Blood In Fire (Celtic Elementals Book 2)

by Heather R. Blair

  She ran for the doors, the wind in her hair, sliding inside and up the stairs with her heart pounding and sweat slicking her skin. Leaping up the stairs in two’s, even though she heard no sound of pursuit. The doors had fallen shut behind her and all was eerily still.

  Heather was shaking when she shoved open the bedroom door and fell into Aidan’s arms.

  “What the hell happened to you?” Fear clung to her like dark smoke. Fear—and the smell of juniper. His hands tightened. That bastard. “Never mind, I’m gonna kill tha' fucking shit—“

  “I told him that.” She hiccupped, pulled away and gave him a smile, though he could feel the shudders rolling through her, “but you don’t have time right now.” She pressed a small drawstring bag into his hands, looking into his eyes desperately. “Please, Aidan.”

  He nodded shortly. He bent his head to open the cloth bag when something stuck in the tangled strings tumbled across his palm. It was a shell. A small, perfect conch shell, all white and pink.

  Heather looked up at him questioningly, but Aidan couldn't speak. He could feel a muscle in his jaw ticking in and out. He had left Isleen's shell here, tucked away into the rocks after he and Ronan had laid into Abhartach's forces together. Back then, the demon had only a handful of other creatures like him.

  Together, Ronan and he had cut that down to maybe two or three. Aidan had walked out of this castle an hour before the rising of the sun, with a new friend and a small ray of hope that he could conquer the demon inside of him.

  It had all come at a price, of course.

  He had used the shell by then, and he'd believed his daughter safe, but he knew he'd never, ever see her again. No one could know where she was now, not after the last time.

  He had knelt between those stones outside and sank the shell into the ground, never expecting it to return to his hand.

  Especially like this.

  "What is it?"

  "Something I left behind before," he said softly. "It…I didna think it would still be there. After all this time…"

  His voice trailed off. Then he tucked the shell into his pocket.

  "I'll be a moment." He leaned forward and brushed his lips over her forehead. He knew she was curious, but he couldn't spare time to tell her about the shell. Not now.

  Heather closed her eyes. "Hurry, who knows what the sick freak is up to."

  "Aye." Aidan walked into the bathroom and shut the door. He could hear her on the other side as he took out the potion and the needle Daire had wedged into the bag. He dribbled water from the basin into the vial and watched it turn a muddy grey as he prepared it. Such an ugly color for such a powerful, beautiful thing.

  "Do you think he will get the others?" Her voice carried through the door, soft as moth's wings.

  "Nae," he whispered. Hoping it were true as he slid the needle home.

  "Can't you ask Bav for help? Snap your fingers or something? Seriously, Aidan, we could use a goddess right now." From the sound of her voice, Heather was dead serious.

  She probably would have welcomed the sight of that red-headed bitch, despite all he'd told her of his and Bav's history last night. After he had opened up about Isleen, it had been impossible to stop certain things from flowing out. Heather had been shocked and sickened by turns, but right now Heather also wanted a miracle and she thought the goddess could give them one.

  Aidan, however, knew better. Gods could be powerful allies, aye. But there was always a price. They needed to make their own miracle with no interference from gods. Especially that one.

  "I canna. She's given up on me. Told me so herself, the night ye…well, tha' night." He could almost feel her staring at the door.

  "Really? Just like that? That seems a little bit strange."

  She was leaning weakly against the wall next to the door when he opened it. "I know."

  "You didn't ask why?"

  "Nae. I dinna care why, and besides, things got hectic rather quickly. Come on now, let's get shut of this place." He cocked his head, looking at her. "What ails ye?"

  She looked odd, chewing her lips as she blinked up at him.

  "Okay, I know I shouldn't ask, especially now, but…were you two ever actually lovers? I just…can't picture it, somehow."

  "What, Bav and I?" He smiled and she frowned.

  "Oh, Heather." Aidan knew better than to lie, even though the truth would probably sting. "Yes, we were. A grand total of once. And tha' was only because the bitch tricked me, as usual." She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms, but didn't say a word.

