1.5 True of Blood: Kallen's Tale (17 page)

She grumbles a bit more, but I ignore her.  It has been an incredibly long day and I am tired.  Eventually, she relaxes and snuggles closer to me.  With my arms wrapped around her beautiful body, I fall asleep. 

Chapter 1
8

I am woken abruptly again. 
This time to an elbow in my stomach and an angry Witch Fairy.
  What did I do now? 

Xandra pushes away from me and stands up.  With her hands on her hips, she asks,
“Do you have a plan or are we just going to hide out in the mountains forever? 
Because this is getting really old.”

I do not know
,
I am starting to like it. 
At least the sleeping with my arms around her part.
  The waking up
ritual
could be going better.  Rubbing my hands over my face to try to wake up, I stand up and stretch.  With a grin, I say,
“I rather enjoy the mountain air.”

She growls in frustration and starts walking away from me. 
“Where are you going
?
”
I
ask.
  I hope I do not need to chase her through the mountains again.  I thought we were past
this.

Yet another dirty look
is tossed to me over her shoulder
. 
“Not that it’s any of your business
,
but I have to pee.” 
She stalks off.  Maybe her mood will be better with an empty bladder.
 

It is not.  “What’s your plan?”
she asks a few minutes later in the same tone she had with a full bladder.

I have been thinking about this all night.  Well, mostly since she went to pee, but she does not need to know that. 
“We need to bind
Maurelle
and
Olwyn’s
magic so they are of no threat to you or your family.”

“Why didn’t you do that yesterday when they were lying unconscious on the ground?  It seems like that w
ould have been the perfect time,
”
she snaps.

Okay, she
does
need to back off a little bit.  This is not
all
my fault
.  “If it was that simple
,
I would have done so.  But it takes two powerful Fairies to perform the ritual to bind Fairy magic.”

“Are you saying that I’m not a powerful Fairy?”

I
am
getting as crabby as she is now. 
“It is not your power that is lacking; it is still your control.  Binding Fairy magic is a delicate process
,
and delicate is not a word that I can use to describe your magic.” 
I cock my head and raise my eyebrows
.  “Unless you do not care if we kill them instead of binding their magic
,
as you almost did yesterday.”

Her face turns as white as the snow. 
“I what?”

I sigh and push myself away from the rock wall I have been leaning against.  I have to make her understand just how dangerous she is right now.  Putting both hands on her shoulders, I say gently,
“If I had not let my magic go and drawn most of your magic inside of me, you would have killed
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
.  If I had been a less powerful Fairy
,
as most are, you would have killed me.  I have never met a Fairy who could send
out so much raw magic and force it into others as you can.  It is both fascinating and frightening to behold.”

She steps back and I let my arms fall to my sides. 
“Why are you saying this?  Are you trying to scare me into staying in the mountains with you?”
 

Yes, because that is exactly how I like to woo
female
Fair
ies
. 
Keep them out in the snow and cold until they are ready to admit they find
us
attractive.  It works every time. 

Trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, I say,
“As much as I am growing to enjoy your company, with several obvious momentary exceptions
,
of course, I am not trying to scare you to keep you in the mountains with me.  I rather dislike the cold myself
,
and would have chosen a much more temperate climate if that was the case.  I am trying to make you understand that until you learn to control your magic, you are a dangerous Fairy to be around.  I am assuming that no matter how badly you want to leave my company and go home, you do not want to add murder into your repertoire of skills.”

I did not think that her skin could get any whiter.  I was wrong. 
“Maybe I should stop doing Fairy magic and only do Witch magic.”

Time for some more honesty
.
 
I have no idea how she is going to take this. 
“Again, it is not that simple.  Your mother explained about a Witch’s
mana
,
as they choose to call it
,
coming from the earth.  Magic is magic, Xandra.  It all comes from the same place
,
whether you draw it into you using spells and incantations
,
or you are able to draw it simply by calling to it.  As I wanted to explain last night
,
but I did not think that you were of the frame of mind to hear it, the amount of magic you pull could cause a spell to go awry
,
or become a hundred times more powerful than you meant it to be.”

“Last night you said you would teach me Witch magic.  Was that a lie?”

“No.  I will teach you if you insist upon it
,
but I was hoping to discourage you from it until you have more control.”

She looks overwhelmed, bordering on devastated.  Looking at the snow instead of me, she asks,
“Am I going to destroy the world like the prophecy
says
?”

I cannot stand to see her like this.  Stepping forward, I pull her into my arms and I hold her tightly, hoping she will let me help her through this. 
“No, you are not.  I hold no stock in prophecies and neither should you.  You are going to learn how to control your magic
,
and we will bind
Maurelle
and
Olwyn’s
magic
,
and you will be able to return to your old life away from Fairies and gateways and other realms.”
  Even me, if she so desires.  A sudden pain in my heart after I think that is worrisome
, b
ut I am going to ignore
tha
t for now.

“What will you do?”
she asks against my chest
.

