Chapter 2
Chapter Two
W e stepped out of the plane and onto the tarmac. I felt better for my stress-free nap, but I frowned at the angel beside me. I refused to thank him for what he did. That would be stupid.
All the gates were in use so a shuttle came out to retrieve us. Gigi texted that they’d moved our flight’s arrival location and that she was hustling to the new one to collect me.
I shifted my backpack and looked over at Tony, who seemed lost in his thoughts. I wasn’t even sure he realized we’d landed and debarked.
“My grandmother is meeting me at the arrival gate. You knocked me out before I got a chance to warn her I wasn’t alone. I’ll have to introduce you.”
All I got in reply was a head nod and a grin. I didn’t trust either, but Tony climbed into the shuttle and crowded into the seat next to me. People looked at us and smiled.
Did they seriously think we were a couple? Wow—just wow.
Turning my head, I looked at him in full daylight. He had blonde hair to his shoulders and blue eyes that stared at nothing. His skin was flawless. No stubble disrupted its smoothness. The absence of a beard made him appear as youthful as me to most people. But I had seen too many paranormal creatures in my life. His complete absence of lines and wrinkles was otherworldly and alarming to me. It shouted to my brain that he was a potentially dangerous being.
Conn’s super attractive fairy friend had acted youthful and I saw him that way. Yet despite his appearance, I couldn’t think of the man beside me as being my age. There was something serious in his nature that spoke of hard lessons learned. Despite how young he looked, his ‘wise being’ demeanor gave him away.
I left the shuttle without commanding him to follow me. I was tired of giving orders. Searching the interior of the airport for the sight of Gigi, I didn’t see the stranger walking up to me until he was right in front of me.
Tony grabbed his hand before it landed on my arm. “Do not touch her,” he said.
The man stared in shock at me, and then he looked at Tony. I cleared my throat to explain. “I’m sorry. He’s my... umm... he’s my bodyguard. I’m a social media celebrity.”
Tony eased his grip and stared. “Is that the best you could do?”
I glared at him. “Yes. I’m not used to lying to people.”
Two silver wings sprung from Tony’s back. He grabbed the neck of the person who’d attempted to touch me and lifted him from the ground. He held him in the air and glared hard at him.
“He hasn’t done anything. Put the man down,” I said.
“No. This is what I warned you about,” Tony said, walking away from the door with the man still dangling in his grip and fighting to free himself.
People entered and left the airport interior without treating Tony like a criminal or thug. I assumed that meant he’d somehow spelled them into not noticing him. Mom would see him and think he was a guardian.
I walked over to him as nonchalantly as I could.
“Tell her why you’re here,” Tony ordered.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“There is a price on your head... and your mother’s head. I will have my reward,” the person hissed.
Tony looked at me. His eyes were white like frosted ice. “The fairy put a price on your mother and you. I stopped two of them from going after you in America.”
I looked at the being, and then at Tony, who shook the man until all illusion fell away from him. A short fairy hung limp in his wrist.
“It was only the money I wanted,” the fairy said, clawing at Tony’s grip on him. “I swear it on the lives of my entire family.”
Tony stared hard at him as he spoke to me. “I can kill him, Fiona. I have permission to do so. Any threat to your life is subject to my wrath. I will rain death on them all.”
I backed away and held up a hand. “Whoa— dude . It’s not that I don’t appreciate the whole dragon-slaying mode, but unlike my mother, I’d rather someone report to the fairy kingdom about what’s happened to Ezra. Let’s work smarter, not harder.”
The fairy stilled and stopped his struggle. “What’s happened to Prince Ezra?”
Prince? Oh, Mom... my problems with men are nothing compared to yours! Ezra is a freaking fairy prince.
I blew out a frustrated breath. “Your prince has been trying his best to kill my mother. He’ll either be dead soon or thrown back across the veil. Mom wasn’t feeling very kind toward him when I left. You’d best tell the others that his contracts will soon become unpayable. If you try to kill me, my family will send the arbitrator between our realms to punish you.”
He frowned hard. “Are you lying to me?”
