Blood of Egypt (Witch Fairy Book 8) Read online

  I shake my head. “No, I still want to go on vacation. I don’t really think it matters where I am when he decides to confront me. I’m sure he’ll pull me into Angel time.”

  His hand is stroking my back and it feels wonderful. “Are you worried?” he asks.

  Yes. Who wouldn’t be? “No.”

  “Liar.”

  “Maybe.”

  He laughs and rubs his chin over the top of my head. “You beat him once, I have confidence you will do so again. Where would you like to go on vacation?”

  “I want to go back to my realm and I want to go everywhere. That would probably take too much time, so how about we just go to one or two places that I’d love to see. Since we’d have to pick places where we could appear without many people seeing us, how about we start with the volcanoes on Hawaii, then go to the Grand Canyon, and then where I really want to go. I want to see the great pyramids.”

  “All of the above sounds like fun.”

  “Can we leave now? We can leave a note.”

  “Why the hurry?” he asks, his hand gently massaging my back.

  “I’m afraid something will come up forcing us to postpone indefinitely.” Something always comes up that has to be dealt with immediately.

  Kallen chuckles. “You may have a point. Things are calm at the moment though.”

  I crane my neck to look up at him. “May have a point? Let’s see – Isla is super pissed at Tabitha and one of them is going to explode any minute. Garren is going to be following Isla around like a puppy dog until she either gives in or kills him. Dagda always has something going on that has the potential of war or death.”

  “What about the fact that Raziel and Adriel are newly Fallen? Would it be fair to leave them alone with a houseful of strangers?” he asks.

  I groan. I forgot about that. “No.”

  “Perhaps we can invite them along.”

  I sit up and look at him, trying to determine if he’s being sincere or not. “You’d be okay with that?” It hasn’t been that long since he got over his jealousy of Raziel.

  Kallen shrugs. “Why not?”

  “That’s your only response?”

  He smiles and sits up as well. Leaning forward, he gives me a light kiss. “Yes, that is my only response.”

  It would be fun to see Adriel’s reaction to things she has only seen from a distance. I’m sure Raziel could use a vacation as well. “If we invite them, we should also invite Kegan and Alita.”

  Kallen shakes his head as he stands up and stretches. Again, he is damn sexy. “That is not possible for two reasons. One, you have made it so that no other Fairies can travel to the Cowan realm other than yourself and me. Two, they are in the middle of planning a hand-fasting. Kegan may want to get out of that, but I am sure Alita will not.”

  Good points. “Okay, then let’s find Adriel and Raziel and get out of here.”

  Done stretching, which looks incredible considering he’s naked, Kallen leans down and kisses me. “After a shower. Care to join me?” That’s a stupid question.

  An hour later, we finally make it downstairs. We’ve missed breakfast but that’s okay. It was worth it. The kitchen is empty so we have to search for everyone.

  Tabitha is in her garden. She’s pulling up weeds like she’s a madwoman. I’m guessing she and Isla had words again this morning. We avoid her for the time being.

  Raziel and Adriel are swimming. At least, Raziel is. Adriel is not convinced it’s her idea of fun. She’s in up to her ankles but is resisting Raziel’s coaxing to go any deeper. She looks fantastic in a red bikini and from the look in Raziel’s eyes, he agrees.

  “You’re an Angel of Death. Are you seriously afraid of water?” I tease, splashing her.

  Startled, she turns and glares at me. “I am unaccustomed to the idea of submersing my body in a giant vat of salt.”

  I roll my eyes. “It’s salt water. It’s not going to hurt you.”

  “Unless I drown.”

  I shake my head and laugh. “Don’t you think Raziel already knows whether or not you’re going to drown? I don’t think he’d encourage you to go swimming if that was the case.”

  Adriel’s cheeks turn pink. I guess she hadn’t thought of that. “Fine,” she grumbles and moves another foot towards Raziel so her knees are now wet.

  “We came to ask you guys if you want to go on vacation with us,” I say, amused at how she’s inching her way into the water.

  “I am afraid we cannot,” Raziel says, wading in towards the shore to Adriel.

  My brow furrows. “Why not?” I ask.

  Raziel turns a worried face to me. That’s not a good sign. “You must make this trip with your husband only. But you will find new friends on the way. You will need to trust them.”

  Great. “You know, you just sucked the fun out of this whole idea.”

  Looking sheepish, Raziel says, “I apologize. Perhaps I should have simply said ‘have fun’.”

  I shake my head and Kallen comes to stand at my side, his own worry showing. “I guess it’s better to be prepared. Is it Belial?”

  Raziel’s lips press into a thin line for a moment. “I have already said too much. I am bound by the same laws as Urim.”

  Of course he knows Urim paid me a visit. I want to scream. “So you guys can tell me just enough to scare the crap out of me and then you leave me hanging?”

