Blood of Retribution (20 page)

Chapter 23

I have to force myself to open a passageway back to the Fairy realm.  I would so much rather go back into my old house, crawl into my old bed with Kallen and never come back out.  If only I didn’t have a conscience.  Such a nuisance the stupid things are.

Peeling back the fabric between the realms, I am calmed by the miles of sand and sea that stretch out before us.  I brought us back to Isla’s mansion just to find the serenity this scene can give me.  When Kallen and I are both through, I close it the passage.

“We should check on the house,” Kallen says.  I nod in agreement.  “I can do it alone if you want.”

I look up at him in surprise.  “Why would I want you to do that?”

He looks vaguely uncomfortable.  “So there’s no chance of you getting hurt.” 

I start to get upset that he thinks I’m a coward when I realize what he’s really saying.  He doesn’t want me to get hurt and he would feel safer if I stayed outside.  That’s sweet but he knows better.  “I’ll come in with you.”  He doesn’t mask his disappointment well.

“What are we looking for?” I ask as we walk up the terrace steps.

Kallen shrugs.  “Anything that’s out of place, I guess.”

Well, that narrows things down.  “If Tana was going to do anything else to the house, don’t you think she would have blown it up by now?”

“I do not know what to expect from her,” he says gloomily.  I have to keep remembering that Tana was once a beloved aunt of his.  Considering how I felt when I thought Aunt Barb had turned evil, I imagine he’s pretty devastated by her actions.

“I can’t believe no one is here guarding the place,” I say as we look around the huge living room with its various sofas and chairs.

“There is.  Garren volunteered to stay here when we moved to the palace.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”  I’m impressed.  That would take a lot of bravery on his part since part of the house has already been blown up.

“Garren!” Kallen shouts.  I suspect he doesn’t want to surprise the older Fairy.  Who knows what the guy has ready for an intruder.  He spent a lot of years in the Dragon realm and probably has some pretty good tricks up his sleeve.

A strange noise coming from the direction of the kitchen has us both running that way.  It was a loud thud and then the slamming of the back door.  I’m not surprised to find Garren on the floor of the kitchen, bleeding from a head wound.  What does surprise me is the image of a girl about twelve years old running from the house. 

“Check on Garren,” I say to Kallen.  I don’t wait for a response.  I am out the door and chasing the girl before he has a chance to say a word. 

I recognize the girl from earlier.  She’s one of the kids from the woods.  The oldest one, the one who had the disgusted look on her face.  It’s becoming clearer how Tana knew that we were headed home.  What a great trick on her part.  Neither Kallen nor I would have worried about the magic of a child, which is why our danger sensors didn’t go off before I teleported us back home.  Any aggression we felt emanating from the kids we just blamed on embarrassment or preteen disgust of kissing.  I hate to admit it, but this Tana chick is clever.  Diabolically clever.  Fan-freaking-tastic.

Unfortunately, the girl has taken to the woods and I simply don’t know them as well as she does.  I should have let Kallen pursue her.  The stitch in my side is in complete agreement.  “Taz, where are you?” I grumble.

To my great surprise, his cranky little body appears at my side.  “What are you running from?  Finally realize you’re living with a bunch of wankers and decided to move on?” he says with way too much hope in his voice.

I stop running.  “No,” I say breathlessly.  “Chasing that girl.”

“What girl?” Taz asks. 

I look around and can’t see her anymore.  Damn it.  Looking back at Taz, I say, “Track her scent and tell me where she goes.” 

I expect him to argue, but he doesn’t.  Instead, he sticks his little nose in the air and inhales deeply.  “Got it,” he says and off he goes.  I think he actually likes the idea of tracking the girl in the woods.  Nice.

As for me, I pledge for the thousandth time that I’m going to start working out more.  I can’t believe I was outrun by a twelve year old.  Then again, she’s not really a twelve year old.  I’m sure this is another of Tana’s disguises.  She is good.

Not wanting to run back to the house, I teleport to the back of it.  I didn’t want to risk teleporting into the kitchen in case Kallen had moved Garren.  He hasn’t.  I open the door and walk to the two men.  Garren is conscious but dazed. 

“Friend of yours?” he asks weakly.

“Yeah, best of friends.”

Garren tries to smile.  “Thought so.” 

“How about I heal your head,” I say, kneeling down next to him. 

He starts to nod and stops halfway through the motion.  I can understand why.  His head wound is almost as bad as Dagda’s was earlier.  Laying my hand on him, I carefully heal him.  I’m getting good at this head stuff.

When color has come back to his skin and he’s able to sit up with a little help from Kallen, Garren rubs his head and says, “That girl can wield a cast iron frying pan like a Dragon can wield its tail.”

“What was she doing here?” Kallen asks.  He helps Garren to his feet and then to a stool at the counter.

“I have no idea.  I found her in the kitchen a few minutes ago and she gave me a story about being lost.  Said her family was new to the area, and was looking for someone to tell her how to get back home.  That’s when we heard you shout,” he says to Kallen.  “The next thing I knew, I was hearing bells in my ears and had a splitting pain in my head.”  He rubs the spot again as if it still aches a little.

