The Ruby Kiss

by Helen Scott Taylor

  Nightshade’s earthy energy swelled up from the ground far below, strong and steady, anchoring her. His recent memories flashed through her mind. Happy times with his friends and Rhys gave way to more distant memories and unfamiliar people: a deathly pale man with black hair, the fetid stink of stuffed animals, the yearning for blood, a desire for dominance and power, the dark ecstasy of sinking his fangs into Michael and Troy and many others. Layer upon layer of painful emotion bubbled up through the memories: loneliness, alienation, abandonment, guilt.

  Tears flooded Ruby’s eyes as she sensed the wounded little boy who dwelled in the darkest depths of Nightshade’s psyche, closely hidden so that nobody saw his vulnerability. She clutched him tightly to her, pulling his face against her neck and stroking his hair. His pisky mother hadn’t wanted him and his father abandoned him. She would make sure he was never hurt again.

  * * *

  Nightshade stroked Ruby’s back, breathing in the floral fragrance of her skin, letting flashes of her memories and emotions play through him without trying to make sense of them. He floated in the wonderful sensation of wholeness that her love gave him.

  “I’ve been waiting all my life for this moment and I didn’t even realize it,” he whispered against her neck. For as long as he could remember, he’d desired to subjugate powerful men beneath the rapture of his bite to make himself feel strong, to shake off the memory of how powerless he had felt as a boy, but he’d been looking in the wrong place for his power. It wasn’t to be found in conquest but in surrender. Surrender to the woman he loved. Everything that had happened to him since he fell through her roof had moved him closer to this understanding, but until he touched her stones he hadn’t fully grasped it.

  His mouth found hers in a languorous kiss. His fingers trailed circles over the soft rounding of her belly. “I yearn to bite you again.” He scraped his teeth lightly over her breast. “I’m addicted to the taste of you. I’m addicted to everything about you.”

  * * *

  As Nightshade settled into their bond, she sensed his understanding, finally, that he needed her love far more than his bond with Troy or any man. He wanted only her now. “I’m a lucky girl,” she whispered against his hair. She slid her hand between their bodies, unfastened the buttons on his jeans and helped him pull them off.

  Ruby sank into the mattress as Nightshade moved atop her. He nuzzled her neck. Life would be wonderful with him; this she knew. But even as he made love to her, she couldn’t banish her uncertainty about her missing power.

  “Shh, love,” Nightshade whispered, and a warm and loving sensation washed through her. “No worrying tonight.”

  She’d forgotten he could sense her thoughts. She blinked, and a flash of white in the darkness caught her attention. She groaned inwardly. If that was Troy again. She was pleased he was alive, but . . . She gripped Nightshade’s shoulders. “Hang on a second. We might have a visitor.”

  Nightshade raised his torso to look around, and Ruby propped herself up on her elbow. The pale streak shot across the room, and everything inside Ruby froze, her skin prickling with icy needles.

  “Shit!” Nightshade scooted backward and rose to a kneeling position.

  “It’s a specter. There must be a Seelie hunter around.” Ruby grabbed the sheet against her chest, and they both stared at the wall through which the ghostlike thing had disappeared.

  Nightshade shook his head. “We don’t know what range specters have. The hunter controlling it might still be in Scotland.”

  Silence hummed in Ruby’s ears, and blood drummed in her temples. “Odds on it being Kade’s specter,” she said. None of the other Seelie hunters had any reason to stalk her, and the thing must have come for her.

  A woman’s scream pierced the night. Nightshade leapt off the bed, dragged his jeans on, and pushed Ruby’s Magic Knot in the pocket.

  “Was that Cordelia?”

  “Rose, I think,” he said. Then he ran out of the bedroom and left the door half-open.

  Ruby threaded Nightshade’s Magic Knot onto her gold chain before putting it back on. Climbing out of bed, she found her pajama shorts under the nightstand and her tank top on the footboard. While she pulled them on, her gaze scanned the walls. She was searching for her dressing gown when the diaphanous white presence slipped silently back through the wall and drifted upright, mimicking the form of a man. Its blank featureless face seemed to watch her as she backed away.

