by Shea Balik
Everything within the inferno’s path ignited, rising into the air to consume the house. A whimper of pain just barely heard above the crackle and popping of the wood as it was engulfed in the fire, startled Ryley.
“Meghan,” he called, rushing into the blaze, not caring about the intense searing heat.
He heard his name shouted from the man who’d stopped him from trying to save his family, but Ryley didn’t listen to him. It may have been too late to save his family, but Meghan was still alive, and he’d be damned if he let her die without doing everything in his power to rescue her.
His eyes caught on a vivid blue dress and red hair. Relief that he’d found her nearly caused him to stumble as he didn’t notice the big hulking creature that was charred to crisp on the ground at his feet. Before he could manage to go around, the stranger was there, easily stepping over the carnage and carefully lifting Meghan into his arms.
“We have to go,” the man’s deep voice said, his eyes straying to point behind Ryley. “Put your arms out.”
It was a command and Ryley found himself suddenly holding Meghan as a giant sword flew past him. The sickening sound of the blade sinking into flesh and bone was one Ryley wasn’t sure he’d ever get out of his head. Nor was the sucking noise it made when the stranger pulled it out.
“Come.” A hand was on his lower back, leading him over two more grotesque bodies that were charred and partially melted into the floor.
Smoke made it impossible to see, yet the stranger didn’t seem to have any trouble leading them through the house and out the front door, all the while striking down five more… Ryley shivered just thinking about the enlarged, deformed monsters. If he survived this day, he was sure he’d have nightmares for the rest of his life about the things that had killed his family.
The moment they ran out of the house, Ryley sucked in clean, breathable air. Then started coughing uncontrollably as his lungs tried to expel the smoke.
A large, black SUV stood near the end of their long driveway and they raced towards it. It wasn’t until the unknown man opened the back door for Ryley to lay Meghan down did it occur to him, he was about to put his life and that of his sister’s in the hands of someone he didn’t even know.
He stood his ground several feet from the vehicle. “Who are you?”
Those emerald eyes glanced behind Ryley, a tic along that strong jaw the only indication he was annoyed. But then his gaze went to Meghan and that annoyance melted away to be replaced by what appeared to be sympathy. Not that Ryley was sure of that, as the stranger was still frowning, but he didn’t look as… bothered? Actually, he still appeared to be aggravated but less likely to kill at any moment.
It wasn’t much, but since Ryley had already barely gotten him and his sister out alive, he was willing to take it.
“My name is Eirik, as for the rest, I will explain but we have to get out of here before more come out that door.” Like that was going to be enough to get Ryley to hand his and his sister’s safety to this man.
“If you think I’m getting into your car, you’re out of your mind.” After all that had happened, Ryley was more than a little surprised to hear his usual snide, sarcastic voice instead of the fear that was coursing through him. It did give him some of the confidence he’d lost in facing the Fae’s minions, at least enough to get the shaking to subside somewhat.
Eirik looked stunned by Ryley’s words. “Really?” Eirik matched his sarcasm. “Would you rather stay here and wait for the Unseelies to find you and finish the job?”
Sucking in a harsh breath at the reminder of who they were running from, Ryley opened his mouth without thinking. “Getting in some pervert’s car doesn’t sound any better.” Definitely not his best comeback but since he’d just faced a horde of monsters, he thought he was doing pretty well.
Eirik smiled at his words. “By all means stay here.” Just as he said that, a crash that sounded like an explosion came from the house.
Ryley glanced back over his shoulder in horror as three more of those… things came running toward them.
Eirik raced around the SUV and jumped into the driver’s seat to start the engine. That was all Ryley needed to propel him into action. With Meghan in his arms, he slid into the backseat, barely managing to slam the door shut as Eirik put the vehicle into gear and smashed down on the accelerator.
