Firebrand (10 page)

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I just found out I’m some sort of enigma, a mistake who is supposed to save three worlds, two of which I never believed existed.” She looked at him sharply. “So I would say, no. I’m not okay.”

“If I could take your place, I would. But I can’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right. You’re only human.”

“Amber, don’t. You make it sound immoral. I can’t be any more or any less than I am and neither can you.”

She pressed her lips together. “I’m sorry.” She pointed a slender finger at a clump of grass on the other side of the pond. “Teezal said that I’m supposed to be able to make things happen at will. I don’t know how I did it at the house but I can’t seem to make anything happen now.” She bounced her forefinger up and down in the air. “Nothing. Not even conjure a bunch of fake flowers like a phony magician.”

“The magic will become like second nature to you. And when it does, you won’t be alone, Amber.”

“Right, you made a vow to defend me.”

“I’m a Guardian. My family discharges a promise made a long time ago.”

“What kind of promise?”

“A sacred vow handed down through generations, one we dare not break or it could unleash darkness on our family for generations to come.”

Amber frowned. “Sounds more like a curse than a vow.”

David’s eyes went straight to Amber’s, their gazes locking. She trembled, feeling that David barely kept his emotions in check. “I never felt that way until…” He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply and purposefully. His eyes snapped open. “It doesn’t matter.”

Amber reached out and smoothed her fingers over his temple. “It seems that promises kept can hurt as much as those broken.” She sighed. “And that life can be so unfair.”

“I’ve had better than most. I shouldn’t complain. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“I’m worried too,” she admitted. “It’s all happening so fast.”

He brushed a strand of burnished hair behind her ear and kissed it into place. “I’ll be there for you. We all will. But in the end, it will be entirely up to you to decide what to do.”

Amber’s shoulders slumped. “It’s a heavy burden to bear.”

He pulled her closer. “I know honey. I’d give my life to be able to trade places with you. But I can’t.” His arms tightened. “I can’t.”

“Help me understand, then.” she pleaded softly. “Why does it have to be you who must look after me?”

“When man was cast from the Garden, it split into three worlds — human, fairy and troll, each given a means of protection. The human sword, the Sword of Adam, was wielded to protect the breeders of the human race until it became strong and plentiful. I have descended from the first Guardian. Over the millennia, the charge is passed from father to son.”

“And you have this sword?”

“Yes, it’s safe.”

“Where are the others?”

“The second sword, the Sword of Light, is protected by the fae. It is said this sword is the source of their magic.”

“And the third?”

“The Sword of Shadows. Given to the trolls when the First One sent the race to the catacombs to dwell. It was meant to help them hold the elements of the earth together but they used the sword to kill fae and humans. It became dark and malevolent, feeding the depraved ambition of those who possess it.”

“So it was meant that all three worlds live in harmony in the beginning, each caring for a component of the cosmos.”

“Yes but those on the path of shadows found corporeal pleasure in fae and human and began to mix the blood of the races, using the blended beings they produced as slaves. Soon living in the caves was not enough for them. Teachings passed down through the ages foretold of a great power to be had if the swords were united. The trolls have made it their calling to own all the swords and use the power they possess to rule all worlds. Great wars have been fought over time to gain control of the swords. My family has sheltered the Sword of Adam for eons, waiting for the one who would be chosen to come and unite the worlds once more.”

“At the Triad Teezal keeps talking about.”

“Yes. The Triad will decide which line protects the peace or rules the ruins for the next thousand years.”

Her breathing quickened. “And that’s what I have make happen.”

He cupped her cheek and moved closer. “You are the only one who can, Amber.”

“Can I actually do it, David?”

He brushed her hair with his fingertips. “I know you can, honey.”

His eyes filled with pain and then sparkled the onset of tears he tried to keep under control. He moved closer and she knew he was going to kiss her. If she let him, she would lose all focus when his lips touched hers.

“I almost killed you,” she said, while his eyes were closed and his breath came into contact with her skin. “How can you want to kiss me?”

The words caught David off guard and his eyes popped open. “Because I know you would never intentionally hurt anyone or anything.” His gaze fell to her lips and then rose back to her eyes. “But unfortunately the truth remains that you may have to do something even more heinous to save us all.”

She swallowed hard. “What do you want from me, David?” Her stomach knotted and she turned her head away from his sad eyes so he wouldn’t see the tear that trailed down her cheek.

He moved her hair from her neck with his hand. “What I want and what I can have is irrelevant now that you know who you are.” He nuzzled the side of her neck and felt her shudder on his lips. “If our worlds don’t survive, nothing else matters.”

She felt her breathing become slow and thick with wants. “Tell me what to do.”

