The Christmas Charm (New Adult Holiday Love Story) (4 page)

“Emilio, why did he leave me and my mother when I was just a baby?” Allie’s eyes showed the accumulation of a lifetime of pain and rejection as she asked the plaintive question. Her hair, unbound, whipped wildly around their faces.

“
Lo siento, mi amorcita
. I am so sorry. I wish I could tell you. I am guessing that he did it to protect you. Remember I told you your nana was protecting you while she was alive?”

Allie nodded silently. “But, couldn’t he have protected me, too?”

“I’m only guessing, here. Our race has been losing its powers for more than a generation. When your mother gave birth to you, your father must have seen the signs that you are a fire faerie and he realized how important your powers are to our people. Others – our enemies from other races – would have learned of your birth and they would have known of your significance to our people.

They would have also known just how important it would have been to take you away – to kill you, even – so your father might have decided that sending you away from him was the best, most loving thing he could do for you. Your nana protected you. She couldn’t tell you who . . . what you are because that would have put your life in danger. However, once she died, your protection also died. If you’ll remember, I moved into your neighborhood right after you buried her. I have been watching over you this entire time. I also tried to figure out the best way of telling you about your heritage without putting you in danger. Something told me that I needed to introduce myself to you on Christmas morning – that’s when you opened the chain,
no
?”

“That’s right. Nana had left instructions that I wasn’t supposed to open it until Christmas morning. So, it sounds like everything happened in a way that was meant to protect me?” Allie asked quizzically.

“Yes. We are nearly there. Just a few more moments and we’ll be inside, safe,” Emilio whispered to Allie, dreading the moment when they would part.

True to his word, within the next two minutes, he had passed through the solid walls of the Faerie Winter Palace, bringing Allie with him. Just after they landed on the ground, he gazed intently at her hand joined to his shoulder and Allie was able to separate from him.

“Let’s go find your father. He’s in his rooms. When we are in any of our Palaces, we are protected. A bubble of protection covers every dwelling we live in here. While we are inside, we cannot be attacked by our enemies from other magical races and tribes. You’ll spend your time here, getting to know Santos and learning how to use your powers for good.” Emilio paused at a large, simple door, knocking twice.

Almost immediately, it swung open. Allie’s eyes adjusted from the gentle brightness of the hallway to a large apartment beyond the doorway. She spotted an older man, standing about 5’ 8” tall and slender. His hair was dark and liberally sprinkled with gray. He had kind, gray eyes surrounded by deep laugh lines.

Allie felt Emilio’s hand on her lower back, urging her forward. Suddenly, she felt shy, reluctant to step forward, so she resisted his forward motion. As Emilio’s strong hand stayed on her back, Allie tripped. Her father put his hands out to keep her from falling. As they made contact with her upper arms, Allie felt a strong warmth emanating from the contact with her body. She relaxed, feeling as if the warmth coming from Santos’ hands had seeped, not only into her body, but into her spirit. Her steps forward became more natural as she stopped resisting Emilio’s hand moving her forward.

¡
Mija!
My daughter! How are you? How was your trip? Emilio, please come in. Tell me what you encountered,” Santos commanded. Emilio walked in and accepted a glass of whiskey. Santos handed Allie a glass as well, then poured a glass for himself.

The trio sat down on comfortable chairs surrounding a fireplace. Allie held her hands out to the welcoming warmth, feeling shy again. She listened as Emilio reported on their travels – leaving out the details of their relationship and love-making.

“We encountered several groups of attackers, Santos. Allie has learned how to use her power as a fire faerie well – we worked on that on the second day of our trip. She is still learning how to detect attackers behind her, but she’s coming along very well. They did try to separate us, so I needed to use a joining charm so they couldn’t take her away from me,” Emilio concluded.

“I have heard that she was attacked in Las Cruces. Is this correct?” Santos asked with concern shading his voice.

“Yes, it is. I had just told her about her heritage and she needed to think about things. She was already wearing the chain from her nana, so she was protected. Ever since her grandmother died, I’ve been close by. I moved into a home just down the street from where she lived. Immediately after she was attacked, I had her pack a few things so we could leave right away – other magical races had become aware of where she lives – lived, so it was too dangerous for her to stay in New Mexico.”

“You mean I can’t go back? What about my friends? What about work?” Allie asked.

Santos turned to Allie. “
Mija
, you have no other protection in Las Cruces. Other magical races know that you are a very valuable faerie, with valuable powers. Our race is vulnerable to dying out. We need you here, Allie. If you leave, we are vulnerable to takeover. We have several Palaces throughout Ireland. You will stay here with me and you will work on learning your magical powers so you can use them for the good of our race. In time, you will meet and marry another faery. Your life is here, now. Aside from your nana, you had your friends – but they would have been placed in danger if you had stayed in New Mexico,” Santos explained.

“Oh. I never thought of it that way. Emilio . . . Emilio? Where is he?” Allie asked the question as her voice grew louder.

“He left, Allie,” Santos said in a quiet voice.

“But . . . but I wanted to thank him. To . . . say goodbye! Will he be staying here?”

“No. He had a look on his face that told me he needed to go off by himself and think.”

“Does he live in Las Cruces? Will he go back there? If it’s so dangerous for me, why isn’t it dangerous for him?” Allie asked the questions rapidly, shooting them at her father. Inside, she felt her emotions roiling quickly as she grew angrier and angrier at Emilio.

Coward! He brings me here, then disappears!
Allie scowled as she slammed back the last of her whiskey, then crossed her arms in front of her.

Over the next few days, Allie spent each day with her father, getting to know him and the history behind his departure from Las Cruces.

