Smoke in Moonlight (CELTIC ELEMENTALS) Page 17

  "What if Ronan doesn't wake up in time?" Aine's voice sounded irritated and Lacey finally managed to crack her eyelids, despite the agony the dusky brush of twilight brought. They were in the woods and her heart fluttered in automatic fear. But there was no moon lighting the sky yet this night.

  "We'll be lucky if he doesn't wake up too soon! Damme, I should have brought more Changelings. I can't believe he killed two bare-handed! He's never done that before! You told me he'd be weaker at the new moon, that it was the only point in the cycle we could attack at."

  "He is, you fool. The only reason he was that strong tonight is because you were after his woman. I've never seen him like that. He was crazed."

  "If only your stupid curse had worked properly that bastard would be on our side."

  "I have no power to change a man’s loyalties, brother dearest, as you damn well have assured yourself of--many times. And he'll be out of your way by the end of the night. Now, go ahead and start the preparations. I'll bring her along."

  "You had better. Or Orthannach will be attending to you for the next millennium." Lacey saw Aine shudder and Aillen smile, his terrible, jagged teeth transforming the human face into one of a monster. Then he streaked off into the night.

  "Finally." Aine breathed, so softly Lacey wasn't sure it wasn't just her battered head making up voices. But the Changeling holding her suddenly stiffened, like a marionette whose strings had been jerked. His arms released her and Lacey would have fallen to the ground if Aine hadn't moved to support her. The goddess snapped her fingers at the Changeling and he crumbled.

  Aine was still supporting her. Lacey clung to her shoulders, weak but furious. "You!" She could only get out the one word and it was slurred.

  "Save it, sister. No time. You must go get the sword, Lacey. Ronan won't think he'll need it as he can transform this night. But he must have it or we'll all die."

  Lacey stared at the goddess in a haze of befuddled agony. "Don't understand."

  Aine cursed and pushed Lacey against a tree.

  "Humans! Aillen plans to use your blood to break Ronan's curse."

  Lacey's jaw fell open. "Can't break..."

  "Oh yes. Most definitely can. No, I never told them. Wasn't even aware of it myself until I listened to Mac and Bav having a little te'te about obscure sorcery a few years back. Light balances dark, love negates hate. I only had to adjust my thinking. There is a key for every lock, you know?" Lacey's forehead wrinkled in confusion and Aine sighed heavily. "There really is no time, Lacey. You're in love with Ronan, aren't ye?"

  Lacey blinked at her. Her throat felt as if it had just been squeezed shut. She knew it was true. She had realized it back in the cave, when she had told Ronan to make love to her one last time. Her eyes burned. Oh god, the only thing she wanted right now was to know he was okay, to know he was safe. Nothing else mattered.

  Aine smiled grimly. "That's what I thought. Your blood will break my curse. And Aillen wants to break the curse so he can kill Ronan. That's all ye need to know for now. Get that damn sword and bring it to Knockdoon," she raised her hand and pointed at the barely discernable sheen of starlight against the pale rock of a far off mountainside. "He'll have Changelings out that will find ye soon enough when ye get close. Now, just go."

  Lacey held on to the tree, her knees as watery as half-formed Jell-O. "Can't..."

  Aine bit her lip, before slowly lifting a hand. Light flew from her fingers and covered Lacey in a shower of silvery-cobalt sparks. Instantly, Lacey was able to let go of the tree, her head finally clear of that sickening heaviness. Her limbs still felt weak and shaky. She also somehow had her clothes on again, though they were wrinkled and damp. The smell of sulfur filled the air. Lacey inhaled deeply, trying to clear her mind and focus. She had to be strong, had to.

  "That's all I can spare. This is my weakest time, as well as Ronan's as faoladh, you know. Though he can transform tonight, and he will. This is the in-between time, where strange things can happen to those in tune with lunar magic. Aillen sent those dreams of the full moon to put Ronan off balance. And to cause you both pain, of course. My cursed brother relishes pain, Lacey. Do nae forget that. If you fail to return, Ronan will suffer more than ye can ever imagine. As will I. Though I can hardly expect you to care about that. Now, go!"

  Lacey ran. Trying her best to keep her feet, as everything that had happened, everything that Aine had said made her head continue to reel. And though the pain from her injuries was gone a new emotion moved to take its place.

