04 Shadow Blood - Witch Fairy (12 page)

Chapter 12

I stretch my arms above my head as the remnants of sleep fall from me.  The red silk nightie feels wonderful against my soft skin as I move.  Kallen definitely has good taste.

Looking over at him, he’s sound asleep.  I’m tempted to wake him with a kiss, but that didn’t work out well last time.  Instead, I slip out of bed, careful not to wake him, and go in search of food.  I’m starving.

Apparently, I’m not the only one with midnight cravings.  I find Kegan searching the cupboards for a snack.  “Couldn’t sleep?” I ask.

He jumps about two feet as he turns around to face me.  “You scared me half to death,” he says.  He looks yummy standing there in nothing but his boxers. 

“Sorry,” I say as I walk into the room.  I can’t stop my eyes from roving down from his well sculpted chest to his lean, hard calves and back up again.  Kallen may be stronger and better looking, but not by much.  Kegan is definitely still eye candy of the finest kind.

He’s wearing an odd expression on his face when my eyes finally reach it again.  “Xandra, are you okay?”

A slow, sexy smile pulls my lips up.  My tongue darts out to wet them ever so slightly.  “I’m fine,” I say as I walk closer to him.

Taking an unconscious step back, he says, “I was thinking a sandwich, how about you?”

“Mm, what a lovely idea.”  I’m in front of him now and I follow as he takes a couple of steps backwards until he runs into the counter near the sink.

“Okay, if you would like to have a seat, I will fix you one, as well.”

I raise a finger to trace his jaw and then follow an invisible line down his chest, my finger stopping as it slightly hooks the top of his boxers.  “I prefer to stand,” I say, taking one more step closer so that our bodies are actually touching now.

Kegan puts his hands on my shoulders and pushes gently as he tries to step away.  “Xandra, are you sure you are okay?  You are acting strangely.”

My bottom lip comes out in a little pout.  “I thought you wanted this?” I say as I flatten my palms against his chest and glide them upwards until my arms are around his neck.

He tries to make me put my arms down, but I can tell his efforts are half-hearted at best.  “You made it quite clear that your interests lie elsewhere.”

“Perhaps I have rethought my choice,” I say as I press my body against his once again.  “Have you changed your mind?”

A groan deep in his throat tells me that I am winning this little battle we are having.  “What about Kallen?”

A smile spreads across my lips again and I stand on tippy toes so I can whisper in his ear.  “He never needs to know.”  I pull gently on his earlobe with my teeth and I feel his arms slip around me.  Much better.

A low groan of pleasure escapes from him as I slowly kiss my way along his jaw, seeking those luscious, full lips of his.  Just one more inch and they’re mine.  I moan softly as I am about to capture his lips with my eager ones.

“Cousin, I give you five seconds to leave this room.”

I drop my arms to my waist with a frustrated sigh as I turn to face Kallen.  “I was simply amusing myself for a moment.  It meant nothing.”

“Kallen, I swear, I did not…”

“You have two seconds, Kegan.”

I don’t think it takes him even one second to push out from behind me and leave the room.  I suppose the thunderous look on Kallen’s face would be rather daunting to another man.  Not to me, though.  I fold my arms over my chest.  “You didn’t want to play with me earlier.  Why do you care if I find my amusements elsewhere?”

A look of incredulity washes over his face.  “You have nothing to offer as an explanation other than that?”

This conversation would be a lot more tedious if he wasn’t dressed as skimpily as Kegan was.  I pull my bottom lip between my teeth as I walk closer to him.  My assessment of his physique takes much longer than Kegan’s.  I was wrong, Kegan is definitely
not
a close second.  I stop in front of Kallen and drag my eyes back to his.  Putting my hand on his chest, I pout, “Are you really mad at me?  I was only teasing.  I never would have done anything with your cousin.”

Kallen takes a step back.  “I would prefer you not to touch me at the moment.  And I believe what I saw when I walked in makes that statement a bold lie.”

My pout becomes more pronounced.  “You really are no fun.  What harm would one little kiss be?  You know my heart belongs to you.”

His mouth opens but words don’t come out.  Oh dear, is he in shock or something?  After a moment, he closes his mouth and tilts his head as he looks at me more closely.  A scowl etches deeply into his forehead.  “Xandra, are you well?”

I back up and stamp my foot as my hands fist at my side in frustration.  “Why do you keep asking me that?”

If his scowl lines get any deeper, they’re going to slice through his frontal lobe.  Lobotomy by scowl, how unique.  To my utter horror, he takes a step closer and actually places a hand on my forehead.  Taking it away, he puts his hands on my cheeks and tilts my head to look more closely at me.  “Xandra, you are burning up and the green of your eyes is duller than normal.  Almost as if there is a brown haze over them.”

