by N. K. Vir
“What did he do Annie?” Duncan’s voice questioned.
“He pointed at me and smiled,” Annie said shivering.
“Wow!” Robert gushed. “I can’t believe you saw him.”
“What does it mean?” Duncan asked the table.
“Depends on who you ask,” Griffin said answering him. “Some say he comes to warn the town of impending disaster.”
“And the others?”
Annie sat mute. She refused to answer. She might not believe in curses or legends, before tonight she didn’t believe in ghosts, but she would not give voice to the other legend behind a spectral visit from Giles Corey. She flashed a look at Robert and willed him to be quiet with a look. His mouth had been open, she had seen the words on his tongue, but thankfully he got the hint and remained silent. She cast a quick look around the table. Everyone stayed silent and Annie let out a small sigh of relief.
“Enough about ghosts,” she said smacking the table hard enough to make everyone jump. “Kat why don’t you go get us another round?” she asked. “I’m tired of Mandy and her nasty looks and hooker shirt,” Annie said going for levity but instead she sounded petty and jealous.
Duncan leaned close to her and lowering his voice so only she could hear whispered in her ear. “There is only one woman here who holds my attention and it is not the bar wench.” Annie turned her face slightly so she could study Duncan out of the corner of her eye. Did he mean it? She wondered silently. “And you will tell me what else a visit from that specter means.” That he definitely meant.
Griffin cleared his throat. “Come on Robert let’s help Kat.” When Robert tried to protest Griffin put a meaty hand on his neck and squeezed until Robert got the hint. The two men walked away leaving Duncan and Annie alone.
Suddenly Annie was very nervous, and it had nothing to do with curses and ghosts. He was still looking at her and she refused to be caught staring at his face like a love sick girl. Instead she shook her head. The beer was starting to catch up with her. The shaking of her head seemed to have released some of the tension allowing the alcohol to take over.
“I don’t understand you,” she said slowly turning her head to search for her friends. The three of them stood huddled together at the bar. Kat seemed to sense her looking and scowled back at her while sending silent hand signals that she could not understand.
“I think she wants you to pay attention to me,” Duncan explained. “Why don’t you tell me more about this Giles Corey?” he asked.
“No,” Annie snapped. She turned around and looked everywhere but at him. She settled for the large window that looked out on to Essex Street. The sun had long ago set but the night was still waking up. Couples strolled arms interlocked, or hands entwined as they tried to decide what to do next. Annie tried to concentrate on the world outside but the presence of the strange man sitting next to her kept trying to draw her attention back to him. He so sat close to her but still so distant. He was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees; his hands locked together, his eyes riveted to her face.
Emboldened by liquid courage she reached out to touch him, to test a theory that had been pestering the deeper parts of her mind. He jerked away like her hands were made of fire.
“You are filled with pretty words. One moment whispering the most amazing things; things, I might add no man actually says,” she said turning now to face him. He reacted by shoving his chair further away from her. The action hurt in ways she couldn’t understand. She allowed her frustration to drip poison on her tongue. “I am tired of being played. One minute you seem to be coming on to me and the next you are jumping away like I might burn you.” She stood up pushing away from the table and away from him.
“Stay,” he said reaching a hand out to her. “Please don’t leave me again.”
She felt her resolve crumple threatening to melt away completely by the raw anguish that laced his words. Her body swayed as she closed her eyes and heard his voice echoing in her head, “Please don’t leave me again.” The words pushed and pulled at her. Something, no someone was begging her to remember. That distant yet distinct feeling that she had known him before, that she should remember him now was banging loudly inside her. The noise grew louder, drawing her outside of herself. Her eyes fluttered open she could still hear the banging as her eyes refocused on her surroundings. The banging persisted. She quickly realized that the banging was coming from outside the pub. A small strange looking man was trying to get Duncan’s attention.
“Someone you know?” Annie asked him pointing towards the window.
Duncan’s head snapped towards the window. Whoever was out there caused him to mutter what Annie could only guess was a curse. The small hairy man waved vigorously at him beckoning him outside. Annie watched as the stranger’s frantic motions stopped when Duncan held a hand up and nodded.
“I’m sorry I have to talk to him,” he sad to Annie not turning around.
Untimely interruptions seemed to be constantly separating them right when it seemed most inconvenient.
A part of her wanted him to walk out that door and not come back; another smaller part feared that was exactly what he would do. He started to move towards the door without another word. His retreat left her feeling lost, confused and very afraid.
“I never left you,” she said in a voice not quite her own. The words had just tumbled out of her mouth. She clapped both hands over her mouth in shock. Where had that come from?
Duncan’s head whipped around and he strode over to her in two long quick strides. In that moment Annie swore he was going to reach out to her, grab her, hold her, kiss her; something hell any kind of physical contact. She felt her body tense in anticipation and then quickly deflate as he stopped suddenly mere inches from her. She felt the disappointment on her face.
“Annie,” he whispered hoarsely. When she refused to look up at him he tried again in his native tongue, “Mo chroi.”