Ryley was loathe to release Meghan, but with the way Eirik was driving he desperately needed to get a seatbelt around her before they ended up in an accident. Gently, he placed her in the middle and stretched the seatbelt across her body, latching her in. Then he did the same for himself.
Tires squealed as they took a corner exceptionally hard. Ryley could actually feel the SUV go up onto two wheels before slamming back down on all four.
“I get that we’re trying to escape, but crashing isn’t exactly going to help,” Ryley said as he held on tight to his sister and prayed they would make it through this alive.
CHAPTER 5
Rage boiled inside Eirik, causing him to drive more erratically than was probably strictly necessary in order to get them as far away from the Unseelie as possible. Considering how many times he’d fought the disgusting creatures, driving like a bat out of hell wasn’t exactly a surprise.
But that didn’t explain why a knot had formed within him the moment he laid eyes on Ryley. Nor did it justify the deep need to protect him. It might have been his divine job, but even he knew when it came to the cute, yet bratty, handsome man, it was much greater than his previous charges.
It wasn’t until an especially sharp curve that had Ryley cursing as he tried to shield his unconscious sister from harm, that Eirik slowed to a more reasonable speed on the backroads that would eventually lead him to the interstate.
He understood the need to have enough land to perform their rituals, but was it really too much to ask that at least one of those he’d tried to protect lived closer to civilization? Then again, he would have thought, considering what these people were facing, they would have found ways to protect themselves from the beasts that were sent through the veil to destroy them.
“Start explaining.” Ryley’s voice was shaking too much for the demand he made to be effective.
Then again, Eirik guessed he’d sounded much the same the first time he’d come across the Unseelie’s minions. They were a fearsome lot, with more teeth and claws than any animal on earth could claim. There was also the ick factor that even after all the years he’d fought them still caused Eirik to shudder in revulsion.
A quick glance in the rearview mirror, told Eirik all he needed to know. Ryley was struggling to keep it together. Tears shimmered in his cerulean blue eyes, but he held them back from actually tumbling down his cheeks as he held his sister protectively.
That rush of… Eirik forced the unknown emotion down. They both needed to focus on the danger, not anything else, like how just the sound of Ryley’s voice caused his dick to thicken. “How much do you know about the ritual you were about to perform?”
“Which one?” Ryley shot back.
Eirik glanced once more in the rearview mirror, pinning those pretty blue eyes with his own. “What do you mean which one?” He tried not to allow the dread that suddenly came upon him at Ryley’s insinuation, as to what this day might mean, to show in his voice. Based on the way a flash of fear crossed Ryley’s features, Eirik wasn’t so sure he’d been successful.
“There were supposed to be two rituals tonight. Of course, we were to perform Samhain.” Ryley let out a shaky breath. “The other was to attain my Druid powers, which, considering I somehow shot fire from my hands, I’m assuming is it,” Ryley said the last in a rush as if not wanting it to be true.
Eirik took it all in, including the unspoken ramifications. “Hell,” he said under his breath, not even realizing he’d slipped into the old language. “Today is your twenty-first birthday.” It was more of a statement than a question. There would be no other reason to perform that particular ritual.
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That dread he’d been feeling increased tenfold.
“Yeah, happy birthday to me.” There was a world of bitterness in those words. Not that Ryley didn’t deserve every ounce of pity at the moment.
“Are you going to explain to me why you happened to show up when you did?” The resentment in Ryley’s tone turned angry, as if he blamed Eirik for what happened to his family.
But before he could tell Ryley how he knew to show up at his house, he needed to know if Ryley understood who he and his family were. “What do you know about your heritage?”
“What does that have anything to do with my family being murdered?” Ryley’s animosity was starting to boil over but Eirik wasn’t about to let him off the hook. He may have just lost most of his family, but the reality of the situation was they had been the lucky ones. The truly hard part was still to come.