  “Nightshade,” she shouted, instinctively reaching out for him with her mind. Her bottom hit the nightstand. The lamp toppled to the ground and went out. She felt behind her for something to use as a weapon. However useless solid objects were against the thing, having a weapon in her hand would make her feel better. “Shit. Shit.”

  As she sidled along the wall toward the door, the specter tracked her, moving close only to drop back again as if playing with her. Although it was harder to see in the dark, the white shape definitely had a yellow tinge. Was that enough to identify it as Kade’s? Edging closer to the door, she prayed Nightshade would hurry back. His strong, warm presence kept her calm.

  At last she sensed him coming back. Footsteps creaked on the wooden landing outside and her breath shuddered with relief. But then the specter shot toward her, the sudden assault taking her by surprise. She screamed as its cloud body engulfed her and she sensed her father’s energy in the thing. She’d expected the ghostly form to be cold and damp like mist, yet she couldn’t feel it at all. Screams of torment tore through her head; the smell of blood and excrement filled her nose; images of horrible suffering over centuries scrolled through her mind. A sense of terror and helplessness chilled the marrow of her bones. And there, among the terrified faces of Kade’s victims she saw her mother’s face.

  “No!” Ruby screamed, falling back against the wall.

  Nightshade charged in the door. “Ruby, love, I felt it touch you.”

  The feelings stopped, and the misty shape streaked away, but her mother’s terrified face was seared into her mind. So, the last night her mother went looking for Kade, she’d found him. It was the final act of her life. All those years she’d been obsessed by him. All those years of searching . . . and he’d killed her.

  Ruby pressed her hands over her eyes, her throat raw from screaming. She’d blamed herself for letting her mother go alone that night, but what could Ruby have done to save her? “Kade killed my mother. He killed her.” When Nightshade pulled her into his embrace, she fisted her hands against his chest. “I hope he’s nearby because I’m going to find him and make him pay.”

  She rested in Nightshade’s arms for a few minutes, until the manic beat of her heart calmed. She wanted to be totally in control when she faced her father. This time she would make damn sure her power cooperated.

  “I’m all right now,” she said, leaning back to see Nightshade’s face. “Who else has it touched?”

  “It went for Rose while she was asleep. She woke thinking it was a nightmare. It seems to be picking on those in the house who have human blood, probably because humans have less magical protection.”

  “Oh, yes. The pisky queen is half human, isn’t she?”

  “The rest of us don’t carry any human blood, except for—”

  The terrified scream of another woman cut off his words, followed by a child’s pitiful cry.

  “Eloise!” Nightshade shouted. He released Ruby and charged out of the bedroom.

  She raced after him this time. Feet pounded on the landing behind her as others joined in, but Nightshade pulled up so fast she barreled into his back. Rhys’s mother, Eloise, backed out of the nursery, her face taut with fear, her eyes fixed unseeing on some horror in her mind. She hugged Rhys tightly to her chest while the specter wound its smoky body around them. Her heel snagged on the carpet runner and she tripped. Slamming back into the ancient wooden banister, she toppled over it.

  “No!” Nightshade dived over the edge and grabbed at the falling woman. A huge crash sounded below. Ruby das
hed to the banister to see Nightshade on the ground with Eloise and Rhys in his arms, a small wooden bureau shattered beside him. In the stunned silence, Rhys started crying.

  Ruby flattened herself against the railing as Michael and Niall barged past and took the stairs three or four at a time. The little leprechaun woman Ana came out of the nursery and went down on her knees, peering through the railings.

  “’Tis a mercy the babe’s all right,” she whispered.

  Numb with shock, Ruby surveyed the mayhem below. Michael and Niall were checking Eloise, while Nightshade, now on his feet, jiggled a crying Rhys, whispering to him.

  Cordelia appeared from one of the corridors with her baby girl in her arms. She gasped when she saw Eloise. Michael took the baby, and Cordelia knelt and laid her hands on the prone woman, her eyes closed in concentration. “She’s hit her head. It’s bad.” Cordelia glanced upstairs. “Ruby, will you help me?”

