Kissed by Moonlight (24 page)

Morgana narrowed her eyes. A flush rode high on her cheeks. She trembled with barely repressed rage. Oh, yeah, she was pissed.

"Morgan." The warning tone in Jack's voice was clear. So was my intention to ignore him.

"Do you see him?" I kept my voice low, pitched only for Jack's ears. I could only hope the others didn't hear me.

"Darroch? Yes."

"Good, when I give the signal, grab him." I had no doubt that even bound, Jack could easily overcome Brent Darroch. "Then the two of you get the hell out of Dodge."

The entire time we were talking, I'd kept my eyes on the Queen as she struggled to overcome her anger. Slowly, she sat up straight, feet planted firmly on the floor. She leaned forward, hands on the arms of her throne. "Listen carefully, human," she spat. The expression on her face was so cold, so inhuman, it made me shiver. "You are only alive because I will it so. Cross me, and that will change. I have no compunction about killing you and everyone you have ever met. You are nothing but insects to me. Do we understand each other?"

"Perfectly." Outwardly I smiled, but inwardly I was calling my powers. Slowly. Softly. "But know this, Morgana, you will pay for what you did to Inigo. And if you harm one more person, human or djinn, friend or stranger, I will come after you. I will bring down your throne, your house, your fucking kingdom."

She laughed, but there was little humor in it. "You and whose army, human?"

"I don't need an army."

With that I let the Fire rip. It burned through my bonds so fast, they were nothing but ash in less than a second. Darkness surged, and I whirled, grabbing the sword of the Sidhe guard closest to me straight out of its sheath before he had a chance to react. A single thrust through the heart with the short blade, and he was dead on the floor, the spreading pool of crimson a splash of color against the endless black marble of the castle.

No one moved. The entire court, including the queen, sat with their mouths hanging open. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I threw a fireball straight at the throne.

The queen managed to deflect the fireball, but just barely. It hit the silk draperies hanging behind her, turning them into a raging bonfire.

Chaos erupted. Fae creatures ran, jumped, slithered, and flew here and there, tripping each other and the guards. The gold girl cowered beside the throne, her gold box fallen, spilling chocolates across the floor. The queen was shouting orders, but no one could hear amid the pandemonium.

The next fireball was smaller, but better aimed. It hit the queen full in the chest. Her clothes and hair went up in flames, and her skin crinkled black. She screamed, a sound filled with rage and pain.

I felt a tiny thrill of triumph before a second guard lunged at me. A single stroke with my newly acquired fairy blade, and his head separated from his body, spattering me with warm blood. Gods, I loved wielding a Sidhe sword. It was so light and insanely sharp. On the off chance I survived this, I was definitely bringing it back with me. It could replace the blades that were still lying in the Paris catacombs.

I glanced up in time to see Kalen ushering a completely healed Morgana from the throne room. Her moon-pale skin was unmarred, and her strawberry blonde locks were already growing back. She was also buck naked. She didn't appear to be happy about leaving, but she went. The pair slipped through a doorway partially hidden behind the burning draperies. The door sealed behind them, leaving a seamless wall. Figures the bitch would sacrifice her people to save her own skin.

Not that I could kill her. She was immortal. But I could sure as hell make her hurt.

The pounding of feet alerted me to the arrival of more of the queen's guard. At least a dozen heavily armed Sidhe flooded the throne room from the main entrance. A dozen more spilled through side doors. Shit. This was not good.

"Morgan! This way."

Jack waved at me from a corner of the room. He had used his badass Templar skills to get free of his bonds and grab Darroch around the neck. I didn't see any exits over there, but "stand together or die alone," and all that. I ran for the corner, hacking wildly at anything that crossed my path.

"There's no way out." My breath was coming fast and hard. My arms were tiring from the effort of wielding the fairy sword, despite its light weight.

"Here," Jack interrupted, pointing to the floor.

I frowned. "Where?"

"Hold him." Jack thrust Darroch my way.

I grabbed the man, pressing the edge of my blade rather closer to his nether regions than strictly necessary. "Hey, Brent, nice to see you again."

Darroch blanched, but otherwise remained as unruffled as ever. "Morgan. Likewise."

