[Through Time 02.0] Whiplash

by Claudy Conn

  “They have indeed already made their pact.” He touched her cheek with the back of his hand and rubbed it gently. “Royal Fae hearing can be adjusted, and I did hear a great deal of their conversation. However, they only have each other—dangerous companions who do not trust one another. I, on the other hand, have my two girls on my side,” he said, reaching out to ruffle Frankie’s hair as she stepped up close and looked up at the two of them, her hazel eyes wide with concern.

  The girl’s face had gone white with fear. Jazz realized they had to drop the subject and get onto another.

  “Trevor,” Jazz said, tongue in cheek, “Frankie has shown me that she has a special Fios gift, but she has never seen it in action, and I was thinking—”

  “Oh, and what would this gift be?” He interrupted, smiling at Frankie.

  Frankie shuffled her feet, shyly intent on studying the ground, so Jazz answered him, “She can create a fireball, and her mother told her it would attach itself to its target and usurp the magic of the Fae it is attached to. We are not sure how much power it will steal or for how long, and it is something we need to know, as it might come in handy—sooo, the only way to do that is to practice.”

  A frown descended over his face, and he backed away while wagging a finger. “Oh no—oh no! You are not going to find out by using me as a shooting gallery—I am not a practice target, but a Royal. One does not test things out on a Royal.” He had already backed quite a distance away towards the mansion.

  “Frankie, do your thing,” Jazz said, ignoring his protest.

  “Oh, but I couldn’t do that to himself,” Frankie objected. “I just couldn’t …”

  “Now, before he shifts,” Jazz demanded.

  She was surprised when Trevor stood his ground and said softly, “Go ahead, little Fios—do your worst.”

  Frankie hesitated, and Jazz encouraged her. “Hesitation can get you and those you love killed. Never hesitate.”

  Frankie put out her hand. The sparks started making their circle over her palm, and she stared intently at those sparks. This time the ball the sparks created was much larger than the one she had shown Jazz.

  Trevor grinned and produced a low whistle, obviously impressed. Then he said, “Very well, then, you have a Fae in your sights, Frankie, but he has seen you create your ball of fire. Perhaps you have intrigued the Fae enough to study it for a moment, but only for a moment. Perceiving an unknown threat, this Fae will most definitely shift away. What then do you do? You must know that when he reappears, it will be at your back. Remember that, little Fios.”

  Frankie threw the ball, and it headed directly for Trevor. It appeared that he waited for as long as he could, trying to choose the last possible moment an unknown Fae would wait, and then he shifted off.

  The ball of fire vanished with him!

  When he reappeared, it was attached to his chest. He growled with his discomfort, and then the ball of fire exploded, shooting flame all around him before vanishing.

  He stood and looked himself over, putting a hand to his chest, but no burn marks had been left behind. Trevor pulled a face and said, “That was not pleasant.”

  Jazz and Frankie went to him and hugged him before Jazz stepped away and said, “Do you feel different?”

  “No,” he answered doubtfully, “but then, I haven’t tried to use magic.”

  “Go ahead—try,” Jazz encouraged.

  He blinked, calling out loud for his Death Weapon. They waited and watched his open hand, but the Death Weapon did not appear.

  “What? What is wrong?” Jazz asked.

  “I can’t seem to use my magic,” he murmured. “Evidently my ability to use my Fae magic has been suspended.” He then quite suddenly grinned. “But, we must remember, Fae have many abilities beyond their magic.”

  “Like what?” Jazz asked curiously.

  “Like this,” he said. Taking both her hand and Frankie’s, he shifted them back inside the house.

  “Right. Magic gone, shifting ability still present,” Jazz said thoughtfully. “Which means we still cannot outrun a Fae should one choose to follow.”

  “Yes, but there may be a difference on how it works on Dark Fae. A Seelie’s resistance is greater than an Unseelie’s.”

  “What about an Unseelie prince’s resistance?” Jazz asked.

  “Ah, we shall have to wait and see,” Trevor said and turned to Frankie. He and Jazz had been taking turns giving her a couple of hours schooling, picking up where her mother had left off on her lessons.