  Ana stood up and touched Ruby’s hand. “’Tis time to use your power—to help Eloise, lass.”

  Confusion shot through Ruby. “But I’m not a healer.”

  “The Mistress can give life and take it away. So you can heal.” A hand pressed low on her belly, and she jumped in surprise. Ana stood right in front of her, touching her. “’Tis inside you waiting to be used, lass. Go down to Eloise and place your hands on top of her head. Your power will know what to do.”

  She pushed away the nerves. She could help Eloise. She would not let her father win. It was time to use her power. With determined strides, she went down the stairs.

  As Ruby approached, Michael stepped back, holding his daughter. Niall had disappeared somewhere, probably to check on the other piskies.

  “Do whatever you can for her, Ruby. Otherwise . . .” Nightshade pressed his lips together and pulled his brother’s head tight into the crook of his neck.

  Ruby’s heart squeezed with pain at the sight of Rhys’s miserable, tear-streaked face. She knelt beside Cordelia, and the two women shared a look of understanding.

  “She’s losing her life force through the energy center on her crown,” Cordelia said. “Can you see it leaking out?”

  Ruby glanced up at Nightshade.

  “Try. Please.” He nodded with encouragement.

  She reached for him along their mental link, looking for support, and his strength flowed along their connection, filling her with confidence. She could do this now she had someone who believed in her, someone who understood. She could.

  All eyes were on her, making her skin crawl with their expectations. Ruby sucked in a breath and released the air slowly. A tense silence fell. Even Rhys stopped whimpering. Nightshade’s Magic Knot warmed against her chest, and she sensed his hope. She couldn’t let him or Rhys down.

  She blinked and slipped into her artist’s vision. Streamers of shiny translucent energy ran through everything, connecting the people and the house, pulsing and flowing like a huge electric spider’s web. She’d thought touching her Magic Knot hadn’t enhanced her power, but she could see life force far more clearly now. The beauty and scale of it amazed her.

  “My God, look at the energy,” she whispered to Cordelia at her side.

  “I wish I could,” the healer replied.

  Ruby placed her hand over her womb and concentrated on that part of her. Glowing strands of energy from everywhere changed direction and slid toward her like supernatural snakes. Her breath stuttered in and out, fear freezing her as the shiny snakes zeroed in on her belly.

  Instinctively, her hand sought the top of Eloise’s head. The faint wisps of life force leaking out thickened as her hand neared. Ruby spread her palm over Eloise’s hair. Gleaming tendrils of life force streaked into her from all around, pouring down her arm into her subject, repairing the damage to Eloise’s skull and brain.

  Ruby’s eyes rolled back in her head with the rushing bliss of the energy flow. On the edge of perception a woman cried out, but the delicious caress of power held her in its thrall.

  “Ruby!”

  Someone gripped her shoulder, shaking so hard that her eyelids sprang open. Ruby snatched her tingling hand away from Eloise and hugged it to her chest, and the pulsing energy faded. Everyone had fallen back against the walls, their faces turned away—except Michael, who had his hand on her shoulder. He glowed with the streamers of life force dancing around him, thick ropes of power that connected him with the earth. Nightshade had said he was powerful like his half-brother Devin and his father Troy, but until now he’d come across as a friendly, jokey guy, and she’d not really taken him seriously.

  Eloise groaned, and her eyelids fluttered. “Rhys,” she whispered.

  Nightshade came forward and knelt so Eloise could see her son. Michael scooped the woman up and carried her upstairs. Ruby remained on her knees, her heart pounding as her sight slipped back to normal.

  “I’ve done it.” she whispered in amazement. She’d used her power for good, to heal. It really was something worth having.

  Nightshade’s pleasure and gratitude burst along their bond, bathing her in warmth and happiness. “Wonderful!” he said. He disengaged one arm from Rhys and crouched to hug Ruby and kiss her hair. “Let me take Rhys up to Eloise, then we can talk.”

