by Diana Nixon
“Aha.”
“But … how do I find the other members? And where shall I gather them?”
“There are two people who can help you: Marion and my brother. And why don’t you finally admit that you won’t be able to do it on your own?”
Eileen sighed. “You are one sly fox, you know?”
Evan laughed, winking at her.
“Okay, I will let you help me find the members of the brotherhood, because I have no idea how to do that. But … you won’t try to help me with the rest. Deal?”
“Deal.” Evan nodded.
Thank, God, I thought to myself, breathing a sigh of relief.
Evan and Eileen shook hands.
“By the way, aren’t you supposed to be with Darcy now?” she asked Evan.
“Right,” he said, as he hurried to the door. “But tomorrow morning I’m going to be here with a new plan, and you will be a good girl by not shutting the door in my face.”
“Okay,” Eileen said, laughing. “Now, go. Don’t make her wait.”
“Sweet dreams!” Evan shouted, closing the door behind him.
And so Eileen and I were left alone.
“Christian….”
“No, Eileen, please let me tell you something.” I took a deep breath. “I’m not sure if I was right, leaving you that night in my room. I was angry, I was furious, and I refused to see the sense in your actions. But what you said today, on Evan’s birthday, made me look at everything from a different point of view. No matter how hard it is to watch you risking your life, I want to be here. I want to be here for you.” I took a step closer to her. “I want to see you kicking the Dragons’ asses, and I’m sure you will be good at that.” Eileen grimaced, running a hand through her hair. “I also want to see you winning this fight. And I want to be there to kiss you first thing after destroying the damn spell. And I don’t care about the number of times I will regret what I’m saying now, but I want to be a part of everything you do. Even if you don’t want to accept my help. I want to know about your plans. I want to be with you. Till the end. Because I’m pretty sure you won’t stop until you do everything you have planned.”
“Wow, that’s … one of the longest speeches I’ve ever heard from you.”
I smiled. “I can be very persuasive when I want to.”
“I guess you had a very good teacher.”
“The best,” I said, winking at her.
“I don’t know what to say….”
“You don’t have to say anything, Eileen. Tomorrow we will start looking for the Dragons, and when you are ready to finish them off, I will be there to watch your success.”
“May I ask you for a favor?”
“Of course.”
“Could you stop hating Will?”
Not exactly what I expected to hear.
“Well … I will try. But he’d better keep his hands off you.”
“I will pass him your message.”
“I mean it, Eileen. I’m not going to watch him flirting with my girlfriend.”
“I thought you broke up with me!”
I took one last step and put my arms around her waist. “I told you, I did not. And just for the record, even if I’m not here with you, you still belong to me.”
“Huh, since when have you become so selfish?”
“Since the moment I saw you. Can we stop talking for now? Evan’s going to burst through this door in just a few hours, and we still have a lot to do before his coming.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Like this,” I said, as I kissed her lips.
The only word I could use to describe our kiss was love. There wasn’t any despair or sadness. Everything was forgotten.
“You’re sure your father’s not coming back tonight?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I don’t care even if he is, ‘cause I don’t think I can wait any longer to show you just how much I missed you.”
Eileen laughed quietly, and I took her in my arms and carried her to the bedroom.
Her skin was as smooth and delicate as always. But there was something in her eyes that made my heart stop beating. The way she was looking at me, was making my blood boil slowly. In a good sense of the word, of course.
Eileen’s aura was shining with gold and bright-pink sparkles, making my pulse accelerate. “Looks like you’ve missed me too,” I said, sliding my palms down her arms.
“True,” she said, taking off my tux. The rest of our clothes followed it too.
Now that everything was quiet, with no need to talk, I could hear the beating of her heart. And it matched mine perfectly. We were good at reading each other’s body language, and no words were needed to describe how much we enjoyed being in each other’s embrace.
“You are so beautiful,” I murmured into the curve of her neck. My hands slid down Eileen’s legs just to wrap them around my waist.
I turned to the bed and put her on the ivory, silky sheets, covering her body with mine. She moaned quietly when I nipped her earlobe with my teeth, and her embrace tightened. Her palm slid up to my tattoo, and a soft golden light illuminated the space around us. It was like a sunlight that we were melting in. Eileen was my salvation, and I was hers.
The world around us disappeared, as the two bodies became one. And it was exactly the way I always wanted it to be — with no beginning and no end.
Our every move was filled with endless love and passion, burning under our skin. Every inch of me was aware of her touches, sending rivers of flame through my veins. And no matter how much time we spent together, it was never enough.
She was like a thirst that I couldn’t satisfy; like sweet nectar that I could never get enough of; she was my personal paradise that I would never get tired of being in.
She was the best part of me, and nothing could ever be compared to the overwhelming feeling of holding her in my arms. Only being with her I could be truly happy. Only being with me she could be safe….
