by Bonnie Lamer
Blood of Centaurs
Bonnie Lamer
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, dialogue and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright ©2014 by Bonnie Humbarger Lamer
All rights reserved.
No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the express written permission of the copyright holder.
Other Titles by Bonnie Lamer
The Witch Fairy Series:
True of Blood
Blood Prophecy
Blood Lines
Shadow Blood
Blood of Half Gods
Blood of Destiny
Blood of Dragons
Blood of Egypt
Blood of Retribution
Doppelganger Blood
True of Blood: Kallen’s Tale
Blood Prophecy: Kallen’s Tale
Blood Lines: Kallen’s Tale
Shadow Blood: Kallen’s Tale
Blood of Half Gods: Kallen’s Tale
Blood of Destiny: Kallen’s Tale
The Eliana Brennan Series:
Essence of Re
Exposed
The Secrets of the Djinn Series:
Marked
Bound
For my daughter Jadyn who needed a dose of Xandra and Kallen before heading back to school
Table of Contents:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
1
If one more insincere ‘nicety’ passes through someone’s lips, I’m going to place them all in a magical time out. Noticing my growing agitation, Kallen reaches for my hand under the table and gives it a reassuring squeeze. I’m not reassured. Why did Dagda and I think this was a good idea again?
“Julienne, you look lovely tonight, as usual,” Tana drawls. “How fortunate you are to be young for eternity.”
Mom’s smile is rapidly approaching a sneer. “Yes, and I only had to die to achieve it.”
Clearing his throat, Dagda says, “Has Xandra told you we have been asked to mediate peace talks between the Centaurs and the Sasquatch?” He beams at me.
His jealousy concealed as well as a polar bear standing against a black wall, Dad snipes, “How did you manage before Xandra got here? She seems indispensable to your rule. You can’t make a move without her.” Okay, that was definitely not a nicety. This is not a good sign of things to come over the course of this doomed dinner party.
Dagda and I are trying hard to include those we love in the growing father/daughter bond we’ve established. Unfortunately, the people we love want nothing to do with the idea. Yes, it’s unreasonable to think they could all be friends, but it would be nice if we could all be in the same room together without someone wanting, or attempting, to kill someone. This dinner was supposed to be a first step in that direction. It seems we’ve tripped before we even got that first step in.
On his very best behavior, Dagda smiles tightly. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to help guide Xandra in her destiny.”
“Yes, it is wonderful to have your daughter here with us,” Tana says. She almost sounds like she means it. Almost.
A strange feeling passes over me. I swear, ten spiders are crawling on me. I brush at my arms and legs causing Kallen to glance at me in concern. “Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
Realizing I am not being attacked by spiders, I nod. The skin crawling feeling is starting to subside. “I had an insect or something on my arm,” I whisper back.
Not to be outdone, Mom says, “That you have accepted Xandra into your life is very gracious of you.”
A shiver goes up my spine. Or was that another spider? I try to surreptitiously check it out but Kallen catches on. “What is it?” he asks, leaning around so he can see my back.
“Is there a spider there?” I ask trying to look over my shoulder like I have a chance of twisting my neck far enough to see my own back.
Kallen brushes a hand down my shirt and shakes his head. “Not that I can see.”
“Dipweed probably has fleas,” Taz mutters from under the table where he’s waiting impatiently for scraps to be thrown his way.
“Watch it, Goblin-made,” Felix growls.
It took days to come up with a name for Taz’s new brother. Technically not my Familiar, he belonged to my doppelganger, the Tasmanian devil from another universe has nonetheless sworn his loyalty to me. Not that I needed another Tasmanian devil following me around, but at least Taz now has someone to insult besides me. Felix never had a name before. Therefore, he wanted to make sure he found the perfect one. He finally settled on Felix when he learned that the meaning of the name is lucky. He considers himself lucky to have escaped certain death at the hands of my doppelganger. I’m just glad he picked something easy to pronounce.
My attention is dragged back to the conversation when Tana says, “It is not Xandra’s fault she was conceived in betrayal.” Ouch. Low blow.
Mom narrows her ghostly eyes at the Fairy. “It’s not my fault your husband neglected to mention he was married.”
“If you hadn’t been so easy to seduce, you may have had time to find this out,” Tana counters.
Dad comes to Mom’s defense. “My wife was tricked into bedding your unfaithful husband. It was not her morals that were lacking, it was his.” He jabs a finger in Dagda’s direction.
Well, at least everyone is being honest with their feelings now. Except my biological father who is smart enough to keep his mouth tightly closed while this exchange volleys back and forth across the large table in the Palace’s finest dining room. Like me, he’d rather be anywhere but here at the moment.
“I really wish my great-grandparents were alive so we could spend time discussing how all of you were conceived,” I grumble. Kallen tries to hide his smirk by taking a bite of his potatoes.
