Shadow Blood: Kallen's Tale (Witch Fairy #4.5) (3 page)

Xandra visibly relaxes at his ignorance of the situation.  “They didn’t get sent there by the Angels of Death.  My aunt has been trying to figure out how to astral project and she accidently caused both of their spirits to jump realms.  They ended up in the Shadow realm.”

Shaking his head, Dagda says with no consideration or tact, “No intact soul has ever travelled to the Shadow realm.  Are you sure that there is still enough of their spirits left to salvage?”

A fire storm is building in Xandra’s eyes.  “Yes, I am.  My aunt came to me a little bit ago and she’s fine right now.”  Her voice quivers a little bit at the end belying her confidence that her words are completely true.

“And you believe it is worth risking the safety of this entire realm for two lost spirits?”

Xandra looks at him through slitted eyes.  “Yes.”

We are all surprised when Dagda grins.  “Stubborn and willing to do what is necessary regardless of who may get hurt.  You are definitely my daughter.”

“No, she is not,” Xandra’s father growls from the opposite door.  “She is my daughter; you simply contributed sperm.”  The discomfort level in the room has risen well past capacity as that image floats through our minds. 

With the fire from her eyes now burning in her cheeks, Xandra introduces the two men as if they had not already figured out who the other is.  “Um, Dad, this is Dagda.”

“King Dagda,” Dagda snarls from his side of the kitchen.  This is about to get ugly.  I see Kegan inching towards a corner of the room.  I am tempted to join him.  I do not want to be caught in the crossfire when the magic starts flying.  Which will probably be when Dagda opens his mouth again.

Xandra’s father matches his tone of voice.  “Don’t expect any respect for your title from me.  You are nothing more than a murdering psychopath in my book.”  That corner wall Kegan is leaning against is looking better and better.  But I stand next to Xandra ready to try to push her magic back when she forces a good chunk of it down Dagda’s throat.

Dagda starts walking towards Xandra’s dad.  Each step falls harder than the last as his anger increases.  He is treading dangerous ground.  If he does anything to harm either of her parents, Xandra will not hesitate to do much worse to him.  I shake my head and stand up at the same time as Grandmother and Xandra blocking Dagda from getting closer to her father. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Xandra growls with enough menace in her voice to put a shadow of fear in Dagda’s eyes.  A rare sight.  “Regardless of how many times you say you want to have me in your life, the fact that the man behind me is my real father will never change.  If you do a thing to harm him, I will never forgive you.”  Her words imply more than just a lack of forgiveness would result from those actions; as her next words prove.  “I will also take my resulting anger out on you.”

“What is going on?” Xandra’s mother asks from behind Jim.  And then she stops.  All color leaks from her being leaving her almost perfectly clear.  She looks like she may disappear altogether in a moment.  If I did not know that Xandra was anchoring her parents here I would truly fear that her mother's spirit is about to move on.  “You,” she says barely louder than a whisper. 

Dagda actually looks a little bit contrite.  He is full of shocking actions today.  Bowing his head in her direction, he says, “Quillian, how nice to see you again.”  Quillian was her actual birth name.  She changed it to Julienne when she fled from her parents to save Xandra.  Everything I’ve learned about Xandra’s family makes me appreciate mine more and more.

Xandra shakes her head in disgust.  “Really?  Out of all the things you could have said, you chose to go with that?  You tricked her and ruined her life and all you have to say is ‘how nice to see you again?’  How about an apology?”

Through gritted teeth, Dagda says to Xandra with more than a little sarcasm, “I did not realize giving her a daughter as wonderful as you was something that I needed to apologize for.”

“You know damn well that’s not what Xandra is talking about,” her father growls.

Dagda is struggling not to react with magic.  Xandra has no idea of the self-restraint he is showing.  My mouth tries to drop open when I hear Dagda’s next words.  “I believe I owe you an apology for keeping my identity from you.  I will not, however, apologize for my attraction to you and your lovely body, or the fact that you bore my child.”

