The Morrigan: Damaged Deities (49 page)

Ancient relics, they were of a caste of tools and weapons not seen in ages. 

Forged in unearthly metals, they were known to be unbreakable, infused with the essence of the first gods, the First Creators. 

They were meant to keep the gods in check, should any grow hungry for power beyond their lot.  They could contain the god’s magic, render them useless. 

Morrie and her sisters had used an ossuary made by the First Creators long go, to contain an old foe…

No!

Danny stepped back and rolled his head, stretching.

“Gods, I’ve grown weary of this body.”

And in response, that body began to change. 

Stretching upward his height increased, the muscles in his arms and legs nearly doubling in size.  The black curls disappeared, revealing a bald, shiny head.  The features of his face morphed into harsh lines, sharp edges.  Danny’s pale skin darkened and colored, turning a cold, icy blue.

Dagda.

Morrie almost whimpered. 

But soon a wonderful, beautiful rage burned any concern away.  She had allowed herself to be blinded to the perils around her and she had allowed herself to grow weak. 

But she was not weak, she was a fighter. 

A warrior goddess.  And she had an axe to grind with this particular god.

Dagda pressed up against her, cupping her face in his cold hand. “The Eve of Samhain grows near, Morrigan. Would you like a little foreplay or do you still prefer to just get straight to the deed?”

“How did you get free?” Morrie snapped. 

He might have thought her savvy to his plots, that she enjoyed playing tricks and once, long ago she had.  But she didn’t want to play anymore.  She didn’t want to pretend. 

Frowning, Dagda took a step back.

“You didn’t know?” A look of sympathy passed his blue face as he tilted his head again. “Oh Morrigan, how far have you fallen?  Does that mean you really did care for the Celt again?” He grinned. “Did you really give your heart to a human again?  Silly goddess.”

Thunder exploded across the sky, unleashing a downpour of rain and in the distance, Morrie thought she heard a tortured bellow echo through the foothills.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY-
T
WO

 “I feel the presence of the armies tonight.”

Cu Chullainn, Táin Bó Cúailnge

“You need to shift.  Now.”

The sudden departure of his brother still had Kamden staring blankly after the space he’d left behind. 

He’d never seen him move so quickly and everything else seemed to be keeping his pace, these newest events throwing Kamden’s world into chaos. 

He turned back to Bev, frowning at her order.

“What?”

“There is no time to waste,” she started towards the front door, her sister close behind. “If Morrie doesn’t give Dadga her body, he’ll take her blood.  That means the humans’ false belief of being alone in this world will be shattered.  The gods will be restored without worship to give them power.  And I have a good feeling Morrie’s not going to give Dagda the goods, so we need to move fast.  We can transport ourselves to the loch, but I assume you can’t move as quickly unless you shift.”

It had been decades since Kade shifted, the last time going horribly wrong.  He had thought foolishly back then that he could control his urges, but he’d been young and naive, the monster within him easily overpowering him.  And it had resulted in the loss of the only woman Kamden had ever loved.

“Earth to bloodsucker.” Bev snapped her fingers in his face. 

Blinking out of an apparent trance, Kamden answered, “Aye?”

“Your brother is running headlong to face a god who hasn’t gotten any in two thousand years and is probably pretty pissed about it.  So you wanna make like a bat and fly?”

Kamden had no choice.  He knew very little about this god, but from what he’d heard and knowing his brother’s propensity for trouble, Kade was going to need help.

“Aye, lass.  I’ll see ye both there.”

Bev nodded and disappeared.  Kamden knew he should have been impressed, but that would have to wait for another time. 

Instead he let go of the tentative hold he had on the duality within him, always tittering a little more to that dark side and felt his body give in. 

With a sharp cry, his limbs and torso contorted and dissolved, his body becoming more shadow and mist than solid flesh.  His fangs protruded, stabbing into lips that were barely there. 

Throughout it all the goddess, Macha, remained and watched. 

Only Kade and their mother had ever seen Kamden shift, he had always been too scared and too insecure about his appearance. 

And yet while Macy studied him with that intense, icy stare of hers, the moment felt… intimate.

Once the mass of his body had changed completely to its vaporous state, the goddess followed her sister and disappeared, leaving Kamden to join the wind and shadows, a smoky-like figure moving surreptitiously and quickly with the currents.

A
t the sound of the distant cry, Dagda had turned away to the dark horizon, his lean muscles tensed and strained beneath his blue skin. 

Something headed their way and Morrie feared she knew exactly what it was.

When Dagda faced her again, his evil smile was illuminated by the moonlight, the great and controlling orb now directly overhead.  It seemed the storm was all bark, the clouds dissipating and the night sky clearing with not bite of rain.

Midnight was drawing near. 

Despite her magic-barren state, Morrie could sense Samhain upon them, like a responsibility she had long fled from that finally caught up to her.

“What did you do to Lorna?” Morrie asked, knowing the loss of their housekeeper would crush the MacLeod brothers.

