Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke (33 page)

Frowning slightly, she
considered that. “You think Sebastian would try to enter the Stone
Circle that’s inside the woods?” she asked, knowing that to fully
begin the cycle, the five of them would need to redo a ceremony
originally done years ago. “Is he that powerful?”

“Against the five of us
once things level out, maybe not,” Roarke admitted then faced the
one thing he hated facing. “If he has teamed up with Da’s mother,
then I’m not sure what his scope is.” He leaned around so he could
meet her eyes. “I don’t want you to…”

“Roarke, I’m expecting his
tricks now and I won’t just be waking up,” Jessica interrupted him,
smiling gently to put him at ease. “I’ll be fine. It’s you I worry
about.”

Pressing a kiss into her
hair, Roarke closed his eyes. “I’ll be fine,
a gra
,” he promised, then slowly
shifted so he could lay her back on the pillows. “Let me stay with
you for awhile?”

“Avoiding your brothers?”
Jessica teased but moved slightly so he could lean against the
headboard next to her.

“No, avoiding my
grandfather’s probing,” Roarke countered, easing an arm around her
when Jessica snuggled against his chest. “You still need to rest
and I need to think.”

Jessica nodded, letting her
eyes drift closed as she listened to his heartbeat. “Remember after
that job in Vegas?” she asked sleepily.

“Aye, I remember.” Roarke
did recall that job he’d been asked in on in Las Vegas several
years earlier.

He recalled his friend,
seriously injured and emotionally wrecked, while he sat with her
and sang to help get her over the traumas.

The gentle Irish song had been one his
father had taught them as boys and he sang it softly to her now as
his arms tightened to hold the girl closer until his own eyes got
heavy and he slipped into sleep.

This was how Ryan found his brother several
hours later when he had come looking for him.

Leaning in the doorway, he
stayed silent for a long while just watching the couple then walked
over toward the bed, being careful to make enough soft noise to
wake his brother without alarming him but not to disturb their
friend.

“Brat, Kerry wants to head
out since it’ll take a couple hours to prepare the site and all
that other rot he muttered on about,” he announced, seeing his
brother’s eyes open slowly, and was silently pleased to find them
clear and alert but without the wariness they’d been
having.

“I know I felt him,” Roarke
sighed, clearheaded and alert for the first time in a long time
since coming home. “Stay safe, luv,” he whispered kissing Jessica’s
cheek softly and brushing a hand over the necklace she now wore.
“Protect what is mine.”

Ryan had seen the necklace
but stayed silent as he watched his brother close the bedroom door
with a quiet click. “She’ll be fine, Roarke,” he assured the
younger man but behind his back did place a hand on the closed door
to softly add his own protection.

In the foyer, Cameron Young
was clearly unhappy as he paced. “You redid the protection spell on
the property but advise me on what could come knocking?” he
demanded, having pulled all his current team into a closer watch
area near the manor.

“Not knowing what else
Sebastian or Kathleen may have planned, it’s hard to say,” Kerry
Fitzgerald replied as he tightened the clasp on the cloak that he
only wore at certain times. “No matter what, don’t let anyone
inside the main house unless Nick or someone can assure they’re
real and not a spell-image.”

“I knew I should have
stayed in New Orleans when all this happened,” Cam muttered seeing
Roarke roll his eyes. “Don’t start the ‘I told you so’
crap.”

Simply holding his hands
up, Roarke shrugged. “You made that choice, mate.” He looked to
where Maggie was standing. “Jessica’s sleeping but every once in
awhile could you…”

“I’ll check on her, mate,”
Maggie assured him with a smile, pointing a finger at him. “You
blokes just better all come back in one piece.”

“That’s the plan,” Ian
grinned, zipping his leather jacket up against the chill in the
air. “Of course, being allergic to poison ivy makes me wary of
going out into some woods.”