He almost wound his way through this conversation unscathed.  He had ample opportunity.  Instead, he chooses to lay himself out ready to be flayed.  I shake my head at his foolishness and prepare for what’s coming next.

Xandra’s father zooms forward.  Why, I am not sure because he is helpless against Dagda.  Xandra however is not.  This is why he is suddenly lying on his back about twenty feet away from the house.  Either Grandmother or I will have to restore the door and wall that uselessly tried to stop his momentum.

Stomping outside, Xandra stands over the gasping Dagda.  “I’ve told you before not to talk about my mother like that.” 

Rubbing the back of his head, Dagda sits up.  “Yes, I believe you have.”  This time, my jaw does drop to the kitchen floor with a thump.  If anyone else had done this to him, he would have killed them.  Literally.

Xandra is not done with her tirade.  “My parents are dealing with the fact that their son is in
hell
right now.  This is no time for your cocky attitude or your stupid pride.  If you’re only here to cause trouble, then you need to leave.  Right now.”

Grandmother is in as much shock as I am.  Tabitha is simply amused.  I know there have been plenty of times over the years that she has wanted to do this to him.  She is going to enjoy every second of his discomfort.  Her snicker is proof of this.

Standing up, Dagda brushes sand off from his black pants and gray button down shirt.  “I’ll have you know, if anyone else did anything remotely like what you just did, I would have them stripped of magic and locked away for life.” 

Xandra is unimpressed.  “Good thing I’m not anyone else.” 

Dagda gives her a long, assessing look.  “Believe it or not, I am here to help.”  He has a long road ahead of him before Xandra believes anything he says.  Especially his offers to help.

Chapter 4

Xandra stomps back to the house just as angrily as she left it.  Dagda follows, trying hard to keep his pride intact.  That is not really working out for him.    

Grandmother’s face is stony when she looks back and forth between Dagda and Xandra’s parents.  “Now, if we are through with this foolishness?” she says with her voice that can cause icy chills to rush up one’s back, “we do have two spirits who need to be returned to their bodies.”

Full of contriteness, four faces turn to her.  Xandra is the first to say anything.  “Okay, crystals and light.  Anything else?”  The fact that she can jump from anger to matter-of-fact so quickly makes my head spin.  One would now think nothing out of the ordinary had occurred over the last few minutes.

No one’s mouth opens to offer a suggestion.  Because there are no other suggestions.  We do not know what the Shadow realm is like or how this will work.  I do not like being at such a loss.  I imagine this is what Xandra feels like every time she’s faced with the swamp of magical problems she’s had to mire through since I met her.  But she always finds a way through and I am going to assume that we will in this situation as well.

“Shouldn’t we be dressed in black and wearing ski masks or something?  So we blend in?” Xandra asks.  Kegan, who has rejoined us at the counter, chortles next to me which makes me want to push him off his chair.  I do elbow him hard in the ribs.

Grandmother is trying to be patient with her.  Ultimately, she is not.  “The simple fact that you have a body at all will give you away.”

Color is creeping up Xandra’s neck eager to make a show of her growing anger on her cheeks.  This at least I can try to diffuse.  “I think she is right, Grandmother.  It cannot hurt and it quite possibly could help delay the inevitability of the Shadows discovering us.”  This is not at all true but it seems to appease Xandra.  With a thought, I dress us both in black.  Xandra is now in black skin tight pants and shirt.  She looks sexy as hell.  Shadows be damned, my eyes will be on her the entire time we are gone.  Her father raises a brow in my direction but he does not say anything.  I think her mother is too worried to care how Xandra is dressed. 

Xandra looks down at her beautiful curves and then back up at me.  I can barely restrain my lusty grin.  Kegan lets out a low whistle next to me which earns him another elbow to the ribs.  To be fair, I did put myself in similar clothes.  The deepening shade of green in Xandra’s eyes tells me that she is as lusty as I am at the moment.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tabitha debating whether or not to smack me in the back of my head.  Fortunately, she decides not to do so.

