My Brother's Keeper (6 page)

She knew that if she loved him recklessly--the way she had in her dreams--and lost him, there would be no recovery. She would be destroyed. That was why she had been so relieved when she met Keelan. He made her feel comfortable, and he didn't threaten to steal her sanity with a dark look that promised the forbidden. Keelan ordered Chinese food and watched anime with her. He made her laugh with made-up fortunes from their fortune cookies. She didn't think twice about sleeping next to him on the sofa in her stained sweatpants. He was her best friend; he was safe.

She took a deep breath and told the biggest lie of her life. "No, sorry, I've never seen you before."

He blinked and his eyes narrowed. "Really?"

Double damn, he knew!

She turned her back to him and took Keelan's hand. "I would remember somebody like you."

"You would think," he replied flatly.

"Kendrick, can you tell us what type of magic you'll be using here?" Rheia asked. "I'd like to disconnect him from as many machines as possible. The more the body does for itself, the better."

Anne was thankful for the interruption. She had to concentrate on Keelan now. After all, they told her that Keelan had said she was
his
mate.

She turned around and looked Kendrick in the eye. "What can be done for my mate?"

He flinched, and the muscle along his jaw tensed.

"
Heika
, ladies, I have brought refreshments," Ryuu announced as he carried in a large tray.

"Impeccable timing, as usual, Ryuu," Kendrick muttered.

"Of course,
Heika
." Ryuu set the tray down on the round table in the middle of the room. "I took the time to make another of your favorites, but if you prefer, I can take them back downstairs..." 

Kendrick peeked over at the tray, his eyes betraying him. "Is that
taiyaki
?"

Ryuu nodded. "I have red bean paste and cheese filled."

"
Anko
?" Anne and Kendrick asked at the same time.

Ryuu smiled. "It's so refreshing having the two of you here. Yes,
anko
."

Anne stepped forward. "I'd like one of those, please, and more of that green tea if you have any."

"I'd like two of the
anko
and one cheese filled, Ryuu," Kendrick said.

Ryuu turned to Rheia. "None for me thanks, my tummy is a bit on the wobbly side lately. Just some tea would be great."

Kendrick turned to her. "How do you know what
anko
is?"

"How do you?" she asked him in response.

"I have traveled all over the world, including a nice long stay in Japan. You?"

Anne looked down at the floor. There was no way in hell she was going to admit to being the biggest
otaku
in the state, especially not to him or Ryuu. "I must have seen it on the travel channel or something," she mumbled.

"She speaks with a perfect accent. She must have seen many programs with native speakers for her to speak so well," Ryuu volunteered.

Kendrick smiled at the squire. "Thank you for making another one of my favorites. I won't scandalize you again by offering sexual favors."

Anne felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head. Kendrick was flirting with him? Ryuu not only knew his favorite foods, but made them for him as well? Could they be mates? Maybe the dreams she saw was showed an older version of Keelan after all.

Rheia sipped her tea. "While you two snack, can you tell us what spells you'll cast?"

Kendrick had just taken a huge bite of one fish-shaped treat. He went to answer and nearly choked. Laughing, Anne handed him his tea. When their fingers touched, she felt a jolt of electricity run down her arm. He gulped down his tea, his eyes never leaving hers. Finally, she looked away and picked up her own snack. 

Unfaithful hormones!

Kendrick cleared his throat. "I'll be casting a stasis spell, which will prevent muscle atrophy. I have material that can be used as a diaper that is self-cleaning and a set of garments that will not only become whatever type of clothing you require, but will also keep him clean."

Anne turned to Rheia. "That would eliminate the need for a catheter or rectal Foley, which can cause necrosis." She turned to Kendrick. "Your stasis spell, would that also prevent bed sores?"

Kendrick nodded. "Yes, it will preserve the body exactly how it is now. Considering the fact that there is no current physical damage, it will keep him in ultimate health."

Anne ran through the mental checklist for coma patients. If she didn't have to worry about bathing, turning or changing Keelan, then there was little need for most of their equipment. "How does that self-cleaning diaper work?"

