Embrace the Magic (The Blood Rose Series Book 2) (23 page)

With Ethan joining his power to hers once more, she repeated the process, and the bond was once more severed. The wraith fell forward prone and didn’t move. He lay there twitching, his power completely gone.

Like the troll, however, the fae appeared stunned at first, her dull eyes eventually finding clarity as she began to focus on everything around her. Finally, she said, “Caldwell. This is Caldwell. And I’m free.”

Her words brought a huge cheer rising from the residents. Huzzas followed, a long, triumphant string of them.

Samantha smiled as Ethan slid his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze. She looked up at him.
We’re doing some good here, aren’t we?

Yes, we are.

Samantha performed the service repeatedly until twelve wraith-pairs had been completely dissolved and the outlaw wraiths imprisoned. The recently liberated realm-folk were turned over to a team of fae who specialized in bondage crimes with a network of services that supported victims of all species.

As for Caldwell, since the Invictus force had not only been turned back well before the city’s outskirts, and those wraith-pairs captured were now dissolved, it was party-time once more in the old stone square.

The mayor begged for Ethan and Samantha to participate in the festivities, but other than offering a few words at the microphone to wish everyone Goddess-speed, he excused himself for the sake of his Guard and his need to stay on patrol.

As the Guard took to the air, a deafening round of cheers and shouts followed.

Some even called out her name.

The sight of so many well-wishers in the stone-built town of Caldwell, added another layer to Samantha’s confusion about just where she belonged.

*** *** ***

Ethan flew Samantha back to his primary residence. He’d come to love the feel of her next to him like this, her feet balanced on one foot as he drifted through the air.

Five Guardsmen accompanied them and Finn had the rest on patrols searching for more Invictus sign.

He might even have felt like he could let down a little, but something restless moved through his ranks, like they each caught a distant jarring vibration that kept his troops on edge.

I need to be with my troops.

Now? Tonight?

Yes. Something’s going on.

But I thought…

What did you think? Because we’d worked together?

Yes, because we’d saved a number of your people, bringing them out of years, even decades of captivity, that you might be able to stop, to take a little time with me. This wasn’t easy you know.

She’d grown stiff in his arms.

Now this felt familiar, the few times he’d allowed a woman to get too close; she wanted more from him than he could give.

He needed to set her straight, so he pathed,
Bergisson comes first, it always will.

I get that, or thought I did. But Finn can take charge now and then. He’s more than capable.

The fact that Finn had been telling him something similar for the past decade didn’t ease his mind or his temper. He shot back,
And now you’re an expert on battling the Invictus
?

Not exactly. But I am an expert when a man is being a dick, which you are right now, by the way.

He almost smiled, but he was too edgy to be that amused and why did he have to like it when she called him a dick?

Whether or not you’re right about this, I have to go out.

Do you want to at least check to see if there’s another vision you can use? Seems to me I did some good just now.

He wasn’t sure why he was being so pricklish, but he relented a little.
Yes, you did a lot of good and I’m proud of you. But, Samantha, whatever the future holds, Bergisson comes first. I have a million realm-souls on my shoulders and I feel them every living day of the year.

I know you do.

He didn’t like that she fell suddenly quiet, then he knew why. He felt her doubts like a wave washing over him, tightening his gut a little more, making his edginess reach that jumping off point.

And it ticked him off that even after all she’d just experienced and accomplished in Caldwell, that she would think for even a second that she didn’t belong here.

You’re thinking about Shreveport.

And my grandmother’s home.

Shit. His personal frequency tightened up into a knot. He couldn’t bear the thought that she might choose to return to Shreveport. But why couldn’t she see the value of staying, even staying with him?

Then he’d hardly made it easy for her. If anything, his realm had been one long nightmare, including his own Neanderthal conduct that got sprung at the slightest hint of another male getting close to her.

Still, it irritated him that she didn’t see that she belonged here. But then maybe she was more like Andrea than he wanted to admit.

When he touched down outside his primary residence, he’d never been more grateful than to see Vojalie and Davido. They sat in chairs near the fireplace, the baby monitor between them, Bernice probably tucked away in her crib.

Their presence gave him something else to focus on besides his desire to haul Samantha to his bedroom and either give her a good talking to about how she need to shape up and make a decision to stay, or to throw her on the back and prove who she belonged to once and for all.

Instead, he let her precede him while he remained near the front door hoping for his temper to cool. At the same time, he felt that same vibration in the air, that something wasn’t right, that something big was going on.

Vojalie gave him one long look then focused all her attention on Samantha as the latter shared the events of the evening.

Ethan turned away from her and contacted Finn.
How does it look out there?

Something’s on the wind. Hell, I thought with the Invictus retreating at Caldwell, we’d be settling down for the night. Instead, I don’t know.

I felt it, too, all the way back to my house, which is where I am, by the way.

And you’d rather be here.

In the air, yes, patrolling. I’m about ready to crawl out of my skin.

Samantha okay?

Yeah, she’s fine. Chatting with Vojalie.

Well, that’s good. She’s safe. Odd that Ry didn’t show up.

Yeah, I thought he would.

Hold on. One of my men is signaling me. I’m out near Sweet Gorge. Looks like we’ve got Invictus sign, just a small party.

Check in later.

Will do.

When the conversation ended, Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. Damn, but didn’t he hate this, standing around like a fool, waiting for a bomb to drop.

Samantha, who had sat down on a couch opposite Vojalie glanced up at him. “What’s wrong?”

He paced now and couldn’t seem to stop himself. “I don’t know. Invictus out at Sweet Gorge, for one thing.”

“You want to go out there, don’t you?”

He stopped and faced her. “I do. Finn’s there now.”

“Then you should go.”