“Why would I lie when I have this guy guarding me? Instead of lying, I’d have told him to just kill you and saved my breath.” I pointed at Tony and smiled. “It’s good to be so valuable to someone.”
“What manner of being is your bodyguard?” the fairy asked.
I smiled at the fairy. “He’s an angel.”
The fairy screamed and kept on screaming. He nearly strangled himself trying to escape Tony’s hold.
Tony sighed. “Did you have to tell him that?” He threw the man down. The fairy jumped up and ran off.
I shrugged. “Why was he so afraid of an angel?”
Tony rolled his eyes and walked off to reenter the terminal. I took his actions as a refusal to explain it to me. Did he think I should have known?
We found Gigi inside at the baggage terminal. She’d already retrieved my two suitcases.
I rushed to hug her.
Tony waited for me to pull away before sticking out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. O’Malley. Fiona has told me so many wonderful things about her Gigi. You can call me Tony.”
Bridget O’Malley studied the hand she clasped inside both of hers out of politeness. The man possessed six fingers. She looked up at him in surprise.
“Good Goddess... ya’re the ring’s overseer. Ya’ve come to train Fiona.”
Tony eased his hand away and smiled. “I was going to lie and say I was her boyfriend.”
“Aren’t ya a few thousand years too old for my granddaughter?” she asked.
I smacked Tony’s arm when he laughed. “He’s my bodyguard, Gigi. He’s big, mean, and fighting to save me. Mom knows about him.”
Well, she sort of knew.
“Yes. He’s here to train me... and to also protect me. Can he stay with us?”
Bridget studied him. She didn’t like what she saw but there was no choice. “He can stay in the guest room and ya can sleep in my room, Fiona We’ll put the cot in there.”
Tony smiled at her. Gigi didn’t smile back. My grandmother didn’t seem impressed with him but my knees went a little weak.
This was why I needed to date more. It had been a long time since I’d felt such an instant attraction.
“A room would be much appreciated, Mrs. O’Malley. It would make it easier to protect you both.”
I grabbed my luggage and started rolling it toward the door. “Grandpa’s ring chose me to be its next protector. Tony says I inherited protector magick but I’m not sure he’s right yet.”
Gigi stopped walking to stare at me. “Do ya believe the ring chose ya?”
I nodded. “Yes. I found out just before I got on the plane. Mom said the ring told her it was my destiny, but she didn’t have time to explain anything to me. She put the ring on my hand and said to ask you to share what you knew about it. She said she would tell me more if she survived her fight with the female guardian, which I now know she has. But I can’t wait for her, Gigi. A fairy has already come after me. Tony stopped him.”
Gigi turned and spat on the ground. “That bastard fairy, Ezra of Airingdale, has put a price on yer mother’s head. And now it’s on yer head as well. I understand why she sent ya to me, child. I know my daughter. Aran sent what she considers most valuable to her ma to protect. So that’s what we’ll do. Between me and yer overseer, no harm will come to ya or the ring.”
After saying that, my grandmother marched off mumbling to herself.
I looked at Tony, who frowned but motioned for me to follow her. I did, but not happily.
In the parking garage, Tony yelled for us to “Stop” and then marched around us. He popped out his wings. They gleamed silver as he stood in front of us.
“Bloody angel! Andrew was right!” someone called out.
Fairies rained from the parking garage ceiling. They fell to the concrete floor around Gigi’s car before jumping to their feet and fleeing as if they were on fire.
“Eejits,” Gigi spat before turning blazing eyes to me. “Yer teacher is not an angel, child. He’s a guardian. I’ve seen enough of them to know what he is.”
“Have you ever seen an angel, Gigi?”
“No,” Gigi said. “But I would know if I did.” She looked at Tony. “Are ya an actual angel, Boy-o?”
Tony lifted his chin. “I would never call myself that, Mrs. O’Malley. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet persuaded your granddaughter not to label me with that moniker.”
Gigi grunted. “That’s what I thought. All the same, I’m glad ya see fit to protect her. Aran would go mad if she knew that so many fairies were after her child. There would be a rash of fairy killings and a war between our realms. The Dagda himself couldn’t stop her.”
