Blood In Fire (Celtic Elementals Book 2) Page 20

  "Why do ye think he wears those gloves? 'Tis too much for him, feeling what others feel, carrying tha' burden.

  "Twas powerful cruel what Abhartach and Bav did to him, but I'm warning ye…if ye keep taking the steps yer taking, he'll fall in love with ye. And tha' would be crueler than anything those two ever did."

  Heather swallowed, everything inside her had gone still and cold. "I appreciate the warning, Ronan, because I know you love him and you mean well, but you're wrong. We aren’t headed that way." She said it firmly, and tried to make herself believe the words. But she couldn’t quite meet his eyes when she said them.

  Ronan cleared his throat.

  "Am I, lass? Well, I surely hope so. Because if ye let him fall for ye, ye'll destroy him. A vampire canna love a human, Heather, not a vampire like Aidan. He willna stand it."

  It was getting to be too damn much. She couldn't hold the pain in any longer. Did they think her that awful and unworthy?

  "Why? Not that I have any intention of finding out, but why does that scare you all so much, Ronan? What the hell is so wrong with me?”

  Ronan gave her such a gentle, understanding smile it made her realize again just how lucky Lacey had been to find this man.

  "Tis naught to do with who ye are, Heather. Tis what ye are…and what he innit. Human. Humans grow old, lass, and they die. Loving ye would destroy him bit by bit, every day. Knowing ye will go where he canna follow. Donna give him tha' burden…if ye care about him at all. It'd be a damme site kinder to shove him outside at noon.”

  He pushed off the table, and patted her shoulder as he left. He'd intended his touch to be kind and reassuring, no doubt, but instead he nearly tumbled her from the counter while his words sank deep.

  She stared out at the garden and the hill, everything was smudged blue, grey and green as the day headed to deepest twilight. Now she’d had three Fitzpatricks warn her off Aidan. But unlike Chloe, who had shocked her, and Moiré, who had simply pissed her off, Ronan’s words hurt.

  She knew why, too. Something had changed in the last forty-eight hours. Before she had dismissed their concerns almost out of hand, she hadn’t been able to imagine meaning enough to Aidan do any harm to him, though she had been wary enough of the opposite. But now…

  Now she could remember him laughing with her in the grass, the sunshine on his hair and the way he had kissed her with the lake splashing over their bare feet. The way he had taken her under an open sky and made her wish they had more than one day filled with light. But they didn't, and they never would.

  Tears ran down her face one by one as everything inside her ached.

  Ronan was right. The sooner she faced that, the better.

  Everyone else was back by the time the sky went from blue to black.

  It was noisy and rather jangled Aidan's nerves after the day that he'd had. He said his hello's, listened to the children's chatter for a bit, then made his escape, pleading the need to patrol.

  Really though, he just wanted to brood.

  His last day in the sun. Forever.

  He should be happy for what he'd had and let it go at that. This was best for everyone. No way in hell would he take a chance of the potion falling into Abhartach's hands. It should have been easier to make that decision once he'd had a taste.

  That had been his plan from the beginning.

  He had always known he couldn't hold on to the sun, but he'd wanted that one last vision to imprint upon his mind before he let it all go again.

  Instead, he'd gotten two days, and this last one had been damn near perfect.

  Not just because of the sun though. Nope, some things shined even brighter. His hands clenched and Aidan walked faster.

  Green light sparkled in front of him like a cascade of emerald stars and he cursed.

  "Oh for heaven's bloody sake, woman. No' now, leave…" he trailed off when he saw, really saw, Bav's face.

  She looked different than he'd ever seen her. Drained, as if all the will had seeped out of her. Before he could remark on this, she spoke.

  "Aye. Leave. Ye've said tha' to me so many times I am sure ye'll hardly be believing I am doing it at last, but I am. I am leaving ye alone, Aidan. For good."

  His eyes narrowed. "Believe what?"

  "Ye heard me! I've given up. It's over. I willna be seeing ye anymore."

  He contemplated her, wondering what new trick this was. As if he'd believe a word that came out of this one's mouth.

  ""Tis no' a trick, Aidan."

  "Donna matter if it is or no', Bav. I canna believe ye, ye've made damme sure of tha'."

