by Elle Lincoln
She reaches into her breast pocket and pulls out a slip of paper and hands it to Patrick. Then she walks away without a damn word.
“What’s it say?” I break the silence.
“Well. She clearly travels differently than us. This isn’t near here at all.” He sighs before tugging at his beard. “We may as well check it out. At least we have somewhere to sleep tonight.”
I look around at the lot of us. Yeah, we are going to need clothing too.
The truck rumbles back to life and I lay my head back against the window, letting the cool glass ease my spirit. But as I glance back down to the angel in my arms, I come face to face with ethereal violet eyes that stare right through to my soul.
Chapter 1
Bette
Search and Rescue
Smoke from a forgotten campfire tickles my nose while the echoing memory of laughter haunts the crowd. Visions of songs and roasted marshmallows with sticky fingers leave an ache in my cold, dead heart. A mother weeps in a wail that stops everyone and everything in its tracks. Every entity bows its head in silence for the lost, while the forest holds its breath.
No one bats an eye at my crew and me, we are just one more to find a lost toddler. My guys’ faces are drawn down in sober emotion as the reality of our world trickles into this one. The atrocities they commit for power knows no bounds. Yet, right now, I cannot feel that anger.
Not while listening to the mother cry. I rub my sternum with thoughts of my mother dancing behind my eyes. Her petite face, caring brown eyes, and her hugs that always held kindness in them. Then her disappearance to that fateful call in the dead of the night. I couldn’t do anything then. But I can now.
A lone tear falls from my left eye and Balor reaches to wipe it away. “No.” My voice cracks and he raises a brow at my denial of his touch. “I need the emotion. To feel this ache.” My throat chokes up.
“You the new team?” A middle-aged man in an orange windbreaker approaches us. His forehead wrinkles and sweat beads his brow. Deep worry lines coat his face, telling of the anguish this scene presents.
“Aye, sir. Tell us. What happened?” Patrick’s thickening accent speaks of his own concern. We all grieve for this child. Because we know, we know if we fail his fate becomes sealed and lost to the Realm.
The search and rescue officer peels his eyes away from us and he looks off into the dewy morning forest. A thin fog spreads around us. The Sluagh. A burning reminder of some of the Sluagh I lost a few fateful nights ago as they broke free of whatever bond that tried to hold them. My relief in their arrival was short lived when we heard the helicopters. I hate Morrigan for being right. I hate the prophetic seductress for hiding secrets when she could have damn well prevented this.
Then again, that’s why we are here.
“I hope this mist moves out.” It will, don’t worry. “Mother and son got up in the early morning. The child, four-year-old Malcolm had to pee. They walked out of their tent, staying nearby. The mother swears it was only three feet. The kid wanting to protect his modesty, I guess, asked for privacy, which the mother gave. She had only turned around for a moment. When she turned back she couldn’t find him.”
My heart skips a beat. Children don’t just vanish into thin air. Not while that close to their watchful parents.
The officer keeps flashing his eyes over his shoulder. Any human can feel the strange thickness to the air. This one is no different. His eyes keep scanning the surrounding area. His shoulders jump at any small noise. This is a trained man in search and rescue. This isn’t his first rodeo. Yet something has him spooked.
“Did she hear anything?” My voice pulls him back to the present.
“Nothing just that he stopped, ya know, peeing.” He runs a hand over his neck and his body slumps. He can’t understand what happened. If we do our job right then he won’t ever have to know the truth.
That the Fae are kidnapping innocent humans for power—or so we assume. I don’t know how they are doing it, and quite frankly, I don’t care. Like a ghost in the night, they sweep in and carry out the innocent, some lost from this world forever. I am not so naive to believe in peace talks to return the taken. The concept of negotiation is foreign to our Fae counterparts.
Not even I could negotiate, since my entire existence depends on sin. The inhumane power that sleeps inside of me was specifically created to consume the darkness that lingers on a soul.
