Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke (23 page)

“Doubt if it would work on
our own parents, lad,” Mac sighed, turning to check on Roarke.
“It’s fine, he just wanted to reassure you.”

“I know but…” Roarke was
fighting not to shake but had unknowingly reached to touch the
stone he wore again, and some of the emotion evened off. “It’s
still so raw, Mac.”

Kerry shook his head as it
finally cleared, frowning when he noticed Ryan so close. “What
happened?”

“Da paid a visit,” Ryan
returned, rolling his eyes. “Can we get some things sorted out so
Roarke can sleep tonight and…?”

“Ryan!” Mac snapped, catching the thought
and hoping Maggie hadn’t as his brother smirked.

“I’ll hurt him later,” she
promised, looking at the brothers. “Like I told Mac, this is
probably something you should do together. I can go help Deirdre
or…”

Kerry looked up at her as
if considering, then shook his head. “You were involved in this the
moment you saw the visions at Mac’s home and clearly your
Grandmother sought to prepare you somewhat by giving you her Book
of Shadows, so you should hear this.”

He paused as he looked at
his brothers. “Jessica already knows most of this, I’m sure, since
the O’Malley brothers like to keep tabs on magical or demonic
events, so there’s no need to wake her.”

“Guess there’s no way to keep her out of
this, huh?” Roarke sighed, not wanting his friend involved anymore
than she had been.

“I wish there was, lad, but
Jessica’s abilities and her closeness to us already has attracted
it to her.” Kerry felt his brother’s concern. “Now that we know the
danger and know to expect anything, it’ll be easier to protect
those close to us.”

“Easier said than done
until we recast the protection spell the grounds have had for
centuries. That needs handled soon.” Mac muttered under his breath,
settling on the footstool closest to the sofa while waiting for the
oldest of them to begin.

Kerry wasn’t sure where to
begin then, finally decided it best to just start from the
beginning. Taking a deep breath, he waved a hand toward the fire
and it roared to a soft flame.

“Sebastian Donegal,
according to the legends passed down in our family, was a very
powerful Irish landowner back when Ireland was still very young. He
kept his massive hold on what he owned by being very strict, frugal
and powerful since he was also a very cruel and powerful witch,”
Kerry spoke quietly and slowly, recalling the stories he’d been
told as a lad. “He had few who could compare to him except for
Angus Fitzgerald. He founded this town and built this town. He and
Sebastian’s rivalry began then and Sebastian has kept his rivalry
with our family to this day.”

Ian considered this so far.
“So he’s an Immortal witch?” he blinked, not caring for that.
“Great.”

“He’s not immortal. He uses
spells and sacrifices to keep his life going,” Kerry corrected,
going on. “Once a generation he has issues with the Lord of
Fitzgaren. The last was our father. Sebastian and Da sparred a lot
but it wasn’t anything too serious until it became clear that Da’s
sons would be the chosen ones to finally defeat him. That was when
the fun and games ended.

“We’d been touring and
performing for years. Ian had only joined us on stage about a year
earlier when he was two,” Kerry saw Roarke begin shifting
restlessly and was pleased when Ian sat down next to him. “That
fall we were back here because we always stopped touring before the
Fall Equinox, ‘cause Mum always felt it was the most important
Solstice.”

This was what Kerry knew
would be the hardest on his brother. “I was nineteen, Mac was
sixteen, Ry would have been thirteen, Roarke was eleven and Ian was
three. Mum and Da were a bit stressed with some things but I didn’t
realize until later how bad it was. I know that they were fighting
a lot about his mother and that Mum was talking about taking Ian
and Roarke up to see her family,” he paused to meet Roarke’s
eyes.

“Roarke had wanted to go to
Skelling Michael to see the island and the sights for months. Ryan
had been on him about wasting time exploring a rock but he
constantly asked to go.” Kerry felt the tension as he moved closer
to the sofa.

