Guardian of the Moon Pendant (23 page)

“Are you crying because if you fail the Portal will be open?” I asked deliberately, “And all of mankind will be subjected to the wrath of a Baobhan Sith? Who only thinks of us as cockroaches infesting the earth? A demon seeking to suck the life-force out of every man, woman, and child and eating them as a light afternoon snack?”

Anabel’s dollish green eyes fluttered under her long lashes. Nothing came out of her mouth, just silence.

“Or is it because you can’t have what you truly want?” I gazed at Blane, and then hovered above Anabel, my fingertips lingering above the Moon Pendant. I could feel the energy surging through it. I have to admit, it felt good. “To have all the control you ever desired, control over your life, everyone’s life, and control over the Moon Pendant. You don’t care if you help anyone. Let’s get real here, sistah! You just want its power!”

The sharp point of a knife’s tip lay under my neck. “Cease, or be deceased,” growled Blane.

I tilted my neck back, feeling the blade’s tip pinching at my vein. I threw my hands up, pulling away from the blade. I didn’t think Braveheart had it in him. I must’ve hit a nerve with that
what her royal highness really wants
bit.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth.

Blane lowered the blade, slipping it back into his scabbard. “No one is to threaten the Guardian!” he demanded.

“Guardian?”
I laughed, shaking my head, not believing what I was hearing. “To hell with this,” I seethed, pounding my feet across the stone floor, storming out of the Great Hall.
“To hell with you all!”

Chapter 19

♦♦♦

Anabel

Izzy threw a temper tantrum and bolted out of the Great Hall, huffing and puffing, making obscene suggestions that I only wanted to control the Moon Pendant for my own selfish reasons. She was wrong. She had to be wrong. My mind began to swirl, speeding around like a car on a racetrack, sparks of energy flashing in my mind’s eye. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus my thoughts. All I knew is that I needed to be the Guardian of the Moon Pendant.

I leaned into Blane, brushing away a few strands of hair off his forehead. “You’re right,” I whispered, choking back on a sob, placing the tip of my nose to his, a tear trickling down my cheek. “We can never be together.”

“Aye,” he replied, gliding his finger across the bow of my upper lip.
“Lass, now yer turning into a true Guardian.”

My lips trembled, aching to press them against his perfectly sculpted lips. “I must charge the Moon Pendant and stop Lainahwyn.”

Blane splayed his fingers, running them through my deep red hair. “So much beauty and courage,” he said sweetly, his crystal blue eyes staring into mine.

My heart
pound
ed.

“Mayhap, that is why I fell in love with you.”

His words lanced straight through the very core of me and I couldn’t hold back any longer. We both leaned in, our lips melting together in one perfect passionate kiss. A flash of heat swelled inside of me, spreading throughout my body as fast as lightning. I was weak in his arms, purring for his affection, unable to deny our intense love for one another. What am I going to do without him? I tossed that thought out of my mind and focused on his warm arms, crushing against my tingling body.

“That is not the way the Scots say
hello
,” said Edgar’s irritated voice, pecking into my eardrum.

Blane and I separated immediately.

Edgar held up his iPhone. “I
Googled
it!” he brooded, snapping his suspenders back on, spinning around on his heels, and marching out of the Great Hall.

I leapt to my feet, chasing after him through the castle’s corridors and out the main door.

The balls of my feet skipped across the cobblestone bridge. I had almost reached Edgar. I could see the moon reflecting off his shiny combed hair. He was heading down the grassy hill. I had to tell him, it was the right thing to do.

My arm wrenched back unexpectedly, whirling me around to meet Izzy’s intense blue eyes.

“This is your last chance, Anabel,” she demanded, her hand clamped solidly around my wrist, squeezing tightly as she pressed her fingertips into my tender skin. “We need to rescue, Fergus!”

“No,” I argued back, spitting irritably. “I need to stop, Lainahwyn!”

“We can catch her in her lair,” Izzy disputed. “Unsuspecting.”

