The Ruby Kiss (35 page)

Ruby watched him run up the stairs, joggling Rhys while he sang the boy a nursery rhyme. Ruby’s belly tingled, her skin burned with a pink flush, and her whole body hummed. Eloise’s need for help had been the catalyst to bring forth her power. She didn’t even need to make an effort to see life force now; the shiny ropes of energy crisscrossed all around her, impinging on her normal vision. Snaking out from the floor, walls, and furniture, they flowed toward her as though she were a magnet. Now that she could use her power, she must track down her father and confront him about her mother’s death.

Ruby was still on her knees when Nightshade came back down the stairs. He crouched down and wrapped her in his arms, enfolding her in a soothing aura of love and gratitude.

“Thank you, love. That was well done.”

Leaning into Nightshade, Ruby closed her eyes, enjoying the flow of pleasure along their bond. “I’m going after my father. I reckon he can’t be far away, as his specter was here.” Now she thought about it, she could sense him, sense his specter like a bitter presence grating across the edge of her awareness, a poisonous thread among the life force. A wave of pollution that was very close. She raised her head and looked around.

Nightshade stilled, and his gaze sharpened. “What are you sensing? I can feel it through you.”

“I think the specter is still here.”

“Damn. I thought it had gone. It could attack Eloise or Rose again. We must shut them both in the nursery, that’s the only room protected with magical wards. As long as that door’s closed, it’ll keep the thing out. Won’t be a moment.”

He ran upstairs, and she heard a low anxious exchange of male voices. Michael ran along the hall and a minute later headed back toward the nursery with Rose. The specter streaked out of the wall and shot after them.

Ruby scrambled to her feet. Her father had some damn nerve, sending the poisonous thing after her and terrorizing these piskies. Was he trying to push her into a confrontation?

She slipped into her artist’s vision and saw that a tendril of energy trailed from the specter like a leash. In Scotland,
the specter had emerged from the top of Kade’s skull, the same position from which Eloise’s life force had emanated. The Seelie hunters’ thought-forms must be made up of their life force. Kade needed his arse kicked hard enough to teach him a lesson, and when the specter was active he would likely be weaker. Anger drove her instinct. Ruby raised her hands and hurled a net of energy over the thing.

Rose reached the nursery, and Michael slammed the door closed behind her before wheeling to face the ghostly shape. Trying to reach him, the specter writhed and struggled within Ruby’s restraints. She reeled in the ropes of energy, dragging the bound creature down to the ground floor so that it was easier to control. The noxious emanations of its foul substance tainted her energy with the same terror and helplessness she’d felt when it touched her. But she thought of her mother and gritted her teeth against the sensation, resisting the instinct to recoil from the malevolent thing.

The specter writhed like a wild animal caught in a trap, jerking her forward a couple of steps. Nightshade dashed down the stairs and gripped her shoulders to steady her.

“How are you restraining it?” he asked.

She’d forgotten none of the others could see what she could. “In a net of energy.” She grabbed a breath. “It’s fighting, but I’m bloody well going to hang on.” She sucked in more air. “If Kade wants his pet back, he can come get it. Saves me going looking for him.”

The thread of life force attached to the specter yanked taut, pulling against her. She tugged back. If her father wanted to play tug-of-war, that was fine by her. She would make certain she won.

“I’ll do what I can to help you. How long will you be able to hold it?” Nightshade asked. His steady earth energy was grounding her, already helping her focus.

“Let’s give Kade an incentive to hurry,” Ruby said. She went
over Aila’s instructions in her head.
When you use your power, don’t give up your own energy. Relax and channel the life force around you.
That detail suddenly made more sense.

Ruby called upon the glowing snakes of life force. They streamed toward her and dived into her belly. Power surged up her spine, tingled down her arms, and flowed out into the net holding the specter. She dragged the entity closer and shrank the net. As the specter condensed, it darkened to a sickly yellow color tinged with unhealthy green.

“I hope Kade doesn’t cut the damn thing loose rather than face us,” she muttered, wincing as she started to tire.