“There was just so much
tension in this house that I thought maybe a day out together would
make us normal,” Roarke murmured, not looking at his brothers. “I
knew you guys didn’t want to go and Ian was too sick, but when Da
decided to go along I was thrilled, because I didn’t always get
both their attention very often. We took the tour boat out and it
was the best day I’d had with them and the last ‘cause they died
all because of my stupid idea.”

Maggie couldn’t help but
feel sorry for the little boy who had endured so much and was still
feeling it. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Ryan move, knowing full
good and well how sharp his tongue could be and how he enjoyed
tormenting his brother.

‘Let Kerry handle it, luv,’
Mac’s voice spoke in her mind even though he hadn’t
moved.

Kerry had been watching his
younger brothers and had positioned himself in case he felt he
needed to step in as Ryan sat on the sofa arm and punched his
brother in the arm, but not as hard as he normally
would.

“They died because of some
evil bastard, not because of you, brat,” Ryan’s usual cockiness was
plain in his tone but when his hand lay on Roarke’s shoulder, it
wasn’t rough. “They knew what was happening and did what needed to
be done. Stop hating yourself.”

Roarke paused to look at
his brother as if considering. “You hated me for it.”

The simple comment made
Ryan close his eyes and his fingers flex but instead of shooting
off a sharp comment, he slowly took a deep breath before opening
his eyes to meet his brothers. “I never hated you, Roarke,” he
sighed, knowing that Kerry was waiting to see how he handled this.
“After it happened we were all hurting so damn bad and you just
shut down so I couldn’t even pick a fight with you like I would.
What I said the day we were all last here was just rage and grief.
Not at you but at Mum & Da for failing to be perfect like I
wanted, at Mac and Kerry for not being there but mostly at myself
for being too selfish and not going that day. You were just the
easy one to lash out at but I didn’t hate you then and I don’t hate
you now,” he finished firmly, letting the words go out as casually
as he could but also shared a long silent connection between just
the two of them.

Roarke was quiet for some
time, unsure then finally nodded. “I know I was meant to die that
day.”

“But you didn’t,” Ian
shrugged. “You couldn’t help what happened, Roarke, and I’m pretty
sure they don’t want you to hurt like this.”

“Our father’s mother was
expected that day but Da still chose to go, which made her mad,”
Kerry could still hear her words but shoved that away while giving
Ryan a quiet nod. “Mac, Ry and I were supposed to take our boat out
to the island to pick them up but Mac and Ryan found other things
to do and I got held up by Kathleen, so I was late.

“By the time I got there it
was over.” This was one thing Kerry knew he’d never forget. “I
parked the boat and felt the difference in the air. I took the
stone stairs up from the beach and even before I was halfway up I
heard Roarke crying. It hadn’t been the tears like I’d heard after
a fight with Ryan but a gut wrenching loss. I found him sitting on
bloodied ground between our parents, clinging to them.”

Lightly touching the
younger man’s neck, Kerry could feel his emotions. “I knew without
looking they were already gone and only the leftover emotions let
me know what happened because Roarke was pretty much catatonic by
that point and when he did come around, he had little to no
memories of what had happened.”

“I didn’t listen to Mum
when she told me to hide on the beach,” Roarke whispered, hand now
clutching both the stone and Trinity medal Kerry had given him
back. “I went back and I saw Da fighting the beast. Mum was already
down and Sebastian was there cause I heard him gloating that while
it wasn’t supposed to go like this he’d take it. That Mum and I
were supposed to die but he’d take their deaths and leave my death
to his very own mother.”

Roarke’s eyes looked up
fully at Kerry and there was no mistaking the pain and confusion.
“Why did she hate me so much that she’d kill them or want Mum
dead?”

“I don’t know, Roarke,”
Kerry sighed, squeezing his arm. “Sometime on that island, Mum and
Da cast a spell that banished Sebastian for fifteen years and that
time is up. Now we fight him on our terms and we win for what he
took from us,” he vowed firmly, meeting each of his brothers’ eyes.
“I won’t lie and say it won’t be dangerous because it will
be.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “I
figured that out before I got here and the old man used Annie
against me,” he snorted, still not happy with that. “We’re here and
we’ll cope.”

