by 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 ©2013 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
True of Blood: Kallen’s Tale
Blood Prophecy: Kallen’s Tale
Blood Lines: Kallen’s Tale
Shadow Blood: Kallen’s Tale
The Eliana Brennan Series:
Essence of Re
Exposed
The Secrets of the Djinn Series:
Marked
For my brother Bob who is always ready to help his baby sister. Even if that means doing hard manual labor in the yard that I don’t want to do. Thank you
I love to hear from fans! Contact me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bonnie-Lamer-Author/129829463748061
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank everyone amongst my friends and family who help me in so many aspects of my life so that I can write. And I swear, I have never once used the excuse ‘I need to finish the book’ to get out of doing housework. Never. Haven’t even thought about it. I am one hundred percent motivated to ridding the house of dust mites and pet dander. After I finish the next book.
Chapter 1
“Xandra, do not move,” Kallen whispers in my ear. “There is a Tasmanian devil on our bed.”
“Will you tell the whacka to shut up? It is bad enough that he is hogging all the covers. How is a fella supposed to sleep around here?” an annoyed voice says from the end of the bed.
A shift in the covers makes me grip them closer to me so I don’t lose them. “I know and he wants me to tell you to shut up and to stop pulling the covers off of him,” I say through a yawn. “Can we go back to sleep now?” It is the middle of the night after all.
Kallen’s body stiffens next to me. “What do you mean ‘he wants me to shut up’?” I sigh. I guess I’m not going back to sleep yet.
“Is he dense? Does he not understand simple words? Because I may have to bite his face off if he does not shut his trap.”
I stretch my leg out and push the annoying devil off the bed. “No face biting,” I say sleepily.
“Xandra, what are you talking about?”
“He wants to bite your face off.”
“Who?” Kallen asks.
“Is there someone else in the room that may want to bite his face off?” the still annoying devil says. He leaps back onto the bed.
“Shut up,” I mumble, “or I’ll push you off the bed again.”
“I will not shut up,” Kallen says indignantly.
“Not you,” I huff. Sleep is apparently out of the question.
“Then who? And do you realize how dangerous these creatures are. You cannot just kick them and expect them to go away. They are dangerous.”
I peek over the covers at the Tasmanian devil who is now circling around and using his long nails to fluff up the comforter before lying down again. Once he has a nice little nest, he pulls the covers from Kallen’s feet with his teeth and wraps himself up in them. “You’re right, he’s not going away. He’s going to sleep. Can we worry about this in the morning?” I ask. Yes, there is definite snark in my voice.
“You expect me to sleep with a Tasmanian devil on our bed?” Kallen asks with even more snarkiness.
I peek at the creature again and I think he’s already sleeping. Looking at Kallen, I say, “Yup.” He shakes his head and pulls magic. I guess he’s taking matters into his own hands. Good, I can go back to sleep then. I’m not sure why I’m not bothered by the creature, but I’m not. So, he can deal with it.
Pushing his magic out, I feel it stop just short of the Tasmanian devil. Huh. I guess he doesn’t want to get rid of him that badly. “What the hell?” Kallen mutters under his breath. He pulls even more magic which also stops short of the little devil. “I am not able to make him move,” he says a little louder.
“Because he’s a whacka,” the little devil says. I kick him off the bed again.
“Xandra, stop doing that. He is going to attack us,” Kallen scolds. I hate it when he uses that tone of voice.
“Obviously not,” I counter since all the creature does is crawl back onto the bed. The light of the sun just hitting the horizon must be playing tricks on my eyes because it looks like the black, furry creature is smiling. Smugly.
Whipping the covers off, Kallen stands up. “Hey!” the now buried devil says. Kallen scoops him up, covers and all and holds him like a sack of potatoes. A wriggly and snarling sack of potatoes. Great, now I’m tired and cold.
“What are you going to do with him?” I ask.
“I will set him free outside.”
“No he will not,” the devil says. He has managed to bite a hole through the comforter so his voice is no longer muffled. “I will stay right here.”
“Why do you want to stay here?” I ask the angry little creature.
“Because I am your familiar, you twit.”
Okay, now I’m the angry one. Sending out my own magic, I take the creature’s voice and make the comforter wrap around him so tightly, he cannot use any of his four legs and claws to try to get loose. Then I put a muzzle on him so he can’t bite.
Kallen is looking at me like I’ve gone mad. “Suddenly you are concerned about him attacking us?”
