Page 5 of Destined to Fight

The two of them stared each other down for what felt like minutes. Red-Hair’s jaw clenched, and the veins in his temples and forehead looked as if they might pop any moment. Blondie stared at him with the intensity only a woman could manage, the kind that says Cross me and I’ll cut your fucking dick off or something like that.

Finally, she took a deep breath and looked away. “Very well, Kade, do as you feel you must. You will learn to reorganize your priorities soon enough, or you will be stripped from this precious new position you find yourself in. Placing a human above the matters of the Council does not speak well to your ability to lead your people.” She sighed dramatically as she stood from her seat. “I find myself in need of some fresh air. I do hope you have this resolved when I return so we can focus on more important matters.” With that, she left the room, her heels clicking on the floor as they carried her away.

Straightening his tie and squaring his shoulders yet again, Red-Hair—or Kade, as they called him—attempted to compose himself and hide his anger as he turned toward Kelly. He kneeled in front of her and spoke gently, “Now then, lass, let’s chat, shall we?”

His deep-gray eyes had a calming effect as they stared into hers. The right side of his mouth curved up again in that sideways smile he’d given her earlier, and she would have melted if she’d been standing. He was clean-cut. The sides of his hair were cut close, but it was a bit more wild on top and had a bit of curl to it. He had a full beard that shaped his jaw perfectly, and it was cleanly trimmed as well. Even hidden behind a beard, his face and cheekbones were well defined. He looked like one of those men in a lumberjack commercial; he just needed to forgo the gray suit for jeans, a plaid shirt, and an ax. Kelly couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of him as a lumberjack. The harder she tried to get the image out of her mind, the more futile her attempts. Then she snorted, and then laughed even harder in embarrassment. That scolding voice spoke in her head. There you go again, letting your mind lead you down crazy lane as you face a rather serious situation. Really, Kelly, you need help.

Finally gaining control, Kelly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at him again. He seemed amused with her, not mad or frustrated as she thought he would be.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it. This is not how I expected things to go, and my emotions are getting the better of me. You want to chat, let’s chat.”

“Right,” he said. “Ye’ve been watching this building for months now, and I kent it from the moment I felt ye staring at me from across the street. I had ye followed that night, and every night since, to see what ye were up to and what ye would do. I ken ye were breaking in tonight, and I waited for ye to make it up here so I could confront ye.”

Surprise, shock, wonder, and awe all made their way through her before anger landed home. “You asshole! You knew I was doing all of this, and you let me—only to knock me down and embarrass the hell out of me when we finally came face to face? What the hell? Do you like playing games with peoples’ heads? Well, thank you for the mindfuck, I’ll be on my way!”

She pushed herself up out of the chair and took one defiant step before almost falling flat on her face as her head spun again. He caught her and gently placed her back into the chair as that damn crooked smile made an appearance again. He was so good-looking, it started to take away from her anger at him.

“Just listen, will ye? Jesus. Aye, I kent ye were watching us, and I had ye followed. People don’t find this building or see us coming and going because we have safeguards in place to stop those sorts of things. The fact that ye saw us entering the building means there’s more to ye than even ye ken. I had ye followed to see who ye were and what ye were up to, and I let ye carry out yer special wee plan to see just how far ye would make it and how capable ye are. The fact that you made it up here means yer one of us. Yer magical, Kelly.”

He said it like she was supposed to know what that meant. Magical? Like the guys in Vegas, now you see me, now you don’t type of shit? What in the ever-loving hell was he talking about?

“Riiight, well, you’re clearly off your rocker, so, as I’ve said before, I’ll be on my way now. This obviously was not how I meant for things to turn out, and you’re obviously not the kind of special I thought you were. Thanks for your time and for knocking me on my ass. Bye now.” She tried to get up again, but this time his hand went to her shoulder and kept her from moving at all.

He looked her in the eyes again and spoke with the seriousness of a parent. “Ye think I’m off my rocker, but ye can’t deny the things that happen when yer near us. Yer fingers spark when yer close to this building or to me. Ye’ve felt my power hit ye every time ye’ve seen me. Ye ken something about us, about ye, is different; it just scares ye too much to admit it.”

Kelly didn’t have to think before she spoke. “Yes, I think you’re crazy. Magic, power, sparks? You caught me, bravo for you, but I don’t plan to sit around here while you try to mold my mind into believing some insane shit just so you can lock me up in a mental institution and keep me quiet for the rest of my days. I’m not nearly as stupid as you believe me to be. What do you want? If it’s money, I don’t have any, and I don’t have any connections either. If you want my body, you seem to have enough money to pay for someone who is willing.” Again, she tried to get up, and again he stopped her. Shit.

“Oh, enough, Kade, just show her!” a dark-haired man said from across the table. “If you won’t, I will.”

Kelly had forgotten anyone else was there. Great, now she could be embarrassed in front of them all. This was some sick and twisted joke, and she was done with it.

“You people are all ins…” Her words cut off as fangs descended from the dark-haired man’s pearly white smile. A woman on the left side of the table stood and held her hands out in front of her as electricity crackled between them. A blond man with long, braided hair to her right stood, and she noticed his ears were pointed. One after the other, all ten people at the table stood and revealed something different about themselves. Kelly turned to Kade, thinking he was her safety in all of this, only to see fangs coming from his mouth too. She opened her mouth to finish telling them they were all insane, and everything went black.

hearing returned before her eyesight came back to the party.

“Ye bunch o’ numpties, did ye really think it was best to just show yerselves all at once like that?” came Kade’s voice.

“She was already hysterical, and anger was clouding her judgment. What would you have done, shown her just one of us? Kade, you’re joking with yourself if you think anything else would have worked,” said a man with an English accent.

“Humans, always leading with emotion.” An Australian woman this time.

A groan escaped her before she spoke groggily, “I can hear you, ya know?”

“Aye, lass, take it easy. Don’t move too quickly or ye’ll end up right back in the land of dreams.”

Struggling to focus, Kelly’s eyes opened slowly. She was bent over, still sitting in the chair, with her head in his….

“Oh fuck!” Her head was in his lap! Talk about embarrassing. Instinct told her to sit up immediately, but having almost fallen on her face numerous times this evening had taught her at least one lesson. Kelly braced her hands on his knees and gently pushed herself up until she was fully upright. “I am so, so sorry I ended up, um, well,”

He saved her from herself. “It’s quite all right. Shall we pick up where we left off, then?”

“Uh, sure,” she managed. “You said I’m one of you, and all of these, um, folks showed me that they’re ‘magical,’ as you put it. You’re saying I’m magical? I really think you must be mistaken.” Besides a couple of ums here and there, Kelly congratulated herself on a well-formed sentence, given the circumstances. There was hope for her yet!

Kade smiled at her, fully this time. “What we are is known as Arcane. It means that we are not human, and we have special traits or abilities that define each of our races. Humans would likely describe it as magical, which is why I used the word. I am a vampire; Fabian, to yer right, is fae. Ms. Crackle Fingers on the left is a mage, and I believe ye are as well. Ye just haven’t gone through yer bonding yet, so yer power is hiding below the surface.”

So many questions came to mind, but before Kelly could pick one to ask, Ms. Goody Two-Shoes sauntered back into the room. Her eyes scanned the room, passing over Kelly with a look of pure disgust before landing on Kade.

“Right then, can we get down to business now? I see your new pet has calmed a bit and seems to have her emotions contained for the moment.”

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