Through Time-Whiplash (11 page)

“No,” he answered doubtfully, “but then, I haven’t tried to use magic.”

“Go ahead—
try
,
” Jazz encouraged.

He blinked, calling out loud for his death weapon. They waited and watched his open hand, but the death weapon did not appear.

He called on an old Danu spell, directing the stone bench in the distance to transport to him.
Nothing.

He said darkly, “Evidently my ability to use my Fae magic has been suspended. However, we must remember, Fae have many abilities beyond their magic.”

“Like what?” Jazz asked curiously.

“Like this,” he said. Taking both her hand and Frankie’s, he shifted them back inside the house.

“Right. Magic gone, shifting ability still present,” Jazz said thoughtfully. “Which means we still cannot outrun a Fae should one choose to follow.”

“Yes, but there may be a difference on how it works on Dark Fae. A Seelie’s resistance is greater than an Unseelie’s.”

“What about an Unseelie prince’s resistance?” Jazz asked.

“Ah, we shall have to wait and see,” Trevor said and turned to Frankie. He and Jazz had been taking turns giving her a couple of hours schooling, picking up where her mother had left off on her lessons.

“Frankie, time for you to finish your writing assignment.”

She pouted and objected, “But I want to stay with you and Miss Jazz.”

“Indeed, and we shall see you in an hour’s time, but for now, I wish to speak to your Miss Jazz privately—
adult matters
.”

She eyed them for a moment and smiled. “All right, then.” She started off, turned halfway around, eyed them once more with a wider smile, and then skipped off.

* * *

“How long do you think you will be without magic?” Jazz asked him curiously when Frankie had left them alone.

“I was without it a full five minutes. It has, however, returned,” Trevor said as he took Jazz into his arms. “Stay in my arms, Jazz … this time, stay,” he said softly.

She did, and he continued to chat her up as though they were simply conversing on the sofa. “The effects of Frankie’s fireball lasts five minutes.” He stared hard at her as he bent and kissed her cheek.

“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

“I don’t know. I have told myself I shouldn’t, I can’t, I won’t, but here I am doing what I have forbidden myself. Jazmine Decker, everything you are touches something inside me … you are in my head, you are …” His kisses traveled to her neck, and then he nibbled up to her ear, where his tongue tickled her senses in a way that made her knees turn to mush.

“I … you … this …” she squeaked incoherently.

“When you came rushing at me—just before, when I returned from tracking the wizard—there was a look in your eyes, sweet Fios, such a look. I want to see that in your eyes again.” He locked gazes with her and then visibly sucked in air as he murmured with great satisfaction, “There—
that look
.”

He resumed nibbling and kissing her neck and earlobe and seemed in no rush to move towards her lips.

More than one part of her wanted him to get to her lips. She whispered hoarsely, “But this is … will complicate—”

He cut her off. “Not complicated at all. I am attempting to show you that I am at full potential already,” he answered, crushing her into his embrace.

His deep accent always swept through her senses. She loved his voice and the way he had of putting things.

His nibbling, kissing, licking scorched her flesh and made her want more, so much more, but this wasn’t meant to be. It just wasn’t. She had to find the strength to stop him. She simply had to stop him.

Why?
Tammy asked in her head.

Well, because
, she answered her friend.

Idiot, didn’t I tell you to just let yourself enjoy the moment? Jazz, here is your moment,
Tammy clucked at her.

“Okie dokie,” she answered her friend right out loud.

“Okie dokie?” Trevor repeated with a boyish grin. “I like that … it has a promise in the sound.

She said, hearing the huskiness in her own voice, “
Full potential,
yes, yes, I see that. I believe you are at full potential.” Something inside her still resisted, and she added, “But we have other matters to attend to …
now
.”

“None like to this,” he answered in that Old World style that drove her libido into overdrive.

She groaned, and her lips parted. She so wanted his nibbling to find her lips, and then his mouth covered hers, and his tongue dove inside with an intensity that made her toes curl
. Yes,
she thought. Her toes were curling, and she wanted out of her shoes, out of her clothes.

It was as though he read her mind.

