Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke (9 page)

“We all had Trinity medals
but only Ian had the Claddagh medal.” He sighed, wincing as he
picked up the tension and slight pain from where his brother’s head
had hit the wall. “Our maternal grandmother gave it to him when he
was christened.”

Recalling some of her
earlier investigations into his family, Maggie knew that meant it
had come from Fiona Kerrigan; a powerful wise-woman from up further
in Clare, and she wondered if any of them also knew the legends
associated with it.

“What about your other
brother?” she asked quietly. “Is he alright?”

Mac was feeling and not
liking everything he was picking up. “Doubt it, luv,” he
muttered.

“It’s alright, Roarke,”
Jessica was whispering, leaning up and lightly brushing the hair
from his now peaceful face. “You’ll be safe,” she promised,
shifting a look up at his worried brothers. “Won’t he?”

Ryan wasn’t about to touch
that one since even he had doubts on how all this would turn out,
so he made a show of looking out into the hall. While Mac suddenly
found Ian very interesting, this left Kerry the unhappy choice of
answering her.

“We’ll take Roarke home and
he’ll be as safe as I can possibly make him,” He assured the girl,
kicking Ryan before he could finish the remark forming in his head.
“You stay with him, darling. Ry and I need to check on
Ian.”

Jessica nodded but her
exhaustion was clear as she sat talking blindly to her friend, and
Cam just shrugged that he’d stay in the room.

Barely waiting until the
door closed and ignoring Maggie, Ryan whirled on his oldest
brother.

“How the bloody hell could
you promise that?!” he demanded in a low voice, anger clear. “You
don’t know if we can protect him. Hell, you don’t even know if we
can defeat Sebastian.”

“Telling her that right now
would just upset her,” Kerry explained calmly, looking at Ian and
pleased he was standing on his own as he held out the medal.
“Sebastian’s counting on us not being able to co-exist enough to
defeat him. He’s also counting on our weaknesses causing us to
fail.”

Ian seemed to consider
this. “You have weaknesses?” this was a surprise to him.

“Everyone has weaknesses,
lad,” Mac replied, reaching back to rub his neck. “We’re no
exception but Sebastian knows the biggest will come from Roarke
since he has always blamed himself for what happened, and I’m
thinking there are other issues.”

“If we can’t unite for this
then he’ll win,” Kerry aimed this at Ryan and his brother knew it
because he scowled and stalked a little ways down the hall. “Ryan,
all of us are different than we were that day but we need to
remember who we are and what we are. Mum and Da gave their lives to
stop Sebastian then, and now it’s up to us.”

Maggie decided this was something she
shouldn’t hear so she started to quietly slip away when she caught
the way Mac was still rubbing his neck.

“You all right, Fitzgerald?” she asked,
coming up next to him.

“Too much bickering.” He
waved her off but avoided looking at her eyes, surprised when she
took his hands. “Read palms?”

She hushed him with a look
then looked over for Kerry. “Hey, how exactly does Mac do his
healing thing?” she asked curiously, getting an answer when she saw
his sharp look turn warning.

Still arguing with Ryan while Ian leaned
against the wall to watch, Kerry looked to answer when the question
hit him and he swore.

“Damn it, you’ve taken too
much in at once,” he muttered, ignoring his brother’s attempt to
wave it off. “Mac, you know the risks of taking too much pain or
injury in at one time.”

“I also know it goes
against my own personal oaths to leave someone I care about in
pain,” Mac shot back.

Ian watched this
altercation interestingly. “If the villain wants to break the
circle, which I’m guessing is the five of us, wouldn’t making us
fight amongst ourselves be a good way to do it?” he asked
quietly.

“Ah, there was a reason he
could talk before he was one,” Ryan coughed, coming back up the
hall to nudge Mac’s shoulder. “Baby brother is the only one who can
see past the obstacles and remain clear.”

“He was three and still
untouched when he went to Dublin,” Kerry reasoned but understood
what Ryan was saying. “Can we do this and not kill each
other?”

