by Ellen, Jo
Suddenly, they stopped. Looking up ahead, she saw Dunstan hold up his hand. They must be near the throne room, she thought.
Dunstan looked back to Rafe and Niall, giving them a nod. They moved past the ladies, going to the front with Robert. Rafe had squeezed Lisa’s shoulder as he passed.
Lisa nerves were on edge. She kept repeating the spell in her head, over and over. Her biggest fear was messing up the wording and the spell not working.
The ladies moved to stand together in the passageway. It was a tight fit for the three of them, but they felt better holding hands.
Both Anna and Melissa were determined to protect Lisa. She was powerful as a witch, but they knew they were powerful as predators.
They saw Dunstan reach up and pull on another ring. Instantly, all the men rushed into the room. The ladies hurried behind them, looking around for Ciar.
The room was empty. Glancing around, not a soul stirred in the room. The men moved around, looking behind chairs, sofas, tables, anywhere they thought someone could hide.
“Son of a bitch. He’s not here,” Dunstan growled.
“He’s here,” Robert said.
Rafe rushed over and stood in front of Lisa while the others did the same.
“I can feel you, Ciar. What? Are we playing a game of hide and seek?” Robert asked. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he said in a singsong voice.
Lisa saw a quick flash, and before her eyes, the room filled. Ciar appeared sitting on his throne. At the same moment, guards surrounded the room.
Rafe turned to her, “Now, Lisa.”
Lisa opened her mouth to say the spell. Before she could speak, she saw a guard swing a sword at Rafe.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw her eyes widen with fear. Rafe shifted instantly, locking on to the guard’s arm and bringing the sword down.
She saw wolves fighting the guards all around the room. Then she noticed one that wasn’t a wolf. A beautiful cougar was stalking a guard from behind that was about to attack Robert. She leapt on the guard’s back, bringing him down quickly.
Robert, Niall and Jem were fighting with their swords. They hadn’t been carrying them when they left, she thought. Everything was happening so fast. She saw torn clothing around the room and was confused for a moment. Then she understood. When they shifted, they had shredded their clothes.
Lisa looked over to Ciar. He was staring at her and ignoring all the fighting around him. She looked down to see him rubbing Dunstan’s dirk. She knew she only had a moment to act now.
“Hold her and cover her mouth,” Ciar said.
She raised her arms and started to speak the spell. Lisa was grabbed from behind. Someone wrapped their arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides, while covering her mouth with their palm.
She struggled, trying to loosen their hold. He was too strong. She looked down to see bulging muscles holding her in place. She couldn’t even head smack his nose. He was too tall. If she threw her head back, all she would manage to hit would be his chest.
“Don’t struggle. I won’t let him hurt you,” the guard whispered.
Huh? Now she was really confused. Was he just saying that so she wouldn’t try her magic on him? She didn’t know what to do now.
Shit, she thought. He knew we were coming. Somehow, he had just been lying in wait for them. She looked around, hoping there was someone close to help. They were all fighting.
Lisa almost cried realizing Ciar was toying with them. He knew he could stop this at any moment and yet he just watched the fighting.
She felt herself stiffen in anger. That son of a bitch. She had to do something. She remembered a television show where a witch could call items to her. Yeah, it wasn’t real, but what the hell. She could try it.
Lisa stared at the dirk in his hand. Concentrating, she felt the magic move up inside her. She screamed in her head for the dirk. In an instant, the dirk appeared in her hand.
Now she turned her attention to the man holding her. Before she could think, Ciar stood up and roared.
“No, that’s mine! Bring her over here.”
The fighting stopped, as everyone looked at Ciar.
Rafe tried to move to Lisa, but was blocked by two guards waiting for him with swords pointed at her.
They all shifted back, pulling on torn jeans to cover themselves. Anna and Melissa put their cloaks back on too.
She had to do something. They kept saying how powerful she was, but now she felt helpless. Before the guard could move, Dunstan spoke to his father.
“Don’t you have enough power already? Why must you crave more and more?” he asked.