“No,” I say sitting up. “He called me a twit.”
The way Kallen’s eyes are focused on me, I swear he’s estimating the size of the straight jacket I will need. “How could he call you a twit? These animals do not have the capability of speech. Nor reason,” he says carefully.
I’m a little slow on the uptake since it’s just barely dawn, but I get it now. “You can’t hear him talk?”
“And you can?” Kallen asks. I believe he has moved on to deciding how big of a padded cell I will need.
I nod my head anyway. “Yes. He says he’s my familiar.” Wait, I have a familiar?! I am definitely awake now. Why didn’t anyone mention that I would get a familiar? I wonder what I can have him do.
Kallen sets the Tasmanian devil and comforter burrito on the floor now that he’s sure the stupid little thing can’t attack. “A familiar?”
There’s an awful lot of doubt in his voice. “Yes, a familiar.”
“As in an animal meant to assist you in performing magic and to do your bidding?”
“Yeah, that’s what a familiar does.” I don’t really know what a familiar does, but I’m not going to tell him that.
“Xandra, Witches having familiars is folklore.”
My eyes travel down to the devil burrito on the floor and then back up to Kallen’s face. “Then how do you explain him?” I ask, pointing to the bundle.
“He is simply a wild animal that has wandered into the house,” he says, precisely enunciating each word as if I may not understand it.
“Really? And he just happened to go up a flight of stairs and choose our room and then randomly decided to call himself my familiar so he could stay?” I guess I could have just dreamed that last part. I was at lea
st half asleep.
“Are you well?” he asks.
“Yes,” I snap, tempted to let the devil free.
“Yet you believe this creature,” he points to the floor, “speaks to you?”
“I don’t believe it, he does!” Okay, that came out wrong. Which is apparent by the smirk that has found its way to Kallen’s face.
He sobers quickly though. “Maybe we should wake Tabitha, have her check you over.”
“Kallen, stop implying that I’m crazy! The stupid thing talks to me!”
Kallen puts his hands up, palms forward. “Okay, okay, calm down, angel. You can put that magic away anytime now.”
I always feel so stupid when I draw magic without meaning to. Shouldn’t I have better control by now? Probably. But that’s a subject for another time. Standing up, I say, “Why can’t you just believe me? Weird things happen to me every day. You know what, fine, let’s go wake the whole house up because you don’t believe that I have a familiar.” I’m going to feel even stupider if it turns out Kallen’s right and I was just imagining the animal talking to me.
I stalk towards the door until Kallen stands in my path. He puts his hands on my shoulders and I glare up at him. “I am just worried,” he says softly. “I did not intend to make you angry, but there is something going on here that is not right.”
Considering that he’s about a thousand times smarter than me when it comes to magical things, I know he’s probably right. But that Tasmanian devil did talk to me. I know it did. So if waking the house up is the only way to prove it, then that’s what we’ll do. With a tight smile, I sidestep out of his grip and walk to the door. Time to see what new craziness has just dropped into our lives.
Chapter 2
The kitchen is already filled with people by the time we get there and none of them look happy to see us. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s barely five o’clock in the morning or because Kallen sent them all migraine inducing mental messages. Probably both.
With a sheepish smile, I slip onto a stool at the island counter across from a churlish Kegan. “Could this not have waited just a few more hours?” he asks.
“You tell me,” Kallen says, dropping the blanket and Tasmanian devil at his feet. The blanket unravels quickly exposing the creature’s black fur and repressed snarling. The muzzle is doing its job.
“What the hell did you bring that thing in here for?” Kegan asks, jumping off his stool and backing up a few feet.
“I certainly hope you are not planning to make the house an animal rescue,” a voice drawls from the vicinity of the coffee pot. “I believe we are running out of room.” Isla is in her bathrobe, sipping the hot brew that Tabitha has ready all the time. I’m not sure how she does it. Some sort of magic I haven’t learned yet, I suppose.
“You get that varmint out of this kitchen,” Tabitha demands with her hands on her hips. “Filthy, nasty little things. I would like to rid the entire realm of their presence.”
“I am afraid I cannot,” Kallen says, eyeing the devil before looking at the faces in the room. “Xandra believes it to be her familiar.”
The room is quiet for a moment, then Kegan bursts out laughing. “Your familiar? Are you insane?”
I am so tempted to pull his chair out from under him. I don’t. I’m trying to seek other, more positive, outlets for my anger. But, it’s really hard when he keeps laughing like that.
