Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10) (23 page)

“I will encase the house in a circle.
 
If anything else does occur, we will know the guilty party is within these walls,” Kallen says.

Sylar snorts.
 
I hope I don’t sound like that when I snort.
 
I like to think my snorts are cute and that they don’t sound like someone trying to suck a pig up their nose.
 
“It is not possible to create a circle that big.”

I shake my head.
 
“What part of him being one of the most powerful Fairies alive today did you not get?”
 
The house isn’t as big as Isla’s.
 
He should be able to do it.
 
I hope.

Mohana and Divina look at Kallen with more interest.
 
Gorgeous and powerful must appeal to them.
 
Beren clears his throat and gives Divina a dirty look.
 
I’ll have to thank him later for sparing me the trouble.
 
Divina blushes and looks away but Mohana keeps ogling Kallen.
 
Yeah, she was up to no good while they were gone.

Sylar is still not convinced.
 
“What about when he’s sleeping, the circle will come right down.
 
Or does he plan to stay up all night?”

I point to Kallen.
 
“You know, he’s standing right there.
 
Why don’t you ask him?”

Uncomfortable to be addressing a Fairy, she reluctantly turns to him.
 
“Well?” she says, not repeating her question.

His words even, Kallen says, “Fairies are able to hold circles while sleeping.”

Still
not convinced, Sylar says, “Why should we believe you?”
 
Oh. My.
God.
 
I’m going to find out who is trying to kill the rest of us and tell him he can still kill her if he wants before I take action against him.
 

Adriel has lost her patience with Sylar as well.
 
“You are more than welcome to stay up all night to guard the house.
 
I am going to put my trust in Kallen and get some sleep.
 
We can start looking for whoever is doing these things in the morning.”
 
Aww, she trusts Kallen.
 
That’s sweet.

“Sylar,” Grandpa says, bringing her attention to him.
 
“Let it go.
 
The boy knows what he’s talking about.”
 
Boy?
 
And since when did
he
start trusting Kallen?
 

“The Angel is correct, we are all too wired to do anything tonight,” Gunnar says.
 
“Let’s try to get some sleep and reconvene in the morning bright and early.”
 
I guess he trusts Kallen as well.
 
Maybe a death threat is going to bring us together like one big, happy family.
 
Right.
 
To Aiden, Gunnar says, “You take the first shift in the security office.
 
Wake me in four hours and I’ll relieve you.”
 
Aiden nods and strides out of the room, not looking at anyone.
 
Is he discovering he was wrong about us and doesn’t want to admit it?
 
Maybe.
 

“Call one of your people in,” Sylar says to Gunnar.
 
“I want someone standing guard outside my room.”

“That will not be necessary,” Grandpa tells her.
 
“Gunnar, go get some rest before you have to relieve Aiden.”
 
Wow.
 
Grandpa said no to a member of his Witan.
 
That doesn’t happen very often.
 

“What if the culprit is still in the house?” Sylar demands, not liking the fact he spoke against her.

Grandpa sighs as if one more word dropping from her mouth will mortally wound him.
 
“Then Aiden should see him or her on one of the monitors.”

Uh oh.
 
He must have forgotten our dinner conversation.
 
Guilt swings my eyes to Kallen.
 
He presses his lips together and gives me a slight nod.
 
I feel him pulling magic and sending it outward, fixing the surveillance cameras.
 
All except the one in our room, I hope.

“I am going to get Alita out of here,” Kegan says.
 
He lifts her from the chair and holds her tight against his chest.

“Good night,” I say, “and thanks for your help.”

With a tired smile, he says, “All I did was hold an urn.
 
You did all the heavy work.”

“Modesty doesn’t suit you,” I tease.
 
I get a bigger smile before he leaves with Alita.

“I must say, time with you is always interesting,” Adriel says.
 
“I believe I will get some sleep before the next catastrophe hits.”

“May I escort you to your room?” Grandpa says to Tana.
 
“This evening has tired you.
 
It would be no trouble.”

I stand in front of Kallen so he doesn’t go over and punch my grandfather in the face.
 