  A wry smile touches his lips. “I suppose that does seem unfair.”

  “Unfair?” I want to go off on a tirade but I don’t. It’s not Raziel’s fault. It’s the way of the universe.

  “Should we stay here?” Kallen asks. “Where we are surrounded by others who could assist us if magic is needed?”

  Raziel shakes his head. “You will have plenty of magic at your disposal.”

  I turn to Kallen. “I don’t think I want to go now.”

  He puts an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. “I know what you mean.”

  “You must go,” Raziel says.

  “I do not know what Raziel knows, but I do know that he would not say that lightly,” Adriel adds shyly. That’s so strange from her; and her adoration for him is dripping from her words. She has it bad.

  “Coming from the person who didn’t trust him enough to believe she wouldn’t drown,” I mumble under my breath.

  I am suddenly hit in the face by a wave of water. I am drenched from head to toe. Kallen got wet too but he’s a lot more amused about it than I am. I glower at Adriel and send a wave her way now. She glowers back and retaliates. This goes on until we’re both laughing and then we team up against Raziel and Kallen. When Adriel and I put our magic together, we create a backwards, miniature tsunami that grabs them and drags them out into the deeper water. Both of them come up sputtering and swim their way to shore. Our vacation that probably won’t really be a vacation can start later. When we’re dry.

  Chapter 6

  Finally dragging ourselves from the ocean when we are too tired to play anymore, we head to the kitchen for nourishment. Since we skipped breakfast, we’re starving. Tabitha and Garren are having a heated conversation that stops abruptly when we walk in. Frowning, I ask Tabitha, “Is everything okay?”

  She jabs her thumb towards Garren. “Ask Dragon boy here. He claims my stew is not spicy enough.”

  Cooking? They’re arguing over cooking? Huh. I thought it would be over Isla or the fact that he can never return to the Dragon realm again because of Tabitha. “What does he know? He’s been living with Goblins and Dragons most of his life.” Okay, I’m not a huge fan of Garren yet. I don’t know why, he just kind of rubs me the wrong way.

  Tabitha has a smug smile on her face now. “You four have a seat and I will let you sample it. Then you can tell fire breath here how wrong he is.”

  Works for me. Tabitha dishes out several bowls full of stew and places them in front of us. Since I’m starving, I finish it in no time. “Delicious,” I say, beaming at Tabitha.

  “It certainly smells good,” D
ad says, floating into the kitchen. He goes to the pot on the stove and inhales deeply. I wish he could still eat. He misses it so much.

  “Dad, Kallen and I are going on vacation.”

  He turns from the stove. “Vacation? Where?”

  “We’re thinking Hawaii, the Grand Canyon and Egypt. That’s the one I’m really excited about.”

  He nods in approval. “I was there once when I was in college. Loved it. When are you leaving?”

  I look at Kallen. “As soon as we rinse the saltwater off.” Kallen nods in agreement.

  “Your mother is with Alita at her house working on plans for the hand-fasting. Will you be back for that?”

  “Of course, I’m her Maid of Honor. I can’t miss that.”

  Dad floats over to me and puts his cold, ghostly lips on my cheek in a kiss. I try not to shiver as my body temperature drops with his proximity. “Then you have fun.” Turning to Kallen, he says, “Try to keep her out of trouble.”

  Kallen gives him a helpless look. “Do you really think that is possible?”

  Dad laughs and pats him on the back, or at least, it looks like he does. “No, I guess not.”

  “Funny,” I grumble.

  “Don’t forget to bring money with you,” Dad says. “Take whatever you think you’ll need.”

  I hadn’t even thought of that. I guess there might be things we need money for instead of magic. Like finding a place to sleep. I don’t really want to sleep in the desert.

  Mom and Dad had me bring the money they kept hidden in case we needed to make a hasty escape when I was growing up. It’s no good here but they felt better keeping it close by. Old habits die hard.

  “Thanks, Dad.” Turning to Kallen, I say, “Let’s go before something comes up to keep us here.”

  He nods and rises from his stool. “A couple of quick showers and we can depart.”

  He holds his hand out to me and I take it. I’m so giddy at the moment. Raziel’s words of warning slip to the back of my mind and all I can think about is spending time alone with Kallen.

  It only takes about half an hour to be ready to go. We leave a couple of notes to those who aren’t home so they know where we are. It would probably be nicer to wait for them and say good bye, but it feels like if we don’t go now we won’t be able to go at all.

  I do a mental checklist to make sure we have everything we need. I have my purse with money in it. I have a small suitcase because it looks weird checking into a hotel without one and I don’t want Kallen to have to hold the magic for one all day. I’m dressed for heat because everyplace we go will be warm. I can’t think of anything else. I’m ready to go on my very first vacation.

