1.5 True of Blood: Kallen's Tale

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, dialogue and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright ©2012 by Bonnie Humbarger Lamer

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the express written permission of copyright holder.

  Other Titles by Bonnie Lamer

  The Witch Fairy Series:

  True of Blood

  Blood Prophecy

  Blood Lines

  Shadow Blood

  The Eliana Brennan Series:

  Essence of Re

  Exposed

  I love to hear from fans! Contact me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bonnie-Lamer-Author/129829463748061

  ***** Reader Message *****

  True of Blood: Kallen’s Tale is meant to be read after True of Blood. This is a companion book that gives the reader a look into Kallen’s mind when he meets Xandra. In an effort to avoid as much redundancy as possible, I have condensed some scenes, focusing less on Xandra and more on Kallen. This could cause confusion if this book is read first.

  I hope you enjoy this look into Kallen’s world.

  This book is dedicated to all the special people in my life who did not think

  I was crazy when I announced I wanted to be an author.

  It’s also dedicated to the special people in my life who did,

  just not as much.

  (Notice this is not underlined.)

  I love you all, whichever side of the fence you were on.

  Chapter 1

  “Kallen, I know this is a great sacrifice…” Grandmother says from across the kitchen island counter.

  I stand up so quickly, my stool tumbles across the tile floor. “Great sacrifice? Grandmother, you are asking me to give up my life as I know it. Tomorrow. Did you expect me to welcome your request? Cowans killed my parents and you want me to go to their realm and live among them? You do not think you are asking too much?” I am grateful for the large slab of marble countertop that separates us. Otherwise, I might be tempted to try to shake some sense into her.

  Grandmother’s face is grim now. “If you do not go, the Cowan realm will be forced to bow down before the Pooka Fairies. The atrocities that will occur as they seek revenge should not be wished upon your worst enemy.”

  I will not be guilted into this. “That is no concern of mine.”

  Standing to her full six feet, she narrows her piercing green eyes in my direction. “You are not as indifferent as you now claim. I have heard your arguments with Dagda regarding his attempts to find the girl.”

  Dagda, King of the Fairy realm, who is hell bent on returning to the Cowan realm to take revenge for his damaged pride. He cannot accept the fact that a Witch was able to better him in a physical, magicless showdown. His ego bruised, he has become a Fairy obsessed beyond reason, wanting to right an imagined wrong by finding the daughter he does not know, and use her to open the gateways between realms. By killing her. Once a respected uncle, my esteem for him has suffered greatly as he has become a raving lunatic on this subject. He and I often argue the point of vengeance and its merits, or lack of merits. If he follows through with his intentions, his soul will be blackened beyond redemption. Still, I never signed on to be the savior of his soul.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I say, “My opinion has changed significantly in the last ten minutes.”

  Slamming down her spoon on the stove, Tabitha turns towards us. “Isla, how can you ask him to do this?” she asks. Seeing her face, and the dangerous storm brewing on it, I almost take a step back. I have rarely seen her this angry. Gray-haired, slightly plump, and definitely someone you do not want to get on the bad side of, Tabitha takes care of our home while Isla attends to her High Chancellor duties. She has also been a second Grandmother to me throughout my life, and I am grateful she is taking my side on this.

  I am amazed, though, that she has held her tongue this long. She usually lets her opinion be known as soon as it forms. Looking closely at her, I cannot tell if those are sparks coming out of her eyes, or if it is the sunlight from the window sparkling off them. I am leaning towards the sparks. “How can you send him away like this?” she demands to know.

  “I have seen what happens if he does not go.” Grandmother has the power of divination. She rarely discusses her visions of the future because the future is not set in stone. I wish she had kept this vision to herself, as well. “She is going to willingly open a gateway to this realm because she will not know any better. Without the proper protection, she will die.”

  I shrug. “I do not know this girl; why should I care if she lives or dies?” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I wish I could take them back. I am not a heartless cad; I simply want to live out the rest of my days in my own realm, not the fetid, broken Cowan realm. I do not truly wish this girl the brutal death that will come to her if she is brought here. I simply want nothing to do with the whole situation. “If she is going to intentionally open the realms, why does she need protection? It seems more like she needs someone to stop her.”

  Isla nods solemnly. “That may be, and that is what you will need to decide when you meet her.”

  I take a deep breath and my hands are knotted into such tight fists on the counter, I’m pretty sure I am losing all circulation in them. “Just how would you expect me to stop her?”

  Her eyes darken, as she says, “As a Sheehogue Fairy, it is your duty to protect those who cannot defend themselves. Which means that sometimes, you have to consider the greater good over the life of one individual.”

  My mouth drops open. She cannot mean what I think she means. “You want me to kill her?”

  She shakes her head of long, gray streaked black hair and I start to sigh in relief. Until she says, “Only as a last resort.”

