I looked at Garrett. "Do you still want me to try?" He nodded. "I'll need Isaiah."
Before I finished my sentence, he was there, lounging in a comfy arm chair. "Are you finally growing a set, Garrett?"
He didn't bat an eyelash at the jibe. "Isaiah, you don't amuse any of us. Just do what you were brought here to do, or go back to the archdemon mistress who sent you and explain why you're back so soon. I can guarantee she won't be pleased."
My demon trainer narrowed his eyes, smiling slyly, not denying the statement. "Touché vampire." He twisted back toward me. "Are you game?"
I nodded, stood up and walked toward the fireplace, so I'd have more space to work. Taking a cleansing breath, I brought to mind that uniquely spicy scent. Almost immediately the room warmed and I sensed the presence of others. Unfortunately, I tensed up immediately. I didn't want to see those poor tormented creatures, only Marie. When I caught a glimpse of a horribly burned one, I winced and pulled back, losing my focus completely.
Isaiah stood, frowning, and spun me around with a hand on my shoulder. He spoke to me mentally, cutting out Garrett and Liam. "Your fear cripples you and this is dangerous work, not a game. There are shades strong enough to sense that you are not in control. They will move in to drain you of power." He spoke out loud again. "Pull up your sight and concentrate. I will hold off the others for now."
His hard words had the desired effect and I was able to call up the scent again, mostly because I was sick of Isaiah's lectures. As soon as I was online, he stepped away and leaned against the wall, trying to look relaxed and nonchalant, but I still sensed his controlled excitement. Oddly, he seemed more invested in me speaking to Marie than I could fathom, so I made a mental note to talk about this with Garrett later.
She appeared by the arched entrance, looking lovely yet disoriented. She noticed me standing near the fireplace and walked closer. "Could this be the same house to which I was conveyed? It appears different than I remember."
Other than Isaiah, none of the others seemed to hear or see her. "She's here."
"Where?" Garrett asked.
"Over by the fireplace."I pointed in her general direction and the two fae and Garrett looked, but shook their heads.
"I can help with that, little demon." Isaiah walked to Marie. "Marie Rose Cuvier Brody, Jacqueline will send you energy so that you can see and speak to Garrett. Please concentrate all of your energy on her as she works to make you visible."
She scowled, looking so much like an annoyed version of Garrett that I practically choked. "Who is this creature and why does he call you little demon?"
"This creature, " I grinned at Isaiah, "is an upper level demon who helped to save my life from the man who raped me. He calls me that because I have a small amount of demon blood. It's why I'm able to see and communicate with you." She hadn't noticed Garrett, so I asked, "Can you see your brother? He's on the far end of the couch."
"There is only you and the creature. Is this some form of trickery?" She folded her arms, looking angrier.
"You need a boost of my energy in order to see him. Garrett is here. I promise you."
I watched her spiritual body relax as she took me in from head to toe. I guess a pregnant female isn't all that intimidating. "I will attempt what you ask." She locked eyes with me and stood very still.
"Jacqueline, pull up your magic and send her some. Start off very gently. We don't want her overloading and disappearing."
"To her mind?"
"Try sending it directly to her center. Make it pleasantly warm. Help her feel alive again."
I worked at it for several minutes. She'd flicker and I'd hear the others gasp and then I'd lose my focus and have to start over.
Isaiah grunted in exasperation, looking at the fae. "One of you could offer to help. She is re-channeling ley line magic. Throw Jackie a little boost. She is exhausted."
Since she was closest, Kellie took hold of my hand and gave Isaiah one of her angry looks. "Why aren't you helping her, creature?"
"I prefer not to touch her when she is using her magic. There is still too much life energy in it. Frankly, it gives me the creeps."
Fortunately, Kellie's energy did the trick. A moment later, Marie looked as solid as the rest of us. Garrett, wide eyed and unsure, stood up and moved slowly forward.
"Marie..."
When she saw him for the first time, her smile transformed her face, making her strikingly beautiful. "You look so well, brother."