  “Frankie, time for you to finish your writing assignment.”

  She pouted and objected, “But I want to stay with you and Miss Jazz.”

  “Indeed, and we shall see you in an hour’s time, but for now, I wish to speak to your Miss Jazz privately—adult matters.”

  She eyed them for a moment and smiled. “All right, then.” She started off, turned halfway around, eyed them once more with a wider smile, and then skipped off.

  * * *

  “How long do you think you will be without magic?” Jazz asked him curiously when Frankie had left them alone.

  “I was without it a full five minutes. It has, however, returned,” Trevor said as he took Jazz into his arms. “Stay in my arms, Jazmine Decker … this time, stay,” he said softly.

  She did, and he continued to chat her up as though they were simply conversing on the sofa. “The effects of Frankie’s fireball lasts five minutes.” He stared hard at her as he bent and kissed her cheek.

  “What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.

  “I don’t know. I have told myself I shouldn’t, I can’t, I won’t, but here I am doing what I have forbidden myself. Jazmine Decker, everything you are touches something inside me … you are in my head, you are …” His kisses traveled to her neck, and then he nibbled up to her ear, where his tongue tickled her senses in a way that made her knees turn to mush.

  “I … you … this …” she squeaked incoherently.

  “When you came rushing at me—just before, when I returned from tracking the wizard—there was a look in your eyes, sweet Fios, such a look. I want to see that in your eyes again.” He locked gazes with her and then visibly sucked in air as he murmured with great satisfaction, “There—that look.”

  He resumed nibbling and kissing her neck and earlobe and seemed in no rush to move towards her lips.

  More than one part of her wanted him to get to her lips. She whispered hoarsely, “But this is … will complicate—”

  He cut her off. “Not complicated at all. I am attempting to show you that I am at full potential already,” he answered, crushing her into his embrace.

  His deep accent always swept through her senses. She loved his voice and the way he had of putting things.

  His nibbling, kissing, licking scorched her flesh and made her want more, so much more, but this wasn’t meant to be. It just wasn’t. She had to find the strength to stop him. She simply had to stop him.

  Why? Tammy asked in her head.

  Well, because, she answered her friend.

  Idiot, didn’t I tell you to just let yourself enjoy the moment? Jazz, here is your moment, Tammy clucked at her.

  “Okie dokie,” she answered her friend right out loud.

  “Okie dokie?” Trevor repeated with a boyish grin. “I like that … it has a promise in the sound.

  She said, hearing the huskiness in her own voice, “Full potential, yes, yes, I see that. I believe you are at full potential.” Something inside her still resisted, and she added, “But we have other matters to attend to … now.”

  “None like to this,” he answered in that Old World style that drove her libido into overdrive.

  She groaned, and her lips parted. She so wanted his nibbling to find her lips, and then his mouth covered hers, and his tongue dove inside with an intensity that made her toes curl. Yes, she thought. Her toes were curling, and she wanted out of her shoes, out of her clothes.

  It was as though he read her mind. />
  He scarcely blinked, and her clothes were gone.

  She was fully naked and still in his arms, her flesh pressed up against—oh yeah, she thought. Now his clothes were gone, and he was pushing her back against the wainscoting of the library wall, pressing his naked body into hers.

  Fire—her body was on fire, itching uncontrollably for his touch, but she was also stunned at the suddenness of it all. Who was this woman responding to him with such abandon? She was always slow and steady. She didn’t just jump into bed with—holy shit, his hands moved just right.

  She tried to find her voice, but it came out as a croak. “Clothes … put on my clothes.”

  “But they will be in our way,” he answered reasonably.

  He stood at full attention just a bit apart from her, and her eyes swept over him, lingered on his huge, dancing shaft, and then snapped up to his face. She swallowed and repeated with a moan, “Clothes … yours, mine … on.”

  He immediately complied but ran a frenzied hand through his flaxen locks. His gold eyes held confusion as he said, “I am sorry … I misread you …”

  He hadn’t. He simply hadn’t misread her. She had been dreaming about him, wanting him, imagining him on her, in her, and when he had so generously allowed Frankie to practice her magic on him, she realized all in one thought that he was the one.

