Shadow Blood: Kallen's Tale (Witch Fairy #4.5) (12 page)

That is it?  We simply need to slow down?  I laugh and put my hands on her hips pulling her close.  “I think that would be a good idea, as well.”

“Maybe we should have a fully clothed rule?” she whispers after checking to make sure we are truly alone.

Fully clothed?
  That seems to be taking it to the extreme.  Then again, she did not say fully clothed in what.  I can get pretty creative when I want to.  A see-through nightie that covers her from her neck to her toes is technically ‘fully dressed.’  “Agreed.”  Now my mind is quickly going back to thoughts that landed us here in the hallway talking about limits to begin with.  I drop my hands and step back from her before we end up back in her bedroom.  “We should join the others.”

Not looking forward to speaking with her parents again so soon, we trudge slowly to the stairs.  It is already the middle of the night, I am not sure why we have to discuss this again right now.  As if reading my mind, Barb moves from the shadows and asks, “Is this place always this loud during the night?”

“Sorry, Aunt Barb.  It’s been a rough night,” Xandra says.

With something close to a sneer, Xandra’s aunt says, “You two are quite the naughty pair, aren’t you.”  This from the woman who astral projected herself into the Shadow realm.  I bite my tongue to keep from saying that out loud.  No sense in having all of Xandra’s relatives mad at me.  “Are you sure keeping your little secret from Isla is the right thing to do?  You have made a binding agreement, after all.”

Is that a loosely veiled threat?  And what, exactly, does she know about our actions.  Was she peeking in through the key hole? 

Xandra’s brows knot up in puzzlement.  “Aunt Barb, are you okay?”

This time, it is definitely a sneer.  “Of course I’m okay, why do you ask?”

“I guess I thought you would be on Mom and Dad’s side and not want me to get married right now.”

She cocks her head.  “But rules are rules, Xandra.  If you break them, you have to deal with the consequences.  Didn’t your little trip to the Shadow realm drive that point home?”

This Cowan is lucky that I do not know a spell to send her soul
back
into the Shadow realm.  The fingernail grooves on the back of my hand assure me that Xandra is thinking the very same thing.  We both open our mouths to retort but Alita interrupts when she opens the door to the bedroom she is staying in.

“Xandra, I thought I heard your voice.”  She opens the door wider and comes out into the hall.  “I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier.  You saved my life.”

Red the color of molten lava creeps up from the center of the earth to spread across Xandra’s face.  She is not thinking about saving Alita.  She must be thinking about how Alita would feel if she knew what happened in the kitchen.  Which Xandra is not forthcoming about.  “You’re my only friend.  I couldn’t let anything happen to you.”  She makes a valiant attempt at a smile.

Alita laughs.  “Yes, that would leave you in a pickle, I suppose.”  An eyebrow goes up over her left eye as she looks Xandra up and down.  “And as your friend, may I say that your fashion sense has suffered greatly since the last time I saw you?”

I try not to laugh as I look down at the outfit I created for Xandra under her mother’s wrathful eye.  Maybe something less severe will do now.  Someday she will tell me what she wants to wear, but I have found so far that she is not really that worried about clothes.  Growing up in the cold, she mostly wore layers of sweaters.  That is flattering on no one.  I use my magic to dissolve the sack dress she is in and replace it with a pair of short black shorts and a form fitting t-shirt.  Yes, definitely a better choice. 

“Thanks,” Xandra says with a smile.  If only she could read my lustful mind at the moment. She may not be thanking me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Barb is tense.  She tries to inconspicuously sidle away from us.  Odd.  Xandra notices as well.  “Aunt Barb…” she starts to say, but is cut off by Alita’s cry of pain.

She was on her way to give Xandra a hug, but as she passes Barb, she drops to her knees and grabs her head with both hands.  We are at her side in a flash.  “Alita, what is it?  Is it the poison, did I miss some?” Xandra asks.

Alita shakes her head slightly and grimaces in pain.  “I was fine until right now,” she says. 

“She’s certainly high maintenance, isn’t she,” Barb says with more than a little disdain in her voice.

