Blood of Destiny (Witch Fairy #6) (15 page)

We really need to figure out the whole birth control thing.  I have no idea what they even use in this realm let alone how to get it.  The next time Kallen and I are alone we need to figure it all out. 

Kegan, on the other hand, looks relieved to have the attention in the room shift.  He chuckles around a piece of bacon.  “Yes, fine job you two.  Keep up the good work.”

The nice moment between him and Kallen is over, too.  This is driven home by the punch in the arm Kallen delivers to Kegan on his way to get his own coffee.  Kegan almost falls off his stool.  Kallen doesn’t like coffee, so it was obviously just an excuse to get up and hit him. 

Kegan rubs his arm.  “Temper, cousin.  Your intended will see your dark side if you are not careful.”

Kallen snorts.  “My dark side is tame compared to hers.”

“Hey!”  How did I get in the middle of this?

Kallen laughs and gives me a kiss on the cheek.  “Tell me your temper is not fiercer than mine.”

I start to argue.  The words are right there, ready to defend myself.  Until I notice everyone in the room staring at me with raised brows.  I can’t help but laugh.  “Fine, I have the foulest temper of all.”

Isla smiles.  “What a relief to relinquish the title.”  Wow, she just made a joke.  I need a calendar so I can mark that down.

“Kallen, Kegan, I would like to have a word with the two of you in my office after breakfast,” Isla says to them.

I don’t think I like the sound of that.  I hope she’s not going to try to talk Kallen out of marrying me.  No, that can’t be it.  Isla’s the one who set us up in the first place.  Still, I can’t help but eye her warily as I put a bite of pancake in my mouth and think about the trouble I’ve caused her.  She pretends not to notice.

“You’re up bright and early,” Mom says, floating into the room and giving me a very cold kiss on the cheek with her subzero degree lips.  Why are ghosts so cold?

“Angel alarm clock,” I mutter around another bite.

She purses her lips as her smile fades.  “Does that mean you’ll be disappearing again soon?”

I nod.  “The sooner we can be done with this the better.”

“You said you owe this Angel two favors?”

I nod again.  “Yes, which makes me twice as stupid.  I can’t believe I got us into this.”

Mom floats over and puts an arm around my shoulders dropping my body temperature several degrees.  “Don’t be too hard on yourself.  You’ve had a lot thrown at you in a short period of time.  You’re entitled to a blunder or two.”

Kegan snorts and says with a grin, “Are you referring to the two hundreds or the two thousands?”  I’m about to throw a piece of pancake at him since he’s on the other side of the counter, but Tabitha walks behind him and smacks him the back of the head.  My turn to grin as he rubs the spot with his hand.  I love Tabitha.  “What, honesty is not allowed anymore?”  I’d be upset at him if he wasn’t right.  But, he is. 

Ignoring him, Mom asks, “Do you have any idea what the second favor will be?”

I sigh.  “No, I haven’t a clue.  I’m sure it’ll be something equally as horrible as this one.”

Isla looks at the clock on the wall over the stove.  “Boys, I need to leave soon for work.  If you will please join me?” 

It’s not really a question.  She gets up and walks out of the room fully expecting Kallen and Kegan to follow.  Mom gives me a questioning look but I shrug and shake my head.  I haven’t a clue what’s going on.  But it is driving me crazy not knowing.  I hate secrets.  There have been too many of them in my life and none of them were good ones.

I finish up my breakfast and then fill Tabitha and Mom in on what happened in the Merpeople realm.  Tabitha is amused and Mom is horrified.  Then, I bring them outside to meet Zoe, who swims as close to shore as possible to greet them.  

By the time introductions are done, Kallen has returned.  I give him a questioning look but he shakes his head in a ‘not now’ kind of way.  My look isn’t questioning now.  It’s more like a glare.  Okay, it is a glare.  He ignores me.  He knows I hate it when he does that.

Proving that I do have the foulest temper, I say good bye to the three women and then stomp up the sand to the terrace.  I wish stomping was more effective in sand.  Hard to make a dramatic exit when the sounds you want to make are being muffled.  Once in the house, I stomp up the stairs with a satisfyingly loud clomping sound and walk to our room.  Throwing open the bathing room door, I pick the stone up off the floor.

I’m not sure why I’m being like this.  I know he’ll tell me what Isla said at some point; he probably wants to do it in private.  Truly, I’m not even mad at Kallen.  If truth be told, I’m mad at me and feel guilty as heck and I’m just looking for a reason to act like a pouty baby.  I keep dragging Kallen into all these stupid and dangerous situations, and then I get mad at him for the tiniest little things.  Why does he even like me?  It would serve me right if Isla changed her mind about us.  I just want to find this last Angel so we can have a bit of peace and I can make this up to him.

