Wish You Weren't Here

by Janeen Ippolito

  “Yeah. I get that.” Although I didn’t really want to live in a desert. Pittsburgh worked for me.

  “Because of this, Jinn are tied to their place, and they guard their territory viciously. A Jinn wouldn’t take over the world because the assault and noise would drive them mad. Hmm, although perhaps they would conquer only to destroy and restore quiet.”

  “Or for the fun of it.”

  Melrose shot me a warning look. I shrugged. “Just being honest. I’d never do it. Morals, remember?”

  “Indeed. In any case, for some miraculous reason your Marid father managed to tie his essence to an object instead of a place and travel to this continent, which has strict laws prohibiting Jinn from entering.” He paused, and I kept chugging away at the water. “Were you born in Pittsburgh, Allis?”

  “Yup. Duquesne.”

  Realization lighted his eyes. “So you are native. This is your place.”

  “I mean … I’ve never felt right living away from Pittsburgh. I lived up near Erie for a while, but that was rough. Then again, that could have also been because Gideon’s family didn’t like me.”

  “I’m sure that contributed, but this city is your place by all Jinn rights and magical rules.” He chuckled softly. “Yet Malda Nazari continues to claim it as hers.”

  I sucked up the last of the drink. “Well, Cid is my anchor.”

  “Yes, he told me about that, and it confused me greatly. A heavy burden for an immortal, even for one as devoted as he is. Usually Jinn are only bonded to those they are compelled to serve.”

  Well, that couldn’t apply to me and Cid. I switched the subject.

  “So what does this have to do with Kiran? And can I get more of this?” I held out the cup.

  “You’ve had enough of the strong medicine. Try this.” Melrose took my cup and handed me a glass of water. I narrowed my eyes.

  “… Mel, did I just drink …” I couldn’t get the word out.

  “A kind of plant blood formulated to accelerate healing.”

  I pressed my lips together. “Plant blood? Not … the other kind?”

  “There would have been no point in doing so. You’re not equipped to absorb the nutrients from blood.” He raised his eyebrows. “Mel?”

  “Makes it easier to say.” Honestly, the man exuded enough quiet authority that I should have backpedaled, but my brain wasn’t operating with twenty-twenty vision right now. Shortening words made them easier to say, and right now my body and brain needed all the help they could get.

  I took a sip of water and studied Cendric. My chest tightened with unspent emotions. “I have to save him. How does knowing Pittsburgh is my homeland help with that?” I fixed Melrose with a stare. “How can I stop Kiran?”

  He shook his head. “Most of what I know about Jinn concerns how to entrap and kill them. But I will say that fights over place are very common among them. Whatever this situation is, you can be certain it ultimately concerns territory.”

  “Kiran just harmed mine.”

  “To harm you or to provoke you?”

  I fell silent for a moment. “We’re old friends. We dated for a while, seriously dated. He wants me back.”

  “Then he might also be using you in his own power play to gain territory. I will help you however I can. For now, you must rest and heal.” Melrose stood up. “At this time, I believe I should be making rounds to the rest of the compound. I have much to discuss with Akira before the gathering at 2 am.”

  “Oh. That.” Funny how this morning I’d wanted out of the social engagement. Now I’d give anything to be with a conscious Cendric, facing all the vampire social engagements—even if it meant us arguing more about my first stint as a blood binder.

  Melrose walked toward the door, then paused. “As much as we both wish for Kiran’s blood to be spilled, every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.”

  It took me a minute to grasp the translation. Basically, learn all I could first before flaying Kiran. Why did I always have to take the sensible route?

  “Got it.” I tapped my fingers against the side of the glass. “Hey … sorry about … y’know. Waking up furious and treating you like the enemy.”

  “Likewise.” His eyes glittered. “Thus far, I’m content that Cendric has you in his life.”

  “Aw, thanks Mel.”

  His nose wrinkled. “But you can cease calling me that any time you wish.”

  “Hmmm. We’ll see.”

  His face remained stoic, except for a slight twitch to his lips. “Yes. We shall.”

