by J A S Bennet
Meanwhile, Sheridan was climbing the stairs very carefully. The last thing she wanted was to trip again. Especially since she knew Deaglan was right behind her carrying two heavy bags. He didn’t have any arms left to catch her with. Those arms, oh Lord almighty, he had some fine arms to match that face, ass, hands. Her foot slipped from the distraction. Another female sound came out, but this time it was out of frustration. She couldn’t be thinking about this bartender and be expected to function.
When she took the last step, arriving on the roof, she actually breathed out a sigh of relief. Probably a moment too soon, because just as she reached the roof she stopped in place, causing Deaglan to ram the bags into her from behind. She jutted forward and caught herself on the copter door. A nervous smile graced her lips as she found herself being helped in by Deaglan. “I’m so sorry, mon cheri.”
Tuning in to the end of his sentence, Ava decided to warn him “Oh, she does not like being called that. Trust me, I know.”
“It’s fine,” Sheridan stated without moving her lips so she could keep the smile in place.
“I will not utter those words again, Agra,” he said with a nod to Sheridan. Her heart fluttered. Oh, no. She couldn’t be falling for a guy within hours of landing here. This was ridiculous and her smile faded. Walls went up.
“Good to know.” Ava nodded, in a hurry to change the subject. “So, Deaglan, how about you teach me how to fly this bitch?”
He laughed while shaking his head. Jenny watched the interaction in awe. However, she felt a shift of mood. Sheridan had somehow become even more distant. She didn’t have to look at Sheridan, she could feel it. There was so much to take in and soon they would be back in the air. Her body was not prepared for any more air travel, but it would have to survive. No way did she have the energy to walk, like Deaglan had threatened.
He leaned in and helped Sheridan secure her seatbelt, much to her embarrassment again, before he closed the door and went around to get in the pilot’s seat. Putting his headset on, he gestured for each of them to do the same.
As he reached for every knob and turned dials, he calmly explained what they all did. It didn’t seem like he was doing it to give Ava her desired lesson so much as he was trying to calm the nerves of a certain someone in the backseat.
“Now when I flip this switch, it will roar to life. Ready?” He paused and turned in his seat to make sure they all were. The corner of his mouth turned up when he got a small nod out of Sheridan.
Turning around, he continued to talk through all the steps. When they lifted into the air, Sheridan squeaked. Jenny put her hand on the small area of seat between them, in case Sheridan needed someone to hang on to. She didn’t take it.
Ava shouted, “This is fucking awesome! I think my nipples just got hard.”
Jenny rolled her eyes. Missing the comment, Sheridan was admiring all the treetops. She was rarely granted the opportunity to see the beautiful creations from this point of view. She wanted to know all of them more intimately and she hoped she would get the chance to meet them before they cleared up all the demands of the will and sold the property off.
Just as she thought about the property, it came into view. They probably would have missed it if Deaglan wouldn’t have pointed it out. “The castle has gardens on the roof and ivy on the walls for camouflage. But that’s it right ahead. Off to the right is the guard house; it’s used for training and serves as the main hub for every level of protection.”
Like Deaglan said, the castle blended in to its surroundings. Even though they could have walked, they probably would have walked right past it and not even known. He flew them all around the entire property, pointing out the wall for protection and showing them a closer view of the gardens on the roof. Sheridan was itching to experience it firsthand and help everything grow. Even as she thought that, the gardens seemed to turn a brighter shade of green.
“It looks like a clover.” Jenny counted the three wings off the main stem and then her eyes caught site of what was behind the castle. The ocean. Her eyes immediately misted over. She hadn’t been expecting the castle to have the ocean in its backyard. This all-expenses-paid vacation was better than anything she would have planned for herself.
The only thing missing was a moat, though there was none necessary because of the giant wall that surrounded the property. Ava imagined a tribe of Celtic warriors patrolling the top of the wall and manning posts on the castle’s turrets, offering certain protection from invaders. A smile came easily at the thought, because it was like a scene from a movie in her head, and that was the first time she had been in her work mode since she flew out of LA.
On the back side, nobody could gain access unless they were catapulted off a ship. A steep cliff was the only barrier between the walls and the sea. The castle was positioned on an inlet so the force of water crashing was somewhat minimized by the distance it had to travel from the main body of water.
After flying around the whole castle, Deaglan set them down in front. He resumed talking through the process of shutting the machine down. It got achingly quiet when he did so. Everyone removed their headsets.
Ava was the first to breach the silence. “When can I get my next lesson?”
Deaglan laughed in response as he climbed down. He started unloading the bags and helped the women out. As soon as they were back on solid ground, the exhaustion resumed. The main door to the castle opened and two people appeared. One was a youngish, round man, who fell all over himself trying to carry all the luggage from the compartment at one time. The other was an older woman who stayed in the doorway with a demure look on her face.
“Fergus, let me help ye.” Deaglan took the two bags he had carried to the aircraft, leaving Fergus to deal with Ava on the matter of who would carry hers. It was no contest, Ava won. Fergus was no match for her, he was probably not a match for any of them. He found himself following behind the group like a stray puppy, hoping for scraps.