I think I need an IQ test.  The average IQ is around a hundred, I believe.  Right now, I’m probably rocking a thirty or forty.  Why?  Because I just left without Kallen to find the last Angel.

Chapter 15

I’m hoping that snow down there is soft and deep to cushion my fall.  I also hope it’s not a giant abominable snowman that will rear up against my cushioning magic like the Zaratan did.  Here goes.  I send out my magic and nothing jumps up to greet me, so I think I’m okay.

I wish I hadn’t gone for the light cotton skirt and tank top when I got dressed because in all directions there is snow.  Lots and lots of the white stuff that spent years torturing my psyche and body in Colorado.  I forgot just how cold it is.  Colder than Mom and Dad.  That’s pretty cold.

Letting my cushion of magic go, I focus on changing my clothes because I’m already starting to feel frostbitten.  My magic doesn’t want to cooperate at the moment.  Go figure.  It’s usually so flexible and responds exactly the way I want it to.  Hmm, would that be considered surly or facetious?  Probably not the time to worry about that.  Not when my magic has gone into overload yet again.

I end up with enough winter wear on for three people.  I have on a one piece snowmobile suit, a coat, a vest and a cape.  Not sure why my magic thought I would need a cape.  I have on six scarves that I can count with the limited mobility of my head under the seven hats, including the full facial one that bank robbers use.  My arms are sticking straight out to the side because of all the layers and when I try to move my feet in my three pairs of boots – one pair is fishing waders for some reason – I fall backwards into the snow.  I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.

A large bird flies over me while I’m lying here deciding how I want to rectify my situation.  I don’t mean big like an eagle.  I mean big like a pterodactyl.  Wait a minute.  I think it is a pterodactyl.  Lucky me.  It’s coming close enough now for me to tell for sure.  I would say by the reptilian body, loud piercing cry and mouth the size of my head, it’s a pterodactyl.  A hungry one.  Hopefully it likes polyester because that’s all it’s going to taste for the first couple of bites.  Maybe my magic was smarter than I thought it was.

As the bird comes flying down at me, I use my magic to create a wall and it smacks into it.  I thought it was loud before.  Wow.  It’s clawing at my magic with talons as long as my face.  Good thing magic can’t be shredded.  At least, I hope it can’t be. 

“Shoo, Polly.”

Polly?  The pterodactyl’s name is Polly?  And who is that talking?  I turn my head to the side as far as I can.  In my peripheral vision, I can see a man with long blonde hair and a full beard.  I didn’t even know guys still wore full beards.  Then again, I’m in a realm with pterodactyls so the fashion and grooming rules are probably different here than back home.  I can’t tell how old he is.  He could be my age or he could be Dad’s age.  “Who are you?”

Shooing Polly away, and believe it or not she goes, he says grimly, “I’ve been expecting you.  Dreading you, but expecting you.”

That’s an awfully long name.  Or he just completely ignored my question.  Yeah, it was that.  “Who are you?” I ask again as I struggle to sit up.  I haven’t let down my wall of magic yet but I do manage to get rid of a couple of layers of outerwear so I can stand up.

“Oh, names are not so important.  They just clutter the mind.  If you must have one, you may call me Raziel.  Come, let us sit down and talk before our journey to the Fairy realm.”

Um, he’s weird.  I’m not sure I want to go wandering off with him.  But, at the same time I feel perfectly safe with him.  Drawn to him, even.  “If you know where we’re going and you’re agreeing to it, can’t we just leave now?”

Raziel smiles sadly.  “Only one of us here knows where he is going.  You have a journey ahead of you that has not even begun.”

I get the feeling it’s a journey I don’t want to go on.  I wonder if I can call in sick.  “What are you talking about?”

The sadness has crept from his mouth to his eyes.  “I am talking about the fight ahead.  You are not ready, yet you will be tested to end of your limits.  Your fate hinges on the side you choose.”

What is it with magical people and their riddles?  It gives me a headache.  “You know, I’m not big on the whole cryptic speak thing.  So, could you spell it out for me?”

He laughs, which I think may be rare for him.  I’m pretty sure the sides of his mouth cracked and plaster dust fell to the ground.  “You are as impatient and straightforward as I knew you would be.  And you are even more beautiful for it.”

“Great, glad I’m living up to your expectations,” I grumble under my breath.

Raziel laughs again.  “Come, get warm and we will talk for a few minutes before leaving.  Unless you prefer to be out here when the therapods come back.”

I don’t know what a therapod is, but if the guy who just shooed the pterodactyl away is worried about them, I probably should be too.  “Fine,” I grumble.  I let my magic go and follow him when he starts walking away.

We walk for about five minutes to a spot as snowy as the one we left.  Raziel stops and closes his eyes.  Lifting his arms up, he mutters something under his breath.