  Chapter 12

  If you can’t heal something, then shoot it.

  Not a great life philosophy, but it worked for the present. I couldn’t do anything to help Cendric, so I went to the shooting range to take my anger out on a bunch of hapless stationary and moving targets.

  Of course, this was no ordinary shooting range. It belonged to the light elves—as in elves who manipulated light magic, not the random categories of light and dark elves in Scandinavia. The North American Fae courts decided years ago to enact the SIP—Simple Identification Policy—for magical races. They tagged all elementals as elves and simply added adjectives for the kind of element. It made light elves visiting from Norway very cranky, but that was travel for you.

  Right now the shooting range, sparring rooms, and other workout spaces were almost empty. It was midnight, and the light elves were either asleep or guarding their respective royals, since that was their traditional role. But I was wide awake, and Theiya had been kind enough to sneak me into the facilities. The light elf training center was in the magisphere on a flat piece of land just over the Ohio border. Outsiders saw it as a solar energy collection center, and it was. Just a different kind of solar energy that gave light elves a magic boost and enabled some fun toys, among them a holographic shooting range that adapted to all types of magical bullets.

  I breathed in. Assumed the correct stance. Then exhaled and shot. Over and over. Stopped and input new parameters into the control panel. Changed the clips in my pistols to light bullets. Poison bullets. Knockout bullets. Changed targets. Kept shooting. Each shot expelling my frustration and clearing my mind of thoughts of failure. I couldn’t protect my own mate or even communicate with him—not that we had done a great job of that even when he was conscious. I couldn’t track down one horrible Jinn. Never mind that I’d never learned how. Cendric said it was all intuitive.

  Stupid intuition. Stupid raven-souled vampire obsessed with keeping me safe.

  All of this was just stupid.

  When I removed my glasses and ear protection, my face was wet and my arms sore. It had been three days since the attack in the plaza, and I was still feeling it. But I had to get out. And teleporting to the training center was good practice for my Jinn magic. Someday, I’d try another country—and not Canada. Canada was so close it was easy. Maybe somewhere in Europe.

  “Yeah, and get arrested for being an illegal Jinn on foreign turf,” I muttered. “Great idea.”

  After cleaning and putting my pistols away in their case, I walked to the sparring room.

  Theiya and Jack were both there tonight, in one of their elf-on-shifter fights. Jack would shift effortlessly between fox and her preferred male form, sometimes adding in her true female form just to throw Theiya off and get in surprise punches. In turn, Theiya would blind Jack with flashes of light, electrify her hands with heat for each strike, and sometimes turn invisible to feint. Jack would counter by zeroing in on Theiya’s scent and attack with madcap abandon, claws out. It was clear from their sparring how much the two women knew and trusted each other. They’d known each other off and on for over a hundred years. Both were capable, intelligent fighters and killers.

  Unlike me. Take out Kiran or his mom? Who was I kidding? I had the rage and the magical creativity, but I couldn’t match others in combat. That’s why I ran away and pulled crazy tricks. It was all I was good for—that and sorting out romantic stuff.

&nbs
p; I cleared my throat. “Okay, you two. I think I’ll head home and check on Cendric.”

  Not that anything would have changed while I was gone. I sighed, rubbing my gray mark. Someone was in control, and that destiny was good. I had to trust that, even when I felt as useful as a box of matches in the ocean.

  They broke apart. Theiya rubbed her shoulder and Jack wiped blood away from a swiftly healing cut on her forehead. Theiya must’ve been sneaking in some knife work.

  “Come on, Al. Take a turn!” Jack shifted to her true form, shorts and a tank top hugging her frame and revealing the scars from her childhood in the skoffin camps. Also where she’d learned such brutal fighting.

  I shook my head. “Nah.”

  She wrinkled her nose, the fox showing through. “Look, I understand wanting to be there for your mate, but too much moping doesn’t help anyone, especially not a half-Jinn who still can’t throw a left hook.”

  “I don’t need to throw a left hook,” I shot back. “I throw knives and other things. And shoot things.”

