Burkheart Witch Saga Book 3 (10 page)

J
orek woke
, his head pounding and a sharp pain shooting through his shoulder. The fireplace poker protruding from his chest was the obvious culprit. He tried to remember exactly what had happened before the world went black.

The queen!

He rose from the floor and grasped the iron poker in both hands. The flesh of his palms sizzled as he tried to pull the rod free. It was no use. The poker was lodged firmly.

Without warning, a flash of light illuminated the entire room. Jorek felt something push him from behind, and he watched the poker shoot from his chest and embed itself in the far wall.

He turned and saw the queen lying on the floor with blood pooling around her. Her hand was outstretched and she was breathing, although it was very shallow.

Jorek had already begun to heal. Now that he had broken the curse that had been upon him for more than five hundred years and he was fully fairy again, he healed very quickly. He rushed to the queen and gently turned her over.

"My Queen, what have they done?"

Kayla tried to speak but she only managed to wince in pain.

"I failed you, My Queen. My job was to protect you, and I failed."

She slowly raised a hand to his cheek and shook her head. She even managed a small smile before her head lolled to one side. Her last act had been to save him.

"No!" Jorek shouted and brought her limp body to his chest.

As tears streamed from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, he rocked Kayla back and forth in his arms. He pulled away and looked at the small knife that was stuck in her chest. He pulled the blade from her chest and leaned forward, allowing a single tear to fall from his eye and land squarely into the wound.

A soft pink glow surrounded the ragged flesh.

"Please," he murmured, not sure if his fairy magic would still work. He had not healed anyone for so many years, and it was not always a guarantee that it would work.

Within minutes, Kayla's wound had closed and the pink glow was emanating from deep within her chest, where it was hard at work healing her internal injuries. Or so Jorek hoped.

He continued rocking Kayla, waiting for the magic to finish its work. His own healing had slowed due to the power he'd used to help Kayla, and he felt suddenly weakened. He sat back on the floor and waited, stroking Kayla's hair.

"Grace needs you, Your Highness. Please wake up."

He smiled when he saw her chest move as her lungs once again filled with air. Her eyes opened and she slowly sat up, looking at the golden man who sat beside her.

"Jorek," she said hoarsely. "You saved me."

"But Harold is in danger. I was able to bring his soul back, but it was too late. Another inhabits his body, and she has control. I fear she means harm to the princess."

"Where is Grace?"

"They took her to the hospital to deliver the heir."

"Then we had better get there, too."

Kayla rushed outside with Jorek right behind her. She looked around and saw David's car in the distance. It was covered with a fair amount of werewolf goo, but it would have to do. She jumped into the driver's seat and prayed that David still had the spare key hidden in the console. She had told him a thousand times what a bad idea it was to leave a spare in the car. Thank God he never listened.

She started the car while Jorek sidestepped a puddle of wolf and sat in the passenger seat. He barely had time to buckle his belt before she hit the gas and the car screeched out of the driveway.

Within fifteen minutes, they pulled up to the hospital and got out of the car without even closing their doors. As they entered the main lobby, a young nurse with blond hair and an impish smile stopped them.

"Can I help you?"

"Maternity?"

"Down the hall and to the right, but you can only go in if you have family—"

"My daughter," Kayla said, cutting the nurse off and heading straight down the hall.

The nurse turned to look at Jorek. He was a striking, tall blond man with a chiseled physique, but he wore the ill-fitting rags of a vagrant.

"You will need to… uh… put some clothes on," she said, embarrassed for the half-naked man.

"Why is that? I am dressed in my finest," he said, waving a hand in front of the nurse.

Suddenly, she saw an Adonis, dressed in a fine Italian suit.

"I… I'm sorry, sir," she stammered.

Jorek wasted no time making his way down the hall after Kayla.

As he caught up with her at the entrance to the maternity waiting room, a voice boomed over the hospital loudspeaker.

"Code pink, we have a code pink in maternity."

David stood in the doorway between the waiting room and the ward. When he saw Kayla, he rushed over and took her in his arms. They didn't need to exchange words; everything they needed to say was said in their embrace. David knew there were more pressing matters than their own reunion.

"Harry tried to kill Grace and he ran out with the baby."

"That was not Harold, Your Highness. Harold is there, but he has been hijacked by another spirit that entered his body while it was empty," Jorek said, looking ashamed.

"I know, Jorek. Harry would never hurt Grace. We have to find him, though. Whoever is in there with him has control and we have no idea what they'll do to the baby."

"She won't hurt the baby," Grace said, limping up behind David.

"What are you doing out of bed?" He stepped back and put his arm out for support. She took it gratefully.

"I can't just lay here while someone has my baby. Mom?"

"Yes honey, I'm here."

"She told me you were dead."

"I almost was, but Jorek saved me."

Grace looked into the handsome fairy's eyes.

"Thank you, my friend."

"Munchkin, you keep saying
she
. Do you know who is behind all of this?" Kayla asked.

"I have a pretty good idea, but we have to see Roland first."

"How are we going to get out of here? The whole hospital is on high alert." Mooney said, looking around at the staff rushing around and security guards standing post at every exit.

"I can get us out," Jorek said, walking past the staff and guards toward the exit. No one so much as turned their heads to watch the group walk out. "Fairy glamour." He smiled with pride.

The entire group of ten walked to their vehicles and piled in.

"
Seven twenty-nine Desidero
," Grace instructed them all without speaking a word.

