Craving-Torment (Book #2)

by Claudy Conn

  I digested this while Devin said quietly, “I knew Beyland. Yer men are quite right. Ramon is the only vampire I can think of that he ever called a friend. Also, he is nae known to exert himself for anyone, vampire or witch, unless it benefits himself. We must keep in mind that if he has taken an interest in Allora’s business, he might have a reason, and know this, Beyland’s powers are formidable.”

  “Yes, but…they are drawn from Dark Magic.” Jeremy shook his head. “We are immortals of the Light, and Dark Sorcery can never overcome Light Magic as long as we are careful.”

  “Dinnae get cocky, Jeremy, Beyland is more than Dark Magic. He is cunning and ruthless and because of that, he will do the unexpected.”

  “But if all this is true,” I said, “it doesn’t make sense for a formidable warlock to be interested in us.”

  “Time for talking is at an end. Ye haven’t finished the grounds. Ye need to complete the perimeter of the castle with the Blood Wards, now!” Devin said on a suddenly impatient note.

  It was true. The spell had been time-consuming because both of us are immortals. Hence, every single time I cut open a vein, it would heal itself within minutes. Collecting my blood…enough of my blood and even Jeremy’s had proven time-consuming. It wasn’t until late in the day that we were able to put any time in to locating the blueprints for Brently Manor and that proved disappointing. They were certainly not complete and only gave us a general idea of the layout of the large house.

  It was too late to do much more and Jeremy had to run some paperwork to his office, so when Devin called for me to join him, I did.

  When he meets me on the other side, in Trinity, it is as though my world suddenly blossoms. Nothing else matters when he pulls me in for a kiss and his arms encircle me.

  I spent another incredible night in Devin’s arms, and I have to admit to myself that the more I am with him, the more I hear about his life in the past, the more I know him. The love I feel for him is becoming all-consuming. I never wanted that, but here it is…right in my face, and there is nothing I can do but accept that I love Devin more than I love myself. Big admission. Even the least selfish of us, I still have that need to take care of number one first, but he has become number one for me. So, this is what true love feels like!

  While Jeremy was out yesterday afternoon and before I went to Devin, I had painstakingly collected a fresh container of blood and stuck it in the fridge. That had taken quite some time, but at least it would give us a head start.

  I hurried to the kitchen to retrieve it before Mrs. Tunny arrived.

  I put it in a plastic bag at my feet and bit into a pastry. The coffee was strong and so good and as I sipped it, I thought about Beyland and his powers. Mine were growing, but I didn’t have the years he had…how could I fight such a warlock? I couldn’t. That was the problem in the proverbial nutshell. This knowledge hit me and was not welcome, but I have always believed in sizing it up and dealing with it. This was going to be one of those times.

  Face it, I told myself, I had no choice. I had to face an ancient vampire bent on destroying anything Devin cared about. In her corner were two on her side. The ancient, Ramon, and an immortal warlock, so what the hell were we going to do? Even if we kept her out of MacLeod, we still had to deal with destroying her somehow, because she would never give up.

  This was so not good. I eat when I get frazzled, so I consumed toast, heated up and ate a sausage, and downed another pastry.

  Jeremy arrived rubbing his hands together as he headed for the coffeepot and poured himself a mug. Within moments he had whipped up eggs, toast, and sausage, and brought me a plate stacked high.

  I ate it and finished before he did. He laughed.

  We have become such good friends and I am comfortable with him. I couldn’t believe I was still so hungry, but I was, and I reached back for a muffin.

  Jeremy stood up from the table and said, “Drop it. Not the time. I need your full attention.”

  I sighed and left without the sweet-cake and heard Devin, who had just arrived at the divider, chuckling at my back. I turned and gave him the evil eye over my shoulder.

  He grinned and said, “Go on, lass, take the muffin with ye. Ye’ll have it swallowed before ye even start yer chanting. Ye are very good at swallowing things whole.”

  I choked on that, and laughed out loud at his naughty side. I did, however, scoop up the largest of the blueberry muffins as I followed Jeremy out of the kitchen. Devin was right, I had it nearly downed before I reached the front door Jeremy held open for me.

