Into the Fae (15 page)

“What the,” Kara mumbled. She stood frozen, and her eyes widened as suddenly more people appeared, literally just appeared around the woman on her right.
“That didn’t just happen,” Kara mumbled. “That’s not possible, it’s not real. I’m just tired.” She was trying to reason with herself and failing miserably, especially when the women began to talk.

“You cannot have her
, Lorelle,” the woman on the right said coolly.

The woman called
Lorelle laughed and it made Kara’s skin crawl. “You aren’t going to stop me this time, Perizada.”

Okay
, so that’s a strange name,
Kara thought and then added
really you’re worried about her name and not the fact that they appeared out of thin air?

“You have a weakness that I do not,”
Lorelle told Perizada. “You care. You care for humans and the miserable existence they call life. So how are you going to save one healer when there are dozens more in danger?” Lorelle lifter her hands and Kara watched as the woman literally shot light from her palms directly at the diner.

She heard the other woman yell but didn’t wait to see what she and her band of
suddenly appearing people would do. She dove off of the pier into the sand below, all the while yelling Lisa’s name. The explosion was not near as big as Kara thought it should have been and when she looked up she saw why. The woman named Perizada had her hands out in the direction of the diner as well and was doing something to minimize the damage that the first women’s strike had done. Suddenly there were feet by her head. She looked up slowly and into the face of Lorelle, the woman she had first seen, the woman who felt like malice and emptiness all rolled up into one.

“You are coming with me,” she told Kara as she snatched her wrist and jerked her onto her feet. She didn’t appear that strong, but she lifted Kara as if she weighed nothing at all.

“Ah-ah-ah, Lucian,” Lorelle chided pulling Kara against her chest and wrapping a hand around her throat. “Move any closer and I will snap her neck.”

“You will not. You need her, though for what I do not know,” the huge man she called Lucian said calmly. A little too calmly for the circumstances if you asked Kara, which he did not.
In fact he didn’t take his eyes off of the woman holding her. His silver eyes seemed to glow as he bore down on them.

“If you were sure that I would not kill her, then you would
charge me. But you are not sure; therefore, you will stand there like the helpless male that your species constantly produces and watch me take what you think belongs to you.” Lorelle tightened her grip on her as more of the group appeared.

“This isn’t over
, Lorelle.” Perizada’s eyes could have burned holes into Lorelle with the anger that her gaze bore. “Oh and don’t bother looking for the other healers, I think the score stands at 3 to 2. As usual you’re losing.”

Please don’t taunt the woman who might snap my neck,
Kara thought as she stared at the group across from her. They all looked ready to kill, and she had no doubt that even the smallest among them could.

“
I grow tired of being in your bitchy presence, Peri. Rest assured you have not seen the last of me, and boy do I have a surprise for you. My master will not be pleased you have thwarted his plans.”

“Then I imagine it’s your own ass you should be worried about,” Peri snapped.

Lorelle shot another bolt of light at the group just as darkness swallowed them. Kara tried to close her eyes and take slow deep breaths because she knew at any moment she was going to puke all over the not nice lady who wanted to kill her. Then again that might not be such a bad thing.

Kara felt her
feet hit the ground and stumble forward, her face nearly colliding with the grass and dirt beneath her. Thankfully her palms slammed into the ground first stopping her from getting a mouthful of earth. She pushed herself up quickly, not wishing to be vulnerable to the threat she knew Lorelle posed and quickly looked around. Forest surrounded her and Lorelle was several feet away staring at her as if she had grown a second appendage in an unsavory location.

“If you’re going to cry and moan please get it out of your system now because I get irritated with bumbling twits, and when I get irritated I do painful things.”
Lorelle’s lips tightened as she spoke and her whole body seemed to tense up.

Kara didn’t respond to the remark but instead turned to see a girl around her age emerge from the forest. She was fair skinned with strawberry blonde hair and radiated gentleness.
She wore worn out jeans and a grey t-shirt that said ARMY across the front that looked like it might have actually been in a war.

“Are you like her, or me?” Kara asked
wanting to know exactly what the score was.

“
Last I checked I couldn’t just vanish into thin air only to reappear somewhere else,” the girl told her.

Okay, so two to one,
Kara thought
. But judging that the one can shoot bolts bombs from her hands really makes it more like two to one thousand.
So not so great odds.

“I am going to make this as simple for you two as possible because frankly I don’t like talking to you.
You both are descendants from a long line of gypsies; please tell me you know what a gypsy is?”

“A nomadic people that primarily lived in Europe until they began to migrate to the United States in the 1800’s,” Jewel recited quickly.

Lorelle’s eyebrows rose. “Let me guess Wiki is your one true friend?”

Jewel didn’t seem offended as she answered. “I work in a
library; you learn stuff when you work in a library.”

Lorelle
shrugged. “Whatever, okay so you know what a gypsy is. Well you two little lovelies have gypsy blood somewhere in your heritage. Don’t ask me where because frankly I don’t give a damn. Because of your gypsy blood you have an affinity for magic that regular, mundane, humans do not,” Lorelle took a deep breath and then continued on. “And because of that you have been chosen by the Great Luna to be healers to the packs of Canis lupis around the world. Any questions?” She held up her hand to stop the two girls who had both opened their mouths. “Wait, I forgot, I don’t care.”

She closed her eyes briefly and rubbed the frown that was forever gracing her lips with her hand. Finally she looked up at the wide eyed healers. “I would tell you to stay here, but really where are you going to go? I’ll be back,” she thought about it and then waved a hand carelessly, “before you can starve to death.” Then she was gone, just poof gone.