She just never gives up! How many times do I have to tell her?

I yanked my arm away from her grip. “We’ll stop her by charging the Moon Pendant and closing the Portal.”

“When are you going to get it through your thick skull?” she said, looking at me as if I was a crazed woman. “You’re not strong enough! Mom failed on the third task. So did, Rose.”

“The Moon Pendant is mine!” I said enraged, my nostrils fuming.

Izzy’s face relaxed, her eyes turned pensive, inching away from me. “You were never going to give it to me were you?” Izzy said coolly.

“You wouldn’t be able to control it,” I hissed, infuriated that she even tried to disobey my wishes.

She stepped back slowly, her face stoic. “I know what I have to do now…” Izzy said, traipsing away, her black leather coat billowing behind her.

I took a deep breath and continued my chase after, Edgar. Hiking through the rocky hillside, I found him near a moss cover boulder on the edge of Lainahwyn’s cave.

“Edgar!” I called out.

Edgar halted, pivoting around to face me. He’d been wandering as if he was in was in some sort of delirious trance.

“I…” I stammered, pausing on my words, not knowing what to say to him.

“If you’re going to bring up the inappropriate moment when I found you with another man,” he uttered, his head hanging low and then rose up to meet my eyes. “We’ll, more like a warrior from Braveheart or a younger version of Rob Roy, but still one that contains the x and
y
chromosome. Well, yes. I was deeply disturbed.”

I slowly moved in front of him, standing face to face.

“Especially,” he continued, “because of the fact that your lips were joined together, swapping more germs than if you drank a glass of water from the garbage compactor scene in Star Wars.” 

My palm cupped his rosy cheek. “Edgar, sweet, Edgar,” I said softly.

“How could you?” he brooded, “You lied to me! You’re not the girl I knew in High School.”

I didn’t know how to explain everything to him. I was tongue tied. “Edgar, a lot has happened since I last saw you in New York.”

“Yes, I agree,” he said. “I’ve met the Fae and saw the most beautiful woman in the world. Who turns out to be a blood sucking vampiric faery. A very charming
land
this Scotland.”

“Edgar, I have changed, too.”

“You’ve only changed, to the fact, that you’re now sworn to continue your family’s most honorable oath as the Guardian of the Moon Pendant, close the apocalyptic Portal from the Otherworld, and kill the evil vampire lady. But otherwise I see no difference,” he shrugged.

I smirked. He was quite adorable at times.

“True,” I said pinching my lips into a half smile, lingering in his chocolate eyes, hoping that the truth would come out of my mouth. “But… my heart has changed.”

“In what way?”

“I know,” I said trembling, as my hand slid into my pocket, pulling out the engagement ring he had given me, holding it up before him between my fingertips, its gold fading in the light. “We’re not meant to be.”

“This is all very vague, Anabel,” he griped. “What exactly do you mean?”

I took the palm of his hand, placing the golden ring in the center of it. “It’s over, Edgar. I care for you, but my heart is…”

His fingers folded around the ring tightly. “I see,” he pouted. “No more kisses.”

“No more kisses,” I whispered.

Edgar swallowed hard, his teeth fiddling with a piece of skin on his lower lip. He pouted hard and then spun around on his heels and stumbled off into the night.

My heart did break after letting Edgar go, but I knew it was more painful to keep him. He’d never survive in Scotland. And my heart was already stolen by a handsome Highlander named, Blane.

“He’ll be fine without you,” declared Izzy from behind me. I knew she was creeping around in the shadows somewhere around here. She just wouldn’t let Fergus go, the way I let Edgar go.

I nodded. “My heart is breaking,” I said, as my eyes misted over. “And it’s not for…” I plunged my face into the palms of my hands, sobbing.

“Sometimes,” she said serenely, “you have to fight for the ones you love.”

