Unholy Blue (38 page)

“Nothing.” Ann reached over and slipped her hand inside Hugh's front pocket and began fishing around. “Oh, don't get so hopeful, Hugh Doyle. I'm just getting the car keys. I left my set at home.” With that, she pulled them out and jingled them in her hands. “What time should I have Cor at Orwren's? And how are you getting Bann there?”

“Orwren said around dusk.” Shay shifted on the mattress, stretching her back and overcome with a sudden desire to flop down next to a sleeping Bann and take a nap. “He'll be groggy enough that we'll just stuff him into the SUV and drive him over. These guys,” she waved a hand at Rory and James, “can stay and help me.”

“I, as well,” Hugh added. “And no arguing with
me
, missy. I'm not only your uncle, I'm also your clan leader. And I want to make sure our Healer, my niece, is safe.”

A few hours later, Shay was grateful that her uncle had stayed.
While James and Rory are no slouches, Hugh has the size and strength to handle Bann
. She waited in the dusk by the side of her SUV as Hugh, with Bann's arm slung around his neck and his own arm wrapped around Bann's waist, dragged the half-asleep Knight down the driveway and bundled him into the back seat. With James driving, Shay and Hugh sat with Bann between them while Rory followed in his Jeep.

Twilight was just giving way to night when they pulled into the empty parking lot next to Orwren's. The other stores were closed for the day. As they helped Bann out and escorted him toward the building, Orwren appeared at the edge of the lot. She was dressed in a white robe with flaring sleeves and a hood that covered her hair. The fabric shimmered in the light of the single streetlamp as she moved.

“Going a little Gandalf on us?” Rory asked. He gestured toward her robe. “Or is that your leftover costume from MileHiCon?”

She smiled at him, taking in his scruffy clothes. “Boys are so cute when they're trying to impress a woman.” She stepped past him toward Shay and Hugh, still holding a groggy Bann between them. “So this is Bannerman Boru.” She cupped his chin and lifted his head. “Quite the looker.” She cut her eyes at Shay. “Go, you.”

Bite me
. “Is everything ready?”

“It is. Let's get him inside.”

B
ANN FORCED HIMSELF NOT
to react when slender fingers curled around his chin, their coolness in contrast to the fire that still raged inside him. They reminded him of Elizabeth's—soft and delicate. Pretending to keep his eyes half-closed was easy, considering he felt like someone had gone to town on him with a baseball bat.

Letting his head loll after the fingers released him, he relaxed his muscles further, trying to fool his captors—
those bastard Fir Bolgs. And when did they capture me again?
—into a false sense of control as they dragged him toward some building he had never seen before. His vision swirled. He blinked, trying to get the world back in focus. A strong, nasty taste, like the way week-old fava beans smelled, coated his tongue.

A figure in white appeared, murmured something, then floated away. He thought he heard Shay's voice.
Did they capture her, too? And where is Cor?
All the while, the fire within threatened to burst into flames.

Wait
, the Voice told him.
Wait, and then, when the time is right, snatch the nearest weapon and start a-slashing. Fight free, take your woman, and go in search of your child
. Testing his captors' attention, he pretended to stumble.
Hands caught him, surprisingly gentle as they patted his arms.
It's a trick
, the Voice warned him.

“Shay?” he whispered.

“I'm right here.” A hand squeezed his biceps.

Good. She's near
. “Where's Cor?”

“He's not here yet. Ann is—”

“Be ready to flee,” he murmured to her. “I'll fight them off as long as I can, then follow you.”

“It's the belladonna,” Bann heard Shay say to someone. “He doesn't know what he's talking about.”

Clever lass. She's lulling those creatures into thinking I'm drugged. Good. Very good
.

He raised his head slowly, eyes half-lidded. Shay walked on one side of him. A large figure was on the other. Something about his captor seemed familiar; the light from the nearby street lamp made his hair a red flame.
Since when did Fir Bolgs have hair, red or no
? he thought wildly. A building loomed up in front of him… some sort of shop with a display window. For a moment, the captor's grip loosened.

NOW!
shouted the Voice.

With a cry, Bann wrenched free of the hands, then rammed his shoulder into the redheaded Fir Bolg and shoved him into the display window. The shrill tinkle of breaking glass ripped through the night.
And probably through some flesh as well
. He bared his teeth in savage joy.

“Bann!” Shay reached for him.

“Run!” Grabbing her hand, he bolted around the corner of the building. Two other creatures jumped in front of him. Plowing into them with a snarl, he knocked them off their feet and kept running. Hope flamed
when he spotted Shay's SUV parked in a nearby lot. He sped up, dragging a resisting Shay who kept yelling at him to stop for one damn minute. Reaching the vehicle, he dug through his jeans and yanked out his key ring. He fumbled for a moment, cursing, as he tried to find the right key.

“Bann! Listen to me.” Shay tried to grab the keys from him. “You're infected with—”

He pulled away and unlocked the passenger door. “Get inside. Now.” Running around to the other side, Bann flung himself into the driver's seat and started the engine. “Shay! Hurry!” he shouted over the engine.

Shay hesitated, looking back over her shoulder, then jumped in. “Bann, please! You need to stop and listen—”

He gunned the engine and tore out of the parking lot, just missing several figures that were running toward the only other vehicle in the lot. Tires screeching, he made a U-turn in the street and headed east.

