Chapter Thirteen
Chapter 13
A s they approached the faery crouched on the stone fence, Valor invoked a white light of protection over herself by grasping the moonstone amulet and drawing her other hand from her crown and gesturing downward to the ground until she felt the energy clasp about the bottoms of her boots.
The air was heavy with a promise of rain. The gray sky flashed with intermittent peeks of sunlight through clouds. Valor noticed the black markings on the faery’s neck and the backs of his hands. Delicate tracings that resembled some kind of mehndi creation, but she knew they were sigils. Most faeries wore them and used them to conjure their own kind of magic.
Kelyn’s sigils were gone. No amount of massage or restitution could erase her guilt over that. She’d only once seen him in all his wondrous faery magnificence, that night when he unfurled his wings and went after the troll in the Darkwood. Magnificent.
Damn, she hated herself sometimes.
“Never,” Kelyn said as he arrived before the faery, who jumped down to clasp hands in greeting. “Erte sends his respects.”
“I return them,” Never said. Dressed in tight black leggings with tears in the knees and a ripped black T-shirt, he looked like a punk rocker abandoned by his crew after a night lost in the wild. The dark faery’s violet gaze, outlined in thick kohl, moved to Valor. A breeze tickled through his spiky black hair. A smirk of challenge lifted the corner of his mouth. “And this is the witch?”
“Valor Hearst,” Kelyn introduced her.
Never stepped forward with a limber bounce that was almost imperceptible and yet Valor thought perhaps his jerked moves indicated a few cels from the film strip had been removed. It was a faery thing, that rapid movement that seemed to jerk and alter space and time. Though she hadn’t seen Kelyn move so quickly.
She offered her hand to shake, and Never bowed and kissed the back of it. His dark menace whispered over her skin like gray soot.
The faery released her hand quickly, stepping back. He winced. “You needn’t ward against me, witch.”
“Probably not,” she offered. “But all the same, I’m more comfortable wearing one in new places.”
“Of course.” He acquiesced with a tight smirk. “So, mermaids.” He turned to Kelyn. “It’s not often I hear of a fellow sidhe with a hunger to make out with one of those scaly bitches.”
“It’s for a spell,” Kelyn said. “My wings were... I gave them freely to another and now I want to get them back. The mermaid’s kiss is an ingredient in a spell that’ll open a portal to Faery.”
“I see.” Never walked around Kelyn, his dark clothing and hair making him look like a gothic punk rocker plopped into the setting of old-world charm, green fields and even a few white sheep grazing in the distance. “Why would you give a part of you away so freely?”
“It’s not your concern.”
“Probably not. But that cipher you wear at your neck could be my concern. Why have you a cipher that only the Wicked can use?”
Kelyn touched the leather cords about his neck, his fingers glancing over the mouse alicorn before he pressed the black circle between his fingers. “This? I don’t know what it is, actually. A friend gave it to me.”
“A friend? One of the Wicked? Though why one of those terrible things would give up such a thing surprises me. You don’t know what you have? That—” Never pointed to the tourmaline circle Kelyn still held “—is a cipher that can be activated by the Wicked. It’s a navigational device used in Faery. It leads to dark and dangerous things, my friend. One such as you has no power to use it. Though—” Never tapped his jaw in thought “—it does connect you to something. I’m not sure what, exactly.”
“A cipher.” Kelyn shrugged. “Then I’ll be sure not to hand it over to a Wicked One. If it has no power in this realm, it’s but a trinket, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.”
Kelyn stepped before the faery to stop his circling pace. “Are we going to do this or not?”
“Of course. The thin place is close,” Never said. The faery’s eyes scanned the steel-and-rose horizon. The sun was falling in the sky, despite their early start. “But first I’ll ask my payment, as you’ve promised.”
“If this is going to cost a lot...” Valor started, but Kelyn’s sudden chiding glance stopped her cold. Step back, witch , was the feeling she got from him. Let him handle this.
All righty, then. She put up placating hands and took an exaggerated step back. She’d leave the faery business to the experts. It was all a part of the new and untested not-so-aggressive Valor. A girl the guys could see as more than one of their tribe.
Whatever.
“It’ll cost no more than a swoon and a smile,” the faery Never said as he walked around behind Kelyn and toyed with the man’s blond hair. He eyed Valor from over Kelyn’s shoulder. “All I ask is ichor.”
“Ichor?”
“This is not a problem,” Kelyn said to Valor with that same chiding tone touching his voice. “He’s half-vampire.”
The faery winked, and now Valor noticed that within his violet pupils were red stars. So, a half-breed Unseelie escapee was going to help them find mermaids? For ichor? She didn’t get it. And generally she was pretty quick on the uptake.
And then she did get it, when the faery opened his mouth to reveal fangs.
“Make it quick,” Kelyn said to the faery hugging him from behind, but he maintained eye contact with Valor. “We haven’t got all day.”
