Elf Blood: Book 14 of The Witch Fairy Series

by Bonnie Lamer

  The corner of her mouth lifts slightly like she wants to smile but can’t quite bring herself to do it. “A dark magic spell done for any reason, Xandra, is still a dark magic spell.”

  So much for getting points for asking first. “It’s not like I’ll ever do something like this again,” I say defensively.

  Isla stares at me for a long moment. “Time will tell.”

  Okay, now I’m getting insulted. “Do you have a better solution for preventing war and saving Lielle?” I demand.

  Struggling to rein back her anger, Isla says, “Your reasons do not change the spell from dark to light,” she reminds me again.

  “Grandmother, is the spell ready?” Kallen asks from the doorway. He knows he just walked into an argument. I give him credit for not turning around and running for his life. If Isla and I ever truly fought, there would be casualties.

  “Bring three white candles from the pantry and silver string from Tabitha’s sewing room,” she instructs curtly.

  Kallen gives me an ‘is it okay if I leave you alone or will you kill each other’ look. I nod in response. Isla narrows her eyes but doesn’t say anything. Instead, she turns the grimoire toward me. She jabs at the open page with her index finger. “This is the spell.”

  As far as spells go, it’s not that complicated. I guess because it’s dark magic I thought it would require blood or something. Really glad it doesn’t. “Okay,” I say, rereading the spell. “I can do this.”

  “That was never in question,” Isla snaps.

  “You have an incredible knack for making people want to hit you. Were you born that way or did you aspire to it all on your own?” Taz snarks. I reflexively swing my foot toward him but he’s too fast and all I hit is air.

  Kallen returns with the candles and string. “Shall we?” he asks, swinging his arm toward the door.

  Picking up the grimoire, I walk past Isla and through the door. The warriors are waiting restlessly for us. I hope they’re not having second thoughts. Lielle’s father puts a hand on my arm to stop me before I reach the others. “May I see her first?” he pleads.

  I’m about to say yes when Kallen interrupts. “That is not wise. A powerful memory would form and you run the risk of it not succumbing to the spell.” Interesting.

  The disappointment in the Elf’s eyes makes me want to cry. Then go get Lielle. But, I’m certain Kallen is right. “It is for the best. We will keep her safe, I promise.” After a moment, he nods and returns to his comrades.

  10 CHAPTER

  “Everyone is still in agreement, right?” I ask. Each warrior nods his head. “Okay, then let’s get started. I need everyone to sit down forming a circle.”

  “Before you get started, I have a question,” Dagda says in an even tone. “Why did you come here to demand the child’s return and not the palace?” I’m impressed. Only a tiny bit of the insult he feels at having been sidestepped comes through in his voice.

  Lielle’s father bows his head. “My apologies. The King Consort was aware I had been to the home of the Witch Fairy with the Queen.” He means when the other me was on a killing spree. “He insisted I lead my comrades straight here.”

  Dagda cocks his head. “Did he?” I suspect there will come a time in the near future when he and the King Consort discuss this issue.

  Right now, though, we need to get started erasing their memories, not creating more of them. “Can I begin,” I ask my biological father. He gives me a curt nod. I don’t take offense, it’s not me he’s mad at.

  The warriors awkwardly sit on the ground, their swords and daggers on their belts making it difficult to find a comfortable position. I’d suggest they take them off, but I suspect warriors are not easily parted from their weapons. Not that I couldn’t do it if I had reason to disarm them.

  Clearing my mind from such thoughts, I silently reread the spell again. If I am going to mess with their minds, I want to be certain I only do as I said I would. I don’t want to end up with a bunch of brain dead warriors. That would be really hard to explain to company. Not to mention the Elves. Bringing my own brain back to the subject at hand, I tie the ends of the silver string to two of the candles leaving about twelve inches between them. I light one of the matches Kallen gave me. Lighting the two candles, I place them as far as the string will stretch in the middle of the circle we have formed. “Everyone please hold hands.” Though it makes them mildly uncomfortable, the warriors do as I ask.

