by Laura Howard
“Yes. What they’re doing, this kind of magic, it taints them. Makes them wicked. And they don’t give a damn if they leave a mess behind.”
“What do they actually use the blood for?” I asked, not positive I wanted to know the answer.
“There are two kinds of magic the Danaans can use. One is mind magic. It is all about being able to control things with ones will. For instance, Eithne is a healer. She is able to use her mind to see what it is that ails you and reverse it. Niamh is able to use her mind to hear your thoughts and share hers.
“The other is elemental magic. It involves using outside forces. Some aspects aren’t bad, but what it sounds like Aoife’s guards are doing has been forbidden by Saoirse for a very long time. They’re taking the blood of humans and harvesting the small levels of magic in it to increase their own abilities.”
“So humans have magic in them too?”
“That's right.”
“Did Diarmuid and Tagdh tell you all this?”
“After you walked out they told me that Tagdh’s brother, Niall, is one of the guards tracking Aodhan.”
I nodded and went to get a cup of water from the tap. I took a sip and then glanced at myself in the mirror hanging by the bathroom. My hair was a disaster, and I had circles rimming my eyes. No surprise there.
Once I pulled myself together, Liam took out his cell phone and opened the door. I watched him curiously but kept quiet as I followed him outside.
The motel was like the dozens of others I’d seen in my life, with the lot butted up to a highway. We walked out to the sidewalk, and I looked around. Thunder Bay was a busy place. Cars were flying past and people rushed around, talking on cell phones or yelling to their friends. Across the street was a park littered with people playing Frisbee or walking their dogs. Beyond the park, I could see a marina that edged out into Lake Superior.
Liam’s phone snapped shut, and I looked over at him. “That was Niall. He’s about three blocks away. Let’s go.”
We walked past several businesses and apartment buildings until we came to a corner where one of the murders had taken place. Two buildings down, on the side-street, were three metal doors with mirrors on their surfaces. I looked at the reflective doors, and my jaw went slack.
The doors from the dream I’d had on our way to Thunder Bay.
A black sign above the door read Black Pirates Pub in curling, white letters.
Liam stopped walking, not noticing my preoccupation. His lips curved into a little smile. Following his gaze to a bench, I saw a man with shoulder-length chestnut hair reading a newspaper. He put the paper down and turned. As soon as he recognized Liam, the man stood and walked over to greet us.
“Liam,” he said, clapping him on the shoulder and glancing curiously at me.
“Allison, this is Niall. Without his help I may have never escaped Aoife in the first place.”
Niall smiled, clearly glad to see my father. “So, Liam, what news do you bring?”
“I’m afraid I don’t bring good news. We’ve come to find Aodhan to seek aid.”
“Good luck there, my friend,” Niall laughed.
Liam made a face. “We must at least try.”
“Have you found your lady, then?” Niall asked, looking at me.
Liam cleared his throat. “Yes, but this is actually my...daughter.” The corner of his mouth lifted.
Niall pursed his lips, as if trying not to laugh. “Indeed.”
“Have you seen Aodhan today?” I asked, pushing down my embarrassment at Niall’s amused expression. We were running out of time.
Niall shook his head, still surveying me. “He usually stays inside during the day. He’ll be coming out once it gets dark. Give him a couple hours.”
“This is the pub where the couple had last been seen Friday night,” Liam cut in, looking up at the sign.
“Yeah, I know,” I nodded.
Liam’s eyebrow quirked up. “Did you just say ‘I know’?”
“Well, yes. I had a dream about a couple walking out of there,” I said, gesturing toward the doors to the pub. I looked back at Niall as I walked toward the three metal doors at the entrance.
“Blá’s watching the back exit. We'll let you know when he comes out.” Niall said as he sat back down on the bench.
“Blá?” I asked Liam.
“Bláithín is Niall’s partner. There are always at least two guards assigned to watch Aodhan,” Liam said with a sardonic grin.
I paused before opening the door. “What?” I asked.