Lisa knew he was trying to distract Ciar to give her more time. Problem was, she didn’t know what to do.
“Ah, you can never have too much power, boy. Didn’t I teach you anything? And look, my daughter has come to visit me. I’ve missed you, my dear,” Ciar said.
“I don’t consider you my father. My mother took me away and gave me a much better life than you ever could. I bet that pissed you off, didn’t it, Daddy?” Anna said sarcastically.
Anna felt good confronting her past. This had been her goal. Seeing him in person, she felt nothing. Finally, she knew she was free. To think she had feared him all these years. No matter what he did to them now, she knew emotionally she had no attachment to this man.
Ciar looked furious. Ignoring her, he spoke to Lisa. “I hear you’ve gotten a powerful spell from the Queen.” Seeing their shocked looks, he grinned evilly at them, continuing, “Yes, I do have ways of knowing things. See what power does for you?”
He turned to the others. “I will have the spell from her. I suggest you all stay put. I’d hate to order her killed and lose such a powerful spell. I understand you can control anyone with this spell. Just the kind of thing I like. Thank you so much for bringing her to me.”
As he spoke, Lisa felt the guard holding her stiffen. She wondered what that was about. Maybe if she licked his hand he would release her. Worth a try, she thought.
Sticking her tongue out, she slowly licked his palm. He stiffened even more. Quietly he whispered in her ear, “What are you doing?”
Lisa shrugged, not being able to answer him. He leaned down and spoke again.
“Can you really control him with a spell? I’ve never met anyone as powerful as him,” he said urgently.
Lisa slowly nodded her head. She felt him remove his hand from her mouth. His arms let go of their tight hold around her body.
“I’ve been under his control all my life. If you can take his power, do it now,” he whispered quietly.
Lisa spoke loudly. “I take your power into me, as I set your people free,” she said simply.
She felt her magic well up inside her. It wrapped around Ciar and pulled his magic from him. She heard him shouting as his power left him. He fell to the floor, impotent and weak.
“No,” he moaned. Pushing himself up, he grabbed one of the guard’s swords, going towards Lisa.
Rafe tensed, prepared to shift again, when Lisa simply held up her hand. Ciar immediately stopped. To them all, it looked like he ran into a wall.
The other guards looked at one another and dropped their swords. They shouted in joy when they realized they were finally free of him.
Robert looked around, seeing the stunned look on their faces. Had that guard not released Lisa to speak the spell, he didn’t know what would have happened.
He walked over to the guard and stuck out his hand. The guard looked at him and slowly shook his hand.
“Thank you. With yer help, we have defeated him,” Robert said.
Rafe reached out and pulled Lisa into his arms. He kissed her hard; relieved to know she was safe.
Dunstan came over to thank the guard also. He looked familiar. “Blake?”
The guard nodded. This was his childhood friend. He was another victim of his father. Dunstan reached over and hugged him. Giving him man slaps on his back.
Blake grinned. “Hey,
buddy, never thought I’d see you again. Figured once you escaped, you’d never come back.”
“I didn’t plan to. I had to.” Dunstan told him.
Blake nodded his head in understanding. Looking at Lisa, he asked, “I’m curious, why did you lick my hand?”
Lisa turned bright red while Rafe growled. “Um, I thought it might distract you enough to remove your hand,” she told him.
Blake chuckled, “I almost did. I was so shocked.”
There was a feeling of jubilation all around the castle. It was as if a dark cloud had been lifted.
Robert spoke to the guards. “You are no longer tied to this place. Ciar has no control over any of you. You may stay in this realm or come to the light fae realm. My Queen welcomes anyone who leaves the darkness and evil behind for good.”
They looked at one another, not sure what to do. They had been under Ciar all their lives. They would have to learn what it was like to be free.
“Ciar, we will leave you now. You no longer have anyone to do your bidding. This is your home. We will not take it from you. We have no interest in staying here. You will have a minimum amount of magic as a fae. I suggest you use it wisely,” Robert told him.