“Ow!” Kara squawked suddenly and rubbed her arm where the very guilty looking Jewel had just pinched her―hard. “What was that for?”

“Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I’ve read
that in dreams that even when things happen that should be painful you don’t actually feel any pain,” Jewel explained.

“We may not be dreaming but I haven’t ruled out that we might be
trippin’,” Kara admitted as she looked around the dark, densely populated forest.

“You mean drugs?” Jewel’s voice rose just a little revealing the doubt she had about Kara’s conclusion.

“No of course not, I meant Lucky Charms.” Kara closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, that was rude. I sometimes get a little testy when I’m stressed out. This situation qualifies as extremely stressful.”

Jewel smiled in a way that Kara knew she was forgiven, and more than likely Jewel was the type that forgave way too much, way too often. “I think we might need to consider that what
Lorelle said is true,” Jewel told her matter of fact like.

“You mean believe in magic, gypsies with powers and Canis lupis, which if I’m not mistaken are werewolves?” Kara crossed her arms across her chest as she met Jewels steady gaze.

“Exactly,” Jewel beamed obviously pleased at Kara’s conclusion.

“What did you say your name was?” Kara asked.

“Jewel.”

Kara made an
ah
motion with her mouth as if Jewel’s name explained everything. “Well Jewel, I’m Kara and I’m here to tell you there is no such thing as magic and if there was I would have figured it out a long time ago and gotten myself the hell out of Dodge.”

Jewel nodded as if she totally understood what Kara was saying. “Well, I don’t know where Dodge is, and I’m sorry if it was a horrid place for you, but it’s hard to refute the evidence that we have and I think we could better spend our time trying to figure a way out of
this instead of trying to make sense of it.”

Kara wanted to laugh at the
girl’s obvious innocence. She wished she was still that innocent but it’s hard to stay innocent when you’re a product of the system. No parents, no love, no security, and that equaled jaded. But instead of sharing all of her baggage with Rainbow Bright over there, she simply nodded and said, “I’m guessing you have a plan?”

Jewel smiled mischievously. “
Like I said, you learn a few things when you work in a library.”

Kara didn’t know if that should comfort or frighten her.

Chapter 12

“
Defeat has never been an option. I may lose a skirmish, I may have to retreat and regroup, but I will not lose the war. There is too much at stake, although I don’t even know what is at stake. There are too many unknown variables. What I do know, what I am utterly sure of, is even if I have to go to the furthest depths of hell to save the healers my sister has stolen, I will do it, and I just might toss my sister into the pit while I’m at it.” ~Perizada

“You need to rest,” Lucian’s voice came from behind her.

“There is no rest for me. I will find none until I have done what I was charged to do. You were a warrior, you know what it is like to have o
rders that you must carry out, to have those who have been entrusted into your care to keep safe, and then fail them.” Peri held her voice steady even though she was torn up inside.

“You are doing all that you can
, love. You cannot expect more of yourself than you have to give.” Lucian’s arms wrapped around her and his breath on her neck sent a thrill through her that she wanted to enjoy but couldn’t.

She pushed his hands away as she rounded on him, her eyes narrowed and flashing with the power that she fought to contain.
“Why can’t I?” She nearly yelled. She knew her anger wasn’t at him, not really, but he was a convenient target and he had wandered into the lion’s den. “I am a high fae, centuries old, with power and wisdom beyond which the likes of even your mind can imagine so tell me why I shouldn’t expect more of myself? Tell me how I could possibly have let my sister get her wicked hands on those girls and then lay down for a little nap, or curl up in your arms and enjoy the feel of your skin and the breath from you lungs!” She was gasping for air as her hands fisted at her sides.

“I could help you if you would only let me. I could bear this burden with you,” he told her in his infuriatingly calm way.

“Ugh! Not this again! Are you serious? You want to bring up the whole mate thing at a time like this? You really want to go there, because I can’t think of ANY reason for us to take time away from searching for these girls so you can bite me and
claim
me like I’m your property only to then have your…,”

“DO NOT SAY IT,” he suddenly snarled at her. His shoulders pulled back and his chest
rose and fell with deep breaths of anger. His eyes had begun to glow and now were blazing silver that swirled in time to the beat of Peri’s heart.

She had pushed him too far.

“I am done waiting,” he growled though not nearly as loud.

“Excuse me?” Peri tried to sound threatening but it came out more as a pathetic whisper.
The weight of the task the Great Luna had set before them was weighing her down. She felt as though the lives of the entire world depended upon her, and she had no idea who, other than her sister, that she was fighting. She felt guilty for her divided attention. She should be focusing on finding the healers that Lorelle had captured and yet she found that she couldn’t keep her mind or heart off of the determined wolf.

T
hen she felt angry for having to feel guilty when all she wanted was to be loved the way Lucian was promising to love her. Most of all she wanted to feel safe and for the first time in her very long life she found the place she could go and feel completely safe ―Lucian’s arms.

“I
have been patient with you, Peri. I have helped you, protected you and loved you from the distance where you have kept me. I have given you time, but it is not helping you or me. It is simply preventing us from being whole. You cannot do what the Great Luna is asking you to do until you deal with us. You would not be divided in your attentions if your soul was whole.” Lucian’s voice, though firm, was full of understanding.

“
So you want me to what? Just take a mini vaca and have a honeymoon while Lorelle and whoever her evil master is continues doing who knows what to those healers?” Her voice had once again grown in strength as her temper once again flared. “And what am I supposed to tell the little healers Lucian? What am I supposed to say to them when I finally find them, because I
will
find them, tortured and drained of their magic? I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner but I had to get MY ROCKS OFF!”