Elf Blood: Book 14 of The Witch Fairy Series Read online

  Elf Blood

  Bonnie Lamer

  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 ©2015 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 the copyright holder.

  ISBN-13: 978-1514173909

  ISBN-10: 1514173905

  Other Titles by Bonnie Lamer

  The Witch Fairy Series:

  True of Blood

  Blood Prophecy

  Blood Lines

  Shadow Blood

  Blood of Half Gods

  Blood of Destiny

  Blood of Dragons

  Blood of Egypt

  Blood of Retribution

  Blood of the Exiled

  Doppelganger Blood

  Blood of Centaurs

  Blood of Sirens

  True of Blood: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood Prophecy: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood Lines: Kallen’s Tale

  Shadow Blood: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood of Half Gods: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood of Destiny: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood of Dragon’s: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood of Egypt: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood of Retribution: Kallen’s Tale

  Blood of the Exiled: Kallen’s Tale

  The Eliana Brennan Series:

  Essence of Re

  Exposed

  Homeland

  The Secrets of the Djinn Series:

  Marked

  Bound

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

  For Jessica Jensen who came up with the most beautiful name for an Elf baby. Thank you!

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank Katie Basden for suggesting the name Whysper which came in second in the Name the Baby Elf contest. I liked it so much, I could not help but use it for another character.

  I would also like to send out well wishes to Elena, a two year old who was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma. She is bravely fighting her way through chemotherapy and hopefully on her way to being cancer-free.

  1 CHAPTER

  “To my beautiful wife, you stole my heart the moment I met you and I was lost without you these many years. Thank you for making me whole once again.”

  Garren has made a similar toast every night at dinner for weeks. So, every night at dinner Alita and I are forced to kick our husbands under the table to keep them from rolling their eyes, groaning or worse yet, laughing. “Ow, I am getting a nasty bruise,” Kallen mutters under his breath to me when my heel once again makes contact with his shin.

  “He is being sweet,” I mutter back. Though, I must admit even the romantic in my heart is getting tired of his sappy nightly toasts. Were Kallen and I that bad when we first got married? Probably.

  “Give it a rest already,” Tabitha says, letting a bowl of butter clatter to the table as she takes her seat.

  Isla’s cheeks are bright pink. “Perhaps we should save the toasts for special occasions,” she says. I have been impressed with her since their hand-fasting. She seems to have opened herself up a bit. She’s not as guarded emotionally. Unfortunately, this also means one is apt to walk into a room and find her and Garren kissing. Again, the romantic in my heart can only take so much.

  “Nonsense,” Garren disagrees. “I am damn glad you finally married me. I do not care who knows it.”

  “Trust me, we know it,” Kallen grouses. He moves his leg so I miss when I try to kick him. He smirks at me when my heel hits the leg of the chair instead. Ow! I glare back at him.

  “Do not listen to them, Garren,” Mom says. “I think it is sweet.”

  “Thank you, Julienne,” Garren says with a smile.

  “Would you just humor the old wind bag so we can get on with the eating?” Taz snarks from my ankle. “The food is getting cold.”

  “I seriously doubt you’re starving. I’m sure you had plenty in the kitchen while Tabitha was cooking,” I reply.

  “I believe he ate a whole chicken,” Felix confirms.

  I nod. “I believe it.”

  As I converse with my Familiars, a frown takes root on Kallen’s face. “Do you feel that?” Now that he mentions it, the hairs on the back of my neck are tingling. Not in an uncomfortable way. Actually, it feels kind of nice. That’s odd.

  “Indeed,” Isla says, rising from her chair. “It seems the Elves have come to call.”

  That’s why the sensation on my neck feels good. Glamour. “We still don’t have a peace treaty with the Elves, right?” I ask as Kallen and I rise from the table along with everyone else. Whatever the Elves want, they’re going to have to tell all of us.

  Kallen shakes his head. “No.”

  Could they be here to start trouble then? The glamour coming from the terrace is pretty strong. I wonder how many of them there are. Picking up the pace, I catch up with Isla. If there’s a fight coming, I want to be in the front to help keep the others safe. Kallen is right beside me thinking the same thing.

  The glamour is growing even stronger. As we walk through the large living room with its array of couches and chairs, the walls seem to shimmer and a greenish haze fills the room. There is a distinct scent of wild flowers and grass. Kallen reaches out and takes my hand. “I do not like this,” he mutters. Me, either.

  Isla pushes the sheer curtain from the terrace doorway and every single one of us has already pulled magic. We are ready for whoever we find out here whether they came to talk or to fight. I hope they came to talk.

  Okay. I thought we were ready for whoever we might find. I lied. We were definitely not ready to find a lone Elf. In a bassinet. Who even uses bassinets anymore?

  In the middle of the table on the terrace sits a bassinet with a lavender blanket. Under the blanket is a baby. A sleeping baby. There is not another soul in sight.

  “What the hell?” Garren’s voice booms into the confused silence surrounding us.

