Chapter 6
Due to travel delays both in New Jersey and Britain, Leni arrived in Ireland late Wednesday afternoon and was taken by limo to the small gatehouse on her uncle's estate. The gatehouse was a small, but luxurious, two bedroom cottage frequently used by their guests. Aunt Diana and Uncle Pat were in Geneva, Switzerland visiting the foreign office of one his many businesses; they were not scheduled to return home until two days before the wedding. Uncle Pat was quite wealthy, but Leni did not know exactly what he did for a living.
The gatehouse was perfect for Leni as she didn't want to rattle around her aunt and uncle's twenty room mansion and bother the servants. With Bridget living with Tegan, and Sean sharing an apartment in Dublin with three other male students, the mansion was empty and would be until her aunt and uncle returned home.
After twelve years living with her grandmother in a small bungalow or in a small apartment, Leni felt far more comfortable in less fancy digs. Growing up, she was a tomboy who always seemed to have a dirty face and even dirtier hands. She was filled with restless energy and always seemed to be running around and stumbling into things like he cousin Sean. Leni always wished she were more like Bridget who was calm and serene.
When she visited her aunt and uncle, Leni was always afraid she would break something valuable, dirty one of her aunt's expensive oriental carpets, or scratch a piece of their antique furniture. She was terrified that she would break one of her uncle's sculptures or other expensive pieces of art. Uncle Pat was something of an art collector and had an eclectic collection strategically placed all over the house. Even after she grew out of her tomboy phase, Leni was always uncomfortable in their elegant home.
After being dropped off by Sean, Leni collapsed on the bed in the largest bedroom. She slipped off her loafers, but didn't bother to take off her clothes until much later when she got up to shower and change into pajamas. Tired from jet lag, an exhausting flight and an even more tiring prior three weeks, she slept fitfully for almost twenty four hours. Despite her exhaustion, her sleep was interrupted by dreams of her grandmother and grandfather' the Tuatha De and fairy princes.
Leni dreamed of her fifteenth birthday and of meeting Danal, the Fae prince who was her grandfather. When her eyes first beheld her grandfather standing in the kitchen of her grandmother's house, she was blinded by his beauty. Tall, powerfully built, with dark chocolate brown hair frosted with honey gold, luminous copper eyes, his beauty had an unearthly quality to it. His beauty was the kind that would make a woman's knees weak. The kind she would die to touch.
For a few seconds, Danal's skin, hair and eyes radiated with strange iridescent colors; he glowed with a warm golden aura. He voice was musical, lilting, with an odd accent, and it was hypnotic, mesmerizing. Somewhere a part of her knew that the beautiful creature embracing and kissing her grandmother was not human. For a split second, she wondered if Gran knew that, but that doubt lasted only until she saw the look on her grandmother's face. Gran knew this man well.
As Danal turned his head to look at her standing in the kitchen doorway, he smiled, and all was right with the world. He shimmered,muting his radiance; it was as if he turned down the brightness and contrast on a color television. His strange coloring and aura disappeared. He was simply just an unusually handsome man.
Gran was beautiful to Leni; she was tall and stately with lovely unlined skin and pale blonde hair that had turned white with age. Still Leni frequently saw a look of deep loss and loneliness in Gran's beautiful violet eyes. Her grandmother's eyes had often seemed haunted and sad. That day, the loneliness and sadness were gone, replaced by a look of pure joy. Her grandmother looked truly happy as she never done before.
If the eyes are windows to the soul, Catriona O'Gallagher and Danal's eyes were deep reflecting mirrors showing their deep love for one another. Their love was a was boundless; it had no end; it transcended time.
When Gran and her grandfather kissed, Leni thought it was magic, like nothing she had ever seen before. She froze staring at them frozen in awe; she felt like a voyeur watching something so sacred and private that it should not be seen by anyone else but them. From that day forward, Leni wanted to be loved like that.
Danal had given Leni her golden cuff that day and asked her to wear it always for protection. Leni did as she was asked. After Danal had left, Leni was bursting with questions, but she got no answers that day. Catriona O'Gallagher could not bring herself to talk about the man she loved. It was only in the last six months that Leni learned morel about Danal, but being a realist with her feet planted firmly on the ground, Leni believed only a fraction of what her grandmother told her. She loved her grandmother dearly, but the rest she dismissed as the ravings of an abandoned woman with a broken heart.
