My Soul to Take (34 page)

“Do you have any brothers?” She asked Odin in complete seriousness.

Ajax pulled her away to the dance floor as we laughed.

“So marriage is working well for all of you?” Blue asked.

“All but one of us,” Re said before I could answer.

“Yes, it's wonderful actually,” I gave Re a quelling glance.

“And your new sons are well?” Eztli asked.

“Um,” I shared a look with Odin, “yeah, they're great. Exhausting but great.”

“Children,” she mused. “We've been discussing the possibility.”

“Can vampires have children?” Odin asked politely.

“No,” Eztli sent a sympathetic look towards her friend. “But I'm more than a vampire now.”

“Children,” I thought about the future I'd been to and couldn't remember Blue mentioning them. But that didn't mean he didn't have them or that he couldn't have them in this new timeline. “Yes, I think you'd make an excellent father.”

“That's quite a different opinion from the one you had before,” Blue teased me.

“You're quite a different man than the one you were before,” I shot back and then noticed Eztli's sharp gaze. “And now you're finally with the woman who was meant to be mother to your children.”

Eztli gave a grim laugh and shook her head. “It's rather ironic to hear you say that, after our history together.”

“Blue isn't the only one who's changed,” I offered. “And from what I understand, you've already played the role of mother to your vampires. Stepping into the role of biological mother shouldn't be too hard for you.”

“I hadn't thought of it like that,” she gave me a soft smile and then transferred the look to Blue. “Perhaps we
should
try.”

Blue's face lit up with a radiant smile as he pulled her into his side. “I didn't think I could be any happier than I already was,” he kissed her temple.

“It may not happen,” she warned him.

“And that's fine too,” he said. “For now, let's not worry about it, let's simply dance.” He stepped back and held his hand out to her.

“Just steer us away from Elena,” Eztli said as she took his hand and let him lead her out to the dance floor.

A tinkling sound caught our attention and we all looked toward the high table where Pan was standing, striking his crystal goblet with a spoon.

“Everyone! Hey!” Pan called and the room went silent. “Thank you. I just wanted to make a toast to the happy couple,” he waved his hand towards Hekate, who looked beautiful in a Victorian inspired black lace dress, and Horus who was wearing a tailored tuxedo with a black bow tie... and a wary expression. “Horus and I have been friends for a long time. We have an odd relationship; a sort of comedic antipathy, but as anyone who truly knows us is aware; Horus is the best friend I've ever had.” Pan went serious and stopped to give Horus a sweet smile. Miracle of miracles, Horus smiled back. “He's a great guy, don't let his Horus persona fool you,” we all chuckled at the face Horus made. “And he's always been there for me; whether I needed a kick in the ass or a helping hand up after he kicked me in the ass. I...” he swallowed hard. “I couldn't have picked a better woman for him than Hekate. She's brought my friend back to life and put a smile on his face again... something I've been trying to do for centuries. But evidently, I didn't have the right equipment for the job,” another pause was filled with laughter and much Horus scowling. “But in all seriousness, I'd like to make this toast,” Pan lifted his glass and the room mimicked him. “To Horus and Hekate, may they always make each other smile.”

“To Horus and Hekate!” The room echoed and we all drank.

I looked around me and saw that my husbands had closed in and our little group was complete again. Even Re was standing within the circle, accepted, at least for the moment. I regarded each man, noting that they all made me smile as Hekate did for Horus, but they each had their own way of doing so. It was truly the secret to a lasting relationship. Pan had shown his brilliance with that toast. Love lasted as long as you made each other smile.

I lifted my glass to my men and they seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. I suppose four out of the five of them did. They lifted their glasses to mine and we had our own private toast. No words needed to be said, real happiness doesn't need to boast, we just clicked our glasses, drank deeply, and smiled.

Grammar Giggles

And just for a little giggle, here are some grammar mistakes found by me and my editor Michelle Hoffman, during the editing of this book

The correct line:
Then, around the edges, were several beds of all different styles, all of them full of naked, writhing couples.

The mistake: Then, around the edges, were several beds of all different styles, all of them full of naked, writing couples.

The correct line: I ran my hand down the slick wall.

The mistake: I ran man hand down the slick wall.

The correct line: “I'm not the most knowledgeable about the Jehovah religions but I thought I'd heard that there were four?”

