Soul Mates Bewitched (9 page)

“A
Sylvan, very beautiful,” Daire said quietly, holding onto my arm. “Very deadly, you must approach with caution. She is calling to
me
, I will go.”

“Dude, she is totally calling to
me
,” I said trying to shrug off Daire’s hand.

Jillian narrowed her eyes and frowned at the two of us, before turning back to the beautiful creature who was urging Daire and I forward. She pulled a bottle from her pocket, aimed and pitched the bottle at the creature, and hit her right between her breasts causing her to explode a millisecond later. “Men.”

“What was that?” I asked curiously, shaking my head to wipe out the effect the Sylvan had had on my brain. Daire was quietly doing the same, and he didn’t look happy about it.

Jillian grinned. “Tis a variation of
Dr. Jekyll’s
potion. Ye know, the one that turned him into
Mr. Hyde
? It destroys evil. If she’d o’ been good, she’d o’ been grand.”

“
Dr. Jekyll
is a fictional character, Jilly,” I said with a smile as Daire started away from the carousel.

Jillian arched a brow at me and smiled that sexy little smile of hers that drove me nuts. “If ye say so,
mo ghrá
.”

I took her hand and we followed Daire toward the softball fields. We didn’t take the path, but cut through the trees. I kept my eyes open for any Unseelie, but it was so dark out that it was hard to see anything. “Daire, where are we going?”

“Just scouting the area, keeping you out of harm’s way.”

“Gee, thanks. I just feel so useful out here.”

“It is my prince’s orders.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” I replied, feeling slightly annoyed.

Jillian squeezed my fingers and grinned, so I smiled back at her. I almost missed the Unseelie about to grab her with its sharp claws. I quickly yanked her toward me, throwing her off balance, but getting her out of the way enough that the claws just missed ripping her back open.

“Feckin’ beast!” Jillian said outraged as she, too, caught a glimpse of the creature.

I pulled out one of the swords that Max had given me earlier, and Jillian’s eyes went wide. The beast clawed at me again and with a quick swing, I took its arm. The creature howled, calling its pals over to join us, but before it could enjoy the back-up, I took its head, black blood gushed everywhere as the creature began to disintegrate.

Daire charged in a moment later and took out two more Unseelie with one swing, as they weren’t very large creatures, just deadly.

Jillian pulled another potion and lobbed it at a pair of creatures that were attempting to take off my head with their claws. This time the creatures didn’t so much explode as melt. All that was left was a big purple gooey mess. Once they were nothing more than a pile of goo, Jillian tossed a lit match on the blob and watched it burn while Daire and I destroyed the final creature.

“Oh that stinks,” I said covering my face with my tee shirt.

“Roi’t?” Jillian agreed with a laugh.

“Sorceress, put out the fire. It will draw others and we don’t need the attention.”

Jillian nodded, chanted a few words I didn’t recognize, and blew gently over the flames causing them to extinguish.

“Come, we have much ground we need to cover before we meet back up with my prince,” Daire said, turning back toward the softball fields.

We searched for another hour, looking for the Unseelie, but didn’t find anymore. “What time do we meet Max?”

Daire looked up at the sky, figuring the time by the placement of the stars. “We need to go now. It is about time and we need to get to the Bike and Roll Tavern. We will meet him out front.”

Daire took our arms and flashed us to the tavern. Apparently the King had given him leave to travel with passengers as needed, a welcome change that Max was probably responsible for. We didn’t have to wait long before James and Rik came lumbering out of the trees toward us, still in their animal forms. They stayed in the shadows afraid they might scare any humans that might be nearby. We moved toward them, meeting them at the tree line.

James managed to be just as snarky in his wolf form, with a couple of yips and a big wolfy grin at Jillian. She laughed and patted his head. “Good, wolf boy,” she said. “Ye didn’t manage ta get yerself killed.”

Max flashed in a moment later, looking a bit exasperated.

“What’s up, Dude?” I asked.

“That Brice is not as competent as you might think. He was oblivious to the fact that the woman he was chatting it up with was an Unseelie,” Max said. “He made no attempt to kill it. It was as though he could not tell it was a Ghillie Dhu. I know they can be entrancing, but for someone with as much power as Brice, I would have thought he’d be able to take it out.”

Jillian frowned. “What happened?”

“I flashed in behind her and took her head before she could touch him and turn him into her slave for all of eternity. You would have thought he’d be a bit more grateful.”

“He wasn’t?”

Max rolled his eyes. “No. Apparently, just his usual surly self. Whatever. Tony, I’ve had a thought about the Chalice that I want to run by you.”

“Sure, Dude. What’s up?”

Max pulled me away from the group, moved us more toward the trees, and spoke softly. “Tones, you know how you said Nicu and your dad made the potion and it was around Halloween? They made it seem like a Halloween thing?”