Inside the entrance, the women became enraptured with the grandness of the place. Something magical grabbed hold of them and took their breath away. It was like the living spirit of this place invaded their bodies and made it hard to breathe.
They turned in a full circle to take in what they could see. The castle opened up into what seemed like a whole other world and time. It was both ancient and sophisticated. A mix of what was and what could be. The walls where a golden-brown stone, but upon them were works of art from the 21st Century full of color. There were fire-burning sconces and electric crystal chandeliers. The rugs were worn, but artisan made. It was as if every descendant of Clan McGrew had contributed to what now stood before them. Sheridan wondered if the spirits of the past were here still and if she and her cousins would leave a mark as well.
Jenny remarked, “This is just like Hogwarts.”
The older woman scoffed. “I beg your pardon?”
“Sorry, ma’am.” Jenny hadn’t meant to be rude. Just the opposite, in fact. She was more than impressed that someone in her family had once lived here. It was insanely beautiful and majestic. There was a serene energy to this place she couldn’t define, but she could feel it racing through her veins.
“No need to call me ma’am. I’m the caretaker of this place, not the mistress.” She never offered a name before she walked out of the entryway into an enormous living room with stone walls perforated periodically with actual lanterns providing the lighting. One side of the room had a wall-to-wall fireplace. Above the mantel, a huge painting of the castle from above accentuated the three-leafed clover shape of the structure. On one side wall was a painting in the same style of a man who could have passed as a brother to any of the three women. Sheridan moved closer to inspect the craft with awe.
“Where would you like these?” Deaglan lifted the bags he carried a few inches.
“Well, I have prepared all three of the suites. Woodland, Spearhead, and Cove. They can choose whom gets which.”
Almost as if it were as natural as blinking
, Sheridan breathed, “Woodland.”
“I’ll take Cove.” Jenny’s hands were flexing and releasing in her excitement or maybe due to the castle’s energy pulsing through her blood. She hoped “cove” meant she would have a good view of the ocean below. The idea of sleeping in a castle with the sound of crashing waves outside her window was more than she had ever dared to dream of.
“Spearhead for me, then. Lead the way,” she said to Fergus, who was still standing around waiting for a chance to be helpful. He grinned ear to ear at her having given him one. If he had a tail, it would have been wagging.
“Right this way.” He turned and led her out of the room the way they came in. Instead of turning toward the front door, he went the other way toward a spectacularly large staircase. At the landing, the castle split off in three directions. “Cove is here on the right. Spearhead is straight ahead. Woodland is to the left.”
Deaglan returned to the pub jittery and out of sorts. He and his people, all the people, had been waiting for this day. Hoping for the three who would be worthy of their task. Was this them? He didn’t know.
Cian was waiting at the door. He had heard the helicopter fly in and land. His mind was running full steam ahead as well and he needed to talk to his brother. This was a life-altering day and he was itching to get Deaglan’s take.
What he saw on his brother’s face was not what he was expecting. Deaglan was always the calm, steady one of the three, and he looked shell-shocked. Cian turned sideways in the doorway to let his brother pass and followed him to the bar. Then he waited.
Deaglan grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured them both a shot. He didn’t wait for his brother and threw his back. Poured a second and did the same thing. Cian looked at him in shock. Deaglan wasn’t a drinker. Not like the rest of them, anyway.
“I’m fucked.” He looked his brother in the eye and poured himself a third shot, drank it, put the bottle back and walked up the steps toward his room.
Cian just burst out laughing. “Oh, you are, brother, you most definitely are.”
Deaglan made it to his room and plopped down on his bed after roughly ripping his shirt over his head and tossing it toward a chair. His chin went toward his chest as he hung his head. He had been around many years. Had bedded his share of females. None had walked through the door and taken his breath like Sheridan did. He did his duty by taking them where they needed to be, but he felt the loss of her presence as he sat there alone. He’d read of mates and love beyond description, but never believed it could happen. Maybe it just had … and to him.
He laid back on his bed. It suddenly felt empty and he closed his eyes and prayed to the universe that this was not happening to him. He loved his family, this home, and he would protect it with his life. The vow he took assured that fact. He, however, didn’t know if he would ever be the same after looking in her eyes of pale green.
Yawning, she walked upward as far as she could go. The Darkness was calling to her and she didn’t seem to be able to ignore it. A few more steps and she would be on top of the whole place. There was no turning back. She pushed the door open and watched as the cloud of darkness formed into a shadow person.
“Thanks for coming,” it said.
“You didn’t give me much choice. I couldn’t sleep through that. What is it you want?” She’d had a really long day and was ready to go back to bed.
“We must get them to leave. To give up on this place so we will have complete control.”
“How do we do that?” She shivered as the wind blew in from over the water.
“By doing whatever it takes.” The shadowy form began to slip back into the dark cloud.
“As you wish, Master.”
