Summon (9 page)

Another intruder materialised behind me.

“Since when are the undead not a favourite of
yours, Marinette?” asked a foreign voice. The deep baritone echoed profoundly.

“They still are Damballah.” I lowered until I
hovered man-high from the earth. She tapped my boot. “This must be the one we
sensed. Handsome. No? He’ll make a fine pet.”

Chills iced my bones.
Never again will
I be owned.

My power surged, and I dropped to the ground in a
crouch. Lightning fast, I sprang and wrapped my hand around her throat, a
dominant move that terrified females into submission.

She giggled and fluttered her eyelashes. “Harder.”

I dragged her forward and thrust my face in hers. “
Who are you?
”

She kissed me, wrapping an arm around my neck and
rubbing her body against mine. She purred low in her throat. Grabbed my groin
and squeezed. My eyes rounded. Her wet tongue slithering along the seam of my
lips snapped me from my disbelief.

Releasing my hold, I lurched back. Roughly rubbed
the back of my hand over my mouth grimacing in distaste. “Vile.”

“I know,” she replied voice husky. She jerked a
shoulder. “But I haven’t been kissed in a millennia, and I’m too impatient to
wait on my chosen consort to take my pleasure. I made do.” She ran her hands
over her hips. “This body is lush, young and beautiful. The soul who owned it
before was pure. A waste. I’ll make better use of her talents.”

“I grow weary.” A white-haired, white-bearded man
strutted around me to pause at Marinette’s side. His light coloured hair was a
stark contrast to his dark skin. He owned the deep voice. “We lay claim to this
territory or not?”

“
Mine
,” I
snarled. “This city belongs to me.” I took a threatening step. Frosty curls of
magics swirled around my clenched fists. “Leave or die.” An emptier threat will
never be spoken, but gods, I meant it.

The man looked me up and down then dismissed me.
“Well?” he asked his companions. “What says Malice?”

“I like it here.” An unconscious Gwendolyn hung
limply over Malice’s shoulder, and his large hand palmed her buttock. Climbing
the broken steps into the vampire nesting grounds, he tossed over his shoulder,
“The werewolves and zonbi are too tired to carry on. We stay.”

Panting shifters emerged from shadows. Hollow eyed
undead followed in their wake. Porous skin sagged over lumbering bodies starkly
void of fleshy padding. Skeletal faces missed eyeballs and lower jaws. Many of
the lurching corpses were merely rattling bones covered in tatty clothing.

With a nod in my direction, Damballah ambled after
Malice. He swung a short cane of ivory at his side, and puffed his cheeks to
whistle. The fetishes strung about his neck jangled as he walked.

An owl landed on Marinette’s shoulder in a furious
beating of wings. She stroked its feathered breast and turned those red eyes to
me. They glinted with amusement at my strained despondency. “We should discuss
the future. Don’t you think?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lochlann

Daphne
made a show of centring her focus on Kian. The Knight was tall. Her head barely
reached his collarbone, and she smiled when he slung his arm over her
shoulders, slumped, sighed, and leaned his considerable weight. Dark eyes
rolling to look at her, his lips twitched when her smile dimmed in
exasperation.

Daphne’s eyes gleamed as they flicked to me. “The
witches are dead.” I schooled my face not to crease in amusement at her evident
satisfaction. “I can’t figure out why though.”

Idly playing with one of her braids, Kian’s face
tightened. “The Houngan drained them.”

She shuddered. “The corpses do look gaunt.”

“We should not have trusted him.”

“He wasn’t trusted.” Daphne pinched Kian’s side.
“The witch said we needed him.”

When he chuckled, she grinned again.

Feeling my chest tighten at the playful exchange, I
cleared my throat.

Daphne’s gaze met mine then slipped away. “How are
you doing, Lochlann?”

I was exhausted. I fed the magics of my people to
the witch for her spell. The circle sucked on my power when the spirits rose,
but I staunched the flow before I’d become trapped. The dead witches either
hadn’t had enough power to protect themselves, or were unable to retain control
in the face of darkness greater than them.

“Fine,” I replied. I felt Kian’s eyes on me. “You
will address me by my title, vampire.”

She snorted, and I
felt
her embarrassment.

An awkward silence fell.

“Well, I am dead on my feet.” Kian offered his arm
to Daphne. “I have an earthen cellar beneath my dwelling you’re welcome to.
Sunrise is a scant hour from the horizon.”

Gazing at him trustingly, Daphne curled her arm
around his and tossed a scornful look in my direction.

Jealousy crawled up my spine.

Kian touched the vampire with such ease. I’d told
the fairy to watch her during the battle, so my jangled nerves stopped baiting
me to find and protect her, not so the Knight would
befriend
her.

Daphne confounded me. My greatest shame was because
of her. Even that paled in comparison to what I let her do earlier when she’d
risen.

The ghost of her body beneath my hands still made
my fingers twitch. Long after I released my hold on her waist I felt her
pressing lips and sharp teeth. A shiver of pleasure shimmied through me at the
remembered sensation. She’d not taken much. In a shy voice that set my ears
tingling, she’d confessed she wished me at full strength for the resurrection.

My gaze drifted towards her, but I made them pass
quickly as if she were some insignificant thing skulking for favour.

I’m losing
my mind.

Flustered, and without a word to either of them, I
left, and followed Conall down the main pathway leading deeper into the Wyld.
The Warrior made short work of the journey to his dwelling, and I jogged to
catch up.

Turning a bend, I found Conall waiting for me at
the base of his tree. He must have heard my harried footfalls. “Are you too
tired to speak with me?”

Weary, Conall smiled. He adjusted his hold on Ana.
“Let me put her to bed.”

