04 Shadow Blood - Witch Fairy (10 page)

“Humanoids are such awkward creatures.  Is that pawing and clashing of tongues really worth the effort it takes?”

I narrow my eyes, which I hope look as annoyed as I am.  “Perhaps you should try it.  Then you wouldn’t need to pull people out their times for your entertainment.”

Her eyes become cold.  “You are a nasty, unpleasant creature at times.  I do not know why I bother to help you.”

Because her boss told her to.  “I said thank you for your help earlier.”

She’s pacing back and forth along the edge of the bath now.  “You did, yes.  Yet, you disparage me now when I offer my aid once again.”

Uh oh.  My voice is much nicer when I say, “What do you mean?”  At first I thought she looked haughty, now I can see she looks worried.

A frown has set up camp on her beautiful face.  “I should not be here.  Rashnu would not be pleased.”

Okay, now I’m scared.  Without even hardly thinking about it, I rise and step from the water; a blue sun dress appears on my body as I walk.  “Adriel, what would Rashnu be upset about.”

She stops and sighs.  “An Angel of Death was dispatched to this house.  I intercepted the message and came myself.  I am not supposed to do that.”

There is no amount of warm water that could take the sudden chill from my heart.  “Why was an Angel of Death dispatched here?”

She looks at me like I’m stupid.  “Because someone here is meant to die.”

Screaming probably wouldn’t help the situation.  Neither would threatening her with violence.  With my voice as even as I can possibly make it under the circumstances, I ask, “Who?”

She looks torn.  I want to throttle her.  Again, probably not the best course of action.  “Adriel, please.”

With a heavier sigh than last time, she says, “I am only here because this is an unfated death.”

That itching in my palms is my hands wondering why they are not wrapped around her neck yet.  “What is an unfated death?”

I can tell my ignorance is rankling her again, but she tells me anyway.  “Each creature is fated to live so long.  There is a complicated equation that is used to measure how long each soul should live in its realm – depending on whether it is a life of a fresh soul, or the life of a soul that had been too damaged to move on after the darkness was scraped off its exterior and had to begin again.  Most creatures live out their fated time without major deviations from the path they were born to walk.”  She starts pacing again.  “But, free will can disrupt everything.”

“You mean choices people make can make their lives shorter?”  Look at me; I should be in a brain trust.

She nods, but says, “Sometimes. More often than not, it is the free will of another that will cause a soul to deviate from its timeline, as it is in this instance.”

“So, someone is going to attack us and someone in this house is going to die?”

She stops pacing.  “I do not know how the death will come about, or who will cause it.  I only know who will die.”

Something clicks in my mind.  “Are you telling me this to prepare me, or are you telling me this so I can stop it?”

A small smile appears on her perfect pink lips.  “It is forbidden for me to tell a humanoid of a death that has not yet occurred.”

Okay.  “Is it forbidden to tell another angel?”

“No.  Angels freely speak of such things amongst each other in our realm.”

This is getting tedious.  “Then, since I’m part Angel, you can tell me.”

Another sigh.  “It is not that cut and dry, as you spend most of your life in a humanoid realm.”

“But, I’m still part Angel.  That seems like a pretty big loophole to me.”  The plea in my voice is loud and clear.  “I think Rashnu would see it that way.”

She gives a small laugh.  “Perhaps you have not spent enough time in her company.”

Yeah, she’s probably right.  “Okay, maybe she doesn’t need to know?”

Another laugh.  “Rashnu knows all that surrounds death.”

“But, she didn’t stop you from coming, right?  Doesn’t that mean that it’s okay to tell me?”  I understand her hesitancy, but I’m going to try to weasel the information out of her any way I can.

“Nasty and unpleasant , yet clever.”  She starts pacing again.  “I suppose you are right.  Rashnu must know that I am here and she has not appeared to stop me.”

“Adriel, please.”  I can’t take the suspense.  I need to find out whom so I can stop it.