Mac shook his head as he
came out of the kitchen with a small bag over his shoulder. “You do
know you can cast a spell to get rid of it, right?”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to cast
spells for personal gain?” Ian frowned at him.

“That only applies to Ry
using a spell to win in the casinos, not for an itching rash,” Mac
told him, winking at Maggie as he paused next to her. “Keep the
books close to you and stay in the house with Gran. No matter what,
Mary Margaret, stay in the house,” he intoned firmly, hoping the
woman listened to him.

Maggie merely nodded,
leaning up to kiss his lips in encouragement. “Don’t worry so much,
Doc,” she replied easily. “We’ll be fine here.”

Fiona Kerrigan had stood
and watched her grandsons prepare for this act. “Focus on your task
tonight and know that this house and those who dwell inside will be
safe,” she lightly kissed each of them on the forehead.

“Aye, and I’d say so,”
Lorcan slammed his fist into an open palm as his eyes shined with
energy and mischief. “Been awhile since I’ve been in a good scrap
but…”

“But all will be well,”
Fiona soothed her husband. “Remember that your strength comes from
your unity. Once united, he cannot harm you.”

The brothers knew that. It
was just a question of having the time to do what would be needed
to make that unit complete again.

Once the front door closed,
some of Maggie’s cheer lessened. “He’ll try to stop them from doing
whatever it is they’re doing, won’t he?”

“They will re-form a
circle, a bond so to speak, between them that was last done when
Ian was a babe. It’s how to begin the prophecy of the Five,” Fiona
replied, her musical Irish lilt never wavering as a dog howled in
the distance.

“It’s the issue about them
surviving it that concerns me,” Cam muttered under his breath,
making sure his handgun was close. “Nick’s reporting some bad vibes
from outside the perimeter of the property line.”

Fiona knew what that meant
as she walked into the living room to look out the window. “If they
break the spell it will weaken them, but the danger is still
there.”

“I hate magic,” Cam rolled
his eyes, reaching for his radio. “I really hate it.”

“You’ve been saying that
for years,” his employer’s voice spoke from the stairs causing the
mercenary leader to sigh.

“Yeah, and I’ll keep saying
it,” he returned, looking up as Jessica Hadley came down the steps
slowly, and he noticed she had more color to her cheeks but he was
wary about it. “Pete will yell.”

Jessica waved that off as
she concentrated on hooking the shoulder holster of the 9mm
Browning Hi-Power she usually wore. “So will Roarke but what they
don’t know won’t hurt me.”

Lorcan laughed heartily.
“There’s a lass after my own heart. Our boys need strong women to
stand up to them now and then.”

“You better stop the
matchmaking plans,” Jessica told the older man easily. “I’d think
having twenty-two grandchildren already would make you
happy.”

“Their Gran can never have
enough babies to spoil,” Lorcan snorted, hoping his wife was far
enough away not to hear that.

Maggie was still staring at
that when the wind started kicking up and her sixth sense began
screaming. “Something’s wrong.”

“They need time to make the
circle ready, so Cameron, we’re going to play with the dark side,”
Jessica announced, walking toward the kitchen.

It took a good five seconds
before either Cam or Maggie realized what she had said and then
both were racing to the kitchen after her.

“Whoa, boss!” Cam skidded
in front of her, hoping he had heard wrong. “You didn’t just say
what I thought you did, right?”

“I’m sick and tired of
being a target of this bloody son of a bitch or some hateful old
woman, Cam,” Jessica replied, not slowing down as her friend kept
pace. “I also won’t let him or anyone else hurt my
friends.”

As Young swore under his
breath, Maggie was deciding the best tact to take with a girl who
could be as hardheaded and stubborn as anyone else she’d ever
met.

“Jessica, luv, I’m pretty
sure Roarke and his brothers want you, well all of us, to stay
inside during this,” she said quickly but when the girl turned to
her, she saw the fierce determination and power shining in her
eyes.