The mistake: “I'm not the most knowledgeable about the Jehovah religions but I thought I'd heart that there were four?”

The correct line: “Everywhere I look something unusual pops up... even the sand,”

The mistake: “Everywhere I look something usual pops up... even the sand,”

The correct line: “Vervain told us how Dexter didn't leave Arach's side after she died in that wrong future?”

The mistake: “Vervain told us how Dexter didn't left Arach's side after she died in that wrong future?”

The correct line: She was wily, that one.

The mistake: She was willy, that one. (Evidently Nefertari was a willy)

The correct line: Except instead of phone calls passing through the vein, it's souls.”

The mistake: Except instead of phone calls passing through the vein, it's souls.”014 (Michelle wrote in her notes, “I'm not sure what this number is for.” Neither am I, Michelle, neither am I.)

And please feel free to write me at
[email protected]
if you spot any grammar errors yourself. I'm a poor self-published author who must rely on the kindness of my super-smart friends for help in editing. Please have mercy on my writing.

Keep reading for a sneak peek into the next book in the Godhunter Series:

As the Crow Flies

So many of my friends were getting married. It was wonderful, really it was. I had thoroughly enjoyed Blue and Eztli's wedding, despite the nasty looks Morvran had given me. He was dead now anyway, so it didn't matter. Oh damn, I probably shouldn't be thinking about death at a faerie wedding, and a royal one at that.

I looked around the crowded ballroom of Castle Under, called so because it was in the city of Under, twin city to Water, which was of course located in the Faerie Sea, above Under. Castle Under was actually only half a castle. The other half of the castle was Castle Water, in the city of Water which was significantly wetter than Under. The Water King was a close friend of mine and he was marrying another friend of mine, Nora, who had once been a fire phooka. Now, thanks to Faerie, she's a water phooka but she's still a bit uncomfortable in the water. So the royal wedding was taking place in the dry Castle Under instead of Castle Water.

There had been a lot of concern over this since traditionally water royals were married in Castle Water. But Guirmean had got around this tradition by blaming the High King. It was my suggestion. He didn't want his fey to think less of their new queen for not having the fish balls to get married in water, literally
in water.
So I suggested that Guirmean tell them all he was holding the ceremony in Under for the comfort of the High King. This worked amazingly well since no one wanted to make the High King of Faerie uncomfortable.

Personally, I was grateful to not have to attend an underwater wedding, just an Under wedding. Even with my breathing pearl, I just wasn't comfortable in the water. Probably because I was a dragon-sidhe and we were fire fey. It was bad enough that we'd had to tromp through the sandy crystal tubes all the way to Under, which was in the heart of the Faerie Ocean, under billions of tons of water. This was the exact opposite of a no pressure situation; there was literally tons of pressure pushing on Under's stone sky.

Actually, now that I was in the city, it wasn't so bad. It was the getting there that had been traumatizing. Walking through the tubes felt like being in a surreal world where the roles of fish and humans had been reversed. We were in the bowl and the fish were outside. Except our bowl was a long tube which the fish could swim along the outside of and watch me to their heart's content. Scary, monstrous fish with human faces.

Ugh! Forget about the fish, Vervain. I focused on the beautiful room with its pearl-studded walls and mosaic shell floor. Swaths of fabric in shimmering pale blue ran the length of the room, draped between columns of glass. Within the glass, fish swam, so there went the whole forgetting about fishes thing. I rolled my eyes in despair.

“The hollow columns run all the way up to Castle Water,” Arach whispered to me when he saw where my attention laid. “It's a way of uniting the castles.”

“Great,” I grimaced. “So if one of those things were to break, the entire Faerie Sea would come rushing in.”

“That's fey crystal, it won't break, A Thaisce,” he chuckled as he gently rocked the sleeping Rian. “Just a little longer, and then we can leave.”

We'd decided to bring the babies along for their first royal event. So instead of his usual outfit of a simple fey diaper, Rian was wearing an elaborate green velvet tunic which matched the scales at his temples. It wasn't that we didn't like dressing him up, he just tended to shift into his dragon shape so much that it became a waste of good clothing. Brevyn, on the other hand, was used to wearing finery. He was perfectly comfortable in his baby blue silk tunic and white leather pants. He looked like a miniature knight and he was the perfect thing to distract me from the fish. I lifted him closer and nuzzled the soft blonde halo of hair on his head.

