Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke Read online

  He unbuttoned three buttons in order to move his shirt aside and show her the Claddagh medal he’d had since childhood. “What’s the spell?”

  “Roarke! Stop this!” Kerry snapped, raising his voice and hoping it would get through to his younger brother.

  Roarke Fitzgerald was sitting up in the bed but his restraints were gone and his normally gentle eyes were a blank black, sparking with a power that wasn’t his.

  “Should I scream for my mystic now?” Cam asked where he was kneeling, knowing he couldn’t pull a gun but not sure what else to do.

  Jessica still wasn’t sure what was happening but could feel the change in her friend. “Roarke?” she called softly, seeing his head turn, but what happened next surprised them all.

  When her friend’s eyes shifted to look at her, his pupils were black and a low flame was now beginning to sheen around him. His normally easygoing, flawless face that at times of having his powers on could and did look almost ethereal, now looked haunted or evil.

  This, she knew in a heartbeat too late, was not her friend in control but she could not stop the wave of energy that caught her off-guard and slammed her against the wall sharply.

  “Roarke! No!” Mac shouted, quickly seeing this had gone badly even as the girl screamed, as the power didn’t diminish. “Kerry, we need to bring him around before this kills her!”

  Kerry knew this but he just wasn’t sure how to do that without knowing exactly what possessed their brother. “Roarke, can you hear us?” he spoke firmly and loudly but his lips thinned as those now black eyes turned toward him and he felt the power shoot toward him.

  Tilting his head slightly, Roarke Fitzgerald didn’t seem to see his oldest brother, yet something inside him did.

  “What is it with you boys and your whores?” the voice that spoke wasn’t Roarke’s, and that was quickly clear to all of them as the body waved a hand back to where the power was still holding Jessica. “My Master often asked your father the same question about your mother but never did get a solid answer.”

  Assured that Kerry had the thing focused on him for the moment, Mac raised a hand to try a spell that may break the thing’s hold but found himself knocked off his feet and across the room.

  “For shame on you, Patrick, I would have expected better” The thing in his brother seemed to cackle then clucked his tongue in mock shame as he used Mac’s given name. “Didn’t your sainted mother teach her sons any manners before my master slaughtered her and your worthless father?”

  “Release him, demon,” Kerry’s temper was raising but he knew to keep it in check. “Sebastian will not break the circle this way.”

  Roarke seemed to stare at him, and his brother could feel the internal struggle but was having a hard time breaking through the possessing thing’s energy.

  “It only takes one of you to die or give in to break the circle, Kerrigan Fitzgerald.” The thing in his younger brother gloated with a sneer. Throwing a hand out toward Mac but this time the lanky Irishman was quick enough to duck the attack and use a spell of his own, but the thing only increased his grip on the president of Hadley Industries. “Attack me and I will kill your brother’s whore, and the only way to save her is to kill him.”

  The wind was now increasing in the room and Jessica’s screams increased. But without being able to get close to the bed, breaking Sebastian’s lackey’s hold on Roarke was proving hard as both Mac and Kerry were taken off guard by their brother’s intense power.

  “We need to stop him before this kills them both!” Cameron Young shouted over the noise, finally pulling his Magnum. “If I graze him, what would happen?”

  “You could fire and it could redirect the bullet,” Kerry replied, trying to shield what he could but hissed as something like a knife sliced into his shoulder, yet there was no visible wound.

  Cam decided he had to take the chance but before he could, the closed hospital room door was slammed open with a countering power. A great surge of energy exploded into the room and shook it while actually knocking Roarke back down on the bed.

  The sudden break in power caused the evil energy to release Jessica who started to collapse limply to the floor.

  “Catch her!” Ryan snapped as he entered the room, shooting this toward Mac who had already been doing that even as Kerry was heading for the bed. “That won’t keep it down for long but maybe long enough to bring his control back to the surface.”

  Kerry was silently surprised to see his final brother since even he hadn’t been sure if Ryan would come back, but he still caught the underlying edge of anger.