"Uh-huh."

Jack seemed to find what he was looking for. Suddenly, a section of the floor popped up, revealing a flight of stairs leading below. "Escape hatch."

"Excellent. Assholes first," I said, shoving Darroch down through the hatch, keeping the point of the blade pressed to his back. Jack followed close behind, closing the hatch and plunging us into darkness.

Chapter 35

We'd maybe gone eight or ten feet down the tunnel when Darroch suddenly let out a very unmanly squeak. Next thing I knew, the ground beneath me disappeared, and I was plummeting through empty space. I let out a shriek so loud, I nearly deafened myself.

Except I wasn't quite plummeting. It was more like zipping along incredibly fast, like on those water slides at amusement parks. There was definitely a slick surface under my butt. There must have been a slide or chute under the castle. It twisted and turned and occasionally dropped a couple feet, making for one hell of a ride through the blackness.

With Darroch screeching in front and Jack hollering behind, I gritted my teeth and kept the sharp blade of the fairy sword well away from me, determined to survive the ride. I would not completely freak out. Flying along in the pitch black to gods knew where was not my idea of a good time. Not to mention, once we came out the other side, we would be nearly weaponless, totally lost, and at the mercy of the Other World.

Abruptly, we exploded from complete darkness into bright daylight. Then we really were flying... falling. I let out an embarrassingly girly shriek seconds before I plunged into ice cold water.

I kept my fingers firmly wrapped around the sword hilt as the water closed over my head. Down I went through the murky water until my feet hit the muddy bottom. I pushed off, sending myself back toward the surface. Numbed limbs flailing, I struggled toward the edge of the water. I hauled myself out of the pool and onto the soft grass in time to see Darroch disappear into the woods. "Shit. Dammit. Jack, I'm going after him."

I didn't bother waiting for Jack's reply as I staggered off after Darroch. No way was I letting that bastard get away.

My wet clothes hugged my skin and chilled my bones, making it difficult to move quickly, but if I was having problems, so was my quarry. I plunged into the cool green dimness of the forest. All around me, butterflies fluttered and flitted. I didn't look too closely at them. The dragonfly creatures had been bad enough.

The trees and other flora grew thick and lush, making it hard to find any sort of path. A vine reached out as if to wrap itself around me. I dodged, slashing at it with my sword. The half I severed from the plant withered instantly. The rest of it crept back into the undergrowth as though afraid. I continued on my journey, heading in the direction I'd seen Darroch go. The sneaky bastard was fast.

Ahead of me, I could just make out a flash of his pale hair. I charged through a narrow gap between shrubberies, long branches swiping bloody trails across my bare neck and face. Thank goodness for leather jackets or my arms would have been sliced to ribbons. I hissed out a few choice swear words. I was moving too fast to use the sword as a machete. What I wouldn't give to be able to part the forest like Moses parting the proverbial Red Sea.

As if it had heard my thoughts, the trees and bushes began to bend away. They parted, letting me by unmolested, leaving a clear path to Brent Darroch's retreating back.

"What the hell?" I wasn't even channeling Earth, yet the Other World flora was definitely acting as if I were. I hesitated for a moment before deciding to just go with it. I'd figure out why later, provided the spooky-ass forest didn't eat me first.

The sound of Jack crashing and cussing his way through the underbrush made me grin. He was catching up.

I took off again down the path made by the retreating plant life, narrowing the gap between me and Darroch. With one last surge of speed, I dropped the sword and leaped the final distance, landing on his back and taking him to the ground with an audible
oof.
We went tumbling through the bushes, rolling to a stop in the midst of a small glade.

"Stay down, you asshat. Or so help me, I'll break every bone in your body."

"Fine. I'm down." Darroch spat out a few blades of grass. He lay there panting for a minute with me still sitting on top him. "Will you please let me sit up so I can breathe?"

"Don't try anything funny." I clambered off him.

"Or what?" He sneered, his Julian Sands good looks turning ugly as he brushed random bits of greenery off his clothing with an elegant hand. I noticed his nails were professionally manicured. "You're unarmed."

I smiled. "You think I need weapons?" Not to mention there was a fairy sword laying a few steps away.