"I'm so sorry..."
"Why? I am pleased beyond measure that you are alive and happy with your mate. She is lovely and courageous."
Kellaine continued to send me energy, truly fascinated by this gentle spirit. Liam was also enchanted, saying, "She looks so much like you."
But Garrett was only focused on his lovely sister. "Can you forgive me, Marie? I tried to get out of the cage. I shifted, but I couldn't get to you or mother or..."
"Shh..." She reached out with one of her hands as if to touch his face. It was glowing with magic.
"No! Stop!" Isaiah's voice startled us all. "You cannot touch him. Your energy is a strange mixture and could burn him, or do worse. You may only touch someone with demon blood."
She nodded and gracefully withdrew her delicate hand. "You did all that you could. I see that my knight is still trying to protect the entire world."
Her smile was teasing, but Garrett was lost in his pain. "I failed you miserably. They made sure I heard every scream." He was looking at the rips in her skirt and her blouse and the red stains that covered them.
"Some of this is the bald one's blood. I fought back with my claws and my fangs." She lifted her chin. "And so did you. And now look at you. Jacqueline says you protect many from people like Eleanor. You are a good man with a true heart. Perhaps no longer mine, but now Jacqueline's knight instead. If you wish to hear the words, then I forgive you, but there is nothing for which you need forgiveness."
She looked at Liam for the first time and her eyes grew wide. "You associate with demons and fae?"
Liam laughed and nodded to her in the fae custom. "My name is Liam and this is Kellaine. It's an honor to meet you, Madame Brody."
"I am honored also." She nodded back shyly. "Do you know my mate or my children?" She looked around the room. "Garrett, you must know them."
"I haven't seen them since your death. They didn't accept me as a vampire."
"My Harrison can be stubborn. But after all this time, you must try again. You have a mate and soon a baby to introduce to him and the rest of our family. Tell him I sent you. He will do this for me." Garrett looked so sad, so I went to him, grabbing his hand and kissing his cheek, pulling Kellie along with me, giggling.
Marie glanced my way. "A healer is a great gift to the shapeshifter world. There are so few. She will heal you too, my knight."
"She has already. In so many ways."
"Then she may call me when she has need of me, in payment for loving my brother so well. Call me when the child is born, so I may see my nephew." Her form began to waver.
"Je t'aime, Marie."
"Je t'aime aussi." And she was gone.
Kellaine let go of my hand, my knees gave out and the world turned black.
CHAPTER TEN
I became conscious of something cool and wet on my forehead, and then voices whispering from what seemed like far away.
"...him back to his mistress. If I wait, then she'll stop me." That was Garrett.
"She's fine. She overextended herself and fainted, It's perfectly normal. This should be her decision." I recognized Kellie's voice, and was instantly grateful for her level head.
Garrett's tone changed to worried. "I should never have asked her to call Marie. I'm partly to blame."
"You're wrong. Marie wanted this. She was doing it for her as much as you."
"Garrett, she's waking up." I suddenly noticed Liam sitting in a chair by my bed, holding my hand. There was a sweet warm buzz where our two hands met, so he must have
been sending me some of his own healing magic. I was in a slightly awkward position, since my feet were propped up on pillows keeping them higher than my head.
I scooted and tried to sit up, but he put a hand on my shoulder and shook his head, so obediently, I lay back down. Liam was a fae healer, and I wasn't about to take any chances with little Charlie's health.
"You should be able to rise in a few minutes."
I nodded, still feeling exasperated and embarrassed by my ridiculous fainting spell. "Thanks, Liam."
Garrett replaced Liam half a second later, smiling sweetly and teasing me. "As we know, patience is not her greatest strength." He knelt by the bed and brushed my hair away from my face. "Are you alright, my love?"
"I think so. I'm just a little weak."
Liam gestured for Kellie to join him. "We'll get you something to eat." She winked at me impishly and then they both melted into the lines. I guess she figured Garrett and I could use some alone time.
