Lorehnin: A Novel of the Otherworld

by Johnson, Jenna Elizabeth

  He drew in a long breath through his nose and dropped his gaze. Something in his stiff yet irresolute posture sent tiny spindles of fear through me. What now?

  “What concerns me most at the moment is the presence of that wolf,” he murmured. “Spirit guides are profoundly intelligent, far more so than faelah. As a powerful wielder of magic and a follower of the Morrigan, I’m not surprised that Mikael has one.”

  Devlin stopped speaking but I remained silent, letting him think through what he wanted to say next.

  “The fact that the wolf was so clumsy and obvious about its presence troubles me. It’s as if he wanted you, or me, to see him.”

  Devlin’s bright eyes lifted and met mine, the gaze of a predator honing in on the scent of its quarry.

  “A challenge, perhaps. A taunt. This is a game to him and he has just thrown down the gauntlet. He now knows I was here, and he will be working even more cautiously than before, but I believe he wants me to go chasing after that wolf.”

  Devlin seemed to be fighting his own internal battle, so I reached out and placed a hand on his forearm. He jumped, not expecting my touch.

  I grinned at him. “What can I do to help?”

  My friend’s gaze was calculating. “You can keep going about your daily life in the hopes that he hasn’t discovered you know more than you should. Whatever lair he’s squirreled away into in the Otherworld will take some time to discover. But if he wishes to regain his magical strength, then he’ll need to remain there for quite some time.”

  “How long?” I asked.

  Devlin shrugged. “Another few weeks. A month maybe.”

  A wicked grin suddenly spread across his face. “If he feels he needs to stay in Eile that long then perhaps we have found his weakness.”

  “Which is?” I prompted.

  “Fear. The fear of being caught. The fear that his opponent might be more powerful than he is. Danua grants no mercy to those who willingly seek out and use dark glamour.”

  “So,” I said, exhaling, “how are we going to go about exploiting this fear?”

  Devlin shrugged. “Right now I think that perhaps it is best if I lie low for a while, avoid coming to this part of the mortal world.”

  His eyes looked regretful, and although I appreciated it, I didn’t like what he was suggesting.

  I gave him a lopsided smile and nodded. “You mean stay away from me.”

  I had grown far too comfortable with his presence; had come to rely upon it far too much to get me through the day. But he was right. If we wanted to stop Mikael, and if he feared capture as much as Devlin suggested, then Devlin had to retreat from the Daramorr’s favorite haunts. In order to do so, he needed to be in the Otherworld.

  I lowered my eyes and murmured, “Do you think he’ll still try to come after me?”

  Gentle fingers settled over the top of my hand, pressing my palm to the cool surface of the kitchen island. Devlin’s blue eyes met mine the moment I glanced up.

  “We must assume that he will,” he said quietly. “You have a fire in you, Robyn Dunbarre, and although you may not be of the Otherworld, your mortal magic burns fiercely. Outside of Eile you are a wealth of glamour he cannot resist. I do not like the idea of leaving you unguarded, but it cannot be helped.”

  Devlin released my hand and stood from his stool, towering over me like a great Norse god.

  “Are you leaving?” I asked.

  He nodded, his face grim. “Perhaps I should follow this wolf after all, give the Daramorr the impression that I’m taking his bait.”

  He moved from the kitchen and stepped into my living room, pulling the door open. I followed him, at least to the archway that separated the two rooms.

  “Remain vigilant Robyn, and stay inside during the dark hours as much as you can.”

  I nodded, not missing the calm suggestion in his voice. It was a far cry from the authoritative demands he’d thrown around earlier, and I appreciated it.

  “I will,” I promised.

  Just when I thought he was about to step through that door and disappear for who knew how many days or weeks or months, he leaned back inside, took my hand and pulled me into a close hug. Caught off guard, I merely stood rigid for a few moments before succumbing to my own desire to return his embrace.

  “Stay safe,” he murmured into my hair, “and keep a sharp eye and ear open.”