Clearing his throat, Dagda finds his courage and says like the diplomatic King he can be, “We all agree that my actions were reprehensible at the time. That being said, I do not regret the daughter who emerged from my poor decisions. Given the choice to do it over, I would act just as reprehensible to bring her into the universe. The only thing I can do at this point is offer my sincerest apologies to those of you I hurt.” He reaches over and places his hand on Tana’s and turns his eyes to Mom, begging her to believe his sincerity. It’s a good sign when Tana doesn’t rip her hand out from under his and storm from the room. Mom and Dad don’t zoom off through the wall. Everyone stays right here.
Unfortunately, the air in the room has become acrid due to a mixture of awkwardness, regret, anger, acceptance and a bunch of hatred that isn’t going to go away because my biological father made a nice speech. I give Kallen a hopeful glance but am disappointed to find him at a loss for words to throw into this abyss of misery. I guess I’ll try even though I’m not very good at this. “So, Kallen and I are pregnant.”
The shockwave that circles around the faces at the table appears to have booted the details of my birth out of all of their minds. The face displaying the greatest amount of shock is my husband’s. I can’t help a small giggle. “Just
kidding,” I say, mostly to Kallen. “I just wanted to break the tension.” The relief on Kallen’s face is palpable. We both agree we should wait to have children. Many, many years.
“Xandra, that wasn’t funny.” Mom admonishes.
I shrug. “Just wanted to get your attention. Can we go back to talking about the Sasquatch and the Centaurs now?”
Quick to jump on the ‘find something else to talk about’ train, Dagda says, “Yes, of course. Both the Centaurs and the Sasquatch agree it is time to bring an end to their war. Now, we need to help them figure out the best way to do this. Xandra and I leave for the Centaur realm the day after tomorrow.”
Surprised, Mom says, “So soon?”
I nod. “We don’t want to give them time to change their minds.” Both races are volatile in nature.
“Now that they’re done squabbling, maybe they’ll remember we’re starving to death down here,” Taz grumbles. I nudge him with my foot and Felix laughs. At least someone is enjoying himself.
“What made them decide on a peace treaty?” Dad asks. “I thought both sides were adamant that no compromise could be reached.” Dad is fascinated by the politics and cultures of supernatural beings. He has been doing so much research lately I’m pretty sure he knows more about these other cultures than I do.
A genuine smile appears on Dagda’s face. “I believe our daughter is the reason behind it.” Dad bristles at the ‘our’ part of Dagda’s sentence but he doesn’t say anything. I secretly applaud my biological father for his acknowledgement of Dad’s place in my life. Dagda continues. “After learning of her destiny and experiencing her power first hand, I believe both sides thought it prudent to come up with a compromise before they faced her wrath again.”
This conversation is starting to make me as uncomfortable as the last. “I doubt that.”
Taking pity on me, Kallen says, “Uncle, when is the last time we went fishing?” Kallen fishes? Huh.
Dagda sits back in his chair and rubs his chin. “I can’t remember exactly. You were probably around ten or so.” That’s why I’ve never heard about Kallen’s passion for fish.
“Jim, I believe fishing was a hobby of yours,” Kallen says to Dad. It was by mutual agreement that Kallen call him Jim instead of Dad. Dad may be dead, but he doesn’t want to feel old.
Dad nods. “There was a nice fishing hole just a couple miles from the house. I got out there as often as I could when the weather permitted.”
“The weather will be nice for fishing tomorrow,” Kallen says as an open invitation to both men. I hold my breath to see how they respond. Especially Dad.
Dagda speaks first. “The river has a nice supply of Callop. There is a place just south of the palace that is fairly comfortable.”
Dad ponders this for a minute and then nods. “I would enjoy a morning of fishing. Someone will need to bait my hook for me,” he adds with a wink in Kallen’s direction. Being a ghost, Dad will be doing more observing than fishing. “What, exactly, is a Callop?”
Dagda, Kallen and Dad manage to take up the rest of dinner with fish talk. By the end of the meal, I hope to never hear about another fish my entire life. Still, I give Kallen a hug when we rise from the table. “Thank you,” I whisper in his ear.
He grins and takes my hand, leading me out of the dining room. When we are out of earshot of the others, he says, “I hope I get more of a reward than that.”
Definitely.
2
“How did it go?” Kegan asks when we enter Isla’s house through the kitchen door. He’s eating oranges at the counter and managing to make a mess. “Is everyone still alive and kicking?”
Since we teleported, Kallen and I arrived at the house long before Mom and Dad. They exist on a separate plane than us, teleporting them would be pretty tricky. Besides, they like taking the long way through the woods. It reminds them of home.
I give Kegan a sour look. “It wasn’t that bad.” Kallen raises a brow but doesn’t say anything. He picks up an apple from the bowl on the counter and bites into it. Probably to keep himself from saying his opinion of how dinner went.
“I certainly hope you plan to clean up the rinds on the floor,” Tabitha says as she bustles into the room. Kegan looks under his stool to see that he has indeed dropped several pieces of orange rind on the floor. “You two seem unscathed,” she says to Kallen and me.