  Jeremy gave me a quirky grin and shook his head. Devin stood apart, in another world, and I wanted to slap him, hug him, and kiss him as he watched me er…swallow the treat almost whole.

  Jeremy handed me my jacket from the coatrack, as he had already donned his. I shrugged into mine on the way out.

  The early Highland spring morning was chilly, slap you on your face chilly, which cast aside any sleep fog still hanging on.

  We started at the courtyard parking lot, where we decided we would park the vehicles from now on. In case we needed to run, we would have a clear shot to the front entrance of the Keep.

  The chanting was easy, doing it over and over was boring. Once my prepared container of blood was used up, cutting and collecting blood was not so much fun. I may be immortal, so yeah, I heal, but the continual cutting was causing some considerable pain.

  Jeremy stopped me from cutting myself and took over, giving my arm a rest as we used his blood. We had so much perimeter still left to do.

  We splattered blood in a circle around the estate, along the immediate grounds surrounding the east part of the castle. We had finished the entire west side the afternoon before.

  It took more than an hour to install the Druid Blood Ward around the stables and pastures, which I insisted we had to do. I was worried about the horses. I could just picture vampires hurting the horses to get to us.

  We then walked down to the gatehouse, as I wanted Tom, the gatekeeper, safe in his gatehouse at night.

  Tom came outside and asked us what we were doing. I told him honestly, “We are warding your home against vampires.”

  He eyed me for a long moment before he answered, “Aye then, carry on.”

  I nearly burst out laughing but controlled myself. I am not sure whether or not he thought I was joking or dead serious.

  This done, we returned to the castle and it took another hour to Blood Ward the perimeter of the actual structure of the castle, including all the entrances and lower windows. We were being very thorough.

  Mrs. Tunny and Davis pulled up in one car just as we completed the Blood Ward at the front door.

  We stood like two guilty teenagers, and I know I didn’t have any ready explanation for dripping blood on the flagstone porch.

  They got out of the car and stopped to stare at us.

  I swear, I thought Mrs. Tunny knew exactly what we were doing. She had a ‘look’ on her face that absolutely said, ‘Aha’.

  She walked towards me, nodding her head with approval, and said, “Aye, and the Children of the Light had a way of keeping evil out, dinnae they? I see ye are aware of one of the gifts they gave the Druids.”

  I leaned into Jeremy, who had opened the door for them to enter, and asked, “Children of the Light?”

  He chuckled. “She is talking about the Fae. The Tuatha Dé Dannan. It is believed that Druid Wards were derived from the union between the Fae and the Druids who performed and still to this day, I believe, perform four ceremonies a year to maintain the wall of the Dark Realm to keep it in place and to keep the Dark Fae from escaping their prison.”

  We followed Mrs. Tunny and Davis inside.

  Davis only grunted a good morning to us as he went in and Jeremy and I exchanged a glance, which did, in fact, make me burst out laughing. Jeremy pushed me and gave me an eye, so I bent over rollicking of course.

  “Come on, giggle girl, we still have work to do,” he said.

  We had de
cided to Blood Ward both of our bedrooms, the library, and a few other rooms we might need to use as sanctuary should anything go wrong and a supernatural of some kind managed to enter. We weren’t sure these wards would keep Allora out, but at least it would keep out Demons and other supernaturals who didn’t need invitations to enter the house and might find a way in from the roof. The roof was something we would tackle tomorrow, Jeremy said.

  Now that we knew a Dark Warlock was part of the army Allora was gathering, we would have to be especially careful. I wasn’t sure if it was the Dark Warlock or Ramon that had called on the Red Demon to attack me the other day, but it was a sign that they had a whole lot going for them.

  Also, I wasn’t sure if Allora knew who Jeremy and I actually were when she faced us a couple nights ago. By now, she could have discovered the truth, though I hoped not, as I needed more time to work on my skills.

  The next time she came at us, she would be prepared. We would have to be as well.

