Chapter 25

4 am. Saturday morning

"Ryodan!" The scream of warning tore out of Leni's mouth and echoed in their darkened bedchamber. She almost somersaulted from a prone position to a half kneeling one. Another scream filled the air before Leni came half awake. Wildly casting her arms about, she automatically searched for Ryodan before she realized he was not home from work yet.

Taking a deep breath, she looked around the room and sucked in a gasp as the flickering flames in the tall fieldstone fireplace cast eerie shadows that looked like the shades from her nightmares flowing stealthily across the floor. Fear and dread, so strong that it paralyzed her for a moment, overwhelmed her small frame. Her whole body began shake. For long agonizing seconds, Leni fought for control of her emotions until she realized was safe; she had suffered another vivid nightmare. That was all it was.

She had been dreaming once more of Ryodan's bloodied and mutilated body falling from the cliff again. This time, Mac and Barrons were not there. This time, she was physically standing and watching as he fell to his death, smashed against the rocks below. This time, she was surrounded by Unseelie shades as came for her and her unborn son. The shadows pulsed with menace as they formed an opaque black cocoon around her, blotting out the sky and sun on the strange planet.

There were hundreds of the things in all shapes and sizes, but they all one thing in common: Moira Harkness' face. They seemed to think with a communal mind. Leni felt nauseous as she felt that mind; it was evil and malevolent. It wanted Leni and her unborn son dead, and it wanted her to know that. It wanted her to feel hopeless, helpless and alone. That made Leni angry; she was determined not to give in to them.

This particular nightmare recurred over the past several nights. She didn't know what was worse: watching Ryodan die, or the pain she felt as the shadows sucked the life force out of her body killing her and their son. The Moira faces always grinned with delighted malevolence as they consumed her and Ian.

"Ryodan's dead. If I can't have him, no one can." A female voice laughed inside her head. The words were repeated over and over. They were spoken by Ryodan's beautiful former mistress in a voice that made Leni's skin crawl.

Ian kicked in panic inside her stomach; she could feel the terror in her son's mind For a moment, she wondered if Ian knew about her nightmare, or if he was merely reacting to her fear and anxiety. It didn't matter, Ian's distress blazed brightly in her head. She made a conscious effort to think calm, soothing thoughts. She wished Ryodan was with her. He would soothe their son with his rumbling purr like he always did.

"It's okay, Mighty Thor. Mama's here, and we are safe. It was only a bad dream," she crooned as she infused her fingers with warm, healing power and stroked her belly. After a moment, she could feel Ian's little hand reach out to her much larger one. He sought her comfort. Finally, his mind began to quiet.

Leni knew the nightmare was illogical, and she tried to analyze the root of her fears. Ryodan had explained to her that the Draghar couldn't die. Well, really that wasn't true; they could die, but they didn't stay dead. They came back to life by the next morning. She believed him; she really did. He wouldn't lie about something like that, and if she could accept that Fae were immortal, she could accept Ryodan was too. Still her heart and her emotions overwhelmed her; the nightmare of watching Ryodan die always left her shaken and terrified.

She knew that she was nearly immortal because she had drank the elixir of life. Danal, her grandfather, would not lie about that either. As long as her son was in side of her, she was pretty sure that he couldn't die. Her grandfather wasn't totally sure if the elixir of life would grant Ian the same limited immortality it gave his mother. To the prince's knowledge, it had never been given to a pregnant, mostly human woman before. Still with his combination of unique Draghar, human and Fae genes, Leni was sure that the elixir would do the same for Ian as it did for her.

It wasn't even likely that the Unseelie shades could attack her. Both her Fae and Draghar protection cuffs would automatically prevent them from getting to her long enough to summon Ryodan. He would save them both while killing the Unseelie. Why then, did she have the ominous feeling that something terrible was going to happen soon? Ian felt it too; she was sure of it. Her son had been anxious and restless for more than a week now, and it was getting harder to keep him calm. Bridget had told her that her son Patrick was also anxious and restless, as if he too, were expecting something to happen.