I do not trust this Cowan woman.  She is somehow responsible for Alita’s pain, I am sure of it.  I do not know what happened to her in the Shadow realm before Xandra rescued her but I intend to find out before she brings this house down around us. 

Xandra gives me a meaningful look before saying, “Um, Aunt Barb, how about if you and I go downstairs and Kallen helps Alita back to her room.”  Good to know she has her own suspicions.

With what can only be described as a look of disgust in Alita’s direction, Barb turns and walks down the marble stairs.  It goes against the grain to let Xandra go off alone with someone who may be carrying darkness inside of her, but then again, she can handle anything her Cowan aunt throws at her. 

I give a quick nod and then I scoop Alita up into my arms.  Her face is in a grim line as I walk her back to her bedroom.  “I will be right down,” I assure Xandra.

Chapter 18

“I am so sorry to be such a bother,” Alita says as I lay her gently on the soft bed.  “I cannot believe you had to carry me in here like a log.”

I sit down on the edge of the bed next to her and raise my brows.  “You weigh approximately the same as a jellyfish.  Are you implying I am too weak to carry you around?”

She slaps playfully at my shoulder.  “You know what I mean.  But now that you mention it, you do seem to have lost some muscle tone.  Must be all that time with Xandra is making you soft.”

I feign insult at her teasing.  “I will have you know that I work out rigorously every day.  Usually in the form of beating my cousin to a bloody pulp which more often than not he deserves.”

Alita shakes her head but stops immediately; pain is shooting from her eyes.  “You do not.  It has been years since you two have done any real harm to one another, and even then it was always accidental.  I do not understand why you both go on about such things.”

I grin and give her a wink.  “It is a special bond we have.”  I will not give her any indication things are amiss between Kegan and I.  For then I would have to explain why.

“You are all talk.  And you reek of love sickness you know.  I have never seen a Fairy tumble so fast and so hard before.”

I sniff my shoulders and underarms.  “You are mistaken, that is simply sweat.  Mine just happens to be sweeter than others.”

Her face sobers.  “You would do anything for her.”  A statement, not a question.

I nod.  “Without any regard for consequences.”  I believe I know where her thoughts are.  “He will one day figure out what is truly important in life.  I did so there must be hope for him.”

Her eyes slide down to look at her hands.  “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

I put a finger under her chin and lift her face so she has to meet my eyes.  “My cousin is the biggest jackass in existence if he does not tell my uncle to go to hell and elope with you.  He knows that he will always be welcome under Grandmother’s roof.”

She rolls her eyes.  “Get out of here.  Xandra looked nervous a moment ago and she probably needs you more than I do.”

I lean forward and kiss her forehead.  “I will leave you to rest but you have to promise to let us know if you need anything.”  She nods but I know she is lying. 

She opens her mouth but whatever she was about to say is lost when we hear Zac scream down the hall.  I am several paces ahead of Alita as I crash into his room, expecting the worst.  What I find is a scared and tired child who has just woken from a nightmare.  He practically leaps into my arms with tears streaming down his cheeks.  “Shhh, everything is fine,” I say softly, sitting down on the bed.  “Shh.”

The pounding of feet down the hall proves that his screams were heard throughout the house.  I rock him back and forth, trying to calm him down as much as possible before the others arrive.  Unfortunately, this may be a nightly occurrence for a while considering what all he has been through.  Alita sits down on the bed and rubs his back gently.

His tears are quieting when Xandra comes rushing into the room ahead of everyone else.  “What happened?”

“I believe he had a bad dream,” I say and watch the relief wash over her face.  Lord knows what she was thinking on the way up the stairs. 

I am soon forsaken for his sister.  Zac crawls to where Xandra has sat on the bed and she wraps her arms around him.  His mother is making cooing noises that all mothers should make when their children have bad dreams.  Over Zac’s head, Xandra mouths a thank you. 

“You had a bad dream?” she asks her brother.  He nods his head.  “What was it about?” 

It is no surprise to anyone when he says, “I was there again.”  His tears start flowing freely once more. 