  Fear.

  Vicious and cold, it built within her as she ran through the dark, slapping into branches and falling to her knees more than once. She hardly noticed the minor injuries as the questions bombarded her. Would Ronan survive until she got there? Would he if she did get there?

  She fell again, tasting dirt and another familiar, bitter flavor as well. One she recognized all too well. Despair.

  Full moon or no, this was her dream. Her nightmare made real. Lacey forced herself to her feet, a sob tearing through her burning chest as she ran on through the night.

  Ronan got to his feet, tasting blood in his mouth and wiping it from one eye. He was surprised to be alive. After being twice a fool, he certainly didn’t deserve to still be here. He left the cabin without the sword again. He should be dead.

  For a moment he just leaned against the cool stone of the cave and wondered if Lacey already was.

  Ice filled his belly and blackness threatened to swallow him whole at the thought. He couldn't believe he had ever thought he would be able to kill her.

  She was his life now and no matter what it cost he had to protect her. His family couldn't--they wouldn’t fault him for that. No matter what the fall out. If there was one thing his family understood, it was love. And he knew he loved Lacey.

  He almost said it to her. But he hadn't. At least not in a language she could understand.

  Ronan closed his eyes at the memory.

  He had to face the fact he might not get the chance again. He forced back the fear that gripped him as he considered that chilling possibility. Until a new fear raised its ugly head, why was he alive?

  Aillen could have slit his throat where he lay. 'Course he might have recovered from that, given the moon was on the rise. But, hell, Aillen could have taken his damn head. Ronan knew goddamn well even he wasn't going to recover from that.

  So--Aillen had something else in mind. Worse than death or maybe just a more painful one? Knowing how the demon's mind worked, Ronan was betting the latter.

  Something to do with Lacey.

  That was right! Aillen had said Lacey was the key, something about her blood. Ronan's jaw snapped closed.

  Well, if they were going to do anything with Lacey, if she were alive, Aillen would have taken her to Knockdoon. Ronan didn't bother with his pile of clothes on the ground.

  Rushing naked out the tomb entrance, Ronan's heart stilled as something else slithered into his mind. He hoped to Lugh that Lacey didn't somehow run into Aidan tonight. With what Aidan believed, he would kill her on sight.

  But surely, there was no chance of that, not with her being in Aillen’s hands. The demon wasn’t likely to let her go wandering off.

  Ronan flowed out of the cave and into the night, transforming as soon as he entered the woods. Smoke billowed as his human form vanished. Huge and powerful, with strength that seemed to build at every bounding leap, the black wolf howled as it ran. Letting his enemies know he was coming for their throats... and their blood.

  Aidan caught Lacey’s scent the moment she left the woods. He was leaning on the outside wall of Ronan's cabin, debating his next move.

  His crystal eyes narrowed as they caught Lacey's running figure. His nostrils flared. It wasn't just her own sweet blood he smelled; the sharp tang of Aine's magic clung to her as well. Not to mention the faint elusive scent of Ronan.

  And Ronan's blood.

  Aidan wondered coldly if his friend was still alive. He hadn't sensed anythi
ng psychically, but then he didn't know for sure that he would.

  He'd never lost a friend before.

  Ronan had been the only creature on earth he could give that name to for a very, very long time.

  Like a white-hot snake uncoiling, anger slid through his body.

  Aidan pushed away from the cabin wall, stepping in front of the door just as Lacey reached it. She started and almost fell back at the sight of him. To his surprise, he detected no fear in her eyes at the sight of him, only what might have been relief.

  She certainly was a fine actress.

  "Aidan. Oh god, I forgot about you!" She was breathless and there were branches and leaves in her short reddish-gold hair. He could hear her heart racing and the delicious aroma flowing from all that rushing blood made his stomach and throat burn with hunger.

  She almost looked like a lost child, sweet and innocent and scared—such a lovely lost child. Aidan was impressed at the sympathy that she stirred in him.

  Ronan hadn’t had a chance. She was damnably good at this.

  "Oh thank god! Someone who can really help him--and they don't know you're here either, or do they? Oh, that’s good... surely having a vampire on our side can't hurt." Her words were jumbled and on the edge of hysterical. A nice touch, he thought.