She reached for the remote on the nightstand and turned on the television. She began to flick through the channels trying to find something to occupy her mind. "God bless satellite TV," she thought as she found some old Fifties American movie. It was a silly romantic comedy with Katherine Hepburn and Spenser Tracy. Their antics and banter made her laugh; her laughter made Ian relax even more. Leni soon realized her baby was asleep.

Ryodan found her propped up against the bed pillows half asleep at 5:30 when he entered their bedroom. She smiled drowsily at him then followed him into the bathroom as he prepared for bed. She slipped off her pajamas and stepped into the huge shower stall behind him. He sensed that nightmares had awoken her once again, and turned to embrace her as they stood under the stream of warm water from the shower heads on three of the shower walls. "Are you okay, muirnin?" he asked gently, looking down into the face he loved so much.

Leni nodded. "I just missed you tonight. I wanted to wait up and make love to you. That's all," she stated quietly. Ryodan instinctively knew that Leni needed more than a physical joining; it was not sex she craved. Her nightmares made her need him deep inside her as an affirmation of his eternal life.

He kissed her lightly and ran his hands slowly down her milky white skin to cup, then squeeze the globes of her butt. Frissons of sweet pleasure and anticipation rolled through him. He sighed and closed his eyes feeling the pull of his heart. Leni was almost seven months pregnant and still the sexiest woman he had ever seen. He had hardened with want the moment she started following him into the bathroom.

Gently pulling her with him as he stepped backward, he sat on the long marble bench in shower. Lifting her up and wrapping her legs around his waist, he sat down and positioned her facing him on top of his lap. She was panting now, deep in the throes of her need for him. He could smell her arousal; she needed no preliminaries; after one long searing kiss, she was hot and wet when he slipped inside her.

Closing his eyes again, Ryodan savored the feel of Leni's hot, damp warmth as folds of her silky channel surrounded him and began to pulsate and squeeze. He grunted harshly and began to move, rocking his pelvis up and around making sure to keep contact on the sensitive nub of her clit.

Leni moaned low little animal noises in her throat as she undulated and thrust herself down along his hot hard length. She was totally out of herself now and flying free as she bit down on his shoulder. Her ragged breath scorched his skin even as her body tensed tightly around him and began to quake with the full force of her first orgasm. Her hot, sweet juice bathed his shaft with exquisite sensations.

"Oh, God, woman. Do you have any idea of what you do to me? This never gets old; it just gets better and better," he panted with her. Her glowing violet eyes smiled up at him. Her face was filled with so much happiness and love that it made his heart stutter wildly in his chest.

A wave of love for her swamped him, and she smiled again. Of course, she knew exactly how he felt, just as he knew exactly how she felt. Their soulmate bond opened their minds to each other so deeply, and so intimately, they knew what the other knew; felt what the other felt. He absently wondered how he had ever survived this long without her.

A hot seemingly endless wave of of pleasure flooded his mind and body as her soft hands roamed his flesh. Her warm, wonderful tongue plunged deep inside his mouth then abandoned it to trail kisses down his throat to his chest. As she nipped then suckled lightly first at one erect male nipple, and then the other, she brought him to new heights of ecstasy.

"I love you so much, Leni," he groaned as lifted her head and pushed her back a little to gain better access to her. He bent his head to suckle her right nipple. He knew her pregnancy made her breasts even more sensitive than usual, and he took advantage of that. He never stopped his rhythmic movements inside her as he took the turgid pink bud in his mouth and laved the swollen flesh with a moist tongue. Leni bucked and screamed in mindless wonder as pleasure inundated her nerve endings and flooded her senses from multiple directions the same time.

"I'm coming apart. Oh God, Ryodan. I'm coming apart," she cried.

"Don't worry; I'll catch you. Come for me, love. That's my sweet girl. Come for me." The words were harsh and strained, but Ryodan managed to get them out as he increased the pace of his strokes. Leni kept up with him until her body was once more on the edge of the precipice and ready to go over. Both of their bodies were glistening with sweat. Their breath steamed the air. She licked the salt from his face, throat and chest, reveling in the smell and the taste of him.