She stops in front of me.  “The very same brother that we rescued from the Shadow realm is in danger of an unfated death.”

My mouth drops open. I was expecting one of the adults.  Zac hasn’t done anything to anyone to deserve an unfated death.  She has to be mistaken.  I open my mouth to tell her that, but she holds up her hand.  “It is undeniable.  He is already in the throes of death or else I would not know of this.  Angels of Death are only dispatched when it appears death is inevitable.”

Words come out of my mouth this time.  “And you’ve kept me here talking?  I have to save him.”

Now she looks impatient.  “Of course you have to save him.  That is why I am here.”

“But every second I’m here, it’s a second closer to his death!”  I’m practically hysterical now.

“Xandra, calm yourself.”

Oh, that’s exactly what a hysterical person needs to hear.  That’s like telling a person having a seizure to stop moving.  It’s just not going to happen.

“Xandra, you are in Angel time.  Not even a second has passed in the Fairy realm since you have been here.”

I guess I forgot that.  Taking some deep breaths that feel like they scald my lungs, I aim for calm.  My aim has always sucked.  “Then will you please put me back in my time so I can save my brother?”

With what looks a lot like sympathy in her eyes, she nods her head.  Before she does whatever it is that Angels do when they pull me into their time, and put me back in my own, I say, “Adriel, I can’t thank you enough for telling me.  You’re a true friend.”

I don’t miss the small smile on her face before she disappears and I can hear the sound of water flowing into the bath again.

Chapter 10

A startled Kallen exclaims, “What the hell?  How and why are you over there?”

I would love to give him the full story, but it’s more important for me to get to Zac.  “I’ll explain later,” I say over my shoulder as I open the door and tear out of the room.  I’m almost to Zac’s room by the time Kallen catches up to me.

He grabs my arm and pulls me to a stop.  “Xandra, what is going on?”

“Kallen, I need you to let go of me.”  The steel in my voice is enough for him to drop his hand back to his side.  Without another word to him, I swing open the door to Zac’s room.

There, sprawled on the floor with blood oozing from his head, is my little brother.  His sandy brown hair is matted and a piece of his scalp seems to be missing.  I believe it’s attached to the very large book lying next to him.  Until I make sure he’s going to live, my mind refuses to see anything else.

I run to his side and kneel next to him.  The blood under my knees is sticky, like syrup.  Not exactly fresh, but not starting to dry up yet, either.  That tells me that whatever went on in this room didn’t just happen a minute ago, but it also tells me I might not be too late.  I wonder how close to death a person has to be for an Angel of Death to be dispatched.  Scratch that.  I don’t want to know.

Pulling Zac into my arms, I barely register Kallen’s sharp intake of breath.  In a flash, he’s next to me.  “Xandra, what can I do?” he asks.  “I have sent a message to Isla, can I do more?”

I shake my head, though I can hardly hear him through my sobs.  Funny, I didn’t even realize I was crying.  I’m clinging to Zac’s limp body, he is more in my lap now than on the shiny hardwood floor of the room.  With every ounce of my being, I imagine him healing.  I imagine the tissue of his brain healing from the bruising and swelling of the blow.  I imagine the dura mater keeping his brain safe, sealing itself back around it.  I imagine the shattered bone of his skull coming together; each tiny shard back in its right place.  Then I imagine his scalp with its sandy brown hair knitting back together until there is no trace it was ever disturbed.

It seems like forever before he starts moving in my arms.  I know other people are in the room now, but my eyes have not left Zac for me to be exactly sure who they all are.  They have left me alone during the healing, and I appreciate that.

When Zac opens his eyes, he and I are embraced in a wall of coldness.  Mom and Dad are doing their best to hug us both.  After a moment, they both start talking at once. 

“What happened?”

“Is he going to be alright?”

“We only stepped out to the shore for a few minutes.  We never should have left him alone.”