“He’s weighing the odds in
his head,” Mac smirked but nodded to Kerry that he was
in.

“May as well,” Ian
shrugged, giving a boyish grin. “I didn’t like the play I was
doing, anyway.”

Kerry moved around so he
could kneel and be eye level with Roarke. “I know how hard this
will be for you and if I could protect you from the pain this may
cause I would and we will do that, but I need you, little
brother.”

“I know,” Roarke sighed,
closing his eyes for a long time. “I’ll stay and do this, Kerry,
because it’s what we’re supposed to do but all I ask is you help me
keep Jessica safe because I can’t lose her. I won’t lose
her.”

“Aontaim
(agreed),” Kerry held out a hand and felt the
warmth when his brother’s hand clasped his and held
firmly.

“Fine, now can we actually
sleep?” Ryan asked, yawning. “Brat’s been through hell and we’ll
all need strength to handle this.”

Mac rolled his eyes and
heard Maggie giggle. “This is coming from the bloke who gambles
forty-eight hours straight.”

“It was seventy three hours
actually, thank you very much,” Ryan threw back ready to defend his
gambling skills.

Roarke eased up and nudged
Ian. “Tell Kerry I went up to check on Jessica.”

“Sure as soon as he’s done
breaking this up, I will,” the boy agreed, wincing as Mac shot
something back and Ryan’s temper went into sniping mode. “This may
be sometime next week. Get some sleep too, Roarke,” he
urged.

It was odd looking at his
baby brother and seeing an eighteen-year-old young man but Roarke
nodded, hoping Deirdre didn’t decide to check on his
brothers.

Roarke decided before going to check on his
friend he’d shower and change in order to ease the stress he had
left so he wouldn’t take that in to her.

Stripping, he stepped into
the shower and was again thankful that sometime in the last fifteen
years, Kerry had remodeled the entire manor in which all the
bathrooms now had modern showers.

Wincing as the hot water
hit him, Roarke leaned into the spray for a long time as he used a
meditation routine to force his stress out of his body. He was in
the midst of rinsing soap from his long black hair when he felt the
presence from his room.

Always a man aware of his surroundings,
Roarke was mentally cursing himself for getting so at ease in this
house that he’d lost that caution until he sensed something else
and he blew out a breath.

“I’ll be out in a second,
Jessica,” he called through the bathroom door that he’d left open
as he quickly finished showering and just grabbed his
jeans.

Stepping out into the room
he saw Jessica Hadley wandering around, her one arm still held
gingerly as she moved, and he felt her wariness.

“You shouldn’t be up, luv,”
he spoke softly from beside her, quickly reaching for her elbow
when she turned too quickly and got off balance. “Easy.”

Blinking up at him, Jessica
seemed to be shaking off sleep for a few more seconds. “I woke up
and you weren’t there so I wasn’t sure what…” she seemed to stumble
on what to say.

“I had to talk with the
others and then decided to take a shower before I came back,”
Roarke explained, gently guiding her to a chair. “Have a
nightmare?”

“No, just woke up,” she
replied, wincing at the dull ache she had. “I wanted to be sure you
were alright.”

Feeling her pain, Roarke
was careful when he ran a casual hand over her injured arm to ease
the pain. “It’s still hard but I’m…coping,” he admitted, kneeling
next to the chair. “I wish you and the others weren’t involved
but…”

“We’ve faced worse before,
Roarke,” Jessica told him, smiling to reassure him on instinct;
fingers running through his thick still damp hair when he sat on
the floor and rested his head against her legs. “We’ll get through
this.”

“I hope so, luv,” he
sighed, knowing she was unaware of the pain he was taking as he sat
still to allow her to reassure him.

Silence filled the room
until Roarke lifted his head to meet her eyes. “You’re tired,
Jessica.”

“So are you, hotshot,” the
British girl countered, hating to be hurt to the point where she
was this weak.