  Nodding my head against his chest seemed safest. If I spoke, the emotion might bleed through and transform a nice moment into an awkward one.

  Devlin held me for a second more, then let go and stepped away, passing through the door and disappearing into the encroaching twilight. I watched him for as long as I could until the frosty November air became too much to bear. Then I shut the door, slipped all of the locks and bolts into place, and returned to the kitchen, my mind abuzz with unanswered questions and my nerves on fire with the emptiness of what I’d been too cowardly to do.

  -Seventeen-

  Bait

  I found it ironic that the idea of how to entrap Mikael came to me the very next evening during my work shift. It wasn’t quite dark yet when I pulled my bike into the alley behind the cafe, my thoughts returning to the events from Halloween night. A month ago, I’d been convinced that the craziness disrupting my world had finally migrated south, and then just as suddenly as he had dropped into my life the first time, Devlin reappeared in all his masculine glory, ready to save me from yet another Otherworldly horror. Now I was being jerked right back onto that terrifying, runaway train with no end in sight. And I had the wily Mikael and his capricious sister acting as the demonic conductors. Shaking those thoughts from my head, I locked up my bike and headed to the front of the building.

  Kelly smiled at me when I stepped through the doors of the Green Tea Leaf at ten minutes to five.

  “How was your Thanksgiving?” she asked.

  We caught up a little before the next wave of patrons arrived with their requests for the wonderful, caffeinated confections the Tea Leaf was famed for serving. I was grateful for the work. I didn’t want to think too much about all that had happened the week before and the endless demands of our customers helped take my mind elsewhere.

  Kelly and I worked pleasantly together for a couple of hours before Moira came in. After that, it was just me and the Faelorehn girl to keep each other company. I gave her a look as she hummed an unintelligible tune while refilling the coffee grinder, spilling at least a third of the coffee beans all over the counter, some of them clattering onto the floor and disappearing under the sink.

  “Crud,” she muttered under her breath, retreating into the back room, presumably to fetch the broom.

  She came back out, broom and dust bin in hand, and got to work sweeping up the mess, dropping everything into the trash bin before continuing her previous chore of preparing the coffee machines.

  It was then that I realized she played her role in this world extraordinarily well. She was focused on her task, the look on her face one of mild concentration as she rolled up the bag to keep the extra beans fresh. She was very convincing as a garden variety college human working a typical job as a cafe barista. I had a sudden desire to know what the real Moira, sister of the Daramorr, was really like. And that got me back to thinking of my conversation with Devlin the night before, after the incident with the white wolf.

  Devlin had thoroughly convinced me that Mikael was powerful and clever, but I was beginning to suspect that his sister wasn’t the burned-out light bulb she pretended to be. Devlin was dancing around the edge of discovering how to trap them both, and it was suddenly dawning upon me that perhaps we needed to play our own roles as well. So far, Devlin had been the hunter, trying to capture them in the shadows while I stood back and watched like some shell-shocked tourist on a safari. But maybe this whole time he, and I, should have been going about this from an entirely opposite direction. Perhaps we should have been taking the stage with them.

  The beginnings of a plan trickled into my mind an
d took over my thoughts as I steamed a tankard of milk for a cappuccino. Before I could let the idea slip away, I acted.

  “Did you and your brother do anything for Thanksgiving?” I asked Moira nonchalantly.

  She blinked up at me, pausing in her attempt to sweep up some more spilled coffee grounds.

  “No,” she answered tentatively. “We don’t really celebrate that holiday where we come from.”

  I nodded and turned the steamer off before I burned myself. Oh, I’m sure you don’t . . .

  “Oh, I was just wondering,” I said aloud, “since I hadn’t seen Mikael around in a while.”

  I shrugged, hoping I was coming off as unobtrusive.

  Moira took notice of my unspoken interest, her eyes growing shrewd as a small smile graced her face. “You know, Mikael asks about you from time to time. Especially after that beach bonfire. Did something happen between the two of you?”