“Just a little longer my patootie,” I whispered in my sing-song mommy voice. “We haven't even got to the ceremony yet.”

“It will be fast,” Arach assured me. “Recall our own ceremony, it was less than ten minutes.”

“Alright,” I grumbled. “That's one thing I'll give the Fey, they know how to make events short and sweet.”

“Sometimes,” he leaned in and kissed me. “But sometimes we like to take our time.”

Music started before I could respond and everyone turned to look down the aisle. Arach and I were with the other royals at the front of the room, right before the dais where Guirmean stood. He looked very majestic in his faerie raiments; his deep blue skin was complimented by the rusty pumpkin color of his tunic and the dark brown leather of his pants. Over his shoulders, a long cape of water was laid. Yep, water. Frickin' faeries loved using magic to make elements into pieces of clothing. So Guirmean's cape fell in literal liquid glory around him. Basically he was wearing a waterfall and his pastel green hair laid across it like seaweed on the surf.

Sitting beside me and Arach was Lorna, mother to Guirmean's son, Prince Morgan. And beside her was Darius, one of my lions and Lorna's lover. Yeah, it was a weird situation but everyone got along, which was more than I could say for me and Queen Aalish. The Earth royals were seated across the aisle from us due to the well known animosity between me and the Earth Queen. The Air royals were seated beside them to keep them company but the High Queen was with us. Probably because the High Queen was once a fire faerie.

High Queen Meara was a leanan-sidhe, from the House of Fire, and although she hadn't physically changed, technically she was a spirit fey since she had married Cian and become a member of the High Royal Family that ruled all of Faerie. Still, she knew where she came from and had requested to sit with us while her husband conducted the marriage ceremony. Plus, I think she wanted to be near the babies and even now had Prince Morgan on her lap, cooing at the little prince.

But she stopped cooing when the music began and we all stood to watch Nora come walking up the aisle escorted by her father, Albion. Albion was of course a fire phooka but he was beyond proud to escort his daughter to her soon-to-be water fey husband. Nora's mother, Sonasag, was at the end of our row, right beside the High Queen, and she was already crying happy tears.

Nora looked amazing. She may have got her wish to have the ceremony in the dry ballroom of Castle Under but Nora was still getting married
in
water. Her dress matched Guirmean's cloak and frothed about her in a liquid mimicry of a bridal gown. A pale blue underdress showed through some of the thin areas but most of the outfit was moving too quickly to be transparent. It was accented with bits of cream colored lace and the veil that trailed over her dark hair was made solely of the fabric, so that it draped behind her on the watery train of her dress like beautiful flotsam. She wore a necklace of pearls but no tiara, that space was reserved for the water crown.

I beamed at her as she passed by us but her eyes were set on Guirmean and they were shining with happiness behind that lacey veil. Her father helped her up the steps and her mother rushed forward to take her massive bouquet of fey water flowers from her. Sonasag came back to her seat with her husband escorting her and we all slid over to make room for the father of the bride.

The High King came forward and just as he opened his mouth to start the ceremony, Brevyn opened his eyes and slapped me. Okay, he didn't exactly slap me but he smacked his palm into my cheek forcefully. It was one of those baby slaps except his had psychic intent behind it and was very purposeful.

We'd recently discovered that my sons had been born with two souls. Brevyn had a god and a human soul while Rian had a faerie essence and a human soul. This would have affects on my children that we weren't entirely sure of yet. However, we
were
sure that Brevyn had a god magic which was brand new; the magic of Borrowing. He could copy anyone's magical ability and use it for as long as he wished. Because he also had a human soul, he was even able to copy fey magic. And due to this constant questing magic of his, Brevyn also had a psychic gift. We believe it was meant to help him choose which magic to borrow but lately he'd been using it to show me all manner of strangeness... and usually at the most inopportune moments.

“A Thaisce?” Arach whispered to me but that was the last thing I heard from the real world.

