1.5 True of Blood: Kallen's Tale (7 page)

I h
iss loudly and fall back to the ground
as her amulet glows, doing its job by burning my skin
. 
Apparently understanding what she did,
Xandra
now
looks down at me sheepishly as she starts to take the amulet off.
 
Her mother stops her, warning her that she has to be more careful about her safety.  That is the first rational thing I have heard either of them say.  She should be on her guard
;
she does not know me.  Or the horrible thoughts I am having about her at the moment.

Her mother instructs her to go get her aunt to help me.  A moment later, a
thin, sandy brown haired
woman comes out of the house to assist me.  I have to lean heavily on her, which is awkward as I am about a foot taller, but she manages to get me into the house and onto an ugly, red overstuffed couch.  Looking around the small
house, I am appalled by
what can only be called
rustic furnishings
.  Isla would be horrified.  I suppose
,
just like in my realm, not everyone can live in a mansion.

“Thank you,”
I say to the Cowan
.  Another spasm of pain causes me to grimace,
and
my voice
is
deepened by it.
I fear I may lose consciousness soon. 

I am not far enough gone, though, to miss the
physical
assessment
Xandra’s eyes are doing of me
, as they move slowly down my body and then back up. 
Until she notices me watching her
.
 
Caught in the act, she blushes and
averts
her eyes.  If I was not in so much pain, I would laugh.
I am starting to get an idea of how innocent she
really
is.

Over the next several minutes, both the Witch and Cowan spirits assess my wounds, and then the Witch sends Xandra off to retrieve the items needed for a healing salve. 
Witch’s bottles are nasty little things.  I cannot believe I did not do a sweep for that magic.
  I have been in such an agitated state since arriving, I had not even thought of it.  An excellent example of how my resentment about being here can affect my safety.  If I live through this wound, I will be much more careful.

When Xandra returns with the items she was sent to seek, her mother and aunt begin creating a salve.  As they do this, Xandra asks question after question about things she should have been taught as a child, not now.  I find I am
still annoyed with her ignorance, but I am disgusted with the Witch.

“Have you not taught her anything?”
I ask the Witch spirit, who does not appear happy with
inquiry
.
 
O
ther than a dirty look,
she
ignores me
.  However, she is not able to hide the
regret in her ghostly blue eyes.  Good.  It is appalling how ignorant she left the girl.
  Xandra does not need someone to kill her
;
she needs someone to educate her.  Someone besides me
, that is
.

After making the salve and placing it over my wound with a towel,
the Witch is faced with the onerous task of explaining to Xandra how to add magic to the salve to make it work properly.  She already looks overwhelmed with the small amount of information she has been given in the last ten minutes. 
I fear a
ny
more may make her brain shut down completely.

After the long explanation, Xandra’s response is,
“Okay, but I still don’t know what to do.”
  My eyes are trying to roll.  With all my effort, I force them to stay still. 
My tongue,
as well.
  The more I make provoking statements, the more it slows the process of my healing.

Xandra moves closer to her mother and holds out her hand, which the spirits holds her hand against.
“Close your eyes and imagine his wound healing
,
”
the Witch instructs.
When the girl closes her eyes and concentrates, her aura becomes visible.  I have never seen this happen before.
  I wonder what it
means.

Suddenly, there is an onslaught of magic rushing into my body
, and it is not Witch magic
.  Does
Xandra
know she is doing this? 
Or h
ow painful this is?  I am about to pull my own magic
to stop her
, when I realize
t
hat each quiver and pull of pain
is not her trying to hurt me.  It
is my body healing.  My insides are literally knitting back together.  The pain is of no consequence now. 
At this rate,
I will be completely healed when she is finished. 
Remarkable.
  Perhaps this is her special Fairy power?
  The ability to heal is very rare.

When she opens her eyes to
a
silent room, she looks around at the dumbfounded faces on all of us.
 
Standing
akimbo,
she
ask
s
, “What?  What did I do wrong?”

“Wrong?”
the Witch
asks.  She sounds surprised.  “Xandra, you didn’t do anything wrong.  You did it exactly right.”

“Then why are you guys looking at me like I’m a freak?”

I shake my head. 
She truly is naïve of how much power she just demonstrated. 
“Has your mother explained to you why the pairing of a Witch and a Fairy is forbidden?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she snaps,
“I think it’s pretty clear that no one has explained much of anything to me
.
”

She looks so
cute
when she’s frustrated
. 
Maybe cute is the wrong word here. 
Her cheeks are flushed, sparks are coming from her eyes, and the way her arms are framing some of her curves, she is
more than
cute
.  She is
unbelievably hot.  But at the same time
,
I am trying
hard not to laugh
because she is also trying to look tough. 
And failing miserably
.
 