  Aidan sighed and pushed her toward the window.

  "She disguised herself. As a camp wench, a whore, mind. She was laid out in my tent when I came in one night. I was only a man, love. Just like any other."

  "It wasn't your first time, was it?" That would be unbearable.

  He laughed out loud.

  "First time? Gods, Heather! Nae. I musta been two and twenty by then, if no' older."

  She nodded, somewhat mollified. For a moment. Then—

  "A goddess must be good in bed."

  "Aye." his lips twitched.

  "Oh, stop playing with me."

  "But ye make it so very tempting, love. 'Tis damme hard to resist." He pulled her close and kissed her temple as they stopped directly in front of the window, heavily drawn against the sun.

  His lips slid to the top of her ear.

  "'Twas nothing, nothing to me and little enough to her, except as a trap."

  "I doubt that. She loves you."

  "She fancies herself in love with me, 'tis a very different thing." His breath was warm as his mouth moved lower, his lips tickling her neck. "We must go, stop distracting me. 'Tis nearly time."

  "I'm not distracting you."

  "Ye canna breathe without distracting me."

  "Am I to quit breathing then?" For a moment, something cold and foreboding ran its skeletal hand down Aidan's spine and he shuddered. Heather looked up at him in alarm, but he placed a finger over her mouth.

  "Nae. Just shut those pretty little lips until we are well out of here."

  "Far too late for that now, I think."

  Heather went ghost white at the sound of that voice, Abhartach's voice, creeping in from the stairwell. Fast as thought, Aidan moved to the window ledge, pushing Heather behind him. Abhartach stood outside the door.

  "Do come in, Abhartach, we were just leaving. No' that it hasna been a grand time and all. Why donna ye come in and let us thank ye properly?"

  Abhartach chuckled, though it sounded as if it cost him. "And you with the sun at yourback, just behind that shade? Aye, I will stay here, thank you. Where is it then?"

  Aidan slid back a few steps towards the window, feeling as it the world had just tilted under his feet.

  "Ye knew?" Damnú air, how fucking close had he come to risking the whole human race with his own selfishness?

  "Of course I knew, my son."

  Aidan took a deep breath, shaking off his guilt. It didn't matter that Abhartach knew now, it was too late. The last of ghrian siúlóir was in his veins. Safe from this foul creature.

  "Then ye know what ye've lost…tha's good. Very good. Good-bye, Abhartach." For now, he thought, with a hard pang as he looked at Heather. She stood with one hand at her heart, a step in behind him. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her against him, prepared to rip the thick daytime hangings from the window.

  "Hold, my son, another wants to offer their 'goodbyes' first."

  Declan moved out from behind the monster, a sleek black gun in his outstretched hand. Heather's scratches showing livid on his pale face. Aidan stared at the gun, his mind racing, as he wedged Heather behind him, trapping her between himself and the wall.

  "He is a most accomplished shot, not that he needs to be at this distance."

  "Bullets willna do much to me." Aidan said, stalling.

  "Aye, perhaps not but…well, ye tell him, daor. Ye've earned it."

  Declan smiled, licking his already glist
ening lips. "Armor-piercing rounds, O'Neill. Protect her with your body all you like, these will go straight through you like butter."

  Aidan went still. No. Not when they were so close. NO!

  "Ye canna kill her, ye made an oath!"

  "I did, yes," Abhartach's voice was amused. "The daor, however, did not. And after your sweet toy bloodied him, he needs no orders to want her dead. This is of his own free will, my son. What can I do?"

  Aidan's throat was closing, his mind spun. Then he felt something, light as a bird's wing, brushing his hip and slipping into his jacket pocket, Heather's fingers over his. She pressed something into his bare hand. A stone, smooth and flat and warm from her skin. The skipping stone he had given her at Lough Gur..

  "Stop." Heather's voice, shaky. She sounded terrified and Aidan knew she was, but he also heard the desperate hope under the fear. Abhartach wouldn't. He saw her as weak and full of fear, broken by the torture she had endured.