“Yeah,” I replied, not seeing where he was going with his thought.

“What if the Chalice is in with the Halloween stuff?”

I blinked slowly. Max could be right. I hadn’t seen it in a while; Mom could have it tucked away in some box. As much as she loves Halloween, I was sure it could be mixed in with all of the other decorations. “Could be. I haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean anything, there are a lot of Halloween decorations, Dude.”

“That’s what I’m thinkin’.”

“We should check it out,” I said, glancing back at the group that was waiting for us. I watched James’ head dart up and he stared just past us into the woods. With a howl, he took off after something.

“Shit!” Max exclaimed, taking off after James, Rik wasn’t far behind.

I hesitated just long enough for Daire to grab my arm. “Don’t. The wolf and bear will help my prince take care of whatever was listening in the woods. Did you speak of something important?”

“Yeah, it was about the Chalice. We might know where it is,” I replied.

“Did you say where? Will whoever it was listening know where you were talking about?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know. We mentioned Halloween decorations. I don’t know that we specifically said where they might be.”

Daire sighed. “Let us hope that my prince is successful in catching the eavesdropper then.” He grabbed our arms again and flashed us back to Uncle Nicu’s bar.

We went in to wait for Max and the others to appear. I’d just opened a can of soda and taken a sip when Max appeared. James and Rik were close on his heels, and back in their human forms.

“Did you catch whoever it was?”

“No,” Max said, clearly pissed.

“Do you think they knew what we were talking about?”

Max frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe. We should check out our theory first thing in the morning.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” I said with a nod.

“I’ll pick you up first thing,” Max replied. “Come on, guys. I want to get back to Anna.”

“Tomorrow,” Daire said and popped out.

“Goodbye, Tony, Sorceress,” Rik said with a nod.

“See ya, Tones,” James said. “Babe, it’s been a pleasure,” he said to Jillian with a wolfish grin.

I nodded and gave them a wave, but Jillian rolled her eyes and grinned. “See ye, wolf boy, Rik,” she said as they flashed out when no one was looking. She flopped down into her chair and called Marcus over.

“What’s up gorgeous?”

“Ken we get some nachos? I’m feelin’ a wee bit peckish,” Jillian replied with a smile.

“Sure thing, Darlin’,” Marcus said turning back to the bar.

“So, where does the Faerie think the Chalice is?” she asked.

I glanced around the bar, checking to see who might over hear us. There was nobody I recognized and the music was fairly loud, so I moved in close to her ear. “Back home mixed in with our Halloween decorations. Mom has a million boxes of the stuff.”

“Why does he think it might be there?” Jillian asked curiously.

“It’s a long story, and he’s probably wrong,” I replied with a smile. “How about a dance, birthday girl?”

Jillian glanced up at me and smiled. “Sure,” she said taking my hand and following me out to the dance floor.

The band began to play a new tune by Maroon Five as I pulled Jillian into my arms. She laid her head on my shoulder and I sighed. It felt right, having her in my arms. I never wanted to let her go. I wanted to hold her and keep her safe forever. It must have shown on my face because she looked up at me and smiled. I stroked her cheek, leaned down, and captured her lips, kissing her tenderly at first, and then more passionately. She pulled me closer still, her fingers gripping my hair as if she might lose her balance if she let go.

“Jillian,” I said softly, almost like a prayer.

“I know,” she murmured, giving me a sexy little smile. “I’m feelin’ it too. Ye ain’t the only one.”

“I should get you home,” I said.

“Not yet. Tis still early.”

“It’s not. It’s well past midnight.” I glanced at the clock behind the bar.

“Tis?” she asked following my gaze. “Ah well, tis no matter. I don’t feel much like going home to an empty place.”

I took a deep breath. “You could stay with me,” I said.

Jillian grinned. “Ye don’t think Nicu would mind?”

“If we go up now, he won’t bother us. He’ll likely, never even know. Besides, I worry about you out there on your own. Anything could happen.”

“He’s not clueless, Tony. He’ll feckin’ notice, but at this point I don’t feckin’ care.”

“Come on, then,” I said pulling Jillian back to our table and picking up the nachos Marcus had dropped off. “We can take these with us. Nicu will be down here for a few more hours.”

Jillian followed me into the back and up the stairs. I slipped my arm around her as we entered the apartment, enjoying the feeling of having her so close. She was becoming an important part of my life. I almost felt as if I couldn’t breathe if she was too far away. I should have known things were about to take a turn for the worse.

I
don’t know what woke me up. A feeling of unease, I suppose. I sat up on one elbow and glanced down at Jillian sound asleep next to me and I smiled, but then, I felt it again. Something was wrong somewhere. I sat up, threw my legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. Grabbing a sweatshirt and pulling it on, I made my way out of the room. I glanced down the hall toward Nicu’s room. The lights were out and he wasn’t stirring. I went quietly to the door, being careful not to make a sound. I opened the door to the apartment slowly and stuck my head out. The strange vibe I’d been getting was definitely coming from the bar.

