by Laura Lee
Leo gestured for me to order first. When in Ireland, I thought. “I’ll have a shot of Jameson and a pint of Guinness.”
Leo smirked at my request. “I’ll have the same.”
I waited for the waitress to leave. “Aw, you’re being an obnoxious American tourist with me. How sweet!”
“I couldn’t just leave you hanging there by yourself. It was pretty bad.” He winked.
Leo had many sides, and playful Leo was definitely one of my favorites. The waitress set our drinks down a moment later. I grabbed the Guinness and took a healthy sip. “Crap, even the beer is better here!”
Leo laughed. A full-on belly laugh. I was momentarily stunned by the beauty of it. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, my love.”
I really was having a great time. It was nice to take a break from the everyday chaos and just enjoy life. I downed my shot of whiskey and chased it with the beer. “I really am, Leo. Thank you for taking me out tonight.”
He reached across the table and clasped his hand with mine. “Anytime.”
Leo and I continued to talk, drink, and laugh until closing, then walked back to the hotel holding hands. Okay, maybe that was mostly because I needed help with the walking part. Leo, of course, was completely unaffected. I could normally handle my liquor, but to be honest, I couldn’t remember how many rounds we’d gone through. I decided early on to let everything go for the night, knowing that Leo would keep me safe. I stumbled across the threshold when we got back to our hotel room. “Whoopsie!” I giggled.
I wound up tripping again as we entered the bedroom and pulled Leo down onto the bed with me. “Careful there, love.” He laughed.
I was suddenly blasted with heat when I realized that our fun parts were lined up against each other. I could feel his goodies gearing up for some action as he leaned in to kiss me. When our lips touched I mumbled, “Are you mad at me?”
He pulled back, propped over me on his elbows. “What do you mean?”
“About Vance.”
Any warmth that was there before drastically cooled as he moved away from me to sit on the edge of the bed. “What about him?”
I sat up as well. “You know…about me sleeping with him. Again.”
Leo had been hurt the first time Vance and I got together several weeks ago, but he assured me that his feelings about me hadn’t changed. After this last time, I could tell that something was different. Leo caught me doing the walk of shame the following morning, so there was no way he didn’t know what had happened. He cleared his throat before answering. “I thought we had already discussed this.”
“No, we haven’t,” I insisted. “C’mon, Leo, I know you know what happened right before we left town.” What I didn’t know was why I was pressing the issue. Perhaps the alcohol was dulling my common sense.
“What is it that you want me to say?”
“What do I want you to say?” I repeated. “How about the truth?”
He took a deep breath before replying in a clipped tone. “Fine. You want the truth? Of course I know. Blood bond, remember?” Since Leo has had my blood in the past, he could sense my feelings and location at all times. It wouldn’t be too difficult to put two and two together. “Am I happy about it? Forgive me for being so rude, but what the hell do you think? Of course I’m not happy about it. Quite frankly, it stirs up some thoughts that are fairly difficult to ignore.”
“Like what?”
He laughed without humor. “You don’t want to know.”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want to know.”
“You think so?” he mocked. “Well, what would you think if I told you that I needed to fuck you in every conceivable way until you couldn’t see straight? Until you couldn’t breathe unless I were moving inside of you? Until I stomped out every trace of that damned detective so there was nothing left but me? My seed filling your body. My cock driving you mad with need. What do you think about that truth, my love?”
“Uh…” My brain was a little scrambled from the images conjured by his words.
He stood up and walked towards the door. “I thought so. I’ll say this, but this will be the last time I ever want to discuss this. I am not a door mat; I can only handle so much. For now, all that matters is the present, and presently you are with me. That is what I’m choosing to focus on. Do you understand?”
“Yep.” I still wasn’t capable of anything beyond monosyllabic words.
He nodded. “Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of some business before retiring for the evening. Good night.”
As soon as he closed the door, my fingers slid down on their own volition, attempting to extinguish the flames he had just ignited. Repeatedly.
I woke up around six in the morning, only a few hours after I came to bed. It was just after ten at night back home, so I decided to call Erica. She picked up just as I was getting ready to leave a voicemail.
“Hi, Kar.” I was honestly a bit surprised she answered given our last conversation. I was using my cell phone, so she would’ve known it was me from the caller ID. I was going to take that as a good sign. She sounded really tired.
“Hey. Were you sleeping?”
She cleared her throat. “No, I’m just lying in bed watching TV. What’s going on? Vance said you left town; he’s been going nuts.”
Erica had been staying in Vance’s guest room since Jake died. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with their new arrangement, but I was glad she had someone looking out for her. “I’m in Dublin.”
“Dublin, Ireland? With Leo?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
“Why?”
“Because I found some really important information in that book Leo gave me. I had to come check it out.”
“What kind of information? And why Ireland?”
“Because this is where the portal is,” I explained. “The portal to Faerie.”
She gasped. “Are you shitting me?” As one of the few people who knew the truth about my identity, she knew what a big opportunity this was.