Her eyes moved on their own accord, her head tipping back so she could look up at him. When her eyes finally found his he spoke again. “Please stay here. I’ll be but a moment.” She found her head nodding, at that moment she felt she would agree to anything he asked of her. “I promise when I return I will explain everything,” he vowed his eyes burning into hers. His head dipped down slowly towards hers. Her lashes lowered and then he was gone.
A heavy weight lifted off her chest and settled in her stomach. She sucked in a ragged breath as the noise, or lack thereof, filtered back into her consciousness. She glanced warily around the pub and noticed everyone was staring at her. She felt her face catch on fire with embarrassment. She took another calming breath and pleaded with her heart to return to its normal pace. When she was sure she had regained her composure she sought out her friends who were still huddled at the bar. She stalked over to them raising a hand to silence any questions they might have asked.
“Get me a shot of whiskey,” she ordered the bartender. After a moments hesitation he jumped to fill her order. He placed the small glass In front of her and she reached out to grab it amazed at how steady her hand was. She raised the glass to her lips and with one quick motion pushed the contents down her throat. She closed her eyes relishing the burning trail of fire as it fell down her throat and settled in her stomach. When she opened her eyes the world was spinning. Satisfied that she was truly drunk she slammed the glass back down on the bar. She glanced over at her friends who stared at her in mute shock
“What?” she barked at them.
“Your eyes,” Kat whispered finding her voice first.
“They’re different,” Griffin explained.
Annie shrugged. She felt different. She wasn’t sure what that meant and the alcohol running through her blood told her she didn’t care. She fixed her gaze on Robert, who took an involuntary step back.
“Annie, are you okay?” Kat asked her voice full of concern.
She nodded curtly almost ignoring the question. She had one of her own and she wanted an answer
but he wasn’t here to answer it. Instead she settled for another and hoped someone would give her an answer.
“What does mo chroi mean?” when the alien words passed her lips it sounded like ‘muy hree’. At first no one answered so she asked the question louder.
An older heavy set woman with white hair and kind blue eyes answered her from the end of the bar. “It means my heart,” she replied with a smile. Annie thanked the woman and returned to the table to gather up her things. The older woman’s voice seemed to break whatever spell the pub was under as conversation erupted in Annie’s ears. Not everyone had returned to a state of normalcy.
Annie felt the familiar presence of her friendly trio gather around her as she rifled through her messenger bag. She found her wallet and dug out a twenty, slapped it on the table, then proceeded to fiddle with the tricky clasp of her bag. Griffin’s hand shot out and grabbed her arm. His warm comforting hand was almost her undoing. She felt the sting of tears threatening to tumble out of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her free hand. She shook her head groaning as the room began to spin. She sucked in a lung full of air and plastered a watery smile on her face.
“Please let us walk you home,” Kat insisted.
“No,” she replied extracting herself from Griffin’s gentle grasp. “I need to get out of here. I need to clear my head and I can’t do that with you guys surrounding me.” She shoved her head through the strap of her bag and marched out the door without looking back.
Duncan reluctantly left Annie to join Knackers outside. He had almost given in, again. In that moment the world had faded away when he heard her call out to him. “I never left you.” The empty void in his soul instantly filled with her presence. He had rushed to her wanting nothing more than to pull her into his arms and crush her body to his. Then he saw Annie and he had stopped himself but just barely.
When she finally lifted her eyes to him he realized he didn’t care. The mortal that stood in front of him and his Goddess were one and the same. Once she had promised to give up her immortal soul for him and this was exactly what she had shown him she would become for him. It was a memory he had forgotten existed until that one moment. As her beautiful eyes fluttered closed he felt drawn to this fragile mortal. The memory of who or what she was erased itself from his mind, all he cared about, all he wanted, was Annie. He had lowered his head, his lips aching to touch hers, and then something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He saw the wise woman he had met the first day he stepped foot into Annie’s world. She drew his attention away with her magick, whispering into his mind, “not yet.” The power of that magick fought with his own will. In the end his will proved weaker than magick and he fled with a weak plea and a promise. When the cool summer night’s air hit his inflamed skin he growled in frustration. His hand balled into fists, clenching and unclenching as he tried to pump his anger out of his body. He was tired of being used by the Sidhe. Damn their interference and their curses, he would end his suffering tonight. He would lay his own path, let the consequences be damned.
“What!” he barked at Knackers “is so important?” He tried to force his vision back to normal instead of the red hazy film he saw. He stalked away unsure of where his feet were leading him. He could hear Knackers scurrying to keep up with his long angry strides.
“Please tell me I did no’ see what I almost saw boy,” Knackers called out. Duncan swung around and stared down at his tiny companion. Something in his gaze must have warned Knacker’s off because he quickly changed topics. “So,” he said with a half-hearted chuckle. “Good news first then.”
Duncan growled in response shoving a hand through his hair. He prayed to the gods he swore to defy for peace and struggled to find calm. “Speak,” he commanded as calmly as he could muster.
“Well,” Knackers began clearing his throat. “What if I told ye this town had a Grant.”