“Yes, ma’am. She values Fiona and regrets not having magickly trained her. I’m here to make sure Fiona can access her magick.”
Gigi motioned me to the backseat so Tony could sit in front with her. “Fiona not being trained wasn’t Aran’s fault. Her father threatened to take Fiona from both of us if we attempted to teach her magick.”
I couldn’t stifle my gasp. “Did you just say Dad threatened to take me away from you and Mom?”
Gigi turned to frown at me. “Yes. We couldn’t tell ya until ya were old enough to believe it, Fiona. As a demon hunter, yer father had access to a good many places to hide ya. By keeping our promise, we got to stay a part of yer life.”
Gigi unlocked the car. “Let’s go before others come. My house is warded against strange fairy folk. I added them to my protection after my last visit to the States.”
“Didn’t you also ward your property against guardians?” Tony asked.
“I tried,” Gigi said, glaring at Tony. “Yer kind can’t be warded out, but I can still chop ya to pieces with my meat cleaver. Who do ya think taught Aran to slice up demons? It wasn’t her father or grandfather. My husband was a kind, gentle soul. If I wanted venison for my dinner, I caught a deer and dressed it myself.”
Tony nodded and ducked his head to hide his grin. When Gigi turned away, he turned to me, crossed his eyes, and made a slicing motion across his neck. To my utter shame, I wanted badly to laugh. Gigi and Mom were always dramatic with their pronouncements.
Despite what Gigi said, I knew Tony was an angel. It was a strong gut feeling I had about him. Still, I was kind of happy Gigi believed he was like Rasmus.
Yet Tony never admitted to being a guardian, either. He simply let Gigi believe what she wanted to believe about him. He’d also never admitted to me he wasn’t an angel. I had a feeling he lived every day in complete denial of his true nature. If I found out he was a demon djinn, I’d be worse than Gigi about believing some made-up story. I’d probably believe nothing any supernatural creature ever told me again.
Gigi got into the car and rolled the windows down to talk to us. “Get in if ya’re getting in. I want to go home where it’s safe.”
Tony turned to me. “Ride back to the farm with your grandmother. I’ll be getting there a different way. Don’t be afraid. I’ll be watching over you the whole time.”
Being treated like a na?ve child was pissing me off. I refused to be seen as some helpless victim too. “Where are you going?”
“To check on something,” Tony said. “Please don’t argue about this. Your grandmother will get mad at me if I put you to sleep again.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I said.
Tony snickered. “Honey, I would dare anything to protect you. Please do as I say so I don’t have to take those measures.”
I rolled my eyes and got into the car. “Tony’s not coming with us, Gigi. He’s coming later.”
Tony had bragged to me that he’d trained my grandfather, which meant he had to have met my grandmother before. Yet it was clear to all three of us she had no memories of him and also hadn’t put two and two together about him being the same overseer. He’d obviously made Gigi forget about him. I guess manipulating memories couldn’t be any harder than stopping time.
What was most amazing was that Gigi never argued about Tony’s decision. She simply shifted her car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot without saying another thing.
Tony watched us leave and then seemed to disappear into the space we left behind. I had no idea where he went or what he felt such a critical need to do. At least he hadn’t put me to sleep again. That was what mattered to me most at that moment.
Gigi exited the airport before speaking again. “I have to say I’m surprised the current overseer of King Solomon’s second ring is a guardian. Looking back on it now, maybe yer grandfather didn’t understand the being he dealt with wasn’t an actual angel—Goddess rest his soul. I can see how he might have gotten fooled.”
I stared at her and wondered how she could be so sure. Maybe Grandpa wasn’t fooled at all. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to disappoint his wife and ruin her ideas about angels.
“Do you remember the overseer who trained Grandpa?”
“No,” Gigi said, frowning. “I’m sure some magick was used to blur my memories. My mind rebels whenever I even so much as try to remember. Ya can bet yer grandfather allowed that to be done to me because he would have killed anyone doing true harm.”
“Tony is very powerful. That was the first thing he proved to me. Grandpa might not have had much say in what his overseer did.”