Always seemingly hale and hearty, Gran had suddenly had a stroke in early November. Mentally alert, Gran was grateful that her speech had not been impaired, but she lost the use of her legs and right arm and was bedridden for the better part of two months. With drugs and physical therapy, she seemed to be recovering well when an unexpected embolism caused a heart attack.
Gran died three days later on January 3rd, two weeks before Leni's twenty second birthday. Swapping shifts with co-workers, Leni spent at least three days a week in Sea Isle with her grandmother. It was during that time that Gran truly opened up and spoke about her Danal. It was also during that time that Leni's fiance, Phil, started to stray.
Leni had moved in with Philip that past September and gotten engaged a short while later. Philip used those three days a week in a way that Leni never expected. Apparently unable to cope with being left by himself while Leni took care of her grandmother, Philip resumed an affair with a former girlfriend. He told Leni that after she caught him cheating and broke their engagement. Gran had never liked Phil; she had tried to get Leni to break off with him months before.
As she grew up, Gran had often told Leni and her cousins stories about fairies, leprechauns and the other mystical magical folk of the British Isles, especially Ireland. She often called Leni and Bridget her little fairy princesses and Sean her young fairy prince. Leni loved the stories, of course, but she thought they were just fairy tales. One night Gran began to talk about Danal.
"He is Tuatha De, one of the 'Old Ones," and he is a Fae prince; a noble prince of the Seelie or Light Fae, and he is my soul mate. I know you don't believe in such things, Leni, but it is true. Although he was not born to one of the royal Seelie houses, but he is nevertheless a prince and a member of a noble family.
He and his family are a powerful Fae clan sworn to protect the Fae queen. He is a courtier who still protects Queen Aiobheal today, but he says that she is gone into hiding in fear of the Unseelie King and those who would destroy the walls between Earth and Faery. He has been searching for his queen for years, and although I have seen him often during these years, he must not stay long for fear of exposing me to the other Fae who are a danger to women like you and me."
"I did not grow up with my parents like other children. I was an illegitimate child and my mother gave me up to abbess at a monastery outside of Dublin when I was six. I was raised there and lived with other women and girls like me until Danal brought me here. She said I was sidhe seer; a human woman who could see the Fae. We have been born and bred to protect the human race from the Fae, but only females can be sidhe seers."
"The Fae are immortal, magical creature who use glamour to hide themselves from normal humans. They can use their magic to bend time and space and control the laws of nature and physics. They can control even the weather. Seelie, or Light Fae are unbelievably beautiful creatures. Unseelie, or Dark Fae are grotesque, horrible monsters. The danger to normal humans from both Seelie and Unseelie was immense."
"For millennia, the Fae dominated this planet. They considered humans as inferior and hardly sentient. They cruelly tortured and used humans for their pleasure in an abominable manner. From the dawn of time, women like us, sidhe seers, could see and sense the Fae when normal humans could not. We protected humanity from the Fae and we were honored among all the people for that."
"But as is the way of most beings who think they are omnipotent, the Fae were eventually driven from Earth after a great battle. They were driven back to their realm they called Faery. About 4,000 BC, a compact was made between humans and the Fae, and the Fae were forbidden to spill human blood. Many Fae were unwilling to abide by that compact, so a Fae prince named V-Lane started the Great Hunt, using Unseelie Hunters, or Dark Fae to hunt down sidhe seers and kill them or take them to Faery where they lived until they died."
"Danal told me that something has happened. The walls between Faery and Earth have almost collapsed and the Unseelie Hunters are on the move again, hunting and killing sidhe seers. Both Seelie and Unseelie are coming through intent on conquering the human race once more."
"I had just turned eighteen when Danal suddenly appeared to me one afternoon as I was working outside planting potatoes in a field at place where I lived. Being sidhe seer, I knew immediately that he was Fae, but he was so beautiful, I was not afraid. I followed him into a thick copse of trees, and talked to him. He told me a story I will never forget. I fell in love with Danal that day, Leni. I knew he was in love with me."
"He told me that we were soul mates, and that we had lived and loved each other many times in the past. He said we will meet and love again many times in the future. He said it was time for him to claim me as his own again in this lifetime, and in my soul I knew it was true. We made love in the copse for the first time that afternoon. We met every day for months, and I finally found myself pregnant with Sarah and Diana."
"The abbess found out that I was carrying Danal's children. I was betrayed by another sidhe seer, a woman a little older than I called Rowena. Rowena was ambitious and wanted to make a name for herself. She wanted to be abbess one day.
