Blood Sacrifice

by Maria Lima

  “You think they should stay?”

  I nodded. “I’d rather they did. Only…” A thought crossed my mind. “I have an idea, instead of them coming with us to the inn, they can stay at one of those rental condos across the lake, rent a powerboat for transport. I’d rather have someone local, close by—at least closer than a nearly three-hour drive.” We’d be too far away in San Antonio to deal with any problems immediately. Normally, I wouldn’t give three dead rats’ tails about this, but we’d just held a Reception and taken fealty oaths from numerous groups, many of whom lived in and around the lake. We were their liege lord and lady, and had sworn to keep them safe, to be there when they needed us, just as much as they’d all sworn to us. San Antonio wasn’t far in Texas terms, but I wasn’t comfortable not having someone on the spot—or as close to the spot as we could. “Will that satisfy the Challenge rules?”

  “It should,” Adam said. “The land in question is the land I claimed for my own, not—”

  “Adam…” My voice shook as I processed those words. “You do realize that what we’ve claimed is the entirety of Texas and the southwest? Not just the Wild Moon acres.”

  Adam stood upright, for once his face displaying the emotional blow. Usually, when confronted by a problem, he’d go all neutral vampire, wiping all trace of expression off his face. Now, it was as if he’d been slapped by the very audacious extent of Gideon’s arrogance. “How?”

  “Did he word it specifically like that?” I pressed. “The land you claimed, we claimed? Not the land you own?”

  “He did.” Adam whirled, scrabbling through papers on his desk. “At least, that’s how I decipher it.”

  “Tucker took the scroll with him, love. If that’s what you’re looking for.”

  He shook his head. “Not that, this.” He held up a mobile phone. Not the one he normally carried. He pressed a number key and the key to dial.

  “Who?” I mouthed as I listened to a woman’s voice answer the call on the other end.

  “Get her,” he said into the phone. The woman said nothing, but the sound went silent. “Keira, could you grab Niko? I just remembered. I’d arranged for two scientists to fly over today—to set up that genetics lab. We need to try to catch them before they leave. See if Niko’s still on the phone with Andrea?”

  “Fuck.” I ran out the door and down the hall, calling out Niko’s name, hoping I’d catch him in time. The last thing we needed was to have these guys show up unaware and trigger some sort of Faery trap.

  Niko poked his head out of his office, his mobile to his ear and a puzzled look on his face.

  “Andrea?” I asked.

  He nodded, but said nothing. I could hear her voice on the other end, saying something about planes and freight. When she paused, I held out my hand for the phone.

  “Hold on a moment, Andrea,” he said and handed it to me.

  “Andrea, hi, it’s Keira,” I said. “Long time no talk.” Niko watched quietly as I spoke. I loved this part about being in charge. As one of my Protectors, blood-bonded to me and to Adam, a lot of things didn’t need explaining. He knew that my asking for the phone wasn’t just a whim, but something important.

  “Hello.” Andrea’s voice, smooth and silky even over the crappy digital phone connection didn’t betray any trace of emotion—not wondering why I was talking to her, nothing. She’d been in charge of security at the ranch when I’d first come here to the Wild Moon, but then she’d left to run security ops at Adam’s estate in England. This was the first time I’d spoken to her since.

  “Sorry for barging in on the conversation, Andrea, but Adam and I totally spaced on the two scientists. I believe they were scheduled to fly over today?”

  “Yes. I’m texting them now to stop preparations,” she said. “Thank you for the reminder.” Again, no inflection. I got the feeling she’d already been on top of this and was just humoring me. Oh well. As long as it was handled. When this all settled down, when we retained our rights to the land, to the ranch, then we could worry about setting up the lab. In the meantime, Adam’s pet geneticists could stay and work right where they still were. I’d have to hook Dixxi up with them, maybe via Skype, so she could video conference. Despite all the insanity, I still needed to make sure Bea’s pregnancy went smoothly and that Dixxi had everything she needed. Dixxi Ahskarian and her gene studies were part of Bea’s chance to have a healthy baby—considering the father was an Armenian werewolf whose family was prone to Tay-Sachs and other genetic diseases. Bea’s pregnancy had been my biggest concern before the current mega-crisis.