  ~Three ~

  “BOBBIE,” DEVIN CALLED SOFTLY.

  I stood at my bedroom window talking to my Aunt Elle on my cell. We were just saying toodaloo (she loves that word—says it is not a real good-bye), and I turned and saw him standing at our realm barrier with a worried look on his face.

  I had just told a ‘white lie’ to my aunt, assuring her everything was wonderful and that I was fine. I knew she hadn’t been totally convinced and she would call me tomorrow and interrogate me. So I was preoccupied when I answered, “Yeah?”

  “Coom to me, stay on this side with me…now,” Devin urged.

  I wanted to. I felt empty here without him at my side, without being able to touch him. “No, there is a good chance Allora might try something tonight. It has been all too quiet and I can’t, won’t leave him to face her alone,” I answered. “How, by any scope of the imagination, would that be right?”

  “Jeremy can take care of himself,” Devin answered.

  “He can do a better job of it with me here to help, and…what was that?” I had heard a loud boom, like a car backfiring.

  “Stay here,” Devin said. “I’ll see…”

  So, of course, I poofed into the Great Hall and met Jeremy, who had rushed out from the library.

  “You heard that, too?” he said.

  “Er…duh,” I answered.

  He grinned. “Don’t ‘duh’ me.”

  I looked out the window from the Great Hall, as it overlooked the front portico and part of the courtyard. What met our gazes was a most unpleasant sight.

  Oh yeah, we saw them clear as could be.

  Three demons…Red Demons to be exact. They had attempted to walk up to the front doors of the Keep and had been blown backwards by our Blood Wards. Well, that was good…no, it was great.

  I laughed to see them struggle to stand. One of them saw us looking through the window and shook his ugly, scaly fist at us.

  And then he appeared.

  “Who is that?” I asked.

  “That is the Dark Warlock, Beyland,” Devin said, and added irritably, “dinnae I tell ye to stay in yer room, lass? Why cannae ye never listen?”

  “Oh, I listen, but unlike a dog, I don’t obey!” I snapped back.

  “Would that I could take ye in m’arms…but I cannae,” he said grimly.

  “Would you two stuff it,” Jeremy said. “We have trouble.”

  Beyland stood, his black cape billowing in the wind, and he looked more like an ancient vampire than a warlock. He was physically impressive. I don’t know why I imagined he would be smaller…because here he was, larger than life.

  I was struck immediately by the fact that there was no denying that he was a beautiful male. I had expected him to have black hair and dark eyes, but he was a blond with bright green eyes. He was tall and masculine, and his expression held a look of disdain.

  He called out, “Bobbie Skye…I ask for a meeting.”

  Devin beat at the wall. “Nae, lass…dinnae agree.”

  I started for the door. Jeremy put a hand on my arm. “No. Bobbie, don’t be stupid.”

  I shrugged. “They are trapped on the other side of the Blood Ward. I’ll be fine.”

  “No,” Jeremy said, and tugged me back.

  “What is the harm in meeting and discussing the situation? No harm in words. He wants a meeting. This could actually be good,” I said. “Let me just see what he means to offer us.” I shrugged loose from Jeremy’s hold and opened the door, although I didn’t step outside. No sense in being cocky.

  The Dark Warlock inclined his handsome head and said, “So, you are Lisa’s granddaughter.”

  I was shocked. “You knew my grandmother?”

  “I knew her…well,” he said, and his voice was clipped. “You have her flaming red hair, and her perfect mouth,” he said softly.

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “You were my grandmother’s friend?”

  “Indeed, we were friends for many years. I was there for her when your grandfather died in the war, on the other side…we are, you see, from the same realm,” he said in a tone that made me nervous. What was he implying?

  “What do you want, Beyland?” Jeremy stuck in.

  “And you are Jeremy Ascot. I was not acquainted with your family, though I had heard they fought and died bravely for the cause,” Beyland said in an odd voice.

  “What the hell? Are you saying we are all from the same realm?”

  “Your family…he and his family, yes,” Beyland confirmed.

