The Lily Harper 8 Book Boxed Set

by HP Mallory

  Tallis! I screamed out again mentally. Please, Tallis, help me! I need you!

  Tears started to sting my eyes as I wholly focused on the gleaming metal of my sword where it lay in the dirt. As I watched it, the sword flopped a few times like a fish out of water. I briefly recognized the feelings of shock deep in my gut as I watched the sword fling itself forward, as if by an invisible hand. Extending both of my arms out as far as I could reach, I inched forward, but didn’t make it very far. I felt Donnchadh’s menacing grip around my midsection as he yanked me backwards again. But he was too late. The ice cold metal touched the palm of my right hand, and I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my sword as I flipped over so my back was on the dirt floor. Then I held my sword up against Donnchadh, like it was a cross, or a garlic bulb, and he were a vampire. I had no idea what I was doing. I definitely had no script to follow. I just went with what felt natural and right.

  He immediately pulled away from me and dropped his hands off my waist before his kilt fell down again and covered his erection, which was also rapidly on its way down.

  Touch him with the blade, I told myself, not understanding why I was overcome with the urge to bring the blade to Donnchadh’s skin. But I went with it anyway. Stabling myself with my left hand on the ground, I jumped up until I was standing right in front of the immense warrior. Then I thrust the flat side of the sword’s blade against his chest with all my might, closing my eyes as I held the sword in place.

  I heard Tallis shrieking, but I knew it was really Donnchadh. He took a few unsteady steps backward until he was pinned up against the wall. I didn’t release my sword. I continued to force the flat side of the blade against his abdomen, and he just stood there, as if trapped, throwing his head from side to side while he howled in what sounded like agony.

  Suddenly, everything went dark. It was as if someone had walked into the room and turned off Bill’s flashlight phone, although, of course, no one had. I was aware that my eyes were still open but I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t have much time to worry about it, though, because before I knew it, a flood of images began to flash before me.

  The first was one that I recognized, a castle that I’d seen before. Fergus Castle. It was the same image I’d seen the very first time I’d touched my sword. Tallis had explained to me at the time that it was his family’s castle and had been in his bloodline for centuries.

  As soon as the image of the castle faded away, it was replaced by one of Tallis, only he looked younger somehow or, at least, less experienced. He was on his knees, embracing an immense sword that had to be five feet long. He was chanting something, but the words were lost on the wind that whipped through his black hair which fell beyond his waist. Bonfires burned a bright orange in the background, contrasting against the dark night sky. I didn’t know why or how, but I was suddenly imbued with the understanding that I was at the Samhain festival which celebrated the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter’s darkness.

  I could suddenly smell the coppery scent of blood. I watched the vision Tallis glancing to his side and reaching down to a goat. Its throat was slit, and its life was starting to slip away as the blood leaked from the deep wound on its neck. Tallis reached over and ran his finger through the blood, smearing it across both of his cheeks. This illusion of Tallis was missing the scar that ran from his eyebrow to his jaw.

  The soft sound of whimpering interrupted the stillness of the night and I watched Tallis look behind his shoulder. It was as if I were watching a movie playing behind my eyelids because I could suddenly see what my vision of Tallis was seeing—a beautiful blond woman who was maybe twenty years old. She was tied to a tree with her hands bound behind her. Her face was red and her eyes were swollen. It was obvious she’d been crying and judging by the wild look in her eyes, I knew she was terrified.

  Tallis looked completely unconcerned with the girl. Instead, he bent down to his right side and retrieved a quaich, which was a traditional, two-handled drinking cup of Scottish origin. I watched Tallis bring the quaich to his lips, but he didn’t drink from it. Instead, he continued to chant something that didn’t sound like English, so I figured it was Gaelic. He closed his eyes and tipped the quaich up, swallowing the contents. That done, he dropped the cup and suddenly bent over, gripping his stomach as if he were in the throes of intense anguish.