Niall now wore the same wry expression as Liam. “Nothing,” he said, trying to hide his grin. “It’s just that Niamh wouldn’t risk losing track of Aodhan.”
I huffed in exasperation. “If Aodhan isn't out yet, we should get something to eat, maybe ask a few questions—let’s go.”
Inside, the Black Pirate was quiet. There were a few employees setting up tables, and at the end of the long, polished bar was an easel holding a blown-up photo. I recognized them as the couple from my dream. A wreath of flowers hung on the corner, and several teddy bears and bouquets were placed nearby.
Liam and I sat at the far end of the bar. As we opened our menus, a man with a white button-down shirt approached from the other side of the mahogany.
“Good afternoon. My name’s Jack. What can I do for you?”
“I’ll just have a BLT,” I said, picking the first thing I saw on the menu. Liam ordered the same.
“Are you two here on vacation, or just passing through?” Jack asked as he took our menus.
“We’re just passing through, actually. Seems like a rough time around here, eh?” Liam said, gesturing to the easel by the bar.
Jack’s face fell. “Oh, yeah. Such a tragedy. Wes was the bartender here a couple nights a week.”
“Wow. What really happened?” Liam asked, looking hard into Jack’s eyes.
“They’re saying serial killer. Must be a real psycho,” Jack said, launching into the story of all the bodies being found drained, six altogether.
After we ate, we walked back outside, and Niall was gone.
“I guess Aodhan’s on the move.”
Liam opened his phone and typed a message. We sat on the bench and waited for Niall to respond.
Minutes passed and still nothing.
“Can we take a walk down to the water, just to look around?” I said, itching to do something.
Liam looked at me for a couple seconds, considering. “Right, let’s do that.”
We crossed over to the park and down to the marina. A light breeze blew off Lake Superior, rustling the leaves above our heads as we walked down the path. The only other sound was the occasional faint whir of traffic up on the street.
Liam walked close by my side, his eyes constantly roaming the area.
“I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me about Aodhan,” I said.
Liam coughed, looking uncomfortable. “The situation with Aodhan is...complicated.”
“Did you know him?”
“I knew him briefly. When I first arrived in Tír na n’Óg, he had just started asking about his family. He’d been there the equivalent of nearly three hundred years and had no idea. The time passes differently there, especially when you’re in thrall.”
“In thrall?” I interrupted.
“Well, yes. Aoife had me so deeply under her spell, I had no will of my own. All that mattered was her.”
“Oh, okay. Go on.”
He sighed but continued. “When I met him, he asked me about the war. As I told him, he looked at me like I was daft. The Ireland of 1602 was a far cry from the Ireland of 1888, I’m sure you can imagine.”
The park was deserted, only the long shadows of the oak trees crisscrossed the path in front of us. “We should head back, see if we can find Niall.”
I inhaled and we turned back up toward the street. “I wonder if—”
Before I had the chance to finish, a shadow moved ahead of us.
“L
iam,” a tall figure said, pushing away from a tree just five yards away.
I froze on the path as the man walked down to where we stood. As he got closer, I took in his gaunt features and sunken eyes filled with malevolence.
“Stay back,” Liam hissed, pushing past me.
“Has Aoife let you off of your leash?” the stranger asked.
Something shifted in Liam’s stance, he stood straighter and tension rippled through his body.
“This is all your doing, Aengus?” Liam gestured to the city.
“How long is your mistress going to keep us locked out of Tír na n’Óg?” Aengus asked, ignoring Liam’s question.
“I don’t know anything about you being locked out. Things have been”—Liam hesitated—“out of sorts in Tír na n’Óg. You can probably thank Breanh for keeping you out.”
Liam looked back at me, but quickly realized his mistake when Aengus noticed me standing there. Before I could even try to move, Aengus appeared in front of me. He reached out and stroked my jaw with a long, bony finger.
“Ahh, and who do we have here?” he asked, his warm breath blowing in my face as his eyes raked over my skin.