  "I suppose I have." She sighed.

  He wanted to ask her what had brought this on, but decided against it. If she was really leaving, then he wanted her to do it.

  As quickly as possible.

  "Well, okay then, if this is goodbye, let's nae drag it out."

  Her eyes lingered on him for a moment. She turned to go, drawing up her hood, but then straightened with a startled gasp.

  "Oh, gods, Bav, really—!"

  "Quiet! Aidan, he's coming. Abhartach. Right now. I donna know why, but he's finally left the Reeks. Just this very minute!"

  He stared at her, this was what he's been expecting every minute for the last three days but suddenly the words wouldn't compute.

  "Now?"

  "Yes, now! You have to leave, Aidan. Get out of Ireland before he traps ye for good."

  Ronan's voice came calling behind him, just as Bav leaned forward and kissed him once, lightly on the lips. "Goodbye, my love."

  Aidan barely felt the kiss or heard her words. His head was blank. He had to leave now.

  Now?

  "They're coming." It wasn't a question. Ronan looked at him in the starlight as Bav vanished.

  "Aye." He spoke the words, but for a moment Aidan could not move. He had to leave.

  And he no longer wanted to go.

  Fuck.

  Fuck that.

  His jaw tightened. He would to do what needed to be done, it didn't matter what he wanted. His da's mantra rang in his head. We do what we must, son. We do what needs to be done.

  He had to go. Maybe he could get even manage to get around Abhartach and his lot if he left right now.

  Yeah, probably not. But what choice was there?

  Ronan was not in agreement. Of course.

  His big friend nipped at his heels the entire way back to the house, resembling a yapping dog in his relentless stream of nagging. Except this dog was huge and very wolf-like, despite the breaking of his dark curse. He was also bloody annoying.

  “Nae. Ye wonna get to the coast, Aidan. Stop and think, man! We can figure another way!”

  Aidan shook his head impatiently, dragging his leather coat from the line of hooks near the kitchen door. “It’s my choice, mate. And ye’ll stay out of it.” He hissed this last quietly to Ronan as the children entered the house, shooed in by their parents.

  Chloe caught sight of his coat in his hand and her eyes darted to his face. He didn't even have to open his mouth.

  "Ye're leaving." The accusation in the words stung, but he could only nod before a cacophony of protest rang up from the others.

  Aidan caught a glimpse of a wet, freckled cheek before Chloe dashed from the room.

  He put off their questions as best he could, pushing his way through the room with squeezes and pats and tickles that he tried his damnedest to make light-hearted and easy. Finally, he made his way past them all, with the excuse that he needed to gather up his things.

  Aidan stepped into the hallway. He was unsurprised but gutted to hear the sobs coming from behind one closed bedroom door. He walked to it with heavy footsteps, his hand seeming to weigh a ton as he lifted it to knock.

  “Aye, innit my sunshine girl gonna say goodbye then?”

  There was a sound that told him a pillow had been flung at the door. “Nae! Go away! It’s what ye always do anyway!”

  He leaned his forehead against the door, trying to b
link past the sting in his eyes. “Oh, come now, love. Do nae break my heart! I’ll be back sure enough.”

  Hating himself for lying to her, but far too cowardly to expose her to the truth. One he didn’t want to face himself. If he got out of Ireland alive this time, he wouldn’t be coming back.

  The door was wrenched open, almost toppling Aidan inside a room that look as if it had been drenched in purple and rainbows, making him smile a little before the tear-stained face of the room's occupant filled his vision.

  “Ye wonna be back! Do nae lie to me, Uncle Aidan. Lying’s a mortal sin, it is!”

  He sighed, deciding against pointing out, that he was not, after all, mortal. Chloe knew it well enough. She knew too many sad things well enough. “Aye. I am sorry for tha', sweetheart. Sorry for leaving so soon, too.”

  Chloe hiccupped and folded her arms over her thin chest. “I am nae sure ye are. It’s cruel, it is.”

  Aidan got to his knees, watching Chloe’s red-rimmed eyes widen as he took her hand.