  I was reminded of the time Tallis told me how Donnchadh had assumed residency inside his body. The possession had taken place in Scotland, only it was such a long time ago that Scotland had been comprised of various warring tribes and it had been known as Alba. During the Samhain festival, Tallis had drunk some sort of tea brewed from the spores of the rye fungus. Apparently, after drinking the spores, Tallis could separate his body from his soul, and become one with the spiritual world which is exactly what he’d done. I could only imagine that same moment was now playing itself out behind my eyelids.

  I watched the vision of Tallis wail out a horrible sound, like his insides were melting. He rocked back and forth as he clutched his stomach and shouted words and phrases I didn’t understand. The whimpers of the woman who was tied to the tree became cries of terror. But it wasn’t her cries that grabbed my attention. Instead, I swore I could hear the soft sounds of chanting. But aside from Tallis and the woman, no one else was present. As soon as I doubted whether or not I’d heard the other voices, the chanting began to grow louder. But, still, I couldn’t see anyone besides Tallis and the woman. It was almost as if the voices belonged to the spirits who joined the earthly plane during Samhain.

  The visionary Tallis lifted his head. He was panting and sweat beaded on his forehead but it was his eyes that held me captive. They were entirely black, the surest sign that Donnchadh had entered his body. Tallis started chanting again, his voice coming out rough, and pained. For some reason, I could now understand the words even though they weren’t in English. He welcomed the spirit of the great warrior into his body, and celebrated the idea that this spirit would help him prevail against the Roman threat. I watched Tallis turn to face the woman who was tied to the tree. Understanding immediately dawned on me. She was intended as an offering to Donnchadh, a sexual one. Seeing as how Donnchadh had been trapped in the spiritual plane for thousands of years, I supposed it made sense that the first thing he would want to do upon inhabiting a human body again was have sex.

  Seeing Tallis’s eyes which were now eclipsed black, the woman began shaking her head and screaming. I watched him approach her until he stood directly in front of her. He reached forward, gripped her gown in his large hands and tore it in two, straight down the middle. Her smallish breasts bounced as she struggled against the ropes that bound her to the tree. Even though I knew what was happening—that Tallis, with Donnchadh at the helm, was about to rape the poor girl—I couldn’t reconcile this man as the Tallis Black that I’d come to know so well. Yes, Tallis had admitted he’d been far less than a morally decent person in the past. He’d allied himself with the Romans after they’d bribed him with riches and power. In allying himself with his enemies, he’d ended up backstabbing his own people and in the process, the Romans had massacred them.

  While I was fully aware that Tallis had a terrible past in which he’d committed unspeakable crimes, he’d also spent a long time in penance, atoning for his past sins and wrongdoings. And it was that repentance that allowed me to look beyond his past transgressions and accept him for the person he now was. It was his inordinate sense of responsibility and regret that enabled me to care so deeply for him.

  Luckily I was spared having to watch Donnchadh rape the girl. Instead, the vision faded and I found myself facing Tallis, the real Tallis. It took me a second or two to shake off the vision but when I did, I glanced down at my arms and noticed I was still holding him captive with my sword. He was pinned against the log wall of his home. As soon as I made eye contact with him, the blackness of his eyes yielded to the midnight blue I’d come to know so well.

  “Tallis?” I asked
in a breathless, hopeful voice.

  He didn’t respond, but instead, passed out.

  “Loitering is forbidden”

  – Dante’s Inferno

  THREE

  When Tallis lost consciousness, I couldn’t catch him because it would have been like trying to stop a boulder from falling off a mountain. I did, however, manage to push him against the wall, so he wouldn’t do a face-plant on the dirt floor. Once his butt hit the ground and he was in a hunched-over position, leaning against the wall, I could finally take a breath. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, straining to convince my heartbeat to regulate. When it began to slow down, I considered what I needed to do next. I propped my sword against the wall beside Tallis before grabbing Bill’s phone with the flashlight app. Crouching down on my knees, I shined the flashlight on the sleeping giant.

  I wanted to make sure he was still breathing and alive. The gentle rise and fall of his chest assuaged my fears and I sighed long and hard. Now able to catch my breath and consider everything that had just happened, I shook my head as I thought about how close I’d come to having sex with Tallis. While that very topic had played through my mind more than once (okay, on numerous occasions), what I’d just been through wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined it.