  She tried to move past him into the cabin, but Aidan stood firm. Lacey looked up at him angrily, her mouth opened to shout something... when her jaw went lax. Aidan knew his eyes were glowing and he wished they weren't. That he wasn't so starved.

  She didn't deserve to go easy.

  "But I'm not on your side, am I, Lacey?" Aidan spoke softly, almost regretfully, Lacey thought, struggling against a pervasive sleepiness that seeped over her like thick fog.

  "Aidan...why?" Her lips felt numb and they trembled when he bared his fangs at her. But she was unable to back away even as her body screamed at her to run, to help Ronan.

  "Where is he, Lacey? Have they already killed him?"

  "I don't...know," she whispered.

  Aidan hissed and grabbed her throat. "Then I really wish this wasn't going to be so easy on you."

  Lacey shivered at the touch of the cold leather, trying to lift a hand to push him off, trying to tell him to let her go, that she had to get the goddamn sword again....

  But she was so sleepy, her limbs were too heavy and soft to move. Darkness was clouding the edges of her vision, but she could dimly see Aidan bending toward her, his mouth open, two wickedly curved fangs gleaming at her.

  Lacey felt the sharp prick against her throat. Her eyes drifted closed, as Aidan sank his fangs into her jugular, despair pulling her into the darkness, where only one word echoed.

  Ronan!

  "Let her go, Aidan."

  Lacey felt Aidan growl ferally in response to the low voice, but he didn't move until something hit him hard in the back, knocking them both against the cabin wall.

  "Damme!" Aidan raised his mouth from her in fury. Lacey's knees buckled in relief as the darkness lifted, but since he still held her by the throat, she didn't fall. Choking and gasping, she grabbed his hand, trying to regain her feet. Aidan gave her a hard impassive look, before turning his head. "Don't be twice a fool, Daire."

  Then Lacey caught a glimpse of Daire leaning against the open door, hanging on to the knob, looking pale and disheveled. "I'm not," even his voice, usually so rich, sounded pale. "I'm not, O'Neill. Trust me."

  Aidan snorted. "Aye, I'll do that. After all, ye've done so well in convincing me of yer fine sense of judgment in the past. She's as good as said she killed him...or helped it done."

  Lacey shook her head violently, struggling to pry his fingers back, but she might have been trying to bend iron bars. "No..." she managed to gurgle out, finally getting purchase on the steps with her toes. "No, Daire!" Stronger this time.

  Aidan rolled his eyes. "She sees some hope, so she lies. Go back to bed and lay down, Daire. You're not going to help anyone out here."

  "You were right about Jane, but you're wrong about Lacey, O'Neill. I can't let you do it. You'll have to kill me too." Daire put a shaky hand on Aidan's shoulder.

  Aidan threw it off with an impatient jerk of his shoulders. "Oh, like hell I will, you stupid eejit. I'll knock your thick bloody head against the wall and then nobody will stop me from doing what needs to be done!"

  "Don't count on that, dearie," the soft words came from the path to the main house. Moiré was standing there, with Michael. Shelagh and the children were a few paces behind, their eyes wide.

  "Moiré, don't." Aidan's voice got a strange sound to it and his grip on Lacey loosened. He was looked at the older woman with something akin to pain in his eyes.

  "Ye well know I've always thought of you as a son, Aidan. Nothing has yet changed that, but if you do this, it'll fair break my heart."

  Lacey didn't stop to consider why Moiré was suddenly championing her, after the way the older woman had acted earlier. She wriggled free of Aidan's lax fingers and pushed past Daire into the cabin. She returned in seconds with Ronan's scabbard in her arms. Again, Aidan moved to bar her way, turning his back on Moiré. "Nae, you'll not take Lugh's sword, too!"

  Lacey was the only one not open-mouthed in shock when she shoved him, so hard and unexpectedly, he stumbled and almost fell to his knees.

  Aidan recovered with a vamp's preternatural speed, his fangs bared...only to find a sword tip at his throat and Lacey's blue-green eyes blazing at him from behind it.

  "Help me or not, Aidan O'Neill. But you will get the hell out of my way!"