  She had finally found her hero, and he could never really be hers.

  ~ Eight ~

  PRINCE TREVOR DIDN’T need much sleep. After Jazmine Decker’s rejection, he couldn’t have slept even if he had tried.

  He spent the night, instead, trying to devise different scenarios and various plans to deal with the threats at hand. He had made light of Hordly’s and Baudali’s union, but theirs would be a formidable power.

  Even so, when morning came, even though he had expected it, he thrust a hand through his hair and wondered how he was going to keep his hands off Jazmine Decker. He found he needed her more than he could express, wanted her more than was bearable. He had been with beautiful Fae experienced in the art of lovemaking, and yet they were nothing compared to what he felt for this beautiful human.

  Somehow she had taken over his mind, his essence.

  He had to concentrate on Hordly and Baudali. He simply could not allow his thoughts to wander …

  He shifted outside to watch the show and realized even passing humans would be able to witness the fever of nature being used at its worst. Humans would put it down as the worst storm they had ever seen, but see it they would.

  He knew because he had listened in on their conversation that the Dark Prince and the wizard had already figured out how to use their combined black magic to open a portal to his and Jazz’s time period in the Human Realm.

  Thunder, resounding thunder that made the sheep in the neighboring pastures run madly in fear, boomed, clapped, cracked, and threatened overhead. A natural occurrence during a storm, there was nothing natural about this thunder, and it was not accompanied by rain.

  Once again, dark magic was at work, and this time Trevor took it all in, became familiar with its scent, with its power, with the fact that it was being wielded by the joint partnership of a Dark Sorcerer and a Dark Prince.

  The earth moaned as though filled with excruciating pain, and Trevor, at one with the earth, felt its agony with growing fury. The ground begin to crumble as jagged lines slashed through the pasture outside their warded lands.

  Prince Trevor watched what was happening with restraint. He had to wait for the right moment.

  If Hordly and Baudali were allowed to succeed, they would cause great harm to this time period. Trevor knew he had to stop them; they could not be allowed to succeed.

  More intense than an earthquake, the fissures widened and swallowed up small bushes and trees into their yawning depths. Above, a horrible visage appeared. It was Baudali, but his face was contorted, pockmarked, and his black tongue hung from a mouth whose fangs drooled bloodied saliva as his power grew. Trevor knew this was because Hordly was beside the wizard, helping him with a spell never meant to be so carelessly cast. They had but one purpose, and they didn’t bother with the precautions required for such a spell. They only cared about one thing: opening the door to the future, the future he and Jazmine Decker had been sucked out of.

  The sky was a blanket of charcoal-colored clouds hovering menacingly over the broken earth except above Prince Breslyn’s estate, which remained untouched by all this and invisible to the human eye.

  Trevor clenched his fists and closed his eyes as he worked his Seelie magic. He had known what Baudali meant to do and had been preparing for this moment, although he had not expected it so soon.

  He would have to eventually get to the source to repair the damage the Dark Ones had created. That would be the tricky but important part of his plan.

  Timing, however, was everything.

  He had to wait, for he would use his own very controlled, very powerful dark magic for only a moment and combine it with his Seelie magic to put an end to their first efforts.

  It wouldn’t stop them, however; he knew they would keep trying until he could send the Dark Prince back into the Dark Realm. That would put an end to Baudali, who could not achieve time travel without Hordly’s Unseelie magic.

  The Wizard Baudali had summoned the worst of dark magic, using it to draw on the elements of earth, wind, and fire, and it raged before his eyes.

  Hordly had added his own Dark Fae magic as well, and combined the two became a viable power. And so it had begun—the wormhole to the future.

  Ordinarily, even a Seelie Fae would have difficulty confronting the remaining element, since its power was a force the Seelie Fae could not always contain. However, as a Royal, he had been trained and knew the knack of patience. He knew the knack of it all was timing.

  The Dark Ones couldn’t be allowed to get to the future. He had to find a way to stop them, or life on earth would be forever and horrifically altered.