  At the sound of his voice, the startled baby’s eyes open. Unfortunately, so does her mouth. She begins to wail. Isla glares at her new husband for the first time since they wed. At least, the first time I have seen. “You have scared her.”

  “Move aside,” Tabitha says, elbowing her way to the front of our group. She reaches into the bassinet and lifts the baby into her arms. I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the wailing will soon end. Tabitha’s touch has a calming influence to it when she so desires. After a moment, though, Tabitha’s brow furrows. The baby is crying harder with absolutely no indication it plans to stop any time soon.

  “Let me try,” Garren says, holding out his arms. “I always had a way with the Dragon babes.” Tabitha scowls at him but after another moment of loud crying, she hands the baby to him in defeat. Garren holds the baby to his chest and rocks back and forth making cooing sounds.

  “Can’t you put a cork in its mouth? My ears are about to bleed,” Taz whines. I ignore him.

  I am more concerned about the elements. The waves in the ocean have grown to towering beasts. The wind is whipping around us and the sunny sky has grown dark. At least, it seems like it has. As I look more closely at things, I note that the wind is not blowing the sand. Nor are the waves crashing onto the shore. And there, just abo
ve the horizon, the sun is still visible through the haze. It’s not real. It’s glamour. I glance up at Kallen. “Is the baby doing this?” I ask over the wailing.

  He nods. “I believe so.”

  By this time, Garren has handed the baby off to Alita. She is pacing the terrace and humming a tune I don’t recognize. The baby continues to cry. Moving closer to the bassinet, I notice a small roll of parchment. Whoever left the baby must have left a note. I reach a tentative hand out to it, remembering what happened when Dagda tried to open a parchment from the Sirens that was addressed to Kallen. I don’t know if the Elves use any type of enchantment like that so I first touch it with one finger. When my skin does not begin to sizzle, I wrap my fingers around it and pull it out from under the blanket where it fell when Tabitha picked the baby up.

  Peering over my shoulder, Kegan asks, “What does it say?”

  “Does the wanker think you have x-ray vision?” Taz snarks. “You haven’t even unrolled the thing yet.” Again, I ignore him.

  Unrolling the parchment, I read the brief note. Xandra, you are the only one who can keep her safe. There is no signature. I pass it off to Kallen who shows it to Isla.

  “Keep her safe from whom?” I wonder aloud.

  “Excellent question,” Kallen mutters. Glancing at Alita who is working hard to keep her face pleasant even though the baby’s crying has not diminished at all, he says, “Hand the baby to Xandra.”

  “What?!” I yelp. I put my hands up in front of me to fend Alita off as she approaches with the baby. “I don’t know anything about holding babies.”

  Taz snorts. “I bet you’re good at dropping them.” He’s probably right.

  I have backed myself up against the terrace wall and can go no further. Alita has followed and she is ignoring my protests. She holds the baby out. It turns big, blue eyes in my direction and suddenly, the sun is shining again. It lifts its arms as if it wants me to pick her up and her wails quiet to sniffles. Relieved, Alita practically shoves the baby into my arms and backs away. Having no other choice, I cradle the baby against my chest. She is suddenly, blissfully quiet. Oh, this sucks.

  I look up at the stunned crowd and I’m a little insulted by their shock. “What?”

  “What did you do, conk it on the head to get it to shut up?” Taz jests.

  “No,” I growl back.

  “Well, there’s certainly nothing that screams ‘maternal’ about you, so you must have done something to it,” Taz accuses. I don’t know if he’s still teasing or not. Probably not.

  A quick peek in Kallen’s direction has my eyebrows rising. He’s a little green around the edges. “Oh, for goodness sake, just because I got her to stop crying doesn’t mean I want one,” I inform him. His greenish hue turns red and he’s torn between embarrassment and relief. Did he forget it was his idea for me to hold her?

  “I do not sense any other Elf magic,” Isla notes. “Whoever left the baby was not an Elf.”

  “Are you thinking Cowan or Fairy?” Kallen asks her, grateful for the switch in topics.

  “I am not sensing another Fairy,” Isla replies.

  “So, a human dropped off an Elf baby to me?” I am stunned. There are no Cowans in this realm other than Alita’s mom.

  Taz snorts. “You are a master in the art of speaking the obvious,”

  Reading my mind, Kallen explains, “It was likely a Cowan who lives amongst the Elves.”

  “He couldn’t have gone far. Maybe we can catch him and give the baby back,” I suggest hopefully.

  “But, the note implies the baby is in danger,” Alita reminds me. “Should we not figure out if that is true or not before sending her on her way?”

  Now I feel like a heel. “Um, sure,” I mutter. I add, “We could get answers, though.”

  “If the Cowan is under the glamour of the Elves,” Tabitha says, “It is unlikely we would learn anything.”

  So, that sucks, too. The baby has wrapped its tiny hands around bits of my shirt and is clinging to me like a spider monkey. I stare down into its blue eyes and am startled by the clarity I find there. Around us, the scent of wildflowers has returned. “So, Elf babies are born being able to use glamour?” I ask no one in particular.

  “To an extent,” Isla says slowly. “This child seems a great deal more capable than others.”

