04 Shadow Blood - Witch Fairy (18 page)

Hey, he’s making me sound like I’m a pumpkin pie or something that Kegan was offered a bite of.  I’m about to say that when his lips curl into a sexy smile.  “And I am sorry about what I said back there.”  He leans down and kisses me softly.  “I love you and I apparently do not handle my jealousy well.”

I kiss him again and murmur against his lips, “No, you don’t.”

He stands up and looks at Kegan.  “Do you accept my apology, cousin?”

Kegan grins.  “Since it is the only real apology I have ever received from you, I am going to savor it.  Would you mind saying it again?”

Kallen narrows his eyes in Kegan’s direction.  “Do not push it.”  Kegan just laughs. 

Aunt Barb starts ranting against her gag again.  I’m suspecting she doesn’t find this scene nearly as sweet as I do.  I even get a smile in return when I send one in Kegan’s direction.  Maybe we’ll be okay, after all.

Chapter 20

Kallen must have sent a message ahead to Isla, because she, my dad and Tabitha are all waiting for us when we return.  We bring Aunt Barb around the house and enter from the beach terrace that leads into the large living room area.  Kegan and Kallen lift her from the board she has been travelling on and place her sitting up on one of the several overstuffed couches.  She’s speaking a mile a minute in gag language which, fortunately, none of us speak.  I’m pretty sure my psyche would be scarred for life if I could understand her.

“Thank god, Barb.  Are you okay?”  Those are definitely not Aunt Barb’s eyes glowering up at him. They are the eyes of whatever evil she is carrying on her soul.

“She’s not being very cooperative,” I say quietly to Dad.

He folds his arms tightly across his chest.  “I still can’t believe it was her who hurt Zac.”  I can see in his eyes that he desperately wants it not to be true.  Too bad desperately wanting doesn’t change reality.

I hear Alita’s voice off to the side of the room talking to Kegan.  “I just heard you had returned.  Is all well?”

Kegan shakes his head.  “No, from what I have heard Xandra say of her aunt in the past, there does not seem to be much of her left.”

Left? 
Left?
  I whirl around.  “What does that mean, not much of her
left
?”  Can the evil be eating away at Aunt Barb’s soul?

Kegan takes a step back against the wall.  “I…I meant her personality.”  Because that helps me feel better.

Apparently, I had taken an unconscious step or two forward.  Maybe three.  So, I’m surprised when Kallen grabs my arm and pulls me back to his side. “Kegan was merely commenting on the fact that her ‘soul barnacles’ as you like to call them, seem to have more control over her than yours do.”

Sure, that’s what he meant.  I hate being placated.  This time, I take a conscious step away from Kallen.  He’s smart enough not to follow.

“Kallen, perhaps Xandra needs to rest,” Isla says.  “She has not slept well recently.”

“No, I’m okay,” I say, but my traitorous mouth decides that this is a great time for a yawn.  Okay, I’m a little tired.  Since the sun is now coming up, I guess that makes sense.

Isla ignores me.  She turns to Kegan and says, “Tabitha is still researching, so we need to make our…’guest’ comfortable.  Please bring her to the beige room.  Alita may assist you.”

Before I have a chance to say no, that’s not a good idea, Alita has neared Aunt Barb.  In a split second, she is down on her knees holding her head in her hands.  Add that to my list of guilt.  In the uproar earlier, I forgot to mention my theory on why this keeps happening.  Kegan has rushed to Alita’s side and has helped her stand.

“She needs to get away from my aunt,” I tell him.  Suddenly, every eye in the room is on me.  Except Aunt Barb’s.  She’s glaring at Alita.

“And why is that?” Isla asks with raised brows.

“Um, I think Alita can sense the evil barnacles on her soul and that’s why she keeps getting these headaches.”

Isla and Tabitha both look at Alita with new interest.  “You can sense the presence of evil?”

Alita shrugs and then she grimaces.  “I do not know,” she says between lips pressed together in pain.

“Kegan, do as Xandra suggested; move her across the room.”  Kegan looks doubtful that this is going to work, but the farther away from Aunt Barb that Alita gets in this humongous room, the less pain she seems to be in. 

Tabitha looks impressed but Isla seems mildly annoyed when she asks me, “When were you planning to share this little epiphany of yours?”

You know, she hasn’t cornered the market on annoyance.  I have a pretty good share of it, as well.  “When I could fit it in between my family and friends being attacked, worrying about
my
soul barnacles and chasing my aunt through the woods in the middle of the night.”

This time, it’s Kallen who takes a step away from me.  Coward.  But, I can see why.  Isla looks like she’s about to blow. And you know what?  I don’t care.  I’m tired, stressed and angry.  “I would appreciate a little more respect in my home,” she growls with quite a few teeth showing.

