Wish You Weren't Here

by Janeen Ippolito

  Allyn clasped her hands together. “He has some time before his mind breaks down.” She caught Melrose’s glance. “I’ll have Jamie contact you about physical warning signs of shifter separation. If necessary, he can come by tomorrow.”

  “Good. Thank you.”

  Allyn smirked. “Cendric is a rare kindness among ravens around the precinct.”

  Seren smiled at the joke, then stood up and touched my arm. Her fingers slowed, her desire for me to understand clear. “My intuition isn’t clear, but I can sense a great deal of caring and protectiveness towards you.”

  “Yeah, not surprising.” Somehow, the words came easier. Maybe a side effect of the magic. I wasn’t complaining. “He’s too kind. Noble idiot with an overprotective streak.”

  Seren nodded with wry understanding. “Jamie is the same.” She paused. “Remember, you and Gideon are family to us as well. You’re always welcome among us.”

  I almost shattered at her words. The shifter community had held me at a distance after I’d killed a rabid grizzly. Even the Dalcas, old friends through Gideon, had been cautious about me visiting lest I come to harm. To have that barrier lifted was enough to make tears leak down my cheeks.

  After exchanging hugs with Seren and handshakes with Allyn, I leaned against Gideon, staring at my mate on the bed. My stomach tightened in so many knots I’m not sure food would fit in. Or plant blood.

  Cendric was fading. Maybe weeks, maybe days.

  I squeezed Gideon’s hand. “I need to find Kiran. Melrose, can you help me?”

  He shook his head. “Tracking Jinn isn’t a specialty of mine. Entrapment and killing, I can teach you, but not finding one.”

  “Right. That’s okay.”

  It wasn’t. None of this was okay. My husband was cursed by my ex-boyfriend, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Worse, my last conversation with that husband had been a fight. And I still didn’t regret the words. I just regretted they had been the last ones.

  Maybe the last ones ever. God, please tell me that can’t be true.

  Fearful magic roiled around within me, as if I hadn’t just released it working out and shooting at targets. Flames eagerly snaked around my arms, warping the wall behind me. I pressed my lips together. No losing control, Allis.

  With effort, I forced the magic back before I did any damage to the room.

  Allyn spoke up. “I don’t know Jinn psychology, but I do know about obsessions and bonds. This Kiran pursues you as a mate, yes?”

  “I mean, sure. We were pretty serious for a while.”

  “How serious?”

  Gideon broke in. “Afterward, she threw away or burned every single thing Kiran had ever given her. A decade’s worth of stuff.”

  I sniffed. “They only reminded me of him. I needed to move on.”

  “Quite intense.” The lioness shifter raised her eyebrows. “And then you mated with Cendric after only a matter of days?”

  “Yeah. Destiny and all that.” Seriously, people needed to lay off.

  “Indeed. But you are not a shifter, as such. You and the Jinn operate by different rules, it seems.”

  “So just because I’m not a shifter, my promises are suspect?” Anger flooded my words.

  Allyn stalked forward, her fingers twitching as though to resist claws spring forth. “No, but you need to acknowledge that you may have more complicated relationships and stop ignoring those complications!” Gideon tensed next to me, and my breath caught, expecting Allyn to strike. She clenched her hands, and her shoulders relaxed. “If Cendric is truly as devoted as he seems, he won’t reject you for being different, even if it makes his life difficult.”

  Right. Because I was the one who made his life difficult. He was blameless.

  Allyn continued. “Now, concerning Kiran. No matter where he is, he will continue pursuing you even if you are married. Particularly if he’s under the effects of this love potion.”

  I nodded, putting aside her other words to process later. Whenever that would be. Self-reflection wasn’t my favorite hobby.

  “But then Kiran would just wait out Cendric’s death to swoop in.”

  The word “death” came out with a choking sound.

  Suddenly, Allyn gave a sharp-toothed smile. “I’ll see what I can do to ensure he can’t wait. Make him think you are weakening. I can even send out messages on your behalf to all major points of contact, showing your desperation and desire to speak.”