“Show us their campsite?” Mac walks over to the man, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. I have no doubt he is easing him with whatever god mojo he has. I almost reach out to hold his other hand to get a dose of Mac meds.
“Sure.” The man looks at Casseus perched on Mac’s shoulder. “That a pet raven?”
Patrick snickers beside me. Great, now he will call Casseus our pet. So it’s a little funny. “He’s mine,” I state to thwart any animosity. Casseus turns his head around and eyes me with those inky black depths.
Go ahead, raven, transform here and scare the poor human to death.
Now I snicker.
“Oh, aye, he’s yours all right.” I glance at Patrick who is wagging his brows and thrusting his hips suggestively. Well, looks like someone feels hopeful.
“Focus Irishman,” Balor growls, as we near the campsite, and humor is forgotten as we close in on the area. Debris litters the campsite with matchbox cars and a Spiderman costume hanging on a nearby branch. Memories of fun linger in the air.
Mac’s hand is still on the search and rescue officer’s shoulder. “Thank you, we can take it from here.” With no reply he walks off, leaving us standing in a deserted campsite. I pull my hair back into a low ponytail while surveying the scene. I’m not a forensic CSI type of gal, so I have no idea where to even begin.
“Any of you know what to do?” There isn’t a handbook for this shit. No training will ever be sufficient enough to ward off the Fae. Or hell, even hunt them, which I’m not so eager to do after my last run in. It took my neck days to heal after being crushed with nothing more than an elbow. At least the guys thought ahead and propped my head up to heal and watch TV at the same time.
“Balor?” Mac’s soft voice sends a wave of calm through us, tinted with the salty scent of the sea. Damn, I love Mac meds.
Instead of answering Mac, Balor crouches down. His hand hovers over a spot where footprints are unmistakable in the dirt. Little toes outlined against the grit form smooth impressions, along with the outline of a larger one. I don’t understand how they can come in that quickly and just snatch a boy out of thin air, leaving nothing in their wake. It just isn’t possible.
Balor stands and carefully steps over the footprints to head over to the edge of the clearing. He doesn’t even stop as he steps into the thick brush. His body tramples down tall grass, overturning trees and bushes. He makes it look so easy. A task I will fail at, since my little legs would never be able to accomplish that, nor make it look as easy as he does.
Wait. I can just go incorporeal, something I’ve been practicing since my head reattached. That sounded bizarre, even to me. My skull didn’t exactly detach, just the bones inside my neck. Isn’t there a name for that? Fuck, who knows? I drop my thoughts and imagine myself as the mist. It’s been taking less and less time the more I practice.
Silently, we all move through the forest until the sounds and scents behind us fall away. The mist lingers around us like a shroud, dampening our skin. No one speaks. My nerves tingle and my body shivers at the approaching confrontation. As Mac explained earlier, some of the Fae live in clans throughout these woods, staying away from one another—usually—all while keeping portals open to the Realm. But word has it that they’ve been working together. Something we learned all too well the other week when low and high Fae worked together to try and kidnap me.
As it was described while my voice remained mute, it’s rather akin to the dark ages. Raging, English soldiers reflect the high Fae and the farmers are akin to the low Fae. Braveheart was referenced often in that
discussion, which led to Balor needing to see the movie, then all he ended up doing was cursing out the actors.
Balor stops and holds up his hand, his head tilts to the side and Casseus takes flight. Another aspect of our new lives I’m still getting used to—the link I created between all of us. Casseus and Balor have been strengthening their bond over the last few days. Balor no longer sways when he sees through the Casseus’s eyes. Now, it is second nature, their relationship developing quickly and fluidly.
I peer up at the canopy of trees listening, waiting. I hear nothing but the whistle of wind moaning through leaves. My body relaxes and I pull the Sluagh in closer. I’m not ready to send them out to search. We aren’t whole and I can’t risk losing them again to the Fae.