“Maggie, I’ve been fighting
things for a very long while so I know what to expect to some
extent, but as a reporter, I’m not sure what you’re willing to
risk,” Jessica knew she had missed some things but the one thing
she had noticed was the sparks between the Mayo reporter and Mac
Fitzgerald. “I know Mac can be a huge pain, but all of them can be
that. They need to prepare to form their link again so that means
Sebastian’s monsters or whatever he sent needs to be distracted to
buy them time.”

The red haired reporter bit
her lip as she considered that while thinking of the voice in her
dreams as of late, as well as what else she’s seen. “Well, at least
I can tell Mac I just followed you into the bowels of hell,” she
reasoned easily enough even as she was pulling her unruly mass of
red hair back.

“Sure, they’re used to
that,” Jessica smiled, knowing Cam would follow.

“The lads won’t be likin’
this turn,” Lorcan knew, feeling the increasing evil on the
outskirts.

Fiona knew this as well but
also knew some things meant to be weren’t always what may be
wanted. “As you yourself said, our grandsons will need strong women
to stand with them in the coming days,” she looked fondly at a
small photo hanging. “There were many a time when Brenna stood by
Toryn even when he would have had her safely away.”

“Aye, I know,” Lorcan
sighed, laying a hand on his wife’s arm. “We’ll wait and see and
help where we can.”

Stepping outside the
kitchen door, Jessica Hadley looked around and felt the strain in
the air. “Kerry’s spell won’t hold for long. It will once they do
it together, but this one won’t last much longer.”

“Translated, shoot anything
that comes near us,” Cam’s Magnum was out and cocked as he directed
his team. “Most of the baddies should be centered near the Druid
clearing.”

The girl knew this but she
also knew that was what they needed to stop. “Depending on what
Sebastian’s sent, the dumber ones will be scenting on magic and I
can probably lure them to the meadows.”

“Roarke’s going to flip if
he finds out about this,” Cam muttered, but knew they were out of
time when he saw the first shadow. “Nick’s magic bullets better
work or we’re screwed.”

Maggie had seen a lot since
she had originally taken the assignment to interview Patrick
Fitzgerald, but nothing had prepared her for the massive group of
shadows that were entering the empty meadows, much less the wave of
power that simply shot from Jessica’s fingers.

“If you can cast fire then
use that, if not go inside,” Jessica told her, knowing what type of
things these were. “Shadow creatures can’t stand fire or light or…”
she paused as one imploded after a bullet hit it. “Or a magically
coated .357 slug.”

“I can handle it,” Maggie
replied tersely, hoping she was right, but couldn’t help wondering
what Mac and his brothers would face.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The walk from the manor
house took a little under twenty-five minutes on foot and through
dense woods until they reached a clearing from the woods that had
nine large stones standing in a circle and surrounding a center
stone that was flat on top.

The stones radiated an
easily-felt energy as the five brothers stepped into the center of
the circle, and it seemed like thunder cracked in the
distance.

“That a good sign or a bad one?” Ryan wanted
to know, already removing his black coat to lay it off to one
side.

Kerry Fitzgerald simply
eased his cloak over a shoulder as he listened to things only he
could hear. “No, we still have a little time. That was just a way
to acknowledge us.”

“Y’know Sybil and Brandon
took me to Stonehenge a few times and I’ve seen other circles, but
none that have had the energy I feel from this one,” Ian was
looking around in an almost awe. “It’s weird.”

Roarke touched a hand to
one of the standing stones and felt the power pulsing from it.
“This set has been on the land since the house was built,” he told
the boy, shooting Ryan a look before he could smirk. “You could say
each of us was christened here.”

The sudden howling made
them glance toward the woods and Mac frowned. “We have
company.”

“Then let’s do this,” Ryan
muttered, shifting a look to Kerry and knowing he saw what he was
seeing.

Kerry took the bag Mac passed him and began
to lay out items like candles, a box of salt, stones of varying
color and finally a ruby encrusted dagger.