  “Kir won’t believe that. I’m not the desperate type.”

  “No, but right now, he is. So he will believe whatever he needs to in order to reinforce his own perceptions.” Her face sparked. “This should be an interesting challenge. I’ll contact Theiya to organize the details and lay a trap. By your leave.”

  I swallowed and nodded. “Allyn, you are a terrifying lioness.”

  “I do try.” The predator ghosted her features again. “What can I say? You bring out a

  certain creativity in me. Particularly now.” Her expression turned more businesslike. “For your part, you need to be ready to spring the trap once Kiran is in place.”

  “Got it.” I breathed out slowly, turning to Melrose once more. “You need to teach me.”

  He turned to me. “Are you sure? Like all methods of causing harm, there will be side effects for you. And I’m not entirely sure what they will be.”

  “There’s no one else here.” I clenched my jaw, then released it. “Teach me how to capture and kill a Jinn.”

  I would be ready the next time Kiran arrived.

  Chapter 13

  Crocodile blood felt weird. Especially when they were in the water, watching the raw, whole chicken dangling above them. The blood rushed through the reptile’s veins oddly. I’m sure if I asked the keeper, she’d be able to explain why. But she was busy monitoring the crocodile in its enclosure.

  Someone nudged me. I glanced over at Josie, who watched the proceedings with wide green eyes. “When I came over with cookies, I didn’t expect you to take me to a zoo. Why didn’t you tell me you lived next to a zoo?”

  “Not a zoo. An animal sanctuary.” I paused. “It, uh, came with the marriage.”

  “How does that work again—ack!”

  The crocodile leaped out of the water in one smooth motion and tore at the chicken, grabbing the whole mass and gulping it down. Josie squeezed my arm with a shriek. Good thing I was feeling a lot better. Also a good thing we’d left her homemade cookies at my place. She would have tossed them everywhere.

  The keeper chuckled and pulled down her cap over her short blonde hair. Colleen. Her name was Colleen. “Good job, Lilah.”

  “Why Lilah?” I asked.

  “She’s a sneaky reptile,” she scoffed, “just like a lot of the other Talamars. Ask your mate about Lilah sometime.”

  “I have.” Cid and I were open about past relationships, even the awful ones. He hadn’t told me much, but I did know Lilah was the queen bitch of awful—and thankfully, no longer in charge of her vampire house. Her twin brother Gabrel had taken over and was doing a far better job.

  “Oh. I see.” Colleen threw me a sideways glance, not unfriendly, just evaluating. All the vampires around the sanctuary and halfway house did. Testing me, to see if I’d last.

  I’d asked Melrose about that. He’d said in his usual quiet, firm way that vampire marriage involved a blood exchange but was anchored by time. Because vampires had restless mortal souls, they sometimes found commitment over centuries difficult. The only way to prove them wrong would be to stay with Cendric.

  The attitude still hurt though.

  “Hey, you want to see more of the place?” I asked Josie.

  She hesitated, chewing on her lip. “You mean, the whole place?”

  “Nah, just the sanctuary.” I guided her away from the enclosed feeding area and outside into the late afternoon sunlight. “The halfway house compound and free-range area is protected by a magical barrier over water. Don’t worry, you can’t get there.”

&
nbsp; “Oh, good.” She sighed in relief as we exited the feeding area and walked across the main courtyard of the sanctuary. “Not that I thought you’d actually take me around vampires who were having … issues …”

  “With hunting and draining humans? Nah. You’re not enough of a snack for them anyway.” I winked. Besides, Melrose was doing his rounds, stirring up the residents more than usual as he checked procedures and examined problem cases with the confidence of the physician and surgeon he was. At the end of the night, he’d give me another check-up and hopefully clear me for duty.

  Not that Theiya, Jack, Gideon, or anyone else had turned up information on Kiran. At least now, thanks to Melrose’s training, I knew what to do with Kiran when I found him. My fingers twitched, blue flames dancing on the edges. Cendric still hadn’t woken up. Seren assured me he was still in there, but I couldn’t enter the Dreamscape to find him. Not with the primal raven in control.

