Page 83 of The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles 2)

“Is this what you wanted to see, Cailleach?” His voice had turned into something strangely musical, like harp strings plucked by steel claws.

“Stay away from her,” Frank and Bill shouted at the same time. They moved to stand on either side of Duncan and me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blond twins—also now transformed into winged monsters—moving toward us, but the Stewarts stepped in front of them and raised their shields.

“Ye wee bastards!” growled Angus Stewart in a surprising reversion to a Scottish burr. “How dare ye show your faces in my town?”

“These are the creatures who are behind the Grove’s attempt to close the door,” Frank said in a loud voice so that those remaining in the glade could hear. “They are the ones who attacked the fishermen in the woods and made it look as if it was the work of an undine. Look at the scars on this one’s back.” Frank pointed to the marks that Duncan claimed had come from the bat-winged imp. “Those were made by Nephilim claws. They’re liars and fiends who are able to get inside your dreams…” Frank looked at me, and I recalled how Duncan had claimed it had been Lorelei who had tried to drown me in my dream. It had been Duncan all along.“…and would enslave you all.” Frank began to recite a string of Gaelic words. Duncan flinched with pain. The spell was working, but then he recovered, flexed one wing and knocked Frank backward as lightly as if he were swatting a fly.

Duncan turned to me, smiling. “Yes, we are Nephilim, the sons of angels…”

“The sons of bastard elves,” Frank muttered from where he lay on the ground.

“No,” Adelaide said, stepping forward. For a moment I thought she was going to defend me and my heart warmed. I realized that I’d never entirely given up on the idea of my grandmother loving me. But then she crushed that hope. “That’s a false story. The Nephilim are the sons of angels, not elves. They’re the only creatures who don’t need to go back to Faerie for Aelvesgold. They create it themselves. Look.” Adelaide stepped closer to Duncan, bowing her head reverentially, the first time I’d ever seen her do such a thing. She whispered something in a language I didn’t know. His upper lip twitched into a sneer that I could see, but Adelaide, on his other side, could not. Then he bowed his head and plucked one of his own feathers out of his wing and handed it to Adelaide. She brushed the feather against her face and the lines of age fell away, her hair turned from silver to gold, and her skin glowed with youth…and Aelvesgold. “Who but an angel could do that?” Adelaide said, practically purring with pleasure. “This is why the fey were jealous of them.”

“The fey recognized how dangerous they were,” Soheila said. “They were mating with humans, creating a race of heartless monsters. They would have destroyed the human race.”

“Which would have been very inconvenient for those of you who feed on humans,” Duncan snarled. “That is why thefey imprisoned us. But now we are free, and once the door closes there will be no one to stop us.”

“I won’t let you close it,” I said, and then repeated the words of the heart-binding spell.

Duncan’s lips curved into a slow, sensual smile. He ran the tip of his claw down my throat and between my breasts. I took another step back from him, still repeating the words of the spell, appalled that I’d ever let this creature touch me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bill step toward us.

“Are you sure, Cailleach? I’d rather keep you alive. I’ve enjoyed our time together, despite your reserve. I’m sure we could break through that in time.”

A growl came from Bill that wasn’t entirely human.

“I’d rather die,” I snarled, and then repeated the spell, louder now.“QUAM COR MEA APERIT, TAM IANUA APERIT!”

“Ah,” Duncan said, “A heart-binding spell. How clever of you. But surely you read the caution in Wheelock? The best way to disarm a heart-binding spell…” He lifted his hand, one claw poised in the air as if he were making a point. “…is to stop the heart of the doorkeeper.”

I felt the disturbance of air as his claw descended in a violent swoop toward my throat. I raised my hand to ward off the blow and his claw sliced through my flesh. His hand raised again and I saw the flash of gold-tipped claws coming toward me, but then something moved between us. It was Bill, riding a stream of moonlight that moved fast as quicksilver. He pushed me aside and took the blow meant for me. He fell to his knees, his hand to his neck. I dropped down beside him, my hand meeting his over the gaping wound in his throat.

“Bill!”

Hot blood poured over our joined hands. He looked down at it, surprise widening his eyes. “Callie, look! I’m human.That must mean you…” He slumped in my arms and fell across the threshold of the door, his blood spilling on the wet ground with the last beats of his now human heart.

“Bill!” I cried, cradling his face in my hands. For a moment I saw Liam’s face superimposed over Bill’s, then the face of the incubus I’d seen in Faerie, and then just plain Bill. The man who had fixed my roof, removed a splinter from my hand telling me he was sorry he’d hurt me, and who had made love to me the last two nights. The man I finally understood I loved—a moment too late.

I looked up at the winged creature above us and something broke inside me. The last ward shattered in a million pieces. Maybe it was finally understanding that I loved Bill—or maybe it was the clarity of hating Duncan—that burned it away. I felt the last coil unwind around my heart and my full power surge in its wake. I stood and held up my arms. A great wind roared through the glade, knocking all the humans in the glade to the ground. Even Duncan stumbled backward a few feet, but he held his ground and started to laugh.

“Ah, so you’ve discovered your power, little witch. It won’t be long until you join us. I’m glad I won’t have to kill you after all. It looks like a drop of your blood mingled with the blood of one who loved you is all the blood sacrifice needed to close the door.”

I turned and saw Bill’s body dissolving into light. When he was gone, the door filled with a red-gold glow and then exploded into a fireball. The force of the explosion rocked the earth and knocked me off my feet. I felt myself hurtling backward through space—and then nothing at all.

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