Liam ran back to my side and grabbed Aengus’s hand to shove him away. I heard the metallic whoosh of a blade, and in a flash, Liam was on his knees. The color drained from his face, and I looked down to see the handle of a knife sticking out of Liam’s side.
Before Aengus’s sneer had a chance to fully form, he was knocked to the ground by a blur of silver light. I quickly figured out that the silver blur was actually a gigantic man, dressed all in black with a closely-shaved head.
Without hesitation, the man yanked Aengus’s head back by his hair and put a wicked-looking dagger to his throat. Aengus grimaced as the edge of the dagger drew a thin line across his neck.
I rushed to Liam’s side as his body went limp, and I struggled to get him down to the ground without injuring him more. He tried to speak but all he could manage was a low gurgling sound.
“Shhh,” I crooned, trying to calm him. I sat him in an upright position as I scrambled to figure out how to help him. I needed to put pressure on the wound, but the dagger was still sticking out. And I knew that if I pulled it out, it would increase the blood flow.
“Aodhan,” I heard Aengus hiss between clenched teeth. “Another pleasant surprise.”
“You like torturing the innocent, do you?” Aodhan asked as he yanked Aengus’s head back further.
“Just kill me and get it over with,” Aengus spat.
“Oh, no. That would be much too easy,” Aodhan growled as he pulled a cord out of his pocket, the dagger still held firmly to Aengus’s throat. “How do you like being tortured?”
Aodhan secured Aengus’s hands behind his back and lifted a length of steel chain from a cargo pocket at this thigh. He put the dagger between his teeth and wrapped the chain around Aengus’s throat.
Aengus groaned, and his knees buckled out from under him. Aodhan shoved him to the ground and looked up at me. I could only stare back in silence. There was something familiar about this guy.
His gaze flickered over my shoulder. “Take care of him,” he snarled.
I looked back and saw Niall approaching cautiously. His eyes remained on the sprawled form of Aengus lying face down on the pavement. Without a word, Aodhan approached us and gently lifted Liam up.
“Come on,” Aodhan said to me, his Irish accent thicker and harder to understand than Liam’s. “We need to take care of his wound.”
I nodded and followed Aodhan up the deserted street toward his motel. The bartender had told us the city had imposed a curfew, and there wasn’t a soul out now that dusk had fallen.
Aodhan’s room was on the second floor, but he carried Liam up the flight with no trouble at all. He pulled out a key card and unlocked the door, pushing it open and laying Liam on the bed.
Relief flooded through me that he wasn’t bleeding as much as I‘d feared, but his shirt was ruined.
“Get the towels from the bathroom and fill the basin with hot water,” Aodhan instructed.
When I came back with the supplies, he had Liam’s shirt off, and I could see that the dagger stuck just below his rib cage on his left side. His milky-white skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and streaked with a rivulet of blood.
“I’m going to pull this out. When I do, I want you to immediately apply the towel to the wound.”
I unfolded the towel and knelt by Liam’s side. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was shallow.
“Ready?” Aodhan said.
I nodded.
The blade made a wet, squishy sound as he pulled it out in one swift movement.
“Now.”
I applied the towel, holding the gaping wound together with as much pressure as I could.
“Good, it will only take a few minutes for the bleeding to stop. It’s not as bad as I thought.”
He walked over to the chair by the window and opened a duffel bag. Inside was a small first-aid kit.
“Should we get him to a hospital?” I asked, biting my lip.
Aodhan leveled me with his gunmetal eyes. “No, he’s just unconscious. His body is trying to heal itself.”
He walked to the window, opening the heavy drape just a crack. The muscles in his jaw were tense as he scanned the night.
“Aodhan—” I began.
Aodhan held up his hand, effectively silencing me. He turned away from the window, eyeing both me and my father thoughtfully. His gaze rested on Liam.
“I knew I recognized him…Aoife’s pet.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, but Aodhan wasn’t done.