Crossing her arms, Valor stepped back. She didn’t want to watch this. But when the faery lunged toward Kelyn’s neck, she could suddenly imagine nothing more than watching. Pearly sharp fangs sank into flesh, and Kelyn winced at the intrusion. The faery gripped him up under the chin while he fed from his vein. Faery blood wasn’t red, nor was it even blood, but instead, ichor. A clear substance that sparkled with the faery dust that coursed through their systems. Ichor could be extremely addictive to vamps. But to a half faery, half vamp? Valor couldn’t fathom what Never got out of such a drink.
And then she could, as the faery moaned a long and sexually pleased tone. The hand that grasped Kelyn’s chin seemed to stroke lovingly. Even Kelyn hummed out a satisfied sound, mined deep from his chest. It was as if Valor were watching something illicit.
And she could not look away.
When she placed a hand over her heart, the thuds startled her. And she realized her skin had warmed even though the breeze was cool. Was she...turned on by watching such a thing? No. That wasn’t her style. Maybe?
Kelyn stepped backward, as if losing his balance. Never gripped him surely and licked at his vein. The red-eyed faery caught Valor’s interest and smirked against Kelyn’s neck. He enjoyed that she was watching.
When, finally, Never released his ichor donor, Kelyn stumbled and put out his arms to right himself. He tossed Valor a loopy grin and she knew he was in a swoon from the powerful bite. As was Never. The dark faery reeled around and caught his hands on the stone fence, laughing and then falling to his knees in a wicked spin of orgasm.
“Well.” Valor stretched and twisted her neck uncomfortably. She announced, “That was inappropriate.”
Both faeries chuckled as she strode back to the vehicle.
* * *
From the back seat of the Jeep, Never directed the two of them to a sparsely wooded area that fronted the Irish Sea. Sure the rains would begin soon, Valor hoped they could get this done before that happened.
Kelyn found a clearing of jagged rock scattered with boulders—one the size of a VW—and parked the vehicle.
Tall grasses hugging the olive trees dashed in painted streaks greener than emeralds. Skylarks soared overhead. And the air seemed kissed with a fragrance Valor could only call life and breath and vitality. Her hair blew in unnatural flutters about her as she stepped out to look around. Her air magic sensed the intensity of the vita about her and responded like an electric force.
“That’s interesting,” Never commented on her hair. “Air witch?”
She nodded. “So tell me this. Why ichor? If you’re half-vamp.”
“Human blood makes me sick,” he offered. “Iron and all.”
“Ah.” Faeries and iron did not mix. “Got it. So, are you going to stick around for the fun?” She opened the back of the Jeep, where they’d stowed the rope and harness.
“Wouldn’t think of it. Even if I did have access to Faery—which I do not—the last thing I want to do is return to Faery. Don’t want to end up working for dear old Daddykins. But you...” Never walked up to Kelyn and stood so close Valor wondered if he might kiss him. The two had bonded in some weird way with that bite, but she didn’t want to question it too much. Never placed his palm over Kelyn’s heart. “You do know what will happen if you manage to retrieve your wings from Faery?”
Kelyn set back his shoulders proudly. “I’ll be whole again.”
“Not necessarily. If someone else is wearing them, those wings will be tainted by that creature’s essence, be it good, evil or merely malicious.”
“Merely?” Valor prompted.
The faery smirked. Of course, faeries were big on malice and menace. And, apparently, black eyeliner.
“Be wary,” Never said, and stepped away from the two of them. “If you’re ever eager to donate to the cause again...” He winked at Kelyn.
Spreading out his arms dramatically, Never then released his wings in a whoosh of gray, black and red. With but a jump backward, the faery took to air, transforming to small size within a blink and zipping off across the lush emerald countryside. He looked like a dragonfly darting off to Wonderland.
“Cool,” Valor commented. “I guess he wasn’t so bad.”
“If you say so.” Kelyn grabbed the rope from her and wandered toward the trees.
She probably shouldn’t press regarding the bite, but...
“Wait up!” She grabbed the harness from the back of the Jeep, checked that the jackknife was tucked in her back pocket, then ran after Kelyn. “So, are you going to tell me about the bite?”
“What’s there to tell? You saw the whole thing.”
“I did, and it was...”
“Inappropriate?” He chuckled and winked at her. “You know what it’s like when someone is bitten by a vampire.”
“I do. Not from personal experience but from hearsay.” It was supposed to be orgasmic for the vampire, and the victim was generally left in a swoon, as she’d witnessed with Kelyn. “It’s got to be a bummer for a faery who needs to drink blood but can’t. That’s just weird.”
“I’m not going to question too much. It was what he required for payment. It was something I was willing to offer.”
“So, did you, you know...?”
He hefted the coiled rope over a shoulder. A waggle of his brow teased at her. “You know?”
“You’re going to make me ask it?”
“I am.”
“Fine! Did you get off?”
“I did.” And with that he wandered ahead of her toward the granite cliff.
Valor followed with a muttered, “Exceedingly inappropriate.”