1.5 True of Blood: Kallen's Tale (14 page)

Finally, she nods in agreement.  Taking her hand, I begin to walk carefully through the snow.  It is slow going, as each step I have to check for unstable snow.  Xandra is being careful to only walk in my footprints. 

It takes us about an hour to be free of the effects of the avalanche.  Now, I can begin to search for a new place for us to hole up within a protection circle
.  After several more steps, though, there is a tingling in the back of my head.  “Damn it,” I utter under my
breath, and I stop walking.  Xandra looks up at me, and from the look on her face, she has decided not to question me about why I stopped.  I believe she knows.  She and I turn as one back towards the trail we have left in the snow.

Five minutes later,
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
are bounding towards us through
the blanket of white
.  Slowing down, they begin to shift into their Fairy forms.  Of course, since they cannot make their own clothes, they are naked.  A quick glance at
Xandra tells me how uncomfortable that
mak
es
her.  Well, at least it is not
on
ly my nakedness she objects to.

Assuming th
ey do not dare come nearer, the pair
stop
s
about ten yards from us. 
Olwyn
inclines his head towards me. 
“Kallen.”
  If I respected him even an iota, I would acknowledge his greeting.  I do not. 
“We appreciate you keeping the girl safe for us.  The king will be pleased.”

“I am not concerned with the pleasure of the king,”
I reply
evenly.

Maurelle
cocks her head and studies
me for a moment, as a
small
, ugly
sneer grows on her face.  “At first, we assumed that you wanted to deliver the girl to King Dagda yourself to garner more of his esteem, but you really have come to prevent the opening, haven’t you?”

“No good could come from opening the Fae realm.  It will only cause death and destruction.”

Her face twists up into the most horrendous expression I have ever seen on a female.
  She looks like a prune with constipation.
 
“But not our death or our destruction.
  You
,
who has always been so careful to limit your interactions with anyone who is not full
Fae
,
should be pleased with what we can do when we come back here in great numbers.”

“I find nothing appealing about exerting power over a race that is not able to defend itself against us.”

Maurelle
laughs wickedly.  “Do
n
o
t tell me this little Witch half-breed has turned you soft.  The king will be greatly disappointed in you.” 

I do not give a flying leap what Dagda thinks of me. 
“King Dagda knew the position I was willing to take against his plans before I left the Fae realm.” 
I am hit suddenly with a wild flash of guilt over why I came here to begin with.  I should have told Xandra before now.

Maurelle
must have noticed
something in my face
.  “And what position is that?  Certainly
,
you do not believe that you can keep her safe forever.” 

My silence angers her. 
After a moment, she says,
“But you do not plan to keep her safe forever, do you?” 
Understanding
flahes
in
Maurelle’s
eyes.
 
“You are determined to keep the Fae world sealed at any cost.”  Shifting her eyes to
Xandra
, she asks, “Have you explained this to her yet?” 

“Explain what to me?”
Xandra asks.  I am beginning to believe I
will
have to commit murder in this realm.  But, it will not be Xandra I will be killing.

Maurelle
laughs
in that hyena way of hers
.  “Oh, this is precious.  She is in the hands of the lion and she does not even realize it.” 
Shifting her eyes back to Xandra, she says
, “You have chosen the lion over the lambs. 
Olwyn
and I are simply messengers on an
errand to retrieve something essential for our people.  We mean you no harm; we will simply transport you to the gate between realms as we have been instructed by our king.”

“Do not believe her lies,”
I say, regretting how much truth there is in her words
.

“Oh, but what I am telling her is not a lie.  No harm will come to her while she is with us
,
but you cannot say the same, can you, Kallen?”

Xandra looks up at me.
  “Kallen, what’s she talking about?” 
If I suddenly use my magic on
Maurelle
, as I desperately want to do, Xandra will know that I am just trying to shut her up – making me look even
guiltier
than I already am.

“Kallen,”
Xandra says again,
“
t
ell me what she’s talking about.”

Maurelle
laughs.  “Oh, but if he tells you, you will not be so willing to stay with him.”

I will find a way to get back at her. 
A million painful ideas are swirling in my head that all end with her death. 
Xandra pulls on my arm until I turn my remorse stricken eyes down to hers. 
“Tell me what she’s talking about?”

I do not want to do this with
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
as an audience.  I am just about to send them on their way with magic, when Xandra turns to
Maurelle
. 
“Since Kallen won’t, why don’t you spell it out for
me.
  What am I missing here?”

“Oh, how I do love to spoil Kallen’s plans.  Don’t you understand the only way for you to never open the realms is for there to no longer be
a you
?” 
It takes a second for Xandra to understand, and
then
her face falls in horror. 
Maurelle’s
words are dripping with
malice, as she says,
“Ah, you understand that now, I see.”  Turning to
me
, she says, “What I do not understand
,
is why you have kept her alive this long.”