“We’ll make sure she gets to bed okay.
 
Come on, Tana.”
 
I hold my hand out to her.
 
She gives Grandpa a kind look before joining Kallen and me.
 
She doesn’t take my outstretched hand so I let it drop to my side.
 
We’re back to taking baby steps, I guess.

“Bright and early,” Grandpa says as we walk out the door.
 
I don’t turn back, but I’m positive there’s a disappointed look on his face.

After stopping at Tana’s room briefly, Kallen and I make our way to ours.
 
Inside
,
 
we
both flop down on the bed.
 
“This day has gone better than expected,” Kallen says.

No way.
 
“What did you imagine that would be worse than two murder attempts in less than an hour?”

“Murder attempts from the time we stepped foot into this realm until the time you got so angry, you took all their magic away.”
 
I know he’s teasing me, but that is a little too close to the conversation I had with Adriel for me to be amused.
 

Saving me from responding, Nixie’s voice floats through the door.
 
“Xandra, can I come in?”

“Sure,” I say over Kallen’s groan.
 
I nudge him with my elbow.
 
“Be nice.”

A bouncing light appears on the far wall.
 
“Your grandfather is one of the most boring people on the face of this earth,” she says.

I chuckle.
 
“Does that mean he’s not planning my death?”

“If he is, he’s doing a good job of not acting like it,” she says.
 
“Other than lusting after Tana, he hasn’t done much of anything today except sit behind his desk and
stare
at nothing.
 
He could probably use some antidepressants.”

I roll my eyes.
 
“Thanks for the diagnosis.
 
Are you being serious about him doing nothing?”

Her light bounces up and down on the wall.
 
Her way of nodding.
 
“If I keep following him,
I’m
going to need antidepressants.”

Taking pity on her, I say, “You can stop.
 
I don’t believe he’s plotting against me, either.
 
There is something going on, but he’s not behind it.
 
Would you mind following someone else?”

“You want me to follow Ms. Pink Thong, don’t
you.
”
 
She doesn’t sound pleased.
 
I wouldn’t be, either.

“Unfortunately, yes.
 
I don’t trust her.”

“You shouldn’t.
 
She says nasty things about you.”
 
That’s always great to hear.
 

“Such as?”
Kallen prompts.

“She wants your grandfather to stand up to you and boot you back to the Fairy realm.
 
She used harsher words but the idea was the same.”

Yeah, I bet she did.
 
“Probably not the best time to talk to the Witan about Fairy visas, huh?”

Kallen grimaces.
 
“Only if you want three attempts on our lives tonight.”

I shake my head.
 
“No, two is my limit before I get homicidal myself.”

Kallen doesn’t laugh because he’s not sure if I’m kidding or not.
 
I’m not sure either.
 
Instead, he says, “I could use some sleep before tomorrow brings new troubles.”
 
He gives a pointed look in Nixie’s direction.

“I’m going, I’m going,” she huffs.

I scowl at Kallen before turning to the light on the wall.
 
“Good night, Nixie.
 
Thanks for all your help today.”

Nixie disappears into the hallway and I hear Taz say, “Told you you’d get the boot, too.”
 
I chuckle and shake my head.

“What?” Kallen asks.

“Just Taz whining about not being allowed in.”
 
I stretch and yawn.
 
“I am so tired.
 
I’m surprised I’m still awake.”

With raised brows and a sexy smile, Kallen asks, “How tired are you?”

“Are you sure there are no more cameras in here?” I ask.

“Positive,” he says, then presses his lips to mine.
 
I find I’m not as tired now.

I wake several hours later to a slap in the face.
 
Well, not a slap exactly.
 
I’m hit across the cheek with a paw.
 
My eyes fly open and I’m about to physically throw Taz off the bed when I pause.
 
It’s not Taz.
 

“It’s about time,” the cat sitting on my chest says.
 
“I was about to use my claws.”

Am I dreaming?
 
I sit up fast and the pain of the cat’s nails digging into me as it scrambles to hold on is enough to tell me I am
not
dreaming.
 
“Who are you?” I ask.
 
“Did someone make me another Familiar?”