  Not believing my luck, I fought the temptation to beam like a prospector uncovering a cavern of gold and instead sighed, mumbling, “Yeah. He kissed me.”

  Moira dropped her stained dish towel and gaped at me. “Seriously? What did you do?”

  “Well, I panicked and gave him the impression I wasn’t interested. Kind of regretting that now.” I shrugged and forced my heart rate to slow. I wasn’t home free quite yet.

  “Oh my goodness! You should have said something before now!”

  Moira’s reaction would have done any soap opera actress proud, and if I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought the idea of me having a thing for her brother was the best news she’d heard all week. Good. That’s what I wanted her to think. I needed her to believe that I was falling for her and Mikael’s tricks.

  I looked up from my current chore with doleful eyes. “Do you think he’s still interested?”

  Moira’s laugh was pure mirth. “Oh, I’m certain he is!”

  “Can I get his number from you then?” I braved.

  My co-worker adopted a pensive look and shook her head. For a split-second, I felt my stomach drop. Oh no, after going through that pathetic display of sappy interest, she was going to make me feel even more foolish.

  “He flew out of the San Luis airport this morning for business. He’ll be out of the country until after Christmas.”

  Ahhh, so Devlin had been right. Out of the country, I sniffed to myself. Out of this world more like. Trying not to seem too desperate, I said in a subdued voice, “Oh, okay. Never mind then.”

  “Now hang on a minute,” Moira piped, holding up a well-manicured hand. “I know he’s going to be gone for a while, but he plans on throwing a big New Year’s Eve party at Noctaine when he gets back, and I bet he’d love for you to be his date for the night.”

  My eyes grew wide at that. Noctaine. Of course. Where else would Mikael hang out but the club known for its macabre and Gothic atmosphere? And for its reputation as being the favorite hangout of the Noctyrnum. Long ago, one of my fellow Earth Bound friends had mentioned a rumor they’d heard about Noctaine originally being the headquarters of the Noctyrnum before it grew into a popular club. I had totally forgotten about it. And there is the connection between that ruthless gang and the Daramorr we’ve been looking for, I griped to myself, wondering how I could forget such a useful piece of information. It was a bit too late to inform Devlin now, yet if I could secure a date with Mikael in the very lair of the Noctyrnum then we might finally be able to bust this whole thing wide open.

  Pushing my racing thoughts away for later, I plastered a cheesy smile onto my face and turned to Moira. “Do you really think so?”

  Moira’s eyes glittered as she placed a hand on my shoulder. I fought against the desire to shrug away.

  “Yes, I really do.”

  The rest of our evening was spent in a shared silence, the bounce in Moira’s step evidence of her delight at my interest in her brother. On the outside it brought to mind a sister happy for her sibling and friend, yet it seemed likely she was celebrating for her own more selfish reasons. All this time I had denied Devlin’s claim that I was of interest to the Daramorr but Moira’s behavior was just another piece of evidence pointing in that direction. Now I just had to keep it together long enough to follow through with my scheme. Yes, I would meet Mikael at Noctaine on New Year’s Eve, and then I’d use every feminine charm I possessed to seduce the key to his defeat from him. What a glorious plan it was!

  One of the streetlights in the alleyway had burned out during my shift, so the shadows cast by the building were deeper when I left the cafe a few hours later. Again, memories from Halloween night nipped at the corners of my mind and I had to fight my fear just to retrieve my bike. On the ride home, I imagined the shadows leaping to life and chasing after me but I made it to my apartment unscathed despite my rattled nerves. All of this recent talk of the Daramorr recharging in the Otherworld and Moira’s eagerness at my renewed interest in her brother had me acting more jumpy than usual. Perhaps it was a bad idea, agreeing to go out with Mikael, but if that’s what it took to get him to come out of hiding, then that’s what I was willing to do.