I gasp when I see the air separate like a curtain; similar to how it looks when I travel between realms.  Except his curtain doesn’t go to another realm, it goes to a cave of sorts.  A fancy cave with carpeting, furniture and a roaring fire in a pit.  For a cave, it looks pretty darn comfortable.  Where were the caves like this when Kallen and I were in the mountains?

Raziel walks forward and I follow.  As soon as I am past the curtain, it closes again.  I turn around and I am amazed that I can see outside clearly. It’s like being in a magic circle, but Raziel shouldn’t be able to walk in and out of it at will.  It would break the magic holding it together.

“How did you do that?” I ask in awe.

Raziel shrugs.  “I bear the burden of knowledge.”

I scrunch my face up into a frown.  “How is knowledge a burden?”

There’s that sad smile again.  “It is possible to know too much, Xandra.”

Um, how did he know my name?  As if reading my thoughts, he says, “As I said, I was expecting you.”  Now, that’s just creepy.

“Who are you?” I ask again. 

The look he gives me tells me that he knows I’m asking for more than his name.  He tilts his head and sighs.  “Even I am bound by the rules of fate, Xandra.  You will know all when it is time.  Not a moment sooner.”

Wow.  Confused to mad in a split second.  I’m good.  “That’s a lousy answer.  Do you guys have meetings about how to best upset people?”

He chuckles and I think there is actual amusement in it.  “By people, I assume you mean yourself.”

Okay, maybe that comment was a little self-centered.  But still.  “You said that we had things to discuss.  I’m here in your little man cave instead of going right back to the Fairy realm and now you’re refusing to tell me anything.”

He shakes his head slightly.  “Not anything, only certain things.  There are things that everyone must discover for themselves.”

“If you’re going to keep talking in riddles, I’m going to take a nap on your couch until you’re ready to go.”  To prove my point, I walk to the couch and flop down.

“You will need to make a choice.”

I am not going to ask him what choice.  I am going to sit here and ignore him until he tells me on his own.  “What choice.”  Great plan.  Glad it worked so well.

“You will have the chance to change your destiny.”

I don’t believe him.  “I thought that wasn’t possible?”

Sad smile again.  That’s getting kind of old even if I am becoming more and more drawn to him every minute I’m here.  “It is very rare indeed.  But you are an enigma, Xandra.  You have been instilled with the power of the ages.  You represent the culmination of the most powerful of each race whose blood you have running through your veins.  You will have the choice to make your life perfect.”

“Perfect?”  Um, that sounds kind of cool.  I’m not seeing the downside to this, so why does he still look sad?

“Perfection is a white horse in a dark storm that has come to bring you home before you get wet.  The problem is a dark horse in a dark storm could bring you home just as easily.”

I didn’t understand that at all.  I’m thinking he doesn’t have a lot of friends because he must have way too much time on his hands to be able to come up with this crap.  “Great.  Got it.  Can we go now?”

With a sigh, he turns slowly around in a circle taking in the sights of his cave.  I try to wait patiently, but he’s taking so long.  Good lord, it’s just a cave.  My foot starts tapping on the brown carpeted rock floor.  Finally, after a good five minutes he turns to me and says, “I am ready to leave behind the one place I feel at peace.”

Great.  Angel guilt.  They are so good at it.  I guess they’ve had a long time to practice it.  “I promise, where I live is a lot more comfortable.  And warmer.” 

He smiles that pathetically sad smile again.  Okay, that was surly.  Maybe I should work on being a bit more sympathetic than impatient.  Nah.  I want to go home.  I don’t like the feelings that are being stirred up inside me right now and I want to get away from him as soon as possible.  “In this realm, there is no one besides myself and these giant lizards who demand nothing of me.  They do not seek my knowledge, nor do they care about their fates.  Their brains are too small to worry about such things.”

This guy is so weird.  I’d ask what he’s the Angel of but I’m afraid he’ll take forever to answer.  “I’m sorry you have to leave the only place you can find peace.”  That almost sounded sympathetic.  Still a little too heavy on the impatience, though.  I’ll have to work on that recipe.

“Thank you,” he says even though I’m sure he knows I was only trying to be polite.  “We may go now.”

Finally, I stand up and close my eyes preparing to open a gateway.  His hand on my arm stops me and a tingling rush travels up to my shoulder.  I open my eyes to find him looking at me with freaky pale green eyes.  “Remember, perfection goes against the grain of the grand design.  Please choose wisely.”  His eyes are so intense I want to take a few steps back from him.  “I want to tell you more, Xandra, believe me, I do.  But I am finding that being in your presence is harder than I thought it would be.  I am afraid of pushing you in a direction not of your choosing.”

I sigh.  “That’s okay.  I get that a lot.”  Stupid Angels and their morality.  It’s time to go.