So, b
arely containing my humor, I say,
“Because it has always been feared that the pairing would unleash a creature
who
i
s too powerful to be stopped by either the Witches or the Fae.”

Putting
her
hands back on
her
hips,
she
sigh
s
heavily.  “So?”

Slowly,
just in case the wound is not as healed as I believe it to be, I pull
the towel covered in salve from
my
wound. 
The skin is not even broken. 
Nor is there a scar.
 
I look up at her while I show her the wound.
 

“Okay, it’s gone.  Isn’t that what was supposed to happen?”

The Witch
shakes
her ghostly
head.  She goes on to explain that the healing process should have taken time, requiring several episodes of magical help. 
“Well, you said you were a powerful Witch
,
”
Xandra says, her brow pinched.
She is still not getting it.

The Witch shakes her head again. 
“I didn’t do this.”

“Then who did?”
 
Hot yes, but
about as
astute as a raisin
. 

“You
,
”
the Witch says patiently.
 
A lot more patiently than I would have.

Xandra looks at me and then back to her mother. 
“Uh
uh
, no way.
  I don’t know how to do that.”

“I channeled your
mana
,
” the Witches’ annoying word for magic,
“
focusing it where it needed to go
,
but once it found its purpose, I had to let go.  I’m not a strong enough vessel for the amount of
mana
you were sending through me.”
  I am surprised the Witch admits this. 

Xandra, apparently, is still unconvinced. 
“So, let me get this straight.  Even though I have never done a magical thing in my entire life, suddenly I’m this super Witch who can heal someone instantly?  Sorry, I don’t buy it.”

Her mother lowers her voice and says patiently,
“Your powers were bound until after your seventeenth birthday, remember?  There was no way to tell how powerful of a Witch you’d be.”
  Yes, like it is her Witch magic that is so powerful.  The spirit should have been able to realize it was Fairy magic floating through her.  Perhaps, she simply does not want to admit that.

Xandra rounds on me, now
.  “Will you please tell her that I had nothing to do with this?”

She is so exasperated
.  H
er skin is
still
flush
,
and her eyes are shining like sunlight on
a finely cut emerald.  I have to work hard not to smile at her. 
Like my resentment,
I have to keep my attraction out of the equation
of keeping her, and myself, safe
.
  “I do not recall much from before the Fae world was closed off from this one, I was quite young.  But I do not recall hearing of a Witch who was this powerful.  I do know that no one in the Fae realm ever tells stories of the pairing of a Witch and Fairy.”
  It seems like Isla would have mentioned it if it had happened before.

She looks deep in thought for a moment. 
I am impressed; I have not seen her concentrate like this before. 
I wonder if
i
t hurts her.  Finally, she says,
“What do you mean before the Fae world was closed off?  Wasn’t that supposed to have happened hundreds of years ago
,
or was that another lie?”

I am not about to explain how time lines differ between realms.  I do not think she w
ould
understand it
if I did
.
“No, that was not a lie.”

Her voice is getting sharper, as she says, “
Are you trying to tell me that you’re like three hundred years old or something?”

“Three hundred and sixty seven.”
 
I have not actually converted my age from time line to time line, but that is my best guess
off the top of my head
.

Her face contorts in anger and frustration.  She looks like she is about to blow. 
But, i
nstead
of pulling magic as most would
, she throws her hands up in the air
.
“I can’t take any more of this inane conversation.”  Turning on
her
heel,
she stomps
out of the room and
a moment later, a door slams loudly.  She is even cute when she throws a temper tantrum.  I am in so much trouble if I cannot stop these thoughts.
 

Chapter
6

The Witch leaves the room
;
I assume to go after her daughter. 
The room is completely still
, now
.  I think the aunt and the father are too stunned to speak or move.  Not that I mind, I have no desire to engage them in conversation. 

I
am still
mentally lecturing myself about the dangers of letting my attraction to her body interfere with what I am here to do, when Xandra comes back in
to
the room with her mother.  She looks embarrassed about her little outburst, and she avoids
meeting my gaze
. 

Trying to get
us
back on the subject at hand, I say to the Witch,
“You do
n
o
t mean to keep her here, do you?”

She gives me the evil eye
.  “Where else would I teach her?”

