Sapphires and Desires (The Gem Fairy Series Book 1) (17 page)

When I come up behind him I wrap him in a headlock and send him rolling backwards onto the grass. I land a kiss on his lips. A kiss that I’d been unknowingly craving for far too long. He kisses me back just as urgently as I kiss him, as if we’re going to be separated again.

“It’s you.” He murmurs through kisses. “God I missed you.” He says biting my lip.

I pull away and stare at him. I’m straddling him, holding him down.

“I’m kind of mad at you.” I tell him seriously.

He smirks. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”

“I go missing after our wedding and you don’t come looking for me?” I demand looking for answers.

“I thought you finally got sick of me and left.” He admits sheepishly.

I scowl at him and pinch his nipple playfully. He pushes himself up and on top of me suffocating I in more kisses and I immediately forget that I am mad at him. I will be mad later. Right now, I just need him.

“How long was I asleep?” I ask him after a minute.

“Three days or so,” he mumbles, obviously not wanting to talk. “I’m just glad you’re not such a
child
anymore. I thought I was going to have to shove those emeralds down your throat if you refused to touch them.” He laughs,

“I was practically a 22 year old human, Blahyne, and it wasn’t my fault.”

“It was kind of hot…I could see it being a good time.” He halfheartedly jokes and I slap him playfully.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I ask him.

“That we should go into the cabin and take each other’s clothes off?” he asks his voice full of hope.

“No. I was thinking more like, we should go to the Ruby Court and kick my uncle’s ass.” I smile.             

“I’m always up for some killing.” He mutters.

“Still a big scary Dark King, are you?” I tease and plant another kiss on his lips. Then I remember something and pull away. “Oh my god.”

“What?” he asks suddenly worried.

“I-I had
sex
with Damon.
Twice.
” I confess, utterly annoyed.

“You only knew him for like a week.” Blahyne says appalled. “You whore!” He teases hotly and goes back to planting kisses on my lips. Human me would wonder why this man wasn’t mad that I cheated on him but new me knows that it’s because I wasn’t
me
.

“After we’re done with Jadorn, he’s next. He knows it too.” I say angrily sliding out from under Blahyne. “I can’t believe that man. Taking advantage of me like that.”

“You’re the one who married him.” He says with a smirk.

“What was I thinking?” I wonder out loud and his smirk gets bigger.

A picture of a young man crosses my mind. Geoff. My
cousin
. A human boy that was probably worried sick about me. I’d probably been gone nearly two months already in the human world.

“I have something I have to do before we go on and kill my uncle.” I sigh.

“What?” Blahyne asks as if he’s not sure what could be more important. Then he smiles, “Did you rethink about my idea? Are we going back to the cabin to remove each other’s clothes?”

I shake my head and scowl at him.

“My cousin, Geoff, from the human world, he’s probably worried about me. I should go and-“

“And what? Tell him everything? Explain you will always be going missing for months or years at a time?” Blahyne cuts me off.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to tell him something.”

“It’s against the law to tell humans about us, you can’t.” Blahyne mutters while throwing his fishing line in the water.

“Just trust me. I’ll leave a note saying that I’m running away to Scotland or something.” I throw out there. “Are you
fishing
?” I ask him surprised.

“There’s nothing to do out here. I have no minions to boss around, no one to execute, no one to torture, I’m bored. So yes, I’m fishing.” He admits and casts again.

“I can tell you right now that there are no fish in this river. It’s completely empty.” I tell him using my Spirit magic to sense life in the small body of water.

“You’re joking right? I’ve spent hours out here.” He scoffs.

“Seriously.” I shake my head at him.

I concentrate on my dorm room in the human world and then Blahyne and I are standing there looking at an empty room. Apparently the campus finally decided to empty it out. That, or Geoff did it. I was just going to leave it for them to clean out anyways if they hadn’t yet. There is nothing that I need from it.

I concentrate again and find myself standing outside of Geoff’s apartment.

I knock.

No answer.

I use magic to unlock the door and open it. His room is just as bare as mine. Which makes no sense at all. He was supposed to come back for school.

Blahyne looks at me like I’m nuts. Revelation hits me then. Not a good one either. The last time I’d seen Geoff had been when Damon had drove him back from Philly to Michigan after he’d been bitten by a vampire and nearly died, or had he really
actually died
and already begun turning when we found him? Surely Damon would find that sick, adding my cousin to his pool of servants.

I take us to my Aunt Carol’s front door. It’s covered in yellow police tape.

I take in a deep breath.

“What is it?” Blahyne asks.

“I think… I think he’s a vampire.” I assume, running my fingers through my hair. Where the hell do I even begin looking for him? Blahyne looks at me like I’m nuts again. I take a minute to explain the situation to him. When I’m done he sighs.

“I don’t suppose you have anything of his, do you? I can give his scent to some Dalyas. They will be able to find him.” He offers. Dalyas are like blood hounds, only not. They much larger, and far nastier. They’re usually used as bounty hunters.

“I guess that’s the only thing we can do.” I sigh, only hoping that my
aunt
is okay and he didn’t hurt her, but by looking at the police tape, I can’t say that my hopes are very high.

I quickly go up to his room, grab his pillow, and give it to Blahyne. We then head back to Andaglon and to the Opal Court.

Once we’re back home, at the Opal Court Blahyne orders his minions to find ten Dalyas. It’s only minutes later, to my relief, when they return. Blahyne gives them the pillow and they disappear to the human world with they’re owners. They’re owned like pets in Andaglon. Nothing is better security than a huge dog.