“We couldn’t have known, but we won’t let him out of our sight again.”

I don’t even hear what they say after that.  Now that Zac’s out of danger, the rest of my brain clicks back on.  Gently placing a confused and disoriented Zac on the floor, I stand up.  Turning to Tabitha, who is hovering just in front of me, I say, “Will you please look him over to be sure I’ve healed everything?”  I’m surprised by the lack of emotion in my voice.  She gives me a nod of agreement as she kneels in front of him, worry etched deeply on her face.  I’m not sure exactly who she’s most worried about.  My best guess?  The person lying on the floor five feet from where Zac is, with blood on her hands from when she hit Zac with a large volume of sonnets by a Fairy named Luella.

“Xandra,” Kallen says, blocking my path.  “There has to be an explanation other than what the scene implies.  Alita never would have done such a thing.”

“Kallen is correct,” Isla says from his side where she has appeared to help block my path.

Sorry, in my mind, the one possessing the weapon and wearing the blood is the guilty one.  With a rush of force, I push the two of them aside, clearing my path once more, as I hold them in their own little cinderblock cells made from magic.

“Xandra, you must listen to them!” Tabitha urges from behind me.  I take her voice away.

One more step and I am standing above her unconscious form.  I wonder if Zac was able to fight back before he fell.  I bet he did.  A smile almost touches my lips at the thought.  Almost. 

A flood of magic rushes through me in direct proportion to how angry I am.  I can feel it seeping from my pores as my mind races to decide which horrible thing I should do to the person who tried to kill my brother.  My head fills with images which all seem too easy for such a horrible crime.

“Xandra, NO!”  The next thing I know, I’m on the floor and Kegan’s body is wrapped tightly around Alita’s unconscious frame.  Yeah, that did a lot to calm me down.

“Kegan, I don’t want to hurt you, but I am not going to let her get away with hurting my brother.”  The betrayal is starting to cut deep now.  She was my friend.  My gentle, sweet, and very first, real friend.  I may never trust anyone enough to have another after this.

“Xandra, she could not have done this.  Alita does not have a mean bone in her body,” Kallen says from his cinderblock jail cell.  “Please, before you do anything rash, wait until we hear her side of the story.  If she truly did this, I will hold her still so you can torture her to your heart’s content.”  Liar.  He would not.  I’m mad, not stupid.

But, the problem is, I can’t imagine Alita hurting a plant let alone my brother.  The rational part of my mind is picking the lock of the door I slammed shut on it.  Each clink of the lock pick erodes my anger to confusion and eventually, uncertainty.  If Alita is a victim as well as Zac, then who did this horrible thing?

“Xandra,” Zac says quietly.  “It wasn’t her.”

And the lock breaks.  Rationality stampedes into my mind, crushing every hateful thought I’ve had about Alita over the last ten minutes.  Then, with slumped shoulders, I turn to Zac.  “Then who?”

He shrugs his tiny little shoulders.  I think in part to answer my question, and in part to shrug off Tabitha’s examination.  He’s trying to scramble away from her.  I can’t help but smile.  She looks every bit the grandmother as she sits there with her plump frame and gray hair piled on top of her head.  Even down to what can only possibly be described as a housecoat.  That’s a new look for her.  I’m hoping it’s just a bedtime thing.

“Xandra, dear,” Isla’s voice cuts through my thoughts.  “If you do not mind, I would like to make sure that Alita is not also in need of medical attention.”

Oh.  I hadn’t even thought of that.  She is unconscious, after all.  Crap.  I pull back the magic that is holding Isla and Kallen in place and Isla moves gracefully to Alita’s side.  Kegan unwraps himself from around her so that Isla can do what she needs to do.  She begins to examine her, moving her limbs about, feeling her forehead.  Then she smells her breath.  That’s odd.

Her eyes look defeated when she looks up.  “It is zyleakia poisoning.  It has progressed too far for an antitoxin.”

