Blood Sacrifice (30 page)

“What are you and I going to do?”

Adam’s mouth slid into a grin, the spark of humor that had been missing now returned. Sure, we still had a Challenge to face, but we were home, on our own turf. “I, for one, am going to take a shower. Care to join me?”

“Do you even have to ask?” I rose and took his hand. “See you later, boys.” I waved as Adam and I descended the stairs to our bedroom.

“Where’s the priest?” I asked as I exited the bedroom some hours later, seeing no sign of the old man. “You know, this is getting rather annoying. He keeps disappearing. I wanted to ask him some questions.”

“He wanted to go to the library,” Tucker said from his lazy position on the couch. He was reading a book, Niko lying down with his head in Tucker’s lap. “It’s too late tonight but I sent him over to the Inn library. He asked if he could go there and just come back here later. I think he’d rather not be a bother and not get in our way.”

“Now that he’s done his job?” I shrugged and braided my hair. “Not a bad idea. One less person to worry about. Adam, what do you think?”

Adam emerged, fully dressed but for his shoes. I loved him in bare feet. “Does he still have his phone?”

“Yes, I made sure that he has all our numbers, including Carlton’s.”

“Good. Then he’s better off,” I said. “Any sign of arrivals?”

Niko nodded from his supine position. “A few water sprites from across the lake. They’re hanging out at the swimming hole,” he said. “We filled that up when we got water to the tanks. North one was bone dry, but the well was fine. Filled up the tank and the swimming hole, and made sure there’s enough feed and water for the stock in both sections. We also received nymphs, some dryads, and a few were-deer from up north.”

“Three phone messages from the wolf tribes west of
us,” Tucker said, “and a smattering of texts from a few other groups. They’re all coming.”

“You two were busy,” I said as I ensconced myself in one of the plush armchairs.

“As were you,” Niko teased.

I popped a spare elastic hair band at him. He snatched it out of the air and threw it back at me. I batted it away, laughing. “You know, I feel much… I don’t know, lighter?” I leaned back and relaxed. “Maybe being at home is the difference. It’s not as dark here, not oppressive.”

“Though there is still something,” Tucker said, his tone sobering. “When we were on the grounds, taking care of the water, I know I felt a presence.”

“Daffyd, perhaps?” I asked. “He disappeared when we were in Faery. Maybe he’s come back to help?”

Tucker shook his head and put his book down on the end table. “No, it was dark. Daffyd shines, as do most Sidhe, even Unseelie. This was kind of a lack of light.”

“Like that underlying scummy feeling at the cemetery,” I mused. “Felt like a layer of dirty oil, or something equally as disgusting.”

“Yeah, a feeling more than anything physical,” Tucker agreed.

I sighed. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to figure that out, too, unless it’s all part and parcel of the Challenge and claim,” I said. “Could just be the way the land is responding to the drought and we’re just more in tune with it than normal.”

Adam crossed the room to sit at my feet. “That is a possibility, indeed.”

A soft tingling sensation swept across my bare arms.
I’d dressed once more in a tank top and shorts—new ones—but had foregone shoes for the moment. “Someone’s approaching,” I said.

Adam nodded and rose, his movements as fluid as Angharad’s had been. “I felt the wards.”

“It’s Carlton,” I added, puzzled. “What brings him out here? Surely he’s not answering the Call.”

“Wouldn’t that be a trip,” Tucker laughed. “If all along, Carlton Larsen had fey blood.”

I tossed a cushion at him and he caught it. “That’s something I know isn’t true.”

“I’ll just go see to the door, shall I?” Niko rose and crossed the room, opening the front door before anyone could knock. “Please, come in, Sheriff.” Niko swung the door wide open and stepped aside. “We’ve been expecting you.”

Carlton, for once in casual wear, entered, looking a bit taken aback. His hand went up to remove the hat he wasn’t wearing.

“Mr.…” he started to address Niko, but paused.

“Marlowe,” Niko supplied. “Nicholas Marlowe. I’m called Niko.”

“Right.” Carlton gave a brusque nod. “Keira. Walker. Tucker.” He acknowledged us, and without further ado, came in and sat in the other armchair. Niko shut the door and came back to the couch.

“What brings you here tonight, Sheriff?” Adam said, leaning against my legs.