  “Thanks, Andrea,” I said. “Could you and Niko work out details for video conferencing and such for Dixxi? I want to make sure she gets whatever equipment she needs.”

  “I will.”

  I handed Niko the phone back. “Sorry for the interruption.”

  He smiled. “No problem,” he said, and went back into his office to continue his call. Behind him, Tucker sat at Niko’s desk, feet up, the phone receiver for the landline tucked in between his ear and shoulder as he typed furiously on the computer. I couldn’t see the screen, since it faced away from me, but I knew he was probably messaging Dixxi and Bea while conversing with someone else. We really needed to get Bea an up-to-date computer and Internet service. The last thing I wanted was to be out of touch again. After I’d Changed, after I’d sentenced Bea’s attacker to death by Sidhe, Bea had withdrawn, hadn’t spoken to me. Then events had forced me to leave. For a long three months, my best friend, the only person outside my blood family who’d stood by me for thirty years, wouldn’t speak to me. When I’d returned, we reconnected and I wasn’t letting that estrangement happen again. Who knew what kind of mess I was in now? I wanted Bea to know that I’d never abandon her, no matter what.

  “Tell her I’ll call her around ten or eleven,” I mouthed to Tucker, who nodded and waved a hand in acknowledgment.

  Good, all set.

  Adam came out of his office, talking on his mobile. “Hold for a moment.” He motioned to me and I stepped closer. “Have Niko go to John, wake him if necessary. He needs to take care of coordinating shutdown for the ranch and the Inn—getting the utilities and all taken care of, and whatever else. You get her set?”

  I assumed he meant Andrea. “Yeah, Andrea’s on the ball. Who are you on the phone with?”

  “Minerva.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also.”

  —Julius Caesar

  “Why the—?” I stopped talking as I heard my great-great-grandmother’s voice on the other end of the call. Handy thing having enhanced hearing and being able to hear both sides of the conversation at once.

  “I suppose this is an emergency.” Her dry tones conveyed nothing more than a busy leader torn away from something vitally important. Considering how late it was, past midnight her time, she was likely in bed… alone or with company. I really didn’t want to know.

  Adam quickly filled her in on the situation. “If we can’t stay in Texas or the U.S., we may need to come to you or go to my estate in England.”

  “Don’t be hasty, boy,” Gigi admonished. “Faery challenges can be tricky things to interpret. How much experience have you?”

  “None,” Adam admitted. “I know of no official Challenges in my lifetime, neither made nor given to us.”

  “Very well then. Have you spoken with your father?”

  “He is equally as ignorant.”

  “Gigi,” I said, butting in. “This parchment is spelled against reading by anyone who doesn’t share Kelly blood. Drystan wasn’t of much help there, but he’s going to try to see Angharad. He agrees with us that in no way did Gideon conjure this up by himself. My cousin is shite at languages.”

  “Angharad? A possibility,” Gigi agreed. “Though, how exactly did you consult with Drystan?”

  “He’s here,” I said. “He came for our Reception.” And you didn’t, I silently ac
cused. I knew she hadn’t planned to. That she’d wanted Adam and me to establish ourselves without her presence, without needing her influence, but still, it rankled just a wee bit.

  “Ah. Well then, I understand. He came with Gideon.”

  “He did,” Adam said.

  “Drystan volunteered to help.” I explained Drystan’s plan to seek out Gideon first, to try to persuade his recalcitrant son of his folly in issuing Challenge.

  “That makes a certain sort of sense, Keira,” Gigi said. “I’m proud of you, girl, for thinking things through and not flying off the handle.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, well, three months in your illustrious company had to result in something.” How had she known? Maybe because I hadn’t immediately rushed to call her first? Whatever.

  Her laugh tinkled through the phone line. “Indeed.”

