Kissed by Eternity

Kissed by Eternity

The Sunwalker Saga, Book Six

Shéa MacLeod

Kissed by Eternity

Sunwalker Saga, Book Six

Copyright © 2014 Shéa MacLeod

Published 2014 by Sunwalker Press, Clackamas, OR, USA

All Rights Reserved

Cover art: Amanda Kelsey of Razzle Dazzle Designs

Editor: Theo Fenraven

Proof Reading: Jenx Byron

Formatting: PyperPress

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This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

Dedication

This final installment of the Sunwalker Saga is dedicated to you, my readers. Thanks for joining me (and Morgan!) on this amazing journey over the last three years. Part of me is sad to see this chapter of the Saga end, but part of me is crazy excited about what comes next! Because the world of the Sunwalkers doesn't end here…

Chapter 1

A bomb exploded to my left. Dirt and debris shot into the air before peppering the ground. A clod of dirt smacked the top of my head. Damn, that stung. But I didn't stop to check for damage.

I ducked and dodged to the right as another explosion rocked the high desert. One of the Sidhe Queen's men appeared in my line of sight, his armor glinting in the late afternoon sun. I felt the Darkness stretch my lips into a feral grin as I raised my hand, palm outward. He'd never know what hit him.

Something slammed into my side, and I crashed into the hard earth with enough force to rattle my teeth. I let out an animal scream and reached inside me for the Fire, prepared to unleash its fury on my attacker.

"Oh, no you don't, Morgan Bailey." Kabita Jones, my best friend and boss, grabbed my hand. "I like my skin the way it is, thank you."

"Kabita. What the heck?" I hauled myself slowly to my feet. "I was just about…"

"Yeah. I know. You were just about to send an icicle through that Sidhe's heart. Then where would we be?" She gave me a stern look, reminiscent of my mother. Her long, black hair was bound in a tight braid, and she was wearing her usual demon-hunting outfit of black jeans, black shirt, and black leather jacket and boots. Her brown eyes snapped angrily.

I stared at her, baffled. What was her freaking problem? I opened my mouth, but she interrupted before I could speak.

"Do you know what would happen if you got involved in this war?" She ducked as a djinn-thrown fire spear sailed overhead, burying itself in the ground inches from a Sidhe warrior. The Sidhe yanked the spear out of the ground and lobbed it back. "You take sides, and all bloody hell really will break loose. Whichever side you pick, the other side is going to rain hellfire down on humans. We'd never stand a chance. Do you want that?"

"No," I shouted back over the whistle of incoming crossbow bolts. "But I can't let this stand. The queen can't attack the djinn and get away with it."

"Then you better figure out another way."

I opened my mouth to tell her I couldn't, then stopped. Maybe there was a way. "Um…"

"What?" She lifted a brow.

I'd never told Kabita about my trip into the Otherworld —aka fairy land— with Jack a few weeks back. Jack, Sunwalker extraordinaire and pain in my backside, and I had been tracking a prison escapee when we'd ended up in the queen's court. I'd never mentioned how I happened to discover I could use my Earth power to control the denizens of the Otherworld. It wasn't something you spread around unless you wanted to end up extremely dead. Besides, I'd never tried it on this side of the portal. It might not even work.

"I might be able to control some of the Sidhe."

"What?" Kabita shrieked. "Since when? Why didn't you tell me this before?" She looked like she wanted to strangle me.

"It doesn't matter. I don't know how much I can do. I mean, I've controlled a small fey creature before, and from the reaction I got, it seemed to be a sign I could do more." That was the understatement of the century.

"Then do it!" she howled. "Make those damn fairies stop this shit."

"I can't control the queen. Maybe her soldiers," I admitted. "But then what? The minute I stop the fighting, the djinn will slaughter them. How is that any better than me outright fighting?"

"Shit." Kabita rarely swore, which meant we were in deep doody. She rubbed her forehead. "It's not."

"Exactly."

"Wait." She yanked me to the left as another volley of bolts streaked by. There was a howl as at least one of them hit their mark. "What if you marched them off djinn lands?"

"The djinn may be tied to this land, but the Marid is the only one who can't leave. The rest of them can just keep on fighting."

"Damn."

"Exactly. Any other brilliant ideas?"

She scowled at me. We both ducked as another explosion shattered a nearby juniper tree. Splinters shot everywhere. "What if you forced them back into the Otherworld?"

"I'd need a portal, and only the queen can open one. I'm pretty sure she's not going to do that because I ask nicely. Besides, have you forgotten? I may be able to control the Sidhe, but the Marid can control me." Or rather, my Air powers. He'd done it before when they'd gone out of control. It had been for our mutual benefit that time, but who was to say he couldn't use it for his own purposes? The last thing we needed was the Marid using me to fight the Sidhe.