“You are just like a little kitten, sharp little claws, hissing at everyone, even those that are trying to help.” Eirik narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Ryley in the rearview mirror once more. Ryley may think life had been unfair to him, but he was in for a shock with what was still in front of him. “Answer the question.” His voice was hard and unyielding, every inch the leader he’d been since his birth.
The resentment rolled off Ryley like a living, breathing thing. “We are Scottish. According to my Grandmother Maureen, we were driven from our homeland when our ancestors had opened the veil between our world and the Fae.”
Those blue eyes looked down at his sister and sighed. “Until today, I hadn’t believed any of it.” Then he let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “I guess there’s little use denying the truth now, not that it matters.”
Eirik frowned. “Why doesn’t it matter?”
Those pretty eyes widened as they looked in the rearview mirror. “Because my family is dead. What difference does it make if the Fae are real when there’s nothing I can do about it?”
Eirik wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. Ryley not only could do something, he had to, or all was lost. What Eirik wasn’t sure, was if this was a good time to talk about that detail or wait until Ryley had time to deal with what had happened.
“Pull over,” Ryley suddenly said.
They hadn’t even gotten to the interstate. If there was any hope of the Unseelie’s lapdogs not catching them, they needed to put a heck of a lot more distance than this between them before they stopped. But the panic he heard in Ryley’s voice had Eirik slowing down and pulling off the side of the road.
The SUV hadn’t even come to a completely stop when the back door opened and Ryley stumbled out, practically running to a grassy area. His body heaved and the sound of retching followed as Eirik got out of the car to check on him.
Tears streaked down Ryley’s cheeks when Eirik came up beside him. Nothing was coming up from his stomach, but he continued to go through the motions of throwing up anyway.
That same need that had been causing Eirik to act irrationally since the moment he met Ryley reared its ugly head once again. Kneeling down beside Ryley, Eirik placed a hand on his shoulder, so as not to startle Ryley. A small thrill of pleasure, that Eirik tried desperately to deny he felt, went through him as Ryley’s stomach settled a moment later.
It was stupid, but Eirik was sure it was his touch that had calmed Ryley. Gods, but he was a self-centered asshole. Ryley was clearly in shock, yet Eirik was only thinking about himself.
Thoroughly disgusted with himself, Eirik handed Ryley the bottle of water he’d grabbed from the cup holder. Ryley took it but didn’t say anything as he rinsed out his mouth.
When tremors began shaking Ryley’s body, Eirik didn’t hesitate to pull him onto his lap, holding him close as great choking sobs spilled from his slender body. “I’ve got you. I promise, I won’t them anywhere near you or sister, ever again.” Even as he said the words, Eirik knew he would never been able to keep that vow. History had taught him that difficult lesson over, and over again.
CHAPTER 6
It made no sense why Eirik’s touch, as he ran his hands gently down his back, helped calm the fear and panic that had been rising in Ryley. Nor should he curl against the man’s body as he allowed Eirik to hold him like some little kid. Yet, both of those things somehow soothed Ryley’s stomach and gave him a sense of… safety?
Was that even possible? They had gruesome monsters chasing them that made the Hunchback of Notre Dame look normal. His family had been killed. Oh, and because Ryley had to prove to be more of a freak than anyone else he knew, he now could shoot fire from his hands.
“Meghan.” Appalled that he’d just left his sister, completely defenseless after nearly burning her alive, Ryley scrambled from Eirik’s embrace and raced back to the SUV.
Relieved she was there, safe-ish, considering her arm was ripped open from the creature that had attacked her and the burns from the fire had scorched her skin and hair along her forehead. She needed medical attention. Ryley just wasn’t sure how to give it to her without those things finding them.
“Look,” Eirik said softly from behind him. “I know it looks bad, but…”
Ryley didn’t want to hear anything Eirik had to say. He whirled on the man, pushing against his chest, not that his strength was any match to Eirik’s. He was sure the man hadn’t even moved, not even a little sway to appease Ryley’s anger.