Dagda smiled and turned to his right, holding out his hand. “You can come out now, lass.”

With timid steps, Lorna appeared from behind the stone and joined Dagda at his side.  The old lady looked unharmed, she wasn’t bound like Morrie. 

She was there at her own free will?

“You’re with him?” Morrie could barely believe the words as they escaped her lips.

Dagda draped his arms around Lorna’s shoulders and smiled at her.

“She’s been helping me since she was a wee thing.  I found Chulainn not long after I was released, living down here in the lower Highlands.  I brought Lorna’s family in to keep watch, waiting for the day when you would inevitably show up.  She took over when her mother passed and when I grew impatient of waiting, she took an active role in seeking you out.”

“You betrayed them?” Morrie hissed at the housekeeper. “You called them masters, they loved you.”

“I did no such thing,” she snapped back. “I have only one master, but I loved those boys.  I only made sure you got the punishment you had coming.  You don’t deserve that boy anyway.”

Heat flushed Morrie’s cheeks.  Had she been free, she would have snapped the woman’s neck.

“When videos of your exploits in the equine world became famous, Lorna was the one who convinced Kamden to bring you here.” Dagda kissed the woman’s temple. “Her services have been invaluable.”

“It’s been my pleas—” The woman was cut off when Dagda’s fist hit her chest.  Lorna’s eyes widened at the impact, her breath suspended in her opened mouth.  Dark blood spread across her sweater.

The god’s hand shifted and something gleamed in the light before Morrie’s gaze fell on a knife.  Letting Lorna drop to a dead slump on the ground, he wiped the knife against his thigh, cleaning it of the blood. 

He raised it up between them, laying the blade flat against Morrie’s throat. 

His voice was a purr when he spoke. “Will you part your legs for me, goddess?”

Disgust and hate twisted her lips, had her seething her response.

“I never wanted to do it then, I sure as hell don’t want to do it now.  You’ll have to force me, if you think you can.”

“You know I never enjoyed forcing myself on anyone.” Morrie snorted her disbelief and the god frowned. “Not that I didn’t do it, I just never enjoyed it.  Still, I anticipated this response.” 

He trailed the tip of the blade softly down her skin, the move so shallow as to not draw blood, but still threatening.  Its point curved across her chest until it stopped between her breasts. “Besides, there’s more than one way to release the spirits.”

Blood or seed. 

Either the milk of their bodies or the blood from their veins must spill to the earth to reunite the living and the dead, to tear the fabric separating the worlds and free the gods. 

In the past, they had joined together because as deities, neither of them could bleed.  But in human form, it was possible. 

Something in the distance caught Dagda’s attention again, his head snapping to glance over his shoulder. 

Morrie could feel his excitement and anticipation like a taut string, humming with the need to be plucked. 

“Maybe I’ll let your lover be the one to do it,” he murmured when he turned back, his lips at her ear. “Maybe your hero will let the beast draw your blood.” 

Eyes wide, Morrie searched the darkness behind them.  She couldn’t see anything, but she sensed it.  Sensed the presence moving fast, moving near.

Kade.

“He wouldn’t,” she hissed, but wasn’t so sure. 

Especially not when Dagda returned to his human form and was Danny once again, grinning and laying that knife against his palm.

“Won’t he?” One eyebrow arched. “Could he control himself around you?  Could he keep the beast from killing you?  And on the full moon…”

The full moon meant Kade wouldn’t be able to control the beast.  He wouldn’t even be there, behind those red, blazing eyes. 

Would he kill her?  Rip her from the chains and drag her to the bottom of the loch? 

She didn’t think she could stop him now; not in this weakened state of hers.

With the slightest of winces, Danny sliced the blade over his palm.  Squeezing his fist, the shiny red painted his hand when he opened it.  He pressed a dark print against the rock beside Morrie’s head before stepping back. 

Still smiling, he walked backwards with his hand palm up to the sky until his heel met the loch’s lapping waters. 

“For your sake, I hope it hasn’t been too long since he last killed.” 

Then the god turned his hand over, holding it out above the waters.  One drop of blood freed itself from the wound, falling silently. 

As soon as it hit the water’s surface, Dagda disappeared.

Morrie searched the calm waters, waiting.

Her breathing had grown deeper, so loud in the eerie quiet of the night.  Even the water had silenced its waves, waiting on her fate.  And all the while that inner clock ticked, quick little hands moving closer and closer to Samhain.

The surface of the water stirred just before the wind picked up.  Morrie jerked, her unblinking stare watching it for more movement. 

Now the wind was howling, thrashing her hair across her face, stirring up goosebumps across her skin.  At the edge of the loch it ripped a branch free with a loud crack. 

Then the beast emerged.

The water splashed, waves crashing on the shore, and like a black monster, the horse rose and leapt from its dark depths before her.

Morrie yanked at her shackles, but only succeeded in bruising her wrists.  The metal clanged against the rock, but didn’t budge.

The horse screamed and reared up, kicking out its powerful legs, black hooves swiping dangerously close to her face.