Hands to hips, I drummed my fingers in impatience,
waiting for him to see to the witch. Time not spent doing something important
seemed wasteful, but I needed to unburden my mind.

I trusted no one more than Conall.

He trod down the steps carved into the tree, his
expressive face closed and drawn. I wasn’t the only one using the last of my
reserves. His unique gold eyes were sunken and void of sparkle.

After we spoke, I’d order him to rest. Conall was
stubborn. If I left him to his own devices, he’d neglect his needs, and work
without sleep until he collapsed, or cracked under pressure.

It took me some time to straighten my tangled
thoughts into something understandable. My tongue burned as I spoke the words
troubling me. “I hurt.” I briefly closed my eyes. There was no need to pretend
with Conall. “They left me. After everything, they lost faith.”

Leaning heavily on his dwelling, Conall studied the
ground. “The Tribe understands.”

“Do they?” I snorted laughter. “When they believed
the transgression Rae and Breandan’s bond they felt sorry for me. Nothing
overcomes a connection that powerful. They held pity for my circumstance, and
there was respect.”

“Many hold you in the highest esteem.”

“Ah, but that many is no loner among the Tribe. I
cannot hide how I feel.” Touching my chest, I shook my head. At his words and
mine. “Before they left I witnessed their disgust. I cannot blame them for it.”

“The vampire is fierce.” Conall stared at his boots
unable to meet my gaze. “A Warrior should be honoured to find his life mate.”

“Oh. What do you know of finding your fated
female?”

His shoulders drooped. “Nothing.”

As fast as my anger reared it diminished. It wasn’t
his fault my people were sickened by my taste in female. My clenched fists
released. It was good of him to try and make me feel better. “That was cruel.”

“It was the truth.”

“But poor of me. You never judge others harshly.
The only time I have seen you cross or heavy handed is toward one of your
bloodline.”

“I am the Eldest.”

“As am I.” I chanced a glance at him. He looked at
anything but me. Talking about his family always shamed him. “You rarely make Elderhood
seem burdensome. I admire you for that.”

His chest bowed. “It is my responsibility to care
for them. To guide them.”

I was glad he took gratification from his duty. It
made it easier to explain my feelings. “Just as it is my responsibility to
guide the remainder of our kind. A right I fought for.” I thought of Devlin,
and his death. Little brother and sister’s lives came close to being lost in my
absence. They remained in danger.
If I’d
involved them deeper in my plans would things have turned out better –
less treacherous?
“Yes, I have fought ruthlessly and at great cost.” I rubbed
my chest. The ache wouldn’t leave me be. “Our kind are dying, Conall. Those
left need protection. I cannot afford my attention so splintered.”

“Strong emotion is not easy to bear. Deny your
feelings and they will destroy you.”

“You always seem in control.”

Conall shrugged. “My nature.”

Yes, this fairy’s nature was one of the most stable
I’d seen, a direct contradiction to his sister’s.

Trying to control Rae’s nature was like closing your
fist over a firecracker. She and little brother were similar that way.

“Thank you for letting me speak without
condemnation.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “It is soothing.”

“You are my Lord. Your needs are paramount.” He
slumped. “You would not be having these troubles if I had not failed Rae, and
she you. I will atone when there is balance.”

I eyed him. “Explain this failure?”

He stared at the pale dawn. “So many mistakes made.
I never thought to look at Temple.”

“You assume responsibility for things beyond your
control. You did not find Rae because it was not time for her to be found. Even
then I doubt the outcome would have been much affected.”

“Ana can manipulate events to steer paths that have
gone wayward. If I had been more diligent in my search, or more attuned to
mother’s ramblings when she came to me I would have realised she decided to
hide with the humans.”

“The witch is as much a part of fate’s plan as the
rest. As was your mother’s misguided decision. Trust me, my friend. If Ana were
not a slave to fate she would not have allowed an outcome where Rae died, and
she performed the resurrection. Much of her newly found power was drained.”

“Even so, it was not I who found Rae.” His glance
conveyed an apology. “If I brought her to you things would be different. You
cannot deny it.”

“We mustn’t think that way.” I ignored the
discomfort that came from the thought of never meeting Daphne. Of Rae being
delivered to me as my bride. “It is pointless.”

“Would you not be happier with Rae by your side as
tradition dictates? Happier you and she are united, and as one, felled Cael,
and put an end to his perverse witchery?”

My gaze flashed from the forest canopy to Conall’s
wretched expression. I softened in sympathy. “Cael is your brother.”

“No,” Conall snapped. “He is a depraved fiend,
nothing more.”

He held such anger. Few glimpsed the depth of the
emotion Conall hid so well. I suspected his hatred ran hot because he carried
guilt at what his youngest sibling suffered as a youngling, and loved him
deeply despite his atrocities.

I’ll ease
his pain as best I can, starting with his misconceptions about Rae and little
brother.

Propping my back on the tree, I slid to the floor
to sit. “I am going to tell you something you must not repeat.” Conall joined
me on the ground, and I looked at him gravely. “Ana told Brenadan of his likely
future. That he met my future mate and loved her.”

“He should have resisted, and come to you, and told
you–”

“He did.”

Conall stilled. “He did?”

“My brother is principled and disciplined. I trust
him with my life, and I did. Aside from you, there is no other I trusted with
keeping Rae safe when she left Temple, unaware of who and what she was.”

“He betrayed you more than I realised.”

Conall was determined to lay blame.
Why can he not see there is no single
transgressor?
All had played a part in bringing about the future fate had
chosen for us.

I frowned in consternation. “I was unconcerned by
Ana’s prediction. Tradition dictated Rae would be mine, and so why would she
not be? I decided they may have some small feeling for each other that would
pass when Breandan found another, and she and I grew close.”