  Kallen’s eyes find her. “Royal blood?”

  I look down at the baby again. She has wisps of reddish hair and tiny little points on her ears. She is a beautiful baby. She also looks an awful lot like a certain Elf Queen I met not that long ago. “Do you think she’s Addylyn’s baby?” When the name Addylyn leaves my lips, a smile stretches across the baby’s mouth. I will take that as a yes.

  “What would make the Queen of the Elves dump her baby in another realm?” Kegan asks. Alita nudges him in the ribs. “What? That is what she has done.”

  “I don’t know, but I think I should find out,” I say. I look at Kallen. “Up for a trip to the Elf realm?” I don’t hear his response. It is drowned out by a wail louder than I thought possible from such a tiny creature. The baby’s legs begin to kick and her little fists grasp my shirt tighter.

  “I do not believe she wants you to go to the Elf realm,” Kegan unhelpfully points out.

  “Seriously, a cork, a gag, something,” Taz grumbles as he lays his head on the terrace floor and tries to cover his little ears with his paws.

  “Shh,” I whisper soothingly next to the baby’s ear as I sway back and forth. I could take her voice away, but that doesn’t seem right with a baby. She has no other way to express herself.

  “Perhaps we should wait to discuss details,” Isla suggests. “Surely, she will need sleep soon. She has had quite a day, I imagine.”

  “Is there anything else in the bassinet?” I ask over the baby’s wails.

  Kallen picks up the violet colored blanket and shakes it out. “No,” he says.

  “What is on the blanket?” Alita asks. She takes it from Kallen. “I believe this is her name.” She holds the blanket up for us to see the embroidered word. Lielle.

  The baby is beginning to calm down again. When I don’t need to shout over her anymore, I say, “Maybe she’s hungry. What do Elves feed their babies?” If they only drink breast milk, this kid is seriously out of luck. There’s not a lactater among us.

  “Bring her inside, we will find something for her,” Tabitha grunts. She is still offended the baby would not calm down for her. I’m certain it was the first time ever she could not soothe a crying child.

  I’m not comfortable walking so far with the baby in my arms. The way she’s squirming, I’m afraid I’m going to drop her. Yes, I helped with Zac after my parents became ghosts, but he was way past the baby stage by then and therefore much less fragile if I happened to drop him. Which I never did. Well, I did once. We both fell asleep watching a movie and when Mom woke me up, she told me to carry Zac to his room. In my defense, I was still half asleep myself.

  Reading my mind, Kallen says, “You will be fine walking across the house with her. You are not going to drop her.”

  Taz snorts. “He is giving you way more credit than you deserve.” If I wasn’t holding a baby, I would kick him.

  Reluctantly, I ever so slowly follow everyone through the large living room and down the hall to the kitchen. I consider climbing onto a stool, but doing that while holding the baby would most likely end with one of us on the floor. I’ll stand.

  “Put her in here,” Kallen suggests, setting her bassinet on the table.

  I glance down at the baby and know from how big and round her eyes are, she is going to scream if I try to put her down. “Maybe when she has calmed down a bit more,” I tell him. Everyone else takes a seat.

  “I should let Dagda know what has happened,” Kallen says more to Isla than me.

  Isla nods. “Yes, you should. With that exception, this is something we need to keep amongst ourselves. At least until we find out what is going on.”

  “Why me
?” I ask no one in particular. “I mean, Addylyn has met me. Like Taz pointed out a few minutes ago, I don’t exactly ooze maternal from my pores. Why would she leave her child with someone who has no idea what to do with her?”

  Kallen raises a brow. “You must know something as you are the only one who could calm her.”

  I glance down at the baby again. Why am I the only one who could calm her? It was probably a fluke. To test that theory, I hold her out to Kallen. “You hold her for a minute.”

  The horrified expression on his face does not bode well for our future children. “She seems quite content to be in your arms.”

  To my delight and Kallen’s continued horror, the baby holds her arms out to him. “See, she wants you to take her.” With a defeated sigh, Kallen reaches for the baby. He grasps her with both hands around the waist and holds her at arms’ length.

  “Good thinking him not letting her get too close. She might have rabies or some other communicable disease,” Taz remarks from where he’s sitting at Tabitha’s feet while she mashes a banana in a bowl.

  I roll my eyes. “She doesn’t have rabies.”

  Believing I was speaking to him, Kallen flushes red and brings the baby closer to him. Only about six inches closer, but closer nonetheless. “I do not believe she has rabies,” he says sheepishly.

  “I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “I cannot believe she is not screaming her head off staring at your unfortunate face,” Kegan snickers. Quite the contrary. The baby is smiling at Kallen.

  “Imagine what I would do to you if I was not holding a baby at the moment,” Kallen growls. “Because as soon as I put her down, that is exactly what I am going to do.”

  “Enough,” Tabitha says, setting the bowl of mashed banana on the counter. “Put her in here.” A highchair magically appears.

  “Is she old enough to go in there?” I ask. I have no idea when babies are old enough to sit up on their own.

  “She looks to be around six or seven months old. She will be fine,” Isla assures me.