Ryodan could feel his own climax building, but he didn't want to come until he gave her one more final release. He slowed his strokes until Leni thought she would go mad. Grunting as he tightened to hold back his release, he wrapped her arms around his neck once more and told her to hang on tight. He leaned her backward, cupped the weight of her breasts in both hands and kneaded them gently. He could feel the jolts of pleasure speeding lightning fast from her breasts to her womb as he bent once more, captured the other swolled bud and increased the suction of his mouth. He nipped lightly at the creamy, silken skin under the aureole. It felt so good to her; he knew it did. He was elated knowing how much pleasure she received from his touch.

He could not hold back any longer, he placed his arms around her back, reared back and began to pump ferociously up and into her. The feeling of him moving inside her; pleasuring her, was so intense that Leni soared headlong into a shattering climax taking him with her. She cried out his name and her love for him. He kept moving deeper and deeper inside her roaring her name as he spasmed his hot seed in bursts inside her channel. He felt totally connected to her with his flesh, his heart and his mind.

The sound of her sweet voice as she cried out his name with abandon, urging him on, only intensified what he felt. So much so that ecstacy roared through him like a freight train, bringing a second orgasm so strong and so close to the first it was like one endless wave. When they finally collapsed together, he could see tears in Leni's deep violet eyes; his own eyes felt damp too.

"I love you so much, Ryodan. I would want to die, if anything ever happened to you," she said weakly.

"I'm not going anywhere, Love. Nothing is going to happen to me,"he crooned softly to her.

As he held Leni's trembling body against him, not for the first time, Ryodan gave thanks for this human body and the physical senses and delicate emotions that came with it. In his long lifetime, he had shifted into beings whose emotions were violent, unspeakable things and whose primal passions ran deeper than an erupting volcano. However, no other race he had ever encountered, no other form he had ever shifted into, made him feel like he did now. He had known the happiness and the sweetness of human love with his first wife, Zayida, but only Leni made him feel all that, plus more. Leni made him feel sheer joy.

Later, Ryodan washed Leni, toweled her off, wrapped her up in his big terry cloth robe and carried her to the bed. As she lay replete in his arms, Leni confirmed the nightmare he suspected. "I can't help thinking that something bad in going to happen soon. I know I can't die, but I keep getting this creepy feeling. I wish you had found Moira," she said.

"Everything will be fine; I will make sure of it. Just stay close to your body guards, Leni. By the way, what do you have planned for your last day as a single woman?" Ryodan teased.

He had not told her about finding Moira's "alleged" body, because he did not want to worry her. But he had doubled her body guards since the morning he found the gruesome scene in the warehouse. If Moira could kill three people like that, there was no telling what she would try to do to Leni and their son, even if she couldn't succeed. That was something, Ryodan could not allow.

"Monika has asked Bridget, Sean, Serena, Megan and myself to lunch at one o'clock. We're going to that new pizzeria, Rocco's, over near University College. It used to be an old MacDonald's restaurant. She says she wants to get to know her younger cousins better, and I would like to get to know her better too. Monika has spent some time with Megan, but not much with Bridget, Sean or me; I think it's time. Besides, she has someone she wants us to meet. She sounded really excited. Do you know who it is?" Leni asked Ryodan.

"No, not a clue. Now get some sleep, sweetheart. You and Ian both need it." Ryodan said as curled around her backside, put one hand possessively on her pregnant stomach and cradled his head with his other arm. He closed his eyes and let himself drift into that peaceful state of meditation that served as sleep for the Draghar warriors. Leni snuggled close and soon fell into a restful sleep. She dreamed, but this time the dreams were pleasant and filled with love.

Leni reached the pizzeria five minutes early, but the others were already inside sitting at a large table in the center of the room. Her two body guards followed her inside and joined Bridget's. Monika had a bodyguard with her too. Leni invited them all to sit with them, but they refused, taking a booth a few seats down where they could watch the cousins and the door.