“Nope…at least I don’t think so. The book listed map coordinates to the exact spot where it’s supposedly located.”
“Supposedly?”
“Yeah, supposedly. Leo thinks there’s a slim chance it could be a false location…a decoy or something. It’s a really long story, but he has a team of people looking into some stuff before we go there.”
“So what are you doing until then?”
“Pretty much just hanging out, which, I’m not gonna lie, has been amazing so far. This city is incredible…well, besides the weather.”
“I can imagine,” she mumbled.
“Hey, you sound tired. Do you want me to let you go?”
She yawned. “Yeah, I should probably go to sleep. This pregnancy is kicking my ass, energy wise. I can’t remember the last time I went to bed before midnight.”
“Are you feeling okay besides that? Any morning sickness yet?”
“No, not really. I’m just pretty tired all the time. It’s a lot to take in at once, ya know?” Erica was about seven weeks pregnant with her dead husband’s baby. I couldn’t imagine the strain it was taking on her both physically and emotionally.
“Eri, I’m going to try wrapping this up as quickly as possible, but you call me anytime if you need to, okay? Don’t worry about the time difference.”
“Okay.” She yawned again, causing me to do the same. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Sure. Get some rest.”
“Night, K.”
I flopped around in bed for a bit after my call with Erica but couldn’t fall back asleep. I heard voices in the sitting room, so I decided to check it out. Leo and Takk were standing over the coffee table looking at the map from last night.
Leo noticed me and walked over to kiss me on the forehead. “Good morning, my dear. What are you doing up so early?” Apparently Leo was in a much better mood this morning. I looked over at Takk, who was scowling at our exchange. What the hel
l was that for?
“Couldn’t sleep. What are you guys doing? Have you been up all night?”
“Yes, we have. It looks like we won’t have to rely on a sorcerer with the new information we have.” He gave me a once over and smirked. “Why don’t you freshen up and we’ll talk about it? I’ll order some breakfast.”
I smoothed my hand over the crazy mass of bed head that he was eyeing. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be back out in a bit. Get some coffee, please. Lots of it.”
I came back into the sitting room after getting ready for the day. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down, looking expectantly at both men. “So…what’d you find out?”
Takk grabbed a piece of bacon and began chewing. “I met with one of our sources last night. She used to be a witch at the abbey. She no longer lives there, but she left on good terms and is still in touch with them.”
“Why would one of the witches from the abbey help us?” I asked.
Takk looked to Leo. “Money can get you a lot of things.”
“You really think she’d betray her coven?” I was raised by a witch, so I knew that the women who made up a coven thought of each other as family. They were incredibly loyal to one another.
Takk shoved more food into his mouth before replying. “She’s technically no longer part of the coven. Besides, she just gave me some information and agreed to pass my number on to the High Priestess to arrange a meeting.”
“What’s this High Priestess do?”
“She leads the coven,” he replied. “There are over three hundred witches at the abbey. They need someone in charge to keep the order.”
“Three hundred?” I repeated. “I’ve never heard of one that large.”
“That’s because there aren’t any others of that magnitude. This particular group has been charged with a very specific task. They need a large concentration of power to successfully perform their duties.”
“And what duties are those?”
“They’re guardians of Fae lore and are responsible for protecting the portal,” Leo answered this time. “They pool their magic to keep themselves and the portal hidden.”
“Why would they need to hide the portal?” The only thing I knew about gates to Faerie was that you had to be of Fae blood to cross through them unless an elder granted someone special access. Also, they were virtually invisible unless you knew what you were looking for. Going through the trouble of hiding something that was essentially useless to any non-Fae didn’t make sense to me.
“The portal is located within an ancient temple that was once used for Fae burials,” Leo explained. “It’s older than the pyramids of Giza, estimated at about five thousand years. It’s an incredibly sacred place for them and was used actively until it was discovered by farmers about two hundred years ago. Since then, the witches have used their powers to keep a veil over the land where it sits so it can remain undetected. It simply appears as a large mound to everyone except those the guardians allow.”
“What happened to the men who discovered it?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Leo replied. “They’ve all died off by now, so it’s irrelevant.”
“Okay…I get wanting to protect this burial place, but that seems excessive, don’t you think?”
“Not after what I learned last night,” Takk said.
“Which is what?”
“Their magic is completely ineffective at dawn on Winter Solstice,” he offered. “As the sun rises, it becomes perfectly aligned with an opening towards the roof of the temple and illuminates the entire inner chamber. Once the sun reaches the rear tomb, it becomes visible and the portal remains open to anyone for a period of seventeen minutes.”
“So anyone, Fae or otherwise, can just step into Faerie if they know where to look?” I asked.
“Correct,” Takk confirmed.
“Can’t the Fae do something about that? Why trust witches with protecting the portal?”