A caw cracks the air and my head snaps in its direction. Casseus dives down and I hold my breath, worried he will dive right into the Earth. He doesn’t. But he’s also gone. I try to squash down the panic I feel at Casseus’s disappearance, but I pull on our link. He’s fine, I just can’t see him. I look to Balor, our serious leader, for assurance. He pulls his brows low. His breathing is slow and steady, and his eye meets mine. The other is shrouded by a leather patch. The hard lines of his face become more prominent, and he loosens his kilt, something he demanded after tearing yet another pair of pants. I can’t blame him, although apparently the old gods also wore them. I swore it was only a Scottish thing, but I guess not.
He lengthens the adjustable waist as his body grows. I hadn’t seen him do this during the last battle, but the guys talked about it. I watch in fascination as his shirt tears and his muscles thicken. A warm blush creeps up my face. I’ll never tire looking at him. Brown hair with blond streaks weave into dreads, which he says it makes him look formidable. I’d have to agree. His one good eye is ice-blue and against his tan skin, he looks... Well, I’m feeling something I shouldn’t be during a crisis.
Later Bee, later.
Patrick hands him an ax that was hidden on his back—I think he whips them out of thin air— and then he holds another, his eyes alight with the mischief of battle. He looks to Mac, whose eyes are closed. But for the first time since I met the ancient God of the Sea, he seems calmer. The past few weeks have been hard on him. His skin became withdrawn, his eyes shadowed, and his shoulders slumped. But not now. Now? His crooked smile splits his lips and he takes a step in the direction Casseus flew.
Interesting. I wonder if we finally found a spring. Though there are many throughout the mountains, not all feed into the sea directly. Some have too many twists and turns, diluting the power the salt holds for him. Even miles away, the link allows Mac to draw from that force. Perhaps Morrigan knew what she was talking about.
I glance to where Casseus flew down into the side of the mountain and I shift there, allowing the mist to pull me where I need to be. I stop just short of a lip in the earth where a hole opens deep into the mountain. Rocks skitter over the edge and I turn my head to hear them clatter below.
Balor grunts beside me. I feel like a damn dwarf when he’s all hulked out.
“Oomph, well how do ye suppose we git down there?” That is a good question, Patrick. A very good question.
Everything is black and full of shadows. I don’t know how they expect us to get down there other than breaking every bone in one’s body. I’d rather not have a repeat of that again.
“The last one down is a rotten egg,” Balor teases, shocking us all by jumping into the earthen abyss.
“Who the hell taught him that?” I squeal, while crouching over the edge. I know he can’t die but damn. That’s a deep cave.
Patrick doesn’t reply, but lets out a furious cackle and jumps over the ledge as well. That Leprechaun has truly lost his damn mind. I can’t decide if he’s crazy or just an adrenaline junkie. I’m going with the latter.
“That would be my fault.” Mac blushes the most adorable shade of pink.
Oh no, no, no, my hormones are not going to let him get away with this one. “What did you do?”
“I bought him a cell phone with internet access.”
“You what?” I can see all the ways this can go wrong, least of all a stupid little jingle spoken by children.
His dimpled cheeks tease me in a roguish smile as he steals a swift kiss before jumping into the pit of doom.
“Great, am I the only one refusing to jump down into this?” I glance over again, seeing nothing. I am not an adrenaline junkie. “I feel like a virgin sacrifice.”
“Ye ain’t no virgin!” comes Patrick’s echoing reply. Tricky bastard.
I use the only arsenal I have in my disposal and turn incorporeal again. I close my eyes as I push my intent to the waiting Sluagh. My stomach drops as I’m rushed down the hole to the waiting water below. I delay a brief moment before allowing gravity to overtake my body. Water seeps into my sneakers and I wish for a moment I wore the hiking boots.
My eyes blink and adjust to the lack of light.
The magical site of earth’s hidden gems assaults my eyes and senses. Green moss litters every rock surface, although still cast in shadow, and its beauty isn’t lacking. What light there is streams through the leafy canopy above, creating shards of light that’s highlighting a pool of crystal clear water. I feel as though I’ve stepped into a new world. Or, perhaps, just a journey to the center of the Earth.
