When Irish Eyes Are Haunting: A Krewe of Hunters Novella Read Free Page A

the village when they’d arrived, at a dinner with a marketing friend who arranged for the creation and delivery of their special “Karney Castle” soaps and shampoo and conditioner, and all the little amenities that hotel guests liked to take with them.
    After arriving in Dublin, going through customs, getting their rental car and making their way to Karney, Devin and Rocky had arrived at the castle just in time to be warmly greeted by Brendan, drop their bags, and head for Gary’s Ghosties and Goblins night tour—at Brendan’s insistence.
    Devin had been there before, but Rocky was new to this wondrous part of the Emerald Isle, and the tour was a great way for him to get an intro, so Brendan told them. And Devin had been a “wee” little thing at the time she had been there.
    Devin was pretty sure she’d been thirteen or fourteen when the family had come, and she’d been five-five or five-six by then, but to Brendan—a great bear of a man at about six-four—she supposed that was “wee.”
    Brendan had seen to it that she and Rocky had a chance for a quick look at the old master’s suite where they’d be staying, time to freshen up and make sure they wouldn’t mind where Kelly had wanted them to stay, and then head out.
    Their room in the central tower was called the old master’s suite because there was a new master’s suite—created in the Victorian era with all the niceties that came with the more modern day. Collum—now dead and buried—had lived in the old suite; Brendan was in the new suite. Kelly and her father, Seamus, had rooms in the main tower as well, which was always reserved for family.
    Only there wasn’t much family anymore.
    Tavish Karney—Kelly’s grandfather—had been one of two boys; Tavish’s brother, Brian, twenty years his junior, had gone on to procreate late in life, leaving Kelly with two Irish second cousins, Aidan and Michael, close to her own age. When the cousins came to stay—they were due in late the next day, always there to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the family castle—they were also housed in the main tower.
    As Brendan had sadly told them, the family was down to himself, Seamus, Kelly, Aidan, and Michael. Not many left of a once great and mighty family. Family needed to be keepers of a great and historic castle. Of course, Ancient City Tourism was forever trying to buy them out, put a nightclub in the old castle, and shake everything up.
    Brendan—as Collum before him—meant to keep Karney Castle in the Karney family. Devin knew that Seamus and Kelly felt just as passionately that their heritage must be preserved. Castle Karney deserved the best and while its place on the historic register might save it from destruction, it just might not be enough to keep it from becoming a gimmicky attraction.
    “You’re right; we’ve just arrived,” Rocky told Devin softly, his words bringing her back from her thoughts. They were both seated cross-legged on the soft, rich green grass of the lawn area that surrounded the pit and the grating. Rocky took her hands, his eyes on Gary across the rising yellow flames of the fire between them. “And,” he added, lowering his voice still further, “this is an excellent way for me to begin, to understand the lay of the land, so to speak.” He hugged her more tightly to him, as if he was aware of the chill she’d felt earlier when looking up at the walls.
    He was aware, of course. He was Rocky, intuitive—and much better at this than she, much more experienced .
    “So then tonight,” Gary announced, “eh, you’ve learned about the Tuatha Dé Danann, the great race of Irish supernatural kings and queens, gods and goddesses, if you will, those of the distant past, revered ’til the coming of Christianity! Ye’ve learned of Dearg-Due—an Irish female vampire known long before Bram Stoker—an Irishman, I might add—created Dracula. We’ve talked about our Irish headless horseman—the Dullahan. Many more, and of