Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10) (20 page)

Now I can get mad.

“How did you know?” I ask Adriel.
 
Iron doesn’t affect Witches or Angels.

She has created a broom and is sweeping the iron particles into a corner to be dealt with later.
 
“I tasted it in the air.”

“Then you saved our lives,” Kallen says.
 
He’s sitting up now with his back against the settee.
 
I’m sure his thoughts have gone where mine are.
 
Raziel said that we would thank him for sending Adriel with us.
 
He’s going to get a thanks and whatever else he wants for this.

Adriel shrugs.
 
“You need to thank Xandra for that.
 
My healing powers are severely limited in this form.”

Getting unsteadily to his feet, Kallen grasps my arm and pulls me to him.
 
He engulfs me in a hug that practically suffocates me.
 
“I have lost count of how many times you have saved my life now.”

I push back a little so I can breathe and speak.
 
“I wish you would stop almost dying.
 
We’re supposed to live a long, long life together.”
 
Maybe even an eternity.
 
I choose to block out the fact that it is because of me that his life is always in danger.

“I will work on that,” he says into my hair.

After a moment, I step back.
 
Looking at the floor, I say, “I guess my little stunt at dinner pissed the Witches off more than I thought.”

“You do tend to bring out the best in people,” Taz wheezes from where he’s lying on the floor.
 
I can’t tell if he’s exaggerating his exhaustion or if being my conduit really did affect him this much.
 
I’ll never know because Taz is the ultimate in drama queens.

Kallen reaches out and pushes my hair back from my face.
 
“I doubt they found a way to spread iron through the air in the last hour.”

I meet his eyes now.
 
“Meaning they had this planned way before dinner.”

“I would say before we arrived,” Kegan says, helping Alita to her feet.
 
They’re both still shaky.
 
My group healing worked, but not as well as doing it one on one.
 
There are lingering effects from the iron.
 
“I doubt they usually have this much iron dust lying around somewhere.”

“I agree,” Tana says.
 
The tone of her voice makes me turn to look at her.
 
There’s a crazy look in her eyes, one that looks all too familiar.
 

Turning back to Kallen I give his hand a squeeze and say quietly, “Keep an eye on your aunt.
 
I think she’s losing it.”
 
I let go of him and walk towards the door.

Kallen catches my arm again.
 
“Where are you going?”

“To have a little chat with the Witches,” I say.
 
I give Tana a pointed look.
 
“Seriously, you need to keep an eye on her.
 
She’s about to lose it and you’re the only one other than me who is strong enough to keep her from doing something stupid.”

“Xandra.”
 
There is a combination of concern and anger in his voice.
 
He knows I’m about to do something rash.
 
He knows me so well.

I pull my hand from his.
 
“I can’t let them get away with this.
 
I could have lost you.”

Kallen stares at me for a long moment.
 
He’s not happy about me going off alone, but resignation settles on his face.
 
He knows I’m right about his aunt.
 
He has to babysit her right now.
 
Finally, he nods.
 
“Try not to kill anyone.”

I’m not making promises I may not keep.

“What is the meaning of this?” my grandfather demands.
 
He is standing at the bottom of the stairs.
 
He must have ordered the removal of all of the video equipment because his clothes stay put.
 
Thank god.
 
I did not need another tightie-whitey image in my mind.
 
“Why am I being pelted with lead in my own house?!”

Grandpa didn’t know about the iron attack?
 
I peer closer at him.
 
Everything about him, the way he stands, the anger he’s radiating, his voice, it all says he honestly didn’t know.
 
Huh.
 
I guess I won’t be killing
him
tonight.
 
I won’t make any bets on tomorrow.
 
“Not lead, iron.
 
Iron meant to kill me and my friends.”

Eyes wide, he sputters, “That is nonsense.
 
I knew nothing of this.”

I snort.
 
“It seems you aren’t any better off than you were the last time we met.
 
