by Conn, Claudy
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 aimlessly in mad 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 make certain they did not 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 installed. 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 Jazz 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 part but an 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.
Jazz and Frankie had come running outside and stood flanking him.
Jazz’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,” Jazz 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.” Jazz put her hand to her chest. “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,” Jazz 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.” Jazz 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 …” Jazz 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!” Jazz 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. Th
ey 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 enact. 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 Jazz 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.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Although he’d said they could help, he wanted to tell them he’d decided against it, to insist they stay safely in Breslyn’s castle. However, he knew her, knew she would do whatever it took, which would mean she would not stay behind the warded lines. She could get herself hurt—or worse.
Better to have her and the child where he could protect them. He didn’t seem to have a choice. He took her hand. She already had Frankie’s hand in hers, and so he shifted them off.
* * *
They emerged at a distance from the barn. They were hidden in the dark of the woods, but a great fissure had opened up and swallowed the earth just a few feet away, leaving a jagged, gaping hole.
Trevor scooped her and Frankie up and did something, she had no idea what, that left them floating a few feet off the ground as he scanned their surroundings.
“What are we doing?” she whispered.
“Hovering—now quiet,” he answered.
She held Frankie tightly to her, and they hovered. It felt very strange, but they were able to watch Baudali, who stood in the field just outside the barn with his legs spread wide beneath his black robe, his arms outward, palms held up to the sky.
At his side was the Dark Prince.
They were both reciting ancient words, and then Hordly said with great disdain, “Well, Wizard, it doesn’t seem to be quite working.”
Baudali ignored him and kept on chanting.
And suddenly Jazz knew. Her Trevor had one advantage that she knew of. Hordly hated Baudali. She sensed it, saw it, was sure of it.
They could play one against the other. Both had huge egos.
“I have to wait for just the right moment …” Trevor gritted his teeth.
“Set me in the field … near enough so that I can slam Hordly,” Jazz said.
“No, he will recover and kill you with a thought,” Trevor said, “but I do have another idea.”
Jazz and Frankie moved in close as he bent closer, all of them still hovering above ground, and explained his plan.
Impressed, Jazz stepped back and said, “Trev, that is brilliant!”
He seemed to preen, and she almost giggled but managed to restrain herself, and then a thought popped out. “Aren’t Fae committed to non-interference?”
“Yes, but there are exceptions, not for individual gain, but for the world as a whole, and now we have two worlds, yours and mine, at stake.” He bent and kissed Jazz’s nose. “Be ready when I bring you back …”
“Bring us back? Back from where?” The next thing she knew, she and Frankie were being thrust through a tube whose walls, which appeared to be made of a sticky material, checked their speed. Even so, suddenly, and while she still held onto Frankie’s hand, they were spat out like discarded chewing gum and found themselves rolling through a field of blue grass.
Blue grass? Jazz looked around with a sinking heart and then looked up to confirm by the two suns only slightly obscured by clouds that Trevor had sent them into another dimension.
She closed her eyes and then opened them to shout, “Trevor, Prince of Lugh, I am so going to kill you!”
“Where are we?” Frankie asked as she looked around.
“Evidently our Royal wants us temporarily out of the way. I’m guessing this is another dimension, one he must know is safe, so don’t worry, Frankie. We’ll be okay until he decides to fetch us back.”
“I never worry when I’m with you and the prince,” Frankie said and smiled warmly up at her.
Jazz gave her a hug, but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn’t believe he had done this.
He had agreed to let them help—and then, out of nowhere, poof, he had sent them off. She couldn’t tolerate this and would definitely tell him he had stepped out of bounds. Oh yeah, she was going to tell him all right.
Oooh, she silently seethed.
* * *
Prince Trevor turned back to the problem at hand. He knew he had just created another, but he also knew in the end his Jazmine Decker would understand. He smiled as he imagined her angry, lovely, furious eyes.
He then put up his hand and said in a voice that resonated with the voice of many, all of them Lugh ancestors, “You will stop or pay the consequences.” He was stalling for time. He didn’t need to request them to do a thing. In a moment, they would have no choice.