That made him go a little pale and sweaty. I turned my attention from Darroch to our surroundings. We'd somehow made it back to the place where Jack and I had come through the portal to the Other World.

I frowned. Something wasn't right. "Where's the portal?"

Darroch glanced around, an expression of panic crossing his usually haughty face. "It's not here."

"Yes," I said dryly. "I can see that. What I want to know is, where is it?"

"I have no idea." He seemed to be on the verge of a complete meltdown. Clearly he hadn't expected this turn of events any more than I had. "It's supposed to be here. It's always been here. She must have moved it."

"She?" I had a bad feeling.

"The queen, of course. Only she can control the portal. You have to find it. You have to make her tell you what she did with it." Yep. Definitely panicked.

"Listen buddy," I said, keeping my voice calm and low like I was talking to an unstable person, which maybe I was. "I don't have to do anything. Why are you so worked up, anyway? You're the one in cahoots with Her Majesty."

His expression turned dark. "Maybe. But that doesn't mean I want to be stuck here. If you think this place is all fun and games, you're as much a fruitcake as she is."

Jack suddenly crashed out of the bushes, interrupting my train of thought. He saw my fairy sword on the ground and snatched it up in one hand. "Where's the portal?" He glanced from me to Darroch and back again, as if one of us might be hiding the damn thing in our back pockets.

"Apparently, the queen moved it while we were off having our little huddle. He," I pointed to Darroch, "says only the Queen can control the portal."

"Crap." Jack ran a hand through his hair before handing me my sword. I nodded my thanks. Every inch of him was vibrating with frustration. "So only she knows where it is."

"Not exactly," Darroch interrupted. We both whirled on him.

"Explain," Jack barked.

For a moment, I thought Darroch wouldn't tell us. He must have decided we were the lesser of two evils, or maybe we were the best way for him to get what he wanted. In any case, he finally nodded.

"The queen is the only one who can control the portals, but anyone in the fairy realm knows where the portal is. It's as though they can sense its location."

"We're in the fairy realm," Jack pointed out. "I don't know about you, but I sure can't sense any portal."

"You also have to be
of
the fairy realm," Darroch explained impatiently.

"So all we need to do is find one of the fae creatures and make them tell us where the portal is," I said.

Darroch nodded. "Yes. Exactly."

I imagined it was easier said than done. Except...

"Those damn dragonfly creatures," I said. "They kept wanting to bite me. Maybe if I caught one of them?"

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Jack asked. "We have no weapons except your sword. Nothing to capture them with."

"Oh, ye of little faith." I grinned. "I'm going to try something. Guard him." I nodded to Darroch before stepping away from the men, closer to the woods.

An interesting thought had wormed its way into my brain. I had wished for the forest to open up and let me pass, and it had. The first two trips to fairy land, my powers hadn't worked, and now they did. I carried Earth power within me, and the Sidhe were made of Earth power. Heck, the whole Other World ran on Earth power. It was the very essence of Earth magic made manifest. Perhaps I could draw those little fanged fairies to me.

I took a deep breath and let a hint of my Earth power out of me. My skin began to shimmer as green tendrils of magic worked their way across my body. I focused my thoughts on the winged fairy creatures, imagining their colorful wings and tiny little fangs, and waited.

At first there was nothing. Then, one by one, I saw little splashes of bright color flitting closer and closer. With a smile I held out my hand. Dozen of the tiny creatures hovered above my palm, mesmerized by the shimmering green aura surrounding me. Their tiny voices chittered with both excitement and fear.

One of the females grew brave enough to move a bit closer. The daring creature alighted on my hand, feet so delicate it felt like the tickle of butterfly wings. Faster than a blink, I closed my fingers around her. The rest of the dragonfly creatures scattered as the one in my hand started shrieking. I half expected her to bite me, but oddly, she didn't. Instead she wriggled around, letting out that ear-piercing scream over and over.

"Shut up."

She went silent, staring up at me from between the gaps in my fingers, her enormous eyes like one of those Asian tarsier primates, only this creature's eyes were a bright emerald green and took up half her face. She hissed at me, flashing her miniature pointy teeth.