Becoming Banshee

by Kimberly Quay

  Along one wall was my bed, hands down my favorite piece. The headboard had an intricate carving of a phoenix, its head bent as though it were watching over me as I slept.

  The wall opposite from my bed held my dresser topped with a few fairy figurines and an antique jewelry box. A framed picture of Bryce and me when I was five years old, the day he’d given me my knives, stood in the center. The smile on my face was ear-to-ear. I had always been an odd child.

  The phoenix seemed to call me to bed. I changed into an old t-shirt and sleep pants and slid under the covers with a book. I must have drifted off, because the next thing I knew the stench from Bryce’s tea woke me from my slumber.

  Bryce sat on the edge of my bed, holding the mug in his big hands. His light brown, forever-tousled hair looked almost black in the dim light of the room. Like all Fey, his appearance hadn’t visibly changed after thirty or so and he was as spry as a teenager. However, his clothes and the way he behaved made him seem older.

  “Here you go, my pip, drink every drop. I mean it.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

  “Want to tell me what happened tonight?”

  “Not really. Someone must have already told you.”

  “Yes, but it may help if you tell me.”

  “There’s nothing to help, Bryce, I will get over it. I’m a big girl.” I belied that statement by whining as I took a huge gulp of the scalding tea. “Though I will admit — to you — that I’m pissed the scheme didn’t work. I’d have loved to find out where Gabriel has been hiding.”

  “Yes, that would have been ideal, but I prefer having you alive and whole. Well, if you’re sure you don’t want to talk, I’ll be going to bed myself.”

  “Wait, will you answer something for me?”

  “Of course I will… Well, I guess it depends if I have the answer. I mean I can’t tell you the square root of three thousand and fifty-five. I don’t even know if it has a square root. Does it? Do you know? Well, you wouldn’t be asking me if you knew, would you? Shall we gaggle it?”

  “Gaggle? Oh! You mean Goog — Wait!” Kooky Uncle Bryce had returned, and he had sidetracked himself… and me.

  “How long have you known Ian? How did you meet?”

  His face scrunched in confusion. “I don’t understand…”

  “Don’t play dumb. I may have only been sixteen the night Ian came to recruit me, but I could tell you two knew each other. The animosity between you two was obvious.”

  “Ah… You can be a little too perceptive. I can’t tell you everything right now as we should include Ian in this conversation.”

  “Really? Is it bad?”

  “I never said it was bad, but it’s not good either. Anyhow, it’s best if Ian is here when we discuss it, so let’s put a pin in it for now. Okay?”

  “Okay. I guess I just want to know more about him and his life.” It was useless to keep pushing him.

  “I will tell you that there’s no animosity between us. If you want to know more about Ian’s past, ask him. Since you’re so chatty, it’s your turn to tell me something. Ian mentioned that they chained you up with spelled shackles.”

  “Yeah, there was an aura-stifling spell on them. My wounds weren’t healing, and it weakened me. They must have a fairy in their clan…” I hadn’t realized the importance of that until I said it aloud. Fairies were thought to be extinct, or close to it. The few that remained were in the Old Lands and tracked by the Elders. Like the monitoring of an endangered animal species. There were no known fairies in North America. Except me, but as far as the Elders knew, I wasn’t alive and so not documented.

  “Interesting.”

  “Yeah… So, if he has a fairy, why the hell does Gabriel want me? I can’t be as powerful as a full-blooded Fey.”

  “That’s not necessarily true, but I don’t understand why he wants you. Don’t worry, I sure as hell won’t let him get you.”

  “Oh, trust me, I’ll do everything I can to make sure he doesn’t lay a finger on me! So, do you have any idea who the fairy may be?”

  “Possibly, but I need to think on it. Actually, I need to sleep on this. Goodnight, my pip.”

  “Goodnight.”

  “You finish that tea, missy!”

  Groaning, I took another big swig of the tea. Hot or not, I was finishing it as fast as I could. Once the mug was empty, I placed it on the bedside table and picked up the book that had fallen to the floor. Just as I opened the book, there was a soft tap at the door.

  “Qadira,” Ian whispered.

  He sounded abashed, and the empath in me wanted to comfort him, so I called out for him to enter. I motioned for him to take a seat. The only chair in the room was a papasan chair. He frowned at it, but sat as stylishly as he could.

  Feeling weird lying in bed while we spoke, I rose to stand beside it. I stifled my grin at the sight of his six-foot, brawny frame perched on the oddly shaped chair.

  “What’s up, Ian?”

  “If you will allow me, I will explain my reasons for what happened tonight.”

  Not an apology, but a step in the right direction.

  “I did not tell you the plan because I needed you to be genuinely surprised when they took you. Your actions could not appear rehearsed.”

  “Oh yeah? And how’d that work out?”

  “Yes, well, I realize I was wrong. It happens. Occasionally.”

  A laugh escaped me as again, his levity surprised me. I don’t mean he has no sense of humor, it’s just he is the head of our clan, and our clan handles dire and disturbing conditions. Basically, he has the proverbial weight of the world resting on his shoulders, so he tends to be more subdued.

  “Goldie,” he said tentatively.