Nightshade pressed his body against her back. “Lean on me if you need to.”

She relaxed a little and let him take some of the strain, anchoring her both physically and mentally. It was wonderful to have someone to lean on. To have someone to trust. Maybe this responsibility wouldn’t be so bad.

“You’re doing well, Ruby. Hang on,” he said. He felt solid, strong, and reliable, and she wondered how she’d ever managed without him.

A small knot of spectators had gathered on the landing. Michael was staring out an upstairs window. “Pissed-off Seelie hunter incoming,” he shouted. There was a grin in his voice.

The front door crashed and rattled as if someone had kicked it. “Get out here, Mistress, or I’m coming in,” Kade shouted.

Nightshade released Ruby. She angled her back to the wall so that she had a better view of the room just in time to see a fist smash through the stained-glass window at the side of the door.

“Feather-butt is too
scared
to come in,” Nightshade shouted in a singsong voice. He’d positioned himself in the center of the foyer, arms loose at his sides, an expectant smile on his face.

The words were barely out of his mouth when the front door
burst open. Kade leapt through, but he hadn’t considered the dimensions of the opening. His wings caught, and he had to duck and twist to wriggle through. Red–faced, he cursed, his gaze fixing on his specter.

“How dare you,” he spat. “Trapping a specter is forbidden.”

“Tough luck,” Ruby spat back. “Why did you kill my mother? What did she ever do to you?”

She heard those watching snatch in startled breaths. Kade reared back, nostrils flared. “You read that from my specter?”

Ruby didn’t bother to answer, simply stared him down.

“Your mother talked to mine. She would have told you how powerful you were.”

“And you wanted to keep me ignorant till you were ready to use me.” A wave of anger and disbelief crashed over Ruby. “You really are a selfish bastard.”

“I’m your father. That gives me rights.”

“The right to kill people? Maybe in the Scottish Seelie Court,” Ruby said. “You need to invest in satellite navigation, Father. This is the Cornish piskies’ domain. You have no rights here.”

Niall emerged from a side corridor, a glinting crystal blade in his hand, his face a stony mask of anger. He stepped up beside Nightshade and pinned Kade with a frigid glare that reminded Ruby of Troy. “You’re not welcome here!” he snapped.

“Meet the pisky king,” Ruby said. “By the way, your specter attacked the pisky queen, so you might want to apologize.”

Kade’s gaze flitted arrogantly from Niall up to Michael on the landing. “By-blows of the Deathless One,” he said derisively.

Niall produced a second crystal dagger, his expression darkening, while Michael ambled down the stairs, grinning.

“Shall I call me father to join us? He loves a good scrap,” Michael said.

Kade snorted in supposed disgust, but he didn’t quite carry it off. “Release my thought form.”

“Or what?” Nightshade demanded.

Kade took a threatening step toward Ruby, but Nightshade moved swiftly to intercept. “Don’t even think about hurting my woman.”

“Your woman!” Kade’s gaze skipped to Ruby. Disbelief, then anger, flashed across his face. “You’ve bonded yourself to the nightstalker? I heard you were bonded to the Unseelie king!”

“That’s your fault as well. If I’d known then what I was, none of that would have happened. Get out of here! And stay away from me,” she shouted.

“Foolish girl. You have no concept of what you could do with your power.” Kade’s fists clenched and released, his wings trembling. He seemed to hesitate. Then he drew himself up straight and his wings flared out. “Forget the nightstalker. Come with me, Ruby. I’ll help you take over the Seelie Court. Together we can rule all of Scotland.”

Stunned silence hung in the air, broken after a few seconds by Nightshade’s growl.

“That’s enough!” Nightshade leapt at Kade, Niall hot on his heels. The Seelie hunter tried to sidestep, but his wings caught on the furniture and he couldn’t avoid the foot Nightshade slammed into his crystal breastplate. With a dull ringing like a cracked bell, Ruby’s father stumbled into a table. A vase of roses crashed to the floor. Nightshade and Niall grabbed Kade beneath the arms and hurled him out the door, white feathers scattering on the breeze.