“What, exactly, is the plan to keep the Shadows from escaping into this realm?” Dagda asks.  Good question.  Good enough to drag my attention away from Xandra’s body.  For the moment.

All eyes in the room go to Grandmother.  Surely she has thought this through or she would not be eager to move this along.  “We will create a barrier of circles around the gateway Xandra creates.  You and I will be closest to Kallen’s and then Tabitha and Kegan will be the outermost anchors.”

An audible gulp comes from Kegan.  I believe he thought he was here solely as a witness, not a participant in our crazy plan.  I try not to notice the slight greenish hue that is trying to camp out on his face.  I can attest to the fact that he is not a coward.  I believe it is more concern over his magic not being strong enough than true fear.

With none of us looking completely comfortable with this plan, we all rise and make our way to the beach in front of the house.  As soon as she is down the last terrace step, Tabitha begins to place crystals in a wide circle in the sand.  “We need to create a safe zone.  Those Shadows are tricky little buggers.” 

I doubt she knows this from personal experience but all lore points to that being a reasonable assumption.  “All set,” she says as she stands up from placing the last crystal she deems necessary.  Coming to me, she hands me several.  Her hand lingers a moment as she closes my fingers over them.  “If you do not come back safe and sound, I will travel to the Shadow realm myself just to kill you again.”  Turning to Xandra, she adds, “The same goes for you.”

I chuckle.  “A couple hours from now, you will be chasing Kegan and me out of your kitchen like you do every afternoon.  I will undoubtedly come back hungry.”

I see a tear forming in the deepest corner of her eye.  “I will give you free rein if you manage to not get yourself killed.”

I raise a brow in disbelief.  “Tabitha, it is not like you to lie.”

She swats at me with one hand as she wipes the back of her hand over her eye.  “Go on now; I have a circle to make.   I cannot do it if you keep yammering on so.”  I give her a quick, reassuring hug and then walk to Xandra who is standing in the middle of the giant circle laid out by crystals.

We line up in order of the strength of our magic.  Kegan is a little put out being at the end, but his pride will simply have to take a hit today.  The most important thing right now is making sure that we do not allow any of the Shadows into our realm.  Honestly, if a Shadow was to get past the rest of us, there would be nothing Kegan could do to stop it.  But none of us wants to even think about that.

Kegan places his circle and then Tabitha and Dagda follow suit.  With more nervous tension than I would like, Grandmother throws up her circle.  Now it is my turn.  Once my circle is in place, Xandra closes her eyes and reaches her hand out to open the gateway

I’m not quite ready for that yet.  I turn her towards me and her eyes open in surprise.  Putting my hands on her cheeks, I lean down and kiss her.  Slowly and deeply, trying to fit every iota of my love into it.  Pulling back slightly, I murmur, “I love you.”

She smiles.  “I love you, too.”

“Are you ready to do this?”  I am not so sure that I am.

She nods.  “I am.”  She looks about as sure as I feel but we cannot delay any longer.

Standing straight, I take a step back so she can do her thing.  Xandra closes her eyes once again and begins to tear a hole in the realms.  A blinding light sends me stumbling back a few steps as I cover my eyes.  I recognize this as Angel light because Xandra has emitted this before.  I am just not sure why she is doing it right now. 

Chapter 5

When the light finally dims, I find Xandra in her full winged glory.  “What the hell?” I ask jumping back to make room for her wings in the tight space of my circle.  Looking more closely at her, I can tell she is about to tell me something I will not like. 

“I met an Angel of Death.  Kallen, she has to be my guide in the Shadow realm.  And she’s just thrilled about it,” she grouses. 

What is she talking about?  “Why would an Angel of Death be our guide?”

She sighs.  “Not our guide.  My guide. You can’t go.”