However, he had, in fact, distracted Baudali from his chanting. Hordly also turned his face to him, and it was a countenance contorted with hatred.
Prince Trevor stomped towards the Dark Prince, brought himself face to face with him, and sneered as Hordly roared out his fury.
“Seelie Royal,” the Dark Prince yelled, “you are a fool if you think you can stop us—it is almost open.” He pointed at the mass of swirling debris inside a mouth no larger than five feet in circumference. It was a few feet off the ground, and Trevor could feel the force of its suction power. It did not look quite fully cooked, and it did not look inviting.
“Is it?” Trevor smirked at the Dark Prince. “Think again, Hordly.” Without warning he went into action, taking hold of the wizard with an invisible force that sent Baudali reeling into a dimension he had prepared for this moment.
Trevor did all this without taking his eyes from Hordly and said softly, “Want to try and get through me?”
Saying this, he immediately brought Jazz and Frankie back through the sticky wormhole.
They landed lightly at his side, and he could see Jazz had a great deal to say to him. However, she made a face and said only, “Oh, ready for us now, huh?”
He laughed and said, “Now being the operative word. Now, just as we planned.”
In unison, Frankie called for her fireball and sent it hurtling at the Dark Prince while Jazz slammed him hard. He went flying backwards, reeled, stood up, and was hit by the fireball. He hissed filthy curses in a voice racked with pain, and Frankie held on tight to Jazz’s arm. Trevor had not felt pain, only discomfort, which meant it did as he suspected work differently on Dark Fae, even Royal Dark Fae!
His girls, Trevor thought with a pride he had not thought he could feel. They had bought him the time he needed.
He touched Jazz’s nose because she had one more job to do, and he knew she was the only one who could do it. He sent her and Frankie into the Dark Prince’s barn!
This done, he turned to the startled Dark Prince, who was picking himself off the ground, and grinned as he chanted. His element, an element he had been preparing, was now at its peak. Water, a great deal of water, was ready for him now.
All at once a dark and ominous cloud appeared over the yawning time portal. The dark cloud descended and surrounded the portal.
Trevor gave the next command, and the cloud opened up and spewed forth a tsunami of rushing, foaming white water.
It was a contained and controlled force and worked its powerful magic on the time portal, closing it in an instant and sending it off, not to be recalled.
Fists cle
nched, Trevor watched the powerless Dark Prince stand helpless as the torrents of water filled the portal until it imploded on itself. In a moment or two, Hordly’s magic would return, but he would no longer have Baudali to aid him, and the spell that had opened the time portal would no longer be available.
He turned on Trevor and rushed him like an animal gone mad. Trevor landed him a facer that sent him flying backwards. Hordly jumped to his feet and dove at Trevor again, but Trevor waited till the last moment and called for his Death Sword.
Hordly stopped in place and sneered. “You need that? Is that what you Seelie call fair?”
“I am not interested in being fair, only in ridding the world of you and your evil. However, as much as I would like to kill you, and am looking for the slightest reason to kill you, I shan’t kill you if I don’t have to. It is my queen’s wish you be returned to the Dark King and the Dark Realm, even though it is my educated opinion that you should be returned in bloody pieces.”
The Dark Prince released a long, agonized growl and shifted.
Trevor knew a moment’s fear. Hordly would go to the barn. He had thought to stall him a bit longer. Jazz and Frankie might still be in the barn. They were supposed to retrieve the orb and race into the woods, where he would meet with them and shift them back to their mansion. But had they had enough time?
* * *
Jazz and Frankie stood in the middle of the large, open room, and Frankie said, “Miss Jazz, do ye know where it is, this orb we have to find?”
“Yes, sort of. I can feel it, and as I get closer that feeling grows. The orb knows I am here looking for it, because it is humming. I am a sounder, and one of my gifts is the connection I have to Seelie Relics.”
“Okay then, Miss Jazz, do let’s hurry,” Frankie said, clinging to Jazz’s hand.
Jazz looked around, trying to decide just where the sound was coming from, when suddenly the power kicked in and she knew. She went right to the cabinet and opened it without any trouble. The orb glowed and said, “Ah, welcome, Fios.”