Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10) (24 page)

Grandpa’s room is in a different wing, one directly opposite from ours.
 
He put us as far away from him as possible.
 
Figures.

The cat stops in front of his door.
 
“Ta ta for now.”
 
It prances away and disappears around a corner.

I put my ear against Grandpa’s door.
 
That is definitely not snoring I’m hearing.
 
I try the door handle but it’s locked.
 
Kallen puts his arms on my shoulders and pulls me back a few steps.
 
The door explodes into tiny slivers of wood.

When the dust and debris clears, we’re faced with a horrific sight.
 
My grandfather has a noose around his neck and is crumpled in a heap on the floor.
 
A syringe is lying next to him and it’s empty.
 
Whatever was in it must be inside him now.
 

There is a bank of windows against the far wall and one of them is open.
 
Whoever is trying to kill the King of the Witches must have just gone out of it.
 
Kallen is already striding towards the open window.
 
Turning to his raven form, he disappears out into the night.
 
The culprit will have a hard time escaping him.

I rush to my grandfather and place two fingers on his neck looking for a pulse.
 
He has one.
 
It’s stronger than I thought it would be.
 
Pulling my magic, I search his body looking for poison, but all I find is something that seems to be a sedative.
 
It’s not hurting him, just keeping him unconscious.

Feet pounding down the hall make my eyes fly to the door.
 
Aiden barges into the room and ignoring me, goes directly to the window and shoves his head and half his body out.
 
 
After a moment, he pulls himself back into the room and spins towards me.
 
“What the hell happened here?”

That’s a stupid question.
 
“Considering you came running, I assume you know someone was trying to kill my grandfather.
 
Kallen and I got here about three minutes ago, so we know as much as you do.”

Aiden isn’t convinced.
 
“How did you know to come here?
 
Where is the Fairy now?”

I am about to sound stupid and snarky at the same time.
 
“A cat brought us here, and
Kallen
is off doing your job, trying to catch whoever did this.”
 
I gesture to the noose around my unconscious grandfather’s neck.
 
A shiver runs down my spine.
 
I’ve lived through multiple death threats now, but to hang someone after rendering them unconscious?
 
That is both personal and cowardly.
 
With my death threats, I’ve always had the ability to fight back.
 
Grandpa didn’t.

Aiden brings me out of my thoughts.
 
“A cat?
 
Brought you here?”

I glare at him.
 
“Yes.”

“Was it black?”

I’m so stunned by his question that I can’t answer for a moment.
 
Finally, I manage, “Yes.”

He shakes his head.
 
“It’s good to know I’m not crazy.”

“I take it you’ve seen the cat as well?”

His whole body tenses.
 
He doesn’t want to answer me, but he does.
 
“It’s been around for a few weeks.
 
So far, though, I’m the only one who has seen it.”
 
He pauses,
then
says, “Did it talk to you?”

I can tell he’s scared of my answer.
 
He really did think he was going crazy.
 
Maybe that’s part of the reason he’s been such a jerk.
 
I nod.
 
“Yes, it did.
 
It came into our room and pawed me in the face until we woke up and then it brought us here.”

“You said the…” he flushes, “your husband went after whoever did this?
 
How did he get out the window?
 
There’s no balcony and it’s a twenty foot drop.”
 
He’s not being sarcastic or
mean
, he’s honestly curious.
 

“He flew.”

He doesn’t believe me.
 
“Flew?” he scoffs.

I nod.
 
“Yes, he flew.
 
Fairies have an animal form they can shift into at will.”
 
Is the cat really a Fairy?
 
No, Kallen would have sensed that even if I didn’t.
 
He’s the one who asked it if it’s a shape shifter.
 
“Kallen’s animal form is a raven.”

He’s still considering if I’m telling him the truth or not.
 
“What’s yours?”

I stare at him, debating how much I want him to know about me.
 
I decide on full disclosure.
 
If I want the Witches to trust me, I can’t hold back information.
 
“I can shift into a Pegasus.”

He laughs with real humor.
 
“You cannot.”

I can’t help but smile.
 
“It’s the truth.”

Whatever he was about to say next is lost when a raven lands on the window ledge.
 