After the night Duncan had just had he swore nothing could shock him. He was wrong. Grants were rare, they had been a dying breed when Duncan was just a lad, and many Fae thought they were already extinct. Grants had protected the small Celtic villages from the Roman conquest. Many had died in the battles that had ensued leaving them an almost instinct race among the Fae. The fact that one may have followed the settlers to the New World was mind blowing. Grants were protective of their chosen territory and only existed where great evil threatened. Their main job was to warn the villagers of an imposing threat. If a Grant was in Salem the danger to Annie was greater than he thought.
“If there is a Grant what is the bad news?” he asked.
Knackers hesitated for too long and Duncan knew the answer before Knackers could give voice to the truth. “There is a Redcap. An’ just as ol’ Pete claimed he be a nasty one at that. Folks ‘round here call him by ‘nother name though.”
Duncan dreaded the answer even as it left his lips. “What is that name?” Knackers cringed at the feral tone but Duncan was unwilling to relent. “Tell me!” he bellowed.
“Giles,” Knackers replied. “Giles Corey.” Duncan’s feet wanted to take flight but Knackers’ next words stopped him cold. “Tis too late lad, he’s seen her. An’ he’s coming.”
Just then a figure strode through the darkness in the distance. “No,” Duncan growled. As Knackers squinted into the darkness his cat eyes widening in fear.
“Go,” he ordered Duncan. “Doona leave the lass alone. I’ll watch yer back.” His small hand fell on Duncan’s fore arm drawing his attention. “Convince her, wake her from the dark magickal hell she is living in. If all else fails I’ll keep her safe at the cost of me own life.”
Duncan was barely listening to his old friend and companion. His ears had turned off, his mind was racing with every probable outcome; but his eyes were focused solely on the figure of Annie walking alone and unaware of the dangers that surrounded her. For a moment his heart stopped beating in his chest as he slowly became aware of just how much she meant to him. Goddess, or mortal, Annie or her, it mattered not. When he admitted that to his soul, only then did his heart begin to beat in his chest again.
Chapter Ten
The Curse and the Commons
Annie allowed her feet to carry her with no destination set in her mind. When her mind slowly became aware of her surroundings she realized she was in the Commons. The earlier events of the evening flooded her mind. She desperately tried to shove them away but they refused to leave. She felt like she was being torn in two, like two completely different entities vied for control over her physical body; one half clung to what she had known the other to what she knew. Her life had been perfect, well maybe not perfect but pretty damn good. She had friends, a job she loved, a nice cozy place to call her own, she never looked to the future or dwelled in the past, she lived in the present. She stumbled over a rock and grumbled a curse. She shouldn’t have left the pub like that, but she could not stay and she didn’t feel like going home. She shuffled over to a nearby bench and fell onto it. She sighed heavily blowing a stray piece of hair out of her face. She slouched down and rested her head on the back of the bench. Large leafy oak branches encircled her making her feel dizzy. She closed her eyes and tried to stop the world from spinning. She was drunk. This was his fault too. All of this was his fault, her life had taken a sharp dangerous turn they day she had met him.
An image of his blue-gray eyes flashed in her mind. They were so familiar. His eyes closed, winking out of existence. Another vision quickly replaced it. She was staring at soft rolling hills covered in a blanket of green. Nestled between the hills was a small dark lake. A young boy barely a man sat on a large boulder his bare feet dangling over the edge barely skimming the water’s surface. His long arms which were just beginning to develop the signs of corded muscle sat on either side of him holding him up. His face was tilted away from her basking in the warm afternoon sun. His dark almost black hair curled down his neck just brushing his shoulders. A noise seemed to catch his attention, his hea
d snapping towards the right, his attention focused on a small group of trees. He jumped quickly to his feet and ran barefoot towards the trees. A woman appeared out of the shade her golden red hair shimmered like a cloud around her. She wore a long gown of yellow that seemed to move around her like water.
She spotted the man running towards her and reached her arms out welcomingly towards him. An instant later he reached her, his hands found her waist and he lifted her effortlessly off the ground.
Her elegant hands braced herself on his shoulders as her face tilted down towards his. Her hair fell over their heads like a golden curtain as he slowly lowered her to the ground. His arms wrapped around her waist pulling her up against him. Her hands rested lightly on his shoulders as she whispered something into his ear; a whisper that continued to echo in Annie’s head when she opened her eyes to find Duncan staring down at her.
His face was hidden in the shadow the oak trees cast leaving her unable to read the expression on his face. She slowly got to her feet, the memory of her vision and those secretly whispered words still vivid in her mind. She wanted that vision, that dream, to become a reality. She took another step forward as he retreated. A street lamp illuminated his face, a wary look flashing in his eyes making Annie smile up at him wickedly. A whispered word exploded in her ears along with a command to speak it. Her mouth struggled to form the word correctly; it felt thick, and foreign and yet natural. When the words finally left her lips her voice was dark and husky. To her ears it sounded strange like two words forced together that made no sense in English.
“Rune shark,” they heard. But her lips had said ‘runsearc’.
She heard Duncan suck in a ragged breath, saw him shudder as she took another step closer. She was standing so close to him now. She could feel his warm breath on her face as he struggled to breathe.