Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke (16 page)

This time he tensed when
his brother didn’t let go. “I’m alright. Let go, Kerry,” he met his
brother’s eyes fully, “please.”

“We need to talk,” Kerry
told him, watching his eyes to see the wariness return, “Now or
later, you choose.”

Sighing, Roarke closed his
eyes and knowing Kerry’s stubbornness knew he didn’t have a choice.
“Later,” he muttered, looking at his brothers but frowning as he
eyed Ryan. “What happened to you?”

Muttered, low curses could be heard as
Ryan’s eyes flashed in a way that Ian thought he’d lunge at their
brother.

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” he
finally muttered, tossing Ian the icebag. “So, we have a new plan,
bro?”

Kerry nodded. “Before we
talk this through there is one place all of us should go,” he
decided, figuring it was the only way to do the proper thing and to
test some things. “Is this a good time?” Mac asked, figuring what
he wanted.

“The five of us have to be
united on this to beat Sebastian and by right the first thing the
five of us should do is visit them,” Kerry replied, feeling Roarke
go rigid. “Roarke, do you want to come or…?”

Shaking his head, he backed
away slowly. “I can’t go to the cemetery yet, Kerry,” he refused,
nearly panicked at the thought. “There are too many issues to cope
with before I can face them. I will but not yet.”

“You still don’t…Ow!” Ryan
had started to sneer when Mac dug his fingers into his neck to
silence him.

“Alright, you don’t have to
come,” Kerry accepted that, not being too surprised but he did
raise a hand to keep his brother’s attention. “I would then ask you
find Jessica and settle some things with her. She’s scared for you,
Roarke, and whatever happened this time made it worse.”

Turning to stare at his
brothers, he saw the way Ian was looking at the floor and Ryan’s
look. “What did I do?”

“Just talk to her,” Kerry
repeated as he moved to go to the back door with Mac and Ian
following him.

Ryan hung back to consider
something then finally spoke. “Roarke, wait.” It was rare for him
to use his brother’s name so that got immediate attention. “I know
you and I have issues but that’s us and we’ll handle that but…” he
paused, hating to lose the arrogant attitude he’d always used but
knowing this time he had to be serious. “She loves you, Roarke. Any
blind fool could see that so I’m hoping you do ‘cause that lass is
willing to take a lot of risks for you.”

“Loving me is a bad thing
for anyone to do,” Roarke replied lowly, going to turn away but
tensed when his brother grabbed his arm. “Ryan…”

“That’s bullshit, boyo,”
Ryan snapped, using his anger to keep the tone to his voice when
every part of him wanted to soothe this scared boy.

He had always known that he and Roarke would
fight the most but that was fine with Ryan so long as no one else
hurt his brother.

“You talk to the girl, then
talk with Kerry, because what you believe is wrong with you is dead
wrong,” he snapped, whirling on a heel to storm out but paused to
look back. “Tell her, brat.”

Maggie had been helping Deirdre in the
kitchen when Kerry and the others entered and she immediately
caught the strain.

“We’ll take the drinks in
the living room in awhile,” Kerry spoke to the housekeeper as he
reached into a closet for a red and black linen cloak.

Deirdre had been turning
with a large roast in a pan when she saw this and would have
dropped the pan if Ian hadn’t been close to catch it. “I spoke with
several locals and they’d like to pay their respects to the Lords
of Fitzgaren.”

“Fitzgaren has an actual
Lord?” Maggie blinked at that. “I thought that went out years
ago.”

Mac grinned. “The title is
symbolic but many of the townsfolk still hold by it and offer
little respectful tributes.”

“It also helps when the
Lord of Fitzgaren has always been a powerful witch who can make
rain when he gets ticked,” Ryan added, coming into the
kitchen.

Deirdre sat the pan in the
oven and wiped her hands on an apron as she looked at her helper in
the kitchen. “Kerry inherited the title after his parents, Lord
Toryn and Lady Brenna, passed. Though all five share the actual
role of Lords of Fitzgaren.”