I never thought that
Maurelle
would ever get the
upper hand over me, but she has, and
my world is crashing around me because of her. 
Oh yes,
I am going to kill her. 
Not figuratively. 
Actually kill her.  Right after I convince Xandra that she has nothing to worry about from me.

Xandra says in a shaky voice “I don’t believe it.
”

“Then ask him yourself.”

Xandra moves in front of me with her back now to
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
, something I will need to teach her never to do again.  You never turn your back on your enemy
.  “Did you come here to kill me?”

I have to answer her honestly. 
“I came to determine how big of a threat you are to both realms,”
I say
evenly.

“And if you determine that I am too big of a threat, you will kill me.” 
The pain in her eyes is hard to bear.

How I hate honesty at the moment. 
“That was what I intended.”

I thought I had seen Xandra angry when we were back at her house, and again when I kissed her the first time.  That was just mild irritation compared to the anger now seeping from every pore in her body.  She is about to blow, and I do not know her well enough to know how.  Not to mention she has these new abilities that she cannot control.

“It is not too late for you to come with us,”
Maurelle
says
.
  “We can protect you from Kallen’s plan.”

That was the wrong thing to say.  Xandra pulls her magic, and enough magic for about seven hundred
other
Fairies, from the earth.  I have no qualms in admitting
this;
I am terrified of her at the moment. 

Maurelle
and
Olwyn
have no idea of the
pain coming their way.  I do.  And I think that shows on  my face, because
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
look from me to Xandra, then back to me, as their expressions shift from cocky to ‘what the hell is going on.’

“Xandra, don’t,”
I
plead
.  I will get down on my hands and knees if that is what it takes to keep her from bringing down the mountain on us
.  “I do not want to hurt you, I swear to you.”

Proof of her disbelief lashes out at us.
 
Maurelle
and
Olwyn
immediately fall to their knees, unprepared for the onslaught of Xandra’s magic. 
Maurelle’s
face contorts in ways I never want to see
a face contort
again, as the pain burrows inside of her.  And then
Xandra
turns to me.

I know that the pain is coming.  That does not make it hurt
any
less when it hits.  I join the Cowan Fairies on my knees, feeling the brunt of her magic as she pushes it into me.  Apparently, I have jumped to the top of her ‘I hate you’ list.  Another wave of pain hits, and I fall forward onto my hands, barely able to keep from falling
face first
into the snow.  My magic is weakening, and it is the only thing keeping my insides from boiling out of my head.

How do I get her to understand that I am on her side?  I have to get her to trust me again.  In one of the rashest, and probably the most inane, decision of my life, I let my magic go.  It seeps down through me, even though my survival instincts are trying really hard to hold onto it, and I let Xandra’s magic course through me unabated.

“I am not going to hurt you,”
I s
ay, looking up at her
.

“Stop lying to me!”
she screams
.

“I have never lied to you.”
  Not technically.  Depends on where you fall on the whole lying by omission thing.

“Really?
 
Because I don’t remember having a conversation with you about you coming here to kill me.”
 

Yes, we did.  She simply did not know I was serious at the time. 
More magic hits
me
and I have to close my eyes against the pain. 
“The first day we met, in the woods near your home, I told you that a Sheehogue Fairy will only take a life if it is for the greater good.  You said that I was not going to kill you because I had not already.  I told you that I had not decided that yet.”

I am getting to her.  She looks unsure, now
.  “But you took a blood oath to protect me as you would your own life.  If I die, you die.”

I have to look at her.  She has to see the truth in my eyes
.  “Yes.”

Her mouth opens
in shock
, and her magic pulls out of me and through her so fast and hard, we both fall.  Looking at me, she says,
“No freaking way.  You are willing to die
,
if that’s what it takes to keep me from opening the gateway.”

My body is slowly adjusting to being pain free.
It is going to take a while. 
If all of my organs are still intact.
 
“Yes,”
I
repeat.

“But if you decide that I’m not going to open the gate
,
and I’m powerful enough to keep anyone from making me
do that
, then you’ll go back to the Fae realm and leave me alone.”

Never again.
  Even if that means becoming her stalker and watching her from afar
, as I had originally planned.  Before all these emotion and attraction variables muddied things up
.  She needs someone to have her back, and her mother is in no condition to do that. 
“No.”

“What do you mean no?  Why wouldn’t you leave me alone if no one can make me do it?”

“I did not say that I would not leave you alone.  I meant that I will not be returning to my realm.”

“But you hate humans and Witches.  Why wouldn’t you go back?”

“Because I cannot.”
  My breathing is returning to normal now.

Now I see pity in her eyes.  I think I liked the anger better. 
“Because you’re a traitor now for coming through
,
trying to stop me.”