“They aren’t just witches,” he answered. “The guardians are blessed with Fae magic. They’re chosen at birth and groomed throughout their entire childhood for this role. Neither guardian nor Fae can prevent the portal from opening during the solstice. It has something to do with the energy from the earth’s sun.”
“Wait…you just told me that your contact used to be a witch at the abbey? So there’s a witch roaming around Dublin with Fae magic at her disposal?”
“No. They’re stripped of their additional powers if they choose to leave.”
“And she just willingly gave them up? Why would she do that?”
He shrugged. “This one is young…freshly immortal. I don’t think she considered the consequences. She probably just wanted to live life without such heavy responsibilities. That’s the impression I got, anyway.”
“And she just volunteered all of this information for a little money?” I found that awfully hard to believe, even if she was in her early twenties and feeling reckless.
“First of all, it wasn’t a little money,” Takk corrected. “And secondly, I may have employed other methods to…seduce some bonus material from her.”
The smug look on his face told me that his methods were of the pillow talk variety. Ugh, what a slimeball! “So now what?”
Takk started to reply, but Leo cut him off. “Now we meet with the High Priestess and somehow convince her to lift the veil.”
Leo and Takk were mulling over their plans and making calls in the sitting room, so I decided to go into my bedroom and read through the book some more. Several hours into it, I came across a fascinating passage.
Elemental Fae have the ability to channel energy from the air, water, earth, or fire depending on the house in which they are born. They are known to have one or more of the following abilities:
House of Air
Aerokinesis - The ability to manipulate the air, wind, and gas
House of Water
Hydrokinesis - The ability to manipulate and control liquid and mold it into any desired shape or form
House of Earth
Geokinesis - The ability to control, manipulate, and reshape the earth at will
House of Fire
Pyrokinesis - The ability to create, control, and manipulate fire, flame, and heat
Heliokinesis - The ability to create, control, and manipulate sunlight
Elemental Fae derive power from their specific element and nowhere else. They are unable to conjure fairy dust as the non-Elementals can. For this reason, Elemental Fae are encouraged to breed outside of their house to strengthen their bloodline. Arranged marriages are not uncommon. Basic genetics would dictate that with each new house added, the power would be diluted. That is not the case with elemental magic. An Elemental’s power is strengthened exponentially with each added element.
Wow, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I thought all members of the Fae race held the same magic. Once again, I was reminded how truly ignorant I was. The only thing I knew for certain was that ignorance was not bliss. Determined to learn as much as possible, I continued reading until I could no longer keep my eyes open.
I was awoken sometime later when the bed dipped. I rolled over to find Leo sitting next to me, looking perfectly coifed as always. “Hey,” I croaked. “What time is it?”
“It’s shortly after nine. I need to leave for a while. We received a call earlier from someone that may be linked to the abbey. She refused to discuss anything over the phone, so I’m heading out to meet with her. Takk will stay here with you.”
“Yippee,” I deadpanned. “Can I come with you instead?”
He shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with that until I can validate that she does not pose a threat. You’ll be safe here with Takk.”
It wasn’t my safety I was worried about. I just wasn’t looking forward to spending the evening with the big, bad, grumpy-ass wolf. “Where are you meeting her?”
“About an hour from here, in County Meath. We’re meeting near some old church ruins.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?”
He smiled. “Don’t worry about me, my love. I’ll be fine. Her choice of location tells me she lacks confidence in her own safety.”
“Because witches can use hallowed ground to strengthen their powers?”
“Correct.” He looked at his watch. “It would be easy to deduce that if she felt the need to draw power from the land, this particular witch does not carry much on her own.” He leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. “I really must be going. Order some dinner and relax. I’ll see you soon.”
“Be careful, Leo.”
He smiled. “Always, my dear.”
After he left, I went into the sitting room to grab the room service menu. Unfortunately for me, Takk was out there hogging the couch. “I’m ordering dinner. Do you want anything?”
“No, thanks. Unlike you, I don’t live to spend Leo’s money.”
Who did this guy think he was? “What the hell is your problem?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit! You’ve had an attitude with me since day one. I think it’s only fair you tell me why.”
“I prefer to keep my job, thank you very much.”
“Oh, please,” I scoffed. “Like I have any control over that? Do you really think Leo would even listen if I tried getting you fired?”
He turned off the TV and stood to face me. “Honestly? I think he would do anything you asked him to.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
He shook his head. “Hardly. I barely recognize the man anymore. I’ve worked with him for decades, and he has always been the most controlled man I know. Business comes first, women second. And when I say women, I mean women, as in many.”
I winced at that last part. “I still don’t see how I’m involved.”
“Are you really that dense?”
“Excuse me?” I countered.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re not just a fuck to him. That man is completely in love with you. No matter how poorly you treat him, he sits there and takes it. And not only does he take it, he drops everything he’s doing the second you feel the need to use him or his resources. And how do you repay him? You don’t even give him your blood, for fuck’s sake! Something he needs to survive, and you withhold. You make him go to a blood bank!”