Your
Witan, and whoever else, is still running things.”
 
Red faced, Grandpa holds his tongue.
 
He knows I’m right.
 

Continuing, I say, “I want every Witch who had access to this house tonight rounded up.”
 
I raise a brow when he opens his mouth to argue.
 
“If you don’t assemble them, I will.”

He doesn’t like that idea.
 
Cursing harshly, he rips his phone from his pajama shirt pocket and pounds a number into it.
 
“You are to bring everyone on the grounds to the conference room.
 
You have ten minutes.”
 
He presses end on his phone and puts it back in his pocket so hard, he rips a hole in it and the phone falls to the ground.
 
That’s today’s substitute for slamming a phone receiver down in someone’s ear.
 
It’s a poor substitute.
 
To me, he says, “Is the Queen okay?”

Nice.
 
“I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

He huffs.
 
“I can see that you are fine.
 
You are standing right in front of me.”

Okay, he has a point.
 
“She’s fine.”

As a belated thought, he says, “Your friends?”

I almost laugh at the lack of true concern in his voice.
 
“We’re all fine.
 
A little thing like an iron shower isn’t going to hurt us.”
 
Not Adriel and me, at least.
 
I’m not going to tell him how close the iron came to killing the Fairies.

Grandpa looks doubtful.
 
“I thought iron was a deadly substance to Fairies.”

Maybe he’s not as innocent as I thought.
 
“Some Fairy tales have been grossly exaggerated.”
 

He grimaces at my pun but he stores that information in his brain for a later time.
 
“Then gather them together.
 
They are suspects as well.”

I snort.
 
“Yes, one of my friends tried to commit murder/suicide.”
 

I go still.
 
Maybe one of them did.
 
Did Tana come with us so she could kill me and let the blame fall on the Witches?
 
Would she do that knowing her nephew would die as well?
 
Grandpa gives me a quizzical look.
 
Ignoring it, I turn to go back up the stairs.
 
Over my shoulder, I say, “I’ll meet you there.”

Ten minutes later, we are all gathered in the conference room.
 
The chairs around the far end of the table are filled with Witches while my party stands at one end.
 
Grandpa is standing at the other.
 
No one speaks.

“Perhaps introductions are in order,” Tana says into the silence.

Grandpa starts.
 
“Yes, yes, of course.”
 
He points to the man on the right.
 
“You have met Fatin.”

“How about if you tell us what kind of magic each Witch here specializes in,” I say.
 
“I am familiar with Fatin’s magic, but not everyone with me is.”

Grandpa narrows his eyes at me.
 
“Of course.”

Speaking for himself, Fatin says, “I am a skilled practitioner of Evocation and Exorcism.”

“Ah, the ghost guy,” Kegan says.
 
Fatin nods in acknowledgement despite Kegan’s flippant description.
 
He probably gets that a lot.

Grandpa continues.
 
“You may remember Beren and Divina, our scrier and summoner.”
 
I nod at them and their dirty looks and Grandpa continues.
 
He points to the black haired woman with the hawkish
nose who was at dinner and says, “New members to my Witan include Glinda, who specializes in Sympathetic magic.”
 
Meaning she makes voodoo dolls.
 
Nice.
 
I hate cowardly magic.

Trying not to laugh, I say, “Glinda?
 
Like in the Wizard of Oz?”
 
I bet she gets teased a lot.
 
To me though, she’ll always be Granny Panties.

Lips curled slightly at my amusement, Glinda says
, “My mother was a fan.”
 

“Moving on,” Grandpa says, giving me the evil eye, “this is Mohana.
 
She is a Seductress.”
 
He points to the mocha skinned woman from dinner, the one who wasn’t wearing a bra earlier.

“Is she your Derwydd?” I ask.
 
The last Seductress had been his high advisor.

“No, she is not,” the wiry haired Witch growls.
 
“I am.”

Grandpa’s face tightens around the edges and his teeth grind together.
 