Aiden’s mouth hangs open a bit as he stares at Kallen.
 
“You were serious.”
 
He suddenly averts his eyes as Kallen shifts back.
 
Naked.
 
He remedies that immediately but Aiden is still blushing.

Amused despite the dire situation, I say, “I hate the naked part, too.”
 
I get a raised brow from Kallen as he dresses himself.
 
Okay, I don’t really hate it.
 
I was embarrassed at first maybe, but Kallen looks really good ‘sky clad’.
 
I’m more than fine with it now.

“What the hell?”
 
Gunnar has appeared in the doorway.
 
“Get away from him!” he orders, striding to where Grandpa is lying on the ground.

Coming quickly to our defense, Aiden says, “It wasn’t them.”

Gunnar stops mid-stride.
 
He looks from Aiden to Kallen to me as if he has walked into an alternate universe.
 
I can understand why he’d be surprised about Aiden sticking up for us since he was the most vocal about hating us.

Coming to stand by me, and making sure he is between me and Gunnar, Kallen says, “I attempted to follow the culprit, but he shifted and disappeared around the barn.”

“Shifted?” Gunnar scoffs.
 
“What are you talking about?”

“Does that mean it was a Fairy then?” Aiden asks, the edge returning to his voice.

Kallen shakes his head.
 
“No, not Fae.
 
I believe it is a Skin Walker.”

Annoyed that I’ve never even heard of such a thing, I’m the one who scoffs, “A Skin Walker?”

Kallen doesn’t appreciate my snark but he explains anyway.
 
“It was believed that the last of the Skin Walkers had left this realm long ago.”

“How long ago?”
I ask.

“At least a thousand years.”

“What are they?” Aiden asks.
 
He’s back to believing we aren’t the bad guys.

“Dangerous.”
 
Kallen lets that word hang in the air for a moment.

“How dangerous?”
Gunnar finally asks.
 
He’s standing with his legs slightly spread and his arms crossed over his massive chest.
 
He’s not ready to believe anything yet.

“A Skin Walker can become anyone it touches.
 
They can be anyone, or any animal.”

“Like the black cat,” I say, growing more uncomfortable with the idea that there may be two Skin Walkers around.

“What cat?” Gunnar asks.

Kallen doesn’t respond to that.
 
Instead, he gives us a brief history of our latest enemy.
 
“Skin Walkers are known to be devilish.”

“Evil?”
Aiden asks.

Kallen thinks for a moment.
 
“Evil is not the right word.
 
Malicious mischief is a more apt description.”

Aiden says what I’m thinking.
 
“He was about to hang the King, that’s more than being mischievous.”
 

Kallen’s lips purse for a second before he responds.
 
“Skin Walkers are not usually killers.
 
They often find humor in the macabre, but they are more about pranks and tricks.
 
They were cruel to those they targeted, but they would rather turn another being’s life upside down than kill them.
 
There is no fun in pranking a dead man.”

That’s it.
 
As soon as this mess is cleared up, I’m going to make Kallen sit down and make me a Being Identification Book.
 
If the cat speaking to you is mocking, turn to page 73.
 
If it wants to help you, turn to page 24.
 
If it claims it can change forms, turn to page 85.
 

I go back to what Kallen said a moment ago.
 
“Why did the Skin Walkers leave?”

With a wry smile, he says, “They were not exactly welcomed wherever they went and they did not leave on their own.
 
One of the few treaties that existed between the Witches, Fairies and Cowan was set forth to banish the Skin Walkers from this realm.
 
They were systematically hunted down and either sent to an isolated realm where they could do no harm, or they were killed.”

I exhale loudly.
 
“Even the ones who hadn’t hurt anyone?”
 

Deadpan, Kallen says, “If there were any that fit that description, they were well hidden.”

I stand up, leaving Grandpa in a heap on the floor.
 
“It’s a little hard to believe that
all
Skin Walkers were cruel enough to be killed.”
 
Kallen glances at Grandpa and then back to me.
 
I flush in response.
 
Not to be deterred from my argument, I ask, “Why couldn’t they put them in jail instead of killing them?”