  Taking a deep breath, I begin the spell. “In the dark recesses of your minds memories are made. Good and bad woven together into rich brocade. With silver thread together they are bound, waiting to be called upon to the foreground. But not all memories are meant to be made. Those too dangerous must be frayed.” I light the third candle and now must fill in the blanks of the spell with the specifics to complete my end goal. Touching the candle to one end of the string, I hurry to say the next part of the spell. “From the time you came to this house until the time you leave,” I light the other end of the string. “With fire the string of your tapestries I shall unweave. The loss of which you will not know to grieve.” The warriors are struggling to keep their hands together as the magic of the spell begins to affect them. It didn’t dawn on me when I first read the spell, or the several times I read it again, that I would actually be burning the memories from their brains. Okay, I am understanding a bit more why this is a dark magic spell. Reaching out, I pinch my fingers over the two flames trying to meet in the middle of the string. Ouch. I pick up the small piece left and tie it in a knot much to the chagrin of my burned fingers. “To fill the hole this spell has made, a memory of my desire shall be laid. You were freely and generously allowed to search for what you seek. Upon finishing this spell I will have you rise knowing there is no havoc to wreak. What you seek you have not found. The tapestry of your memories once again tightly bound, the silver thread can never again be unwound.” I gather my supplies and quickly hand them to Tabitha who brings them into the house. We haven’t come this far to be outed by the spell paraphernalia. Standing, I glance around to make sure everyone is ready. Turning back to the warriors, I command, “Rise.”

  Dropping their hands, they rise as one. As soon as they are on their feet, a shift occurs in their eyes as if the new memory has just clicked into place. Lielle’s father is the first to speak. He addresses Dagda. “Thank you for allowing us to search for the baby. We apologize for the intrusion.” He gets a curt nod from Dagda which he takes as an invitation to gather his fellow warriors and leave.

  What they leave behind is a very heavy conscience on my part. I still am unsure if I did the right thing. Sensing my guilt, Kallen pulls me into a hug and says quietly, “Remember, they agreed to this.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t realize I would actually hurt them with the spell. I feel awful I didn’t warn them ahead of time.”

  “The pain is already forgotten on their parts.” True, but that only makes me feel a tiny bit better.

  11 CHAPTER

  Dagda orders his troops to escort the warriors back to the passageway leading to the Elf realm. We wait a few minutes after we lose sight of them before returning to the house, just in case they double back for some reason. Finally, Dagda nods. “We can go inside.”

  Inside the house, I am astounded by the glamour radiating through it. How did the warriors outside not feel this? Can they not sense when someone is using glamour? Since neither Kallen nor Isla worried about them being able to locate Lielle that way, I guess not. That would also make sense why they use whips to see if something is real or glamour. How odd they can’t sense it. Glancing around, I marvel at the baby’s ability to wield her magic. The walls are emanating a dark, oozing and awful smelling substance. The cries of what sound like banshees echo down the stairs and shadowy figures are lurking around every corner as I head to the stairs to find Alita, Kegan and Lielle. I wonder if glamour can be photographed. If so, Lielle would make a killing back in my realm doing special effects for horror movies.

/>   Kallen takes the lead. We go down a long hall on the second floor to a door I never paid attention to before. When Kallen opens it, I understand why. Basically, it’s a broom closet. Huddled together inside, Kegan and Alita are desperately trying to calm Lielle. It is not going well. As soon as the baby sees Kallen and me, she holds her arms out. I scoop her up from Alita’s lap. It’s not long before the walls stop oozing and the shadowy figures retreat. I appreciate it. Those guys are creepy.

  “How did it go?” Kegan asks, helping Alita to her feet.

  Kallen shrugs. “We offered you up as a slave in exchange for keeping the baby and they agreed to the trade. They’re waiting outside for you.”

  Alita’s skin pales before she realizes Kallen is kidding. She reaches out and slaps his arm. “Do not do that. We are already on edge.”

  Kallen holds his arm as if she dealt him a mortal blow. “Ow! Why is your wife so mean?” he asks his cousin.