Ruby hadn’t known exactly how she would punish Kade, but now an idea came to her. If he aspired to control the whole of Scotland, he was more of a threat than she’d thought. She didn’t care who ruled the Seelie Court, but despite the way Twister had treated her, she did care about the Unseelie king. If she weakened Kade, it would punish him and deter him
from taking over Twister’s domain. She dragged Kade’s specter outside and ripped the leash joining it to him.

She opened her net, and the ghostlike form made of Kade’s life force expanded and drifted away on the air like smoke. Kade whimpered like an animal in pain and fell to his knees. He turned glassy, shocked eyes upon her. Bruises and red blotches appeared on his perfect skin, the sheen left his golden hair, and his pristine white wings faded to grubby gray. With the loss of so much life force, he obviously couldn’t maintain his glamour and she was shocked by his true appearance.

“How could you do that to me?” he whispered.

“You’re lucky that’s all I did!”

He visibly composed himself and scrambled inelegantly to his feet. She was comforted by a sudden knowledge that he’d take a long time to replenish his lost life force and regain the power to become dangerous again.

His gaze skated over the watchers who crowded in the doorway. “You’ve not heard the last of me.”

“Yes, we have,” Nightshade replied in a voice edged with violence.

Kade jumped skyward with a huge flap of his wings, his face contorting with the effort. When he was safely airborne and out of their reach, he shouted, “I have a powerful ally!” He threw a small bolt of lightning, which sizzled pathetically in a puddle.

“Good for you,” Ruby replied. “I hope you’ll be very happy together.”

* * *

Nightshade took Ruby to her room and lay with her until she slept, but he couldn’t settle down; the sense of her flowed through him, setting every nerve ending alive with desire. He
wanted to bite her and make love with her and . . . something more, but he wasn’t sure what. Ever since they’d traded Magic Knots he’d felt as though there was something he’d forgotten to do.

He trod quietly back down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. He poured a glass of milk and ate a bar of chocolate standing at the counter, staring out the window at the star-speckled sky.

A rush of awareness prickled up his spine, and he turned to see a figure materialize by the door, gleaming in scarlet and gold. “Troy. I sensed you before you arrived.”

“We still have a blood bond, my friend.” The immortal beckoned. “Come to me.”

The words carried only a trace of compulsion. Nightshade could have refused, but he stepped forward anyway. Troy’s hand gripped the back of his neck and pulled him close. Nightshade inhaled the immortal’s unique fragrance of sun on ice, crisp and clean, and remembered biting him at the Gathering of Kith and Kin. Had it only been a few weeks ago? So much had changed, including his burning desire to dominate Troy with the ecstasy of his bite. The piquant dash of fear that added spice to the encounter had faded, too. The only person he wanted to bite now was Ruby.

Troy pulled Nightshade closer and pressed their cheeks together. “I sense your bond with Ruby is complete. You have chosen well,” he said softly.

The silence stretched as Troy’s breath brushed his neck. Then: “I offer you the advice that should have come from your father. Search deep inside yourself for the unique instinct that drives a nightstalker. There is a bloodless bite shared only with your bond mate. It’s called the Ruby Kiss.” He laughed. “Ironic considering her name.”

The Ruby Kiss
? Troy’s words fizzed through Nightshade’s brain, sparking deeply buried instincts. A compulsion he didn’t
understand bubbled up: He needed to build somewhere safe and private where he and Ruby wouldn’t be disturbed.

Troy released his neck, along with an exhalation of regret. “I wish you both well,” he whispered. Then he stepped back, touched two fingers to his brow and disappeared.

All his young life, Nightshade had yearned for his father to come for him and take him away. But when his father did finally arrive it had been to hurt him and destroy the happiness he had won for himself. How strange, that Troy, whom he’d feared at first, then yearned to dominate, should now take the role of a mentor, a father figure. In Ruby and Troy he had found what he had been missing.