Leni looked around at the place. It wasn't fancy, but each table was full. The large main room had been dramatically changed; the serving counter had been replaced with a longer one with stools. The fryers had been replaced with ovens. The sinks and dishwasher strategically relocated. The plastic booths and tables were replaced with tables covered with bright red and white checked table cloths. A flower vase with a small posy was placed in the center of each table and prints with scenes it Italy covered the walls. The restaurant no longer looked like a fast food joint; it looked like a charming Italian cafe.

The place had a homey atmosphere, plus the new owners had kept the child's play room in front and several kids were inside playing on the slides and other toys. Their cheerful laughter made Leni feel happy and relaxed. The new cafe was building up quite a custom; several patrons were sitting at a small sofa near the door, waiting to be seated as Leni walked passed them to sit at the empty chair at her cousins' table. Leni took note of a small dark haired girl of about six or seven was sitting next to Monika.

"Good. Everyone's here. Leni, I would like you to meet my daughter, Melanie Iversson. She's six and a half years old. Mellie, these people are your cousins. They are going to love you, just like I do, just like Tegner does. Say hi to everyone, baby." Monika said as Leni joined the table. She proudly hugged the delicate little girl who sat next to her. For a few moments, everyone, except Megan, was shocked; they did not know Monika had a child.

The child was a miniature of her beautiful mother in every way, but she was painfully shy. She hid her face in Monika's side, and didn't want to say hi. That didn't last long, however; within minutes, Sean had charmed Mellie into sitting on his lap. She was laughing at his jokes.

Megan McCormack looked wistfully at the little girl. She had lost her own son, Johnny, at the age of two. God, how she had missed him and his father, John Sr. until Kasteo came into her life. Kasteo, the strange silent alien, had made her feel wonderfully human again. She had been numb with grief until Kasteo with his quiet ways and all encompassing love made her feel alive. She never thought such a big man could be so gentle, but he was.

Megan thought Kasteo was a gift from God, and so was the child whom she carried in her womb now. Kasteo's baby. Boy or girl, she loved it, and she loved Kasteo. She had been given a second chance at love, and she was going to grab at it with both hands.

Kasteo had told her this morning about the elixir. "Don't decide now," he had said. "Wait until you are sure." Megan was sure. She would tell him tonight that she had made her choice. She would take the elixir. She wanted to be his mate forever.

"You're pretty, just like mam said." Mellie exclaimed with a soft Scottish burr as she turned and touched Sean's face with her small fingers. She was fascinated by her tall, handsome part Fae cousin. She laughed as he dipped a battered stick of mozzarella into sauce and pulled the stringy cheese into wide loops before he ate it.

"You know. I always wanted a pretty little girl just like you for a cousin," he told her as he tweaked her nose and winked his gold flecked copper eye at her. She laughed delightedly at that; it seemed to cut the ice for her, and she opened up a little. Leni, Bridget and Sean could sense their grandfather's Fae blood in the little girl. There was no doubt that she was family. Leni looked at Bridget, and the two of them laughed too.

"All the girls think he's pretty, honey." Bridget smiled as she punched her brother lightly on the arm. As he came into his Fae heritage, Sean could easily charm any woman he met, young, old, beautiful or plain. Melanie seemed to adore him. She shyly smiled at her female cousins and talked to them, but it was Sean, she felt the most comfortable with. She wanted to sit on his lap, and that was okay with him. Sean looked at Monika and gave her a wink. Monika visibly relaxed. She had not realized how nervous she had been.

"I'm going to be Mam's Maid of..., Maid of... when she gets married." Melanie proudly stated to the table. "Tegner wants to be my Da. I never had a Da before. Isn't that nice?" The child's excited voice showed her joy and being included in such an important ceremony.

"Maid of Honor, Muirnin. You will be my Maid of Honor. Tegner will be proud to be your Daddy, if you want him to be." Monika said softly. She had tears in her eyes. Leni knew they were tears of happiness.