  “Tha' it is, love. Please believe tha' I donna want to go, but I am having no choice. I donna expect ye to forgive me for it. Ye know I love ye, even when ye’re furious with me. I'll be thinking of ye every night, Chloe Elizabeth Fitzpatrick. As I always have. No matter how long I was away before, or how long I will have to be away now, even if it is forever. I'll still love ye with all my heart.”

  Chloe continued to glare at him, even as she hiccupped and tears dripped down her cheeks. “Nae.”

  “Nae what?” Aidan asked, confused.

  “Nae your whole heart, as ye love Cath and Cait and Colin and Eamon, too. And all the adults, I suppose. And maybe Miss Lacey’s friend, too?”

  His devious little angel, pumping him for information while her heart was breaking. Aidan cocked his head, trying to not to smile. “Aye, I suppose ye’re right, a person canna give anyone their whole heart, can they? But ye have the biggest piece, Chloe, innit tha' good enough?”

  “Nae, it isn’t. I wanna ye to stay, too!” She fell into his arms as her words rang down the hallway like shattering glass. She hugged him tight enough to make his ribs protest and then vanished into her room, slamming the door in his face.

  Aidan got to his feet, his head bowed.

  “Breaking hearts appears to be quite a skill of yours. That was perfect. I almost feel the need to applaud.” Heather’s cutting voice snuck down the hall and stabbed him in the back. He didn't notice how much her voice was shaking, not then. He was too mad.

  Aidan straightened, turning slowly, his eyes like ice. “Donna make light of tha'. Do nae ever…”

  “Oh, shut up!” Her words were as blazing as his were cold. “So you're just gonna walk out on everyone? Just take off, run away? Were you even planning to say goodbye to me this time around?"

  “Heather—“

  She didn’t slap him this time, she punched him full in the face. His head rang and his vision went double. “Son of a fucking…!”

  “Bitch? Yeah, I am pretty much feeling like one now. But that’s okay, consider it my goodbye, you—“

  He grabbed her as she was spinning away. Slammed her into the wall next to the library away from Chloe’s ears. He held her there while he straightened his nose with his other hand. It crunched, but he didn’t think it was broken, only somewhat rearranged.

  Damme! He didn't understand why she was so angry, even as a miserable pain opened its claws inside him. Shecould go back to her life, her beautiful life in the goddamn sun. She'd think of him once in awhile, sure—the vampire she screwed a couple of times—but soon even that would fade. And that was a good thing, he reminded himself, ignoring how deeply the thought cut.

  It was a good thing for them both.

  He forced himself to speak as calmly as he could.

  “What the hell is wrong with ye? I was gonna tell ye what was going on, I was gonna say goodbye…”

  “Really?” Her gorgeous eyes flared at him and he realized just how goddamn much he'd miss that purple fire. Suddenly, he didn't give a shit anymore. He was done with this.

  She thought he was heartless, okay. He'd give her fucking heartless.

  “Aye, really. But I am curious, nobody,” Anger flowed out of him in a black, cold wave, “tha' ye care so very much where I go, or what I do?”

  “I don’t!” Bright spots of color were high on her cheeks as she struggled against his hands. “It’s is just common courtesy, you ass. Especially after last time…”

  “After the last time I fucked you senseless ye mean? And left ye all alone in Istanbul? Awww, does tha' still hurt? Ye were just a fuck then, nobody. Just a bit of fun tha' ran its course. Same as now. I donna owe you a damme thing!”

  He took a step back as her face went white.

  Aidan was aware of her shoving him so hard that he banged into the narrow hallway wall opposite, but he didn’t feel any of it.

  Heather ran past as he leaned against the wall, staring down at his hands, shocked at what he had just done.

  No, she didn’t mean anything to him, she didn’t…and yet…

  Le do thoil, a rún mo chroí, ní raibh mé chiallaíonn sé.

  That had been unnecessarily cruel— even by his standards. Why had he said that? What the hell was wrong with him?

  He wasn’t sure how many minutes he stood in the shadowy hall, listening dully to Chloe’s muffled crying and the thready beat of his own dead heart before the scream came.

  It ripped through the house like a mortar blast, vibrating the very walls and raising the hair on the back of his neck.

  Abruptly, the sound cut off and then came that spidery voice that was carved into his very bones.