“Kegan,” Isla says sharply and the laugh is choked out of him. She looks at me and says, “Why would you believe this creature to be a familiar?”
I feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. “Because he told me he is.” Really, really hoping I didn’t dream it all.
“He told you?” Tabitha asks curiously, but there is an undercurrent to her words that I can’t decipher. A look passes between her and Isla and my blood begins to chill. Something is very wrong here.
“Yes,” I say slowly, looking back and forth between the two Fairies. Out of the corner of my eye I can see that Kallen is as confused as I am.
Tabitha waves her hand in the air. “Nonsense, you must have been dreaming. Kallen, take the nasty little thing outside.”
“No,” I practically shout. A fierce feeling of protectiveness shoots through me. All eyes in the room are glued to me and all of them are worried. Some more worried than others because Kegan still looks annoyed about being woken up so early. Clearing my throat and trying again, I say, “I think he should stay until we figure this out.”
“You want a Tasmanian devil to stay here. In the house?” Kegan asks incredulously.
“He’s not going to hurt anyone,” I say. There is an amazing amount of defensiveness in my voice. I’m offended that they would think that he would. Hmm. Offended that they would believe a wild animal known for its ferocity is dangerous to keep in the house. Yeah, that’s reasonable. “I won’t let him,” I add.
Kallen raises a brow. “You will keep him bound and muzzled while we figure this out? You do not think that a bit cruel even if he is a wild animal?”
Guilt washes over me. I look at the Tasmanian devil that can only blink at the moment. I am being cruel. With a thought, my magic bounding him disappears.
“It is about damn time. A fella could suffocate with that blasted muzzle on. And who are all these wankers that want you to get rid of me? Shall I bite their faces off?” the devil asks, his snout curling into a snarl as he looks around the room.
“I told you, no face biting,” I snap at him. He’s not helping his case.
“Xandra,” Isla says with caution. “Am I to understand that you are able to decipher words from the growling and gnashing coming from its mouth?”
Growling and gnashing? I don’t hear him growling and gnashing. Other than wanting to bite their faces off, the devil is being quite civil. “Yes, he’s talking to me.”
“Is everyone in this room deaf? Bunch of wankers. Except him,” the devil points his nose at Kallen. “He’s a whacka.”
“What’s the difference?” I ask him, then I realize I shouldn’t be talking to him until everyone believes he is actually speaking to me. I imagine I look like an idiot at the moment. I look around at the faces in the room. Yup, that’s what they’re thinking.
“The difference between what?” Kallen asks.
I sigh. I might as well spit it out. “What’s the difference between a wanker and whacka. Because he says you’re the latter.”
Kegan bursts out laughing. Even a stern look from Isla and a slap to the back of the head by Tabitha cannot stop him. “I vote the Tasmanian devil stays. He is an excellent judge of character.” If Kallen was next to him I know he would have slugged him by now.
“Well, he did call the rest of you wankers.” I can’t believe I just said that out loud. It’s like my tongue thinks it’s dying and has to get every single word out before it’s too late.
“To answer your question, whacka means a driveling idiot,” Kegan says when he has gained control of his laughter. “And wanker is a slightly less insulting nickname for someone who is stupid and annoying. Amongst other meanings.” I don’t think I want to hear those other meanings.
“Xandra, perhaps your friend could wait outside until we have worked through this,” Isla says, eying the creature. It’s not a question; it’s more like an order.
“Fine.” I look down at the ugly little beast. “Go wait outside.”
“If this is how I can expect to be treated, I may need to reconsider this whole familiar thing,” he grumbles, but he walks to the kitchen door that Isla is now holding open. She closes it firmly after he passes through.
Another worried expression passes between Tabitha and Isla. “Kegan, Alita is due in a couple of hours. I am sure there are a few details of your hand-fasting celebration that you could be working on so she is not doing all the preparations,” Tabitha says pointedly.
Kegan gives her a sour look. “I am not an infant. I believe I am old enough to know what is going on.”
Isla looks at me as sh
e speaks. “This is not a matter of your maturity, Kegan. I am concerned more about privacy for Xandra.”
Uh oh. Now I want to leave the room. “Is it really that bad?”
“Do not be ridiculous, it is probably nothing bad at all,” Tabitha says, suddenly busying herself by pulling things out of the fridge and setting them on the counter. She’s apparently making pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, turnips, pickles, apples, raspberries and fish for breakfast.