  “Did Deirdre tell you to…” he began to ask when he saw the other’s eyes and read the emotion that Ryan had always tried to shield.

  “Don’t scan me, Kerry,” Ryan snapped lowly, jerking his jacket off even as he was sitting on the bed and gripping his brother’s white, clammy sweat-soaked face in both hands. “Roarke, listen to me. It’s time to wake up, get moving and kick this thing where it hurts.”

  Mac had allowed Kerry to handle this, figuring he’d be the one best able to keep Ryan’s temper in check as he looked after Jessica, who was semi-conscious but only barely.

  Using a marginal spell to ease the girl’s fears and pain, Mac could feel the pain he took from her but knowing he needed to deal with it later, pushed it down.

  “Kerry, that thing is still in him,” he warned lowly.

  “Of course it is,” Ryan snorted, rolling his eyes as he focused his power. “That just distracted it enough that it backed off, but the brat’s still in too deep.” He looked at Kerry fully. “You know how to end it.”

  “We will not take his life.” Kerry’s eyes went to pure smoke but they locked with Ryan’s and read his feelings. “Ryan, it wasn’t his fault.”

  Cameron Young’s head snapped up after figuring what this meant. “Oh, this won’t be pretty.”

  Ryan Fitzgerald’s eyes seemed to hesitate before lifting to look at Kerry’s. “Do we know what happened on that island, Kerry?” he countered then waved it away, hating to have his own emotions played on even as Roarke jerked under his hands. “We only have his word on what happened and of course, what you say you saw in the visions.”

  “Ryan!” Mac snapped, tone going from the one he used when playing healer to the firmer, harder one he used to use when mediating between bickering brothers.

  “Are you here to help or hurt boyo?” Kerry’s voice was ice and the power he summoned was clear but his black haired, rash brother just smirked.

  “If I wasn’t I could have taken Sebastian up on his offer in Monaco,” he returned, feeling the power building and shot his own back at it. “Get the hell outta the brat, demon! Nobody touches him but me.”

  Roarke’s eyes snapped open but while the black was still there, it was obvious a struggle was going on because his one hand had turned over on the bed and gripped his oldest brothers.

  “You know so little about this one whom you fight so hard to save,” the voice coming from inside their brother sounded strained. “You wouldn’t if you knew the secrets he hid, the shames. Ask… ask the female about them,” he gritted as if something was trying to stop the words. “Ask about the scars he hides.”

  “Leave him alone,” Jessica hissed, barely staying conscious but needing to protect her friend. “Roarke, fight this!”

  Ryan’s fingers gripped tighter as he made his brother look directly at him. “Brat, look at me,” he commanded, using the tone he knew annoyed his younger brother.

  Only having two years between them the rivalry between Ryan and Roarke had always been the strongest and even now when they met on jobs it was clear that Ryan could still annoy his brother easily.

  “C’mon, brat, you never let me push you around so quit letting this son of a bitch,” he snapped angrily, seeing those coal black eyes beginning to shift. “Mac, remember when the brat was seven and Mum grounded him for playing in her roses?” he spoke over his shoulder without looking, knowing he needed to maintain
eye contact.

  Mac rolled his eyes, having helped Jessica up into a chair then he shifted to watch the drama unfold. “Yeah but are you forgettin’ that you’re the one who told Roarke there was buried treasure in the roses?”

  “Sure, but Ma didn’t know that.” Ryan smiled, keeping one hand on his brother’s face while gripping his other hand. “Fight him, brat or are ya the coward everyone always said.”

  Kerry’s eyes blazed and Mac shot to his feet but before either could move or speak, a claddagh medal was tossed onto the bed next to Roarke.

  “Get outta my brother,” Ian spoke from the doorway, eyes gone to smoke and focused on the bed.

  “Oh, bloody hell,” Ryan groaned, starting to move when Kerry shook his head, and then Roarke’s fingers gripped his hand in a nearly bone-breaking hold.

  If Maggie Cavanaugh had any doubts about the lineage the Fitzgerald brothers shared, one look at the youngest would have taken them away.