  Now my jaw just about hits the floor. “Give up my realm, as well as become a murderer? What is the matter with you? You are not the grandmother I have known all these years. Do you simply want me out of your house? If I have been such a burden to you over the years that you feel you have to send me on this fool’s quest, there are less cruel ways to be rid of me. I would rather be forced into a hand-fasting with a Cowan Fairy than this. I will live in the forest until you choose who you want me to marry.” More words I regret. First of all, I sound like a child throwing a tantrum. Secondly, I will not wed without love. And I have yet to meet a full blooded, or otherwise, Fairy whom I could love. Even if it is the only way to stay in this realm.

  Grandmother sighs in frustration, a sure sign of a storm brewing inside of her, but I do not care. This is beyond even contemplating. “I love you more than you will ever know,” she says. “You have never been a burden to me, but this is what you must do. This is your destiny. I have seen it.”

  What a bunch of bull. I know as well as she does that her visions are a possible future, not a given one. “I will make a different destiny for myself. I do not need to follow this one.”

  She shakes her head. “Kallen, this is too important. Too big on a cosmic level. This cannot be changed.”

  “That is ridiculous. Everything can be changed.”

  Rising from her seat, Grandmother walks to where I am sitting. She places her hands gently on my cheeks, something she hasn’t done in years. “I am begging you to do this. If you save that realm, you will be setting into motion things that have been foretold for eons. Foretold by the Angels themselve
s.”

  I pull my head back and her hands drop to her sides. “Are you speaking of the prophecy? You know I hold no stock in ancient prophecies.”

  Her lips form a sad smile. “When the Angel of Fates prophesizes, it will come true.”

  “Or he could be spouting nonsense in an attempt to keep other magical beings from being foolish. The Angels have often used threats of hell and brimstone to bring about things they desire.”

  “Kallen, I am begging you. Please do this.”

  I look at the tall, slender woman standing before me. Her face is still unlined and her eyes have not lost a bit of luster over the years. She looks young enough to be my mother, but she is much older than she appears.

  She is also determined, I will give her that. I can see it in her green eyes – the sadness, the desperation, the remorse, and finally, the fortitude. She will be unrelenting until she gets her way. “Do I truly have a choice?” I ask. I already know the answer.

  “Isla…” Tabitha begins, but grandmother interrupts her.

  “Tabitha, please, this is difficult enough. I understand the sacrifice this will take from us all. I do not want to send my beloved grandson away. My heart is breaking at the very thought. But, you know as well as I do, there are some things that must come to pass; they cannot be undone.”

  I can tell from Tabitha’s face that she would like to argue with Grandmother, but she does not. She simply nods and turns back to her stew. I do not miss the tears in her eyes, though.

  “Kallen, Dagda has already sent Maurelle and Olwyn. They will be upon her by morning.”

  I scrunch my brow as a new question pops into my head. “If you knew that this has been foretold for ages, why did you wait so long to tell me?”

  She looks down at the counter, avoiding my eyes, and a tiny bit of pink washes over her cheeks. That is definitely a rare sight. “I thought this would be easier for you.”

  My eyebrows have reached the nape of my neck, I believe. “You thought it would be easier for me to pick up and leave without saying proper goodbyes, without savoring one last time, the things that are most important to me in this realm?”

  This is the first time I have ever seen her look unsure of a decision. “I am sorry I handled things this poorly. Perhaps it was myself I was protecting. I have been dreading this day for quite some time; I did not want you to have to do the same.”

  Yes, go with the guilt card again. Well played, Grandmother. “If I have no choice, then I will take the evening to say goodbye to my cousin, at least. I shall be ready to go in the morning.” I lift a brow in question. “Unless I am supposed to leave sooner?”

  She shakes her head. Is that a tear I see in my Grandmother’s eye? What an exceptional sight that is.

  However, I decide that at this moment, I do not care if she cries a million tears. I will never forgive her for this. I am not too crazy about the Angel of Fates right now, either. I have to get out of here. Another moment in her presence and I will explode. I stand up and leave the kitchen through the backdoor without a backwards glance.

  Once outside, I fill my lungs with the scent of the ocean and the forest between which our house lies. The clean, fresh scent of the world I have inhabited since I was a small child. I remember very little of the Cowan realm, where I was born, but I know that it has changed considerably since I left. There are those who can create windows to see into the other realms; windows that do not open, they are only for observation. I know about the pollution, the greed and the creation of odd technology that the Cowans have developed to supposedly improve their lives. Things that would not be necessary if they were magical beings.

  Yes, there are Witches in the Cowan realm, but their magic is limited. They bow down to this technology as well; losing their knowledge and weakening their craft as they conform more and more to the Cowan ways. It will probably not be many decades until their magic is extinct.

  What irks me the most about this situation? I cannot believe that Dagda is going through with this. For the most part, he has always been a sane and rational man. But, being bested by the Witch King did something to him; killed a part of his brain. His need for revenge is beyond simple pride, at this point. He has come to think of the Cowan realm as an enemy. This is a war to him, a battlefield to be conquered, even though the opposing forces are ignorant to the fact that he, or the war, even exists. Centuries have passed in the Cowan realm, as their time advances more quickly than ours. No one remembers the Fairy King who could not better a Witch King after agreeing not to use magic. There are no enemies there to pursue.