She’s obviously not his favorite Witch in the world.
 
Why would he make her his Derwydd then?
 
“This is Sylar.
 
She is a renowned practitioner of Ekstasis magic.”

My own face tightens around the edges.
 
And everywhere in between.
 
“You are Louhi’s replacement.”
 
Louhi, the stealer of minds which he kept hostage behind locked doors in his own mind.
 
Looking at her grizzled features, it makes sense now that Louhi was practically a skeleton.
 
This type of magic must take a physical toll on the practitioner.

From what I know, the Witan
is
usually made up of seven Witches.
 
They are the King’s advisors, and when necessary, they act as judge, jury and executioner with the Witch population.
 
If the guilty are not executed, they will strip the Witches of their magic by stealing their minds.
 
One of the problems with the last Witan was that the person wasn’t always guilty when his or her mind was stolen.

Practically snarling, I say to her, “I hope you don’t claim innocent minds as your predecessor did.”
 

Considering the look she gives me, I would say she does.
 
I see a trip through her brain is in my near future.
 
Matching my snarl with one of her own, Sylar says, “Unlike my predecessor, my mind is impenetrable.”
 
  

To my left, Alita touches a hand to her forehead.
 
Tightening his arm around her, Kegan says to Sylar, “If you make my wife ill again, I will show you just how penetrable your mind is.”
 
Go Kegan.

I smirk at Sylar.
 
“He’s not kidding.”
 
She doesn’t respond so I move on.
 
Waving a hand at Mammoth and Redhead, I ask Grandpa, “Which one of these is your other binder, the one who can plant emotions in someone.”
 
The last binder did this without mercy and for his own personal gain.
 
Especially when it came to women, so I’m told.
 
At least, he did until I made his magic backfire on him.
 
My guess is he’s in a psychiatric unit somewhere.

“We have not yet replaced Midar,” Sylar snaps.

Frowning, I point at the two male Witches again.
 
“Then who are they?”

“Gunnar,” Grandpa says pointing to
Mammoth,
“is my chief of security.
 
Aiden,” he points to the redhead, “is his second in command.”

“Security, meh,” Taz growls from the floor.
 
“I could eat his face off in sixty seconds flat and he couldn’t do a thing about it.”

“What is that beast doing in here?” Sylar screeches.
 

Ow, my ears.
 
“As my familiar, Taz goes where I go,” I tell her.

“He is an evil, wild beast and should be put outside before he hurts someone,” Fatin says.
 
What, so the ‘evil, wild beast’ can terrorize the neighborhood?
 
He didn’t really think that through.

“He will only hurt someone who is trying to hurt me.
 
As long as none of you have plans along those lines, then you’re safe.”

“That’s not true, it depends on who is hurting you and why.
 
Sometimes you probably deserve it,” Taz says.
 
I somehow refrain from kicking him.
 
He’s so lucky no one else understands him.

“Is it speaking to you?” Grandpa asks.

I nod.
 
“Yes.”

“What is it saying?”

I glance down at Taz.
 
“He’s just confirming what I said.”

“Liar,” Taz mutters.

With a sigh, I address the Witches again.
 
“I’ve already introduced my friends to some of you.
 
This is Kallen, my husband,” I say, pointing to him.
 
“Next to him is his cousin, Kegan and his wife, Alita.”

“Do the Fairies marry their teenagers off as a common practice?” Mohana asks.
 
She sounds sincere, not like she’s making fun of us.

A blush rushes to my cheeks and Kallen comes to my rescue.
 
“Fairies marry for love and some of us find it younger than others.”
 
His voice is hard, making it clear the subject is now off limits.

I continue with the introductions.
 
“This is
Adriel,
she is an Angel of Death.”
 
Yes, she is still leader on the scary scale.
 
“And this,” I lean around Adriel to point at Tana, “Is the Fairy realm’s Queen Santana.”