The two cars pulled out and made their way to Roland's office.

A
s the two
cars pulled up to the rundown old building with the crooked "For Lease" sign hanging in the dusty window, the building began to transform. The mythical carvings appeared above the golden columns and a plush red carpet covered the previously dilapidated steps. Grace looked up at the carvings, examining each scene. She saw the monsters with the tails of fish, and the pictographic stories of men fighting monsters, rams and lions charging at mythical creatures and all manner of beasts.

Scanning the rest of the carvings, she saw something she was sure had not been there before. In the far corner of the building, a woman stood in front of a large window, staring out at an expanse of trees and hills. She had long hair and a sad look on her stone face. Just past that, the same window showed a clawed hand reaching through the mirror and grabbing hold of the woman while she struggled against the grip of the monster. The last carving in the story showed the woman on the other side of the window, but this time she no longer had the fresh, youthful face that the first carving portrayed. Her face was sagging and haggard, her posture no longer strong and tall, but now slack and slumping. Seeing the carvings for the first time, Grace wondered if the clues had been there all along, and maybe she had not wanted to see them.

She turned to her family that stood behind her, awaiting instructions.

"I have to do this alone."

"No way. We are all in this together," Kayla said. She stepped up and took Grace's hand.

"Mom, I love you. You have given me so much strength and shown so much courage my whole life. I can only hope to be half the woman you are, but you have to let me handle this in my own way. I started this, and now I need to finish it."

"Don't be silly, Munchkin. You are twice the woman I could ever be. You go and handle this, but know that I am right here if you need me. We are all right here." Kayla hugged her daughter and took a step back, allowing Grace to make the journey by herself.

Kayla felt much the same way she felt on Grace's first day of school. She watched the grown woman, now a mother herself, take the few steps up to Roland's office, but she saw a small, fragile little girl taking her first steps toward independence. Grace turned back one last time before entering the palatial office. She looked at Kayla and smiled as David stepped up and put a consoling arm around his wife.

"I love you all."

With that, she opened the door and disappeared.

As she stepped into the familiar lobby, she surveyed the curtains and velvet wall coverings. Somehow, everything that had once seemed lush, exotic, and beautiful was now cloying, foreboding, and frightening. She felt as though the walls were hovering above her, waiting to come down and smother her without warning.

Grace set her feelings of dread aside and strode confidently through the curtains that hid Roland's inner office from view. Stepping through, she saw a room much different from the one she expected.

She had entered into a large chamber with a small chair directly in the center. Harold sat in the chair, his arms bound and his head lying limp on his chest. The rest of the room was filled with shadows and dark corners, but Grace felt another presence. She wanted to run to Harry's side and help him, but she had a nagging feeling that this was just a trap. She looked around and listened for any hint of her newborn's presence. She smelled the air, hoping to catch a whiff of that sweet powdery baby scent. Nothing.

"Come in, Grace," an unfamiliar voice called out from the shadows.

"Who's there?"

"If I told you, I would have to kill you," the female voice giggled.

"Where is Roland?"

"Aww, how cute. The little witch is calling for her charming hero. I hate to tell you this, but Roland cannot help you. In fact, he cannot help me anymore, either. Ever since he started to go soft for a little witch, he cannot be trusted. Besides, I do not really need him anymore. I have grown quite powerful in my own right. Thanks in part to the Burkheart family magic."

Out of the shadows, a tall blond woman stepped forward. She was half corporeal and half black, misty fog. As she approached Grace, her form solidified and she stood before her in a long, blue velvet gown. She was statuesque, taller than Grace's five-foot-eight, with pale, porcelain skin and eyes of bright green that recalled memories of Grace's trip to Ireland with her parents as a teen.

"Where is my baby?" Grace demanded, standing tall in front of the creature.

"Such a strong little thing you are! I would almost be afraid, but I know that you are weakened. You smell of blood and medicine, and you are weakened by your love for these creatures." She indicated Harry and made a gesture toward the other side of the room.

Grace assumed that the baby was somewhere in the shadows, hidden from view and, Grace prayed, safe.

"If you hurt either of them, I will kill you," Grace growled at her through gritted teeth.

"That would be up to you, my dear."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, your baby is going to need a mother. I have honestly grown tired of this game. Body switching, wishes, blah, blah, blah. It will be so much simpler if you just give over your body to me. I will care for the baby until she is of age, and then I will take her over. It really is simple."

"You are insane if you think I am going to let you do this to me or my family."

"Well, I have been accused of worse in the past, but it really is a brilliant plan," the woman said smugly.

"I need to see my baby. I need to know she's all right."

"In due time, dearie. First, I will need an answer. I do not see that you have any other choice, really. If you do not comply, I will kill you and your entire family. I think I will start with this little one."

Grace waved her hand. She watched as a bassinet rolled out of the corner to the center of the room. Grace stepped forward, but the woman held up her palm, stopping Grace in her tracks. She struggled against the invisible wall, but could not move. She cried out in frustration.

"There is that spirit that I like so much. I can see how Am-Sher-Al became so smitten with you. He always did have a soft spot for feisty blondes."

"There is nothing between him and me. I love Harry and Harry only. Roland is just as big a monster as you are."

"That is where you are wrong, my dear. He is the weak link in this equation. I am the one who has had to be strong. All these years, I have borne the loss and the pain and he has done nothing but live a plush life as someone's lap dog."