“I’ve grown accustomed to Niamh’s minions following me all these years. But,” he said narrowing his eyes, “for the life of me, I can’t imagine what Liam would want from me.”
The way he spoke, so low and empty of emotion, filled me with cold fear. I could feel my heart pounding in the tips of my toes, like flames licking at ice.
“It was me who wanted to find you,” I said, my voice taut.
He slowly turned to me, and it was all I could do to keep from shrinking back. “What is it you want from me?”
I closed my eyes and scrounged for every shred of courage I could find. “My name is Allison, I’m Liam’s daughter,” I began.
“My mother was kidnapped by Breanh. I was hoping you could…could,” I stuttered. “ I was hoping you could help me get her back.”
“Breanh,” Aodhan said, but it came out as a low growl.
“Liam has Aoife imprisoned in a fey globe.” I stole a glance at Liam before launching into the full story.
Aodhan leaned against the wall as I spoke, not interrupting, only nodding occasionally. I told him about Niamh and Liam showing up in Stoneville and the black birds that were everywhere, always watching. I told him about the night my mother had gone missing and that Niamh had gone back to Tír na n’Óg without us, effectively shutting us out. I even told him about the dreams I’d been having for months. There was something trustworthy about him.
When I finished talking, Aodhan straightened and walked to the tiny table in the corner of the room. In one fluid motion, he pulled the dagger he’d held to Aengus’s throat from its sheath on his hip. Then, from a wooden box, he pulled a small square of red cloth with which he began to wipe the dagger.
Without turning around, Aodhan spoke, his words clipped. “Do you know where he’s taken her?”
“We’re assuming he’s taken her to Aoife’s home in Tír na n’Óg.”
There was a knock at the door, and for a second Aodhan just stared at it. He walked over to open it. Niall stood there with a tall, black-haired woman I assumed was Bláithín, his partner. His eyes flickered in to me and then Liam before resting on Aodhan’s massive chest.
“We wanted to see if Liam was okay,” Bláithín asked, running her fingers through her short, spiky hair. She, unlike Niall, obviously had no problem meeting Aodhan’s fierce look.
“Where’s Aengus’s dagger?” she asked, looking between Aodhan and me.
“There on the floor, just under the bed,” I whispered.
Aodhan had gone back to leaning against the wall, clearly uncomfortable with all the company.
“This dagger is steel, just like I thought,” she said, toeing it with her boot. “It looks like the tip is broken off, too.”
“Come on, Allison,” Niall said. “We’ll take you and your father back to Niamh's house in Wheelwright. He needs to see a healer to get the tip of the dagger out. Hopefully Eithne is still there.”
All three Danaans looked at me expectantly. If I went with Niamh’s guards, I’d be expected to wait on Niamh’s whim. I needed Aodhan to come, too.
I looked at him, silently praying. He hadn’t agreed to help yet.
He met my gaze. “I’ll take her,” he told the guards simply.
Bláithín walked to my motel with me to grab my bag, so that we could go back to Wheelwright. She didn’t say much; she only spoke when it couldn’t be avoided.
I caught sight of Niall and Aodhan walking toward us as we left, belongings in hand. Niall held Liam easily in his arms. They all had a silver glow to them, their glamours hiding them from the eyes of passersby. I looked over at Bláithín, and when I squinted I saw she had a glamour on as well.
“Should I put on a glamour, too?” I asked her quietly, scrunching my face at the strangeness of the question.
She laughed. “Allison, you are glamoured.”
“Oh,” I looked at my skin, and for the first time realized that I had the same glow as the others. How could that have happened without me even knowing it?
I sighed, trying to focus on our next move. I assumed we’d be running—that made the most sense, I guessed—but I wasn’t sure how I felt about being carried by Aodhan. He was so intimidating, and it had been awkward enough with my own father.
Liam looked so helpless lying in Niall’s arms, and I realized that somehow in the past few days I’d actually grown to trust him. Maybe even care about him.