I have an angry retort on my lips when Dad puts his ghostly hand on my shoulder, causing instant chills to run down my back.  “I believe Xandra is simply tired, as you pointed out a few minutes ago.  I’m sure my daughter would never be this disrespectful while a guest in someone else’s home.”  If he could, I’m pretty sure he would be squeezing my shoulder right now to keep me from opening my mouth.

He’s right.  Even if this realm is starting to feel like home, I am still Isla and Kallen’s guest.  “I’m sorry,” I mumble.  I think it’s loud enough for her to hear.  Better have been, because I don’t plan to repeat myself.  Yeah, I am tired and grouchy.

Kallen comes back to my side and wraps his arm around my waist. “We will be upstairs if you need us.”

I let him steer me in the direction of the stairs before I pull away from his gentle grasp.  “Kallen, I don’t want to go to sleep.  You know what’ll happen.  What if I hit on Kegan again, or something worse?”

“You hit on Kegan?” Alita’s shocked voice asks. 

I close my eyes.  This is not happening.  Forcing my eyelids to move, I look at my one and only female friend.  “It wasn’t me, it was the soul barnacles.”  Yeah, I probably wouldn’t look like I believed me either.

Collecting herself, Alita says, “Isla has a question for you.  She wanted me to come and get you before you retired.”  With that, she turns around and walks in the direction we had come from.

With a sigh, I reluctantly follow.  Maybe I do need to sleep.  The idea of not having to deal with these things is growing more and more appealing.

“Lullaby and goodnight…”

“Stop singing.”

“Would you prefer: Rockabye baby, in the tree top…”

“I would prefer you not to sing anything.”

“You’re right.  You’re so tired, you probably won’t need a lullaby.  You’ll lie down on your nice, soft bed and curl up next to Kallens hard body…”

“Stop it.”

“Oh, come on.  We’ve been in hell for centuries, at least let us cuddle with him.”

Yet again, I’m going to ignore the voice.  It’s easier said than done, though, as it keeps singing various lullabies in my head.  I’m relieved when I’m in the living room and will have something else to be distracted by.  “You had a question?” I ask Isla as I walk into the room.

“Yes,” she says from her position next to Aunt Barb who seems to be unconscious now and she’s slumped onto her side.

“Why is she like that?” I ask, moving closer to make sure she’s not hurt.  Or dead. 

“Because I have given her a powerful sedative.”  She says, looking down at Aunt Barb, as well.  “She will be asleep for hours.  Hopefully, before she wakes, we’ll have an answer as to how to rectify what has been done.”  Her gaze comes back to me, “My question for you is, why is Alita able to sense the pieces of soul within your aunt and not you?”

I wondered if anyone was going to catch that.  “I think it’s because I don’t have evil soul barnacles like she seems to have.  I think mine are pieces of lightness that separated from the evil but had nowhere to go.  The Angels won’t let them reattach to their original soul, so they have to stay in hell.”  I’m still fuzzy on that whole topic.  If they can leach onto mine, why can’t they go back to their own?  Unless, all they can do is leach – never be incorporated back into the makeup of the soul, simply be attached to it.  Then, whoever the original souls belong to would have voices in their heads like me.  Forever.  That would suck.

“You’re mean.”

“Never claimed I wasn’t.”

Isla nods.  “That seems to be a reasonable explanation.  We shall see how it plays out when Tabitha has found a solution.”

I guess she’s done with me, so I leave the room.  I find Kallen still at the bottom of the stairs with Alita.  They look deep in conversation and stop speaking when I approach.  Yeah, that never gives anyone a complex or anything.  “Did I interrupt something?”  That came out a little more sour than I meant it to.

Kallen lets a smug smile crawl onto his face.  “I was simply explaining to Alita about your unusual behavior.”

“Oh.”

Alita smiles at me.  “I understand that it was not really you who behaved in such a way.”

Suddenly, I’m a lot more embarrassed about the whole Kegan thing than I was before.  Which is evident by the blush that is creeping up my neck.  “Did he tell you I have voices in my head, too?”

Her eyes get big and she seems intrigued.  “You can communicate with them?!”

“Um, I’m not nearly as excited about it as you are.”

She giggles a little bit.  “I just think that it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn.  You can explore the thoughts of others and you could probably learn a lot about history from firsthand accounts.”

I suspect Alita would be a psychologist or a teacher if she lived in my realm.  “So far, I’ve only learned that they can control my body when my mind’s asleep.  This experience hasn’t made my list of fun things to try this year.”

She laughs.  “No, I suppose it would not.”

“Alita, I am stealing her away from you,” Kallen says as he wraps an arm around my shoulders and steers me towards the stairs and then my bedroom.