  “I hope you’re okay, Tallis,” I said as I ran my index finger down the side of his face and noticed how clammy his skin was. I figured Donnchadh must’ve short-circuited once his spirit encountered my sword. Then, maybe, Tallis’s body just shut down—like a system overload or something. Who knew? Maybe the spirits of Tallis and Donnchadh were still fighting it out behind Tallis’s otherwise calm exterior.

  I glanced down at myself and sighed again, once I saw the state of my yoga pants. Even though I’d tried to yank them back up to my waist, Donnchadh had done a damn good job of slicing them in half, all the way to my crotch. I stood up, trying again to hike them up as high as I could, but my female parts were still fully exposed. But my dilemma would have to wait. For now, my prime concern was to make sure Tallis was really Tallis when he woke up. If he were still Donnchadh, I’d have one hell of another battle on my hands.

  “Tallis, Tallis, Tallis,” I tsked as I shook my head, relief still suffusing me. Holding the top of my hand to his forehead, I tried to determine if he had a fever. His forehead was covered in sweat, but he felt cold, rather than hot, which I figured was a good sign. I brought my fingers down the side of his face again, loving the rough texture of his stubble. He still reeked of alcohol, but I no longer cared. All that concerned me now was making sure that Tallis was in full control of his body; and that this fainting episode wasn’t a sign of something worse going on inside him. As far as ascertaining whether or not he was okay, I wasn’t sure what to do, or how long to wait for him to wake up.

  Don’t worry about that now, Lily, I reprimanded myself. Just restrain him so if he does wake up and he’s still Donnchadh, at least, you won’t have to worry about protecting yourself.

  “I have no idea how, or why, Donnchadh took control of you, but you’ve got to keep him at bay, Tallis,” I continued as thoughts of Donnchadh making a return appearance began to plague me.

  Yes, I definitely needed to restrain Tallis so when he did wake up, he’d be slightly more controllable. I glanced around the small house, but didn’t find anything capable of holding back a Titan. Then I remembered the long lengths of fiber rope that Tallis kept outside the back of his house. He used the rope to tie up his demon pets, the Grevels, when he didn’t want them trailing him through the Dark Wood.

  Thinking the rope was exactly what I needed, I immediately started for the front door. Then I thought better of it after I pictured Tallis waking up with Donnchadh still at the helm of his body while I was outside. Since my sword had done a pretty damn good job of immobilizing him earlier, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try it out again. Holding up my shredded pants, I went to retrieve my sword and then leaned it against Tallis’s chest, between both of his legs. Just as I started to pull away, something on his chest grabbed my attention.

  I held the flashlight-phone over him and noticed a reddish, triangular mark in the shape of a blade staining the skin between both of his nipples. It was the outline of my sword from where I’d pushed it up against him earlier, right before he’d passed out. It looked as if the blade had somehow branded him even though it hadn’t been hot. “Interesting,” I said to no one in particular, secretly wondering if, somehow, my sword might have forced Donnchadh back into the deeper recesses of Tallis’s psyche.

  Tallis and I should only have been so lucky …

  “You stay put,” I said to the sleeping man who looked, in repose, about as threatening as a baby. But in this case, looks were absolutely deceiving. Using one hand to grab Bill’s phone in order to light my way, I used my other hand to hold up my pants as I started for the front door. Upon opening it, the darkness that engulfed the entire wood surrounded me. But Tallis lived on the periphery of the Dark Wood, which meant the sun rose every morning and set every night. “Then it must be evening right now,” I said to myself, sighing with frustration. I could hear the sounds of the Grevels as they shuffled through the foliage; but the sounds were lost on me. I suddenly became livid with the darkness. The intense desire to see the sun again, and feel its warmth on my back was so overwhelming, it manifested itself as bitter anger that started in the pit of my stomach and climbed up to my throat.

  Don’t lose yourself, Lily, I warned myself. Just focus on the task at hand. You’ll see the sunlight soon enough.