“That’s it? We just leave him? Where is the justice in that?” Anna asked.
“We are not his judge or executioner. He’s been stripped of everything important to him. Let it go, lass,” Robert told her.
“And my mother?” She marched over to Ciar.
“Where is my mother? Did you kill her?” she demanded of him.
Ciar looked at Anna, shaking his head. “I would never hurt her,” he said and then he disappeared.
Anna surprised herself by almost feeling sorry for him. Her mother must have escaped when she left her with that family, she thought.
Lisa turned in Rafe’s arms. She looked at Blake. “Where did he go?”
He sighed. “I don’t know,” Rafe said as he looked to Robert.
“He probably went into hiding. He made a lot of enemies in this realm. We no longer have to concern ourselves with him,” Robert said.
Dunstan turned to speak with Blake.
“I have a place in Colorado. Why don’t you come stay with me? You can relax for a while and decide where you want to go. No summoning needed, since you’re free of his hold,” Dunstan told him, smiling.
Grinning, Blake nodded. “I’ll take you up on that. I’ve got a lot of traveling to do, now that I’m free.”
Stephen came walking in, looking confused. He had no idea what had happened to him, now that he was free of Ciar’s magic.
Niall stepped forward. “I’ll take him back. Don’t worry, he’ll think he’s been on vacation for the last few weeks,” Niall winked at them, before taking Stephen’s arm and disappearing.
The place was emptying fast. The fae guards were disappearing faster than you could blink.
Lisa walked over to Dunstan, handing him his dirk. “I believe this belongs to you,” she told him.
Dunstan reached out and took the dirk. “I wonder if we’ll ever figure out the power of this knife. Doesn’t matter, I’ll put it away again and hopefully it will stay put this time. I wish I could have questioned Ciar and found out how it got into that auction.”
“It was me,” Blake said. They all turned to stare at him.
“He sent me to steal it from your home. After I gave it to him, I saw him using it to find you, and realized what I had done. The only time he did not carry it, was when he went to see his witch. I believe he didn’t want her to know he had the dirk. I took it and used my magic to send it your realm. I thought it would be lost forever, not put into an auction,” Blake told them.
“So that’s when Stephen comes into the picture,” Dunstan said. “As an authority on Celtic relics, he would have been notified of the auction.”
“But how would Ciar have found him?” asked Rafe.
“As Ciar said, he has spies everywhere. Once he heard Stephen had it, he would have immediately sent someone after him. It was no problem at all for Ciar to control Stephen once he was brought here. He used him, just as he uses everyone,” Dunstan said.
“Didn’t he punish you once he realized the dirk was gone?” asked Rafe.
“No, he had no idea that I was the one that had taken it. I was shocked when I saw that he had the dirk again. Ciar is too self-absorbed to think that one of his guards would betray him. I believe he assumed one of his enemies had somehow taken it,” Blake said.
“We are all in your debt,” Rafe told him simply.
“Without asking Ciar, we will have to assume that we were correct that he wanted Dunstan back as a way to find his mother. And as such, Lisa was simply a bonus to him,” Ian said.
“You’re right. I know Ciar has been searching for her for years. He thought Dunstan knew where she was. His plan was to find her through him,” Blake told them.
Blake’s words surprised none of them. They had already worked out his scheme themselves. Sadly, they all knew Dunstan would keep searching.
Seeing no reason to hang around, Robert and Jem started transporting them back, beginning with the women first.
It wasn’t long before they were all back in the great room with Liz hugging everyone as they appeared.
Niall appeared, letting them know Stephen was fine and back in his home.
It was a party atmosphere in the great room. Everyone was talking at once. Colin and Stephanie came through the front doors, carrying two sleeping girls. They all quieted down so they wouldn’t wake them.
“What’d we miss? Why is everyone’s clothing shredded?” Stephanie asked.
They all had a hard time reining in their laughter.
“Go put the girls to bed and we’ll fill you in,” Rafe told them, smiling. After they left, he turned to look at the ladies.