I fell into Brevyn's vision; a world of fluttering shadows. I squinted into the dark and flinched as something brushed my face. A cry sounded, a horrible screeching cry that made me shiver. Then came the slapping sound of something moving through water. Splash, splash, thwack. Whatever it was, it landed hard, as if it were thrown. The shadows continued to screech and move about me but slowly, they started to separate and I saw that they weren't shadows at all. They were birds, lots of big, black birds.

Wings beat madly as the birds swarmed upward and surged through a bright blue sky. I stared at them as they circled overhead. Their cries continued to fill my ears but they faded the further up the birds went until it was just a background murmur, sounding strangely like sobbing. I blinked up at the rustling shapes, sunlight streaming through them, and pondered what they had to do with me.

“They're crows,” a woman said from somewhere nearby.

I gave a start and looked towards the voice. She was old and hunched, bent even further while she washed a black jacket in the river that rushed by her. We were standing on a flat plain. The grass of the fields looked dead, almost completely brown in spots, despite the wealth of water which ran through it. The sky seemed cold suddenly, a winter sky without clouds, and the river was crusted with ice.

Still, the old woman swished the fabric through the water and pulled it out to slap against a flat stone before her. Splash, splash, thwack. Splash, splash, thwack. She didn't even spare me a glance.

“What did you say?” I asked her.

“Crows,” she muttered, angry at having to repeat herself. “They're carrion crows. Stupid girl,” she made tsking sounds to herself.

I looked again at the field, peered closer at the grass, and saw that it wasn't dying at all. It was simply covered in death. The brown patches were dried blood and when I lifted my gaze to the horizon, I saw the outline of a pile of corpses. Some of the crows were perched upon them, feasting.

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“Nowhere,” the old woman said conversationally, satisfied that I was finally paying attention. “This is nowhere but it is still somewhere important.”

“What happened here?”

“Battle, girl!” She snapped. “What do you think happened? People will die. Not yet, no, not quite yet, but soon. Oh yes,” splash, splash, thwack. “Soon,” she lifted the cloth to her face and inspected the torn fabric. “Almost out. Almost clean. Almost.”

“I know that coat,” I walked towards her slowly. “That's my husband's jacket.”

“Is it now?” She cackled.

“What are you doing with it?” I demanded.

“Washing out the blood,” she shook her head at the coat and stuck it back in the water. “That's what I do. I wash and I warn. I warn and I wash but no one ever listens.” She lowered her voice to a mutter again, “Why don't they ever listen?”

“I'm listening,” I insisted. “Why does my husband's coat have blood on it?”

“Because he's going to die,” she turned to me and cackled. Her eyes were sightless gray but I knew she could see me. This woman could see more than most. She continued to laugh as the birds swooped down from the sky and surged around me.

“When?!” I screeched. “How? Tell me! Give me your warning!”

“As the crow flies, my dear! As the crow flies.”

I jerked out of the vision, my heart racing as I found myself staring into Brevyn's eyes again. My skin was freezing even though Arach was leaning in against me, one arm around me as he tried to surround me while still holding Rian. Brevyn looked calm for just a moment and then he opened his mouth to take a deep breath. He screamed with such terror that the whole room went quiet and stared at us. Rian woke up and began screaming too, which then sent Morgan to screaming.

“My apologies,” Arach stood and helped me to my feet. “Please continue, I'm so sorry for the disturbance.”

He led me out of the row of seats and then out of the room. Lorna followed after us with the wailing Morgan, and Darius followed after her.

“In here,” Lorna opened a door off the hallway and ushered us into a sitting room. “Shh now,” she bounced Morgan, who had already started to calm.

Arach and I had a harder time with our twins but after a few minutes, we were able to get the boys quiet again and they soon fell back into exhausted slumbers.

“What did you see?” Arach already knew what had transpired, he'd seen Brevyn share his visions with me often enough to recognize the signs.

“See?” Darius asked.

“Brevyn has been showing me visions,” I explained but it was hard to speak around the lump of fear lodged in my throat.

“Visions?” Lorna asked softly and gave her son a fake smile. “Visions,” she repeated in a happy voice, widening her already massive blue eyes at him until he giggled.

“Of the future,” I whispered and sat heavily on a couch. “Sometimes of the past.”

“What did you see, Vervain?” Arach laid Rian on the couch beside me and then knelt before me.

“A washer woman,” I swallowed hard and looked into his dragon eyes.

“What?” He frowned. “A bean-nighe?”