We stared at each other for a few moments, too many emotions rattling around in our hearts to speak. I smiled and patted the bed. In a blur his shoes were off and he was stretched out beside me, his face only a few inches from mine, but our bodies still not touching.
Instead, I allowed myself a few seconds of breathing in his scent and getting lost in his blue eyes, two of my favorite activities. I angled my body toward his and asked, "Are you alright?"
"Seeing Marie again, speaking to her, was incredible. I'm still somewhat dazed by the whole encounter.
"Garrett, I know you're angry with me."
He laughed. "Angry? I'm so in love with you that I can't even find words. Thank you for not allowing my fear to keep you from trusting your instincts."
"You can't even find the French words?" I joked.
"Not even in French. Or Italian, or Latin, or Greek, or even Chinese."
"You don't speak all those languages." At least I was pretty sure he didn't.
"No, but they don't have the right words either." He hesitantly touched a strand of my hair, still drinking in my eyes the way I did his. "I'm sorry that you were weakened by summoning Marie."
My eyebrows shot up. "Summoning?"
"Would you call it something else?"
I thought about it for a moment. "I guess not, but it makes me feel more demony." He laughed softly, his eyes crinkling up the way I loved. "Did I fall on the floor? I don't seem to have a bump on my head." I patted it carefully.
"No, Isaiah jumped in and picked you up before your knees hit the floor. Then he handed you to me. He's in his room watching TV, I assume. He hasn't even asked how you are." His eyes glistened with anger directed toward our demon houseguest.
"He was the one who wanted you to talk to her, although I'm not sure why."
"I haven't been able to puzzle it out either."
I thought about the brief conversation that I'd overheard between him and Kellie. "Garrett, I'm not as foolish as you think. Isaiah likes to play at being civilized, but I know that he's nothing like us. And my grandmother is even more dangerous. I dream about her sometimes. It's never anything good."
His brow knitted with worry. "You should tell me..."
I laughed gently. "You'll protect me even from the monsters that haunt my dreams, sir knight?" I saw him wince and felt instantly guilty. "I'm sorry. I won't call you that. I didn't think, as usual."
He ran a hand down my cheek and along the line of my jaw. "But she's given her permission, hasn't she?"
"We'll go to Louisiana? To meet the rest of your family?"
He smiled. "Perhaps after Midwinter with Aaron, Catherine and little Sammy." Aaron was his cousin, a powerful Alpha werewolf, the head of four packs. Their mothers had been sisters, who'd met their fathers in Quebec. Aaron had been the only family member who'd still supported Garrett, even after he was part of Eleanor's vicious nest.
"Could we wait till after Christmas? I want to be home with the baby for Christmas. Maybe we could invite my parents over for the holiday, I mean Maggie and Justin." They'd adopted me after I'd spent over fifteen years in various foster homes, treating me like I was really a part of their family.
"They are your parents, and of course we'll invite them." He looked at me warily, and I knew that expression all too well.
"What?"
"Speaking of family, I thought that we could stop in Palo Alto on the way back. We might make a call and arrange a meeting with your birth father, face to face."
I'd never met my birth father, and as far as I knew, he didn't know I existed. He was a professor of philosophy and ancient languages at Stanford University, but also a sorcerer, although whether or not he practiced the art, I wasn't sure. I'd been told that my mother had been murdered a few years after my sister and I were born.
"Do you really think that's a good idea? 'Surprise Dad, you have twin daughters you've never met and, oh yeah, you're going to be a grandfather too'. He might pass right out."
"If he's anything like his daughters, he'll get me in a choke hold and threaten me with extinction for taking you at such a young age." Garrett sat up, swung his legs over to stand and then moved with vamp speed to my side of the bed, extending his hand. "You should be alright now, angel, and you and Charlie need to eat something. I'm sure Liam got the staff busy with dinner, so we'll be dining soon."