Maggie turned to stare at
Mac. “You didn’t tell me that,” she hissed, annoyed by his
grin.

“You didn’t ask me, luv,”
he returned, sighing. “Let’s do this before I change my
mind.”

As the four left by the
back door, Maggie looked at the housekeeper. “Where are they
going?”

“To the Fitzgerald family
cemetery to pay their respects, but without young Roarke, I don’t
think it’ll do what Kerry wants it to.” This left both women to
wonder just where Roarke Fitzgerald was if not with his
brothers.

CHAPTER SIX

“Nick, tell me there’s
something you can do to speed this along so my life gets back to
normal,” Cameron Young was sitting on his bike on the side of the
manor talking to what was clearly an astral form of a light haired
young man.

Nick O’Malley was one of
Hadley Industries’ resident mystics and right then he was calming
down an upset mercenary. “You’re dealing with things written
centuries ago, Cam. Sean and I can’t speed that up.”

“Thank you very much,” Cam
muttered, scowling as he looked up. “I really should shoot
you.”

Chuckling as he got closer,
Roarke spread his arms. “I asked you to do that a long time ago,
mate,” he reminded his friend/part-time leader.

“Shut up,” Cam growled,
motioning Nick to go away so he could focus on Roarke. “So, you
want to tell me what the hell happened a little while
ago?”

“I had a blackout, I’m
guessing, ‘cause I don’t remember anything,” Roarke sighed, letting
his fingers run through his long hair before reaching into his
pocket for a cigarette; a sure sign that told Cam that his friend
was too wired. “What she say?”

Cam knew that was an
obvious set up so he stepped back from it. “She’s in the stables
with the horses in case you’re interested,” he announced, pulling
his jacket collar up to ward off the chill. “I’ll be inside and
finding my team.”

Roarke scowled at his back, took two more
puffs before tossing it away and heading for the stable.

He could recall his father
building this new stable when he’d been a boy and how he and his
brothers had loved playing in it or watching the horses. Stepping
in, the smell took him back and he just stood there for several
minutes taking it in before the soft sound caught his
attention.

Listening, he recognized
the old Irish lullaby in his native language as one his mother had
sung to them as babies. Following the sound, Roarke found Jessica
singing softly as she gently brushed the nose of a beautiful black
stallion with a full flowing white mane.

He stood back to watch his
friend and thought on his brother’s words. Even as children,
Jessica had been his best friend. The one he could tell anything to
and not be afraid. Lord knows he knew she had saved his life, even
at times when he wanted die, and together they had been through bad
times and he feared the times to come would be worse.

Watching her with the
horse, Roarke began to look carefully so she would not sense him
yet. He could read her physical weakness, how tired she still was
but he also caught how uneven she was emotionally. Being tired
himself and weak, he couldn’t see the physical injuries without
being closer.

Jessica sang softly to the
horse as she brushed its silky coat, needing anything to keep her
mind off recent events. She knew she needed to keep it together for
Roarke’s sake so she couldn’t break down in front of him or appear
afraid even though she often was scared with his blackouts and
especially with how he’d been lately.

“You’re a pretty boy,
aren’t you?” she spoke to the horse as she went to put the brush
aside to scratch its ears, but winced as her ribs and the slight
burns the hospital attack caused pulled unexpectedly and she nearly
faltered until strong hands encircled her waist.

“Just like most Irish
males, all that attention will spoil him for life,” Roarke spoke in
her ear as he caught her from falling, not letting on when he felt
her tense as he did so often.

Startled at her friend’s
voice, Jessica turned on instinct and found herself encircled by
his arms. “Roarke, how long have you been out here?” she asked,
thoughts scattered at his sudden appearance and fighting to shield
as much as she could as fast as she could.

His smoky gray-blue eyes
were calm as they looked down since he was several inches taller
than his friend was, and saw what she couldn’t hide. “When was the
last time I told you that you sing wonderfully,
a gra
?” he countered her question,
feeling her shake as he eased her toward a hay bale to sit
on.