We fell asleep at dawn. Neither of us cared if there was anything able to separate us forever. Because now and right there, we were together, and nothing else mattered.
When it was about eight in the morning, I went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Eileen was still asleep and I didn’t want to awake her. I made some toast, coffee and was about to go check on my sleeping beauty, when I felt Evan’s presence behind the door.
“Morning,” he said, coming in. “Looks like I’ve just come in time for breakfast!” He took a piece of toast, put some jam on it and smiled. “Delicious! Thanks, Christian. You are one true friend.”
“Actually, it was made for Eileen,” I said, making another cup of coffee for her.
“I know, but I’m starving.” Evan took another bite of his toast and sipped some coffee.
“Exhausting night?”
My friend laughed quietly. “Very.”
“So I thought.” I shook my head. “So you … and Darcy, huh?”
“Yep. She and I … well, we are trying to make it work. And she makes me feel something I thought I would never be able to feel again.”
“I’m glad you’re moving on.”
“It’s just about time. Besides, I know about Tara and that guy … Martin, right?”
“How did you….”
“Come on, Christian! You are one hell of a liar. The day you and Eileen came back from Gloster, I knew something was wrong. I saw you watching Tara. So the only thing I needed to do to find out the truth was to ask her what happened. And she told me you saw her with Martin.”
“So you are okay about her seeing someone else?”
“I never saw them together. And I’m not sure how I will react to such a meeting. But as long as I’m busy building my own relationship, I’m fine with everything that is going on in her private life.”
“Okay, so what about the Dragons? Did Kevin agree to help us find them?”
“Yes, he’s on his way here. And I called Marion, and she said she would never miss such a show
. So she’s on her way to Dever.”
“Eileen will be glad to see her.”
“Morning, Honey,” she said, coming to the kitchen. “Jeez, Evan! I didn’t know you were here!” She hid behind my back.
“Christian’s shirt looks good on you,” our friend replied, not even trying to take his eyes away from Eileen. “Looks like you two had a good time together.”
“Please, Evan save us from your comments,” I said.
“Okay, but Eileen’d better put on something less … open, as my brother’s going to be here any minute.”
“You are impossible, Evan,” she said, going back to the bedroom.”
“Love you too, Sunshine!”
“I think I will never get used to the way you two talk to each other.”
“Calm down, Christian. There’s nothing to worry about. I would never steal your girlfriend. You are my best friend after all!”
“And I remember the time when nothing stopped you from stealing your brother’s love.”
“That was different. Tara and I were crazy about each other.”
“Right.”
Kevin joined us fifteen minutes later. And he was in a very bad mood. “We have a problem,” he said, taking a seat next to Evan. “I just found out that a part of the brotherhood is leaving Britain for a meeting in New York.” Evan and I shared a glance. “Don’t worry; I didn’t contact any of them,” Kevin added. “But apparently my bond with the Dragons still exists, because I can hear the mental messages they use to communicate with each other.”
“How do they send them?” Eileen asked.
“And how can you feel each other’s feelings? This is a special feature of the bond they share.”
“Do you receive all of their messages, or just a part of them?”
Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. Why?”
Eileen came closer and took his hand in hers. “I think they don’t know that you can still hear their messages. The bond lost its original strength. Do you think you would be able to send them a message?”
“It’s risky. I don’t want them to get to me.”
“They won’t find out that it was sent by you,” Evan said. He and Eileen smiled at each other.
“We will ask Marion to use your bond with the Dragons to send them a message. She’s a former member of the brotherhood, and I’m sure she knows how to send mental messages,” Eileen said.
Evan nodded, saying, “Her bond with the Dragons was broken many years ago, and they will never be able to track her. But she can change their plans by sending them a message with the directions to a place where we will destroy them.”
Chapter 23. Sending Messages
So the new day brought us new hope, and we flung ourselves into choosing a place for a fight with the Dragons. The list of the options was endless, but a place should be well-protected and remote from the world of humans.
The New York meeting, mentioned by Kevin, was supposed to take place in three days. And by that time we needed to find the rest of the brotherhood that were not invited to NY, because the invitation to our party included all of them.
Marion once said that the brotherhood consisted of thirty members, including their leader. And he was the only one whom we didn’t know how to set up.
“I think I know what to do,” Tara said. “If Eileen restores the bond with the medallion and feels the person who has it now, we will be able to use his energy to send the message.”
“Yes, but we can’t send him the same message as the one we are going to send to the other members,” I said. “It should be something special.”
“Is there a way to let him know whom the message was sent from?” Eileen asked.
Marion looked at her suspiciously. “You mean if the message is being sent from someone who’s not a member of the brotherhood?”
“Yes.” Eileen nodded, and Marion smiled mischievously.
“It’s not a problem.”
Evan frowned. “What are you going to do, Eileen?”
“I’m going to invite the leader for a cup of tea.”
Marion smirked. “Just don’t tell him it will be his last cup of tea ever.”