She followed me for days as I met with Danal. I was beaten and locked in a cell. The abbess said I was a traitor to my kind, and that I had betrayed all of them by loving a Fae male. She said my children were an abomination, and she was gong to force me to have an abortion."
"While I was with Danal in the woods, he tattooed me with his mark once day. He said he would always be able to find me because of his mark. He also gave me a gold protection cuff like yours, but I always kept it covered by long sleeves.. The abbess found the cuff, but she didn't think to look for Danal's mark." Gran showed Leni the tattoo on her scalp hidden by her long thick white hair.
"Danal broke through the magic wards that protect the abbey and found me. He used his Fae magic to rescue me and shifted us here to Sea Isle City. He said no one would find me here. If he had not done that me and my daughters would have died, and you would not have been born. He was here the night that Diana and Sarah were born. We both knew instantly that neither child were sidhe seers; we would have felt it if they were. But since I was, only later, after Diana married your uncle did I dare to return to Ireland. By that time, I believed that the abbess and the other sidhe seers had forgotten about me."
"So you and Danal were never married?" Leni asked.
"Oh yes, we were married. Not in a legal human ceremony, but in a magic one. We exchanged the Druid marriage vows. The Druids served the Fae in exchange for magical knowledge, but the Druids taught certain Fae certain things including this binding vow. It is a powerful magic spell that binds two people who are soul mates together for eternity. Druids believed that the soul is reincarnated many times and the binding vow brings two souls together many times."
As she dreamed, Leni remembered the weird feeling she got as her grandmother spoke, "Gran, why did grandfather give me the Fae protection cuff? Why didn't he give mom, Aunt Diana or Bridget a cuff too?"
"Because you are sidhe seer too, child. They are not. I know because you saw a Fae male at the airport the Christmas before you turned fifteen. Do you remember the very handsome man in the ladies room when we were waiting to board our plane. Do you remember the woman who was looking at him taking and taking off her off her clothes. She was touching herself all over, and she wanted to have sex with him. Do you remember that? I got you out of there in a hurry because you pointed at him." Gran said. Leni nodded; she remembered that very strange incident.
"No one but you and I could see him or the woman. The other women in the ladies room just walked around him, as if he were invisible, used the facilities, washed their hands and left. I was so afraid that he would see us and know that we could him. He would have killed us if he had found us out. That's why I covered your mouth with my hand and rushed us out of there. I summoned Danal as soon as we got home and told him. He made the protection cuff for you."
"Why didn't he tattoo me like he did you?"
"Danal believes that only your soul mate should leave his mark on you. He believes that the cuff will protect you until you find your soulmate. Your soul mate will protect you then. You will find him, Leni. I know he is out there somewhere. I have seen him, but I don't know when or where you will meet. I don't know his name, and I have never seen his face, but I know he is your soul mate."
Leni woke up, went to the bathroom and took a drink of water. When she returned to bed, she dreamed of Ryodan, the man she met on the plane. The dreams were intensely erotic. Leni didn't usually remember her dreams, but she did that day, especially the ones about Ryodan. They were replaying vividly in her mind like an old rerun on TV. She was hardly a prude, she loved sex as much as the next woman, but the memories of those explicit dreams made her blush.
The noise of running water, the sound of a teakettle being filled and the sound of a radio turned to a popular Dublin rock station alerted Leni to Bridget's presence. Her cousin was was singing along with the radio in her sweet soprano voice as she made tea in the kitchen. After getting dressed, Leni dragged herself into the kitchen and hugged Bridget from behind.
Bridget didn't hear Leni enter the room. When grabbed from behind, Bridget jumped and almost dropped a pretty porcelain china teacup into the sink. She caught it in time before it shattered.
"Oh God,you scared me, Munchkins. it's so good to see you. I have so much to tell you." Bridget squealed as she turned and hugged her cousin back; her face was flushed with happiness. She was already talking about Tegan and her wedding; her mouth seemed to be going a mile a minute.
"Take a breath, Bridey; I'm not going anywhere. Oh, no tea for me; I need coffee," Leni said as she found the coffee and coffee pot. Looking into the refrigerator, she found a bowl of eggs, bread and butter and began to prepare scrambled eggs and toast. "Do you want some?" she asked Bridget.
Her cousin took a small portion of eggs and a slice of toast. "Have to watch my figure, especially now; I'm four weeks pregnant. Tegan are I are so happy, but I haven't told my parents yet. So don't say anything." Bridget almost burst with happiness as she relayed the news to her cousin.