"I'll put it on Keelan in the same way a mother would diaper her baby. Any form of elimination is immediately disposed of and the body cleansed. It requires no maintenance or monitoring," Kendrick explained.

"I can do that for you if you'd rather not," she offered.

Kendrick shook his head. "It wouldn't be the first time I've put a diaper on Keelan. I raised him after our parents died."

Rheia sucked in her breath. "Kendrick, I didn't know. I'm so sorry. It must be hitting you twice as hard since you had to be both a brother and a parent. I can't imagine Penny being..." She stopped and swallowed hard. Ryuu wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Is he on any type of medications?" Anne asked Rheia gently.

Rheia shook her head. "As Kendrick said, he wasn't hurt physically so there was no reason for antibiotics or painkillers."

"So the only thing he'll need is a feeding tube and an IV for hydration?" Anne asked out loud.

Rheia thought for a moment and nodded. "Kendrick's spell and magic items will actually help Keelan tremendously."

Anne looked over at Keelan. "Kendrick, Rheia, whenever the two of you are ready, let's get our boy comfortable."

CHAPTER FOUR

Anne, Rheia, and Ryuu left the room while he stripped Keelan and got him into his new clothes and diaper. Anne was Keelan's mate? His mind was racing. Anne was the woman from
his
dreams. The one he was sure was his
own
mate. What kind of mind fuck was Fate trying on him now? The way Anne had looked at him, he was certain that she had recognized him, too, but she had made it a point to call Keelan her mate. 

He carefully buttoned up the pajama top and pulled the blanket up the way Keelan had liked it as a child.

All the way to my chin Ken-nick, so the monsters won't get me.

Do you think that there are monsters out there dumb enough to hurt you with me watching over you?

No, but just in case there are real, real,
real
dumb ones, tuck me in tight.

Kendrick smiled at the memory and felt his eyes fill. Little did he know then, there were monsters out there that cared very little that he was Keelan's brother.

"You just sleep, little buddy. I'll figure out this clusterfuck before you wake up. Everything will be okay," he promised. He picked up a soft bristled brush and began brushing his brother's hair in place.

He heard a knock at the door. "Can we come in now?"

"Yes." 

Rheia and Anne walked in as he was finishing up. "He looks so much better now." Anne said hurrying to Keelan's side. 

Rheia nodded in agreement. "He really does. With only an IV and feeding tube, he looks almost normal. That stasis spell even preserved the flush in his cheeks. He's like a male version of Sleeping Beauty."

Anne turned to Kendrick. "Can you watch him for a couple hours? Colton and a gentleman named Sascha are running me into town before their council meeting. I need to pick up my things, break my lease, and let Bart know I quit. I hate leaving on such short notice, but he knew I could land a nursing job at any time."

Kendrick didn't want her in town alone with only two warriors for protection. Without confronting her about his dreams, he had no right to dictate her actions. "Maybe you should take a witch along as well, for safety," he suggested.

"I'm sure Colton and Sascha will be fine." Anne said.

"Actually, I agree with Kendrick. I'll suggest that they take Quinn along; he's in Sascha's unit." Rheia said. 

Kendrick breathed in internal sigh of relief. "Foxglove?" She nodded.

Even better, he knew that Quinn was an exceptional witch when it came to protection, especially since he had personally sent the warrior some shielding spells from the archived grimoires. Technically, the older and more powerful spells were supposed to be studied and memorized in Storm Keep, which meant the younger witches serving in the units didn't have half the arsenal of spells they needed to keep them safe. Kendrick had been mailing copies of spells out to the warriors and the Vanguard for centuries in an effort to keep them all from getting killed.

"Quinn is an excellent witch; you'll be safer with him," Kendrick said, keeping his tone neutral.

"If you both think so," Anne hedged.

"We do." Rheia said firmly. Kendrick winked at Rheia; after all, it was her mate going into town as well.