  Chapter 7

  Kallen and I walk out onto the beach. I give the suitcase to him and I close my eyes. I think of the pictures of Hawaii I studied when I was homeschooled. I loved geography because I could dream about being other places than stuck on a mountain in Colorado. Reaching out, I pull back a hole in the realms and before us stretches a sea of gray, cracked rocks. Actually, it’s a sea of dried lava. I’m a little nervous as I step through the realm gateway. I’ve never been here, but I’m smart enough to know that this is a dangerous area.

  Up ahead there are billows of white smoke and we can hear the ocean waves as they crash against the dried lava. I’ve read enough about volcanoes to know that that is one of the most dangerous areas other than the top of the volcano. The shelves of dried lava by the sea are unstable and often disappear under the waves. We plan to avoid those.

  As we get closer to a lava viewing area, the temperature rises drastically. It’s a good thing that Kallen can change our clothes as needed. It’s also a good thing there’s no one else around to see him do that.

  After about an hour of hiking over the sharp jagged rock, I am seriously wishing that I had opened the realm gateway closer to the top. My legs are getting sore and I’m very thirsty. We didn’t think to bring water. So much for me planning ahead. Looking around to see if there are any other hikers, I decide to rectify the situation. Touching Kallen’s arm, I think about being at the top of the volcano and instantly that’s where we are.

  I probably should have thought this through a little better since my husband lands on an unstable piece of rock and starts to slide towards the lava bubbling inside the volcano. Keeping a firm grip on his arm, I teleport us back to where we were. A very angry Kallen stumbles to the jagged rock.

  “A little warning next time would be nice,” he says. Rising to his feet, he assesses the cuts and scrapes that are now on his hands and legs.

  Feeling sheepish, I look up at him and say, “Sorry.” My feeble apology doesn’t do much for him, so I try another approach. I stand on my tiptoes and put my arms around his neck pulling him down to me, capture his lips with mine and kiss him deeply as I heal his wounds. It only takes a second for his arms to be wrapped around me as he pulls me closer. All thoughts of lava and sharp rocks have left our minds.

  Ending the kiss slowly, Kallen rests his forehead against mine. “Have you had enough of volcanoes yet?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I think the next time we come to Hawaii, we should do the normal tourist stuff.”

  “I am not sure what that would encompass,” Kallen says.

  I laugh. “Neither do I.”

  Standing up straight but with his arms still around me, Kallen asks, “Where to now?”

  “Let’s try our luck with the Grand Canyon,” I say. “I promise not to drop you to the bottom.”

  He looks doubtful. “At least there is water there instead of molten lava." Ignoring him, I close my eyes and think of the pictures I’ve seen of the Grand Canyon.

  Chapter 8

  When I open my eyes again, we are standing on a cliff of red stone. This time, there’s a guard rail. So at least I was thinking about safety even if I did forget about stealth. I think the little old lady and her husband standing next to us are both about to have a stroke.

  “Our apologies,” Kallen says, “we did not mean to startle you.”

  “Where did you come from,” the woman asks with her hand on her chest.

  Boy, I really hope I can cure a heart attack or I’m going to feel very badly when she drops to the ground any second now. Pointing behind them, I say vaguely, “Over there.”

  The old gray-haired man takes his wife by the arm and leads her away from us. I can’t say that I blame him. I wasn’t very convincing. I look up sheepishly at Kallen again.

  He laughs. “First you try to kill me, and then you startle the elderly almost to death. This vacation is not off to the best of starts.”

  He’s right of course. But I’m not willing to admit that yet. Taking his hand in mine, I say, “Let’s walk around for a while.” Being the wonderful husband he is, he lets me ignore the truth of his statement and gladly starts walking with me. I’m sure it’s only because we’re on our honeymoon though.

  There are several cement walkways branching off in different directions from the overlook; we choose to follow the one that leads us to the visitor center. There’s a large map outside the center, and we were able to find out our location, a place called Mathers Point. We continue to walk around for a while longer, stopping every few minutes to gaze off into the distance at the beautiful multicolored rocks and the river far below.

  Leaning my head on Kallen’s shoulder, I say, “Weren’t you born when this was still filled in?” I love to tease him about the fact that he was here over three hundred years ago. Time moves differently in the Fairy realm than in this one.

  “Yes, I believe I was here with the date,” he says with a grin.

  I narrow my eyes up at him. “You do know it’s a long way down, don’t you?”

  He chuckles and pulls me into his arms. “You know there was never any one before you.”

  It’s a good thing I do know that. “What should we do now?” I’m not really interested in riding a burro down to the bottom of the canyon or camping anywhere around here, so the impatient me i
s ready to move on.

  Kallen’s eyebrows raised. “Has your attention span always been this short?”

  I pretend to think about it a moment before shrugging and saying, “Yeah, pretty much.”

  He shakes his head. “This is our honeymoon you know; that’s supposed to include at least some romance. Yet all you want to do is bounce from place to place.”