  How did I suddenly become a key figure in this prophetic nightmare? I have my own grudge against Cowans, as irrational as it might be. As much as I do not want to be Dagda’s savior, I want to be a savior for the Cowans even less.

  My parents were fast asleep when thieves set their house on fire. It was my screams that woke them; the smoke had reached my room first. My father rose to check on me, discovering that his home was being devoured by a raging inferno. An inferno too far advanced to be doused with magic. Opening the window of my second story bedroom, he dropped me out onto the ground. It was a fifteen foot drop; I broke my ankle. My father then went in search of my mother, but was not able to save her, or himself. They both perished in the flames. Their bodies were found huddled together in the corner of their bedroom where the flames had chased them; where the smoke had choked them.

  Isla came for me that night. She had foreseen the fire, but her vision had come too late to warn my father. It was only me that she was able to save. She returned with me to the Fairy realm and has taken care of me ever since. I truly owe her my life. I simply did not know that the cost would be so high.

  “You look deep in thought, cousin,” Kegan says, strolling towards me on the path through the forest that leads to his home. “I came to see if you were up for a rematch.”

  Half of my mouth lifts into what I hope resembles a smile. “I am afraid you will need to find another sparring partner. I will soon be taking a journey from which I will not return.”

  He laughs. “Right, and I will be hand-fasted to the next full-blooded Fairy I meet. Come on. If you are so scared that you will lose, you need to come up with a better excuse than that.”

  “I am afraid it is not an excuse. Isla has asked me to travel to the Cowan realm to save it from destruction. I will be leaving tomorrow. I was coming to say my goodbyes before I am sent off.”

  Disbelief washes over his face, chased off by shock, which is chased off by comprehension. “You are serious?”

  “As much as I would like to say I am not, if only to get that morose look off your face, I am serious.”

  “Nothing can be done?”

  “Apparently not.”

  “Perhaps if I talk to Grandmother?”

  Kegan is more like a brother to me than a cousin. We may fight, and argue, and constantly try to best the other at everything, but no amount of this lessens the bond between us. I will truly miss him.

  “If Tabitha was unable to talk sense into her, I do not hold out hope that you will.”

  I turn and we start walking back towards my home without speaking. The silence between us is an usual thing, and it is wearing on my soul. “At least your chances for hand-fasting will be increased with me gone. Females will finally have to look at you, instead of me.” Ow. It really hurts when we punch each other in the arm, but I still laugh.

  “It is your full-blooded status they value, cousin. Not your looks or charm.”

  I chuckle. “There may be some truth to that, but nevertheless, it is me they desire.”

  Kegan rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Your feast of modesty fills me to the brim. I may have to stop somewhere along our way and throw up, though, as it is not easily digested.”

  Again, I cannot help but laugh. Kegan and I could be twins. Our fathers were identical twins, and we both resemble them with our tall lean forms, inky black hair and the vibrant green eyes of the Fae. Based on looks al
one, he is correct. We would be on an even playing field. It is only Kegan’s Cowan blood that makes him less appealing.

  “If Grandmother cannot be swayed, perhaps she will allow me to accompany you.”

  I shake my head. “I appreciate that, cousin, but it is bad enough that I am forced to walk this path. I will not willingly bring you along to suffer the same fate.” He does not look pleased with my answer, and we walk the rest of the way in a silence heavier than the last.

  Entering the kitchen once more, I see that Tabitha has been busy. She has a small bag on the counter in which she is putting Fairy darts from a batch she recently made. She makes them when needed from the plants and flowers she grows in her garden, and they are the strongest poison in the land of Fae. A lethal weapon if used in the extreme.

  She looks up when we come in. “I have packed several of these, and you are not to hesitate to use them. I, for one, would not mind if Maurelle is to be the one to have a couple of these flung at her. It is disgusting the way she has been sniffing around you these past several years. And now this.” She shakes her head in disgust.

  Suddenly, I feel like a dog that can’t get another dog to stop smelling my butt. “And Olwyn?” I ask, not able to keep the humor out of my voice.

  She waves her hand in the air. “He is nothing. Simply an oaf with overgrown muscles. He would not know how to hurt a fly unless someone stood by his side and gave him instructions. He is nothing but Maurelle’s toy that she lugs around for his brute strength.”

  “Tabitha, is there no changing Grandmother’s mind?” Kegan asks, leaning over her shoulder to see what else she is putting in the bag.

  Tabitha shakes her head. “That Fairy refuses to listen to reason. Sometimes, I think she has a heart of stone.”

  “I prefer to think of it as made of crystal, for it can be broken,” Grandmother says dryly from behind me. Tabitha must have known she was there.

  There are very few Fairies who dare to speak this way to Grandmother, as she is the most powerful Fairy in this realm. Which makes her quite intimidating. Tabitha, though, has never let that stop her from speaking her mind. One of the many things I love about her.