"Okay, well, I'm heading to the clinic. A lot of the pregnant women will only stop in when I'm there, so I like to be there as much as possible." Rheia turned to Kendrick and surprised him when she gave him a hug. "Thank God you came when you did. I didn't know what else I could have done for him," she whispered.

Kendrick rubbed her back. "You just worry about yourself and leave Keelan to me. You have a brand new life growing inside of you; that takes a lot of work."

Rheia looked up at him, her confusion obvious. "You knew last night I was pregnant, yet I never said anything. How did you know?"

"What do you know about magic?" he asked.

"Absolutely nothing." 

"Well, there are two main fields of magic, elemental and psycho/physical." Anne and Rheia just stared at him. "Earth, air, fire and water are elemental. Mind, body and spirit are psycho/physical."

Understanding lit up Anne's face. "I played an RPG where the magic was classified like that. Different classes were able to master different things. Like a Ranger could do earth magic and a cleric could heal."

"Exactly!" Kendrick paused his explanation. "Wait, there are human games like that out there?"

Anne nodded. "Yup. I always choose a paladin, a ranger, a knight and a cleric. I go for balance."

"Amazing. Paranormals think that humans know so little about the magical world, yet they invent games based on the very premise of our--"

Rheia cleared her throat.

Kendrick smiled ruefully. "Right, my explanation. Anyway. One of the types of magic I've studied is body magic. I could see the changes in your body. It's also how I knew that Keelan was an empty shell."

Rheia frowned. "If you have studied body magic, that must mean others have as well."

Kendrick nodded. "Some. It's not very popular since most paranormals heal quickly and rarely get ill."

"It's so frustrating. You can heal so much, and human doctors have to guess and try to figure things out by process of elimination." Rheia clenched her fists.

Kendrick walked over, took her hands, and gently bounced them until she relaxed. "There is another reason why body magic is so rarely studied. The body is constantly changing; every second, new cells are created and others die. Trying to treat something as simple as a virus can be life threatening to the caster. In that respect, your human science is the better method. In helping Keelan, my magic is keeping him exactly as he is, so the spell wasn't as taxing."

Rheia managed a smile and squeezed his hands. "You're not nearly as gruff as you pretend to be, are you?"

He dropped her hands and cleared his throat. "I don't know what you mean."

Rheia snorted. "Come on, Anne, the sooner you leave, the quicker you can get back. I know that Aiden wants everyone back before nightfall," Rheia said.

Anne looked at him. "I'll be back before he needs his IV bags changed."

"Take your time. I'll be in and out of this room setting up my lab anyway."

The women waved and left. For someone used to being on his own, Kendrick was shocked when the room suddenly felt empty.

Shaking his head, he walked past Keelan's antechamber. His brother had set it up to be his library and practice area; it was a sacred space for a witch. That was why Kendrick was setting up his lab in Keelan's bedroom. He cast a protective containment field around his work area and started unpacking his equipment. Grinning, he loosened his pouch from his belt. He opened it and began to pull books and test equipment from the bottomless bag. He looked back into the pouch and floated a long wooden table out and set it in the middle of the room. Now he had a place to work. 

He loved his gifts from the fae. His clothes, which changed appearance and kept him clean, had been part of a set called Gentlemen Garments. He had gotten them during a visit to Éire Danu centuries ago. Keelan now wore one of the two pieces he received along with the washing towel which was now acting like a diaper. In addition to the garments, he had been given the infinitely useful Bag of Wishes; all were gifts from the fae queen herself.

The Bag of Wishes allowed him to store anything he wanted in his pouch, regardless of size and weight. He had tried to duplicate it's magic but could never get the mass equations correct. Shaking his head at the mysteriousness of fae magic, he never appreciated it more as his lab quickly began to take shape.

Once Aiden was able to provide him with the necklaces, he would be able to start testing the different types of magic that went into creating them, including tracking down the caster. When he did find the one responsible for his brother's condition, not even the Council would be able to keep the bastard alive for questioning. The second he knew a name, the witch was dead.

*****