The Morrigan: Damaged Deities (48 page)

Fear gripped Kade like the icy hand of death.  He was bellowing now. “What feeling?!”

And the crazy lass ignored him. 

Still focused on her sister, she raised her voice, “Macha, stop being such a fucking cunt, tell me you felt it, too!”

Eyes widening with exasperation, Macy threw up her hands and sighed.

“Fine!  Yes, I did!”

Kade did not contain the holy amount of patience it required to deal with these two. 

Grabbing Bev by the arm, he forced her to face him and repeated himself again, this time low and lethal. “What feeling?”

“Morrie’s been hurt.  I felt it, like a blow to the back of my head.  We get these feelings about each other—it was the same when she shifted.  That’s how we knew.”

A tenuous control held his temper in check with Kade ready to tear down anyone in his path between him and Morrie.

“Where were ye last?  What happened?”

“I got…distracted,” the lass looked lost for a moment. “Something came up.  We were separated.  I tried to go back to where I left her, but I couldn’t find her.  I searched for some time in that area and around and that’s when I felt it.”

“Where was that?”

“Near the loch.”

Kade only had to look at his brother to know they both were moved to action without either needing to speak.

“Can ye make it there without changing?” Kamden asked him. 

His brother understood the draw the loch had on Kade after centuries of witnessing him surrender to its power.  It would be a testament to Kade’s strength to not turn once he smelled the water.

“Will damn sure try,” Kade growled back.  He had no choice, he had to control the beast.  For her.

Kamden nodded. “Then I’ll fetch the truck and meet ye out there.  And I’ll try tae find that fool, Danny, tae help.”

“Danny?” Bev asked, perking up.

“Aye, an Irish lad I hired this summer tae help with the horses.  Seems he’s gone missing, as well.” Upon seeing the look exchanged between the sisters—Bev with her lips pressed in an annoyed line and Macy like a cat caught in the bird cage—Kamden asked, “Why?  What is it?”

But the dark-haired lass just turned away and glared at her sister. “What did you do?”

Cheeks coloring, Macy gripped the arms of the chair, her body rigid as she returned her sister’s fiery look with one of ice.

“Only what needed to be done.  It’s been too damn long, Bev.”

“
Fuck
, Macy!” Bev threw up her hands and turned away. 

“I doona know what the fuck ye two are talkin’ about, but we doona have time for this,” Kade said, attempting to herd everyone out of the study. “We need tae hurry.”

“You need to make time for this.” Bev stopped him before facing her sister. “Fess up.”

“Fine.”  Macy sighed and stood up from her chair.  She inhaled a deep breath and faced Kade, but he didn’t care about hearing any confessions.

“We doona have time, lasses.” Kade was confused and worried—if Morrie had fallen—he needed to find her.  To help her.  And if she’d been attacked—he would kill the bloke who dared touch her.

“It’s about Morrie.  It will help you when you find her,” Macy said. 

She glared at her sister and with defiance Bev crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one hip, a dark eyebrow arched and waiting.

Grabbing her hands behind her back, Macy crossed in front of Kade like an attorney addressing a jury.

“You first must understand something—my sister and I, we fight.  It’s part of our nature, no different than the human’s mundane task of going to work.”

“Get on with it,” Kade ordered through clenched teeth.

Sighing, Macy stopped and faced him.

“After you were killed, when she thought you were killed, Morrigan stopped fighting.  And something has been missing inside the both of us because of it.  Inside all of us.”  She indicated Bev who answered with an indifferent shrug. “What I do, what I have done is to push her to fight.  She must always fight.”

“Aye, alright?” He still had no idea where the lass was going with this.

“Samhain is tonight.  At midnight.  And at its break, an old tradition will be revived.  When Morrigan met with Dagda the night before your death, she had no choice.  In order to allow the gods and the spirits and the supernatural to walk the earth, in order for magic to exist, they had to meet up.  Every year.  The Samhain required a sacrifice, be it blood or seed.”

“Why are ye tellin’ me this?”

“Because I’ve done something bad.  Really bad and there’s nothing I can do to change that.  But maybe telling you will help.  Maybe when you know what you’re up against, you can help Morrigan fight.”

“Wha’ did ye do, lass?” Kamden asked exhibiting more patience and understanding than Kade could comprehend.

“I freed Dagda.”

Bev muttered a curse, but Macy continued.

“Part of the reason for Morrigan’s last meeting with him was to finally put an end to the Ulster war, but Dagda sided against us.  After your death, the three of us combined our powers to contain Dagda.  We performed a binding ritual that trapped him inside an ossuary from the First Creators and he had been trapped there for the last two thousand years.”

“Until ye let him out.”

Kade had hated the god ever since learning of Morrie’s affair with him, but now he felt fear over the thought of his return.  He’d seen the god on the battlefield, he’d been a formidable ally until he turned traitor.  And from what little he remembered and what he was being told now, the god had an unhealthy obsession with Kade’s goddess.