“Yes,” I said, with a sigh of relief. Izzy seemed to really understand what was going on in my heart. She knew I wanted to fight for Blane. But how could I? I just agreed with him, telling him we shouldn’t be together.

“When you finally realize who really matters to you in your life,” she continued, “you can’t hold on to the past anymore.”

“True,” I said, feeling hopeful.

“Pretty much do whatever it takes to make it right.”

“Yes,” I muttered, staring off into the shadows of the night.

I heard a whistling sound stinging against my ear, whooshing from where Izzy stood behind me.

A powerful weight clobbered against the side of my head, jolting me forward.

Thud!

And then…

It all went black.

Chapter 20

♦♦♦

Izzy

My fingers curled around the brass rimmed telescope, a sinister grin inching across my face as I stared down at Anabel’s unconscious body, passed out cold. I knel
t
beside her, trailing my fingertips over the Moon Pendant, lingering for a moment over its energy, swirling around inside its gem stones in a cloudy mist.

Quickly, I shifted my feet, looking over my shoulder, hearing Edgar mowing through the tall grass, staggering like a fool. Standing up, I squinted hard and could see he was staring at me, gobsmacked, stumbling toward Lainahwyn’s cave.

“Go on you big nerd!” I yelled at him, releasing the telescope from my hand, it clattered hitting the jagged rocks, shattering the mirror inside into a million pieces. “I know she’s calling you,” poking my index finger at my temple. “She’s in your head.”

I took a deep breath, sauntering toward the whispering oak, leaving Anabel’s body exposed to the elements. I’m sure Blane will come by and rescue her. He always seemed to know when she needs rescuing, I told myself.

This was the part I was waiting for. I grinned from ear to ear, rolling my body under the gnarled roots of the mighty oak tree, sneaking into Lainahwyn’s lair undetected. I flipped on a flashlight, beaming its bright light against the cave’s walls, lined with human skeletons still dressed in their Sunday’s best, loosely dangling from their chains.

It didn’t take long for me to make my way through the damp labyrinth, searching to find Fergus and his dad, climbing over slippery rocks, sliding past decomposing bodies still imprisoned in Lainahwyn’s lair.

I wonder if she’ll find a new place to store the bodies if the Portal remains open and she
wins?
Ahhh…. What am I thinking?

Focus, Isobel, focus.

There they were, Fergus and his dad.

His dad lay lifeless, his dusty mouth hanging wide open, his wrists snaked together with frayed roped, moaning in pain, unaware of where he was.

Fergus, on the other hand, was tied up with barbed wired to the cave’s wall, sharp pointy pieces of metal twisted around his limbs, deep slashes gouged into his arms showing he fought a good battle, trying to free himself from his prison.

“Fergus!”
I cried, clamping my hands onto his bruised cheeks, raising his head up to look into his eyes. “Fergus, I’m here! I’m gonna get you outta this hell hole. Do you hear me, Fergus?”

Fergus’s head lolled to the side, unresponsive, his eyes a creamy white. My body shivered inside. The damn demon had gotten to him, turning him into some sort of marshmallow. I studied the barbed wire, fastening him to the dreary wall.

“I’m gonna get you out of here,” I said through clenched teeth, popping out my razor-sharp knife, and sawing through the metal wire coiled around his wrists.

“Aye, such a pretty, lass,” mumbled his dad, smacking his flaky cracked lips together, puckering them out toward me. “Now, would ya give us a kiss?”

“Sorry, Pops,” I said, struggling to cut through the metal wire. “I’m kinda busy right now.”

“Ah, you don’t say?” he said, his tongue
thrust
between his lips as if he were a baby, trying to wet them. “I wouldn’t bother with him, lass.”

I huffed staring at my knife’s blade now dull as a spoon, tossing it back into my boot, realizing I couldn’t cut the damn wire!

Ahh
! I’m so stupid! Why didn’t I swipe Blane’s short blade when I had the chance?

“He’ll be out for a bit,” mumbled Fergus’s dad. “She just fed on him.”