  With a renewed sense of purpose, I hurried out the front door, being careful to close it behind me. Then I set off for the rear of the house, searching for as much rope as I could find. I could hear the Grevels behind me, but figured they weren’t any threat. They knew who I was by now. Once I made it to the back of Tallis’s home, I ran the flashlight back and forth in front of me until I saw the rope. It was looped around a large nail, sticking out at the top of the wall. Straining on my tiptoes, I reached for the rope with the hand that wasn’t holding Bill’s phone and yanked it off the rusty nail.

  I could hear the Grevels dispersing into the undergrowth, no doubt figuring I was about to tie them up. “You’re safe this time, guys,” I said with a slight laugh as I started for the front door again, needing to yank up my pants when they started to sag.

  I opened the door and went inside, immediately shining the flashlight beam onto the still form of Tallis where he leaned against the wall. I exhaled a relieved breath, seeing as how he was exactly where I’d left him and appeared to still be sleeping. Closing the door behind me, I approached him carefully and checked to be sure he was, in fact, still alive. He was.

  “Looks like I’m going to have to tie you to your bed,” I announced, only after realizing I had no other alternative. He was closest to the bed and there wasn’t really anything else large enough to keep him immobilized once he decided to wake up. He was still a few feet from the bed though, which meant I had to move him, a feat in and of itself.

  I grumbled something unintelligible even to my own ears, and placed Bill’s phone on the edge of the straw mattress so that it lit up the two log posts at the end of the bed. I figured I could tie each of Tallis’s hands to the posts. Yes, it would have been lots better, not to mention much more comfortable for Tallis, if I could manage to get him on top of the bed, but there was no way in hell I could lift him.

  I inhaled and exhaled quickly as I shook my head and approached the enormous man. I reached down and gripped him beneath his armpits, shifting him so that his back was facing the bed. Then I pulled him toward the bed, but didn’t get very far. He was so awkward and heavy, it felt like I was trying to move a three-hundred-pound bag of sand. Trying to get a better grip underneath his arms, I pulled him again, but only managed to move him maybe another two inches. I stood up and looked behind myself, measuring another two feet or so before he’d be close enough to tie him to the bedposts. Facing Tallis again, I suddenly wanted to cry. It als
o didn’t help that the waistline of my pants had migrated down to the top of my butt.

  Come on, Lily, you can do this! I cheered myself on.

  He’s impossible to move! There’s no way …

  You have to do this! I interrupted myself. Because if you don’t and Donnchadh is still in charge of Tallis’s body, he’s going to attempt to rape you again as soon as he wakes up!

  Apparently, that thought was enough to motivate me, because before I knew what I was doing, my hands were back beneath Tallis’s armpits. I began hefting and heaving with all my might. Releasing him again, we managed to move another six inches or so. I breathed out a pent-up breath of frustration and anxiety. Meanwhile, I tried to ignore my pants which were now hanging around the center of my butt, which meant I had plumber’s crack, and then some. I gripped Tallis’s arms and yanked him backwards with every ounce of strength I still possessed. Feeling the burn in my arms, I released him, and looking back at the bed, realized I had maybe a foot or so left to go.

  “You can do this, Lily Harper,” I said out loud as I gripped my pants and yanked them back up to my waist. “Come on, you’re almost there!”

  I grabbed his arms again and pulled him backwards as hard as I could. In response, his body skidded along with me, his head bumping into the crossbeam that held his bed together. I immediately glanced down at him, afraid that ramming his head into the bed might have woken him up, but was relieved to find it hadn’t. “Sorry,” I said with a slight laugh, even though I figured he couldn’t hear me.

  I didn’t give myself long to rest because I was too concerned that the head-ramming incident and all the jostling while moving him might have woken him up. Instead, I immediately went for the rope. I decided to use the two-column tie in order to bind each of his arms to the bedposts. Going for his left wrist, I brought the rope over his head and allowed his arm to lean against the log post of the bed which was closest to the wall. Lifting my sword from his chest, I measured about eight feet of the rope before severing it with the blade.