I have to admit that I’m ecstatic to be home. I rush up to my room and grab one of my dresses to wear, getting myself out of the nasty human dress that I’m wearing although I have to admit that human clothing has grown on me after wearing it for over 20 human years.

The dress I pick is a black get up with ruffle sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. Not long after I slip it on there is a knock at the door.

“Come in!” I call brightly and the door slowly opens.

“Lay?” A child’s voice calls and my heart jumps. It’s my step daughter Mary.

“Mary?!” I ask and rush over to the door.

A grin spreads across the little girls face when she sees me and she rushes into my arms.

“When daddy told me that you were back I ran here as fast as I could. SO fast that I lost one of my shoes!” She exclaims and I look down at her feet. Sure enough she only one sports a tiny black shoe.

“Here you go.” I say and use my magic to glamour her a new one. She laughs excitedly and kisses my cheek.

“Where were you gone to? Daddy told me that you got sick of him and left! But I knew that you wouldn’t leave me forever…or him! I knew that it was lie!” She says kicking her feet and swinging her arms in exaggeration.

“I was…doing business for the Courts.” I lie and she rests her head on my chest, crushing her dark curls.

“Don’t ever leave for that long again, okay mom?” She asks and I think I feel dampness on my chest, is she crying? Did she just call me mom? She’s always called me Lay.

“I won’t, dear,” I soothe her, rubbing her back.

She’s quiet for a moment and then I hear her giggle. “Do you want to meet my new pet Lacey?” She asks and squirms from my embrace.

“Sure.”

She grabs my hand and leads me from my room, down the hall, and out to the barn.

“Lacey is a dragon.” She announces as she opens the door.

My eyes widen in surprise. “Your father bought you a
dragon
?”

“Just a small one! Don’t worry, he won’t bite!” She assures me and walks over to a small grey creature about the size of a cat lying on the floor.

“Lacey, wake up. This is my mom, Laytah. She wants to meet you.” The five year old chimes.

The dragon lifts its head and stares at me. Mary reaches into her dress pocket and pulls out a small brown chunk of something. She tosses it to the dragon and it jumps up to catch it with its mouth. She laughs at it as if it’s the funniest thing she’s ever seen.

“I stole that from the kitchen for you, Lacey.” She says softly, petting the small creatures head.

“Mary?” I ask her gently.

“Yes?” She answers while sitting down next to her pet.

“Do you get sad that you’ll never grow up?” I ask her remembering Blahyne’s words from a few days ago.

The little girl shrugs. “I only get sad because all my friends grow up and don’t want to play with me anymore because I’m a kid. Did my dad tell you that?” She asks me.

“No why would you think that?” I wonder.

“Because…I know that wishes I never turned fae. He’s sad that I won’t ever grow up.” She states blankly, no expression on her face.

“I think he just wants you to be happy.” I tell her truthfully.

“You can tell him that I
am
happy. If I wasn’t fae then I would be dead and I wouldn’t even know you or Lacey or I wouldn’t have even ever lived in a castle or be’ed a princess. I never would’ve even got to try bugle berries or even went to school or had friends. You tell him that okay? If he seems sad about me, you tell him that.” She says, concerned.

I nod. “Okay, Mary. I will, I promise.”

Chapter 9

It’s not long before the Dalyas return with their owners. They report that Geoff is still in Michigan, in an abandoned house, in the basement, and most importantly, alone. As soon as I get the news, Blahyne and I take off to Michigan where we find him exactly where he was reported to be. I was afraid that by the time that the Dalyas returned to Andaglon and we snapped ourselves to Michigan, he’d be gone.

When we get there we have to glamour ourselves in case it’s true that he’s no longer human and the wards in the human world no longer work to disguise our appearance. We don’t want to scare him. As we enter the house and head down into the basement my nerves get to my head and I find myself shaking.

“Geoff?” I ask quietly, knowing that if it’s true he’s fae, he’ll be able to hear me.

I watch as something moves out of the corner of my eye and runs around an old hot water heater. I roll my eyes and approach the object quietly. If he is a vampire, he could be very strong, and inhumane, blood crazy, as all new born vampires are for the first year or so.

“Laytah?” A raspy voice asks from behind the water heater.

“Yes, Geoff?” I ask.

“What’re you doing? How did you find me? Get out of here.” He calls.

“I just want to talk.” I tell him truthfully.

The stench of rot fills my nose as I finally realize that there is in fact a dead person in the room somewhere and I have no doubt that he is in fact a vampire. Why else would he be in an abandoned house with a dead person.

“Don’t come closer. I don’t want to hurt you like I hurt my mom.” He warns carefully.

“You can’t hurt me,” I say truthfully and take a step closer.

He’s quiet but I can hear his footsteps as he tries to sneak away.

“Where the hell are you going?” I ask him incredulously.

“How...how did you know I was moving? You can hear that?” He asks shocked.

I laugh.

“Yes.”

He jumps outs from behind a wall and rushes towards the stairs where Blahyne awaits. The look of surprise on Geoff’s face is priceless as he realizes that I didn’t come alone. Blahyne grabs him with a single hand and pins him to a wall smashing the drywall. I am now able to see how Geoff’ features have changed slightly, his skin is pale, his eyes sunken into their sockets and he’s lost weight. Not that he was fat before by any means but now he’s so skinny that his face looks sunken in. His cheek bones poke out from under his skin.