  Before, I might have said it was all because I was tired of waking up wondering if I’d get attacked by some Otherworldly monster that day, or that I was sick of seeing Evan looking like a zombie. Now I suspected that I was taking this risk for an entirely different reason. When this was all over and the Daramorr was taken care of, Devlin would return to the Otherworld and I would probably never see him again. I wanted to help Devlin, not because it would bring some semblance of normalcy back to my own life, but because it might bring some joy to his. And that harsh realization stung in a place I thought had long since learned to steel itself against such things.

  Apparently, I wasn’t entirely immune to love after all. My parents’ final disownment of me was proof enough. But not just that, Robyn Dunbarre, a voice whispered through my mind as I pressed against the inside of my door, taking slow, steadying breaths. I leaned my head back against the wood with a dull clunk. My conscience was right, as usual. My heart wasn’t an impenetrable fortress, and the fact that I was willing to risk it to help Devlin, even though helping him meant waving goodbye to his retreating form when all was said and done, was all the evidence I needed.

  -Eighteen-

  Heartache

  The days passed and I saw neither Devlin nor Mikael, although that didn’t come as a surprise. Final exams for the fall semester grew ever closer, and I spent a lot of my free time with Evan, studying in the library or at the Green Tea Leaf after our classes. He looked a little less pale of late and more like himself, which had me much more relieved than I’d like to admit. With the prospect of a date with Mikael lurking in the recesses of my mind, I had enough worries to gnaw at me. It was nice to have something positive to serve as a distraction.

  A week before Christmas, Margie treated her entire staff to dinner at one of the fancier restaurants in San Luis. For the occasion, Kelly and I browsed the department stores for something nice to wear. I ended up picking out a black dress that was just a tad on the revealing side and a sweater to match. The dress fit comfortably, and the sweater was warm and soft. The shoes I decided on, however, were anything but. Being under five-and-a-half feet tall, I had no choice but to get the black pumps with four-inch heels. They pinched and I knew I’d be regretting them by the end of the night, but they went so well with the dress.

  Fortunately, the restaurant Margie picked was within walking distance from my apartment, so I didn’t need to drive. By the time I reached my destination, however, I could already feel the blisters forming. Jonathon saw me first, eyeing me up and down with a bemused look on his face.

  “Wow. You look nice,” he said.

  I gritted my teeth against the pain in my feet and took in the slacks and dress shirt that covered his lanky frame. Ugh, guys had it so easy when it came to dressing up.

  “Thanks,” I managed, “so do you.”

  He glanced down at my feet. “No wonder you look so
tall. Don’t those hurt?”

  I wanted to claw his eyes out. Instead I smiled. “I would take them off if I could, but I’m afraid the muscles in my feet have seized up and I’d be walking on my toes all night.”

  That must have answered his question because Jonathon lifted his eyebrows, then turned to talk to Kelly.

  “Hey guys! I hope I’m not late!”

  Moira came hurrying around the corner. Forgetting my feet for the moment, I glanced up and nearly fell over when I saw her. She was dressed from shoulder to mid-thigh in a glittery red cocktail dress with shoes and purse to match. Her long dark hair was curled and styled to flow away from her face and down her back. Every single male patron standing outside the restaurant stopped what he was doing to watch her.

  Although I knew she was Faelorehn and really had no control over the way men noticed her, I couldn’t help the pang of slight jealousy that shot through me. I glanced down at my own dress that flattered what curves I had and the shoes that gave me the luxury of feeling tall at the sacrifice of my feet. Not anymore. Not with Moira towering over everyone in her own heels. And her hair and that bright red lipstick she wore? I had taken extra time with my own hair and makeup, not applying my eyeliner and mascara as heavily as I normally did. Usually I felt invincible on these outings, but tonight I felt like a drab crow next to my co-worker’s brilliant cardinal ensemble.

  “Does she think we’re going to the Academy Awards or something?” Kelly asked out of the side of her mouth. Her curly auburn hair was pulled up on the top of her head, several tendrils spilling down her neck, and her dress had hints of gold and green running through it.

  I turned toward her and snorted. “Going by all the drama that erupted as soon as she showed up, I’d say that’s a rather fair conclusion.”