“I can’t influence you in any way. The choice must be made freely and the offering freely given.” His tongue snaked out to taste her between words. “You will have to learn to use the gifts the worlds have given you and make the choice on your own.”

“I can sometimes move objects, inflict pain and see things,” she said, arching her back and shifting toward him. “But none of that is enough to save even one world.” His kisses and tiny bites were making her head spin. She could barely hear his voice as a white noise began to form inside her head. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?”

“Yes,” he said between kisses. “I’m helping you learn. Point at the grass across the way,” he whispered into her ear before nibbling on the lobe. He cupped his fingers around hers, allowing only her forefinger free and raised her hand before kissing his way back to her lips. “Think about flowers,” he said right before he covered her mouth with his.

A hum began inside her head, building to a deafening crescendo before exploding into crackling light. Her lips trembled and then parted and she could feel David pull her to standing. He pushed her mouth open wider, swirling his tongue around its softness, encouraging her to give back. She heard a moan and wasn’t sure if it was his or hers as the blood felt like molten lava crawling through her veins.

When she was shaking so intensely that she could barely stand, he pulled his mouth away. He rested his forehead on hers and waited until his ragged breathing evened enough for him to speak. “Amber, open your eyes.”

He released her and cupped her chin, urging her face toward the pond. As she became aware of her surroundings again, she realized that his hand still held hers and her finger still pointed across the water. Slowly her eyelids fluttered open.

A gasp escaped her lips. The area across the water where before had only been grass and brush was alive with the colors of hundreds of flowers. Morning glories grew up the trees and entwined themselves in once bare branches. Yellow, red and pink roses bloomed among plants alive with every color imaginable.

“How…” Her whispered question was cut by another kiss.

“Emotion,” he answered her. “Emotion triggers your power.”

Chapter Eight

“What are you doing?”

Amber and David broke their embrace like two children caught misbehaving as the telepathic question rose in their minds.

A sound like a rustle of wings heralded Teezal’s appearance. “I see you’ve been teaching Amber,” she said as she approached them. “Amber must learn about the magic, not about the corporeal.”

“David was just showing me how emotion could trigger things,” Amber replied. She glanced at the opposite bank and then at David. “Beautiful things.”

“Terrible things also,” Teezal warned. “If not controlled properly. You must learn that.” She looked at David. “Along with self-restraint.”

“But if it’s true that emotion releases my gifts, then love is the most powerful emotion on earth and our ally in the war you say we will have to wage in order to win.”

Teezal took her hand. “Emotion is one way. There is another.” She took Amber’s hand. “Come, Amber, it’s time to see another part of who you are.”

Teezal leveled her free hand and a vortex began in her palm. Color and radiance spun in an ever-increasing pyramid until it engulfed them both. Pulsating light, like exploding stars, flashed throughout the sunlight-hued eddy around them.

“Amber!” David cried out, watching her hair move as though a wind blew around her even though the air was still. He reached toward her but Teezal warned him away with a determined look and a firm rise of her chin. Nodding his acquiescence, he slowly lowered his hand and stepped back.

“David,” Amber cried out in an unsteady tone.”

“He can’t enter the light,” Teezal replied as the colors around them flashed brighter. “It would kill him.”

“What’s happening to me?” Amber cried above the wind-like vortex, watching in fascination as her body suddenly felt weightless. Her hair rippled around her shoulders. Sparkles, much like the glitter she’d seen in her office earlier, floated like raindrops around her.

“You are becoming,’ Teezal replied, breaking contact and stepping away from her.

“Becoming what?” Amber asked, feeling every fiber of her body explode.

“What you were born to be.”

Amber felt her body fragment and then begin to reconfigure. Commencing with her toes, her form solidified as the light moved up her body. She felt a prickling that began at her mid-back and ended at her shoulder blades as the light continued upward. It moved up her neck, across her face and then disappeared altogether in a bolt of something that resembled a trail of stars fading into the sky above her. She closed her eyes and let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, feeling her hair settle around her face and shoulders. Only when she heard David’s voice calling her name, did she dare open her eyes again.

When she looked at him, he seemed mesmerized, his gaze fixed on her. A half-smile curved his mouth but the sadness she had come to know so well remained in his eyes.

“I didn’t think you could ever be more beautiful than you were,” he said taking her hand and leading her to the edge of the pond. “But look.” His gaze dropped to the still waters of the lake.

