1.5 True of Blood: Kallen's Tale (8 page)

My heart sinks into my chest as I realize
that
I never thought Xandra’s parents would agree to
sending
her off with me. 
Maybe
they love her as much as Grandmother
supposedly
loves me
.
  I am appalled by the duplicity in both
mine and Xandra’s
lives.

Apparently, Xandra is not any more accepting of the idea than I am. 
“Mom, no!
  I’ve known him for what, a day?  I’ve known you my whole life.  I would rather take my chances with you than with someone who so obviously hates me like he does!”

I lift an eyebrow at that
.  “I do not recall telling you that I hated you.”
  That earn
s
me a glare
. 

“Maybe not in those words
,
but it comes through loud and clear in everything else you say.”  Turning back to
the Witch, she says,
“Please, send him back outside and let’s do what you were always planning to do.  You protect me.”

The Witch is obviously torn between giving in to her child
,
who is about to have another temper tantrum, or taking the path of reason. 
I wish the path of reason did not include me.  If I could take back everything that has happened in the last hour, I would.

“I think his plan may be better.  I need to discuss all of this with your father.” 
The Witch disappears through the wall.

Chapter
7

Xandra whirls around and stalks towards me.  She looks like she is in full temper tantrum mode again.  I swear, if she touches me with that amulet around her neck, I am going to throw the arm chair at her.  The pain would
be
about equal.  Stopping just inches from me, she stands akimbo.  Her favorite pose, apparently.  I wonder i
f
she knows how it accentuates her curves in a way that you could
make you
almost forget about her personality. 
Almost.
  “Why are you really here?” she demands.  “I don’t believe for a second that you care that much about the fate of humans
,
or me.”

“On the contrary, I am quite concerned about your fate.”  Since that is the entire, miserable reason I am here.

“Right.
  What’s in this for you?”

A living hell for the next thousand or so years.
 
“The knowledge that I have prevented the destruction of a lesser civilization.”
  I doubt that sounds convincing.
 
My heart is not in the words.

Whatever retort she has on her lips is not said as her parents float back through the wall.  That must certainly limit the amount of privacy these people have.  I would not have liked it if Grandmother had possessed that ability while
I was
growing up.
  A lot more of the mischief Kegan and I found would have been discovered.

I am lost in my own thoughts as yet another family argument ensues. 
I
am pulled back into the conversation
when the Cowan spirit says,
“What would you do to protect my daughter?”
 

I wonder how
he
would react if I said I would put her in a
sealed
tomb and forget about her
for the next thousand years
.  Poorly, I would guess.  I am saved from having to make up something that does not require entombing their daughter
,
when
Xandra once again tries to talk her parents out of sending her off with me.  One of her biggest arguments is her dislike of the snow and cold.  She explains this in her
snippy little tone
that gets under my skin
. 
If she is going to annoy me so, then t
here is no harm in riling her up just for my amusement.
“You are half Fairy.  Living in the open air should come naturally to you.”
  Okay, I grew up in a mansion, but I do enjoy the outdoors.

“Yeah, well, apparently I didn’t get that gene. 
Just that gene?
 
Right.
  “
What’s your plan – to live in caves and eat berries from trees?”
 

“If we are lucky enough to find a cave that would provide adequate shelter from precipitation, then yes.”
  Her face is turning several different shades of reds, now.  I work to keep a straight face as I continue to tease her.
  Though, in the mountains, that probably will be the only shelter we find.
  There I go, acting like I am going to go through with this.

Round three begins of Xandra versus her parents.  It seems the more she argues, the more sure her parents become about sending her away with me.  Possibly, her snippy little tone gets under their skin, too. 

My attention is once more captured when Xandra accuses her mother of not speaking my name.  The little minx is more observant than I have given her credit for. 
When my neck
start
s
to get tired with th
eir
volleying back and forth
, I say,
“She will not speak my name because it will lessen the
effect
of her magic on me
.
”

“What do you mean?”
Xandra asks
.
  Her face is still flushed, making those green eyes gleam
like beacons in a storm
.
 

“It was probably taught to her when she was very young, as it always was with Witches, that calling a Fairy by name lessens the effect of her magic on that Fairy.  She may not even realize she is doing it
,
as it was probably repeated so often to her when she was young
,
that it became etched into her mind as a natural response.  Apparently some of the old teachings have held true.”
 

She turns to her mother again.
“Is that true?”

“I do seem to have trouble letting his name pass through my lips.”

Xandra whirls back around.  She has a look in those amazing eyes now that I do not like. 
“So what you’re saying is
,
every time I have said your name it has lessened my ability to use whatever magic I may have against you?”

I
am trying so hard not to laugh.  She can blame the poor teachings of her ancestors for this little surprise.
  “Your Witch magic may not have such a strong effect upon me now.”

“But since my mom hasn’t said your name, her magic is still pretty powerful against you, right?”

I incline my head, smile still in check. 
“That is correct. 
For the time being, anyway.”

“Good.” 
She stalks in front of me.  I am expecting her to
stop
, as she did before
, but instead, she touches her hand to my bare chest, sending powerful, painful magic through
me
.  In an attempt to move away from her touch without killing her, which is sounding better and better, I fling myself backwards, forcing the couch to fall on its back.  Getting to my feet, it takes everything I have to not close the gap between us and snap that pretty little neck of hers
.
“You do realize that is tremendously painful?”

With a smile that makes me want to follow through with some of the evil things I am thinking right now, she says,
“Yup.”