I pull back away from him.  “That’s nonsense.  I feel fine.”  Then again, the world is starting to spin a little.  Okay, a lot.  I put my hand out to steady myself against the counter, but I miss, causing me to lurch unsteadily to the side.  Kallen grabs me by the waist to keep me from falling.  But, that doesn’t keep me from passing out.

Chapter 13

I’m still in Kallen’s arms?  Not that I mind, but I thought he had already laid me down on my bed.  I must have dreamed that.  He lays me down now, but it’s not the softness of my mattress I feel.  The fabric is courser, uncomfortable.  Forcing my tired lids upwards, I say quietly, “Kallen, where are we?”

He leans over me, pulling the lid of my right eye up.  “Hey,” I try to sit up but he won’t let me.  “What are you doing?  What’s going on?”

“The very question I want to ask you,” he says as he stands up and crosses his arms over his chest.  Is he mad at me? 

“What are you talking about?  And why did you bring me,” I look around to see exactly where I am, “to the living room?  I was a lot more comfortable in bed.”

His eyebrows shoot up.  “I brought you?”

I sigh and I know I sound a little whiny when I say, “Kallen, please tell me what’s going on.  I’m tired and I want to go back to sleep.”

Confusion is starting to mingle with the arrogance on his face.  “Xandra, where were you five minutes ago?”

I huff in frustration as I finally push myself into a sitting position.  “Kallen, don’t be so annoying.  You know I was in bed.  That’s where you put me after you carried me from Zac’s room.  I just don’t get why you decided I should sleep on the couch.”  What, did I kick him in my sleep or something?  He could have just kicked me back.  He didn’t have to relegate me to the couch.

“You were in bed five minutes ago?”

“Am I supposed to give you a different answer this time?  What do you want me to say?”

“How about, ‘I was in the kitchen making out with your cousin.’  That would suffice.”

I don’t think my mouth can open any wider unless I unhinge my jaw.  “Are you insane?  Are you sick or something?”

“Why are you bothering to lie to me?  I
saw
you, Xandra.”

What the hell is wrong with him?  “Kallen, you’re starting to scare me.  I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.  Did you have a bad dream or something?  And I have never lied to you about anything.”

He runs a hand through his hair as he begins pacing in front of me.  He stops, looks like he’s going to say something, but then he starts pacing again.  This happens several times.

I’m just about to scream at him to stop it when Isla’s voice slices through the air in the room.  “A simple knock on my door would have had the same effect.” 

Kallen stops his pacing.  “I apologize, I was afraid to leave her alone.  Grandmother, I think there is something wrong with her.”

Isla comes closer.  “She has seemed fine.  What has you so concerned that you had to wake me in the middle of the night?”  She’s a tad bit cranky at the moment.  I think I’ll stay out of the conversation.  Then again, I don’t really have anything to add to it because I have no idea what Kallen is upset about.  Maybe he’s going crazy.

“I came downstairs and found her in the kitchen about to kiss Kegan.”

“I did not.” I say self-righteously.  “Why do you keep saying that?”

Isla closes her eyes and doesn’t say anything.  I think she’s counting to a gazillion.  “Are you saying that she has nullified the left hand-fasting?”

I shoot up off the couch.  “I did no such thing!”  I round on Kallen and jab him in the chest with my finger.  “Look, if you want out of this hand-fasting thing, then just say so.  But don’t accuse me of something I didn’t do.”

“Xandra, please sit back down.  Kallen, you as well.  I am having a difficult time understanding the situation.  Kallen, I would like you to summon Kegan.”

Kallen’s face is starting to turn an interesting shade of maroon.  “I do not believe my cousin dares to be in the same room with me at the moment.”

“Summon him.”  There’s no compromise in her voice.

Kallen doesn’t say anything, but I’m pretty sure he does it.  None of us say a word for the next few minutes.  I can’t for the life of me figure out why he’s being such a jerk.  Maybe he did have a bad dream and he thinks it was real.

“Grandmother,” Kegan says quietly from the terrace.  He must have been out on the beach.  “I do not know how to explain…”

Isla puts a hand up to stop him.  “Were you kissing Xandra?”

Embarrassment washes over him as he looks back and forth between Kallen, me and Isla.  “It was not what it seemed.”  He’s looking at Kallen as he says this.  “I was not kissing her, cousin.”

I shoot up from the couch.  “Are you in on this, too?”  I swing back to Kallen.  “You want out of our arrangement so much that you got your cousin to lie for you?”

“Xandra, sit down.”  Okay, Mom’s ‘you better do it or else’ voice just got blown out of the water by Isla’s.  I don’t hesitate to plant my butt on the couch.

“Now, from what I am understanding, Xandra behaved in a certain manner in regards to Kegan that she does not currently remember.”

“Wha…?”  The look on her face cut’s off everything I was about to say.