The brothers exchanged
looks and Mac merely shrugged as Ryan snorted, grinning. “I figure
Deirdre will remember right quick what it’s like having all five of
us in the same house cause we’ll be scrapping a lot but…” he paused
to take a breath and held out a hand. “I’d rather send the old
devil packing than spend too much time fighting with you
lot.”

“Just don’t tease Roarke
too much or Jessica will likely fry you,” Mac warned easily, taking
the hand his brother offered then narrowing his eyes when he felt
the tension ease. “Ry.”

The third born son just
grinned but didn’t say anything about easing his brother’s stress.
“Bugging the brat is what I live for.”

“Just watch what you say
until we see what he’s hiding,” Kerry warned, surprised by the
sudden ringing they all heard when he and Ian joined the combined
hands of the others.

“Well, that should be
interesting if all five of you do that,” Maggie laughed, wondering
if the brothers were aware of the shower of lights that went off
right then. ‘I doubt it,’ she thought to herself, wondering what
else would happen.

Fitzgerald Manor, Fitzgaren, Ireland:

It took several more hours to convince Peter
Daniels that taking his patient out of the hospital was what was
best for him but finally when his leader pulled rank, the
Detroit-born medic conceded.

After Kerry made a call,
Deirdre O’Connor had been waiting for them at the front door of the
manor house.

Ryan Fitzgerald had
followed in his own car, pulling to the side to allow the
Mavericks’ own van to pull closer to the house since Peter had
insisted his brother stay on a stretcher until they got him settled
in the house.

Stepping from the car, he
could see the house lit up with lights from the inside and the many
spotlights on the outside, and his mind went back to earlier days.
Happier days when they would return from a trip or a show to have
this very same woman meet them by the door.

Now, except for some graying hair, all
seemed the same to him as Deirdre hurried down the steps.

“I’ve prepared the rooms as
you suggested and told Mick to clear the garage for those
death-machines the lads use,” she spoke to Kerry briskly but her
eyes were looking around, frowning as the Mavericks carefully
unloaded the stretcher. “He should still be in a hospital, boyo,”
she admonished sternly.

“That’s what I said,” Peter
muttered wincing as a hand smacked his head.

Ryan rolled his eyes at the
medic. “You really wanted to explain to those doctors why their
patient was glowing or levitating?” he challenged, turning to give
his best smile to the older woman. “Hey, luv, I was in the area and
decided to drop by.”

Already emotional,
Deirdre’s eyes welled up at the sight of him. “Ryan! You lovely
boy, let me look at you.” She gripped his arms but had to stand
back to look him in the eye. “Saints alive but you are the image of
your Da.”

If that comment bothered
him, Ryan didn’t let it show as he smiled at the woman who had
taken a hand to him as often as his mother, then decided to turn
her attention to his older brother.

“Mac’s being a wimp because
he absorbed too much pain tonight and won’t let it show,” he
whispered in her ear, almost smiling when she turned to pin the
dark blond Fitzgerald with a knowing look.

“Patrick MacKinley
Fitzgerald!” she snapped in a tone perfected of being the only help
that Brenna Kerrigan Fitzgerald would allow to assist her in
managing her five sons. “Take yourself in that house right this
minute and be where I can find you in five minutes!”

Mac scowled at his smirking brother and
started to go toward him when Maggie caught his arm and steered him
up the steps.

“Let’s go hero,” she
grinned, patting his arm. “I don’t think that’s a lady you want to
mess with.”

“It wasn’t her I was going
to mess with,” Mac muttered, but gave up on the idea of getting
around Maggie, who was stronger than she looked. “My big mouth
little brother needs a quick reminder on why he’s younger
though.”

While Deirdre got the
others settled, Ian had become fascinated with the high-tech
motorcycles that the Mavericks drove and Ryan decided to follow Mac
since he was the one who had gotten the housekeeper aimed his way.
It also allowed Kerry a chance to check in with the Mavericks medic
and leader.

Having been told where to settle Roarke by
the ever-helpful housekeeper, Peter had made sure his friend was
still stable and that the ride hadn’t hurt him any.