Someday, I’m going to have to sit down and write down all these plant names that get thrown at me here and there, and what they do.  “What is zyleakia”

Kallen puts his hand on my shoulder.  “It is a vine with deep purple leaves that are lethal.  Zyleakia is one of the poisons used in Fairy darts.” 

Yeah, those lovely little Fairy darts that make me drunk.  An almost audible click in my brain makes it work just a little bit harder.  If Fairy darts make me drunk, it would make sense that one of the ingredients won’t kill me.  Shaking off Kallen’s hand, I kneel down and touch Alita’s arm gently.

“Xandra, it is too…”  I hold my hand up to stop her.

“Grandmother, I believe Xandra knows what she is doing.”

I love it when he thinks I’m right.  I don’t have time for those thoughts, though, as Isla nods and steps back.  Closing my eyes, I send magic rushing through Alita.  Her body bucks at the sudden onslaught of power.  Oops.  I hadn’t meant for that to happen.  I may have sent a tad too much through her.  I pull some back and then I concentrate on letting my magic find the poison in her body like I did when Kallen had been shot with Fairy darts. 

Through my magic, I feel the poison and it’s strong.  My initial thoughts that it won’t harm me may have been shortsighted.  I’m assuming now that only a small amount of this stuff is used in Fairy darts.  I think I’ve mentioned before that I really need all the information before I jump recklessly into things like trying to get myself killed with a poison I know absolutely nothing about.  Live and learn, I guess.  I hope.

 Too late to do anything about it now.  I’ve collected all the poison from Alita’s system.  The thing with doing something like this is that the magic doesn’t dissolve the poison; at least it doesn’t if I’m not willing to set someone on fire from the inside to burn the poison off.  So, it’s hanging in the air now between me and Alita and it has to go somewhere.  Too bad I’m all about saving the whales and dolphins.  Otherwise, I could send it out to the ocean.  This sucks.  What do I do with it?  I don’t think dropping it on the floor is going to work.  Who knows what the weird combination of magic and poison could do to the other people in the room.

With a sigh, I bite the bullet, or poison, and take it in to me.  “Son of a…!” is all I can manage as every cell in my body is telling me that I’m really freaking stupid.

“Xandra, what have you done?” Kallen shouts as I fall to the ground on my back.  He doesn’t sound like he’s so sure of my plan anymore.  And what’s up with the shouting?

“I’m in pain, not deaf,” I grumble as I do what I didn’t want to do to Alita.  I start burning the poison molecules with my magic, trying really, really hard not to set my insides on fire.  And it hurts.  A lot.  It feels like little bolts of lightning going off constantly in my veins.  My blood is so hot, you could probably cook pasta in it.  Eew.  That was a disgusting thought.

I have my eyes scrunched tightly against the pain.  Kallen tries to touch me, but I pull away and he doesn’t try again.  This is definitely something he can’t help me with. 

“Interfering in the death of another often has dire consequences,” a familiar voice says.

I don’t want to open my eyes.  I really don’t.  An angry Angel of Judgment on top of all this pain seems a little too much to handle at the moment.

“I’m sorry,” I say between gritted teeth.

To my surprise, she laughs.  “For the granddaughter of an Archangel, you are amazingly humble.”

I’m still not opening my eyes.  “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”  I think that was intelligible.  Kind of hard to tell with all the blood that’s boiling in my ears at the moment.

“Neither, I suppose.  I simply find it fascinating.”

“Are you here because you’re mad that I was told he was dying?”  I think my gums are melting.

“Ah, Adriel.  She has always been impetuous.  No, I am not angry with her.  I am happy she has finally felt a bond with another.  She spends so much of her time alone, I am afraid she does not have much opportunity to meet others.”

I’m glad she’s not mad, but do we have to have this conversation while my eyelids are trying to make eyeball stew?  “I’m glad she likes me,” I grind out.  I wonder if nose hairs can set on fire.