I would probably sound like a stalker if I said ‘watch you from afar.’  Instead, I say,
“Perhaps I shall go into Denver and become a bartender.  I have been told that I am handsome enough to make excellent tips.”
 

She laughs, which does much for the pain in my heart.  She wraps her arms around me finally, and says,
“Thank you
.
”

She is quiet for a moment.  T
hen, t
o my great surprise, the next thing she says is,
“Kallen, will you kiss me?”

Is she serious?  I lean back and place my hands on her cheeks, searching her eyes.  I believe she is. 

She certainly is not going to have to ask me that twice.  I dip my head and capture her lips
with
mine.  My lips and tongue are hungry as they seek entrance into her mouth.  When she opens to me, I groan and lift her from the ground
to even out our height difference
.  Backing her up against the wall
, I am in heaven when she winds her arms around my neck.  This is not the gentle kiss we shared the other night.  This is passionate and sexy, and I want as much of her as she is willing to give me. 
If her kisses are any indication, she feels the same way.

Which is why I am about to kill the grizzly bear that has come upon us.  Tearing my lips from hers, I mutter a strong oath as I
set her down and
turn around.  I have not in
terfer
ed with its mating
rituals;
it does not seem fair that is interfering with mine.

The bear is good size, definitely a male.  Xandra peeks out from behind me and says quietly,
“Shouldn’t it be hibernating right now?”

I raise a brow as I look at her. 
“Would you care to explain that to him?”

She sticks her tongue out at me.  I laugh as I give my attention to the bear again
.  “I am going to give him a little encouragement to be on his way.  Stay here.”

“Stay here?  Where are you going?” 
Is that concern in her voice? 
For me?
  Perhaps the bear is not such a bad fellow, after all. 
Nothing like a little danger to make one even more appealing.
 
“It’s a grizzly bear, Kallen.  He’s probably as tall as you when he stands on his hind legs and he outweighs you by probably five or six hundred pounds.”

Probably more, but that is not relevant at the moment. 
“True, but he does not have magic.”

Little does she know that I have frequently come upon Tasmanian devils back
home,
and those creatures definitely earn their names.  A grizzly may be larger, but is certainly not meaner.  Where a Tasmanian devil will attack with any sign of aggression, a bear would rather avoid confrontation if possible. 

I am impressed by his great size as he stands up on his back legs
and gives a little roar
.  Fortunately for me, bears are lumbering creatures, and I could repel him with magic before he could touch me.  That is not what I want to do, though.  I would rather scare him off without hurting him.  Concentrating on the trees around him, I shake the branches with my magic, dumping snow on him as I did with Xandra
during our snow fight. 

Going down on all fours, the bear shakes his fur, confused about the sudden snowfall.  Shaking the branches more, the bear starts to back
up from the falling snow
.  Eventually, he
loses interest in me and
lumbers away, certain that nothing good will come of him staying.

“What would you have done if he attacked you?”
Xandra asks as I walk back towards her
.

I shrug
.  “I guess we will find out if he comes back hungry for Fairies.”

When I finally reach her, still standing where I left her a moment ago, I put my hands on her shoulders and grin.
  “Now, about that kiss
.
”

To my great disappointment, she darts under my arm and backs away. 
“The other night you said you couldn’t let anything happen between us.  How come you’ve changed your mind?”

A valid question, I suppose. 
Regardless if my body agrees or not.
  My disappointment must show on my face, because she feels the need to back up farther. 
“Well?”

Take it slow, I keep telling myself.  Certain parts of me do not want to listen, but I do keep myself rooted to the spot instead of trying to convince her to kiss me again. 
“Because you had no knowledge of the big picture.
  It would not have been fair of me to engage you in any type of romance without first explaining to you my original intent when coming here
.  A
nd what the king is willing to do if he gets his hands on you.”

She frowns. 
“And you couldn’t have just told me those things that night?”

I smile sadly as I remember the pain in her eyes when I stopped kissing her that night. 
“As I recall, you were not of a mind to listen to me.”

I believe she knows there is truth in my words.  Instead of admitting that, she says,
“You know what this is, don’t you, this sudden attraction you have for me?”

Oh, I definitely want to hear this. 
“Please, enlighten me.”

“I’m basically the last Fairy on earth because
Maurelle
doesn’t really count
,
so you have to be attracted to me.”

I raise my brows as I cross my arms over my chest.  What an interesting theory she has manufactured in her head. 
“I have to be?  So, even if you were spindly
,
with warts all
over your face, I would still have to find you attractive because of your Fairy blood and my lack of other Fairy options?”

Embarrassment sends blood rushing into her cheeks. 
I believe she has realized how inane her comment sounded. 
“Shouldn’t we be practicing?”

I am greatly amused, but I know when to stop teasing – most of the time. 
“Yes, we should
.
”
  With no further ado, I take off my glove and hold my hand out to her.  She puts her hand gingerly in mine, but I grasp hers firmly.