The Banshee's Revenge (The Banshee's Embrace Trilogy) by Victoria Richards Page B

children to attend to."
    "Others?" She stared up at him in surprise. "You mean I have siblings?"
    "I've been alive a long time. I can't stay celibate forever."
    "No judgment here, Dad."
    "Just be careful. Some of these siblings are not…friends."
    With that, he was gone.
    Jacqueline blinked. His disappearance happened so suddenly, almost as if he'd never been there at all.
    Merlin was her father.
    Lying back on the grass once again, she thought about him and let time pass. Perhaps she would linger in this dream indefinitely. It was so peaceful compared to the real world or to facing the horrors she had caused.
    But another voice drew her from her thoughts once again.
    "You look lovely," a voice to her left whispered. There was raw desire in the speaker's tone and just hearing it, made Jacqueline's body tingle in response. "You look at peace, untouched by the chaos of the mortal world."
    "Right now I am at peace," she responded, not bothering to turn her head to see who the speaker was. What did it matter? It was her dream. "I wish it could always be like this."
    "Who says it can't?"
    "I am not a fool."
    "True." The voice sounded closer, and she felt the air stir as someone laid down in the grass beside her. "Your father didn't think so either."
    "Who are you? Let me guess. You're my long lost uncle or something and you're here to tell me that I'm part of a prophecy." Jacqueline turned to look at him. I've kind of heard the spiel already."
    A young man with long brown hair lay next to her. His youthful face was unmarred by age or time, but his eyes were full of wisdom and knowledge, letting her know that this was an old being. His full sensuous lips curved into a smile at her question.
    "I want to welcome a fellow member of my kind into my realm. I would have spoken up earlier, but you had company. Who am I to ruin a family reunion?" He reached over and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "We are deeply connected to each other."
    "How so?"
    "We are both parts of Death. You work for me now."
    A flash of anger sprinted through her.
    "I work for no one but myself," she informed him. "I've even conquered Death."
    Instead of being offended or angered by her words, the young man merely smiled and sat up. He shook his head and stared at the sky.
    "They're always so full of themselves," he said to no one in particular. "Always thinking they are all powerful."
    He looked down at her, and once again, a strange seductive tingle ran through her body.
    "Your arrogance is holding you back," he said, running a finger down the side of her arm. 
    "Who are you?" Jacqueline sat up and inched away, noticing his bare chest rippled with muscles. "Why do you think I work for you?"
    "I am Arwan. I am also known as one of the gods of the Underworld."
    "You're a god?"
    He stood up and Jacqueline noticed how strong his legs looked encased in brown pants made from deer skin. Power emanated from him, vibrating the very air with his energy.
    Drawn to him, Jacqueline stood, too.
    "Why are you here?" she asked. "Why are you in my dreams?"
    "It was time for us to meet. Two warriors face to face."
    "Warrior?"
    "You are a warrior, Jacqueline, a fighter. I respect that even if you kill souls that aren't ready and neglect ones that are."
    "Are you going to try to kill me?"
    Arwan frowned.
    "Why would you think that?"
    "Because almost every supernatural being I've met in the last few months has tried to do just that. I guess I have a target on my back."
    "One that you put there." Arwan grabbed her hand and gently pressed a kiss to it. "I would prefer to do other things."
    The suggestiveness in his eyes made her skin feel flushed. Desire rippled through her. It had been so long since she'd had any tender contact, so long since she and Toby had last spent a night together. She missed the passion she'd experienced in his embrace and her body craved the touch of compassion.
    As if reading her mind, Arwan inched closer. He tilted her chin up towards his