8
Dreams
Being in this castle was messing with Ava’s mind. She used to have strange dreams when she was a child and she’d awaken screaming her head off. She wasn’t sure if she was scared or if she was angry she couldn’t finish the dream. Her foster parents used to ask her about the dream and explained that it helped to chase the nightmare away by letting out everything that frightened her. She figured it never worked because she wasn’t sure she was even frightened.
The thundering hooves of horses echoed in her head. It’s as though she were there but sitting in a tree and watching from afar. Everything the rider felt, Ava felt. The sweat dripping off the nose of the rider, the heaviness of the armor that clanked every time the horse moved. All of this consumed her mind and she felt as if the rider, and the partner beside her, were riding toward some great battle. Something important.
The partner reached over to the rider and took her hand. Ava could feel the hand in her own. She looked down for just a moment to see if there was a hand in hers and that’s when she heard the screaming. She looked back up at the rider and the partner was no longer there on the horse. It drove along, riding beside her with an empty saddle. Panic hit Ava, a sheer rush of adrenaline that paralyzed her.
Ava jolted awake. She’d had that dream many, many times in her life, but the scene with the hand holding was new. She swore she could still feel it in her own hand. flexing and clenching her fist, she felt so dumb because holding hands is stupid. Despite that feeling, her eyes closed in an attempt to get back into that dream. She wanted to know what happened next. She simply had to know what happened next.
Giving up, she opened her eyes and looked around the room. Spearhead was an appropriate name for this room. On the wall that was to her left was deep mahogany carved walls. The scene looked like it was taken out of a battle scene of a movie. Men fought atop the most magnificent horses that trampled on the fallen soldiers underfoot. Ava felt that if this were to be seen by the other two girls that she rode in with, they might not feel so happy about such a graphic carving. It made her feel alive. Her eyes roamed over the artwork until she took in every detail.
To her right were weapons, tons of them. She followed the lines that led her to swords and knives of every size as well as a few compound bows and an axe and a mace. There had to be hundreds. Straight ahead was a huge floor-to-ceiling window with full battle armor on either side of the window. All of which seemed to be small enough in stature to fit a female. Odd.
She finally gave up the idea of going back to sleep after some time and reached for her phone. She had tossed and turned enough in this foreign bed trying to eke out a few more precious minutes of shut-eye. It wasn’t an uncomfortable mattress or anything; in fact, it was nice and firm, exactly how she liked it. She just wasn’t good at sleeping even in the best of circumstances. Her mind didn’t know how to shut off.
It was three thirty, way too early for either of the other girls to be awake, not that she was in a hurry to spend more time with them, but it ruled out exploring the castle for fear of ruining their chance at getting a good night’s sleep as well.
She had no cell service and had completely forgotten to ask the caretaker about wifi. The last time she used her phone was outside the pub. That may have been a record for her and it was only getting longer. She opened her email and began drafting one to her partners. They had asked for updates on how long she would be gone. She had assured them it wouldn’t be more than a week, nothing about the condition of this place had made her think it would take longer than that to sell it off.
Suddenly, the inside of her right wrist felt like it was on fire. Some bug must have bitten her or something. That thought was enough to give her the creepy crawlies all up and down her whole body. She jumped out of bed quick as lightning and brushed herself off. Throwing back the covers, she swept her hand across the crisp sheets, meeting nothing but linens. Using the light on her phone, she checked out her wrist. At first, it appeared to have been drawn on with a marker. Upon closer inspection, it looked like she had been tattooed. Her skin was red and irritated around the three intertwining circles.
“What the actual fuck? I didn’t get drunk last night so how the hell do I have a mystery tattoo?” Her heart rate started to speed up. She had no idea w
hat in the hell was going on, but she intended to find out. All thoughts of letting everyone else sleep went right out the window.
She opened the door to her room and already she was worried about finding where the other rooms were. She made it down the long corridor and finally located a doorknob. There wasn’t the best lighting in this old castle. She threw open the door. She had no idea whose room she was in because this hallway was a full circle, which made it damn confusing.
Sheridan felt such a sense of relief when she closed her bedroom door behind her. She didn’t hate people, they were just too much most of the time. Being alone, even in a strange room, was a blessing. She closed her eyes and rested against her closed door. When she opened her eyes, she was in awe. This room was made just for her. She didn’t know how it could be more perfect.
The first thing she noticed was the low glow of the lamps. A golden aura of electric light, but also of candles scattered around the room. The fireplace was flickering with the warmth she needed to feel. She slowly made her way to the hearth and sat on the faux fur white rug before it. The room was hers and she felt safe for the first time on this trip. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, and in this space, she could acknowledge the truth. Deaglan made her feel this way as well. Two totally foreign entities, this room and that man, made her feel safe.
It wasn’t a huge room. Bigger than her parents’ entire home, but still by castle standards it seemed smallish. Cozy. The walls were painted a muted green and the linens were done in muted fall colors. She loved the woods in all seasons, but in the fall, it came alive. Most people saw it as leaves dying and falling, but to Sheridan it was a last hurrah before a beautiful sleep. A time for the forest to scream its life before it rested.