“Wait,” I said, “you are not going to meet him, are you?”
“Actually, this is exactly what I’m going to do, Christian.”
“No way, Eileen! This is insane!”
“And I’m going to meet him here, in Dever.”
We all stared at Eileen, shocked. Only Marion seemed to understand Eileen’s motives.
“It’s an all-or-nothing game, girl,” she said. “I hope you know what you are doing.”
“No, no, no!” I protested. “She has no idea how dangerous it is!”
“You promised not to interfere, Christian.” Eileen shot me a warning glance. “And this is the right thing to do. We will tell the Dragons that the protection of Dever has finally been broken, and that they can come and get what they want. My powers.”
“My Goodness, how could I have agreed to watch this?!” I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “You are going to destroy not only the brotherhood, but the entire Dever as well!”
Marion touched my shoulder, trying to calm me down. “Please, Christian, let Eileen finish.”
“I’m not going to let any of them cross the border of Dever. I will invite them to join me in the illusion where the spell is hidden. I will let them in, but I will never tell them how to leave the magical reality they entered.”
“Do you know how to leave that illusion?” Evan asked.
“I do.”
“Okay, will you share your knowledge with us?”
“No.”
“Why not?” I flared up. My patience was wearing off.
“Because I told you that the only thing I would let you help me with would be finding the Dragons. The rest of the plan is my responsibility.”
“What if you get trapped in that illusion forever?” I asked in a barely audible voice. Our eyes locked, and there was so much determination in Eileen’s. I realized that none of my reasoning would stop her.
“I will come back to you, Christian. I promise.”
“God, you are out of your mind, Baby” I said, as I pulled her into my embrace.
“There’s one thing that you should take into consideration,” Marion said. “If my assumptions are correct, and the spell was really hidden in the illusion you are talking about, then don’t forget that everything about that illusion will be much stronger than in reality. Including the powers of the natural elements and magic.”
“Is there any way we could control them from here?” Evan asked.
“Yes, there’s a way you can help Eileen without following her into that illusion. You can use Amanda’s gift.”
“But I can only read Eileen’s thoughts,” my sister said. “How can that help her?”
“We will be able to see what’s going on around Eileen,” Evan guessed.
“Yes. And if you, Evan, use your bond with Eileen, you will be able to warn her about the danger that she won’t see herself. And there’s one more way to ensure Eileen’s safety. We can create a parallel illusion, a copy of the one where the spell is hidden. Eileen will be a connection point between the two of them. Everything from her illusion will be reflected in ours. And we will be able to help her, as if we were in the same place.”
“This is brilliant, Marion!” Eileen exclaimed. “The illusion you will create will protect you from the Dragons, and you can come back to the reality any time you want!”
“Are you sure it will work?” I asked Madam Blanche.
“I hope so.”
“It’s worth a try anyway,” Evan said. “It sounds like the best that we can do, considering that Eileen will never let us join her at the meeting with the Dragons.”
“Sorry, Evan, but this time you will have to watch the fun from a distance.”
“Don’t torture them too much, Sweetheart. I know how cruel you can be.”
“I will give them just e
xactly what they deserve.” Eileen winked at him. “Now, what about the messages to the leader and the other members?”
“First of all, we need to create portals that will take them to the illusion,” Marion said. “Then we will tell the Dragons that the place and the time of the meeting have been changed. When they come to New York, someone will meet them and give them new invitations with the portals hidden inside. When they realize that they have been trapped, there will be no way back.
With regards to the leader, I think you should tell him, Eileen, that you are ready to meet and talk. Even if he suspects anything, he will be too intrigued to ignore your invitation. He won’t be able to see any of us, though you will be able to see and hear us. And we will protect you if necessary.
We will prepare everything that the spell to kill the leader needs, and you will take it with you, along with the map that leads to the old spell. There will be no time for hesitation, Eileen. You need to think fast, and as soon as the leader tries to hurt you, you will kill him. The death of the other Dragons will follow his death. None of them will be able to run away, but if you hesitate even for a second, they will kill you and steal your powers, and find a way to get back to the reality. And I’m pretty sure this is not the way you want it to end.
When you deal with the Dragons, you will find a way to destroy the spell and come back here.”
“Sounds like one hell of a work to do,” Eileen said, sighing.
“Everything’s gonna be okay,” Marion said, touching her shoulder. “Don’t worry about us, we will be fine. Watch your back and focus on your goal.”
It sounded easier said than done. And we all knew it. But Eileen followed Marion’s advice, and concentrated on what she needed to do.
When midnight came, it was time to try to find the medallion. We went to Eileen’s room where the bond with the thing formed.
Marion turned to Eileen. “It’s better to reconstruct the situation that took place the moment you felt the powers of the medallion.”
I could barely hide my smile. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I said, recalling the moment when Eileen and I were too busy kissing and undressing each other to notice anything around us.