He scarcely blinked, and her clothes were gone.

She was fully naked and still in his arms, her flesh pressed up against—
oh yeah,
she thought. Now his clothes were gone, and he was pushing her back against the wainscoting of the library wall, pressing his naked body into hers.

Fire
—her body was on fire, itching uncontrollably for his touch, but she was also stunned at the suddenness of it all. Who was this woman responding to him with such abandon? She was always slow and steady. She didn’t just jump into bed with—
holy shit
, his hands moved just right.

She tried to find her voice, but it came out as a croak. “
Clothes
 … put on my clothes.”

“But they will be in our way,” he answered reasonably.

He stood at full attention just a bit apart from her, and her eyes swept over him, lingered on his huge dancing shaft, and then snapped up to his face. She swallowed and repeated with a moan, “
Clothes
 … yours, mine …
on
.”

He immediately complied but ran a frenzied hand through his flaxen locks. His gold eyes held confusion as he said, “
I am sorry
 … I misread you …”

He hadn’t
. He simply hadn’t misread her. She had been dreaming about him, wanting him, imagining him on her, in her, and when he had so generously allowed Frankie to practice her magic on him, she realized all in one thought that
he was the one.

She had finally found her hero, and he could never really be hers.

~ Eight ~

PRINCE TREVOR DIDN’T need much sleep. After Jazz’s rejection, he couldn’t have slept even if he had tried.

He spent the night, instead, trying to devise different scenarios and various plans to deal with the threats at hand. He had made light of Hordly’s and Baudali’s union, but theirs would be a formidable power.

Even so, when morning came, even though he had expected it, he thrust a hand through his hair and wondered how he was going to keep his hands off Jazmine Decker. He found he needed her more than he could express, wanted her more than was bearable. He had been with beautiful Fae experienced in the art of lovemaking, and yet they were nothing compared to what he felt for this beautiful human.

Somehow she had taken over his mind, his essence.

He had to concentrate on Hordly and Baudali. He simply could not allow his thoughts to wander …

He shifted outside to watch the show and realized even passing humans would be able to witness the fever of nature being used at its worst.

Humans would put it down as the worst storm they had ever seen, but see it they would!

He knew because he had listened in on their conversation that the Dark Prince and the wizard had already figured out how to use their combined black magic to open a portal to his and Jazz’s time period in the Human Realm.

Thunder, resounding thunder that made the sheep in the neighboring pastures run aimlessly in mad fear, boomed, clapped, cracked, and threatened overhead. A natural occurrence during a storm, there was nothing natural about this thunder, and it was not accompanied by rain.

Once again, Dark Magic was at work, and this time Trevor took it all in, became familiar with its scent, with its power, with the fact that it was being wielded by the joint partnership of a Dark Sorcerer and a Dark Prince.

The earth moaned as though filled with excruciating pain, and Trevor, at one with the earth, felt its agony with growing fury. The ground begin to crumble as jagged lines slashed through the pasture outside their warded lands.

Prince Trevor watched what was happening with restraint. He had to wait for the right moment.

If Hordly and Baudali were allowed to succeed, they would cause great harm to this time period. Trevor knew he had to make certain
they did not succeed.

More intense than an earthquake, the fissures widened and swallowed up small bushes and trees into their yawning depths. Above, a horrible visage appeared. It was Baudali, but his face was contorted, pockmarked, and his black tongue hung from a mouth whose fangs drooled bloodied saliva as his power grew. Trevor knew this was because Hordly was beside the wizard, helping him with a spell never meant to be so carelessly installed. They had but one purpose, and they didn’t bother with the precautions required for such a spell. They only cared about one thing: opening the door to the future, the future he and Jazz had been sucked out of.

The sky was a blanket of charcoal-colored clouds hovering menacingly over the broken earth except above Prince Breslyn’s estate, which remained untouched by all this and invisible to the human eye.

Trevor clenched his fists and closed his eyes as he worked his Seelie magic. He had known what Baudali meant to do and had been preparing for this moment, although he had not expected it so soon.

He would have to eventually get to the source to repair the damage the Dark Ones had created. That would be the tricky part but an important part of his plan.