Chapter 21

“You were jealous of Alita,” Kallen jokes as he scoops me up and tosses me on the bed.

“I was not,” I deny adamantly as he lies down next to me.

“Yes, you were,”
the voice says.

“Fine, for a second.”

“Imagine how you would have felt if I had my arms around her and was trying to kiss her.”

I give him a sour look.  “Are you going to tease me, or are you going to kiss me?”

“Kiss you,” he says as his lips meet mine in a kiss that begins sweet and gentle, but erupts after a few short seconds into a kiss that is mind-blowing and passionate.

Both of our hands wander as we drink each other in, finding the places that make us moan with pleasure.  When Kallen’s hand slides along the smooth skin of my torso under my shirt, I arch my back to give him better access as I try to pull his shirt over his head.

I’ve got it half way there when he groans loudly and rolls away from me.  “Uh, what are you doing?” 

“Trying to keep the promise you made to your mother,” he says as he sits up and pulls his shirt back down, covering his perfect pecs and abs.

That’s right.  Our ‘clothes on’ deal we made earlier.  “Can’t we start keeping our promise tomorrow?” I ask, running my hand over the skin of his muscular arms.

He laughs but it sounds a little strangled.  “Oh, you have no idea how much I would like to take you up on that,” he says and the fire mixed with disappointment in his eyes assures me he’s as frustrated as I am.

“I think I will take a cold shower,” he says, rising from the bed.

I laugh.  “Does that really work?”

He leans over me and gives me a lingering kiss.  “Not as well as it should when it comes to you.”

“Then skip it and come back to bed,” I say, hearing the whine in my voice.  Yeah, there’s a pout on my lips, too.

He chuckles.  “Perhaps it is not only me who needs a cold shower.”  He stands up and moves away from the bed.  “I will be back in five minutes.”  There’s no shower in my bathing room, so he has to go back to his room if he wants to take one.

I’m obviously not going to get my way this time.  Unless I decide to marry him.  Nope, not going to do that anytime soon.  So, I need to quit pouting and whining and appreciate his willpower, which is obviously greater than mine.

“Okay, will you make me some pajamas before you go?”

A wicked grin is what I get in response.  I understand why when I’m suddenly in black, mostly sheer, lingerie that barely covers the important parts that it should.  “Perfect,” he says.

I can’t help but laugh.  “I don’t think this falls under the fully clothed category.”

He sighs.  “I suppose not.”  Now I’m wearing light weight green pajama pants and a black, short sleeved tee.  “I’ll be right back,” he says as he walks out the door.  I close my eyes to rest until he comes back.

I thought she’d never fall asleep.  Now, I can do as
I
please.  But, I suppose I have to behave since she gets so upset when I try to have even the slightest bit of fun.  Perhaps Kallen was right; I think I do need a cold shower.  Or a nice warm bath.  I think I’ll go with option two.

I get off the bed and walk to the bathing room where I shed these awful, restricting pajamas.  I let the pants fall to the floor and I step out of them.  The tee shirt joins them.  Stepping into the warm water, I revel in the silky feel as it caresses my skin.  I believe I could stay in here all day.  Maybe I will – or at least until she wakes up.

I lay back against the edge of the bath and close my eyes.  How I’ve missed physical sensation.  Even things as simple as the feel of warm water. 

When speaking to Xandra, I say we, but it’s really only me attached to her soul.  Just a tiny piece of a soul that once belonged to the cruelest woman imaginable.  The atrocious things she did with the dark side of her soul were so great and so frequent, I can’t believe I survived.  Ninety percent of her soul was scraped off as darkness; ninety-two percent if you include me.  But, I don’t want Xandra to know it’s just me because it’s much easier to get rid of one piece of another’s soul than it is many.  It should take a while before that older Fairy figures out what to do if there are multiple pieces.

I do not want to go back to hell.  If there is even the remotest possibility that I can convince Xandra to let me stay, I am going to try.  Yes, I’ve teased her about the boys, but now that I know how much it bothers her, I won’t cause any more trouble.  I was simply giddy at the new taste of freedom I have been given.  And I could teach her to do great things with her magic.  She seems afraid to use it most of the time.  Strange, considering how powerful she is.

Mm, this skin is so soft.  I rub my hands over my arms, enjoying the soft sensation.  My previous body was never this soft.  I am dying for the feelings that come from making love to a man, but Xandra isn’t ready for that.  It wouldn’t be fair of me to push her into it.  Besides, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to keep her asleep through that. 

But, there is no harm in touching this body.  My hands glide over its curves, lingering in areas that are especially sensitive.  Oh, how much better this would be if it were Kallen’s hands touching this silky skin as he was just a short time ago.