  He was asking permission to use the nickname he’d given me the night we had met five years ago.

  “Yes?”

  His shoulders relaxed and a slight smile came to his lips.

  “Apologizing will not reverse my actions, but I can offer you my word that I will never again deceive you. Can you accept that?”

  There are only a select few that I totally trust, and Ian is one of them. But… he had tricked me, and for that I was still a little pissed. So, I remained silent for a few minutes, letting him stew in his unease. He kept fidgeting, and I started to feel guilty.

  “Yes, I can.”

  He eyed me suspiciously.

  “Despite tonight’s events, I still trust you. You won’t make a promise you don’t intend to keep. Besides, if you ever do set me up again, I’ll kick your ass.”

  We laughed, lifting the tension. He rose from the chair and took my hands in his, examining my wrists for any signs of faeritonium burns. They’d already healed, but he didn’t release my hands, instead he asked, “How are you feeling?”

  Too aware of his touch, I swallowed hard and cleared my throat as I looked up into his eyes. “Fine. Just tired. Bryce’s tea helps.”

  He grimaced. “Yes, it does. I will let you rest. Goodnight, Goldie.”

  “Goodnight, Ian.”

  When he still didn’t release my hands, I looked at them. Mine were so small in his but felt so right that without thinking I linked our fingers together. Ian squeezed before letting go.

  “I will see you in the morning”

  I fell into a fitful sleep because of a vivid and surreal dream. The dream had me in a familiar forest clearing. One that I recognized from childhood dreams. This time it felt too real. The bark of the log I sat on was rough against my legs. The heat from the fire in front of me was warm on my face. I realized I wasn’t alone. There was a woman with me. I could hear her singing, but I couldn’t see her face through the flames. I stood to get a better view, but the fire rose violently, creating a wall preventing me from seeing the other side. When I tried maneuvering around it, my legs felt as though they each weighed a ton. I was stuck.

  I heard a melodic laugh just before being startled awake by shouting outside of my room. It was Seth’s voice yelling to
someone to hurry.

  I leaped out of bed and ran to the door. I stepped into the hall to see Seth headed to the stairs.

  “Seth, what’s going on?”

  “Get back in bed, Kadi. Do not leave this house. You hear me? Not for anything.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Be mad all you want, just keep your ass in the house.”

  I considered staying as Seth had told me to do, or grabbing my knives and following them.

  “Knives. Definitely knives.” I grabbed my knife belt and ran down the stairs into the kitchen.

  “Oh no you don’t, missy. You’re staying here with me.” Bryce stopped me before I could reach the back door. “I’ve placed a concealment ward over the house, as well as a boundary ward. You set one toe out of the barrier and you’ll be thrown back into it. You won’t enjoy that. Not one bit.”

  “Bryce they could be in trouble. I can help them.”

  “Qadira, you’re the one they want. You escaped their attempt at abducting you and they lost one of their own. They will no doubt ramp up their efforts to take you to Gabriel. They sense you are near, but, thanks to my wards, they have yet to locate the house. If you go out there, they’ll not only know where you are, but you’ll put the rest of us in greater danger.” He raised his eyebrows in a look that bordered on smug. He was probably proud of himself for making his point without veering off onto another topic. It is such a rare occurrence; I have to say, I was a little proud of him myself.

  “Fine. I will wait… for now. Do you have any idea what happened?”

  “Ian went for a walk after your talk. He ran into some of Gabriel’s minions. They swarmed him. Seth was returning from feeding and heard the commotion, but by the time he got there Ian was in the midst of the brawl. Seth just came for reinforcements.”

  “They attacked Ian? What happened to him? Is he okay? Oh, I have to go after him, what if he’s hurt?”

  Bryce wrapped his arms around me and as he did when I was growing up, stroked my hair and murmured, “It is what it is, and will be as it shall.”

  “That will not help this time. This time ‘it’ could mean Ian being hurt… or worse.”

  “Listen my pip, Ian has been around a long time, he has been through worse. Trust me, he will be fine.”

  The door opened, I spun out of my uncle’s grip to see who entered.

  “Ian!” I flung my arms around him.

  “No! Wait.” Ian pushed me from him.

  Shocked by how forcefully he’d shoved me, I stepped further away. I was uncomfortable with my display of affection toward him. Seth entering the house with blood on his white t-shirt drew my attention from my unease with the Ian situation.

  “Seth, you’re bleeding! What happened? Where are you hurt?” I moved him to a stool and made him sit.

  “Does it hurt?” I pulled his shirt over his head searching for his wound. I found nothing. “What the…”

  “It’s not my blood, Kadi.”

  I threw his bloodied shirt into the sink. “You just let me think you were bleeding to death and you laugh?”

  He cleared his throat and tried to look apologetic, but his smile ruined it. “I’m sorry, I would have stopped you, but you started taking my shirt off…”

  “Jerk. Where’d Ian go?”

  “I assume to shower. It was a rough tussle, Kadi. You might want to change your clothes.”

  “What? Why?” I looked and saw blood staining my shirt. “Ugh! What the hell?”

  There was not enough blood on Seth’s shirt to have transferred that much to me, which meant the stains on my clothes had come from Ian.

