Grandmother
says, “Now, we really must get started, we haven’t much time to prepare.”

“To prepare for what?” Xandra
asks.

With a light laugh,
Grandmother says matter-of-factly, “Why, to save our realms, of course.”  She
pats us both on the shoulder.  “You two take a moment to let it all sink in. 
I’ll be in the kitchen with your parents and grandparents.”  And then she walks
past us and out of sight into the kitchen. 

Xandra and I look at each
other for a moment.  Flying has been tossed to the wayside.  I have a feeling
that whatever has brought Grandmother here is going to be far more
interesting.  So, we turn around and follow her to the kitchen.