After they ate, Melanie joined a group of kids on the slide as the cousins watched her through the glass wall. They knew that Monika had been raised in the monastery a couple of hours outside of Dublin that was home to hundreds of sidhe seers. They knew she had trouble with the woman who ran the place and ran away, but they had no idea that she had a daughter of her own.

Monika talked of her early desperate and desolate years at the monastery. Megan knew her story, but the others did not. She described how her cousin, Rowena, the Grand Mistress, had loathed her because she defied her. She described Rowena's plans to mate certain sidhe seers to men that she had specifically selected to enhance the sidhe seer gifts. If a pregnancy resulted, any girl babies were raised at the monastery. Males were left with their father's family to raise.

Sometimes, Rowena actually let a sidhe seer legally marry a man she had specially chosen for his genetic background. The males had to be sons or grandsons of sidhe seers. Usually this was a woman whose sidhe seer gifts were not particularly strong. In addition to monetary compensation from the man, they both had to agree in writing to give any girl child who inherited the ability to see the Fae to Rowena to raise at the abbey by the time the child was six.

Monika shook with anger when she described how the old woman had drugged her so that Kevin O'Reilly could rape her and get her pregnant. Monika was twenty and a virgin when that happened. Kevin was Rowena's son,and actually lived at the monastery until he was sent to live with his father at age five. Rowena always kept in touch with her son; she didn't love him, but she had big plans for him.

Monika had escaped from the monastery when she was almost five months pregnant with Melanie. She had no real plans when she ran away other than to try and find her mother, but she had no idea where her mother was, or, even if she was still alive. She did not know where she lived, but she had gotten her last known address from Rowena's files.

She had scraped together a few hundred pounds that she managed to save from tips she received while working as a messenger for Post Haste, the international delivery service run by Rowena and the sidhe seers. She wasn't paid for her labor. She was expected to hand over any tips she made to the Grand Mistress, but she was able to hide a small amount for herself.

On the night she had escaped, Monika had been given a such severe beating by Rowena that she thought she would miscarry. She had committed some infraction of the rules, or another. It didn't take much for Rowena to beat her. Even Monika's light telepathic abilities told her that Rowena was planning to get rid of her as soon as her daughter was born.

She was recuperating in the infirmary when Rowena had called the other sidhe seers together for a meeting. Monika had no idea what the meeting was about. Left alone without Rowena's usual toadies to guard her, she had seen a once in a lifetime chance to save herself and her daughter. Rowena had plans for Monika's child. Just like most women at the monastery, her daughter would be a brood mare popping out babies sired by men selected by the the old witch. Monika vowed to die before she let that happen.

She grabbed a small parcel of clothing, some biscuits and her money and slipped out through the fields that surrounded the huge building. She had been on the road for hours when a young Scots couple on holiday had picked her up as she was hitchhiking near Dun Laoghaire. They were on their honeymoon and visiting relatives in Ireland.

The bride, Sheila MacCloud, was twenty two and looked enough like her to be a sister, took a liking to Monika. Donald MacCloud, a tall blonde, was a twenty five year old school teacher. He liked anything and anyone his young wife, who was a third cousin, liked. After riding with them for two days, they asked her to return to Scotland with them.

Monika teased them about having the same last name. "That's convenient. You didn't even have to change your name on your driver's license."

"Half of the people in our village are named MacCloud; we are all related, even if only distantly. You look a lot like Sheila yourself. You could pass as a cousin for sure. Maybe that's why we like you so much, lass. We MacClouds are big on family." Donald teased back.

For almost three years, Monika worked as a maid in the MacCloud family's B and B in a small fishing village on the eastern cost of Scotland. Sheila's mother, Brianna, was a widow. She ran the B and B with her husband, Mike. Her aunt, Hannah, and her great grandmother, Dinah, who had survived all five of her children, lived with Brianna and Mike in a house next to the B and B. Monika and her baby lived with Sheila and Donald less than a half of a mile away.