“Have you seen her before?” I ask. 

Garren shakes his head.  “No, but things have been rifled through around here.  Now I know by whom.”

“I do not believe it wise that you remain here,” Kallen says.  “She will most likely return for whatever she was looking for.”

“What do you think that is?” I ask. 

Kallen’s brows knit together.  “My guess is she’s looking for things that are yours.”

That seems stupid.  “Then why did she blow up our room?  That’s where all our stuff was.”

“I believe she thought that would be a game ender,” Garren says.  He’s still looking a little pale.  Tana definitely clobbered him a good one. 

“She does not know Xandra, obviously.”  I love the pride I hear in his voice when he says that.  “We have taken away the power base she had to amp up her magic.  So now she must be resorting to more personalized spells to go after you.” He looks from Garren to me.  “The kind that involve aspects of the intended victim.”

Great.  Another person who wants to make a voodoo doll of me.  I thought I left that kind of magic behind when I took down Grandpa’s Witan.  Which reminds me that I have to check on them when this is all over.  Again, that’s going to the back burner for now.  “So now she’s what, looking for pieces of my hair and things like that?  She’ll have a hard time telling my black hair apart from everyone else’s, won’t she?”

Kallen shrugs.  “She could use a locating spell.”

I guess nothing’s private anymore.  I’m sort of glad our stuff is gone from upstairs, I’d hate to have her using my underwear in a spell.  Wait a minute.  “Now that Hades isn’t helping her, her magic is weaker, right?”

“Correct,” Kallen says slowly, wondering why I’m stating the obvious.

“So, spells like her camouflage spells are weaker.”

He sees where I’m going with this.  “That is a spell that requires powerful magic.  She may not be powerful enough to maintain it on her own.”

I grin.  “Meaning we should be able to track her now.”

“That may be true, but remember, being less powerful is not the same as being less dangerous,” Garren says.  “There are plenty of ways to go after an enemy that do not include magic.  A sword can remove a head faster than magic can.”

Graphic.  “I appreciate the mental image,” I say dryly, even though I’ve been told this before.

Garren shrugs.  “Better to be prepared than to underestimate your opponent.” 

“He is correct,” Kallen says begrudgingly.  Bump on the head or not, he’s not willing to warm up too much to Garren.  “She knows we can find her now.  We cannot let her lead us into a trap.  Tana has had a lot of time to think about this and I am sure she has contingency plans in place.  Nothing she has done has been random; it has all been methodically played out.”

“Who?” Garren asks, his face a knot of confusion.  “Do you mean the Queen is behind all this?”

“Guess you’ve been out of the loop over here,” I say.  “Yes, the Queen is behind all of this.”  I’m still not sure she qualifies for that title anymore. 

Garren shakes his head.  “I remember her as a little girl.  She was the sweetest child you could ever meet.”

“Did she look anything like the girl that just left?” I ask.

Garren is surprised.  “Why yes, now that I think of it, she did.”

“Yeah, that’s because that was her.  She’s the one that beaned you on the head.  She’s not as sweet as she used to be, apparently.”

“I guess not.”

“Xandra, we should get back to the Palace.  We have not yet had the opportunity to explain to the King what happened in the Underworld,” Kallen says.

“Underworld?!” Garren shakes his head again.  “You two are certainly well-traveled.”

Lucky us.  “Okay,” I say to Kallen.  Looking at Garren, I say, “We should bring you with us.  It really isn’t safe for you here.”

He doesn’t like that idea.  “What if she comes back looking for more of your things?”

I shrug.  “Then she can have them.  Now that she doesn’t have an Olympian god helping her, I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever she throws out at me.”

Garren stands up and nods once.  “I believe you can.”

Placing a hand on both Fairies, I transport the three of us to the great hall of the Palace.

Chapter 24

The Palace doesn’t seem any calmer than it did before we left.  Does that mean that there’s a lot of Fairies hanging on to darkness deep inside them?  Or maybe the arguing and aggression going on is just lingering effects of the dark spells and will dissipate soon.  Maybe.

Leaving Garren in the great hall, Kallen and I make our way through the tense Fairies without too much trouble.  We pass through the throne room and on to Dagda’s office.  Kallen had sent a message ahead of us so we’re hoping to find the King there.  After a light knock on the door, I turn the handle and we enter.

Dagda looks up from his desk where he and Naja are going over some information.  “Nice to see you both made it back to your bodies.”  There’s a little undercurrent of annoyance.  Regardless of whether or not we made it back, he’s still annoyed we went at all.

I shrug and say with definite snark in my voice, “There was never a doubt in my mind.”  Way to get the boat rocking, Xandra.

After a hard look in my direction, Dagda sits back in his chair.  “Thank you, Naja.  We can finish discussing this after I meet with the Princess.”

Naja nods and picks up the papers from the desk, putting them back in a nice, neat pile.  With a nod in our direction, she takes her cue and walks out the door.  As I watch her walk out, I can’t help thinking that she is so much better than the last head of security Dagda had.  I haven’t wanted to throw Naja through a wall once.