“I’m so sorry, buddy.  I can’t imagine how awful it was for you.  Do you want to tell us about it?” Xandra asks, smoothing his hair back so she can better see his face.  “Did anything hurt you while you were there?” 

He shakes his head.  “No, but they kept saying they were going to.”

Xandra looks overwhelmed with everything that is happening to her family.  “I’m so sorry, Zac.”

I hate to be the one to broach this topic, but since he is already upset maybe now is the right time.  “Zac, how did you end up in the Shadow world with your aunt?” I ask.

A pregnant silence fills the room until he finally says, “I was playing with some of Aunt Barb’s stuff,” Zac says between sniffs.  “She told me not to, but I did anyway.  She tried to take the helmet thingy I was holding, and then we were in that place.” 

Xandra hugs him tighter.  “It wasn’t your fault, Zac.  You didn’t know what could happen.  I don’t even think Aunt Barb knew what would happen.”  If she did, she is more than a little disturbed.

“Okay,” he says in that little voice kids get when they don’t really believe what you’re saying but they want to humor you anyway.

I try to reassure him as well.  “Xandra is right; it was not your fault.” It is one hundred percent his aunt’s fault for delving into things she did not understand while allowing him to be so near.

“Zac, it’s late, why don’t you try to lie down,” his mother says.

His eyes open wide.  “What if I have that dream again?”

“We’ll be right here with you,” his father assures him.

After a moment, Zac nods and crawls off Xandra’s lap.  She leans over and kisses his forehead, “Goodnight, buddy.”

“Night, Xandra.”  He closes his eyes, but I doubt he’ll be sleeping any time soon. 

Xandra turns to her parents.  “I’m going to go talk to Aunt Barb.  Maybe I can figure out why she’s acting so…” she throws a glance Zac’s way.  “Um, interesting.” 

Her mother is radiating anger now.  Did I miss something?  “I think that’s a good idea.” 

If I did not know better, I would think that is code for ‘kill her slowly for me.’  What happened in the last twenty minutes that turned her so violently against her sister-in-law?  I intend to find out.  I stand up and follow Xandra out of the room.

Chapter 19`

As we near the kitchen we hear Grandmother start a tirade of oaths that could make one’s ears bleed.  I let go of Xandra’s hand and move ahead of her.  There is obviously something wrong here and I do not want her to be the first one to face it.

It certainly is not what I expected.  In a large pool of blood is the graying hair of the woman who has helped raise me.  Xandra is right behind me as I drop to her side where Grandmother is already checking for a pulse.  Looking up, she says, “She has a pulse and is still breathing.”  The word barely hangs in the air not needing to be spoken aloud.

Relief still floods the room.  But now we must make sure she stays alive.  Xandra lays her hand on Tabitha and immediately begins to heal her.  Thank god she has the power.  I feel the energy and magic flow through her from the earth.  She directs it towards Tabitha’s wounds, the tissue already knitting together.

But the magic slams back through Xandra and back to the earth.  Her body follows.  I am taken too much by surprise.  I am not fast enough to prevent her from hitting her head on the tile floor.  Oh god, Xandra.  I do not know what is going on, but I do know that Tabitha is dying. 

“Xandra!” I shout, trying to rouse her.  “Wake up.  You must save Tabitha!”

When she opens her eyes they are awash with confusion.  I do not believe she knows what happened either.  I put my hands on her cheeks and say, “You fainted.  You pulled magic and started to heal Tabitha, and then you fainted.”

She mumbles the word, “Pictures.”  What does that mean?  Maybe she will tell me if I stop squeezing her cheeks.  Oops.  I did not realize I was pressing so hard.

Grandmother did.  She puts a hand on my shoulder making me even more aware of it and I remove my hands from Xandra’s face.  

“Tabitha is a powerful empath, among other things.  When she touches someone, she can feel what they are feeling and see what they have recently seen.  Because your magic is so powerful, when it touched her, her gift must have used it as a conduit,” Grandmother explains.  Huh.  I did not even know that was possible.