“Witches learn early in life that a spiritually powerful being is not always a good being.”
“Witches aren’t the only ones,” I said.
Gigi’s snort was loud. “His kind’s disobedience branded them as blasphemers of their faith, ya know. Abrahamic religions are very strict when it comes to sexual celibacy. It makes me glad I’m a pagan. Sex is necessary for magick. It’s energy sharing in its most natural form. Mother Danu certainly never made it a sin.”
I chuckled a bit at her rant. Gigi’s gentleman farmer was probably glad she was a pagan as well. “Mom’s a pagan. You’re a pagan. What am I, Gigi?”
“Ya’re young,” Gigi said firmly. “Ya’re just young. I can’t believe the ring chose ya so early. Yer mother was twenty herself before yer grandfather got stuck protecting the ring.”
“Is that how you saw his job? That he had no choice?”
“Yes. I say that because he had grave reservations about being chosen—we both had them—but in the end, it didn’t matter. The ring proved powerful enough to persuade him. I’m still sorry it turned out to be yers next, though. Protecting the ring complicated our already complicated lives. When the other ring’s keeper shows up for a visit, ya’ll see what I mean. He’s all dark smoke and wickedness. I think protecting the ring is some everlasting punishment that the djinn brought down on his own head. He’s a hybrid, ya know.”
“As in, he’s part demon too?”
Gigi nodded.
“Do you remember him?” I asked.
“Girl, there are some beings no magick can make ya forget. That demon djinn is one of them. The power of yer guardian is nothing compared to that being. I’ve never known anyone like him. Not even Conn could hold his own with that creature.”
I grew quiet as I thought. So Tony had spelled Gigi to forget him, but Gigi still remembered his counterpart. Was the djinn too powerful to care what Gigi did with knowledge of his existence? Why else would he allow her to keep her memories?
I suddenly felt overwhelmed by how much I needed to learn.
A fleet of dark vehicles met us at the end of Gigi’s lane.
“Stay inside the car, Fiona. I’ll deal with these blokes. Call yer guardian to help ya if I don’t come back. If he truly kept a fairy from hurting ya, he’ll not let this sorry lot bring harm to ya.”
“Aren’t they the people Mom used to work with?”
“Not the ones we’re looking at,” Gigi said. “Things in the paranormal world are not as they once were here in Eire. I never said anything to yer mother about their changes. She’s threatened many times to return here and that would probably make her do it.”
I grabbed Gigi’s arm before she climbed out. “I may not be as magickal as you, but I’m not without brains, Gigi. There’s no need to risk yourself. Let Tony deal with them. He said he’d be around and I believe him.”
Tony had given me more reasons to trust him than to not trust.
“I’ll be fine, Fiona. Sit tight.”
Gigi got out and walked over to talk to a man dressed in all black. They looked like actors in a crime movie.
Within a couple of minutes, Gigi came rushing back to the car with a smile on her face. “They’re all from the Shadow Breakers. Yer mother’s boss asked them to make sure ya got here safely. Thank the Goddess that was their intention because I would have hated to curse the lot of them.”
I glanced out of the car window as Gigi rolled the car slowly toward the house. I could see our welcome committee climbing into their vehicles to leave.
I didn’t understand my ambivalence. If the people in black were from the Shadow Breakers, then why didn’t I feel safer to see them here? Maybe it was because my gut warned me they weren’t what they seemed. But I had no evidence. They weren’t staying. They weren’t trying to break Gigi’s wards. I had no choice but to believe I was being paranoid.
Still... Gigi was relieved to have talked with them. Nothing would be gained by me destroying her peace with my silly thoughts. I was going to let her stay at peace until they revealed themselves to be friends or foes.
Just as a precaution, I would tell Tony about my feelings when he showed up again. The fairy who attacked me was after the money on my head. What if Ezra’s influence still permeated the paranormals he used to work with? Who knew what kind of story Ezra spun about Mom? Her imprisonment might always be a stain on her reputation.
Thinking that scores of strangers might have the wrong idea about Mom now gave me one more reason to be mad at my father.