  Abhartach.

  Gods, no.

  “Come and see what I've found, dear boy. Come and see!”

  So slowly it felt like he were moving through air made thick as mud, Aidan straightened. Chloe’s door cracked open, but he waved her back inside as he made his way to the living room.

  Michael and Shelagh and Daire were sitting there in a surreal tableau, three identical looks of horror on their stricken faces as they turned his way in tandem, but Aidan went straight to the front doors, which already stood open to the night.

  Ronan put out an arm as he crossed the threshold, but Aidan shoved him aside. He noted Lacey standing there, too. She was leaning against Moiré as if she couldn't stand on her own two feet, her hand to her mouth as they all stared into the dark. Behind the low, white wall that curved around the edge of the property and seemed to glow in the moonlight, the demon stood.

  Abhartach was a tall, spidery black mass just outside the tree line, with a far smaller, more slender shadow struggling vainly to separate itself from his hold.

  Heather, her dark hair wild over a pale face, was obviously beyond terrified. She was kicking and scratching…and biting from the looks of it. It was having no effect, of course. The demon only laughed, letting her wiggle free a step or two, then snatching her back.

  Until he saw Aidan in the doorway. Smiling that serrated smile of his, the gleam of it visible even at this distance, Abhartach looked directly into Aidan’s eyes. He lifted one enormous hand and slammed it with deliberate force into Heather’s chest. The sound of several ribs cracking popped over the grass as she flew backward weightlessly, like a crumpled-up paper doll.

  Lacey screamed, but Aidan didn’t flinch. He seemed to have turned into ice. He watched Abhartach bow mockingly before walking over to Heather's still form. The demon fae picked her up and vanished. His voice trailed behind him like a sticky web hanging on the night air.

  “Your new toy seems to be broken. If you want it back, you know where to find me. My son.”

  Chapter 13

  Twenty minutes later, the rest of the house was still as a tomb. Only in the kitchen was there light and heat. Ronan leaned against the counter, Lacey next to him, white and trembling, as Aidan's voice rang out in furious disbelief.

  “Ye canna be serious. I have no choice!"
>
  “We will go after her, you eejit! What do ye take me for? But not half-cocked, with ye as a bloody sacrifice. She…gods! I am so sorry, my love—but she is almost surely dead. If not now, then soon.” Ronan didn’t say, or wishing she was, but Aidan could see it in his eyes. "We must face tha'."

  Lacey stared back and forth at them both, her normally jewel bright eyes dull with shock and grief.

  “I doubt tha'.” Aidan said slowly.

  “Oh, bloody hell, Aidan!”

  “I think he will keep her alive. Until I come to him. After tha'—”

  “After tha' he will have ye both! And what then, Aidan, will ye finally become the monster he wants ye to be? Will ye let him win after all this time?”

  Aidan shrugged, his face drawn. “Who says he hasn’t won already, Ronan? Tha' he won a damme long time ago? I am a monster, ye’re the only one who has ever thought otherwise—”

  “That isn’t true.” For the first time since Abhartach had disappeared with Heather, Lacey spoke.

  She strode across the kitchen, her blue-green eyes rimmed red, but dry now. She looked furious as she poked a small finger into his chest. Hard.

  “Heather didn’t think you were a monster, did she? She wasn’t afraid of you, even after I told her what you were. What did you do to make her leave this house, Aidan? What the hell did you do?”

  “What do ye think? I hurt her. It’s what I fucking do!”

  Ronan made a move to slide between them, but Lacey’s head whipped around and she snarled at him. Actually snarled. Ronan put his palms out, lowering his hands, but shot Aidan a warning look.

  Lacey turned back to Aidan, her voice icy, but calm. “And now she’s hurting a lot more, isn’t she?”

  Aidan looked her dead in the eye, wanting her to understand, to really understand. “More than ye can ever imagine.”

  “Will he stop hurting her if you do what he wants?”

  He resisted the urge to lie. “I doubt he will stop entirely, but for the most part— yes.” Probably.

  “Will he let her go?”

  “Nae,” he said, his tone final. “Never. He made tha' mistake once…. He’ll no’ do it again.”