The cat huffs as it slowly retracts its claws from my skin.
 
“You are a slow one, aren’t you?” the cat says.
 
“Wouldn’t your evil sensing friend have figured that out by now if that was the case?”

My brow furrows until the dip in the center sits on my nose like glasses.
 
“Then why can I understand you?”

“Because I am speaking English.
 
I can speak other languages if that will better help you keep up.

I narrow my eyes.
 
“I didn’t ask what language you are speaking.
 
I asked why I can understand you at
all?
”

“I realized that the first time you said it,” the cat retorts with another huff.

“Are all your conversations circular?” I ask it.

“Only when someone doesn’t ask the right questions.”

I peek at the clock on the bedside table.
 
“It’s four thirty in the morning and you want to play twenty questions?”
 
The sound of my voice makes Kallen stir next to me but he doesn’t wake up.

“Will it take you twenty to ask the right one?”
 
Wow, I thought Taz was bad.

“Fine, I’ll ask you questions just to get you off the bed.
 
Are you a Familiar?”

“No.”

“Are you a freak of nature that has succeeded in proving Darwin wrong by being an obnoxious, sentient, speaking, pain in the butt cat?”

I swear the cat is laughing at me.
 
“No.”

“Tell me what you are so I can go back to sleep,” I growl.

“I cannot.”

“Then go away.”

“Alas, I cannot do that, either.”

Tired of the game, I grit out, “You are not immortal,
you
can be killed, correct?”

“Oh, very well.
 
I will tell you what I can.
 
I was sent here to watch over you.”

“By whom?”

The cat shakes its little head.
 
“That I cannot tell you.”

“If you are supposed to watch over me, why is this the first time I’ve seen you?”

“I am to watch you.
 
I never said that you needed to watch me in return.”
 
The cat lifts its right front paw and begins to groom the fur on it.

I am frustrated beyond belief now.
 
“Then why are you waking me up in the middle of the night to introduce yourself?”

Pausing mid-groom, the cat says, “Because there is a murder taking place and I thought you would like to know about it.”

“What?!”
 
I cannot possibly have heard the cat correctly.

My sudden outcry has Kallen sitting up, instantly awake from a dead sleep.
 
“What is going on?”

I point to the black furred cat.
 
“This cat can talk and it says there’s a murder going on.”

He looks at the cat with sleepy eyes.
 
“My love, it is only a housecat.”

The cat cocks her head to the side and says, “You are quite the condescending young man, aren’t you?”

It’s Kallen’s turn to freak out.
 
“What the hell!
 
Why can you speak?”

I give the cat,
who
has gone back to grooming herself, a dirty look.
 
It’s a wasted effort since she is more interested in her fur than me.
 
“She won’t say.”

“What did you
mean,
there is a murder taking place?” Kallen demands.

“Oh, that.
 
I wondered how long it would take before you two got back to that tiny detail.
 
Someone just entered your grandfather’s room.”

“Did you see what he looks like?” I ask, throwing the covers back and accidently getting the cat curled in them.
 
Okay, maybe it wasn’t an accident.

“Mmmph,” is my response until it can at least dig its head out.
 
“No.
 
I am afraid I am quite blind in the dark.”

“Cats have strong night vision,” Kallen says, getting out of bed.

“I suppose if I was always a
cat, that
would be true.”

“You are a shape shifter of some kind?” Kallen asks, making jeans and a t-shirt for himself.
 
Does that mean the cat is a Fairy?
 
That doesn’t seem right because none of the rest of us can speak while in our animal forms.

“Perhaps, or perhaps I am a cat with a sense of humor.”

“Not a funny one,” I grumble.
 
I let Kallen create jeans and a t-shirt for me, as well.
 
“Where is Grandpa’s room?”

“Finally, you are asking the right questions.”

I turn to Kallen.
 
“Is it really murder to kill a cat?”

Jumping down from the bed, the cat walks towards the door with her tail in the air.
 
“Yes, it is.”

“It might be worth the darkness on my soul,” I mutter as I follow after, Kallen right beside me.
 
It’s amazing how violent my thoughts are nowadays.