  I ran up the stairs to Ian’s room, entering without knocking. I heard the shower running in his en suite bathroom and moved to the doorway.

  “Ian?”

  “Goldie?”

  “Yes. Are you okay?”

  “I am fine. What are you doing in here?”

  “I noticed that my shirt had blood on it after hugging you and I wanted to make sure you aren’t hurt. I mean I know you’re banshee and you heal quickly, but what if they had used faeritonium? Well, of course they used faeritonium, why wouldn’t they use it? So your wounds will take longer to heal and… And I am rambling. I just… Well, are you okay or not?” Ah, I was Bryce’s kin, for sure. We Quinn’s could babble on with the best of them.

  I heard him chuckle just before the water stopped. “Give me a moment and I will come talk with you.”

  Realizing that I was still in the bloodstained clothes, I ran to my room and changed as fast as I could. I threw out the stained clothes. There was no use trying to clean them. Even with Bryce’s magical laundry skills, I would never wear them again.

  After a cursory knock on Ian’s door, I entered to find him on the sofa he had placed in front of the more-for-decoration-than-heat fireplace. I sat beside him and he draped one arm over the back of the sofa. It surprised me when he mindlessly began to toy with my hair, twirling it around his fingers.

  “I assume you want to know what happened.”

  “Yes, Bryce said you ran into some of Gabriel’s soldiers. He said they attacked you. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

  “I am well, Goldie. Most of the blood was not mine—”

  “Most of it?”

  “Well, some of it was mine, but I have since healed. I must admit, it feels nice to know someone worries for my wellbeing.” He moved so that our legs were touching.

  “Of course I worry about you. You’ve been an important part of my life for a while.”

  “Is that the only reason you worry for me?”

  I looked into his smoky grey eyes.

  “Well… no.”

  “Good.” He covered my lips with his.

  After daydreaming about it for years, I let my fingers run through his dark brown shoulder length hair, over his shoulders to his biceps and back again. His hands were taking their own journey over my body as he deepened the kiss. I pressed into them as they skimmed my breasts and pulled a deep moan from him that sent a thrill through me.

  As quickly as the kiss had begun, it was over, and Ian was standing across the room. Damn banshee-speed, I hadn’t even realized he had moved.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I do not think this is a good idea.”

  “I don’t know what’s upset you, but if you’re worried that whatever it is will upset me, I can assure you it will not.”

  I stood and began to walk toward him.

  “Please. Do not come near me.”

  I ignored him and stood as close as I could without touching him.

  “Please tell me what’s bothering you.”

  He stared at me for a long moment before relaxing his stance. On a sigh he smiled before speaking.

  “I do not know, but it is nothing you did. I need some time to think about this.”

  “It’s the age difference, isn’t it?”

  I have never been sure of Ian’s exact age, but from various comments over the years, I knew he was much older than me. Banshees could be hundreds of years old and still only look as though they’re in their twenties or thirties.

  “You can be perceptive.”

  “So I’ve been told. Age shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t matter to me. Besides, I am an adult. In both mortal and banshee sense.”

  “I believe I have just proven I am aware of that fact… maybe too aware. I need time to think.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you space and let you work this out. Just know that I don’t care how old you are. I am all grown up and I can decide when I am ready for a relationship, and with whom I want one. So, I am here when you’re ready.”

  ********

  My growling stomach woke me in the morning. Healing takes a lot out of you. I slipped out of bed and groggily padded to the kitchen. I decided I wanted peanut butter waffles. Ian entered just as I poured the first of the batter onto the waffle iron.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m making waffles.”

/>   “Waffles?”

  “Yes. Have you never seen waffles?”

  “Sure, I have.” His demeanor contradicted his words.

  “Mm-hmm. And did you do any thinking last night?”

  His mouth pulled into a crooked smile as he moved toward me. “Yes, yes I did.”

  “Oh, did you now? And what have you decided?”

  “That I need more time.” Seeing my disappointment, he took my hand and added, “Listen, Goldie, it has been many years since I have been in a relationship. It never worked out. If this… If you and I… You are too important.”

  I’d never seen Ian insecure. I hadn’t thought it possible.

  “Okay. Would it help if I move to my apartment for a bit? To give you space?” I lived at HQ most of the time but kept a small apartment as a place to get a way to when I needed alone time.

  “No. It is not safe for you to be alone. Do not go off on your own. Not now.”

  “Okay. Let’s just focus on finding Gabriel and ridding the world of his presence. We can discuss ‘us’ after that. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  “Yeah, well, just know that once Gabe is out of the way I won’t be so patient. So, you have been warned, Ian MacBeaghne.”

  He let out a laugh, and hearing it, I was a goner for sure. Head over heels and back again.

  “Fair enough. I am leaving for a bit.”

  “You going to feed?” He wouldn’t volunteer that information, not to me.

  The first time I’d seen Ian he’d been feeding. I had thought he was a rogue banshee and that he was trying to kill the mortal. I attacked him, we fought, he won, and I woke up hours later in my bed. He had returned later that evening to explain that he wanted to recruit me into his clan.