Leni had been surprised to learn that Bridget was getting married; this news stunned her even more. Her cousin had always maintained she didn't want to get married or have children until she was in her thirties. She seemed so determined to make a name for herself in her career that Leni never doubted her for a minute. Whoever this guy was, Tegan sure had a powerful influence on her beautiful cousin.
Still talking in an excited fashion about her fiance, Bridget pulled out a digital camera and began showing Leni pictures of Tegan and her in various places. The two were so obviously in love, it made Leni a little envious.
Leni was shocked as she looked at the pictures. Tegan looked enough like Ryodan, the man from the plane, that they could be brothers or cousins. She told Bridget about him and what had happened, but this time what he did struck her as funny. Leni was not one to stay angry with anyone for any length of time; it wasn't in her nature. She told her story, using her hands and facial gestures for emphasis..
"I mean seriously, Bridey. What did he think I was going to do? Jump his bones right there in front of God and everybody?" she laughed as she relayed the story of his crude come on. By the time she finished, both women were laughing so hard they almost cried.
"That just has to be Tegan's friend, Ryodan, from Chester's. I've gotten to know him quite well, and I can really see him doing something like that. He's been with going with this woman named Moira for years now, but he cheats on her right and left, and she lets him get away with it. You're right; he does seem to think he is God's gift to women." Bridget remarked, confirming all of Leni's worst doubts about Ryodan. He seemed even more like Philip than ever.
The two woman chatted a while longer catching up on everything that had happened since they'd seen each other at their grandmother's funeral in January. A few minutes later, Leni said, "I have something for you from Gran." She went into the bedroom and searched her still filled suitcase. Returning in a few minutes, she had a small velvet box and an envelope in her hand.
Bridget opened the box and gasped, "Oh, Leni! It's so beautiful," she breathed as she pulled out a delicately wrought, but sturdy gold chain that held a small gold amulet. The amulet was unlike anything either girl and seen before; it was unusual and quite beautiful. Rectangular in shape, it had the head of a unicorn etched into the gold, and Bridget's name inscribed on the front in an elaborate cursive script. The back was almost entirely engraved with tiny Celtic runes similar to those on Leni's cuff. The amulet looked far more expensive than Gran could afford; it felt warm and good in Bridget's hand.
She opened the envelope. On old parchment, penned with gold ink, Bridget read the words, "To my darling granddaughter, Bridget, A gift to be worn on your wedding day. You have found your soulmate, and I am so happy for you. Love, Gran."
"How did she know I was going to get married? I hadn't even met Tegan when she died, and I never once considered marrying Jerry?" Bridget asked in surprise.
"How do you think, Bridey? Gran often knew things before they happened, just like I sometimes do. I know you never believed it, but it is true. How else can you explain this?" Leni replied.
"You mean you knew I was going to marry Tegan?" Bridget said and looked suspiciously at her cousin. She had never believed that Leni or her grandmother had second sight. She didn't believe in such things; neither did her mother. Still, her grandmother's note and gift left her in doubt now.
"No. I can't say that I did. Here let's me put this on you." Leni said as she moved behind Bridget's chair and clasped the medallion around her neck.
Bridget's hand came up and stroked the medallion. She took her compact out of her purse and looked in the mirror. She moved the mirror from side to side getting different views of the small amulet. It stood out against the fabric of her dark green silk blouse. "It feels like it belongs there. I never want to take it off," Bridget said in a surprised voice.
"That's how I feel about my bracelet. I feel like it's alive some times. It's strange, but I feel like it knows me," Leni looked down and stroked the gold cuff on her left arm.
Bridget reached out and touched the cuff "They both feel warm, and they both tingle a little. Do you feel it?" she asked with a look of amazement on her face.
Leni nodded; she intuited that the medallion had been given to Gran by their grandfather, Danal, as a present for Bridget, but she didn't say anything. She had never told Bridget about meeting their grandfather. Both Gran and Danal made her promise never to say anything about him.
Leni touched Bridget's amulet. The gold in the stunning piece of jewelry and its and chain was similar to the gold in her cuff; it looked different than gold in a jewelry store in a way that she couldn't explain. She wondered if the runes on the back also contained a protection spell. The girls continued to chat for hours.
Around seven o'clock, Bridget decided it was time to shower and get dressed to go out. She wanted to introduce Leni to Tegan at Chester's later, but first they were going to stop at her Uncle Marty's pub about four blocks away from Chester's. During college, Leni had supplemented her college fund by performing as lead singer in a local county music band named Vixen. Bridget's uncle, Marty McDonald, had asked her to bring Leni by his pub. He wanted to ask her to sing with them on Friday and Saturday night. Tonight they were going to stop by and meet the band.