“Xandra,” his voice sounds choked as he says her name.  “If you are trying to negate the effect of my cold shower, you are doing a very good job.”

A smile curls around my lips as I open my eyes.  There he is in his muscular glory, standing just outside the door I had left open.  It’s a shame that lean, hard body of is his covered by shorts and a t-shirt.  “You should join me,” I purr as I stand up and wring my hair out, knowing full well that his eyes are riveted to these full breasts.

“You are not Xandra,” he says quietly.  With a hint of steel in his voice.  Uh oh.

I look up at him with her vibrant green eyes and put my best come hither face on.  “The body is the same, regardless of who is driving it.  I can see your desire, your need.  What harm is there in indulging yourself just a little bit?”

Wow, I didn’t expect him to grab the door and slam it closed.  Hey, he locked it!  That’s so wrong.

What a disappointment he turned out to be.  And does he really think I’m going to simply stay in the bathing room because he locked the door?  I stomp up the stairs and use Xandra’s magic to create a towel.  Next, I use it to blow the lock off the door.  “Kallen, what is wrong with you?” I demand.  To an empty room.  Where did he go?

I walk to the bedroom door and before I even reach for the handle, the door opens.  It’s not Kallen standing there.  It’s Alita.  “Where did Kallen go?”

She bites her bottom lip as her brow furrows.  “Uh, he thought it best if I stayed with you for the time being.  He’s going to sleep in his own room.”

I put my hands on my hips.  “Well, that’s certainly insulting.”

Alita shakes her head.  “You should not be insulted; he is simply being a good husband.  Or, I should say, almost husband.”

My turn to frown.  “How’s that?”

Her eyebrows rise as if she can’t believe I said that.  “I think you know what I am talking about.  If he did anything with this body,” she waves her hand towards the top of my head down to my toes, “he would be unfaithful to Xandra.  It is not her body that he loves, it is her mind.”

I can’t help a snort.  “Trust me, he loves her body, as well.”

The circles of pink on her cheeks make it hard to hold back a smile.  “Yes, of course, I’m sure he does.”

I take pity on her.  I drop my hands to my sides and I replace the towel with the same constricting pajamas that Kallen had created for me earlier.  “I suppose you’re right,” I say as I flop down in one of the yellow chairs near the terrace entrance.

Alita sits in the other chair.  “Do you mind telling me who you were, um, are?”

“That’s a question with a tricky answer.”

She looks confused.  “How so?”

“I am one of the last vestiges of light on a soul so dark, the rest of it had to return in the form of a teeny, tiny insect.  A mosquito, I believe.”

She tilts her head to the side.  “Are you teasing me?”

I smile.  “Believe it or not, no, I am not teasing you.”

She leans forward in her chair.  “How awful.”

“Tell me about it.  Life was hell being a part of her soul.  Though, the real hell is much worse.  Now, I am but a small fragment of soul with no body or realm to call my own.  I don’t know what, or who, that makes me.”

Great, now I’ve made her sad.  “I am sorry.  Is this too difficult for you to talk about?” she asks.

I snort and roll my eyes.  “Are you kidding me?  I haven’t had anyone nice to talk to in centuries.  If you let me, I’ll talk your ear off.”

She settles back in the chair and curls her legs under her.  “I would love to listen to whatever you want to tell me.”

I give her a sideways look to see if she’s serious or not.  I think she is.  “I was once a part of the soul belonging to Cassia Valeria Avitus, the last of a powerful line of Witches who served as priestess and consul to Caligula.  Do you know who he was?”

Alita shakes her head.  “I am afraid I do not know much about the Witch and Cowan realm.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t.  Caligula was emperor of the greatest nation of his time, the Roman Empire.  When he first came into power, he was a fair and reasonable man.  But, after a particularly violent epileptic fit in which it was believed he suffered great head trauma, he became a foul and cruel being.  He tortured people for no reason other than his personal enjoyment, and Cassia Valeria was the one whispering ideas into his ear, egging him on as he spiraled deeper and deeper into madness.

“She had always been cruel, even as a child.  She tortured animals in ways I do not want to mention.  Her magic had never been bound when she was born, so she used it against anyone she felt committed a crime against her from early childhood on.  Sometimes for things as simple as not making eye contact with her when speaking to her. She thought those people weak and in need of strengthening.  Her magic made people suffer; it did not make them stronger.  When Caligula discovered her and shared with her his delusions, she knew that she would have more power than she could have possibly dreamed if she could gain his trust.  She did eventually, and she used it against whomever she chose.”

Emotions have washed over Alita’s face as I spoke, but it’s been so long since I’ve had to decipher such things, I’m not sure if she’s repulsed or sympathetic.  Or both.

“How did you manage to remain light instead of dark?” she asks.