  “That is why the word Shama…clicked in my head,” Jeremy mused out loud.

  “It is interesting, isn’t it,” the warlock said matter-of-factly.

  Mrs. Tunny and Davis stepped up behind us in the hallway and I realized they couldn’t see the Dark Warlock or the demons when Mrs. Tunny asked, “Who are ye talking to?”

  No doubt Beyland had cloaked himself and his demons in invisibility. I didn’t quite have the cloaking spell mastered. Oh, I could enact it, but couldn’t maintain it for very long.

  I answered her by asking, “What are you doing, Mrs. Tunny?”

  She looked surprised. “Why…going home. We always leave at this hour…before nightfall.”

  “No, not today, at least not right now,” Jeremy said. “I think you should stay the night.”

  Davis pushed past us. Mrs. Tunny did the same. “Nonsense,” she said as they hurried down the steps.

  “No,” I said. “You can’t.” I chased after them and took her arm.

  “Don’t be silly, miss.” Mrs. Tunny shrugged off my hold. “Now stop this.” She took Davis’ hand and they started to jog towards their car.

  Jeremy grabbed Davis’ sleeve and held him in place.

  Mrs. Tunny was nearly at the edge of the Blood Ward. She turned to stare at me with a puzzled expression. I reached for her again and she said, “What has gotten into you two?”

  What happened next was a nightmare. I saw it all happen and was helpless to do anything about it. As I reached for her, she, with sudden and surprising agility, ducked away from me and ran towards her car, well out of the safety of the ward.

  Beyland was on her with scarcely an effort.

  Devin cried out, “Would that Allora had killed me…before I lived to see this day. Jeremy…do something…cannae ye use magic to save her? We cannae allow him to harm her.”

  It dawned on me, even with Beyland’s formidable powers, as Devin had told us, he was unable to see past Jeremy’s spell—he couldn’t see Trinity or Devin!

  Jeremy sent a ball of fire spinning at the warlock’s lower body. Beyland intercepted it and growled. “The next time you try anything like that, I shall leave with this human and she will wish for death. I will torture her for hours on end. Is that clear?”

  I saw his long, black colored nails dig into Mrs. Tunny’s throat and felt sick to my stomach. I had to stop this! I had to stop him!

  “Please, sir…” I tried respect, “she has nothing to do with any of this.”

  He eyed me
and I saw something, I am not sure what, click in his dark eyes. He said very softly, very directly to me, “Ah, but she is a way to you, isn’t she?” He smiled and added, “What do you think, Bobbie dear, shall I end her miserable existence now, or do you mean to ask me nicely to save her?”

  “Please, did I not just do that?” I cried. “I’ll ask again, please, sir, don’t do this…let her go.”

  “Very well, but if I do that for you…it is a favor I would be granting. Therefore, it deserves one in return,” he answered.

  “What favor?” I asked.

  “No,” Jeremy shouted. “I’m sorry, Bobbie…you can’t.”

  “Lass…coom to me…step away from him. Mrs. Tunny wouldn’t want yer death on her hands, Bobbie…for me,” Devin cried out.

  “Come here, Bobbie Skye,” the Dark Warlock whispered. “Come to me, and I will tell you what favor it is I require from you, and I will let the human live.”

  “No,” Jeremy said. “Not happening.”

  “Very well, this woman has lived long enough,” Beyland said, and sighed. He allowed her then to see him.

  Her eyes went to his profile and then her eyes met mine and she said, “He is right, lass. Don’t do anything he asks. I’ll go to m’husband in peace. Aye, and gladly.”

  “No!” I screamed, and dove at the Dark Warlock before anyone could stop me.

  ~ Four ~

  IT ALL HAPPENED IN SUCH quick succession that time wrapped itself around me and squeezed ‘til I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t hear.

  Everything zoomed into play.

  I saw the Dark Warlock would snap Mrs. Tunny’s neck without hesitation. I knew he would do so without care or thought. All choices were reduced to one. I dove towards Mrs. Tunny with one purpose, and used my magic to pull her out of his hold even as I crossed the Blood Ward.