"Dammit," she snarled, chewing on a fingernail. "There has got to be a way."

"There is always a way," said a calm voice.

We turned to face the newcomer. Tommy Wahenaka. He'd been my father's friend and was now my training guru. I sure hoped he was right.

"Tell me," I said. "We need to end this before anyone else dies."

"Why do you care if the Sidhe die? Or the djinn?"

"Excuse me?" I snapped.

Tommy stared at me serenely. The wind teased strands of long white hair that had escaped from his double braid. He leaned on a walking stick of twisted wood worn smooth by time and handling. "Why do you care? This is not your fight, Morgan Bailey." He eyed me intently, awaiting my reaction.

"How can you even say that?" I gaped at him. "This is my fight. Morgana made it my fight when she used me to start this war. Why should their people die because Morgana and the Marid are having a tiff? And now it's not just about djinn and Sidhe. Humans are at risk, too."

"Morgana used you, yes," Tommy agreed. "But the Marid allowed his pride to control his actions. And Morgana would have used another excuse to attack the djinn. This has been generations in the making. All you can do is protect your people. Our people."

"But I don't know how. Other than stopping this war." And I didn't. My brother, Trevor, already had his agents from the SRA —the Supernatural Regulatory Agency— surrounding djinn lands with guns. Not that conventional weapons would work on the Sidhe anyway. Probably wouldn't harm the djinn much, either. They were there because they had to be. It was all we could do. I had nothing. I was a Hunter. I killed vampires for a living. This was way beyond my pay grade.

"Very well," Tommy said. "You've been given your gifts for a reason, Morgan. Reach inside. You'll know the answer. What power can you use that neither djinn nor fae can breach?"

I winced as another explosion rocked the ground. More dirt and debris shot in the air, raining down on us. It peppered Tommy's long hair. He plucked out a sage branch, completely unruffled, and dropped it on the ground.

"Darkness," I said. It was the only thing that neither djinn nor fae could connect to, nor did they have particular defenses against it. Not like Fire. Or Water. Although those might come in handy, too.

"Use it. Bind it to your other powers and use it to contain what's inside."

"I don't think I can do that all on my own."

"You don't have to," Kabita said grimly. "I can set wards, and you can attach your power to each one, magnify it. I'll erect a circle, creating a barrier to contain the battle. You use the wards to channel the Darkness into the circle. They won't be able to breech it." Kabita was Witch Blood, a natural born witch, in addition to being a demon Hunter. Setting wards would be a piece of cake for her.

It made sense mixing witch magic with my own powers. Tommy was right. There was another way. I could only hope it worked. "Let's do it."

We started where we stood. Kabita knelt on the hard ground to place the first ward. She traced a pattern in the dust and whispered a few words over it. I could almost feel the energy she was pouring into it, static electricity raising the hair on my arms. As she spoke the last word, the design sank into the earth, leaving no trace. All I could see was a faint glow of energy where it had been. Kabita stood and gave me a nod.

With the ward ready to go, I placed my hand on the faintly glowing ground. I felt the zingy energy that was one of Kabita's spells. I tapped into it, letting it flow into me as I sent the Darkness curling down from the center of my being into the energy of the ward. Once it was done I straightened.

"Now where?"

"This is going to be a huge circle. We'll take my motorcycle. It can handle the terrain. We'll place a ward every couple hundred feet or so."

Tommy watched as we climbed aboard the sleek, black Harley. Neither of us bothered with a helmet. The magic would kill us long before falling off a bike would. With a wave to Tommy, Kabita revved the bike and took off through the high desert. The rough terrain jostled us, each bump and pothole jarring my spine and rattling my teeth. I made a mental note to never allow Kabita to drive me through the desert on the damn thing again.

She pulled to a stop and kicked down the stand. Once the second ward was set and I'd channeled the Darkness into it, we took off again. Rinse and repeat. We placed wards until the entire battleground was enclosed. Meanwhile the SRA agents held the line, albeit with some difficulty. I was fairly certain Tommy was helping. In his way.

Back at the first ward, Kabita began the ritual that would link the wards together, creating a circle of power the violence could not cross. The Sidhe would be able to leave, but once they exited the circle, they couldn't return or bring enforcements, and the djinn would be stuck behind the barrier unable to leave at all. This was their land, after all.

As Kabita continued with the ritual, I continued pouring my Darkness into the ward. Then with a final command, the circle snapped shut. My Darkness raced through the wards one at a time until each was linked. While my physical eyes saw no change, my sixth sense, my third eye, could see the dark dome of power encompassing the battle. A pair of warriors, locked in combat, crashed into the side of the dome. Electric sparks shot up across the invisible barrier, but it held. The two crumpled to the ground as if they'd hit a brick wall. Shaking their heads slightly, they staggered to their feet and went at it again.