As I turn around, my breath catches on the rip that hovers midair. My guys, all four in human form, stand there staring at it, in differing poses of judgment and calculation.
“Is this what I think it is?” I walk toward them, my sneakers squishing on the muddy cave floor.
“Aye.” Patrick scratches his red, trimmed scruff, while his other hand settles on his hip.
I walk closer with caution. It’s quite literally the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen. As though someone reached their hands in and tore apart the universe. A haze of white coats the inside seam while a jagged tear is highlighted with a brilliant white. I look behind the tear to the cave system beyond, and then back to the tear. It’s only about four feet tall and two feet wide. I can’t even say how anyone could get past it, or maybe it sucks you through and spits you out on the other side.
“What now?” No way am I jumping through that hole and heading into the Realm. Last time I did something stupid like that, my spine ended up pulverized. I have no intention of repeating that.
“You go through.” Say what now? Of all people, I’d expect Balor to tie me down and keep me on this side of the universe.
“I’m good.” My feet slide back on moss and I damn near lose my footing while trying to get away from the hole. I’m being a chicken shit, sure. And I want to get the kid, just like everyone else. At least the searchers are far from here, no need to have any other humans stuck in the Realm.
“Don’t be foolish. You and Casseus are literally the only two who can technically travel between worlds.” Balor looks at me, his large frame towering over mine in the hazy light.
I don’t allow him to intimidate me, not at all. I raise my chin defiantly, but only because my somber giant forgot one teeny, tiny little fact. I allow my secret to play about my lips where his attention is drawn.
“Oomph, the lady has a secret.” I glance at Patrick and his hazel eyes crinkle with mirth. I give him a silent nod.
Casseus snorts out a laugh that sounds more like a squawk. “Oh, you sneaky bitch.”
“I’m missing something.” Mac’s head is cocked and his brows rise to his hairline.
I let them all stew just a moment longer before I give it away. But not before I wonder if I can push one of them into the rift to prove my point. I doubt it would be possible, I don’t think I gained any super strength with my immortality—just the ability to suck the life of someone. Such a shame, I’d be badass with super strength.
“Out with it then!” I laugh, I knew Patrick would be the first to fold.
“You forget I connected all of us.” So, I marked them. I still don’t know exactly how I accom
plished that, only that I did. I can’t even lie, a small part of me is thrilled by the that I left my mark on them, branding them as mine. Hell, I don’t even feel any shame on the matter. “You should all be able to connect with Casseus and me, and step through.”
Balor is the first to come to his senses, and I can literally see the light in his eyes get brighter. “Like the Sluagh no longer burning me.” I nod in response. Exactly like that, my sexy king.
“All of us?” I turn around to Mac, and his hopeful eyes are filled with something I can’t define. My answering smirk only makes his grow. “I haven’t... I haven’t been there in so long.” He walks over to the rift, his hand grazing the tear. I watch as his hand passes right through, but before he can yank it back, he’s ripped from this time, this world, and is sucked through like a vacuum.
“Well, that answers that question. If the god can go home then so can I!” Without missing a beat, Patrick jumps at the tear. One moment he’s there and the next he’s gone.
Casseus gives me an excited grin before following suit. Leaving just Balor and me to stare in awe after them.
“My Lady.” Balor offers me his elbow, which I take like the lady I am not.
Together, we step through the rift between worlds and enter the Realm.
Chapter 2
Bette
The Realm
My breath catches in my throat when we step through. A cool breeze washes over my skin, sinking deep inside to the core of my being. The chill increases until it almost burns, and then it’s gone and we are spat out on the other side.
Before I can think, before I can breathe in the foreign air, Balor grabs me and rolls me into his arms while his wide stride pulls us to the safety of an odd looking bush. He keeps me upright as my legs threaten to stumble. My concern spikes and I look for the others, but I can’t see anything past Balor’s tree trunk biceps. Someone has been eating his spinach. Seriously, how is he this big?