Martin McDonald, owned several bars in and around Dublin, including a large pub in the Temple District that sometimes featured American county singers on the weekends. He played guitar himself and often sat in on jam sessions with professional musicians whenever he had the chance. Having spent some time in New Jersey, Marty McDonald had heard Leni sing several times and was enthralled by her clear alto voice.
Bridget went through the meager wardrobe that Leni had brought with her and selected a midnight blue sleeveless dress for Leni to wear. The a deep V-neckline showed a little cleavage, and the short slightly full skirt that ended about four inches above her knees showed off Leni's shapely legs. The back of the dress plunged almost to the waist emphasizing the graceful curve of her back and the creamy whiteness of her soft skin.
She pulled out thigh high silk stockings with garters and four inch heels for Leni to put on. The made silk stockings and garters made Leni feel very feminine. Leni put on a matching silver necklace and earrings.
Bridget dressed in a sleeveless light green sheath that ended at mid thigh showing off long, slim, gorgeous legs, creamy white shoulders, throat and arms. A matching jacket, stiletto heels and a diamond necklace with matching earrings and bracelet given to her by Tegan adorned completed her outfit. She gave Leni an evening jacket to wear over her dress since the evenings in Dublin were quite cool at this time of year.
After they finished dressing, both woman looked at themselves in the full length mirror on the bathroom door. What they saw were two hot, sexy, physically fit women. They were pleased with what they saw.
Leaving Marty's around ten, Bridget parked her Jaguar in front of what looked like an empty commercial warehouse. She and Leni walked down an alley beside the building to the back. A big dumpster filled with foul smelling garbage was situated about twenty feet from a steel trapdoor that looked similar to a cellar door.
Giving a mighty yank, Bridget pulled the door open and snapped on a small flashlight. Inside, Leni could see an old metal ladder descending into what looked like a deep hole.
"You got to be kidding me, Bridget. Do you expect us to climb down that skinny ladder in these shoes? Are you nuts?" Leni asked the other blonde. Her shoes weren't her only consideration. Thoughts of rats and other vermin scurrying round in the darkened hole made her shudder."
Bridget only turned around, hitched up her skirt and started down the ladder, and Leni followed. At the bottom, there was another trap door and another ladder. At the bottom of the second ladder, they stood in a large room. It was a large chic, modern foyer in front of a pair of huge double doors. The doors looked about four inches thick. Bridget pulled open one door, and the two women stepped inside.
The club itself was as surprising as its strange location; Leni hated it the moment she stepped inside the doors. It was huge, loud and pulsing with light and sound. It reminded her of several nightclubs Philip had taken her to in Manhattan, only it was much, much bigger. It was opulent and dark. It had shiny, modern chrome and glass tables with and black and white booths and chairs, white walls and black carpet. The place gleamed unnaturally under over head lights and metallic wall sconces.
Leni could hear huge ventilation fans as they sucked smoke out of the air. The loud noise gave Leni a headache,and she felt a little sick and out of place. As she looked around,it didn't take Leni long to realize that there was a lot more than drinking and talking going on in booths and tables. The placed reeked of alcohol, drugs and sex.
A large chrome and glass bar surrounded by tall bar stools sat in the middle of the floor. Artsy expensive prints and mirrors hung on the walls. Most people would consider it the height of chic, but to Leni it was so impersonal, it lacked any real atmosphere in her eyes. The place oozed with sensuality and decadence. It was the sort of place where the wealthy and powerful go to play.
Several multilevel dance floors lit with the flashing colors of strobe lights were crowded with writhing bodies dancing to the loud rock music that blasted insistent sexual rhythms though speakers hidden somewhere in the tall ceilings. In the back an open tread stairway led to the club's second floor. Leni assumed their were private rooms and an office up there.
The club's patrons were an eclectic mix of young beautiful men and women, socialites, jet setters, professionals and financial types, actors and other media stars looking to hook up with someone. Gorgeous men and women who looked like models hung out at the bar hoping to be picked up by some wealthy partner for the night. Others patrons appeared older, wealthier, more distinguished and definitely more powerful. Everyone was dressed to the nines and out for a good time.
Chester's reminded Leni of a large, underground, industrial warehouse that had been converted into one of the most successful nightclubs in Ireland. She hated it the moment she stepped inside.