Kira's Reckoning (2 page)

Kira bounced on the man's shoulder as she hung on him in a fireman's carry.  Her head was killing her.  One of the men had knocked her on the head with something when he went to grab her.  When she came to, she was hanging over the barbarian's shoulder as they tromped through the woods.  She bit back a moan of pain as her head throbbed, she felt like she was going to be sick.  She just wanted to stop moving so she could lay down for a while,
after swallowing some aspirin
, she thought glumly.

They stopped suddenly and Kira's eyes popped open
.  Her hair was hanging down into her face and she couldn't see anything. 
Looking at everything upside down didn't help either
, she thought.  She took stock of her body as she hung there, noting that her hands were tied behind her back and her arms were sore, minus the bump on her head.  She couldn't feel any other injuries so she decided to listen and get more information on who they were or maybe where they were in the woods.

She tried to take slow, deep breaths but she could see stars as the man began to move again
.  They continued at a hurried pace through the woods.  Kira knew the two Guardians would alert her family and she felt an overwhelming sadness this would ruin her sister's wedding. 
Why couldn't she have stayed at the reception
? she thought as she bounced along.  She knew why, those damned Guardians.  She knew who they were by the arrogance they displayed.  She had seen that side of them when they arrived. 

The two had come in silently, standing in the back at the reception
.  She had noticed them right away.  They were tall, over six feet and scrumptious to look at. Both had jet black hair cut short but one of them,
Brendan
, she thought,
had blue eyes where the other had green
.  Reilly had introduced them to her and when she had shook their hands, she felt a zing go up her arm.  She had been surprised and didn't like the look that had passed between the two men or the looks they were giving her.

Her mark had also heated against her skin
.  Kira and her sisters had received their marks when they had received their powers.  They all had the same one, over their hearts.  It was five rings all interconnected to represent the five elements: air, fire, earth, water, and spirit.  It also represented the five sisters, or the Blessed Five.

Then they
had cornered her in the kitchen when she had gone in to get some water.  She remembered only too well their deep voices and the feelings they evoked.  She had been caught checking them out.

"Like what you see?"
Brendan said amused. 

She blushed and said, "It's alright."
She shrugged as if their bodies weren't making her hot and bothered but the look in their eyes said they knew.

"Well?" Ronan asked her
. 

"Well what?" s
he said perturbed.

"You didn't answer my question
," he said.

"And that was?" s
he said.

"Are you going to run all night?" Ronan repeated his earlier question.

She blushed again and said, "I don't know what you're talking about.  If you will excuse me, I need to get back."

She went to move between them to leave when Ronan's hand shot out to run his finger down her cheek
.  She looked up into his eyes. 

"We'll let you go for now, but not for long."
His deep voice sent tingles all the way down to her clit and made her panties damp.  She didn't say anything but kept going back into the reception, but she swore she heard them both chuckle as she did.

When Kira had caught the bouquet, she hadn't missed the heated looks the two new Guardians gave her when she did
.  That was what had caused her to go out the back door to escape their scrutiny.  She had been more than a little tipsy and had thought the fresh air would do her good.  Kira had walked through the woods to a favorite place of the sisters, the meadow where they practiced their magick.  There, she had used hers to dance with the flowers. 

The four men had snuck up on her, but that had only been because she had been focused on the two Guardians on the opposite end of the field
.  As she had danced, she had seen Brendan and Ronan approach then stop to watch her.  She had enough alcohol on board to want to tease them a little.  She had been doing just that when the four other men had gotten the jump on her.  She knew they wouldn't have been able to catch hold of her if she hadn't been distracted. 

The Blessed Five consisted of her and her four sisters: Adrianna (Ari), Erin, Sheela
, and Calli.  There had been a set of Blessed Five in their family for generations.  The five sisters controlled the five elements: fire, water, earth, air, and spirit.  They were witches, real honest to goddess witches.  They had all been told about this gift by their grandmother at their youngest sister's twenty-first birthday. 

At
the time their grandmother, whom they called Mamo and the youngest of her generation of the Blessed Five, released memories of them practicing to become witches.  Of course they had all thought she had lost her mind, but she had proven to them that they were indeed witches.  On the night of Calli's birthday, they had received their gift of power from the Mother Earth and Sun God.  It was a very magical moment for all the women and it had bonded them even closer together if that was possible.

The sisters had always been close
.  They had lost their parents when they were all very young.  The girls had been taken in by their grandmother, then moved into the family castle in Weatherby Glen, which was located in the center of Ireland in Offaly County.  Living with Mamo had been an experience. Concepta Belenus O'Laughlin—Mamo to the girls—was a force to be reckoned with when it came to her family. Even though she could be fierce when she wanted to be, she was what some called a free spirit and she was known and loved by everyone in the glen.

Mamo
had been their rock through the loss of their parents and then had raised them the way their parents had wanted them to be. All the girls had gone to college and gotten degrees in varying fields.  Although all but one of the girls had moved away to pursue their careers, they were very close and routinely came back to the glen to visit.  Even though they had the tragedy of losing their parents, Mamo had helped them stay a close-knit family.  Kira would always be grateful for that.

The man stopped moving and Kira tried to lift just her head to see where they were, but as she did, the stars began to multiply and the blackness that had been on the edge took over
.  Kira passed out, praying she would get to see her family again.

Brendan and Ronan entered the castle by way of the kitchen and saw that the immediate family was there.  The sisters were all sitting around the table with the other Guardians hovering around.  Concepta, the grandmother, and Julie, a close friend of Ari's, was bustling around passing out drinks and trying to console the women.  When the two newest Guardians entered through the back door, they all turned to them. 

