Blood Prophecy (Witch Fairy) (3 page)

I’m torn.  I don’t want to leave my parents in the room with someone we don’t know if we can trust yet.  Mom has her magic to defend herself with, but Dad doesn’t have a drop of magical blood in him.  Who knows what Grandma could do to him, even if he is a ghost.

The outline of a grim smile touches Mom’s lips as she senses my hesitation.  “It’s fine, honey.  I have taken the same precautions inside the house as I have outside.”

Mom has the outside of the house booby trapped, much to my surprise last week.  She was able to fend off the first attack of the Fairies with an invisible Fairy trap and exploding Witch’s bottles.  Which are totally gross.  She put iron nails in a bottle with her urine and buried them in the ground around the house.  Iron is like a hot poker to Fairies; it burns right through them.  The urine binds the bottle just to her and her magic.  Now, all she has to do with the Witch’s bottles is say an incantation and they explode out of wherever she has them hidden.  And they must be hidden pretty well if neither me nor my little brother Zac have ever found them.

Thinking of Zac causes a little ping in my heart.  He and my Aunt Barb are down in Denver trying to wait out this whole mess.  They’ll come back home when it’s safe.  And I want that to be soon.  Thinking about that gets me all riled up again and I shoot Grandma a dirty look because she’s the only one I can vent on right now.

Reluctantly, I show Kallen where my parents’ room is.  I open the closet door and another ping hits my heart.  Mom and Dad’s clothes are still in the closet.  No one has ever brought up the idea of getting rid of them now that they don’t really need them.  I guess it would be an acknowledgement that they don’t belong to this plane of existence anymore.  And that they never will again.  We’ve tried not to focus too much on that over the last three years.  We’ve all pretended that it’s perfectly normal to have your parents be ghosts.  It’s amazing what we can teach our brains.

Kallen pushes a few boxes aside on the top shelf and finds the ceramic bowl that we used when he took his blood oath.  Aunt Barb must have tried to hide it when she put it away.  Maybe she thought the Fairies would be able to do something with it, I don’t know.  Kallen hands the bowl to me as he reaches up for the athame.  It’s a double edged knife with a sharp point and it looks old.  It’s made of silver and the handle has intricate designs that I’m sure mean something, but I haven’t had the chance to ask Mom about it.  It’s a pretty cool looking knife, though.

He puts the knife in the bowl and then puts his hands on my cheeks.  “This will all work out.  You are strong enough to take on a hundred Witches, if necessary.”

I don’t really think he means that literally, but it is nice of him to say it.  He ducks his head to give me a kiss and without thinking I take a step back.  My words jump out of my mouth as if they had been waiting on the tip of my tongue for my lips to open so they could make their escape.  “Did you stay because of the blood oath?”

He’s definitely not keeping his face blank at the moment.  Torrents of emotions are washing over it as quickly as a blink of an eye.  First I see confusion, then understanding, then incredulity, and finally, anger.  A lot of anger.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he looks down his nose at me from his immense height.  I hate it when he does that.  It makes me feel really small.  “You still do not trust me,” he huffs.  “After coming here to save you, after giving up the chance to return to my home and my family, you still do not trust me.  And, just so you know, blood oaths do not travel from realm to realm.  If I had returned to my own realm, I would have been free of any responsibility for keeping you alive.  I could have left and never looked back or worried about you ever again.  It is only in this realm that my life is at risk if I do not do everything in my power to save yours.”

Oh, I didn’t know that about the not crossing realms thing.  Now I feel terrible.  But instead of saying I’m sorry, my mouth says, “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”  I think I may have more trouble controlling my mouth than I do my magic.

His eyes narrow and his face is granite.  “I did not think it necessary.  I thought the reason I stayed was quite clear, but apparently, this time I was the naïve one.  What an unusual twist for us.”  He takes the bowl and athame from me and starts walking towards the door.

“You didn’t have to be such a jerk about it.  I was just asking.”  See, no control whatsoever.

Kallen turns back towards me and he still looks really mad.  He opens his mouth to make what would probably be a cutting remark, when Dad comes in.  Taking in our faces and the emotions filling the room, his eyebrows raise.  “Trouble in paradise?”

“No,” I lie.  “Dad, are you going to follow us around the house whenever we leave a room?” 

With a chuckle, Dad says, “Possibly.  But I actually wanted to ask Kallen a couple of questions.”  It’s good to see a smile on his face, but I’m getting really tired of the guys in my life laughing at me, which I hope I’m conveying with the dirty look on my face.  Kallen is still glowering at me as well.

Ignoring what’s going on with us, Dad asks Kallen, “Is there a way to, I don’t know a better way to say this, cheat when taking a blood oath?”

Kallen nods.  “In a way, yes.  The wording is very important.  For instance, the blood oath that I took,” he pauses here to narrow his eyes accusingly at me again,” I swore to protect Xandra’s life as I would protect my own.   If I had decided that the only way to keep her from opening the gateway between realms was to sacrifice my own life, I would not have had to protect her life.”  Now that he’s said the words out loud, he actually has the decency to look a little sheepish as he admits that to my dad.  He came to this realm believing that he may have had to do just that until he figured out that I was on his side.

So, he had purposely spoken the oath like that.

Dad crosses his arms over his chest as he looks evenly at Kallen.  I think he’s going to pounce on that as a reason to tell Kallen he can’t stay, but he doesn’t.  He’s too preoccupied with what he came to ask, apparently.  “Are there any spells or amulets or anything like that that could be used to negate a blood oath?”