  She stepped out from behind Aidan, as he twitched instinctively to halt her. Heather put a hand on his shoulder. "No, Aidan. They have us, we—"

  Just like that, with Declan's eyes moving to track Heather, Aidan whipped his hand out of his pocket and flung the stone.

  The man's head turned back at the flash of movement, but it was too late. The stone struck him between the eyes with a crack louder than any gunshot. The 9mm fell from his nerveless fingers, clattering to the floor.

  Heather dashed forward, scooped it up and darted back behind Aidan at Abhartach's roar of fury. Aidan saw the demon's head dart around the corner once, his black eyes going wide as they took in the fallen figure of his slave. Surprise rapidly taken over by cold calculation.

  His gaze met Aidan's for one moment, then he moved behind the door once more.

  "I will find this potion, I will track it—"

  "How?" Aidan let his amusement breathe into his words. "The Changelings who used it are dead, Aillen is dead, along with all his secrets. And there is none left, Abhartach. I have used the last. It is gone."

  The low sound of bubbling hysteria coming from behind that door pleased Aidan to no end. Saving Heather alone would be worth the loss of the sun, but this…destroying Abhartach's dream? That was definitely icing on the cake.

  "What if we can't ever recover more? What if it's lost forever?!"

  Aidan smiled, knowing the demon would hear it in his voice.

  "Well, I donna care, do I? I have a few more hours in the light, and it's so beautiful, Abhartach. Can ye even remember…the way it feels, the way it smells?"

  His hand edged toward the window and the demon king went crazy, wailing in freakish misery as Aidan ripped back the curtain at last.

  He pulled Heather into his arms and leapt through the glass to freedom. The sound of shattering glass wasn't the only thing that followed them. The blackness of Abhartach's words poured through the window, a long crooked finger of night as they fell through the misty light of late morning.

  "I'll find her, I swear it! I'll have her ripped to pieces before your eyes one day soon. Whatever it takes, wherever she goes, she'll never be safe. Never!"

  Even as he dropped, Heather in his arms, Aidan knew the demon's promise was far from an idle one. He'd known this would happen all along. Getting her out was only the first step in saving her. The second, and final step was his alone.

  He would take her away so that she never had to see this place again. Then Aidan would return. He would give Abhartach the vow he wanted in exchange for an oath that would ensure her safety for the rest of her life.

  There had never been any escape for him, nor would there ever be again. But Heather was free and he didn't care what it took to keep her that way.

  Chapter 16

  They'd had less than an hour until sunset by the time Aidan felt they had lost their pursuers. Ronan had not been where he was supposed to be and that had both on them on edge. There was not enough time now to look for him, or get back to the Fitzpatricks before night fell and the vampires themselves came out.

  Aidan wanted them hidden and their scent as cold as possible by then.

  It didn't work out that way.

  Aidan didn't find them the abandoned house until just past midnight, when he finally seemed confident that they were safe. They'd been avoiding lone hunters and small groups of one or two vamps for hours by then. He'd managed to keep them from any direct confrontation through stealth and skill.

  Only once had he sensed anything close enough to truly alarm him, a quick flash of terror when he had lifted her in his arms and run so fast the wind brought tears to her eyes. That had been at least two hours ago.

  He'd made a call to Ronan from a bar outside the small town before he'd found the house. Finding out that Ronan had been set upon earlier that day by a band of Abhartach's faithful. The big man beaten them easily enough, but it had slowed him down and put him out of position to back them up when the time came. He was on his way now, though. Aidan was trusting to Ronan's nose to find them once he got close.

  Aidan hadn't enjoyed the sun today, she got the impression he had barely noticed it. Not even the sunset hadn't moved him, though she had seen him studying it through slitted eyes.

  Something had changed. Something awful. He'd made a decision. And he wasn't going to share it with her. He was going to shut her out and walk away.

  Again.

  They were in what must have been the bedroom once, evidenced by the warped remnants of a huge four poster bed that had obviously been too cumbersome for vandals to bother with.