“Mostly,” I reply grabbing my own apple. Dinner was so stressful none of us who could ate much.
The kitchen door opens and Isla stalks through it. She slams it so hard behind her that it rattles on its hinges. It is immediately opened again and an equally angry Garren stomps in.
“Dammit, Isla, you are being ridiculous!” Garren shouts. They both seem oblivious to our presence.
“When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I do not want to marry you?!” Isla roars back.
My attention is drawn away from their argument as I search for the insects I feel crawling up my arms. Both Kegan and Kallen stare at me like I’m crazy as I begin to rub vigorously up and down both my sleeves. I think there’s at least one spider on each arm but I can’t seem to find them.
“I do not love you!” Isla says in a voice that could scare barnacles off a boat.
What is wrong with me? Now it feels like something is crawling up my back. I turn in circles like a dog chasing its tail as I try to locate the offending insect. But, like everyone else, I can’t see my back no matter how hard I try.
“That is a lie and you know it!” Garren counters. We all know he’s right. Why is Isla still being so stubborn about admitting it?
“Xandra, will you please stop whatever it is you are doing? I am trying to listen,” Tabitha says, obviously amused. She is still not a Garren fan.
“Yes, what are you doing?” Isla snaps in a tone slightly less angry than when she addressed Garren. Slightly.
“I think there’s something crawling on me,” I complain, still rubbing at my sweater.
Kallen looks me over. “I do not see anything.”
The feeling is starting to dissipate so I try to stop squirming. “This kept happening at dinner, too,” I say. I may have stopped squirming but I’m not ready to stop whining. Maybe I’ve developed some sort of allergy? I look around trying to determine if there is anything in the kitchen that was present in the palace dining room.
“I told you, it’s fleas,” Taz says. He and Felix are standing in front of Tabitha who is dropping some sort of treat down to them.
As if he understood my Familiar, Kegan says, “You do have two forest creatures sharing your room. Could be fleas.”
“Wanker,” Taz grumbles around a biscuit. I’m sure he’d say more if his mouth wasn’t full. Felix just ignores Kegan. He’s dealt with much worse than teasing. He has the scars to prove it.
Getting back to her argument with Garren, Isla grates out, “I want you to move out of this house.”
An explosion of feeling radiates over my skin and I feel like I’m covered in bugs. I can’t take this anymore. I need to do something, anything, to make this stop. Without a word to anyone, I teleport out of the room.
I have barely materialized in the bathing room but I am already stripping. I wore non-magical clothes, so it takes longer than I’d like to remove them. Once I’m naked, I submerge myself in the Olympic size bathing tub. I only surface when my lungs scream at me that they need oxygen or I won’t ever be breathing again.
Once my head is above water, I begin a search of my body and the water surrounding me. There doesn’t seem to be anything amiss. There are no fleas or any other type of insect in the water, thank god, and I can’t find so much as a lone bug on me. I don’t have a rash and as far as I know, I wasn’t allergic to anything at dinner or downstairs. So why do I keep feeling like this?
The desire to crawl out of my skin has mostly subsided by the time Kallen knocks on the door. “Xandra, are you okay?”
“You can come in,” I call.
Kallen’
s bright green eyes are full of concern. “What is wrong?” he asks.
I shrug. “I have no idea.”
“Mind if I join you?” my gorgeous husband asks.
Like I would ever say no to seeing his lean, hard body without clothes. I smile, my mind momentarily off bugs and itchy skin. “What a stupid question.”
Taking that as the yes it was intended to be, Kallen grins and removes his own clothes magically. He joins me in the gloriously warm water. I watch him move closer in eager anticipation. So, I am disappointed when he doesn’t take me into his arms and do what my imagination envisioned as soon as he suggested joining me. Instead, he puts his hands on my shoulders and begins to look me over. Apparently, he is also looking for bugs and rashes. Well, isn’t that a mood killer.
“Is your skin still irritated?” he asks when he completes his clinical perusal of my body.
I shake my head. “No, by the time you got here it was already starting to subside.”
He looks over to the pile of discarded clothes near the tub. “Perhaps you should stick to magical clothes for a while.”
It’s not that I don’t like magical clothes. I love them because it’s basically like having a universe full of selections. Except, someone else needs to create them for me. I still don’t have the knack for it. I know Kallen doesn’t mind doing it, in fact he sometimes enjoys it too much as some of my more risqué outfits can attest. But I hate having to rely on him for such a simple thing. Regardless, I agree with him. “I guess it could be a new soap or something that’s causing me to react.” Tabitha insists on washing my clothes for me. I’ll ask her in the morning if she changed anything in the laundering process.
With the subject as settled as it’s going to get at the moment, a wicked gleam has appeared in my gorgeous husband’s eyes. “Perhaps I should check you over again. Just to be certain everything is fine.” The purr in his voice assures me this will not be another clinical assessment.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I lift my lips to his in response. His feral growl and the way his hands begin to roam my body make me forget anything else. The only thing my skin is doing now is singing under his touch.