Timing,
however, was everything.

He had to wait, for he would use his own very controlled, very powerful Dark Magic for only a moment and combine it with his Seelie magic to put an end to their first efforts.

It wouldn’t stop them, however; he knew they would keep trying until he could send the Dark Prince back into the Dark Realm. That would put an end to Baudali, who could not achieve time travel without Hordly’s Unseelie magic.

The Wizard Baudali had summoned the worst of Dark Magic, using it to draw on the elements of earth, wind, and fire, and it raged before his eyes.

Hordly had added his own Dark Fae Magic as well, and combined the two became a viable power. And so it had begun—
the wormhole to the future
.

Ordinarily, even a Seelie Fae would have difficulty confronting the remaining element, since its power was a force the Seelie Fae could not always contain. However, as a Royal, he had been trained and knew the knack of patience. He knew the knack of it all was
timing.

The Dark Ones couldn’t be allowed to get to the future. He had to find a way to stop them, or life on earth would be forever and horrifically altered.

Trevor knew the wizard, who was from this time, had lived through this century into the next and the next after that. He could not be allowed to enter the future, where he might confront his future self—if he did, it would be catastrophic.

Trevor sighed heavily as he considered both the wizard and Hordly. They had drawn on the three elements, yes, but one element was left for Trevor to use to advantage, and that one he had control of now. He was ready, for it had reached its maximum power.

He had to wait for just that right moment.

Jazz and Frankie had come running outside and stood flanking him.

Jazz’s nearness had an unexplainable effect on him. She had denied him, but he couldn’t stop himself from wanting her. He needed as much as wanted to hold her. He needed to keep her safe from harm, he needed to touch her, kiss her, reassure her and make her his own, and
by damn,
when this was over, he would win her human heart—confound all the rest of it!

He couldn’t think of that now, but he damn well was going to keep her safe. He said authoritatively, knowing in advance she wouldn’t listen for her sake but perhaps for Frankie’s, “Take the child and go indoors. I have to go to the source and stop this.”

“We are staying with you,” Jazz answered.

“Aye,
with ye
,” agreed the child with such a grim little face that he just wanted to hug her and take her away where she could play and lead a normal life. Then Frankie added solemnly, “We mean to help ye.”

“I can’t have you two in danger. It will inhibit me,” he answered roughly. He was growing overly fond of the child—what by Danu was wrong with him? He knew she would have to go to parents who could love and care for her, but even in their few days together he had grown accustomed to her presence, to giving her lessons, to the daughterly affection she bestowed on him, and he found that
he bloody well liked it
. She made him feel oddly warm inside.

“We won’t be in your way, Trev. We will be your extra arms.
We can
help. I know it.” Jazz put her hand to her chest. “I know it in here—” Her hand then went to her stomach. “—and I know it in my gut. Call it a woman’s instinct, Trev. Please, take us with you.”

“I have to go into
their lair
, Jazmine Decker. They won’t be expecting me, but it will still be very dangerous. I have to stop what they are doing, for they are attempting to warp the curvature of the universe and open a time portal.”

“How can they do that? How?”

“It cannot be done without peril to the earth. What they are doing is attempting to create a bridge between now and the future. They are going about it the wrong way and not taking the necessary precautions. I must stop them. If you come, you will be a distraction.”

“We will be a distraction for you to use
against them
,” Jazz answered with excitement. “You could deposit us where we could catch their attention, while you do what you have to do. We can hold our own—I know we can—and then you shift in, grab us, and off we go.” Jazz said, now sounding feverish to stay with him.

She had a point, and Trevor was quite used to fighting side by side with female warriors, but the thought of his mortal Jazmine Decker and the mortal Fios child being in danger made him feel nearly sick with concern.

“Frankie can use her fireball on Hordly, and perhaps I can distract Baudali, play on his ego? All you would need is a moment …” Jazz added

His mind, usually so pragmatic, was now in a frenzy of indecision. Suddenly, he knew she was right. If this was to succeed, he would need their help.

“Well then, get ready, my sweet girls,” he said softly.

