Torment (Craving 2)

“Ye dinnae seriously think ye can wrench m’woman from me, do ye?” Devin said.

Evidently, this enraged Loli. She was wearing a pretty white silky looking top and a white flowery skirt. The skirt swished as she walked over to her father and touched his arm. “Father, don’t listen to him. He is infatuated with this witch. He will say anything to save her from punishment. She has him bewitched and it is not his fault, but at the moment, you can’t trust what he says.”

Devin stared at her for a long moment and then turned to Tomin. “Ye are doing our friendship…our trust, a great deal of harm because of a silly, jealous girl. Dinnae ye see that?”

Tomin turned to his daughter. “Is this true? Have you brought these charges up against this woman because of jealousy?”

“Yes.” Loli lowered her gaze and then up went her chin in defiance. “I suppose…in a way, I am. However, she is a witch and we can’t know for sure what her purpose is for being here, and we can’t know that Devin isn’t befuddled by a spell.” Loli stuck to her guns.

“Indeed, in that, you may be correct.” Tomin turned to the two soldiers who had recovered and had lumbered over and stood at attention.

Devin put out his arm, palm facing them. “Wait.” He turned to Loli and said, “Loli, I am a vampire with age. Ye know that I cannae be ‘spelled’ by a witch.” He turned to her father and said quietly, “Ye know that as well, Tomin.”

“I am not certain of that, as we know very little about vampires here in Trinity…we have none, and therefore only have your word in this, and as Loli says, if you are spelled by this witch, you would not realize it. We will need time to investigate. She will come with us.”

Devin didn’t wait another moment. He picked me up cradle style and started to move vampire speed towards the footpath that would take us to the divider.

“No, Dev,” I told him. “I’m not going back and leaving you here to face these crazies. Not leaving…makes no sense to leave. I won’t be able to come back.”

As it turned out, neither of us had a choice about what we were going to do.

Waiting for us in the woods was a platoon of soldiers, and what they did next brought us down on our backs!

I saw it coming and wondered why they thought this would hold against Devin’s strength or my magic.

A gold net landed on top of us. They yanked it hard and quickly tied it with our feet tucked into the netting.

I looked at Devin and said, “Like, what are they doing?”

“This was devised to capture a Draoidheil Witch. ‘Tis a gold netting left to them by the Fae who restored their world. He gave each tribe…the Elfin, the Draoidheil, and The Land of the Tores, a magical weapon to keep each tribe at bay.”

“Does it work on you?” I asked.

“Nae, I dinnae feel m’strength sapped. What about ye?”

I opened some of the netting with a thought and laughed. “Nope. Should we leave? But let’s keep this as a ‘Get Out of Jail’ free card for when we need it.”

“Why?” He frowned.

A great deal of shouting and commotion was going on around us, so I said, “Shhh. Not now.”

All at once, a couple of soldiers dragged us by the long rope tied to the netting under our feet.

“Hey!” I objected. “Not so rough.”

“I will kill them,” Devin grumbled. “Are ye hurt, lass?”

“No, just annoyed,” I answered. “Let’s just let this play out and see where it goes. We can always leave.”

“Stop it!” Loli snapped. “No talking!” She turned to her father, who had come to oversee our capture. “Father…have them taken away and put in separate cells!”

“Loli,” he chided. “Such heat for someone who has long been our friend.” He sighed. “Devin, you must now allow us to detain you for trying to help this female escape. I understand you either care for her, or think you care for her…”

“Hold on,” I snapped. “I have never put a spell on Devin and would never want a mate in that way! So stop thinking he is bewitched and besides, he can’t be. As he told you, he is a vampire with the skill of age. Ain’t nobody spelling Devin MacLeod!”

Loli’s father actually smiled. “You are an unusual witch. I am inclined to believe you, and as I said, we will investigate and see where our inquiries take us.” He started to leave, turned and looked at Devin. “Tell me, old friend, as a witch, would she not have sympathies and allegiance to the Draoidheil Witches?”

“Nae, her allegiance, her sympathies, her love are for me. She dinnae even know they existed until now. She came without interfering in yer world…she came to free me, but the portal that opened for her, did nae open for me. I tried to tell ye this when ye arrived at m’cottage and accused me of treachery. M’mate, and her name is Bobbie Skye, has one goal, one goal only, to free me so that I may return to m’home,” Devin answered. “I have never betrayed ye, why would ye think I would do so now?”