“Where are we going?” Shay clicked her seatbelt in place.

“We need weapons.” He wiped the sweat running down his face. “We'll return home, arm ourselves, then free Cor.” He glanced over. The skepticism on the woman's face made him even more furious. A red haze filled his vision.

The Voice whispered again—it seemed to be growing louder with every minute.
Who is she to doubt you?
“I know what I'm doing.”

“Bann,” Shay began again, using the patronizing tone he was finding irritating. “You're
sick
. Cernunnos has made you—”

He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. The blow reminded him how much damage he had done to his arm. “Enough! 'Tis nothing wrong with me. I'm trying to keep ye and the boy safe from those creatures. Now, obey me!” He sped up.

Lips pressed in a thin line, Shay said nothing, but tightened her seatbelt.

Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the driveway. The house was dark. “Wait here, Shay. I'll fetch the weapons, then we will be gone. And keep the doors locked.” He climbed out, taking the keys, and nodded when she locked the car doors behind him. Glancing around at the shadows, he jogged to the front door. Inside, he headed down the hallway to their bedroom.

From the knives hanging on the inside of the closet door, he selected four and jammed one into his sheath, two through his belt. The other, he kept in his hand.
And now for Cor
. He headed back toward the front door. Just as he reached for the knob, he paused, head cocked.

The sound of car doors shutting softly. Then voices speaking in low tones as they approached. Shay's was one of them.

That bitch. I ordered her to stay in the vehicle
.

He tensed when the doorknob rattled. With a curse at the realization that Shay had betrayed him and joined the enemy, he spun around and bolted out the back door. Halfway across the yard, he skidded to a stop when he spotted two forms, both with drawn weapons. He raised his knife.

“Easy, Bann.” One of the figures held out a hand, palm up. “It's James. James Doyle. For Cor's sake, you need to—”

“My son,” Bann said in Gaelic. “Where is he?”

The two men looked at each other. “Something about ‘my son' was all I got,” the other man said.

The porch light blazed on. Bann jerked around. Two others stepped out from the doorway—to his dismay, Shay was one of them. He slid a second weapon free as the foursome, the largest one bleeding from a gash on his forehead, surrounded him. Lips pulled back, he snarled, the sound a rumble in his chest. Like a hound's.

Like a hound's
.

For a split second, his vision cleared. The red haze he had been peering through faded, leaving the night air clean and pure and holy. Lowering his weapons, he looked around at Shay's family—
my family
—circling him with wary expressions.

Shay edged forward. “Bann?” She studied his eyes, as if desperately searching for something.

Licking dry lips, Bann swallowed, then spoke. “Cor.”

“Still safe.” She took another step toward him. “Now, let's take care of you.”

He looked down at his arm. “Cernunnos?”

“Yes. But we know how to cure you.” She took another step. “But we need to hurry. So what do you say you put down those knives?” She reached for him.

They are trying to trick you, you know
, the Voice said.
They have your son as hostage for some nefarious reason, no doubt. Well, two can play at that game
.

With a growl, he grabbed her and spun her around, pinning her to his chest with one arm while he pressed a
knife against her throat with his other. “Stand down,” he yelled at the others. “Stand down or I will—”

With a cry, she yanked an arm free, grabbed his mutilated finger, and twisted it as hard as she could. White-hot pain almost made him black out. A blow from her elbow to his solar plexus, then she was loose. Spinning on her toes, she cocked back her arm.

The last thing he saw was her fist approaching.

A voice—not the Voice that had haunted him for the last few days, but a beloved voice—whispered to him from the far edge of wherever he was. Just the tenor alone, a mix of concern and love and annoyance, was like a light in the darkness.

“Bann?” Fingers ran along his cheek, then stroked his forehead, smoothing his hair back. “Anytime you want to wake up would be fine with us.”

Shay, darlin'?
He tried, but lifting his eyelids was just too hard. He settled for a facial twitch.

“I think he smiled. Just for a moment.” Another voice spoke. The boyish tone made Bann's heart swell so much he swore he cracked a rib. “Dad?” A soft breath on his face, then a forehead pressed against his. “Wake up, Dad.”

To be sure, I'm trying, son
.

“Can he hear us, Shay?”

“I don't know, Cor. But, if he can, I bet he'd like to know that everything's okay.”

Another whiff of breath, this time in his right ear. “Dad, Shay says everything's okay. They cured you. And
I'm fine. And Sam is fine. And James is trying to fix that bed thing.” A sniffle. “So wake up, okay?”

Right. Just as soon as I remember how
. He tried again. The effort alone made him want to go back to sleep. But Shay was waiting. And Cor. Knowing he would chew his way back through the seven hells to reach them, he forced one eye open.

A blur of blue-black shadows and a yellow light off to one side. He peeled open the other eye and blinked. The world swam into focus. He blinked again.

He was lying in their bed, the comforter tucked up around his shoulders. Shay perched on the mattress next to him. In the glow of the bedside lamp, her hair was a royal gold mantle around her shoulders. On his other side, Cor sat cross-legged by his hip. A purple dinosaur bandage was affixed to the inside of his elbow. They both beamed at him.