  Trevor knew the wizard, who was from this time, had lived through this century into the next and the next after that. He could not be allowed to enter the future, where he might confront his future self—if he did, it would be catastrophic.

  Trevor sighed heavily as he considered both the wizard and Hordly. They had drawn on the three elements, yes, but one element was left for Trevor to use to advantage, and that one he had control of now. He was ready, for it had reached its maximum power.

  He had to wait for just that right moment.

  Jazmine Decker and Frankie had come running outside and stood flanking him.

  Jazmine Decker’s nearness had an unexplainable effect on him. She had denied him, but he couldn’t stop himself from wanting her. He needed as much as wanted to hold her. He needed to keep her safe from harm, he needed to touch her, kiss her, reassure her and make her his own, and by damn, when this was over, he would win her human heart—confound all the rest of it!

  He couldn’t think of that now, but he damn well was going to keep her safe. He said authoritatively, knowing in advance she wouldn’t listen for her sake but perhaps for Frankie’s, “Take the child and go indoors. I have to go to the source and stop this.”

  “We are staying with you,” Jazmine Decker answered.

  “Aye, with ye,” agreed the child with such a grim little face that he just wanted to hug her and take her away where she could play and lead a normal life. Then Frankie added solemnly, “We mean to help ye.”

  “I can’t have you two in danger. It will inhibit me,” he answered roughly. He was growing overly fond of the child—what by Danu was wrong with him? He knew she would have to go to parents who could love and care for her, but even in their few days together he had grown accustomed to her presence, to giving her lessons, to the daughterly affection she bestowed on him, and he found that he bloody well liked it. She made him feel oddly warm inside.

  “We won’t be in your way, Trev. We will be your extra arms. We can help. I know it.” She put her hand to her che
st. “I know it in here—” Her hand then went to her stomach. “—and I know it in my gut. Call it a woman’s instinct, Trev. Please, take us with you.”

  “I have to go into their lair, Jazmine Decker. They won’t be expecting me, but it will still be very dangerous. I have to stop what they are doing, for they are attempting to warp the curvature of the universe and open a time portal.”

  “How can they do that? How?”

  “It cannot be done without peril to the earth. What they are doing is attempting to create a bridge between now and the future. They are going about it the wrong way and not taking the necessary precautions. I must stop them. If you come, you will be a distraction.”

  “We will be a distraction for you to use against them,” she answered with excitement. “You could deposit us where we could catch their attention, while you do what you have to do. We can hold our own—I know we can—and then you shift in, grab us, and off we go,” Jazmine said, now sounding feverish to stay with him.

  She had a point, and Trevor was quite used to fighting side by side with female warriors, but the thought of his mortal Jazmine Decker and the mortal Fios child being in danger made him feel nearly sick with concern.

  “Frankie can use her fireball on Hordly, and perhaps I can distract Baudali, play on his ego? All you would need is a moment …” she added

  His mind, usually so pragmatic, was now in a frenzy of indecision. Suddenly, he knew she was right. If this was to succeed, he would need their help.

  “Well, then, get ready, my sweet girls,” he said softly.

  “Yes!” she made a victory fist and then immediately demanded, “How—what are we going to do? What do you want us to do?”

  He touched her face and looked long into her blue eyes, such exquisite eyes. They seemed to glow and draw him inside her. He wanted to be inside her—

  He abruptly stopped that line of thinking and stepped away. “You should know a little about the spell I am about to invoke. It is an ancient Danu spell, created by our Queen Bridget before she and the Dark King separated and went to war, before he inadvertently caused her death. We were taught how to draw on the best of the elements and use them. All Royals were taught to perfect this skill, a skill practiced repeatedly until maturity. I was taught to wield the elements, all the elements, as soon as I was able to walk.” He eyed his Jazmine Decker and added, “Baudali and Hordly are using the elements to warp the curvature of the universe. They believe if they are successful it will open a portal to our future. The danger is Baudali lives in the Human Realm. He is, to all practical purposes, immortal and has survived the centuries and has a life in our century, Jazmine Decker. So, you see, he cannot be allowed to occupy a space that his future self occupies. He must know that but doesn’t care … and one can only speculate why.”