The MacClouds introduced her as a cousin from Ireland. For the three years that she stayed in Scotland, she was known as Monika MacCloud. She liked the friendly villagers and fit in well. They didn't even blink to find out she was pregnant and unmarried. As far as they were concerned, Monika MacCloud was one of them.

Mike MacCloud, Sheila's dad, was a warm, caring man of about fifty, but Monika loved the MacCloud women most. She liked their warm earthiness. They were unpretentious women, who said what they meant, and meant what they said. They were the salt of the earth as Aunt Hannah often said. Dinah MacCloud, the matriarch of this very female oriented family, was almost one hundred years old, but she was still agile, and her mind was still clear as a bell on most days.

Dinah MacCloud welcomed Monika as a long lost great granddaughter. In fact, she was convinced that Monika was a descendant of her own daughter, Colleen, who had died in childbirth at the age of twenty. Colleen's husband, one James Logan, had taken his infant child back to Ireland. The family had never heard from him since. They never knew what happened to the child.

Gran sometimes called her Colleen. "You must be a MacCloud, Monika. You have the MacCloud eyes, complexion and hair. I would know you anywhere. The MacClouds were originally from Ireland; did you know that?" Dinah MacCloud told her. Monika tried to persuade Great Gran that she was not a relative, but Brianna, Hannah and Sheila begged her to stop.

"Gran never got over my Aunt Colleen's death. What does it hurt to let her think you are my aunt's granddaughter? She loves you as if you were." Brianna stated. Monika could not think of a reason to refuse their request.

The day that they met, Dinah kept saying that Monika had the look of an "amadan" about her. When she asked what that meant, Sheila said "Great Gran thinks you are Fae touched as she claims we all are. Gran claims her husband was a Fae prince by the name of Fallon. He disappeared one day when Aunt Colleen, their last child, was a little girl. The villagers claimed that the banshees got him, but no one really knows what happened to him."

Do you have any relatives in Scotland, lass?" Hannah Danvers, Sheila's aunt, a childless widow asked.

"I don't think so. My father was an only child. He was an American diplomat and met my mother in London a year before they got married. My mother is Irish, but she never said much about her family. I only know that she had a cousin by the name of Rowena O'Reilly in Ireland. I lived with my family in Los Angeles, California before my father died. Then I lived with Rowena for a while; she is an abbess in a monastery that houses hundreds of women near Dublin. I ran away from that place because of her." Monika had a bitter smile on her face when she said that.

At the name of Rowena O'Reilly, Gran MacCloud's head snapped up. "I know her. I met her once when she was younger and I could smell her need for power. That woman is evil, and she frightens me. Like all the Grand Mistresses of that hellhole they call a monastery, she wants to control all the sidhe seers in the world. She thinks it is her destiny and her right, but she is wrong." Gran said as she scrutinized Monika carefully. For the first time in days, her cloudy blue eyes were perfectly clear and her mind sharp.

"I knew there was something about you, lass. I should have known you were sidhe seer when I first met you. I am sidhe seer too. All the women in the MacCloud family are sidhe seers, but the monastery doesn't know anything about us. Rowena believes that there are only six sidhe seer bloodlines, but she is wrong. There are many more scattered all over the world. She can never know anything about the rest of us, do you understand?." Gran adamantly said. Monika nodded.

"The Grand Mistresses have always lied to them, you know. They teach the sidhe seers that all Fae are bad, but that is not true. My Fallon was a good man. He had to leave when Colleen was a babe; I know that. He said if he stayed, we would have been in danger, but I miss him so much." The old woman's faded eyes misted over as she thought about her long lost love. Soon they were cloudy and unfocused once more.

Suddenly, Gran MacCloud cackled. "Fallon once told me that the Unseelie King created the sidhe seers to guard his most powerful creation, the Sinsar Dubh. He said that sidhe seers are a caste of Unseelie. If that is true, then the sidhe seers are all the king's children. Fallon said the Unseelie King wasn't always Fae, he was something else, before, but I don't remember now what he was..." The old woman's face contorted as she tried to remember. That was a couple of weeks before Melanie was born.