As Amber slowly dropped her gaze to the water, a dragonfly rose into flight. His departure momentarily disturbed the surface tension producing a series of emergent circles that distorted her reflection. When they stilled, she saw a woman with hair the color of an autumn sunset falling in waves well past her shoulders. Lights twinkled among curls as though fireflies rested there. The woman’s cheeks were flushed as though kissed by warmth. Her mouth, rose pink like the petals of a flower, rose in a smile. Behind her a pair of gossamer wings tinged with pale hues of blue and pink moved back and forth spreading a glistening mist as they did. Amber knelt and reached toward the beautiful woman in the water and she reached back. As their hands met, the circles began again and blurred the vision.

David knelt beside her. “She is you, Amber. It is who you were destined to become.”

“It’s all true,” Amber whispered, looking at her reflection in the water. It all began to make sense to her now. The visions, the bedtime stories told by her father, the feelings she’d been having. Energy coursed through her and fueled the acknowledgment of what she had to do. Acceptance washed over her like a tidal wave, wiping away her doubt, replacing it with a confidence and determination she knew could not be denied. She turned to Teezal. “I’m a fairy.”

“And much more.” Teezal replied, touching Amber’s shoulder.

“Will I be human again?”

Teezal nodded. “You will always be that too and you will learn to move back and forth between worlds at will.”

Amber looked again into the water, watching in fascination as her wings moved behind her. “Teach me.”

Teezal nodded. “That and more. We have so much to do, so much for you to learn. We must begin quickly for time is running out.”

Teezal’s words shook Amber. She looked back toward the house. “My father. I’m not doing anything until I find him.”

“I think he is as safe as he can be,” Teezal reassured.

“How can you know that? He’s missing.” Amber felt her wings beat faster in response to the rise in her heartbeat.

“Each world has allies in the others. Some wish to stop the Triad, others want peace.”

“So why doesn’t everyone just get together and talk this thing through. Do what’s best for everyone.” Hope rose in Amber’s voice.

David stepped forward. “It isn’t quite that simple. This peace has been tenuous at best, especially for the last two hundred years. As the Arpeggio Clock counts down, the energy wavers, affecting some more than others and amplifying impulses. Even though the identity of the keeper of the Triad has been carefully guarded by those honor-bound to keep you safe, many want to find you and to make sure the clock strikes zero without you there. In order to stop the Clock, the Three Swords must converge precisely at the appointed time” He pressed his lips together. “At the moment, we only have two in hand.”

Amber shook her head as though angry with him. “You can’t be serious.” She took another step back and swayed a little with the magnitude of the task ahead. “What else haven’t you told me?”

David looked at Teezal then quickly looked away. “I know I’m asking a lot but you have to trust me, Amber.”

“No offense but that’s not going to happen any time soon.” She saw him wince at her words.

He swallowed hard. “I understand why you feel that way.”

“Enough of this,” Teezal said. “We must go back to the city and retrieve the Sword of Adam.”

“What about my father?” Amber reminded them.

“I’m meeting a friend at midnight at a new age club called LiLu’s. He may have information about your father.”

“I’m going with you. Where is this LiLu’s?” Amber’s brow rose. She was a child of the city and knew every hip dance club in town but she had never heard of this one.

“In Manhattan.”

“We can’t possibly make it there in time. It’s nearly ten now. And I can’t travel like this.” Amber shook her shoulders, a curtain of shiny flecks falling from her wings. “And what’s with all this glitter!”

“Fairy dust,” Teezal corrected. “You’ll learn to control it.”

“Okay but at the moment I’m a five-foot, six-inch woman with wings and ears like Mr. Spock. Plus I seem to leave a trail of stuff sometime. Someone is bound to notice.”

“Then we must become human again.”

“How?”

“Just will it.”

Amber shook her head. “Okay,” she said with skepticism. “Here goes.”

Teezal smiled. Before Amber knew what was happening, she seemed to burst apart in a puff of shimmering dust and then reconfigure instantly. She looked at her hands and turned them over.

“I guess I’m back.” She looked up at Teezal. “That’s one problem solved but how do we get from Pennsylvania to New York City in under an hour?”

“Come with us,” David said, extending his hand to Amber. “We’ll show you how.”

Amber took David’s hand and he guided her toward a cave hidden by the low hanging branches of trees. He swept them away with one arm allowing Teezal and Amber to duck inside before he did. A damp coolness resided there. Along the uneven walls, shadows mimicked their movements.

“We have to be careful,” Teezal said. “This is the fastest way back but it is heavily used by trolls. That’s why we were shrouded when you saw us.”

“And now?” Amber asked.

“We will have to chance it in order to make the assignation.”

Suddenly a sheet of light slid under them and a great whoosh of sound exploded in Amber’s ears. She felt herself being moved, yet she seemed to be standing still.

“What’s happening?” she said, looking around as if disoriented.