Well, there was more than one way to strike out. “You could have stopped this,” he yelled, wincing when he heard his sister moan.
Eirik stared at him in disbelief. “And exactly how was I to do that?”
Refusing to allow his uncontrolled emotions wake up his sister, Ryley moved so he could gently shut the door, then took several steps away from the vehicle before unleashing the rage that had been with him from the moment he’d seen the Unseelie kill his family.
“You should have warned us. Clearly, you knew something was going to happen or you wouldn’t be here.” Ryley still didn’t understand how Eirik knew about the attack, but it was obvious he’d known something.
“Exactly how do you think that would have changed anything?” Eirik asked. “Would your family have stopped the ritual?”
Ryley opened his mouth to say, “Of course,” but the words died in his throat because he’d known the lie for what it was. “They would have at least been prepared,” Ryley said, kicking the dirt along the edge of the road.
But Eirik wouldn’t even give him that fantasy. “Are you honestly telling me that your family didn’t know the Fae were coming through the veil? That they’ve been hunting and killing your kind?”
The conversation from earlier that day about the Douglas Clan probably being dead and that they weren’t the first, replayed in his head. His parents and grandparents had known the risk. “Why didn’t they stop the ritual if they knew?” Ryley asked himself more than Eirik.
“Because not doing the ritual would only speed up the process of the Veil coming down. Then humans all over the world would no longer be safe,” Eirik told. “Not all of your kind have been killed during a ritual. When one of the Unseelie’s pets get through the Veil, they hunt you down, wherever you may be. Not doing the ritual won’t stop them from trying to kill you.”
That was Ryley’s biggest fear. For the rest of his life, he would be forced to perform ritual after ritual whether he wanted to or not. What he still didn’t understand, was why? Why him? Or Meghan for that matter?
“Why?” he barely managed to croak out.
Eirik gave him another of those odd looks that made Ryley feel as if he was either an unfeeling asshole, or the only person in the world who didn’t understand how things worked. “Because your ancestors forced the Fae to live in the world beyond the veil. After meeting the monsters sent to stop you, I can’t exactly blame them for their choice.”
“So, a decision made…” Ryley had no clue how long ago the Fae had come to their world. His grandmother Maureen would most likely slap him upside the head, muttering about insolent children not listening to t
heir elders when they talked about the old ways.
He decided on keeping it somewhat generic, yet still showing how stupid it was that it was so long ago. “Centuries ago, meant that my grandparents, parents, and older sister had to die today? That’s fucked up.”
A very loud gasp had Ryley’s heart stopping. “They’re dead?” Meghan asked, her voice a mix of doubt and heartache.
As much as he really didn’t want to, Ryley turned to face his sister. Tears shimmered in her brown eyes, silently pleading that he deny what he’d just said.
“Meghan,” Ryley whispered, unable to stop his own tears from rolling down his cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
A sob shook her slight form. Helpless, all Ryley could do was hold her. He couldn’t even promise her they would be all right, because after that evening, Ryley wasn’t sure anything in their world would ever be okay again.
They hadn’t just lost their family. They’d lost their naiveté. There were monsters that went bump in the night and they were out to kill them.
A large, warm hand settled on Ryley’s lower back, giving a measure of comfort that he wasn’t sure he wanted, at least not from Eirik. “I need you both to get inside. I’m not comfortable still being this close to the house,” Eirik said softly.
But when Ryley urged Meghan to move further into the vehicle, she cried out, this time not in grief but in pain. Twilight had faded long enough ago that it made seeing her wounds all but impossible, as the SUV’s interior lights weren’t on either.
“My arm,” Meghan said through clenched teeth. “It feels like it’s on fire.”
Eirik encouraged them to keep moving into the vehicle so he could shut the door. “I have first aid supplies in the back,” he told them.
Ryley wasn’t sure what good that would do. “She needs a doctor not a band-aid,” he told Eirik when the man opened the back gate to get the supplies.