Catch & Hold-Legend (Legend series) (10 page)

Willow Bantry looked Ete over and said, “Hmmm … nice,” and then outfitted herself in a camel-colored soft sweater, black jeans, and a black denim jacket. I looked them both over and smiled approval. It is amazing how a woman, even on the edge of battle, can still think of fashion.

“Breslyn, I am going to take Willow and Z and go back to town and scout the outskirts of the village, which we didn’t do before. I just want to make certain none of the
f
eeders
are left behind,” she called to her mate.

“Precious life …” Breslyn was already at her side and whispering something else I couldn’t quite hear as he bent and kissed her mouth. He pressed her into the fold of his arms, where she nearly disappeared. She clung to him as their kiss grew into another, and suddenly Danté made an exasperated sigh and put a hand to Breslyn’s broad and naked shoulder. “
Really
? Now?”

Breslyn turned and grinned. “Of course now. If not now—when?”

Danté being Danté shook his head and released an impatient grumble of unintelligible sounds. He moved towards Bantry, gave Bantry the male eye of camaraderie, and said to him, “Right then, hold my shoulder, and I’ll shift us.”

Ah, I thought, Shayne Bantry (hunk supreme) was immortal, but he couldn’t shift. There certainly was a story there, and I became determined to ask Ete soon about the details.

Before they shifted to Bantry, Danté looked at me, a plea in his eyes that grabbed my heart. A part of me wished I had not cold-shouldered him and that he had taken
me
into
his
arms and kissed me hard and long. A part of me wished I was in his arms right that very minute.

He said in a tone that caressed me from the top of my head right down to my toes, which were now curled as I listened and re-listened to the passion in his voice. “Later,
beloved
.”

“Hmph,” I responded, and the three hunks were gone.

Ete turned to me and Willow and said, “Well then, what do you think?”

“I think,” I answered, “we better go find and then kick any monster butt so stupid as to have stayed behind.” And I thought myself into a pair of jeans and a black sweater with a black, tight-fitted jacket over that.

* * *

We didn’t find any uglies at first but managed to pass the time while we searched getting to know each other better. Ete told us about Maxine and Julian, who were not immortals and therefore kept out of the hand-to-hand battles. They were at MacTalbot castle guarding the MacTalbot Dolmens with their own blood each and every day leading up to Halloween.
That sounded like a whole
lot of blood.

Willow asked her suddenly, “Ete, what of my dad? I haven’t heard from him in a couple of days.”

I realized then that her father was of course the ‘Fae’ part of who she was. I hadn’t really given it much thought before.

“Desmond is stationed with Aida in Edinburgh,” Ete answered, touching her. “He is fine, Willow … Aida is ferocious about protecting him.”

I knew that Aida was Breslyn’s sister and therefore a Royal with powers Willow’s father wouldn’t have. Again, I realized that was a part of Willow and Shayne’s ‘story’.

Ete went on to explain, “They went to guard the Edinburgh Castle dolmens, and Aaibhe asked them to stay on and keep watch.”

“Aida?” Willow laughed. “When is Aida ever serious about anything? I adore her, but, Ete, … you may be her best friend, but you know she is forever …”

“Scatter-brained.” Ete smiled. “But since she and your father have been together, she is much steadier. He is a good influence on her.”

And then we came upon the bodies, human bodies. Four corpses were scattered across the sidewalk. They had been mutilated, partially eaten, and left to be found without concern.

I felt my heart stabbed with fierce anger. These people had been young, all of them no more than thirty. They had led normal lives, going about their business—playing, loving, working—and now all that was left of them was skin, blood, bone, and clothing ripped to shreds. It was degradation beyond belief. We should have come sooner …

Ete hugged us both and said on a hushed note, “Some of the Dark ones must have slipped away before we saw them … They’ve fed, so perhaps they won’t hurt anyone until we can catch up to them?”

“Where would they go—where would they go … how could they commit such an atrocity …?” Willow asked, looking away from the corpses. “And what should we do about these poor souls?”

“The authorities will need the bodies to identify them with their DNA and the paperwork they might find scattered about,” Ete said quietly. “Come … I think I know where the beasts have gone.”

We tracked their scent and hadn’t walked far when we arrived in front of the Red Bull and peered inside the front glass window. Of course! Why hadn’t I realized they would want to celebrate after their kill? I already knew they liked their drink!

Sure enough, there they were at a round table in a dark corner. Their human Glamour scarcely concealed their grotesque bodies, and we knew they had to use another spell as well in order to remain undetected by the humans. Not that they cared, but they probably had figured out that things would go easier for them if they could quietly feed undisturbed.

Willow said sadly, “When I first came here to Killarney, I killed my first Dark Fae on this street at Breslyn’s direction. I didn’t know then what was coming.”

“Excellent—that means this is a lucky street,” I answered, wanting to pick up her spirits.

“Yes.” She smiled tentatively. “I’m waiting for the day this will all be over so Shayne and I can get on with our lives … and maybe plan a family.”

Ete sighed. “A family, yes … I too would like that.”

They both glanced at me. I put up my hands. “Oh no … not planning on that any time soon. No way, no how … too young.”

They giggled, and as some of the men sitting at the window table were leering and jeering at us, we looked at one another. I said, “Okay, what are we waiting for? Come on, ladies … let’s start by eliminating the feeders inside!”

We walked a bit past the pub as I called on a spell of concealment, and then we shifted to the four beasts presently drinking ale and enjoying blood sausage in the back corner. No one in the tavern would be able to detect any of us, Seelie or Unseelie, while we were enveloped in the concealment spell.

The abominations never saw it coming; they never knew they had been discovered until they saw us, with our swords raised, and then, it was too late—just too late as their heads flew across the room.