  “What about when your pistols run out of ammunition?” Theiya asked, adjusting her tight bun of dark hair, her brown face literally glowing with exertion. “Or when you run out of projectiles to throw?”

  “Then I make more. Or I just teleport around people, or, I dunno, encase them in camping foam or something.”

  Now they were both circling around me. Two on one was hardly fair—but I’d faced worse odds. Nothing in my life had been fair. My brain was already analyzing the situation, and a smile tugged at my lips.

  Jack’s blue eyes narrowed. “What if your magic disappears?”

  “I’ll still be invulnerable … ish. And then I’ll run away and find cover somewhere.” Pride died to survival instincts every time.

  Theiya frowned, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind a pointed ear. “It’s still a wise idea to learn how to take down someone in hand-to-hand combat without killing them.”

  “That’s what I have you two boss ladies for.” I flashed them both a smile. “I’m the newbie on the block, remember? The punkass half-genie with a curse-mark that Jack brought on as an apprentice—”

  “After you stopped bridge trolls from attacking humans fishing in the Allegheny river. With fake money, flattery, and dating advice.”

  I shrugged. “Bridge trolls get lonely like everyone else.”

  Jack grinned. “Although we did get to fight them.”

  “They’d taken Gideon.” No one takes my little brother captive without at least a broken nose in return. Or a facefull of his worst potion. In the case of one troll, I’d teleported all the bones in his body … outside of his body.

  That was the problem with sparring others. My ways of handling things were either to talk it out, run away, or permanently injure or kill the other person. Not great for a playful bout.

  But judging by my friends’ expressions, I wasn’t getting out so easily. The smile on my face widened, and I set the gun case against a wall. “Okay, let’s try this.”

  Jack’s eyes glinted. Then she lunged at me, barreling into my stomach and shoving me off my feet before I could teleport away. My back hit the padded ground, and I rolled to the side. Anger filled me, coalescing out of the air into a cloud of smoke that surrounded Jack and stopped her in her tracks with a fit of coughing. I climbed to my feet just in time to see Theiya arcing a beam of light at me, blinding me. Squinting against the pain, I raised my hands, transmuting the floor mats into a narrow rectangle of stone that completely boxed her in.

  A small figure whumped onto my back, knocking me to my knees. I pressed my palms into the mat as Jack shifted to human form and grabbed me in a headlock. I kicked back, only finding empty air. Think, Allis! It was hard when she was cutting off my oxygen, but no way was I tapping out.

  Not deadly. Not killing Jack. Just getting out of this hold.

  Slushies of doom. Hey, if it could work with coffee beans …

  The next second, piles of blue raspberry slushy piled on Jack from above. She gave a fierce squeal, and her grip loosened just enough for me to scramble away. I jumped to my feet, shaking off the chilly stuff—and there was Theiya. She’d busted her way through the stone and now held the tip of her sword to my throat. With a flick of my hand, I turned the entire blade to rubber and shoved it away.

  Or I tried to. The blade snapped back into place a second later. I blinked. “How did it to that?”

  Theiya smirked. “There are ways to counteract Jinn magic.”

  Behind me, Jack was cursing her way through the slushy mess. My mouth dropped open. “You’ve never mentioned this before.”

  “You’ve never tried to harm my sword,” Theiya answered. She tapped my throat with the sharp tip. “Yield?”

  I snapped my fingers, teleporting behind her. “Not just yet—”

  A ping in my earvine interrupted. Gideon’s voice. “Al, Seren and Allyn are here to check on Cid.”

  The words were ice water in my veins. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

  Whirling around, I faced Jack, who was still wiping slushy out of her hair, and Theiya, who studied me curiously.

  “Gotta go.”

  Theiya nodded. “Any improvement?”

  “I don’t know. Some shifters we know stopped by to offer advice.”

  Jack patted me on the back. “It’s okay. Everything will get figured out.”

  “Yes, it will.” Theiya’s crisp voice was firm. “Even if these shifters can’t help. I’ve been in contact with people who will be able to help you—and one of them is a healer, so he might be able to help Cendric. I’m sorry they haven’t arrived yet.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier? Who are they? Other Jinn?”