Vojalie said, “But shouldn’t you maybe use Samantha’s faeness and check for a vision?”

Samantha’s brow rose and she held her hands apart as she met his gaze, then her gaze grew cloudy and she rose from her chair. “I see something.”

He moved toward her, hurrying down the stairs. “Okay tell me.”

When he caught her hands, her eyesight seemed to clear and she said, “I saw a number of dead out there, at Sweet Gorge.”

“Was I there?”

“You were looking down at them.”

“And you?”

She shook her head. “No, I wasn’t there.”

“I’ve got to go.”

“Go.” She even gave him a little shove.

“I’ll leave five Guardsmen here to watch over the house.”

She nodded.

He hurried back to the door and closed it behind him. He left instructions for his Guardsmen to stay on alert and patrol only the immediate vicinity and to let no one in, then he flew hard in an easterly direction toward the place his family had died forty years ago.

*** *** ***

Samantha felt that something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. For one thing, she’d never quite seen Ethan like this before, as though every nerve in his body had been lit on fire. He always had an edge, but this was something more.

She turned to Vojalie who sat forward in her chair watching her closely. “What is it?”

Samantha shook her head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like the state he’s in. It didn’t seem natural to him. Did it to you?”

“Ethan was always quick to move.”

But Samantha had been with him very intimately for the past several days and she’d tapped his personal frequency. This wasn’t just his usual energy, his drive toward his care of Bergisson. No, something was wrong.

Her mind slid over all the events that had happened, about Ethan and their connection, the recent salvation of wraith-bonded realm-folk, and earlier in the conservatory when Ry had almost had her.

What was it she’d felt then, that dark fae force?

Images rushed through her mind again, of the massacre at Sweet Gorge. She could see it all now, as Ethan must have seen it so long ago.

She willed herself to grow very still. She blocked the images, setting them aside. She needed to understand something very clearly right now and it had to do with her mother and what happened the night Ethan’s family was killed.

She turned to Vojalie. “I’ll be in the conservatory reading my mother’s journals.”

“At least take one of the Guardsmen with you.”

“Good idea.”

Once Samantha had a vampire in tow, she returned to the bedroom she’d been given when she first arrived at Ethan’s house. She sorted through her mother’s journals and chose the last one written about Bergisson, before she left for good.

Taking it to the conservatory where the Guardsman patrolled the edges of the vast, plant-filled space, she sat down on the bench nearest her door and scanned the last several entries.

Andrea had experienced confusion. Horrific images had rolled relentlessly through her mind, day and night, past visions that had transformed into real events, disasters imprinted forever on her memory.

And Samantha could relate except for one thing: Andrea never spoke of an ancient fae entity interfering with her, or muddling her mind. She did however say more than once that she didn’t know how much more she could take.

The final entry was now familiar to Samantha, because Andrea had been inundated with images of a terrible massacre at Sweet Gorge, images that Andrea had been sure had occurred a hundred years prior. More confusion, dizziness.

But Andrea had laid the state of her mind down to grief, the images she believed belonged to the past, her confusion of mind. So, she’d made her decision. She’d needed a change. She’d needed to leave Bergisson.

Samantha stood up, the journal falling from her lap to the pavers at her feet.

She got it. She finally understood exactly what had happened to her mother. The fae of unknown but ancient and dark origin had been afflicting her for months, but Andrea hadn’t understood what had been going on, what had been happening to her.

She reached her hand toward the Guardsman, but only then did she realize that once more the conservatory was full of strange waves and movement. The Guardsman lay prone on the floor, still breathing, but clearly unconscious.

She smelled the ancient fae now, a terrible stench like something that had rotted at the bottom of a garbage bin.

Then Ry appeared, holding out his hand to her. “Come, Samantha. It’s time to fulfill the best part of my plans for you. We’re going to Sweet Gorge and finish what should have ended there forty years ago. You and I can do this together because my fae friend will help us. She’s promised untold riches and power once we bond. But come. Let me fly you to Ethan so you can say good-bye.”

Samantha took in his words, but her mind already felt full of black smoke, so she didn’t quite get what he was trying to say.

But she heard Ethan’s name and she wanted to be with him. Ry could take her to Ethan.

She stumbled more than once as she made her way to Ry, who stood on the central disk. When she saw the glitter in his eye, she knew it would be a mistake to go with him, but how could she refuse him? She could feel his need.

Once she reached him, the crystal apex lit up her fae power and strengthened her, which in turn apparently gave Ry a rush because he cried out, “Sweet Goddess, I could live in this stream of energy forever.”

A female voice intruded, very softly. “Ry, take your prize to Sweet Gorge and complete the bond. Do it now.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Leaving the house proved a simple thing since Vojalie and Davido had retired to their rooms.

Ry took her in his arms, flew her to the front door, and straight up into the air past Ethan’s Guardsmen.

Samantha wasn’t surprised that the powerful vampires hadn’t seen her. The ancient fae clearly had many tricks, but what would she find at Sweet Gorge?

*** *** ***

With Finn nearby, and fifty of his Guard spread along the southern ridge, Ethan stared down into the gorge.

He’d been right. Something big was on the wind, a fulfillment of the vision Samantha had seen, the one that Quinlan would soon take part in.

One of his Guardsmen had already been killed and lay deep in the gorge while two others were trapped in some sort of strange webbing that neither he, nor any of his men could explain.

He paced near Finn. The rest of his entire Bergisson force was on the way, coming from every part of his realm.

Even Quinlan had sent for two hundred of his Guard from Grochaire and was waiting for them to arrive at the far eastern realm-to-realm access point in order to bring them over to Sweet Gorge.

He shoved his hands through his hair, while images of what the gorge had looked like forty years ago kept flashing through his brain, unbidden, as though placed there to torture him.