Therein lay a problem: I had concealed only our given circle. As the heads went out of the circle, people jumped and screamed. Ete handled it by shouting as she relegated the heads to the graveyard dimension of blood and gore, “It isn’t Halloween yet, people, so
who is the joker
?”

The frightened crowd relaxed and laughed and looked for the heads, thinking them props. When they didn’t find them, they just settled down to their ale and their food.

We shifted to Bantry, and I looked around at the outside structure of Bantry Manor. I smiled at Willow. “Ni-c-e!”

She smiled and opened the door. We made our way to the library, where the doors were open wide awaiting our return, and there we stood to stare.

Three incredible males, naked to the low cut of their leather pants, stood at the fireplace, enjoying their drinks and laughing uproariously over something; it didn’t matter what. They were awesome and beautifully formed eye candy.

They turned and saw us, and everything in the atmosphere became charged and suspended. Apparently they had a similar reaction to the three of us together as we had to them.

A moment later Breslyn, who has so much style, raised his glass and toasted us. “Come in, lovelies, and tell us, tell us everything.”

I watched Ete glide into his arms. I watched the way he nibbled at her ear and put his lips to her lips. They were bonded by love and lust and something indefinable but real all the same.

Willow curled around her black-haired Shayne Bantry, but I didn’t get a chance to watch them as Danté had taken a step towards me. Like an idiot, I turned my back on him, went to the sideboard, found a sliced apple, and popped a piece into my mouth.

His hands caressed my shoulders and moved down to massage my back. I didn’t stop him. It felt good.

All at once, he turned me around and smothered me in his arms. His mouth was on mine before I could object, his tongue stroked mine with ease and expertise, and my traitorous tongue actually begged (not asked but begged) for more. His hands moved from my back to my ass, and let me tell you, the shivers that shot through me were enough to erase all thought. He pulled me in to press his hard
-
on into my belly … and oh, I wanted to lie back and let him do anything he wanted, right there and then. But he made a mistake and opened his mouth to whisper in my ear, “Ah—
there
,
that is better …”

“
Better?
”
I snapped to attention and pulled out of his embrace so fast he nearly stumbled. “Better than what? Better than Morrigu on your thigh?” Vaguely I was aware of four pairs of eyes watching us in the background.

“You are not being reasonable,” he returned in an exasperated tone.

He—
exasperated with me? I mean, come on!
Wrong remark
—don’t you think it was the wrong remark? Well, I thought it damn well was. “Me? Not reasonable?
You are the one not reasonable.
”

“
Me
?” he answered, actually sounding surprised.

“You are a
dog
,” I snapped at him, as little else came to mind.

“A dog?” He was obviously bewildered.

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know what I am talking about!”

“
But, enfant
 … I don’t—”

“You and that soulless thing—that Morrigu, who if she had a heart it would be charcoal, daring to call herself queen of the Dark Fae. You two were going at it, and who knows how far you would have gone if I hadn’t arrived on the scene.”

Dawning lit in his gold, glittering eyes as though he had forgotten what it was that had me upset, and for some reason that annoyed me even further. I spluttered because he didn’t respond. I foamed at the mouth because he looked guilty as hell, and I turned my back on him.

“I thought you knew better, and if you don’t, nothing I say will make you believe what is right before your eyes,” was what he finally dared to say.

Naturally this made my mind splutter before I managed to retort, “What is right before my eyes
is you
—not denying a thing!”

I turned to the women and inclined my head. “I’ll see you later, ladies.” I nodded to Breslyn and Bantry and shifted off. I didn’t want to go home, so I went to the queen’s chamber. When she saw my face she put out her arms to receive me as she whispered my name, and I ran to her, diving into her safe embrace and releasing it—all of it.

Not just the Danté thing, but the
killing thing
, the constant tension, the constant slashing, the blood, guts and gore thing, and self-pity came into play. Why couldn’t I be a normal girl with normal problems? And I sobbed as I would have done to my mother, who wasn’t there for me, and that was the other thing, but the queen, Aaibhe, was there for me, and she stroked me gently as I sobbed myself into convulsions.

* * *

I did not follow
my enfant
at once. I stood there for a moment wondering if Ete and Willow were going to attack me, for they had the look as they moved towards me. However, they didn’t quite attack me physically, though what they did was worse. They shook their heads and hands at me and clucked. Imagine that. I was a Royal prince being clucked at!

Bantry sighed and said, “You are in for a bad ride if you don’t nip this problem immediately.”

“And how, do you think, he should nip this?” Willow asked him sweetly, but I didn’t think there was any sweetness in her eyes. She looked annoyed as hell and not ready to witness any male bonding in that moment.

His brows went up, and he smiled ruefully. “
What?
I only meant he should chase after her and explain … whatever it is she wants explained.”

Breslyn laughed out loud, slapped me on the shoulder, and said, “I never thought to see you tied up by a female, but, Danté, old friend, so you are—tied up in knots. Go after her, or there will be an even hotter hell than the one you are presently in.”

Ete made a face at him and touched my arm. “Yes, but if you go after her, Danté—be ready to take everything she throws at you and then …
take care of her
.”

Ete was right. I had thought Z should know better. I had thought Z would believe I would never betray her, but perhaps I had not made my commitment clear to my
enfant
?

I shifted off and tracked Z to Tir and the queen’s chamber. I walked in and found my
enfant
crying her heart out in my queen’s arms, and my body clenched with pain. I could not see her thusly and survive without emotional injury.

I am a Royal Fae of logic. I do not allow myself to become emotional on such a level, and I—I almost burst into tears to see my beloved hurting so badly, and I felt my body start to shake.