“Maybe it i
s not her Witch magic that she needs to concentrate on
.
”

The Witch has a retort on her lips, but is kept from spouting it by a young boy with sandy brown hair and blue eyes bouncing into the room.  How many people live in this
small house? 
“Mom, do I have to go with Aunt Barb?  I want to stay and see the Fairies.”

Xandra’s smile is as dazzling as it is simpering, as she says,
“There’s one right there
.  Y
ou can see they’re not that special
.
”
I am learning that she has a sharp tongue, but I am not going to engage in a back and forth.  I simply glare.

“Yes, you have to go with Aunt Barb.  You’ll be much safer there if the bad Fairies come back.”

“I thought Fairies were nice, like in the stories
,” the boy says.  Obviously, his mind has been filled with tripe Cowans have made up about us over the years. 

“Just like all people aren’t nice, neither are all Fairies,”
the Witch says.  She gives Xandra a stern look, warning her not to add her commentary
.  “It’ll just be for a little while, I promise.”

Finally, we are back to this. 
“As long as she is here, you will not have peace,”
I say, crossing my arms over my chest.   I am distracted momentarily by Xandra’s eyes roving over my body
again
.  Her mind should be filled with the dangers of her current situation, not ogling me.  I give her a dirty look, hoping to hide the
fact that the desire in her eyes excites me.  I do not even hear the rest of the conversation the Witch has with the boy. 

My attention is abruptly brought back to the Witch, as she says to me, “My daughter and I can handle whatever
your
Fairy friends can dish out.”

Her arrogance is almost impressive.  Too bad it is misguided.  “Including an exorcism?”

Xandra rises from her seat and points a finger at me, as she practically shouts, “Don’t you dare threaten my mother!”  I wonder if her moods swings are always this bad, or if sh
e has saved them up for a while, waiting for someone new to take them out on.

Choosing to ignore her childish little outburst, I say to the Witch, “I
am merely pointing out the course of action
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
will take. 
Which would leave your daughter with no one to teach her all the things she should have been taught years ago.
  She does not know even the most basic magic.”

The Witch crosses her arms over her chest. 
“What are you suggesting?”

“That she is removed from this,”
I pause to look around at the humble furnishings
, “home
,
and she goes into hiding until her magic is strong enough for her to defend herself.  She obviously has the power, she simply needs the control.”

“Hello!  I’m still in the room.  Don’t talk about me like I’m not.” 

My god, she is acting like a petulant child, now.
Bringing my eyes back to her, I say,
“I am assuming that it is not your decision whether you remain here
,
or go into hiding.  Therefore, I am speaking to the person who will make that decision.” 

“And where exactly do you think she should hide and with whom?”
the Witch asks.

I cannot believe
that
the next words come charging out of my mouth
, even as every neuron in my body is trying to stop my facial muscles from moving my lips. 
“As my blood is pure, not tainted as is
Maurelle’s
and
Olwyn’s
, I would be able to shield her presence from them.  I could even prevent them from sensing her Witch magic
,
which is how you were so easily found.  It was simply a matter of following your particular flavor
of magic.”
  I wish
there was some sort of
a mental shovel
that could be used
to dig out of other people’s minds what you want them to forget.  I would be digging like crazy to get those three sentences back.

Apparently, I would not need to dig very far in Xandra’s mind.  The only thing she seemed to hear was the last part. 
“You can taste magic?”
she asks
.

Her mind seems to be immaturely literal.  I incline my head and speak slower, enunciating my words carefully. 
“It is simply a figure of speech.  I will try to be more precise with my words so you may understand their meanings.” 

Her face scrunches up into the cutest fit of rage I have ever seen.  Grabbing a pillow from the couch, she throws it at me.  Again, I have to try not to laugh at her behavior. 

The Witch is strangely quiet.  I believe that it has dawned on her that she truly is not the best person to train her daughter.  There is more back and forth between
the two
, with me adding a sentence or two here and there, digging my own grave.  Why does my traitorous mouth keep behaving as if I am going to go through with this disastrous plan of me being the one to train her?  I would probably end up killing her out of sheer frustration.

At one point, after a particularly honest statement of mine, Xandra says to me, “
Couldn’t you at least pretend to be a decent guy for maybe ten minutes or so
,
or would that ruin your reputation in the Fairy homeland?”