  Some blood binder I was. Cendric could break my curse, but I couldn’t break his. Except, maybe, by forcing Kiran to. After Melrose’s training, I could do that. All I had to do was find the Jinn.

  Josie’s voice broke through my thoughts. “So, Colleen … I could tell she was one. But it’s 5 pm. How is she able to be out?”

  “She’s inside. No sunlight.” I scuffed my sneakers across the gravel as we headed for the bird enclosures, one of my favorite parts of the sanctuary. “Colleen’s an early riser, and she’s got excellent self-control. She actually does some of the evening programs for the outsiders.”

  “Ah, that makes sense.” Josie’s boots clomped on the wooden boardwalk as we strolled through a glade with brightly colored leaves. “So … what’s a Talamar?”

  “A kind of vampire.”

  “There is more than one kind?”

  I huffed in the cold air, tucking my hands into my jacket. “Oh yeah. There are dozens of types, and not all of them are made from humans. Some are just full-out monsters who want your blood, even if they have to siphon it through your feet.”

  “Gross.”

  I didn’t need my magic to read her curiosity—it was written all over her face. And if Josie was going to keep working as my assistant, she needed to know these things. Besides, talking about them somehow made them more real to me and connected me to Cid, even if he was currently trapped. “The vampires you commonly see, the humans who got turned? That’s from a dark magic virus called the blood curse. There’s some kind of science-y name for it.” I shrugged. “There are three major strains of that virus, and each one leads to different abilities and has different side effects. When Melrose and his crew identified the three types, he created the Houses of the Dead to officially catalog blood-cursed vampires. Three houses by blood strain and special areas: Talamar for emotions, Vectorix for physical prowess, and Cryptaro for intellect.”

  “Which one is Cendric?”

  “Talamar.” Boy, had he been put-out when he finally told me, like he was telling me he had AIDS or something. It wasn’t like he’d had a choice about who turned him. And the Talamar gift for mesmerism didn’t faze me.

  “So just three houses?”

  “Well, there are three more houses created by shared values—Lucasta are the slayers, Paxena are the pacifists who shun all contact with the outside world, and Regeleus run the halfway houses, like Akira who runs this place. Vampires who are part of the houses call themselves the Blood Kindred, or Blood Kind, to sort of separate themselves from the all the other monsters. They’re even seen as a separate race in the Fae courts. Not quite Unspoken—sort of borderline, like Jinn.”

  Melrose had been grumbling for days about his upcoming political appearance before the courts. Queen Epriana had made it a function of state, so plenty of lords and ladies would be there, and she was even inviting the handful of local human politicians who helped maintain the Magisphere Accords in the city. Mel couldn’t get out of showing up, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t annoyed by it. A lot more annoyed than he was at me about the fantastic nickname I’d given him. Tough. Mel was basically my father-in-law, and family deserved nicknames.

  Plus, he and Gideon were getting along well. Anyone who couldn’t get along with an otter shifter as cute as Gideon was automatically suspect.

  “Allis! The door!”

  Right in front of me loomed a thick, gray metal door. I winced, expecting another smack in the head. Instead, my Jinn magic surged, and I walked straight through. I spun around in shock. There was now an Allis-sized gap in the door. I’d shoved aside all the molecules. Josie stared through the opening in shock.

  “Problem solved.” I flashed her a smile.

  She shook her head. “Man, this door is really not happy with you.”

  “I guess not—wait, what?”

  Her expression was serious. “Oh, this is a major blip in its history.” Josie scooted through the gap. “Can you fix it, please?”

  Restoring something. Right. I could do that. I focused on the door, trying to get every atom back into place. Slowly, the door melded together. Even the doorknob locked back into position. I exhaled. “Is that good enough?”

  Josie nodded. “Yeah, that’ll do. It’s a little unsettled, but much better.”

  “Also, how the crap do you know that?”

  “We-ell …” She looked off to the left. “I sort of have … psychometry. A lot of it.”

  A psychic connection with objects. “And you sort papers?”