“Weren’t you two supposed to find a place and hide if there was a fight? And you,” Rafe said turning to Lisa. “I believe you also seemed to miss that notice.”
“I didn’t have time! Everyone started stripping and before I knew it, there were a bunch of naked shifters changing into animals,” Lisa complained.
“And we may be females, but we are predators too. You had to know we wouldn’t hide out in a fight,” Melissa scolded him.
Anna shook her head, agreeing with Melissa.
Rafe rubbed his hand over his face. “I know, I just thought maybe someone would listen to me for once.”
Lisa put her arm around his shoulder in sympathy. “You big, poor alpha. Tough bossing around a witch, cougar, and a wolf that is basically your baby sister.”
Rafe sighed, looking so put upon that they all laughed.
“What’s the chance Ciar will bother anyone again in the future? I mean, will he get any power back?” asked Ian.
Robert answered. “He’ll always have some power, simply because he’s fae. It would take a very long time for him to be able to be what he once was. He could try for a witch again or some other form of dark magic. Problem is, he doesn’t have anything to bargain with. No witch would want to work with a fae with such weak magic. I’ll not spend any more time worrying about Ciar. He’s done.”
Colin and Stephanie had come back in and sat quietly listening in. Rafe started telling them of their latest adventure, and everyone chimed in to give their part of the story.
Stephanie jumped up to hug Lisa. “Wow, you rock, girl! I’m so glad it’s over. Now we can move on and plan your mating ceremony.” She announced happily.
“Ceremony?” Lisa asked in a strangled voice. She looked up at Rafe, afraid to know.
“Yeah, this is the part you run naked through the woods while we all chase you,” Devlin grinned at her.
“What!” Lisa yelled.
Ian tackled Devlin, taking him to the floor. Once he had him pinned, he looked up at Lisa. “He’s just kidding you. Would you like to hit him while I hold him for you?”
“Yes, yes, I would.” Lisa jumped up threateningly.
&nbs
p; Rafe pulled her back down to sit in his lap. “I’ll beat on him for you later.”
“Aw, come on, Lisa, I was just joking. Can’t you take a joke?” Devlin asked from the floor.
“Sure I can, can you?” Lisa said as she pulled up a little magic and pointed a finger at Devlin.
He jumped as he felt a zap on his ass. “Ow, that’s not fair!”
Everyone laughed as Devlin whined about mean sisters with out of control power.
“What about Blake,” Robert asked Dunstan. “Is he going to stay at yer place?”
“Yes, after he travels a bit. It’s nice to know the kid I played with grew up to be a good man. It had to be hard with my father controlling his life,” Dunstan said sadly.
“I am sort of confused.” Lisa said. “I assumed if you lived in the dark fae realm, you were automatically um, well, dark.”
“Not always,” Robert told her. “It’s more the atmosphere and leadership that makes them bad. They don’t have a loving Queen to guide them. Their society is based on greed and power. The stronger fae overcome that, and if possible, escape the realm.”
“I see. It reminds me of people you hear about overcoming their bad upbringing, or poor start in life and bettering themselves,” Lisa said thoughtfully.
“Exactly, lass. It all comes down to working to be better than you thought you could be,” Robert said. “We have it much easier in the light realm. That’s why I’m always impressed with any of my dark brethren that manage to make it out.”
“But don’t get the wrong impression,” Niall told her. “Many of the dark fae are happy to stay there and continue to work their dark magic. Sorry to say, but Dunstan and Blake are in a minority. Most of those guards you saw today will be looking to take advantage of anyone they can. I wouldn’t be surprised to find the Queen having to send more guards into other realms if they get too out of hand.”
“I hate to be sympathetic to Ciar, but will they kill him to take his castle?” Lisa asked.
“No, he still commands a large region, even though his magic is considerably weaker. They don’t have the political power to take over his area. Also, they’ve been afraid of him for a long time. They’ll want to get as far away from him as possible,” Dunstan informed her.