  After reading the spell in Maggie’s Grandmother’s Book of Shadows several times, it dawned on Ian what needed to be done.

  Opening up a small portion of powers he rarely used, Ian stood in the hospital room door with his hand outstretched and energy flowing; he recalled the spell.

  “Born of the Five, I am of the Five, I call on the bearers of the five elements to shield and protect the innocents from harm as the circle of five will be formed.” The chant was ancient and instinctive to him even though he’d never heard it before. “I order you to leave the form you hold and return to the depths of hell from which you came.”

  The boy’s eyes and voice changed as the spell was repeated twice, and as it neared the end of the third time, Ian’s eyes flashed and the medal he’d tossed glowed white. “And tell your master to stay the hell away from my family!” he snapped, giving the spell one final push, and hoped for the best.

  The demon possessing Roarke had believed this boy-witch could be defeated or ignored. However, it couldn’t keep the hold because as soon as the spell began to work, Ryan and Kerry exchanged looks and for the first time in years, four Fitzgerald brothers worked a combined spell that was powerful enough to pull the demon out.

  Roarke screamed in agony when the spell forced the demon out, and as his body convulsed while the demon tried to hang on, Jessica reached out with what strength she had left to touch the link she and Roarke shared and felt him fighting.

  His final scream had him sitting up and the backlash of power had things moving in all directions as a black mass came out of the young man and hovered a second before dispersing.

  “Roarke?” Jessica, despite being hurt and weak, shoved herself to the bed next to her friend where he’d fallen back.

  The backlash had knocked Ian out the door and into the hallway while Kerry and Ryan, who had been the closest, had tried to shield the others as best they could.

  “Shit. Cam, check on them while I see to Ian.” Mac had picked himself up from the floor and hurried out the door.

  After a couple minutes of silence, Ryan finally shook his head and ran his fingers through his unruly black hair. “So, did the kid come up with that one off the top of his head or do we have a bloody ringer in the mix?” he asked casually, watching as Jessica hovered next to his brother. “By the way, who’s the redheaded witch who was with Ian?”

  “A reporter from Mayo Mac brought in.” Kerry didn’t bother asking how his brother knew the woman was a witch just like he didn’t ask him how he’d recognized their youngest brother.

  Ryan had always been able to pick up things more easily than others had at times. That hadn’t changed.

  “What part of ‘keep him out of this’ didn’t you get?” Mac asked crossly when he got into the hall to see Ian leaning against the wall holding tissues to his now bleeding nose.

  “The spell was in the Book and so was his medal,” Maggie countered, not backing down from his tone since she also saw the fear in his eyes. “Is he the only one with one of those?”

  Kneeling down to look at Ian, Mac was relieved to see his eyes were clearing, just tired. Placing a hand on his shoulder to sense more deeply, he shifted some attention to the question.

  “We all had Trinity medals but only Ian had the Claddagh medal.” He sighed, wincing as he picked up the tension and slight pain from where his brother’s head had hit the wall. “Our maternal grandmother gave it to him when he was christened.”

  Recalling some of her earlier investigations into his family, Maggie knew that meant it had come from Fiona Kerrigan; a powerful wise-woman from up further in Clare, and she wondered if any of them also knew the legends associated with it.

  “What about your other brother?” she asked quietly. “Is he alright?”

  Mac was feeling and not liking everything he was picking up. “Doubt it, luv,” he muttered.

  “It’s alright, Roarke,” Jessica was whispering, leaning up and lightly brushing the hair from his now peaceful face. “You’ll be safe,” she promised, shifting a look up at his worried brothers. “Won’t he?”

  Ryan wasn’t about to touch that one since even he had doubts on how all this would turn out, so he made a show of looking out into the hall. While Mac suddenly found Ian very interesting, this left Kerry the unhappy choice of answering her.

  “We’ll take Roarke home and he’ll be as safe as I can possibly make him,” He assured the girl, kicking Ryan before he could finish the remark forming in his head. “You stay with him, darling. Ry and I need to check on Ian.”

  Jessica nodded but her exhaustion was clear as she sat talking blindly to her friend, and Cam just shrugged that he’d stay in the room.