“
Yes!
” Jazz made a victory fist and then immediately demanded, “How—what are we going to do? What do you want us to do?”

He touched her face and looked long into her blue eyes, such exquisite eyes. They seemed to glow and draw him inside her. He wanted to be inside her …

He abruptly stopped that line of thinking and stepped away. “You should know a little about the spell I am about to enact. It is an ancient Danu spell, created by our Queen Bridget before she and the Dark King separated and went to war, before he inadvertently caused her death. We were taught how to draw on the best of the elements and use them. All Royals were taught to perfect this skill, a skill practiced repeatedly until maturity. I was taught to wield the elements, all the elements, as soon as I was able to walk.” He eyed Jazz and added, “Baudali and Hordly are using the elements to warp the curvature of the universe. They believe if they are successful it will open a portal to our future. The danger is Baudali lives in the Human Realm. He is, to all practical purposes, immortal and has survived the centuries and has a life in our century, Jazmine Decker. So, you see, he cannot be allowed to occupy a space that his future self occupies. He must know that but doesn’t care … and one can only speculate why.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Although he’d said they could help, he wanted to tell them he’d decided against it, to insist they stay safely in Breslyn’s castle. However, he knew her, knew she would do whatever it took, which would mean she would not stay behind the warded lines. She could get herself hurt—or worse.

Better to have her and the child where he could protect them. He didn’t seem to have a choice. He took her hand. She already had Frankie’s hand in hers, and so he shifted them off.

* * *

They emerged at a distance from the barn. They were hidden in the dark of the woods, but a great fissure had opened up and swallowed the earth just a few feet away, leaving a jagged, gaping hole.

Trevor scooped her and Frankie up and did something, she had no idea what, that left them floating a few feet off the ground as he scanned their surroundings.

“What are we doing?” she whispered.

“Hovering—now quiet,” he answered.

She held Frankie tightly to her, and they hovered. It felt very strange, but they were able to watch Baudali, who stood in the field just outside the barn with his legs spread wide beneath his black robe, his arms outward, palms held up to the sky.

At his side was the Dark Prince.

They were both reciting ancient words, and then Hordly said with great disdain, “Well, Wizard, it doesn’t seem to be quite working.”

Baudali ignored him and kept on chanting.

And suddenly Jazz knew. Her Trevor had one advantage that she knew of. Hordly hated Baudali. She sensed it, saw it,
was sure of it.

They could play one against the other. Both had huge egos.

“I have to wait for just the right moment …” Trevor gritted his teeth.

“Set me in the field … near enough so that I can slam Hordly,” Jazz said.

“No, he will recover and kill you with a thought,” Trevor said, “but I do have another idea.”

Jazz and Frankie moved in close as he bent closer, all of them still hovering above ground, and explained his plan.

Impressed, Jazz stepped back and said, “Trev, that is brilliant!”

He seemed to preen, and she almost giggled but managed to restrain herself, and then a thought popped out. “Aren’t Fae committed to non-interference?”

“Yes, but there are exceptions, not for individual gain, but for the world as a whole, and now we have two worlds, yours and mine, at stake.” He bent and kissed Jazz’s nose. “
Be ready when I bring you back …
”

“Bring us back? Back from where?” The next thing she knew, she and Frankie were being thrust through a tube whose walls, which appeared to be made of a sticky material, checked their speed. Even so, suddenly, and while she still held onto Frankie’s hand, they were spat out like discarded chewing gum and found themselves rolling through a field of blue grass.

Blue grass
? Jazz looked around with a sinking heart and then looked up to confirm by the two suns only slightly obscured by clouds that Trevor had sent them into another dimension.

She closed her eyes and then opened them to shout, “Trevor, Prince of Lugh, I am so going to kill you!”

“Where are we?” Frankie asked as she looked around.

“Evidently our Royal wants us temporarily out of the way. I’m guessing this is another dimension, one he must know is safe, so don’t worry, Frankie. We’ll be okay until he decides to fetch us back.”

“I never worry when I’m with you and the prince,” Frankie said and smiled warmly up at her.