  “Minerva, my gut instinct is for us four to come to you,” Adam said. “I’d intended for us to sequester ourselves in San Antonio, but since we are not sure of the interpretation, perhaps bringing you the scroll is a better idea. Even though it’s bespelled, we can perhaps transliterate as best we can and maybe you can assist?”

  “You think my Kelly blood will more easily help than your father’s Sidhe blood? A good thought. However, that’s wasting time. Scan the thing and email me the images. I’m not sure spells will stand up to electronics. Old language and old spells never took into account modern ways of copying.”

  Adam and I both looked at each other with the same expression. How had we not thought of that? The spells were woven into the scroll’s parchment. If Gigi wasn’t in the same physical space as the actual parchment, perhaps that would void the runespells since the images were not the thing itself. Hell, it was worth a try.

  “No need to.” Tucker announced as he strode through the door. “I’ve taken several photos of it and texted them to you.”

  “Well, you’re on the ball, Brother,” I said. “What made you think of that?”

  “Because every time I looked at the damned thing, I interpreted it a bit differently,” he said. “Then the same thought occurred to me. If we emailed it, it wasn’t the actual parchment, therefore the spells embedded in it might not pertain. I was just coming down to tell you that I’d sent Minerva the files, but then I heard you were speaking with her.”

  Again, handy thing our preternatural hearing. Saved us a lot of time and fuss.

  “I’ve received the files,” Gigi said. “Give me a few moments to look at this.”

  We all stood there, silent, waiting. A few “hmms” and “ahs” came over the phone. I half expected to hear a rustle of paper, imagining Gigi bent over an ancient manuscript with a magnifying glass, instead of viewing an electronic file on her computer.

  “Just as I suspected. I can read most of it, but it’s not clear. It’s subtle and very, very tricksy. Your first instinct was correct, Aeddan,” she said, calling Adam by his formal name. “It’s similar to the Kellys’ own twenty-four hour rule. We require those of supernatural bent to report in, as it were, if they come within one hundred miles of Kelly land. With this, it seems that as long as no one of your blood is within one hundred miles of the boundaries of the property—not your claimed rule, but the property you call your home, the heart of your land, you will fall within the strictures of the Challenge. This is old traditional language, a formula set in the days when the lands one held weren’t quite so…”

  “Global?” I supplied with relief. Leaving to go stay in San Antonio wasn’t my first choice of events, but leaving the country entirely perturbed me beyond simple worry. Sure, easy enough to clear out and head north to Canada, but the farther we were from this property, the easier it would be for Gideon to win… or so it appeared to me.

  A tinkle of laughter resounded through the room. Even via the phone speakers, Gigi’s power resounded. “You are my heir, Keira,” she said, her tone sobering. “I have begun procedures to ritually sever Gideon’s ties to the Kelly clan.”

  I nearly fell to the floor at her announcement. Adam’s eyes widened, but otherwise his face revealed nothing more. Tucker beamed, while Niko only shook his head, his gaze on the floor. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing, though I suspected he was.

  “What, no reaction?”

  “Words fail me, Minerva,” I said. “After everything, I never thought—”

  “No, I suppose not,” she replied. “It was not my intention to limit ourselves. I had hoped the boy would step up, forget this foolish ambition of his and be content, happy with sharing the heirship.”

  I snorted, then tried to turn it into a cough.

  “Be still, Daughter,” Gigi said. “Though you may be amused by this, I most certainly am not. This scuttles many of my plans. I shall have to regroup, rethink. In the meantime, you must move everyone.”

  Was I supposed to ask her about her plans? Adam, as if anticipating my question, shook his head. “Not now,” he mouthed. I nodded. We had plenty to think about. I could talk to her later. After we’d settled this.

  “Everyone?” Adam asked her. “We must move them all?” He sagged a little. “I had hoped…”

  “Yes, everyone.”

  Adam whirled, fists gripping the phone. “Minerva, this is a commercial concern. It’s not as if it’s just for show. My vampires are here because they are mine. Not to mention the fact that we provide a sanctuary for rescued exotic game. I’d planned to leave my human day manager on site to keep things in shape, to keep an eye on the place, maybe even hire some temporary human staff to take care of the exotic livestock. I suppose I’d assumed that the language meant everyone of supernatural blood.”

