Page 56 of Dead Air
Not a heart to heart, then!
“Come on, you can’t tell me you’re scared ofhim!” Cenn said with a taunting snicker but MacIlwraith shrugged dismissively.
“I don’t really care about his old beef with Merlin. He would have stayed off my radar if it weren’t for that cult and those girls. He was barely on Merlin’s radar, we were all so sure Dùbhghlas had learned his lesson after he was run out of polite society. We thought he was harmless and had moved on.”
“You thought Dùbhghlas would let something like that go? He blames Oglethorpe more than anyone.”
“Merlin is a busybody and a pain in the ass, but he was right. I hate to admit it but he usually is. Dùbhghlas brought it on himself, doing the things he did.”
“I’m not arguing!” Cenn insisted. “What he’s done goes against nature in ways that even demons can’t abide,” he said and MacIlwraith’s brows rose.
“I would have thought that necromancy was your bread and butter.”
“No…” Cenn’s face pinched. “Death is part of the sacred, natural cycle of life andshould bethe one universal law that even magick cannot truly break. Without death and the promise of glory, what would sustainyou?” He tapped his temple. “What would be the point of me, if no one had to fear death? I’d have nothing to barter with and nothing to gain.”
“Why allow it, then?” MacIlwraith challenged, earning a sad sigh from Cenn as he turned and looked in the direction of the visitor’s center.
“It’s not for me toallowor prohibit, just as I am not the only one who can create magick.” Cenn looked around, for dramatic purposes, then stepped closer. “Between you and me, I’m not even sure if I invented the magick in my charms or simply put names to skills that were already evolving in others like me. I’m the one who started this ‘first’ business but I might have just been the first to survive the metamorphosis or the first to make the claim.”
MacIlwraith whistled, shaking his head. “You’re pretty close, if not the first. There might have been others but we don’t see many contenders in mythology until the Devil and Hell are introduced to Christianity. Even Hades is a romantic hero, depending on who you ask, but you’re why demons are synonymous with pure evil.”
“Now you’re just trying to flatter me,” Cenn chuckled and waved it off. “There are many reasons why some cannot let go ofthe dead or seek their aid. It is for them to decide if it’s worth the consequences and damnation,” he said, then nodded over MacIlwraith’s shoulder at Nelson.
He didn’t look but shook his head. “Nelson would kick my ass if I brought him back.”
“You’d try, though.” Cenn remembered that Merlin wasn’t technically immortal like MacIlwraith but was at least eight-hundred years old. “Will Nelson age if he stays with you?”
“It’s too soon to tell but I’m hoping he won’t,” MacIlwraith admitted. “My question remains, Cenn Cruach. Will I be putting his future and our dreams in jeopardy if I leave you here?”
“You think you could take me now?” Cenn laughed but MacIlwraith wasn’t smiling as he pushed away from the rail.
“Stad!” he announced as his hand snatched the air, causing everything to stop around them.
Even Cenn was frozen as a butterfly hung in the air by the post. The hairs on Cenn’s neck stood when he noticed the lack of a breeze and the backpack was stuck mid-swing, hovering over Nelson’s shoulder as he stared at them, motionless.
“I can show you the light,” MacIlwraith said and raised his hand and placed it on Cenn’s forehead, blinding him.
He was engulfed in golden light and warmth and Cenn heard an organ, reminiscent of Bach before it was interrupted by a thumping guitar and a pounding, hypnotic drum beat. Cenn tried to scream but light and trippy, bluesy music spilled from his mouth. It stopped as suddenly as it started, snapping Cenn back to the present and Niall’s porch as birds chirped and the breeze ruffled their hair.
“I’ve got you!” MacIlwraith caught Cenn when his legs gave out.
“Was that… ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida?’” he asked, holding onto the rail as his vision refocused.
“I thought it would be a cool touch. You should come with me,” MacIlwraith added with a cheeky wink.
“I’ll pass but I see that Darrach Clancy has taught you a trick or two. That’s a good one,” Cenn said and saluted MacIlwraith.
“Oh, he’d never have taught me that. I had to figure it out on my own and it tookyearsto catch him in the act so I could try to replicate it.”
“Fascinating,” Cenn said dryly. Hugh Dùbhghlas was truly fucked but so was Cenn if he wasn’t careful.
“We could have a truce,” MacIlwraith suggested, possibly reading Cenn’s thoughts again. “Who knows, you might need my help one day or you might see a reason to help me.”
“Help Niall. I don’t want anything from you but I’ll gladly accept a truce if you’ll doeverythingin your power to protect him. Give me your word and you’ll have no reason to worry about me unless we’re the last two standing.”
“That could be a very long time from now and we might find a way to get along. There’s no telling how much love will change you,” MacIlwraith said with a hopeful look but Cenn rolled his eyes.
“You and Niall really overestimate the power of love. I lovehim, not you or your family of mutant fae. That won’t change.”