“Why couldn’t you take my mother and me with you, daddy?” Allie asked this and other questions, struggling to understand just why her father had left. “It seems to me that, if you really had loved me, you would have found a way of protecting me. You would have tried to find a way of protecting all of us,” Allie accused, looking at her father with narrowed, gray eyes.

“But I did. I couldn’t tell your mother because she would have been in danger. Instead, I spoke to your nana and she agreed to protect you. I left your chain and charm behind with her to give to you when the time was right. This was after her death last spring. Allie, shortly after you were born, it became as plain as day just what elemental power you had been born with. You remember your four elements from chemistry, do you not?”

Allie nodded. “Fire, water, earth and air, right? I know I’m a fire faerie – what are you?”

“Fire, like you. Children born to the faerie race are born with the same powers as their parents. Emilio is an air faery. He can pass through solid objects.”

“So, how is it that our race is weakening? And how do I help out?”

“I am part fae, just like you. Over time, we have weakened our powers because we have soul-bonded to non-fae peoples. Our powers are especially strong in some of us – your fire powers are very strong. Emilio’s air powers are just as strong. To make us stronger, we need to find other children like you, children whose powers are especially strong. You will meet a fae person and develop a soul-bond with him. In time you will have children whose fae-powers are exceptionally strong,” Santos explained. “I don’t expect you to know everything all at once. We will spend our time here, getting to know each other and practicing your skills.”

Allie practiced and learned her fae history. At the same time,she missed Emilio, tremendously. She had only just admitted to herself that she had fallen in love with the faerie who had brought her to the Faerie Winter Palace. At night, she lay in bed, missing his presence next to her, missing his lovemaking. And she grew steadily angrier at him.

***

Emilio had taken refuge in an Irish pub not far from the Winter Palace. As he entered his room, he collapsed onto the bed, already missing his fiery Allie. Her gray eyes and jet-black hair . . . her temper. Her . . .
Dios mio,
her lovemaking! He stood suddenly, feeling his jeans growing too tight as his shaft responded to the memories of his lovemaking with Allie. He strode restlessly around the room, berating himself under his breath.
You idiot! You need to get your mind off Allie! Forget about her. She’s with Santos now, where she belongs.
For several weeks, he struggled with his feelings for Allie – all the while, he grew more and more miserable. Every morning, when he awoke, alone, he had to force himself to step into an ice-cold shower – he would stumble out of bed nude, his shaft standing stiffly at attention after he suffered through dreams featuring him and Allie in bed and making love, or while they were transporting and making love thousands of feet above the Earth.

Allie woke up one morning, to see a heavy snow falling right outside. She had woken up especially early because of the dream she had just had. She and Emilio had been in the middle of their second lovemaking session while he was bringing her to Ireland. Allie dropped her face into her pillow and moaned. Her pussy throbbed with wanting and she felt a droplet of moisture slide out of her pussy walls. She thrust her hips into the mattress, trying to relieve the hot longing. Her hip-thrusting grew fast and frantic as she imagined Emilio lying beneath her. Suddenly, her pussy walls contracted and she screamed into her pillow.

It’s just not the same. It’s no use. I’ve fallen in love with him. Nothing’s going to change that. Not even when daddy says I’ll meet someone and we’ll become soul-bonded. I want Emilio! Damn him!

One hour later, she was finishing breakfast with  her father, who was explaining, in more detail, how her powers had been discovered.

“We had just brought you home from the hospital. You were lying in your bassinet in the dining room and someone dropped a metal bowl. You startled and the air around you grew very warm. We had to buy a new bassinet for you that night, because the heat coming from your body burned it. I stayed at home with you while your nana and mother went to the store and bought a new one. I knew what was coming,
mija
.

You had just displayed very strong fire faerie powers and our enemies would find out. When your mama and nana came home, I told them what your early display of your powers meant –
 
not only that you had demonstrated very strong powers, but that, if I stayed, you would be in even more danger. We decided that I would leave New Mexico and return to Ireland. Your mama didn’t like it, not one bit, but when your nana and I explained everything, she understood. Your nana said she would stay with you and your mama, so I left.

Your mama had just gone back to work when you were about two months old. Someone from another magical race saw her when she was driving home – and he killed her. Your nana got word to me about what had happened, so I knew that I had to stay away for good. We decided that, when the time was right, you would come here to me.”

Allie’s understanding of her history grew, in pace with her newly discovered abilities. Santos worked with her, helping her to develop her magical powers. At night, Allie returned to her apartment within the Palace, missing Emilio. Every night, she dreamed about their lovemaking. Sometimes the dreams were from her imagination. She would wake up, sexually frustrated and unable to relieve her needs.

One morning, she met her father in his apartment. She was in a foul mood because she had dreamed of Emilio all night long, feeling as if he was close by. She sat down and scowled heavily as she stirred her hot tea.

Santos took one look at her face and said, “Hmm. Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today! I think I have a surprise you might like, Allie. Look at me. Allie, look at me.”

Allie, feeling crabby and out of sorts, complied with a heavy sigh. what she saw made her jaw drop and her eyes widen – Emilio was standing next to Santos, with a tentative smile on his face.

Allie was stunned – he had returned! She felt her anger returning and she jumped up, running to Emilio. Instead of hugging him, the heat of her anger had her pummeling his chest and arms.

Emilio fell back, shocked by her attack. He felt heat radiating from her body and, looking at Santos, he pleaded wordlessly for help.

“Allie! Don’t destroy the man you love!” Santos motioned Emilio to step back as he let his own fire power come out. Stepping in front of Allie, he directed its power at her, staring into her angry gray eyes.

Allie, seeing the message in her father’s eyes, took control of her heat. Nodding that she was in control, she looked at Emilio.