  Kegan grins. “As long as she is only mean to you, I am good with it.”

  “Seriously, is there going to be war?” Alita asks.

  I shake my head. “Not right now. We’ll have to wait and see if the memory spell I did is enough to fool the King Consort.”

  Kegan’s brow furrows. “Memory spell? You did dark magic to get rid of them?”

  I sigh. “Unfortunately.”

  “I am certain it was your only choice,” Alita says supportively. She’s a good friend. The way she puts her hand to her head as if she has a headache, I suspect she already knew some sort of dark magic was used.

  It was probably not my only choice. I just couldn’t think of a better one. Trying to move past it, I glance down at Lielle. Using all that glamour seems to have made her sleepy. “I think she’s ready for a nap. I’m going to bring her to our room and lay her down.” Without waiting for a response, I teleport back to Kallen’s and my bedroom. I still don’t trust myself when it comes to carrying Lielle up flights of stairs. The cots have been taken out or room for the day and I appreciate the extra space like I never have before. I pace back and forth to lull Lielle to sleep since I’m too antsy to sit in the rocker. “You are almost as much trouble as I am,” I tease her softly. “There are so many people searching for you. But don’t worry; I won’t let any of them hurt you.” Lielle coos and smiles as if she understands my words.

  It only takes a few minutes for her to fall asleep in my arms. I wait a few minutes longer to lay her down. By this time, Kallen has joined us. “Perhaps we should nap as well seeing as we got very little sleep last night and I suspect tonight will be the same.”

  I mull it over in my mind. I am tired and really, there’s still nothing to do about Lielle except wait and worry. I decide curling up with Kallen and taking a nap is better than worrying any day. I nod and crawl onto the bed. Kallen follows and wraps me in his arms. He gives me a rather chaste kiss. I’ll add that to the reasons why I don’t want a child of our own any time soon.

  It feels like as soon as I close my eyes, I am woken by glamour. This time, it has snuck up on us. Not a good thing since it is in the form of one of the shadowy figures Lielle created earlier, and it is holding a very solid looking knife. Which it is about to plunge it into my chest. I manage to form a magical barrier between us just as the swing of his arm would have plunged the knife deep. Kallen curses next to me. He has his own shadowy figure to contend with.

  A scream echoes from down the hall. It’s Alita. Could there be a shadowy figure attacking her, too? Kallen intends to find out while I try to wake Lielle. Both of us using our magic as shields, we rise from the bed, pushing the figures backwards. It’s a good thing I have magic because this guy is strong. Almost as strong as the elephant from last night. Kallen disappears out the door and I gently touch Lielle’s cheek. Her eyes are going back and forth like crazy in REM sleep. It’s like she is trapped and looking for an escape. When she doesn’t respond to my touch, I lift her from the crib hoping the movement will wake her. It doesn’t. I coo her name into her ear. “Lielle, wake up.” No response other than her little arms and legs beginning to bang and kick against me. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the movements of the shadowy figure. His arms and legs are mimicking Lielle’s. That’s not good.

  “Lielle,” I say louder. “You need to wake up now.” Still, she refuses to wake. Is she really stuck somehow?

  Kallen comes back into the room with Alita in tow. She has a cut on her arm which is bleeding. They are followed by two shadowy figures now. “Why have you not woken her up?” my gorgeous husband demands.

  “Because I can’t,” I inform him. “You try.” I hold Lielle out to him.

  He practically snatches the baby from my hands. Holding her against his chest, he bounces his body up and down a little, not in any way that could be dangerous for her small head, while saying her name. He has as much success as I did. Frowning, he tries again, only louder this time. He is practically shouting. Still, nothing. “What is wrong with her?” he finally asks.

  “Like I know,” I snark. Both of us are losing the war with our tempers.

  “You try again,” Kallen says, shoving Lielle back toward me.