Nice guy?  She is in dire trouble, even though she refuses to understand that, and she wants me to sugar coat it? 
“Would you have me tell you
lies
?  I could paint a pretty
picture where your mother somehow saves the day with her magic that does not begin to compare to that of the Fae.  I could tell you that you will all live out the rest of your lives, or afterlives,”
I say, looking at the Witch now
, “in these mountains and there will be sunshine and happiness abounding.”

“Why are you so sure that Mom’s magic isn’t strong enough?”

I think her brain is less like a sponge, and more like a rock.
Impenetrable
,
with no hope of absorbing anything.
 
“It is as I already explained to you.  Fairies have the ability to absorb a Witch’s magic
,
if you will.  The more that is absorbed, the less that Fairy is affected by that Witch’s magic
,
until it no longer has any affect whatsoever. 
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
may be tainted
,
but they are older than I by several hundred
Cowan
years.  They are strong.”
  Not anywhere near as strong as I am, but she does not need to know that.

“What do you mean by tainted?  And don’t roll your eyes at me.  There’s no reason why I should already know the answer.”

I barely hold back a grin.  She is getting feisty
again
, now. 
I like her better this way. 
“You are correct
.  T
he Fae world was closed many years before your time
,
so there is no reason for you to be well informed of our history.
”  I go on to explain to her how some Fairies chose to taint their blood lines with Cowan blood, and how the children of these unions were weak.
 

“So, by tainted you mean they’re weaker.” 

That is not what I said.
 
“No, by tainted I mean they are lesser.”

“You are so full of yourself.  I haven’t seen anything about you that would make you such a superior being.  A jerk Fairy is still just a jerk.”

This conversation is going nowhere fast.  Time to pretend she is not in the room again.  To the Witch, I say,
“Will you ignore the truth and leave her here
,
damning all the Cowan to a world of servitude and pain?”

Another round of arguing begins, and the
longer it goes on, the
farther I get entrenched in the plan for me to be the one to teach her how to use her magic.  Yes, I often did th
at
back home – helped kids learn to use their magic, but this is different.  Xandra is definitely not a kid, not with those curves
,
or those pouty lips that make me want to kiss them
. 
Oh, man. 
This is not a wise idea.  I am
sure
it will end badly for one, or both, of us.

A
nother
rush of bitterness towards my grandmother flows through me.  I am positive now that I will never forgive her for this.  Unfortunately, since time moves slower in this realm, I will have a thousand or so years to build up even more resentment. 

I am pulled out of my reverie by Xandra asking how I was able to come to this realm with the gateways closed. 
I explain how her mother had helped make things murky about who could travel between realms.  I also explain how the traveler would need a personal effect from Dagda.

“You mean like his hair?” 
Yes, s
he is
definitely
as astute as a raisin
.  I cannot pretend
enthusiasm at her figuring such a small thing out.
 
More questions ensue until she understands. 
Finally.
 

“And even though you hate humans and Witches, you took it upon yourself to come here and save us all?” 

I guess some of my reluctance to be here is apparent. 
Possibly because I have not been trying to hide it.
 
“As I said,
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
are strong
,
even with their tainted blood.  It had to be a true blooded Fairy who followed them to this realm.  I took the burden upon myself.”
 
Actually, f
orced into it by a woman I thought loved me like her own son.  Now, I know differently.

There is that cute little eye roll, again. 
Perhaps if I simply stopped looking at her, I would not notice such things. 
“You are such a liar.”

True. 
I am about to tell her what I really think about being here
,
when the Witch interrupts our banter. 
“Xandra, we can’t discount what he’s saying just because we don’t like it.” 
Turning to me, she asks,
“Would you be willing to take a blood oath?” 

I am slightly taken aback by her turn around.  Is this some sort of trick? 
Xandra may not worry about her safety, but I am certainly worried about mine. 
“That would, of
course, depend on the oath,
”
I say.

“Would you be willing to protect Xandra as you would your own life?”

The word, ‘Yes’ jumps out of my mouth too quickly to close my lips on it.  I believe my mind has been hijacked by other parts of me that find Xandra attractive.  But, if this is what it takes to get them to prepare for
Maurelle
and
Olwyin’s
attack, then so be it.  With the proper wording, blood oaths can easily be manipulated.
  The sooner this is all done, the sooner I can get out of here.

Xandra is starting to look nervous, now. 
“Uh, Mom, what are you thinking?”

The Witch looks
unhappy
now,
more
than she did the first time she met me
.  “I am thinking that the best way to protect you may be to let someone stronger, someone who knows the ways of the Fae, protect you.”