“This is a Trodway,” Teezal explained. “One of many scattered across the earth. It is how we get from place to place quickly and unnoticed.”

“Don’t people see all this light and whooshing?” Amber asked.

“Some do. Our travel produces white energy orbs that generate a photoluminescence affecting photography film. If someone happens to be taking pictures nearby, the camera catches our movement as pale gray spheres suspended in the air. Fortunately humans are superstitious beings who have concluded that these orbs are ghosts or spirit messengers when actually they are simply other-worlders riding the trod.”

Amber felt like her body was melting, an abstraction of particles trailing behind her like a veil. She looked over at David. He too seemed to be breaking apart. She closed her eyes against the sight but another came. She was standing at the edge of a steep precipice looking down at a gathering of some sort. She couldn’t see the faces but she could hear the people calling her name. The voices urged her to jump and she could not resist their call.

Spreading her arms wide, she tumbled forward, focusing on a lone figure standing inside a circle. As she fell faster and faster toward the ground, the face of the figure became clear. It was David.

She called out to him. His head lifted. When their eyes locked, his gaze seemed to go right through her as she continued to fall. Just as she would hit the earth, the vision vanished and the ground beneath her feet solidified.

“We have arrived.” Teezal’s voice rose above the buzzing in her ears.

Amber rubbed her eyes. “Everything is blurry,” she said. “And I feel dizzy.”

“It happens that way at first. You will become used to it in time.”

As the fuzzy picture slowly focused, Amber realized that she was back in New York. They had traveled nearly one hundred and fifty miles in the mere span of a few heartbeats.

* * * * *

“What is this place?” Amber asked, the sound of her heels hitting the cobblestone street and bouncing in an echo off the metal-walled buildings lining the alleyway. She turned in a slow circle as she walked. “I thought we were going to a club.”

“We are,” Teezal assured.

An alley cat screeched as the trio approached and it took off running, upending a gray aluminum garbage can. Teezal extended her hand toward it, the can mimicking the action and righted itself as she turned her palm upward. In the distance, a police siren wailed, overtaking the muted sounds of cars passing by on the cross street.

David cast a wary glance to his left as a passing cloud momentarily blanketed the moon, the diminishing light casting shadows on the buildings making them appear to sway. He moved Amber closer to the center of the alleyway, one arm around her waist and one hand on her shoulder. He could easily push her out of the way if necessary.

“There’s nothing here, Teezal,” he said, skepticism suspended in his voice.

“Ahh but there is” she winked. “You just have to know how to look,” she said, sliding a large sheet of metal out of the way with a flick of her wrist. “Welcome to LiLu’s.”

The heavy tones of a bass guitar vibrated through their bodies as soon as they entered. The room smelled of smoke, liquor and sweat with the sweet undertone of the scent of arousal. As their eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, someone slid the panel back, cutting the light even more. Inside, candles lined the stage, barely allowing the clientele a glimpse of the band playing.

“Let’s find someplace a little less crowded,” Teezal suggested, threading her way through the crowd. Suddenly she stopped. “He’s here. I can feel it,” she said. She turned to David. “Once I get you and Amber tucked away in a corner somewhere, I’ll find out as much as I can, as quickly as I can. We should stay no longer than necessary.”

Amber felt David grab her hand. “Who’s here?”

“One we should only confront on our terms,” Teezal warned.

As they walked to the edge of the room, Amber held David’s hand it tightly. Although the strobe lights flashed, darkness seemed to grow from the edges of the room and grab what little illumination survived. She knew if she let go, she might lose him completely in the crowd.

They wound through dancers packing the center of the room, gyrating to music both familiar and baleful, almost as though it was playing backward. A chill raced through Amber as she felt someone run a hand across her back. She flinched in response.

“What’s wrong?” David asked pulling her closer.

“Someone touched me.” The crush of bodies seemed to push them farther into the shadows.

“I don’t doubt it.” David grabbed a candle from atop a tray that seemed suspended in the air. Holding it out in front of him, he squinted into the muted light it cast. Beyond it patrons lounged at tables lining the edge of the room. He took a step and set the candle on one of them before reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out a twenty. “Buy yourselves a drink,” he said handing it to the couple seated there. As the woman took it, he pulled the chair out when she rose. “We’ll save your seats.” He guided Amber to the chair with a firm tug.

“Where’s Teezal?” Amber asked.

David sat across from her. He slid the candle in front of her so he could see her better. “She left us about five minutes ago. We’ll wait for her here.”

A shiver rolled down Teezal’s spine. Temptation hung in the air, ripe for picking. She lifted her chin and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply to clear her mind. Two were here. She could feel them both.