Since education wasn't a big priority at the monastery, at night, Donald tutored Monika so she could get her high school diploma. She started taking secretarial courses at night at a local school. She stayed there for almost three years, but when they got wind that Rowena's goons had tracked her to the village, she left.

Melanie stayed with the MacClouds until brought to Ireland two years ago. The villagers protected her daughter at the risk of their own lives.

"I put her in a convent near Kilkenny. I had to take her away for their protection. Rowena would have killed them to find Melanie." Monika said.

"Before I left though, Sheila, Brianna, and some of the other women in the village taught me things. They taught me how to use my sidhe seer gifts. Rowena never taught me, she tried to suppress my gifts. Brianna and Sheila taught me how to develop other gifts and to use magic spells too. They believed that sidhe seers were Earth's first real witches, and that the MacCloud bloodline went back to the first sidhe seers in Ireland. They were powerful witches too, but they never used their magic to hurt, only to help." Monika concluded.

"What did you do then?" Serena asked.

"I roamed around for a while. I worked as a nanny in France, and as maid in Belgium. Finally I went to London to look for my mother, but by that time she had already come back to Ireland looking for me. Rowena told her that I was dead."

"I heard she was in Dublin, so I followed her here. I got a job as a secretary in a law firm, and I finally found her, but we don't see each other much. She was happy to see me, but she was so ashamed for leaving me with Rowena. When I told her what Rowena and her son had done to me, she could barely look at me. I tried to help her, but she drinks so much now too. I never find her sober anymore. I have never told her about Melanie; Rowena would get that information from her in seconds if she tried. " Monika said sadly.

"Did Tegner know about Mellie?" Leni asked.

"Yes. He knew about Melanie from the first day I met him. He overheard me arguing with Rowena about her in Barrons' bookstore. Tegner arranged to bring Melanie here. He will keep her safe with us." A fleeting flare of anger and worry crossed Monika's face, but just swiftly disappeared.

After lunch, the group went to a park nearby and watched as Monika played on the swings with other children. Bridget and Leni's four druid bodyguards stood about ten feet away. The park abutted a major highway and was bound by large concrete barriers on two sides. Thick trees and bushes made the grounds hard to see from the surrounding neighborhood, unless you were were right on top of the place. Entrance to the park was over a bridge that crossed another major highway. It was a private park used only by the children in the area.

There were at least twenty kids with their parents, including a group of boys playing a game of soccer at the other end of the park. The swings, slides and teeter totter were busy as the children queued up to play. It was a nice sunny day for November, and Leni thoroughly enjoyed the sounds of children at play as the cousins sat on a wooden bench and watched Melanie make friends with another little blonde girl.

A sudden blood curdling scream from one of the boys playing ball at the other end of the park caught everyone's attention. Nearby the game, a woman was being attacked by a huge Unseelie monster. It had several heads with tubular mouths and at least six suckered tentacles. It had latched on to her arm and was devouring her. The woman screamed in torment. Leni didn't think the woman could actually see the thing that was latched on to her flesh. She only felt the agony of what was happening. She kept slapping her arms wildly to dislodge whatever had her; her motions were useless. Within seconds, she was making gagging noises her body seemed to melt and crumple in on itself.

A second Unseelie thing shifted past her to attach itself to a human child. It was different from the first one but just as horrible in its own way. It killed the little boy within seconds. Suddenly the small park was overflowing with Unseelie abominations of all shapes and types. Their methods of causing death varied from teeth, fangs and claws to suckers and tentacles that ripped and shredded and sucked.

Sean and the bodyguards tried to get all the cousins through the cordon of Unseelie, but couldn't. Sean yelled, "Bridget, Leni, get everyone into a tight circle! Use your cuffs! Now!" Four pregnant women and one child did as ordered. Leni and Bridget used their Fae cuffs to create an invisible protection shield around them, but Serena refused to enter the safety of the shield. Leni knew the cuff wouldn't last too long as she touched Ryodan's mark to summon him.