“What information did you garner on this sojourn of yours?” Dagda asks crisply.  He sure knows how to hold a grudge.  “By the way, we knew precisely when your souls left your body and you, in effect, died.  It has been a long four hours waiting to know if you were to reside permanently in the Underworld.”

Four hours?  I hate how time moves so differently in each of the realms.  And now I feel extra guilty about the few minutes Kallen and I stole in the garage back home.  “Um, sorry about that,” is all I can think to say.

Kallen, fortunately, is more literate than I am.  “We determined that Tana was indeed receiving aid from Hades.  He has now been persuaded to withdraw his assistance.”

“Zeus is kind of pissed at him.  Not to mention Persephone.  She didn’t like the idea of Hades taking on a mistress for six months out of the year.”  And that is why Kallen should do all the talking.  The furious and ferocious look on Dagda’s face instantly makes my mouth seal itself shut.  I can’t believe I just blurted that out.

“Uncle…” Kallen starts, but Dagda holds a hand up to stop him.  He obviously needs a moment to collect himself, or have an apoplectic episode, before he hears any more.

It is not until several minutes later when there is a knock on the door that Dagda even attempts speech.  “What,” he grinds out.

The door opens which means it can only be one Fairy.  She’s the only one who would not have been terrified out of her mind to open the door after hearing Dagda’s anger.  “I came to see if you had heard from Kallen and Xandra but as I can see, you have.”

I can tell Dagda wants to tell her to get out or go to hell or maybe both.  He doesn’t.  Instead, he places his hands palm down on the desk and lowers his head like he’s stretching his neck.  He’s taking even, deep breaths.  This must be some sort of yoga or stress reducing thing.  Considering the amount of anger that is still resonating from him, it’s clearly not working.

Dagda takes so long collecting himself, I’m tempted to take a nap.  It’s been a long day.  I’m about to ask if we should come back later when he finally lifts his head.  “You were saying.”

I don’t remember now.  Oh, yeah, “Hades is no longer helping her.”  I don’t think more needs to be said.  I don’t want to be here all night.

Isla is obviously suspicious.  She doesn’t know what made Dagda mad, but she can easily guess it wasn’t what I just said.  “He agreed to this and let you leave the Underworld unharmed?”

“No,” Kallen says giving me a look that begs to let him tell the story.  Fine by me.  Looking back at his grandmother, he says, “Hades was not planning to let us go.  It is only because of the assistance of Rashnu, Lailah and Zeus that we have returned.”  He goes on to tell the story of our trip to the Underworld.  Funny how his version doesn’t include Persephone or the details of the deal Tana made with Hades.  There are times he is so much smarter than I am.

When Kallen finishes, Isla slides her eyes towards Dagda.  “I assume from the look on the King’s face that there are details of the arrangement Tana made with Hades that are best left unsaid.”

“Now you tell me,” I mutter under my breath.  I turn red when Dagda glowers in my direction.  Looking at Isla, I say, “You can safely assume his help was not given out of altruism.”  See, I can be tactful sometimes.  Usually only after blurting the wrong things out first, though.

Isla nods.  If she wants more detail, she is planning to wait until later for them.  “How would you like to proceed?” she asks Dagda.  I’m surprised by that until I realize she is being tactful as well.  Normally, Isla would be the one making the plans, but she is deferring to Dagda because it’s his wife we’re after.  Boy, I sure hope Kallen never has to chase down an evil me and put me out of my misery.  Then again, I don’t see Kallen travelling to another realm to impregnate someone other than me and then plan to kill the child, either.  My family is so messed up.

Dagda stands up and walks to the little bar to pour himself some scotch.  That has to be his tenth drink today.  If he keeps this up, we’re going to have to schedule an intervention.  After downing the first glass, he refills it and returns to his desk.

Gravely, he says, “Tana has committed treason with the attempted murders of the royal family and will be dealt with as any traitor has or will be.  She is to be found, interrogated and then put to death.”

I open my mouth to remind him that he once planned to kill me, a part of the royal family, which technically would make him guilty of treason as well.  The warning looks from Kallen and Isla convince me to keep my mouth closed for once.  But this doesn’t feel right.  How do you sentence someone you love to death?

Meeting my eyes, Dagda says, “You and I will proceed to the interrogation room to question the Fairy currently being held for assault against you.”

Oh joy.  “Why do I have to be present?”

“Because one day, this job will be yours.”  Oh, yeah.  Lucky me. 

“Kallen and I will begin the search for Tana,” Isla says evenly.  Her face is a blank page so I have no idea if she is in agreement with Dagda or not on what should happen to Tana when she’s found.

“Fine,” Dagda says rising from his chair again.  He stalks to the door and swings it open.  “Xandra,” he says, obviously expecting me to jump out of my chair and follow him.

“I’m coming,” I gripe.  Kallen and I both stand and he pulls me into a quick hug.  With a kiss and a supportive smile, he leaves with Isla and I am left with the surly and heartbroken King.  Boy, the guy we’re about to question is in so much trouble.  Dagda’s anger needs a target and the Fairy that pushed me has a big old bull’s eye on his forehead.