Kallen thinks for a moment then shakes his head.  “I have never been told of one.  But Fairies have not been in this realm for several hundred Cowan years.  It is possible that I am ignorant of magical charms or spells that may have been stumbled upon to prevent the binding of the oath.”

I’m still feeling snippy so I’m tempted to make a comment about him admitting he’s ignorant about something.  It so rarely happens.  But I don’t because that would be mean, and this whole argument was my fault in the first place for thinking he had ulterior motives for staying here.  “Do you think Grandma is going to try to weasel out of the blood oath?"  I ask Dad.  I hadn’t even thought of that.  Dad’s thinking about all of this way harder than I am apparently.  Then again, he’s had eighteen years to think about what if’s.  I’ve had a week.

Dad shrugs.  “Let’s just say that I believe anyone capable of allowing their daughter to be held captive while others determined the fate of her child, may not be the most trustworthy person.  From what I know of your grandparents, I believe caution is wise.”

Great, now we can’t even be sure that a blood oath will really tell us if Grandma’s telling the truth or not.  Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I rack my brain for something that would be better.  Turning to Kallen, I ask, “What happens if a Witch and a Fairy make a blood oath?  Could the Fairy magic involved in the oath prevent a Witch from using a spell or anything to make it not real?”

Kallen’s brows draw together.  “It is likely.  But as you are only half Fairy, there is no guarantee that your Fairy magic would work that way.”

I roll my eyes.  “I figured that out myself, thanks.”  Okay, I’m still a bit snippier than I should be.  “I meant, what if Grandma made a blood oath with you?”

Dad and Kallen are both looking at me like I’m crazy or stupid.  It better not be the latter.  Kallen speaks first.  “How would a blood oath with
me
force your Grandmother to protect
you
?  I realize you have not had much magical training, so I will explain.  A blood oath is supposed to be between the two people who are directly affected by the oath.”  There’s that lovely condescension of his again.  Yup, still has a lot to work on if we’re going to date. 

At least I don’t feel badly about being snippy now.  “I’m not a moron, thanks.  I figured that out all by myself as well.  But if you are already sworn to protect me as you would your own life, couldn’t the blood oath be worded so that Grandma would agree to help you protect me?  Sort of like a backup plan?  Protect you as you’re protecting me or something?”

Dad looks impressed and Kallen almost looks shocked.  “That is a very good idea.”

“I do have them from time to time,” I say dryly.

Dad turns to Kallen looking hopeful. “Do you think it would work?”

“If worded correctly, yes, I believe it would.”

Dad looks relieved.  “Do you think you could word it in such a way?”

Kallen looks confident now that the idea has sunk into his brain.  “Yes.”

“Great, let’s get this going then.  The sooner we decide what we’re doing about that woman, the better.”

I suspect that Dad would be happier if it turned out that Grandma does have something up her sleeve.  He’s definitely not going to be as forgiving towards her as Mom seems to be, if this turns out in her favor.  He has a determined look as he floats out the door and back towards the living room.

I begin to follow him, but Kallen puts his hand out to stop me.  He still looks upset with me but he leans down like he’s going to kiss me.  He doesn’t kiss me, though.  Instead, he pushes my hair away from my ear and whispers, “I stayed because I wanted my body to be in the same place as my heart,
despite
the oath.”  With that, he turns and strides out of the bedroom with the bowl and the athame.

Okay, did he just tell me that he loves me, or am I reading too much into that?  If that is what he meant, this was a heck of a time to tell me.  Not only were we arguing, but we’re right in the middle of dealing with this whole grandma mess.  And am I in love with him?  I’ve never been in love, so I really don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like.  I know I like him.  A lot.  But love?  With a heavy sigh for all the confusion and emotions piling up in my life, I follow Kallen back to the living room.

Dad must have already announced what we talked about because Mom is looking unsure, but Grandma looks mad.  “You expect me to make a blood oath with a Fairy?  That’s outrageous!  Fairies can’t be trusted.  That’s why they were banished from this realm!”

I give Grandma a hard look.  I definitely don’t have any warm and fuzzy feelings for the woman and insulting my boyfriend certainly isn’t going to create any.  “I don’t know about all the rest, but Kallen is trustworthy.  And I know
he
wants me to stay alive.”  Implying that I’m not sure she does.  Hope she caught that.

The right corner of Kallen’s mouth hikes up slightly in a half smile.  I think I may have just made up for what I asked him in Mom and Dad’s bedroom.  I slide my hand in his in a show of solidarity and he wraps his fingers around mine.  I try to give Grandma a withering look, but I’m not sure I’m successful.  She doesn’t look cowed at all.  She just still looks mad. 

“Xandra, dear, I’m sure you believe that, but isn’t your mother’s experience with Fairies enough to show you their true nature?”

Okay, maybe holding Kallen’s hand may not have been such a good idea, because now, he’s squeezing mine like he’s trying to pop a water balloon.  I think he’s trying to hold back from starting a magical confrontation with Grandma, so I try not to complain.  “Do not presume to know my nature.  I am a Sheehogue Fairy and we have never had a quarrel with Cowans nor Witches.  It was my grandmother who worked the magic that closed the realms, protecting Cowans and Witches alike from the Pooka Fae.  It was also my grandmother who sent me here to help protect Xandra and keep the realms closed to each other.  So you see, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind what
my
or
my grandmother’s
intentions are.  Xandra is unable to say the same about her grandmother.”

There are two types of Fairies in the Fae realm – the Sheehogue and the Pooka.  The Sheehogue are ‘live peacefully with everyone’ kind of Fairies, and the Pookas are ‘who can I bully today’ kind of Fairies.  My biological dad is a Pooka and he was willing to kill me to open the realms.  They really aren’t very nice.