“Did Mac or Peter say you could be out
here?” Jessica ignored his question, frowning as he sat her down
but didn’t step away as he normally did.

“Kerry said we needed to
talk,” Roarke replied, lightly running a finger down her cheek and
instinctively moved her hair aside and saw the marks on her neck.
“Want to pick the topic or should I?”

Jessica shook her head,
figuring why Kerry would need them to talk, and more confident that
she could get him on a topic that was safe. “No, it’s fine. All we
need to do is…” she had started to push up when his hands moved to
ease her back. “What?”

“Tell me how you got
these?” he touched her throat and saw her eyes go wary. “New
Orleans, I can guess, so skip the bloody easy remark and tell me
how and who. Did I do it?”

“No!” she seemed shocked at
the idea but avoided his eyes, which could be too intense at times.
“Roarke, I expect to get hurt when I deal with evil power. It’s
nothing.”

Doubting that, he let it go
for then, moving to sit next to her and knew she was struggling to
hide things. “What did I do at the hospital?” he asked, cutting her
off when she went to shrug. “Ryan says I hurt you and Kerry won’t
say which means I did something, so what?”

Knowing her friend didn’t
need this right then, Jessica tried to get him off the subject.
“Roarke, it’s fine. I’m fine. Let’s go inside
and…Roarke?”

This time he heard the mild
fear when he held her arm still and hated that he could cause her
that fear when he had sworn he would never hurt anyone he loved…he
swallowed suddenly at the thought and finally sighed. “I hate when
he’s right,” he muttered, letting go of her so he could scrub both
hands over his face.

“You hate when who’s
right?” Jessica asked, concerned he would slip under
again.

“Ryan,” Roarke answered
sourly. “I hate when Ryan’s right about anything because he never
lets me live it down.”

Jessica knew this and
hesitantly touched his arm. “I figured that out when you punched
him earlier.”

“Is that how his face got to be bleeding?”
he lifted a brow at that and wondered what had caused it then
figured he knew. “He was flirting with you, wasn’t he?”

“Ryan was being Ryan and
didn’t mean anything,” she swiftly sought to explain, needing him
off this subject.

Roarke felt her fear
building, which caused him to turn to look and saw her shields had
dropped a good deal, and he could see the paleness, the weakness
and… he could sense the injuries.

“I haven’t been the best
friend to you lately, Jess,” he spoke slowly, watching her closely
but he stepped away, needing the space.

“You’ve been through too
much, luv,” the girl smiled, wanting to reassure him but not
knowing how. “It’ll all be fine.”

Not knowing who she was
reassuring more, he smiled for the first time in days. “Promise me
if I ever hurt you in any way you’ll let Ryan burn me.”

Seeing her eyes shoot to
his told Roarke what he wanted to know, but as he started to turn
away her hand shot to his arm without thinking.

“Roarke, I know you’d never
hurt me intentionally,” she quickly spoke but as he stopped, she
wondered silently.

Looking over his shoulder,
he could read the fear and concern and made a choice. “From New
Orleans to today, show me what’s happened.”

Knowing that was a bad
plan, Jessica tried to refuse but his hands were on her shoulders
gently, his eyes plaintive.

“Show me,
a gra
(my love),” he
murmured, feeling her hesitance, but his power was slightly
stronger as he looked past her shields. He then saw the attack in
New Orleans with the shadow creature, the airport attack, to his
possession at the hospital in Killarney where the demon who took
over his form attacked the girl and his brothers to everything
else.

Only Roarke’s speed kept his friend from
collapsing to the ground as the images died away and she went limp
in his arms.

“No, stay with me, luv,” he
spoke firmly as he eased her back on the bale of hay and quickly
took his jacket off so he could ease her head back on it.
“Jessie?”

Briefly considering calling for Mac, Roarke
sighed and took a leap that he prayed didn’t doom them both.