"What happened?" Lachlan growled.

Brendan ran a hand through his hair.  "We followed Kira to the meadow, four men jumped out and grabbed her."

"We fought two of them, but the other two got away with her
," Ronan supplied.

Reilly slammed his fist down on the counter
.  "This has got to stop! We have to get in front of whoever is behind this."

Ari stood, still dressed in her wedding gown
, and went to lay a hand on Reilly's shoulder.  "We will," she said and looked at her sisters.  "It's time to do a little magick.  We need to find Kira.  Now."

All of the sisters nodded in agreement and their grandmother said, "You could try scrying for her
.  I will go get the crystal." She hurried off toward her greenhouse where she practiced her witchcraft.

The sisters all got up, saying they were going to go change into more comfortable clothes
.  Reilly and Lachlan took Ari's hands to head to their room upstairs to change, while Brendan and Ronan looked at each other. 

'We have to find her
,'
Ronan sent the thought to Brendan.  The two brothers, being twins, had always had the power to speak telepathically. 

Brendan
placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. 
'We will.  The sisters will help.'

Ronan went to the fridge and pulled out two beers, handing one to
Brendan.  It was something to keep them occupied until the sisters returned.  Concepta, who liked to be called Coni, came back in and smiled softly at the two brothers. 

"We will find her
.  We must have faith," Coni told them.  "She is a strong witch, she can protect herself."

Both men inclined their heads in agreement
.  Kira was gifted with the power of earth.  They knew that from the reports Reilly and Lachlan had been sending in to the Council.  The sisters had been working hard to master their powers and the Council was impressed with how far they had come in such a short time.  There was the threat, however, and everyone was on edge.  The Council had been trying to find who was threatening the sisters’ lives but had not been able to find out anything.  With all their magick, in this, they were powerless.  It was believed that whoever it was, was very powerful and putting up a veil to block themself.

Erin walked back into the kitchen with
Aedan and Myles right behind her.  Brendan smiled as he watched his two fellow Guardians hover over Erin.  It amused him to see how whipped his friends had become.  He looked over at Ronan and saw he was just as amused.  Brendan felt sympathy for Erin as he saw her eyes were shimmering with worry and tears.  He knew all the sisters were in this state and he vowed again to find Kira as quickly as possible. 

Calli poked her head into the kitchen and said, "We set everything up in the dining room
.  Come on."

Everyone followed her into the formal dining room where
Brendan saw the rest of the sisters and Guardians waiting.  There was a large map on the table and the chairs had all been scooted back out of the way.  Coni was standing at the head of the table, she had a long chain in her hand with a crystal on the end.  The sisters gathered around her and they all placed their hands together, hovering over Coni's hand that was holding the crystal. 

They all closed their eyes and Coni began to speak
.  "Great spirits of the past to now, help us find this girl somehow.  Blood of the Blessed Five she be, find her now, so mote it be."

The crystal
hovered over the map and began to circle around and around.  A slight breeze blew through the room that no one seemed to pay any attention to.  Everyone had their eyes glued to the crystal and the map.  The circles it was making were getting smaller and smaller.  Coni continued to chant and the sisters began to join her.  Then the crystal dropped to the map, marking a place.  The men leaned over the women, trying to find the area where the crystal landed. 

"That is the back of our property
.  At the base of the hills," Coni said.

"Do you have a better map of that area?" Ronan asked Coni.

Coni stood back and said, "Yes, I will go get it." She quickly left the room to find the map.

She was back within moments, carrying a map that showed the area better
.  She began to point to different spots on the new map.  "This is where the hills begin and these are the caves that I am aware of.  I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones we played in as children."

"I remember those caves
.  We used to play in them too.  There are so many of them.  Then there is the creek that runs along here," Ari said as she pointed on the map.

"The best thing to do is to
scry again on this detailed map while we head out to that area.  We will carry radios for you to contact us on when you get a closer location.  It's going to take us a while to get there," Brendan told everyone in the room.

Lachlan nodded
.  "I agree.  Let's get some radios, Aedan and Myles, you stay here with the women.  Lock down the castle until we get back.  Whoever this is may be trying to draw us out and away from here."

Aedan
and Myles both agreed and headed out to secure the castle doors and windows.  Erin and Sheela went with them to help while Coni, Calli, and Ari began to scry again.  Julie continued to fill drinks and watch in awe as the sisters looked for Kira.  Julie's only thought was how amazing it was that these women had the power they did and grateful that it would help to find their sister.

Reilly, Lachlan,
Brendan, and Ronan headed to the Guardian's office that Reilly and Lachlan had set up when they arrived.  The office was large and setup with a state of the art computer system.  There was one whole back wall filled with monitors, a large conference table with a back section that when Reilly pushed a button on the wall opened into a storage room.  The storage room was stocked with everything they could ever need.  It had firearms, ammunition, Kevlar, climbing equipment, and radios. 

The men began to take out radios and hook them to their
waists with utility belts Lachlan got from the storage room.  Each man checked that the batteries were fully charged, and Reilly looked up the area on the computer.  He printed out two copies and handed one to Brendan.  The men consulted the maps and then agreed on which way they would take to get to that location. 

After letting Aedan and Myles know they were headed out, the men began their hike to the location where the map began
.  They had ATVs provided by Coni to get them as far as they could go on them.  Brendan and Ronan were tense as they left, knowing they had to get to Kira.  She was their match and in danger.  They didn't know who the enemy was, but they did know one thing, they were going to get their woman back one way or another.