He was between hovering
over him and trying to get Jessica Hadley to lie down and rest when
Kerry walked in.

“He won’t like being here and he can’t be
alone so go away, Peter.” Jessica’s tone was one of pure refusal
even though the eldest Fitzgerald brother could sense the girl’s
exhaustion.

“You know Roarke’s safe in
this house, Jessie,” Kerry spoke quietly and didn’t try to approach
the bed when he saw her tense at his voice. “What’s he scared
of?”

Jessica lifted her tired
eyes and nearly smiled at that. “You mean, besides the events of
recent days? Too much that you really aren’t ready to deal
with.”

Kerry knew he could have
scanned but also knew the girl had a natural defense against mental
intrusions and also knew he wouldn’t invade her personal privacy
like that. The same reason he wasn’t scanning his
brother.

In the silence, Roarke
began twisting in his sleep, whimpering. “No.
Don’t…hit…Don’t…touch…”

“Sshh, luv. It’s alright,”
Jessica whispered, sitting next to him to try to use their link to
ease the fears before any of his brothers could begin getting the
images. However, she was too weak and wasn’t expecting her friend
to be this far under too soon. “It’s alright.”

Roarke moved as soon as he
felt her next to him, rolling and curling against her; his arms
tightening around her waist. “Why?”

At first, Kerry thought his
brother was awake but soon realized he was still asleep. His eyes
were open but not clear as they saw the past, and his voice was
that of a child not the adult he’d grown into.

“Why what, Roarke?” he asked, seeing Jessica
had tensed but concentrated on the boy in front of him and
beginning to feel waves of emotions from him.

“Why’d ya let it happen?
Why didn’t you… come for me?” the tone changed to a fearful
bitterness but he was curling tighter. “Why did you let her let
them hurt…”

Jessica’s fingers ran
through his long black hair and slowly he fell back to sleep but
this took a toll on the girl, and finally Kerry reached for
her.

“Just stay with him and
rest,” he urged, frowning. “What did he mean, Jess?” he asked,
knowing this was something bad for them. “Why did I let what
happened? Who hurt him?”

The girl sighed; weighing
her loyalty to Roarke to what she knew was best for him in the long
run. His pain, both new and old, was still cutting into her
emotions.

“He’s asking why you didn’t
go get him when he wrote to you after he was sent away,” she
finally sighed, laying her head against the headboard and hoped she
wasn’t making this worse.

This subject was the one that always
bothered Kerry since he had fought bitterly with his father’s
mother on her decision to send his younger brothers away to other
relatives scattered throughout the country.

Ian had gone to Dublin with
Sybil and Brandon Sullivan; Ryan to Clare with Maureen and Eamon
O’Brien; Mac had gone to County Cork with Bridgett and Padric
Odell, and Roarke had gone to Ida and Felan Walsh in
Mayo.

Kerry had been nineteen at
the time and had of course been able to stay on his own and inherit
his family estate. He had tried to keep his brothers but Kathleen
Murphy Fitzgerald had been firm on sending them away.

She had said it was for
their own safety, since what had killed their parents would try to
strike at them and the boys would be safer away from the life. To
be raised normally away from their heritage and the Craft but he’d
always had doubts. Especially when she had insisted they stay
apart, even though Mac’s foster family had plenty of
room.

“She insisted it was for
the best,” he repeated the weak line and saw the mild anger in the
girl’s eyes.

“He wrote you letters,
Kerry,” Jessica replied, tiredly. “He wrote you what was happening
and begged you to come bring him home. He believed that since you
were the oldest and promised him that you’d make it right that
you’d do that.”

Those words made him frown.
“I never saw any letters from Roarke, luv,” he argued, looking at
her. “The only thing I ever heard from the Walshes was when Gran
showed up yelling that you and Cam had come and kidnapped him one
day,” he replied, seeing her smirk as he lightly brushed his
brother’s hair out of his face as he’d done once and down his back.
Feeling the boy jerk under his hand and his already weak powers
tried to deflect the light touch.