Macy dared to manage a pout. “I was bored.  I told Dagda how to catch her.  I told him how to draw her powers so that the gods may live again.  So that the battles may be fought with honor and pride and purpose.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Bev finally chimed in.

“He’s going to make it so the gods and supernaturals are restored.  So that they may walk this earth freely and fully powered once again,” she answered her before returning her focus to Kade. “And he will take that sacrifice tonight whether it’s blood or seed.”

With stomach-turning dread, Kade understood.  He knew the warning Macha was giving him. 

The voice that came out was low and quivering and did not sound like his own. “Danny is no’ some stable boy, is he?”

“Danny was the name Dagda was known as among the gods.  And no, he’s not some stable boy.”

“We have to find her now,” Bev said, though Kade barely heard her. 

He barely heard his brother order Macy with a commanding voice, “And ye’re comin’ with us.”

Kade hardly comprehended any of it, because in an instant he was out the door, tearing tread across the lawn and towards the loch. 

He didn’t care if he turned, he didn’t care if the beast took control.  With the moon cowering behind storm clouds and thunder bellowing a warning, Kade’s sole focus remained on the little lass he risked losing to an evil god once again.

But this time, the god would pay.

T
he stars that twinkled before Morrie’s eyes were not the kind that came from the sky, but rather little bursts of pain radiating from the back of her head.  It throbbed with a dull ache. 

Whatever had hit her took her completely unaware, something that never would have happened had she still wielded control over her powers.  Had she not given herself over to a human life all because of a lover to whom she had allowed too much power over her.

Because of the warm throbbing of her head she became aware of how cold her skin was, to the point it almost felt bruised.  She tried touch at her injury, but found her hands bound above her head, her back pressed against something hard and uncomfortable.

Finally her senses kicked in. 

Her vision slow to return from a blurry haze, Morrie quickly realized she had been stripped of her clothes and had replaced Lorna at the standing stone. 

Wincing as her head grazed the rock, Morrie looked up.  Her hands were shackled in strange gold cuffs and they hung from a metal loop that had been hammered into the stone.  Morrie tugged, but it didn’t budge.

She looked around the small area her restrained position would allow, but didn’t see Lorna anywhere.  She couldn’t see anything but the night-darkened loch, the land beyond it like an impenetrable shadow. 

The cold air cut through her skin to the bone, heightening her awareness of just how naked she was.  But that didn’t help her understand why. 

Why she had been attacked, why Lorna had now obviously been used as lure to draw her out and why, why she had been shackled to the standing stone.

Once again Morrie turned her focus inward, searching for that long lost comfort her magic gave her, reaching deep within for it, like tapping a tree for its sap, a vein for blood. 

She shook with her effort, sweat beaded across her forehead and she barely held back a whimper of defeat. 

She was helpless.

Footsteps moved across the rocky beach to her right. 

Morrie narrowed her eyes in the direction of the sound, unable to decipher black from black until a darker figure formed, tall and lean.  Once close to her, the breaking moon lit the shape’s face. 

Morrie’s mouth fell open at a spike a hope.

“Danny?”

She’d wonder later how he found her, for now she was simply grateful that she’d be rescued and could resume her search for Lorna and whoever had taken her.  But first, she’d have to find her clothes…

The stable boy smiled. “You always were a brilliant actress.” 

With his hands in his pockets he stopped before her, his head tilted to the side, everything casual about his presence.  He seemed in no hurry to help her, which told Morrie one thing: he was there to harm her. 

But why?

“What?”

“I worried you would still be angry over the little lie I told about your lover.” His eyes traveled with predatory hunger across her face and body; the rest of him remained unmoved. “I wasn’t sure if you would be a willing participant to my little plan.  Your sister implied as much.”

Morrie frowned, but wouldn’t speak until she could understand.  Ignorance was weakness.

“I almost expected you to give me away,” Danny continued. “But I remembered how tricky you were and how you loved a good charade.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“I must say I’ve been equally awed by how well you’ve handled your Celt.  I knew you liked your games, but your attention to detail is remarkable.”

Growing frustrated, Morrie clenched her fists, rattling the chains of her shackles. 

Danny glanced up.

“Do you like those?  I had a difficult time taking them from the museum.”

Play along.

“Are they really necessary?”

Danny shrugged. “I wasn’t sure of what to expect, how you would react.  I like to be cautious, you know that.  Couldn’t have you throwing your magic around, ruining my plans.” 

Gods, she needed her magic.  If ever there was a time for it!  Once again she dug deep within her, her mind reaching, her whole being thrumming. 

Still nothing.

Wait.

How did Danny know she was magical?  And why did he speak to her like they were long lost buddies?

He stepped up close to her, smiling down, the look intimate and familiar.

“You know what day it is?” He trailed a finger down the side of her face, her neck, brushing her hair off her shoulder.  That gaze grew cold as it studied her breasts. “It’s been too long, Morrigan. I’ve missed our little meetings.”

No.

It couldn’t be!

Morrie looked up again at her shackles and knew instantly what they were.