  Moonlight cut through the broken window panes in ragged slices as she stared at him. Heather wished she could blame the strange light for making him look so different, all cold and foreboding, but she knew better.

  "Are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?"

  He blinked slowly.

  "All manner of things, love. No' one of them yer business."

  She shivered at his tone. He hadn't spoken to her like that since Abhartach had taken her. Did he really think she was too stupid to recognize when he was trying to push her away? Even that awful night she had known he was lying. Yes, it had hurt and it had devastated her, but she'd known. And she knew now.

  "Stop it, Aidan. Just fucking stop it."

  "Stop what, nobody? This is me. Being myself."

  "What 'you' was it the last four days then?"

  He turned away, but not before she saw him swallow hard.

  "Ye needed nice, so I gave ye nice. Donna make too much of it. I dinna."

  "Ri-ight. Whatever, Aidan. Don't tell me what's got you so inside out, that's fine. I won't push you, but don't bullshit me that what we just went through meant nothing to you."

  "What do ye know, stupid human." He hissed it, but she heard those last two words in Abhartach's voice and despite herself, she sagged against the wall. For a moment, she couldn't move, her heart pounded and her scars ached and something inside of her tightened into a hard knot of fear.

  No.

  No fear. Not of herself, not of the dark, and certainly not of him.

  Not of Aidan.

  She wouldn't allow him to do this. No matter what she had to risk.

  “I'll tell you what I do know." Heather straightened her spine and glared at him. "I do know that I love you."

  Aidan's head whipped around, his gaze like quicksilver.

  “Ye donna know shite, ye bloody eejit woman!” His words were harsh, but shock rang through them like a tolling bell.

  He hadn’t expected her to say it. She knew why love held such fear for him now, but that didn't make it any easier to see that furious look on his face. Furious and terrified, she realized with a pang.

  “If you don’t know that by now, then you don’t know anything, Aidan.” She said quietly.

  His eyes flashed, crystal shards trying to slice her into ragged pieces, his words dripping with a loathing she told herself was feigned.

  “I know you are scared…terrified all the fucking time, litt
le miss nobody.”

  Heather lifted her chin and even though her voice shook and her eyes stung, she didn’t turn away.

  “Not when I'm with you. I'm not scared of you, Aidan.”

  “Bullshit.” His leather-clad hands were clenched into fists at his sides, that lean, powerful body rigid—and poised to strike.

  “Oh, you know it’s true…but that scares you, doesn’t it?” She smiled, her lips trembling. “Poor little vampire, scared of a human—“

  “Shut it, Heather.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I’ll give ye something to be scared of, damnú air!”

  His eyes had started to glow and shivers trickled down Heather’s spine like icy droplets of water. But she wouldn’t back down, couldn’t.

  If she did, she would lose him forever. And that scared her all right, all the way down to her fucking soul. She forced the words out, though her throat was closing.

  “Try me.”

  Heather didn’t see him move, but it was hard to miss the world exploding around her. Wood cracked like gunshots against the crumbling stone walls, and dust and splinters littered the air. Tatters of old bed hangings floated down like pale, frightened ghosts, slipping to the floor in the echoing silence.

  He'd apparently thrown the old relic of a bed into the wall, but now it was her he'd moved to.

  Aidan leaned over her, his arms locked on either side of her head, vibrating with anger, the thick cords of his shoulders and neck standing out. His face was strained white, his lips inches from hers.

  “Ye want to die after all, is tha' the way of it?” His voice was as cold as she’d ever heard it and his eyes pulsed with light, making her insides go weak.

  The darkness of his power reached for her—not on stealthy cat feet this time—but with the fatal leap of a vicious predator. Blinding and hungry, it tried to swallow her whole, to pull her down so it could render her helpless. She closed her eyes, breathing slowly and carefully until some of herself came back.

  “I don’t want to die, Aidan.”

  “Damme funny way of showing it, then.” His breath plumed against her mouth, along her jaw as she sensed him moving for her throat…for her jugular. He was only testing her. She knew it, but she also knew he was capable of anything right now.