I gently closed the door behind me and crept down the stairs on my bare feet. I didn’t sense any danger; it was more a feeling of wrongness. I followed where my instincts pulled me and found myself in a storage room next to Uncle Nicu’s office. I quickly flipped on the lights and saw that the room was in a shambles. Holiday decorations were thrown around everywhere. Boxes were emptied and strewn across the floor. The one labeled ‘Halloween’ had been completely destroyed.

While I’d slept, our eaves-dropper had been busy searching for the Chalice. I had to call Max. But first I needed to clean up the mess that the intruder had made. I wondered how he, or she had gotten in and went to check the doors before I got started on the clean up. Both were locked and bolted, and didn’t look as if they’d been messed with. This of course meant someone had used magic to get in.

I found some extra, broken down boxes behind the bar, grabbed some tape and a marker from Uncle Nicu’s office, and packed everything back up. I labeled it all and put it back up on the shelves before returning the tape and marker. I climbed the stairs feeling exhausted, but knew I had a lot more to do before the night was finished.

“Where’d ye go?” Jillian murmured as I reentered my room.

I smiled at her, sat down on the bed and stroked her hair. “Go back to sleep, Jilly. Everything is fine, now.”

Which, of course, was the wrong thing to say because she immediately woke up more fully, looked at my face, and I’m not sure what she saw, but it was probably the worry marring my smile.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Someone broke in and went through the decorations.”

Jillian’s eyebrows rose over her pretty green eyes. “Did they find the Chalice?”

“No, they couldn’t have. It was just a mess. I cleaned it up, but now I’ve gotta call Max and we need to go, before whoever it was figures out where it actually is.”

Jillian nodded. “Call him. I’ll go with ye.”

I shook my head. “No, you stay here. If there is trouble, I want you far from it.”

Jillian frowned. “The feck I will! Ye ain’t keepin’ me from the action, Tony.”

I kissed her forehead. “Please, I need you here. What if I’m, wrong and they come back?” I asked, appealing to her duty. “I need someone I trust to be here watching, and to make sure whoever it was doesn’t try coming up here to the apartment and searching.”

“Fine. But ye be feckin’ careful,” Jillian said stroking my face.

I leaned in and kissed her, feeling relieved that she would be well out of the mess I was probably about to encounter at home. She pressed her lips to mine, her fingers gripping my hair pulling me closer. She opened her mouth to me, and I kissed her for a few minutes before sighing and pulling back. I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing hard, my heart racing.

“I’ll be careful. Now, go on back to sleep.”

“Ye seriously think I’ll be able ta sleep?” Jillian asked with a grin. “Nay, I’ll not be sleepin’ anytime soon. Not till ye’re back here with me. Go call Max an’ get this done so ye ken come back ta me.”

“All right,” I replied, kissing her again. “I’ll be back in a bit.” I grabbed the mirror I used to contact Max, and opened the door.

“Ye better be,” Jillian said grinning.

I went into the living room and tapped on the glass. I waited impatiently for Max to answer.

“What’s up?” Max asked groggily.

“We had a visitor searching the bar for the Chalice.”

“The eaves-dropper. I’ll be right there,” Max said turning to Anna in the mirror.

“Go, my love. I’ll be fine,” I heard Anna murmur before I tapped the glass closed.

Max flashed into the living room a moment later. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing my arm and flashing us back to my house. It was dark, but considering it was four in the morning, it wasn’t surprising.

“I want to check on Mom and Teresa,” I said starting toward their rooms.

“Fine, but don’t wake them. We don’t need to go through a bunch of explanations.”

I rolled my eyes. “Chill, Dude. I’m just makin’ sure nobody has been here messin’ with them.”

Max nodded, but I could tell he was on high alert. I softly opened my sister’s door and peeked in. She was sound asleep, snuggled up under her big purple blanket with her cat Zipper. I smiled and shut the door before crossing the hall to Mom’s room. I quickly peeked in to find that she, too, was softly snoring. Seeing them made me realize how much I actually missed them. When this was over, I’d have to bring Jillian out to meet them.

“Everything good?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. The stuff is in the basement,” I said, leading him down the hall to the basement door.

The door creaked when I opened it, and I hesitated for a moment to make sure it didn’t wake Mom or Teresa. When nothing stirred, we continued down the stairs to the storage area. I pointed to the wall where Mom kept the Halloween stuff.

“Tones, there’s like thirty boxes marked Halloween,” Max said, incredulous.

“I know, Dude, I told ya Mom loves Halloween.”