  Barely waiting until the door closed and ignoring Maggie, Ryan whirled on his oldest brother.

  “How the bloody hell could you promise that?!” he demanded in a low voice, anger clear. “You don’t know if we can protect him. Hell, you don’t even know if we can defeat Sebastian.”

  “Telling her that right now would just upset her,” Kerry explained calmly, looking at Ian and pleased he was standing on his own as he held out the medal. “Sebastian’s counting on us not being able to co-exist enough to defeat him. He’s also counting on our weaknesses causing us to fail.”

  Ian seemed to consider this. “You have weaknesses?” this was a surprise to him.

  “Everyone has weaknesses, lad,” Mac replied, reaching back to rub his neck. “We’re no exception but Sebastian knows the biggest will come from Roarke since he has always blamed himself for what happened, and I’m thinking there are other issues.”

  “If we can’t unite for this then he’ll win,” Kerry aimed this at Ryan and his brother knew it because he scowled and stalked a little ways down the hall. “Ryan, all of us are different than we were that day but we need to remember who we are and what we are. Mum and Da gave their lives to stop Sebastian then, and now it’s up to us.”

  Maggie decided this was something she shouldn’t hear so she started to quietly slip away when she caught the way Mac was still rubbing his neck.

  “You all right, Fitzgerald?” she asked, coming up next to him.

  “Too much bickering.” He waved her off but avoided looking at her eyes, surprised when she took his hands. “Read palms?”

  She hushed him with a look then looked over for Kerry. “Hey, how exactly does Mac do his healing thing?” she asked curiously, getting an answer when she saw his sharp look turn warning.

  Still arguing with Ryan while Ian leaned against the wall to watch, Kerry looked to answer when the question hit him and he swore.

  “Damn it, you’ve taken too much in at once,” he muttered, ignoring his brother’s attempt to wave it off. “Mac, you know the risks of taking too much pain or injury in at one time.”

  “I also know it goes against my own personal oaths to leave someone I care about in pain,” Mac shot back.

  Ian watched this altercation interestingly. “If the villain wants to break the circle, which I’m guessing is the five of us, wouldn’t making
us fight amongst ourselves be a good way to do it?” he asked quietly.

  “Ah, there was a reason he could talk before he was one,” Ryan coughed, coming back up the hall to nudge Mac’s shoulder. “Baby brother is the only one who can see past the obstacles and remain clear.”

  “He was three and still untouched when he went to Dublin,” Kerry reasoned but understood what Ryan was saying. “Can we do this and not kill each other?”

  The brothers exchanged looks and Mac merely shrugged as Ryan snorted, grinning. “I figure Deirdre will remember right quick what it’s like having all five of us in the same house cause we’ll be scrapping a lot but…” he paused to take a breath and held out a hand. “I’d rather send the old devil packing than spend too much time fighting with you lot.”

  “Just don’t tease Roarke too much or Jessica will likely fry you,” Mac warned easily, taking the hand his brother offered then narrowing his eyes when he felt the tension ease. “Ry.”

  The third born son just grinned but didn’t say anything about easing his brother’s stress. “Bugging the brat is what I live for.”

  “Just watch what you say until we see what he’s hiding,” Kerry warned, surprised by the sudden ringing they all heard when he and Ian joined the combined hands of the others.

  “Well, that should be interesting if all five of you do that,” Maggie laughed, wondering if the brothers were aware of the shower of lights that went off right then. ‘I doubt it,’ she thought to herself, wondering what else would happen.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Fitzgerald Manor, Fitzgaren, Ireland:

  It took several more hours to convince Peter Daniels that taking his patient out of the hospital was what was best for him but finally when his leader pulled rank, the Detroit-born medic conceded.

  After Kerry made a call, Deirdre O’Connor had been waiting for them at the front door of the manor house.

  Ryan Fitzgerald had followed in his own car, pulling to the side to allow the Mavericks’ own van to pull closer to the house since Peter had insisted his brother stay on a stretcher until they got him settled in the house.