  Reluctantly, I take her into my arms again. How do we wake her up? Maybe, if she’s being trapped by her own glamour, she needs help dispelling it? “I have an idea,” I say, handing Lielle back to Kallen. Once she is safely in his arms, I pull more magic while simultaneously letting the shield in front of me down. The shadowy figure doesn’t hesitate to attack. He comes at me with a long, sharp knife. Unfortunately for him, the silver sword I jam into his chest mostly by using his own momentum against him is longer. He disperses into tiny bits before disappearing all together. It worked.

  Spinning around, I go after the other two shadowy figures in the room. I only get to one of them before Kallen has handed Lielle off to Alita and taken the other one out himself. I glance back to Lielle who is still asleep and still agitated, but not as much as she was. “If she’s still asleep, there must be more of them,” I surmise.

  Kallen nods in agreement. He says to Alita, “Stay here with the baby. I will hold a wall of magic around the two of you so you will be safe.” Alita’s eyes are wide with fear but she nods.

  We rush from the room and follow the trail of glamour to the second floor. Isla’s office door is open and she is pushing a shadowy figure into the hallway. “Make a sword and stab him,” I shout to her as Kallen and I continue down the stairs. Isla can most certainly fend for herself.

  Kegan and Tabitha are in the kitchen with their shadowy friends. Kegan’s language is so colorful, I can’t believe Tabitha hasn’t smacked him in the back of the head yet regardless of shadowy figures. As I listen closer, though, I can hear Tabitha’s colorful words under Kegan’s bellows. Ah. I get it now.

  As Kallen and I approach the figures from behind, they show no indication that they know we are coming. It is a simple matter to sneak up behind them and stab our swords through them. They dissipate as the others had. Another shout sends us running. Garren is on the terrace with a terrified Whysper. He has encased them both with his magic. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Whysper can see the shadowy figures. Yet, earlier when she said she was immune to glamour, I didn’t sense she was lying. Deciding to worry about that after the shadow is dispelled, I run my sword through the unsuspecting thing. Garren sighs in relief and drops his wall of magic.

  “I believe we got them all now. I don’t sense anymore, at least,” I tell no one in particular.

  “I will check on Lielle,” Kallen says and goes back into the house.

  “I saw it,” Whysper says in wonder. She turns to me. “How did I see it? Was it not made of glamour?”

  “It was definitely glamour and I’d like to know how you saw it, too,” I say evenly.

  Whysper bows her head. “I do not know why. This has never happened before.” If my internal lie detector is working correctly, she’s telling the truth. This is the first time she’s experienced glamour.

&n
bsp; “What the Sam hell were those things?” Tabitha demands to know as she stomps onto the terrace. Isla is right behind her and she is relieved when she sees Garren is safe and sound.

  “Lielle was having a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from,” I explain. “Kallen just went to check on her to see if dispelling all of the figures allowed her to wake from her dream.”

  Isla turns to Garren. “Will you please go to the palace and ask the scribe for anything in the archives relating to Elf children and glamour?”

  Garren isn’t fooled. He knows she is trying to keep him away from the danger. His jaw tense, he replies, “I will send a message.” Isla narrows her eyes in his direction but doesn’t insist he go.

  Kallen comes through the terrace door with a tear streaked Lielle. Her head is resting on Kallen’s shoulder and she is shaking, but no longer crying as she must have been when he woke her. “How is she?” I ask.

  “Frightened,” he says softly, not wanting to startle her.

  My eyes find Isla. “Have you ever heard of an Elf getting trapped in her own glamour?” I know her answer even before she shakes her head.

  “This is most unusual,” she understates. It’s not unusual. It’s downright disturbing.

  “I tried to tell you before but you wouldn’t hear it,” Taz says from my ankle. “You should have given her back to Whysper and kicked both their butts out of this realm.” Since he was against giving Lielle over to the warriors, I don’t take his ‘I told you so’ seriously.

  “Grandmother, this seems more and more like someone is controlling the baby’s glamour,” Kallen says.

  Isla nods. “I agree. I cannot figure out how, though.”

  “Can Elves enter people’s dreams?” I ask. Probably a stupid question, but someone had to ask it.

  Shaking his head, Kallen says, “Not that we know about. There are various forms of mind control, but I am not aware of any being who can enter into the world of dreams.”