Looking at Kallen, she asks, “Has she been behaving strangely other than this incident?”

Color washes up my neck and cheeks.  He’s going to tell her about my ‘sleep seducing’ incident.  “Yes,” he says averting Isla’s gaze.

Her lips set in a firm line.  “Perhaps I do not need to know the specifics.”

“She awoke yesterday and was acting…out of character.  After returning to slumber, she awoke with no memory of her behavior.”  He looks at me with worry.  “Which seems to be the case in this instance, as well.  She passed out in the kitchen and I carried her in here.  When she came to, she seemed to have no memory of what occurred in the kitchen.”

“Interesting,” Isla says, giving me an assessing glance.  After a moment, she turns to Kegan.  “Please wake Tabitha and ask her to come.”  Kegan doesn’t waste a second leaving the room.

“Xandra, what exactly do you recall from this evening?”

Now, I’m feeling like I might be the crazy one.  Did I really do these things and not remember?  “Um, I remember saving Zac.  I remember you guys going to check the house.  I remember lying with Zac and falling asleep until Kallen came to let my parents know what was going on, and then he carried me to my room.  Then I remember him setting me down on the couch.”

His look of incredulity is back again.  He seems to be going back and forth on his whole ‘she doesn’t remember’ theory.  “I’m having a hard time believing that between the kitchen and here, you completely forgot what happened in there.”

I give him a hard look.  “
I do not remember doing anything in the kitchen.” 
How many times do I have to say it before he believes me?  “I have a hard time believing
you
when you say I did.” 

“For argument’s sake, we are going to say you did,” Isla says curtly.  I huff as I fold my arms over my chest and slump back on the couch.

“Tabitha will be right down,” Kegan says quietly as he reenters the room.  He doesn’t make eye contact with me or Kallen as he moves to the far corner of the room.  It’s a pretty big room.  He’d have a good head start if he ends up having to run from Kallen.

But, the aura of guilt that is radiating around him is starting to make me think that there just may be some truth to what Kallen is saying.  There’d be no other reason for Kegan to look so guilty.  Oh, no.  I was really kissing Kegan?  I shoot a worried glance in Kallen’s direction and he looks a lot less angry and a lot more hurt now.  Oh god, what did I do?

“Do you Fairies not understand the concept of sleep?” Tabitha grouses from the doorway.  She’s still in that housecoat and the hair on her head is pretty close to looking like a nest.  A serious contrast between Isla’s straight, salt and pepper hair that doesn’t have a single strand out of place even though she was woken up hastily, as well.

Without any pleasantries or apologies, Isla says, “Tabitha, have you touched Xandra since she returned from the Shadow realm?”

Tabitha’s brows slam together and she purses her lips.  After a moment, she says, “I gave her a hug when she returned.”

“Did you feel anything different about her?”

“She was so excited about being out of that realm that I do not believe there was anything else
to
feel at that moment.  Why do you ask?”

“Would you mind touching her again?”

Tabitha looks like she wants more information first, but she starts walking towards me anyway.  Sitting down next to me, she takes my hands in hers and closes her eyes.  In a flash, they’re back open and she’s standing up again.  “What happened to you?” she demands.  “Why is your soul fractured?”

I know my eyes are as big as saucers.  “My soul is what?”

Tabitha takes a few more steps back until she is standing next to Isla.  “How could her soul have been fractured?”

Tears are stinging my eyes now.  I look at Kallen and he looks as devastated as I feel.  Despite his feelings from a few moments ago, he reaches over and takes my hand in his and gives it a squeeze.  I am so grateful that I start to cry harder.

Isla looks at me steadily for several moments.  She’s probably thinking about the easiest way to get me out of her house.  Kallen moves closer to me and puts his arm around me and I bury my face in his chest. 

“Is there anything that can be done?” he asks.

Isla ignores his question and turns to Tabitha.  “I do not think it is her soul that is fractured.”

Confusion is clear on Tabitha’s face.  “What do you mean?”

“I am concerned that she picked up unwanted travelers during her journey.”

Tabitha gasps as she puts her hand over her mouth.  “No, it could not be.”

“Grandmother, what are you saying?” Kallen asks as his arm tightens around me.  I peek out from under my long black hair at her thoughtful face.

“I believe that while Xandra was in the Shadow realm, pieces of the souls of others attached themselves to hers.”

“It is possible,” Tabitha says as she joins me again on the couch, looking none too pleased at the thought.

“Would she not know that this occurred?” Kallen asks.

Isla shakes her head.  “No, if the pieces are small enough and do not try to affect her waking thoughts, I do not believe so.  It seems that when her conscious mind is asleep, these pieces are able to take control of her body.”  Turning to Tabitha, she says, “Will you please try again?  Deeper this time to see if her soul remains intact.”