  She sheathed her sword. “They’re on an entirely different level than the Jinn. I can’t tell you anything more. I’m sworn to secrecy. But as soon as they receive the many, many messages I’ve left for them, you will get help.”

  Jack nudged me in the shoulder. “Also, I owe you for the slushy. Now the kits will be trying to lick me when I get home.”

  “Hey, I’ve been meaning to give them a treat.”

  She gave her little gekkering laugh. “You owe me new clothes. Some leader you are.”

  I snorted, grabbing my gun case. “You two follow me? Yeah, like that’ll happen.”

  “We already are,” Theiya said.

  “Nah, you’re just using me for my awesome Jinn skills.” They had to be joking, so I’d joke back. I was just Allis who annoyed people, and they put up with me anyway because I cared too much—and I provided transportation. “Okay, free rides coming now.”

  With a few quick snaps, I’d teleported each of them back to their homes, then returned to my own, choosing to appear in the hallway outside my bedroom. There were people going in and out of there all the time, except when I was sleeping. I didn’t want to startle anyone.

  At that moment, a voice spoke from inside the room. For a split second, my hopes rose. But it was Gideon, who’d scented me. “Come on in, Al.”

  I pushed the door open. Gideon immediately gave me a hug. I set my gun case down and gripped him back. Pulling away, I studied the two other people in the room. One was a tall, thin woman with a mane of curly black hair and caramel skin wearing black jeans and a blazer. Allyn Dalca, lioness shifter and forensic psychologist who consulted with the Pittsburgh police department. Sitting next to her in a chair was a shorter woman with soft, dark hair, a gentle face, and a flowing blue dress. Seren Takahashi, Allyn’s sister-in-law and an owl shifter with a keen intuitive sense, especially with dreams. Melrose stood on the other side of the bed.

  “Allyn. Seren.” I gave them both the best smiles I could summon. “What’s going on?”

  As I spoke, I made sure my lip movements were clear and moved my hands in a few simple gestures, making sure to include Seren in the conversation as much as I could.

  Allyn spoke up, signing fluidly with every spoken word. “Gideon thought w
e might be able to give insight into breaking the curse. Cendric’s form is a vampire, but his soul is shifter. And Seren …”

  “I felt a disturbance through my intuition,” she said with her hands moving quickly, while Allyn translated for Melrose—and for any words my conversational knowledge of sign language would miss. “Him being trapped.”

  I shook my head. “But Cendric isn’t part of your family. And he isn’t an owl.”

  She watched my lips, and her fingers moved again. “I know, but he is a bird, and that kind of curse is very strong.” She frowned. “Many shadows came into my dreams ... a cage within a cage. Terrible for a bird. He struggles against it.”

  My heart sank.

  Melrose nodded. “We’ve been brainstorming new ways of contacting him.”

  “And?” I tried not to hope.

  Allyn gave a soft growl. “I’m afraid we’ve only learned worse things. From what we’ve surmised, this Jinn has locked Cendric’s soul within his pure, primal raven instincts. He’s there, but he can’t get out. Meanwhile, his vampire body needs blood.”

  Melrose gestured to the tube of blood feeding into Cendric’s arm. “This won’t be enough. For a full vampire, it would be, but Cendric’s shifter soul means his body needs other nourishment. And if a shifter’s animal form is cut off from their body for too long …”

  Allyn and Seren’s faces darkened, as did Gideon’s. Only confirming the truth in my gut. In this place of separation, Cendric would die.

  My breath grew shallow as anger churned my stomach. “No. That’s not an option. Melrose,” I turned to him, “you told me that this could be a territory dispute. That means Kiran would show up because somehow he needed me to win against this person.”

  “Yes, I—”

  “And you also said that all Jinn struggles are ultimately territory disputes.”

  He ran a hand over his head. “As far as I know, yes.”

  “So this will work out. Kiran will show up at some point, I’ll figure out how to break the curse, and Cendric will live.” I glanced between the faces in the room, desperate for hope. “Right?”