We started on the first row of boxes, pulling out skeletons and spiders and webs and bloody limbs, but no Chalice. After about six boxes I stopped and looked at the wall of containers that we had yet to go through. Some of the boxes were newer than others, and I figured the Chalice wouldn’t be in one of them. I hadn’t seen it since I was little, for all I knew Mom had thrown it out. However, if it was here, it had to be in one of the boxes that hadn’t been opened in a while.

“Dude, try one of these,” I said pointing to a couple of boxes on the top shelf that looked older and more worn than the rest.

We pulled two of the boxes down and started going through them. The one I’d grabbed was full of skulls and black candles. I dug deeper into the box and my hand began to tingle. I reached for a red, velvet cloth-wrapped object, and started to unwrap it.

Max stopped going through his box and watched as I pulled the last fold of fabric off of the object I was holding. It was the Chalice of Light. It seemed to glow in my hand, feeding off the energy in my body.

“You found it!” Max exclaimed with a smile.

I started to smile, and then I felt as if all of the air inside the room had suddenly gone, and I couldn’t breathe. Something was very, very wrong. My heart squeezed in my chest and I dropped the Chalice.

“Tones! What’s wrong?” Max asked, going pale.

“Jillian! Get me back to New York, now!” I said, fearful of what I was going to find when I got there.

Max grabbed the Chalice and my arm and flashed us out of my basement. I thought he’d be taking me to New York, but I found myself standing in the Throne room of the Faerie Mound.

“Max! Something is wrong with Jillian! I have to get to New York!”

Max shook his head. “No. You aren’t going.”

“Tony, I’m so sorry,” Anna said coming into the room and reaching for Max.

“Anna, what are you…what’s happened?” I asked, feeling extremely anxious as a feeling of devastation descended on my heart.

“It’s Jillian and Nicu. They’ve been taken,” Max said softly.

I dropped to my knees, feeling as if my world was crashing down around me. I couldn’t breathe, I was hyperventilating and in a complete panic as my eyes filled with unshed tears.

“We’ll get them back, I swear! Don’t worry.”

“Ah, Max, you’ve found the Chalice!” Auberon said coming into the room. “Excellent.”

“We have a problem,” Max said.

“Oh the Guardians. Yes, well, I’m sure their sacrifice will not go unrewarded. You will see to it?”

At that moment I wanted to kill Auberon. Jillian was gone, to God knows where, and Auberon was talking like they were dead. “Auberon…” I began angrily.

“We will get them back, Tones, I swear it!” Max said, putting a hand on my arm.

I glanced at his face, seeing his determination and gave him a curt nod. I had to pull myself together. Jillian needed me to be strong. I wasn’t about to let her down.

“Get them back? They’re with Póg now. Are you sure you want them back?”

Max turned to Auberon and glared. “Auberon, these are important people. Jillian is Tony’s mate, and Nicu is his Uncle. We
will
get them back.”

“If you must. But now that we have the Chalice, the Queen will be in a foul mood.”

“No one knows that we have the Chalice. They took Jillian and Nicu to use as bargaining pieces, if we get to the Chalice first,” Max replied.

“Which we have, but the Queen will not get her hands on it,” Auberon said.

“Of course not, but if we could come up with another Chalice that looks like the Chalice of Light, one that doesn’t work…”

“You will have to bargain with Faerie and Gaia for that, Max,” Auberon replied.

“I know,” he acknowledged.

“Very well. See what you can do.”

I frowned, feeling numb and slightly off balance as I began to breathe again. “What are you planning, Max?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet,” he said, wrapping his arms around Anna. “I need to go. Tony, stay here…please.”

I nodded, barely glancing up as Daire came into the room and dropped to his knees before Max.

“My prince, I failed to keep them safe. I am sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Daire. She wasn’t where she was supposed to be. You had no way of knowing she and Nicu would go into the park.”

“Wait. What do you mean, Jillian and Nicu were in the park?”

Max frowned. “When we left, Jillian woke Nicu. They went hunting for the one who searched the bar. They were taken from the park. Daire was alerted when they left the apartment and bar, and tracked them to the park. He didn’t reach them before they were taken by Póg. She didn’t kill them, so she clearly wants them for something. My guess is to bargain with us for the Chalice.”

I should have known Jillian wouldn’t just sit and wait for me to get back. She was not the kind of girl that sat back and let others take on all the action. She had to be in the thick of it, and it scared the hell out of me that she was currently at Póg’s mercy. I had to get her back. Uncle Nicu, too, for that matter. I looked at Max, desperation engraved on my face. “Max,” I said.

“I know. We’ll get them back,” Max replied, kissing Anna’s temple. He strode out of the room and down the hall.

I attempted to follow him, desperate to do something, anything that would be helpful.

“No. You must let him speak to Gaia and Faerie on his own,” Daire said, grabbing my arm. “Come on, I’ll show you to a chamber. Not that you’ll be able to sleep now, I know.”