  “Oh yeah, it makes it easy to sort all kinds of things when you know their history and qualities by touching them. And sometimes hearing them.” Josie sighed. “Although that’s only with really old or magical things.”

  I laughed shortly. “Thanks for the heads up.”

  “Mom and Dad both have it, and so does one of my brothers. It’s not a big deal for us, but we keep it quiet because it could be a big deal for others. You know.” Fear shadowed her face, then disappeared into her usual complacent expression. “Most days, I don’t really think about it. It’s like an extra sense, and I can sort of shunt it aside when I want to.”

  “Well, I get that. My reading people is the same way.” I waved at the keeper on duty, and we strolled through the smaller enclosures, which held birds that couldn’t play nice with others. Like the rare cockatrice that squawk-hissed menacingly. Rare … Suddenly, dots began to connect in my mind. “Rafe collects rare antiquities, especially books.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Her voice was tight with annoyance. “He’s quite fascinated by me, when he can spare a minute from his books, or his work in general.”

  So that’s how that had gone. A mutual love of antiques, but different ideas on dating. “It’s not you. Rafe’s got trust issues and ‘how to human’ issues. Although, for a dragon, he’s actually pretty good about that. He hasn’t eaten anyone in about ten years. I think.”

  “I don’t care about that.”

  “You don’t?”

  Josie raised her hands. “He’s a dragon. I understand dragon. But he’s an ice dragon, and it seems like that connects to his heart sometimes. Although, not always his lips—in conversation or in kissing.”

  I laughed at that, and she shot me a rueful look. “I just thought, if he was friends with Melvin, maybe Rafe had a softer side. Melvin is friendly to everyone, and Rafe can seem very kind on occasion.”

  “Melvin is a very special dragon, and the only one I know who makes a living doing children’s parties and events. He’s even visited hospitals and homes as a therapy dragon.”

  “Yeah, he said that.” Josie’s eyes twinkled, then the light faded.

  I stopped. “Do you need help handling the situation with Rafe?”

  “At this point, I got it.” She set her jaw. “Mama didn’t raise a helpless waif. And I can reason my way out of it with enough learning. But I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

  “You do that, and be honest. I can be there in a snap. I’ve got your back, and I know others I can pull in to have your back as well.”

 
She smiled. “Thanks, Al.”

  At least I could fix some problems. Not mine, but others.

  Cold comfort there.

  We entered the main aviary space, after walking through a separate set of doorways and being duly warned by another keeper not to let the birds escape. Then we entered a cavern of light and humidity and fluttering wings. Cendric had been inspired by the National Aviary in downtown Pittsburgh and decided to make his aviary jungle-themed as well. A long pathway with railings on either side stretched across the center of the space, with side paths branching off. A small brook splashed over rocks and into small pools. Trees reached toward the high ceiling, and colorful birds of all kinds perched and flew among them with musical or raucous calls.

  A grin slowly spread across my face. Something about the free-flying birds made me feel free as well. Open to anything.

  Open to twisting this entire room into a knot.

  I rolled my eyes at the thought.

  Second try: open to relaxing and forgetting that outside there is a huge love potion issue to deal with, an unconscious husband, and a nefarious ex-boyfriend who has vanished again.

  A part of me glowered at my disciplined response, but I didn’t care. I was getting used to patiently slapping down my worst ideas. It would be a never-ending quest, but that was the price of being free from the curse-mark.

  A giggle interrupted my thoughts. I turned to see Josie kneeling and feeding a peacock that strutted on the pathway. My smile widened. At least she had something to take her mind off things as well. And it was fun to bring a friend here. Jack had too much fox in her to trust near this many birds.

  And Theiya? Theiya and I weren’t super close. She was hard to read, and she liked it that way. It made getting past acquaintance-level difficult. But if it made her happy, that was fine with me.

  My earvine pinged. “Allis? We have company.”

  “What’s up, Gideon?” He’d been immersing himself in the alchemy community, trying to learn all he could about the love potion fiasco.

  “Fae cops, coming to question you about the whole crazed genie woman confronting you in public thing.”