“Xandra, that wasn’t nice,”
the Witch says, hardly containing her own amusement.  This is a sadistic little house of people.

Voice dripping with vinegar instead of honey, Xandra responds.
“I was just trying to determine if your theory was correct.” 

I am here to protect her
.
I keep saying
that
over and over in my head as
I
set the couch to rights.  I believe I am going to have to tattoo that on the inside of my eyelids
.  O
therwise, it will
soon
be forgotten.  I have never met a female who can go from naïve
litt
le girl to sadist in less than thirty seconds
.  Nor is it my desire to be protecting one who can.

“How long before the other two will have recovered from their injuries?”

Finally, a sensible question.
 
“Assuming they brought powerful healing herbs with them from our realm, I would say no more than two or three days at the most.  That would give us a decent head start.”
  I am now
completely
convinced that it is not my brain that is responding to these questions.

Yet another argument ensues about where her training is to be.  The more she argues, the more I want to drag her out in the cold and snow. 
Whether it is the right place to train or not.
  Though, my conscience does feel better that it truly is.

“I don’t want to go with you
,
”
she says, as if she ha
s
not made that abundantly clear already.

“And I am not overjoyed by having the task of training a headstrong and ignorant young girl
,
but it seems that fate has ignored both of our desires.”

“Xandra,” the Witch says,
“I think it’s for the best.” 

I do not know what changed in the last three seconds, but Xandra suddenly looks resigned to her fate.  I did not expect her to give up so easily.  I admit
,
I am a little disappointed
in her lack of resolve
. 
Not to mention,
I was starting to enjoy our back and forth.  If nothing else, she is entertaining. 

Stomping from the room grumbling god knows what under her breath, Xandra goes off to have another sulking fit.  Of course, her dutiful parents follow her to try to soothe her
ruffled feathers.  I believe being in the company of someone who is not willing to
be
so accommodating of her mood swings will be good for her.

Chapter
8

Finally, a moment of peace to clear my head.
  At this point, I guess I have to follow through with this half-cocked plan.  The only consolation will be doing my best to make this excursion as miserable as possible for her.  I should not have to suffer alone. 

After a moment, I hear their voices and I rise from the cou
ch to eavesdrop. 
Something
that would earn me a swat from Tabatha.
  I hear Xandra say, “You’re basically giving me to a stranger who for all you know could be a homicidal maniac who’s going to kill me as soon as we’re out of sight.”

She walks into the kitchen and she does not see me
leaning against the door frame on the far side of the kitchen
as she stuffs things into a backpack. 
“For what it’s worth, I
a
m not a homicidal maniac.” 

She gives me
a dirty look. 
“Like you’d admit it if you were.”

I cannot help but smile
as I incline my head
.  “I concede that point to you.”

“Great,”
she
mumble
s
. 
Finished stuffing things into the backpack, she walks in my direction, presumably to walk back into the living room.
  I take a moment before I move away.  I cannot help it, irking her is just too much fun. 

She flops down into the armchair and is in full out pout mode now.  You would think she was going to the guillotine, rather than a camping trip in the mountains.  We
wait
in an uncomfortable, for her, silence as we wait for her parents. 

The Cowan who helped me into the house comes in carrying the necessary items for the blood oath.  Of course, Xandra has to be told how to do it.  She looks about as happy about that as I am.  Being ignorant is apparently not her choice.  Good to know. 

After a small amount of drama, s
he
does what she needs to do, then
hands
me the knife and I repeat the process. 
Without the drama
.
 
I put my bloody finger in the bowl and mix it with Xandra’s.  A spark of
magic shoots up my finger, then
all the way to my shoulder.  I have never heard of that happening before.  I believe I will keep that little bit of information to myself.
 
But, I would like to know what just happened with our blood.

The Witch asks me to speak the vow and
I nod in acknowledgment
. 
I choose my words carefully
.  “I swear by this blood that I will protect Xandra
Illuminata
Smith’s life as I protect my own.”
  If I choose to do nothing to protect my own, I do not have to do anything to protect hers. 
A handy little loophole, depending on the situation.
 
The Witch closes her eyes and says the binding words
and then it is done.

Great, I am a step closer to getting out of this house.  The less time I spend among Witches and Cowans, the happier I will be. 
Unless, of course, that time is replaced by spending time with the Witch Fairy.
  I am still reeling from the fact that I got myself into
this.  I
continue to
blame it on my physical attraction to her.  My mind is much too rational to have let this happen willingly.

“We should go while the sun is still high
,” I say
,
to speed up our departure
.

The Witch starts to give instructions to everyone except me.  Perhaps it is the
‘I do not plan to be any more helpful than this’ look I am sure is on my face.  Instead, I take a seat again on the couch and wait for the melodrama to pass as the tearful goodbyes are said.  She is going into the mountains for a few days.  It is not like she gave up her entire realm, family and friends for some misguided chivalrous act that was thrust upon her.

When all is packed, the backpacks are quite heavy.  I watch in amusement as Xandra’s aunt tries to help her put the one she will be carrying on her back.  She nearly falls over twice.  Her face is scrunched up into a cute little pattern of
determin
ation, as she struggles to act nonchalant for my sake.  I would take pity on her and offer to carry both backpacks, but I am fresh out of pity at the moment.  Bitterness and resentment are taking up too much room, forcing any other emotions to huddle in a
far
corner
of
my mind in
fear. 

Finally, after what seems like hours, but was really only thirty minutes, Xandra and I walk outside.  I know I am going to seriously regret this whole thing.