Carlton looked as if he were embarrassed by something. Interrupting us at home, maybe? We did paint a pretty picture of domesticity, I thought. Tucker and Niko lounging together on the couch, comfortable as long-marrieds, yet with the awareness of a nearly new
relationship with every glance and touch. I found myself playing with Adam’s hair, something I did out of habit, as I loved running my hands through its silky smoothness. His hair was nearly longer than mine.

“I got a call earlier tonight about some funky lights over at the north end of your property,” Carlton said. “I wasn’t in town, but I hurried back to check it out. When I got there, the place was dead quiet. Cleaned up there, did you?”

“Yes.” Adam didn’t elaborate. “I am sorry you had to come this far on what turned out to be a wild goose chase,” he said. “My apologies, Sheriff.”

“No apology, needed,” Carlton said. “I told you I’d keep an eye out, and I will. So y’all back home now for good?”

“I hope so.” I stopped playing with Adam’s hair. “Carlton, we’re still under Challenge and if we can’t prove the land belongs to us, we’ll end up having to leave.”

He seemed to ponder this, his brown eyes never leaving my face. He cleared his throat. “What can I do to help?”

“You can be careful,” Adam said. “This is not something you can be a part of, Sheriff.”

“But I want to help.” Stubborn cop. Almost as stubborn as my vampire… or me.

“I know you do,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. “And we appreciate it, truly, but it’s not a matter of us allowing you or not. You actually can’t. It’s, well… it’s a blood thing.”

“We cannot destroy kindred: our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break.”

—Marquise de Sévigné

H
e started, his fingers curling as if he missed having his Stetson as a prop. It had been a long time since I’d seen him in anything but regulation brown and brown. Now, he was wearing worn Levis and a button-down shirt in pale blue, sleeves meticulously rolled up halfway on his forearm. He still wore the same old Lucchese boots, a present from his father when he’d graduated the police academy. Larsen Senior had saved up for years to afford them. Carlton looked really good, happier than the last few times I’d seen him. Maybe his marriage was finally settling down after last year’s separation.

“You don’t mean actual blood, do you?” Carlton sounded appalled that he’d voiced those words. “No ritual sacrifices or anything like that?”

“Carlton, please,” I said. “That’s crap and you know it.”

“I know nothing of the sort,” he said. “Last year,
you told me those dead Sitka deer we found over by the lake weren’t a result of any cult, yet here, we’ve got two blood-drinkers and well, you two.” He pointed to Tucker and me. “Why should I believe anything you’ve fed me before?”

I closed my eyes and counted to ten. I couldn’t lose my temper. He was hurting. I’d as much betrayed him as if I’d gone and gotten pregnant by someone else when we were dating.

“There are many legends that are truth, Sheriff,” Adam said as he rose to his knees, “but Keira was not lying nor being disingenuous. We do not perform blood rituals, nor animal sacrifices. My people and I live a quiet life and prefer it that way.”

“You don’t drink blood?”

“Not without permission.” Adam’s gaze remained steady, but not challenging. Though he was no longer sitting, he remained in a position lower than that of Carlton, a subtle, yet effective piece of body language. Niko and Tucker, however, perched on the edge of the couch, ready to intervene should this become more than a confrontation of words.

Carlton seemed to digest the words slowly, methodically, just as he did most things. When the penny finally clinked into place, he flushed bright red and he dropped his eyes. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m… I really put my foot in it, didn’t I?”

I laughed, the tension broken. “Yeah, well, it’s not as if there’s a manual, is there?”

He smiled and raised his head. “No, Keira, there’s never been a manual where you’re concerned.”

In that instant, I saw the young man he once was, naïve, eager, and so very loving and kind. I mourned his
loss at the same time that I said a silent prayer of thanks for having broken off our relationship when I did, instead of stringing him along. It had been rough, we’d said many hurtful things to each other, but in the end, I’d done the right thing. We could have never continued. He’d wanted forever, along with white picket fences and a gaggle of kids. I couldn’t even give him a decade, nor children.

The distant hum of a motor interrupted our conversation.

“A plane.” Adam stood and went to the window. “Niko, get the lights, would you? Tucker, do you mind?”

Niko ran to the back of the house to switch on the runway lights. A set of controls were here, and one in the main Inn. A nice perk, thanks to my dear great-great-granny, who’d supplied the ranch with all sorts of amenities while I’d been in Canada training.