  Chapter 16

  Lacey crept up to the mountain, shivering at the unearthly humped shape it possessed in the dark, like a hunched over demon. She could almost feel it breathing.

  Aidan had said he would be close, but she was having a hard time believing anybody just now. Especially a vampire that had just tried to kill her. Seeing Lugh’s sword in her hands had changed Aidan’s perspective, sure. But if their plan, flimsy, concocted in minutes under extreme pressure, fell through...

  Well, that didn't bear thinking of.

  A Changeling burst out from the bushes in front of her, cackling madly in the high-pitched tone that made her skin break out in gooseflesh. She stumbled back and was caught from behind by another one. It wrapped its arm around her waist as she screamed in shock.

  She'd known they would find her, had counted on it, but the touch of that cold rubbery skin undid her. The stench of rotten roses and dead meat filled her mouth and she closed it abruptly.

  The Changeling in front poked her, as if anxious to make her scream again, but Lacey refused to make another sound. He frowned in a terrible mimicry of disappointment. This one had the form of a beefy man with thick tattooed biceps with what had to have been a surprisingly sweet face originally, but it had been misshapen....warped into something other.

  Lacey bit back her fear and lifted her chin. The Changeling holding her squealed something and tossed her to the beefy one.

  He tucked her under one tattooed arm and stomped off through the grass to a light flickering up ahead. There were few trees here and long shadows stretched behind Lacey and her captor as they approached the light. Lacey heard shrill screams as they entered a torch-lit tunnel. She stiffened and the Changeling babbled gleefully. Lacey wanted very badly to kick the foul thing, but that would probably only make it squeal in even more delight.

  The tunnel seemed to twist on for dizzying ages, but finally it widened. Into a huge, cavernous room filled with blazing torches...and things.

  Monstrous, unspeakable things. Lacey covered her mouth in horror as the Changeling set her down, wrapping its hand around the back of her neck.

  These were the creatures that filled children's nightmares, hulking giants with dozens of eyes and far too many... Or too few limbs. Slimy red and mottled grey skin abounded and teeth like daggers, needles--or cleavers glinted in all directions. Brimstone filled the air with its pungent odor and Lacey felt faint. If this wasn't hell, it was damn sure
in the general neighborhood.

  Her knees wobbled. Giggling the Changeling walked her forward.

  She realized as they moved through the room that they weren't really a lot of the grotesque giants, only a handful really. There were at least three times as many Changelings. The giants were just so terrifying huge their presence demanded all of one’s attention. A shrill whistling sound reached her ears and another awful scream rent the air, so piercing Lacey thought her ears would bled with the sound of it. The Changeling holding her wasn't the only one amused, the cavern shook with the sounds of evil mirth.

  Lacey looked up and this time she would have retched, if she'd actually eaten anything since breakfast. As it was bile filled her mouth.

  Aine was chained to a wall, being whipped mercilessly by the worst of the walking monstrosities.

  She had no reason to care for the manipulating goddess, but the sight was one that would have appalled a far harder heart than her own. Blood flew through the air. She could see Aillen standing close by, in the human form she recognized, and his face was rapturous, flecked with his sister's blood.

  He grabbed the whip from the beast, lifting it to his mouth to run his tongue down the leather obscenely.

  And that's when he saw Lacey. A stunned smile split his face, those pale eyes glittering in the light of a hundred torches. "Well, well, sister mine, it looks like you are spared. It seems your replacement has arrived after all."

  Lacey's knees really did buckle at that. The Changeling lifted her by her neck, shaking her like a dog with a toy as he approached Aillen and set her down at his master's feet. Aillen patted him absently on the head... before kicking him brutally aside. The Changeling cowered off, whining pitifully.

  Aillen's grin widened as Lacey forced herself to her feet, looking right into those horrible pale eyes. "Sweet, sweet sister, you were right after all. But you didn't tell me she was so brave."

  "I didn't think she was, honestly." Aine was leaning against the wall, only a few steps from where she'd been chained. Her face was pale as her brother's eyes and something in her hollow tone made Lacey stiffen. "But I knew she would come to hell itself to save Ronan. Willing sacrifice, Aillen. She had to come of her own free will. You never listen to me." She paused ever so slightly. "Was she carrying anything on her?"