  “I see no problem with you arranging for humans not sworn to you to care for the animals, but otherwise, I don’t think Faery tradition bothers to take into account our modern ways.” The answering tone was as dry as the outside air. Gigi didn’t need to state the No shit, Sherlock that automatically loaded itself into my brain—a childish retort that I’d once learned to use to perfection in junior high. I hadn’t even thought of the livestock; they paled in importance to my own family. My instinct was to keep us safe, keep us from harm. The livestock would surely be fine in our absence.

  “Damnation.” Adam held my gaze, then Tucker’s, then deliberately punched in the code to mute the phone’s speaker. Before he could say anything, I spoke.

  “Adam, when we first met up again,” I said gently, “just last year, you told me you’d bought this ranch for me. To be close to me. To be able to be near me and woo me. You reiterated that fact again tonight. Is that still true?” Yeah, well, okay, there was still a small part of me that was insecure, even after our blood-bonding. He’d said a lot of things then, a great many things… like the fact that he was vampire—something that he’d been able to effectively hide from me for more than eight years when we were both residents of the UK. But he’d not told me of the other part of the story. That he was not only a Nightwalker, but also Unseelie Sidhe and the heir to the throne. That gem hadn’t been revealed until we’d gotten ourselves into a pickle in Vancouver, just after I’d Changed and learned I was the Kelly heir. So, sue me if I thought that there still might be something not yet said.

  “I did, and it was,” Adam replied, truth evident in his gaze. “I’ve never lied—”

  I laughed, short, bitter and oh so angry. Not at him, really. It wasn’t his fault that the fucking fickle fingers of Lady Fate had been messing about in our particular bloody pie. Adam had been as ignorant of the Machiavellian machinations of Minerva Kelly as I had been. Neither of us had known then that my former lover, Gideon Kelly, was in fact, half Sidhe, like myself, only from Adam’s side of that fence… and Adam’s half-brother. Now, all this ridiculous political and genetic manipulation was coming back to bite the Kellys in the proverbial ass. And I was the ass it was biting… hard. “Truth,” I snorted. “Such a slippery concept with the Sidhe, is it not?”

  He flinched, a slight grimace crossing his face. I waved a dismissive hand
at him. “No, not you, love,” I said. “Never you. You did what you had to, to try to keep things in place until it was the right time. It’s my bloody cousin’s fault, this is. I’m afraid he got way too much of Gigi’s ambition and drive and not enough of her practical sense.”

  “That’s more than evident.” Adam set the phone on the desk and walked toward me. “I am beyond glad that despite everything, we still found each other.”

  I had to smile at him. From the look on his face, I could tell he still held some insecurity, too. Sure, we’d blood-bonded just a few hours ago, or was it only minutes? I had no real idea of the time. The entire night so far had passed in a ridiculous tornado of insanity… kind of like my life for the past, oh, eight months or so. But hey, who was counting? Oh yeah, I was. All I could think about right now was that I wanted to leave with Adam, go back to his house and lock ourselves away for at least a week. No phones. No email. No interruptions. In fact, that had been the plan. After the formal foofaraw was over, we were going to stay home and shut out the world for a bit. Let other people run the ranch while we just existed. Only, whatever god or goddess of luck I’d pissed off somewhere down the line had other ideas.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “The fox changes his fur but not his habits.”

  —Proverb

  After a moment, Adam nodded and thumbed the phone back to normal operation. “Our thanks, Minerva,” Adam said. “We will evacuate tonight.”

  “Your vampires?”

  “Will go to my estate in Wiltshire. I have a pilot on his way now. Niko’s made the arrangement.”

  “They could come to me instead. It’s far closer.”

  “An offer quite appreciated, Minerva,” Adam said. “Though sending them to the Kelly enclave sounds logical, there’s a part of me that wishes them to be gone entirely from this continent. It is not their fight.”