"I think you're having a senior moment," I teased, making him bark out a laugh as I sat up and scooted over to the edge of the bed. "You didn't take me. I took you." I jabbed my finger into his chest and he grabbed it up along with the rest of my hand, playfully tracing the tattoo of the cheetah eye that decorated my wrist. He had a matching one, the only difference was that his eye had turned his glorious shade of blue, and mine my emerald green. We'd had it done by his grandsire, Francois, as the final part of our mating ritual.
"Now that I think about it, you did spend weeks throwing yourself at me. You made it very difficult to concentrate on our team training sessions."
"Huh. You could have fooled me. I had to jump you in your car to get you to kiss me, and then you got all uptight about it." I was giggling now.
"And the fae females think you're a prude. If they only knew..."
That was invitation enough for me. Big belly and all, I stretched so I could wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him, pushing some of my magic and all of my love into the soft, warm connection of our bodies. He instantly kissed me back, opening his mouth and making the thought of going downstairs to eat, a fading memory. However when Charlie started tap dancing between us, we broke apart laughing, deciding that he must be hungry for whatever Liam had arranged to be prepared. We acted like responsible parents and poofed in vampire and demon style into the dining room.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
After dinner I found Isaiah stretched out on the couch with a copy of the first Harry Potter book. He seemed to be about half-way through, and by the speed he seemed to be reading, he'd be finished in less than an hour. "Goblins, witches, wizards, and a dark lord, but are there demons in the books?"
"Afraid not, although Lord Voldemort is pretty close." I took the book out of his hand as he scowled. "We need to talk."
"Ah, are you sending me home?" He gave me his best puppy dog eyes.
"Depends on how you answer a few questions."
"Fire away." He shrugged, looking as if he couldn't care less whether I sent him packing or not, but my cheetah senses didn't lie. He was tense with worry, desperate to stay. I needed to find out why.
"Privately." Taking my hand, we were on the terrace before I could blink.
He dusted off a chair and made a show of bowing. "My lady." I sat down and motioned for him to sit in the chair opposite mine. When he'd settled himself, his eyes met mine with a more calculating interest.
"You can't lie to me, correct?"
One corner of his mouth curled up. "I must speak the truth while I am your guest."
"Why did you want me to meet Marie and bring her to Garrett?"
"You were worried a
bout your mate. It was a distraction that would affect your training. I decided it would be best to eliminate it."
"Cold, Isaiah."
He looked me over. "I'm not one of your fuzzy fae friends. It's best if you understand from the start that I'm here to do a job, not to gain your friendship. I'll train you until you learn all that you can, or you send me back. I will not break the bargain. Some of the training will not be easy, as I'm sure you recall from our previous sessions." While I'd been a prisoner of Lord Kennet, Isaiah had taught me in excruciating steps, how to travel the ley lines. I shuddered remembering the agony of those hours.
"What did Marie mean, when she said I could call on her?"
"She's offering her services. A shade with Marie's clarity of will can become your familiar, a kind of spiritual assistant."
"A slave?"
"No, no. Ask her again if she would be willing to come if you need her. She can refuse to help you, but if she agrees, Marie can get information by contacting other shades, perhaps helping you find people or things, or she can offer up whatever knowledge she has on a particular subject. Think of her as another source. If she agrees, you should be able to call her whenever you wish."
"But this is only her shade, you said her soul has moved on. Can't this part join up with the rest of her?"
"Unfortunately, no. Don't look so sad. She's been released from the villa so she's free to travel where she wishes. However, without someone with your skills, she cannot communicate in your world, therefore she will most likely want to stay close to you. I have several familiars myself. Your grandmother has hundreds."
"Did Grandmother send you?"
He hesitated, then spoke slowly, picking out his words very carefully. "The archdemon, Bassilissa Naberia of the Alter Level, your grandmother, felt that the timing was perfect for your training to begin, so I accepted her advice as being sound, and returned Kennet to Caelen." He rubbed behind his left ear, where his birthmark lay, in a kind of nervous gesture.
Maybe he'd been coerced. "Did she force you to return him before you were ready?"
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