  Ruby watched him run up the stairs, joggling Rhys while he sang the boy a nursery rhyme. Ruby’s belly tingled, her skin burned with a pink flush, and her whole body hummed. Eloise’s need for help had been the catalyst to bring forth her power. She didn’t even need to make an effort to see life force now; the shiny ropes of energy crisscrossed all around her, impinging on her normal vision. Snaking out from the floor, walls, and furniture, they flowed toward her as though she were a magnet. Now that she could use her power, she must track down her father and confront him about her mother’s death.

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty

  Ruby was still on her knees when Nightshade came back down the stairs. He crouched down and wrapped her in his arms, enfolding her in a soothing aura of love and gratitude.

  “Thank you, love. That was well done.”

  Leaning into Nightshade, Ruby closed her eyes, enjoying the flow of pleasure along their bond. “I’m going after my father. I reckon he can’t be far away, as his specter was here.” Now she thought about it, she could sense him, sense his specter like a bitter presence grating across the edge of her awareness, a poisonous thread among the life force. A wave of pollution that was very close. She raised her head and looked around.

  Nightshade stilled, and his gaze sharpened. “What are you sensing? I can feel it through you.”

  “I think the specter is still here.”

  “Damn. I thought it had gone. It could attack Eloise or Rose again. We must shut them both in the nursery, that’s the only room protected with magical wards. As long as that door’s closed, it’ll keep the thing out. Won’t be a moment.”

  He ran upstairs, and she heard a low anxious exchange of male voices. Michael ran along the hall and a minute later headed back toward the nursery with Rose. The specter streaked out of the wall and shot after them.

  Ruby scrambled to her feet. Her father had some damn nerve, sending the poisonous thing after her and terrorizing these piskies. Was he trying to push her into a confrontation?

  She slipped into her artist’s vision and saw that a tendril of energy trailed from the specter like a leash. In Scotland, the specter had emerged from the top of Kade’s skull, the same position from which Eloise’s life force had emanated. The Seelie hunters’ thought-forms must be made up of their life force. Kade needed his arse kicked hard enough to teach him a lesson, and when the specter was active he would likely be weaker. Anger drove her instinct. Ruby raised her hands and hurled a net of energy over the thing.

  Rose reached the nursery, and Michael slammed the door closed behind her before wheeling to face the ghostly shape. Trying to reach him, the specter writhed and struggled within Ruby’s restraints. She reeled in the ropes of energy, dragging the bound creature down to the grou
nd floor so that it was easier to control. The noxious emanations of its foul substance tainted her energy with the same terror and helplessness she’d felt when it touched her. But she thought of her mother and gritted her teeth against the sensation, resisting the instinct to recoil from the malevolent thing.

  The specter writhed like a wild animal caught in a trap, jerking her forward a couple of steps. Nightshade dashed down the stairs and gripped her shoulders to steady her.

  “How are you restraining it?” he asked.

  She’d forgotten none of the others could see what she could. “In a net of energy.” She grabbed a breath. “It’s fighting, but I’m bloody well going to hang on.” She sucked in more air. “If Kade wants his pet back, he can come get it. Saves me going looking for him.”

  The thread of life force attached to the specter yanked taut, pulling against her. She tugged back. If her father wanted to play tug-of-war, that was fine by her. She would make certain she won.

  “I’ll do what I can to help you. How long will you be able to hold it?” Nightshade asked. His steady earth energy was grounding her, already helping her focus.

  “Let’s give Kade an incentive to hurry,” Ruby said. She went over Aila’s instructions in her head. When you use your power, don’t give up your own energy. Relax and channel the life force around you. That detail suddenly made more sense.

  Ruby called upon the glowing snakes of life force. They streamed toward her and dived into her belly. Power surged up her spine, tingled down her arms, and flowed out into the net holding the specter. She dragged the entity closer and shrank the net. As the specter condensed, it darkened to a sickly yellow color tinged with unhealthy green.

  “I hope Kade doesn’t cut the damn thing loose rather than face us,” she muttered, wincing as she started to tire.

  Nightshade pressed his body against her back. “Lean on me if you need to.”