"Serena, you too!" Sean demanded as a huge sword appeared in his hands. He and the druid body guards made an outer ring around around the females. His small half Fae cousin female refused. While this was going on, Bridget and the other women were on their cells to contact their men.

"I can fight these things, Sean. My father, Galen, taught me how to fight." An unusual sword appeared in her hands, and she clearly knew how to use it. "This is a Fae sword, Sean. Father gave it to me. It will kill these bastards." She flashed a few yards away in a move so fast she almost blurred. It looked almost as if she were shifting as she demonstrated her boast. She cut one of the Unseelie in half. Whatever the sword was made of, it worked. The monster stayed down; it was dead. She stepped back toward Sean.

The Unseelie were going after the humans and enjoying every ounce of terror they caused. Horrifying screams sounded as women and children died. Blood, bodily fluids and body parts were everywhere. The Unseelie shifted fast taking their victims quickly, sucking out their blood, bodily fluids and their lives in mere seconds. Others slashed and bit their victims to death before they drank or ate their blood and flesh.

When they finished they dropped the pulpy remains and moved on to the next victim. Soon only the cousins and the druid body guards were left. In an inhuman voice, Sean screamed a keening Fae war cry that sent shivers down Leni's spine. Yelling unfamiliar words that sprang naturally to his lips, Sean took out two monsters near him. The first pitched battle of the human/Fae war was enjoined.

The Unseelie monsters tried to break through the outer perimeter, but they were held back by Sean, Serena and the Druids with a ferocity that was terrible to see. The Druids moved faster than humanly possible, hacking and slashing as did Sean and Serena. For a while their speed surprised the Unseelie, but the monsters changed tactics. Some tried to ooze in under the weapons, but they failed

Leni, Bridget, Monika, Megan and Melanie huddled together in a tight bunch as they watched Sean, Serena and the others fight for to save them. They were terrified, but they did not scream. Suddenly, Monika focused on one monster, creating the illusion that it was being torn apart by other Unseelie; it faltered in time for Sean to take it down with a wide slash of his sword.

Sensing what Monika had done, Bridget and Leni joined hands and focused their minds on two other Unseelie causing them to stumble. Serena stepped in and took them both down. Leni and Bridget could not create the same illusions as Monika, but their joined minds had more than enough power to cause confusion in the advancing monsters. The cousins turned on other monsters causing them to aside before being killed by the druids.. Megan held Melanie with her face to her breast so the child could not see what was happening. Mellie was silent, but she was shaking.

Three of the druids went down with Unseelie attached to the bodies. There was no doubt that they would be dead within seconds. A pop sounded; Danal and a strange dark haired Fae male appeared with swords in their hands. They joined the perimeter and began to fight.

When the Unseelie saw the two full blooded Fae males, they made some sound as if to say, "Why are you here?" In answer, Danal and the other Fae roared a chilling Fae war cry and began to cut the Unseelie down. Within minutes the remaining Unseelie tried to shift out, but Danal, and his son, Fallon, caught them as they tried to Unseelie began to shift into the park.

Danal was proud as he fought beside his grandson, Sean, and his granddaughter, Serena. Sean was fearless as he fought the Unseelie. He killed many of them. He was fast and sure and smart in his movements. Danal knew Tegan had taught him well.

As proud as he was of Sean, he was even more so of Serena. The little half Fae female fought almost as fiercely as her much bigger cousin. She moved like the wind without fear. Each slash of her sword hit its mark. With her teeth bared in a grimace, Serena screamed her own Fae war cry as loudly as Sean screamed his. Galen had taught her well too.

Danal's heart was bursting with pride for his grandchildren, but he knew that help had to come soon as even more Unseelie monsters poured through some invisible doorway. Another Druid guard went down.

The fighting seemed to go on forever when the savage war cries of nine other warriors rent the air. The Draghar had arrived.