“That should be the cavalry arriving now,” I said with a smile.

“Cavalry?” Carlton stood. “You expecting company?”

“Only family,” I said. “You don’t have to leave on their account. Since you know what’s going on, it might be a good idea for you to stay and take part.”

“In what? Some sort of family summit?” Carlton joked, his demeanor once again friendly.

“Precisely,” Adam said absently. “Sheriff, do stay if you wish. Though I’d advise you to perhaps keep your skepticism in check. Not everyone is as easygoing as we are.”

Carlton shook his head. “Easygoing? Are you sure you want me to meet these other people?”

I laughed. “Don’t let him scare you,” I said. “It’s
likely to be a bit tense, but I’ll tell them to lay off and leave you alone.”

“You?”

“Carlton, I know it’s tough to really understand, but I truly am their liege. With my leader off on a, well, having her own political summit meeting, I’m in charge. They’ll do what I tell them.”

“No shit?”

“No shit. Come on, let’s meet the family.” With that, I skipped outside, Niko having graciously opened the door and left it open. Tucker and Niko were already on the porch. Adam and I exited one after the other, walking over to stand at the head of the short set of steps. Carlton wandered out, still shaking his head. He walked over to Tucker, who was at my left and propped a foot up on the lower porch rail.

A large group approached, entering from the darkness beyond into the lighted semicircle near the house, chattering among themselves. Their excitement bounded beyond them like a puppy, eager and anxious to please, to be petted. Bouncing happy energy of family together—Kelly, vampire, a few fey thrown in for good measure. I looked at Adam, who had a serene smile on his face, the father welcoming home his children. Two dark heads separated from the pack and ran ahead, joined by a bright redhead, all three bounding up the stairs. They nodded and then stood behind and beside us. Rhys and Ianto on either side, one step down, Liz to my direct left, her hand quickly grasping mine and squeezing. The rest of our Protectors, home at last.

The small dark man in front reached the bottom step and stopped, his face beaming as he knelt. The rest followed suit, all smiling.

“Welcome,” Adam said. “Welcome home. We are so pleased you came.”

My father held out his hands as Adam swept down the stairs to take them. “My son, my liege. I pledge to you all that is Kelly blood. All our resources and abilities are yours.” Oops. I was supposed to be down there. I hurried down the steps and took one of my father’s hands. “My daughter. We are yours to command.”

“Dad. All of you,” I raised my voice to be heard. “Do you give this gift freely?”

Dozens of voices responded. “We do.”

I sighed in happiness. “We, your lieges, thank you.” I held out my right wrist to Adam, who took it and, fangs bared, bit me, bringing blood. I turned my wrist over and let a few drops fall onto the ground. “By heart and blood, we accept your generous gift.” A collective cheer morphed into a grand round of applause.

I mock curtseyed and hauled my father into an enormous hug. Behind me, I could hear Carlton’s surprised exclamation. “She really meant it, didn’t she?”

Tucker laughed. “She did. Welcome to the madhouse.”

“Más vale onza de sangre que libra de amistad.” (Better an ounce of blood than a pound of friendship.)

—Spanish Proverb

G
race Rose fluttered around the large table we’d set up in the main dining room at the main inn. John, the day manager and his family had returned along with all the vampire staff and within the hour, things were back to almost normal at the Wild Moon. The chef, a longtime employee of Adam’s, was in the kitchen with his staff, doing his best to whip up some semblance of meals for the nearly three dozen people that had arrived and needed to eat something other than blood or small prey. A midnight brunch, courtesy of Le Cordon Bleu– trained staff. A few of my brothers had gone hunting—all six of them were now here, as were my aunts, Jane and Isabel, who’d set up in one of the guest houses. Grace and Verena had arrived by car not twenty minutes after the plane touched down. When I’d asked how they knew to come, Verena had simply stared at me and smiled her vacant smile. “We were Called.”

“Grace, sit the hell down, you’re distracting me.”
Ciprian, my eldest brother, tossed his pencil down and ran a hand through his silver gray locks. He charmed his hair that color so he could make financial deals for the family. No one ever trusted a young whippersnapper, he’d said often, so he’d chosen to look older. “If you don’t have anything to contribute, why don’t you go to the kitchen and see if Henri needs any help serving.”