by Young, S.
Kiyo had wandered off a bit to talk to Bran. When he hung up, he collected his and Niamh’s tickets from a self-service machine and turned to find her. Niamh leaned against the wall near the entrance doors, her eyes closed. She appeared suddenly very young and lost.
He knew what it was like to lose the one person who kept you anchored. Home wasn’t a house or a building somewhere. Home was a person. Kiyo knew that better than anyone. Ronan had been Niamh’s home, and without him … Tamashii ga nuketa. She was a lost soul.
Striding toward her, his eyes fixed on her, his pulse leapt when she opened her eyes to meet his gaze. Ignoring the sensation, he slowed to a stop before her and held up the ticket with a wry smirk. “Bran booked us first-class tickets to Tokyo.” It had been awhile since Kiyo had traveled first class anywhere. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford it; he’d just already been through what he considered the extravagant, indulgent phase of his life in the ’80s. He grew bored with it quickly. It wasn’t him.
“That was nice of him.” She took the proffered ticket. “Did he say anything else?”
“Just that we seem to be safe.” He explained Bran’s security checks. “Our flight leaves soon but we have time to eat. Why don’t we head to the first-class lounge and get something there?”
Niamh nodded docilely and fell into step beside him. He kept looking at her out of the corner of his eyes, worry niggling at him.
She frowned at her feet. “Why did it take you so long to come to the apartment?”
He frowned in return. “Considering the situation, I think Conall and I got there pretty fast.”
“But weren’t you following me in Sèvres? When I was following Meghan?”
Kiyo drew to a halt. “No, I wasn’t.”
Niamh stopped with him.
“You were followed?”
She searched his face, his worry reflected in her eyes. “I can’t say for sure. But I’m rarely wrong. I felt like I was being followed. I was so focused on the witch and I didn’t feel any danger, so I just ignored it. Then when you and Conall showed, I just assumed it had been you following me.”
“You didn’t feel any danger?”
“None.”
Shit. Kiyo did not like mysterious subplots. He glanced around them, searching the crowds for anything out of the ordinary. “You sense anything now?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Okay. We keep moving.” His expression hardened. “But you tell me if you feel anything like that again. If you feel anything out of the ordinary, I want to know.” His head dipped toward her. “You have to trust me, Niamh.”
Her eyelashes fluttered at his closeness. “I know. I’m going to try.”
Although more than a little annoyed that she needed to try considering he’d thrown himself in front of a damn dagger for her, Kiyo merely grunted and continued toward the small security lounge for first-class travelers.
They moved through it quickly. Kiyo had already abandoned his katana in Conall’s Defender back in Inverness so he could board the flight to London. Niamh’s backpack held only a small amount of cash and her clothes.
Afterward, as they followed signs for the first-class lounge, Kiyo spotted the bookstore and stopped so fast, Niamh collided into him. He felt the brush of her breasts against his biceps just before she pulled back. “What is it?”
He gestured toward the store. “Give me a minute?”
She nodded and followed him inside.
As he perused the English language fiction bestseller list, he spotted the new Stephen King and grabbed a copy without reading the blurb. He moved toward the checkout counter.
“Wait … you’re buying a book to read on the plane?” Niamh asked incredulously.
Kiyo scowled at her over his shoulder. “And?”
“You read?”
“Yeah. I’ve also been known to use my opposable thumbs.”
She chuckled. His lips twitched at the sound, but he had his back to her so she couldn’t see.
“I just never took you for a reader.” She sidled up beside him as he stepped to the counter to pay for the book.
“You don’t really know me,” he muttered.
She slipped a book up onto the counter. It was a copy of Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally. Kiyo had already read that one. He quirked a brow at her. Niamh shrugged, smiling at him. “I’ve never read it and I like books about history.”
He turned to the checkout assistant, ignoring the hint of curiosity in Niamh’s tone when she stressed the word history. “That one too.”
“Thanks.”
He flicked Niamh a wary look. “No problem.”
For a few seconds Kiyo thought she wasn’t going to push it. But as they walked out of the bookstore with books in hand, Niamh shocked the absolute shit out of him.
So how does a werewolf become an immortal?
At the sound of her voice, clear as day in his head, an invasion and not a thought, he staggered to a stop and gaped at her.
She gave him a sheepish smile. Yeah, I can talk to you like this.
Grabbing her by the arm, he led her across the airport in quick, long strides until they neared a set of double doors reserved for airport staff only. Kiyo pushed Niamh into the corner, dropping his bag at their feet, so he could cage her in with his arms braced on the wall at either side of her head.
Her cheeks flushed as he glared at her.
“What the hell?” he bit out, not sure how to feel about this latest development.
“Do you want me to keep talking telepathically or is it freaking you out?” Before he could answer, she put her hands lightly on his chest as if in a calming gesture. He looked down at them, wanting to push her off. He didn’t want her feeling how hard his heart was racing right now. Her soft words stopped him. “It’s useful. When … Ronan and I were on the run, being able to talk to him like that was useful.”
Kiyo frowned, considering that. “Can you hear me if I did the same?”
She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t work like that. But it’s still useful.” She dropped her hands, as if touching him burned. Niamh shrugged and he caught the uncertainty in her expression before she looked away over his shoulder. “I just … I thought maybe it was time I trusted you with it. It might come in handy.”
There was something brittle about her now. As if she half expected him to judge her for it.
“You just surprised me.” He pushed away from her. “I can see how it could be useful.”
He watched the hard uncertainty melt from her face. Her expression softened, her lips quirking at the corner and drawing his attention.
He looked at her mouth for a few seconds too long. When their eyes met again, Kiyo’s whole body bristled with hot tension.
An aching silence stretched between them, and Kiyo didn’t know how to break it. He was afraid if he moved or opened his mouth, he’d lose hold of the self-control he prided himself on.
The decision was taken out of his hands when Niamh’s eyes widened with shock. “No,” she whispered, tears of frustration filling them. “Not again. Kiyo—vision.” She bit it out just in time.
With his fast reflexes, he gripped her head just as it jerked back on her neck. If he hadn’t caught her, she would’ve slammed it into the wall with force. Gut churning, Kiyo encircled her and tried to contain her as she convulsed and shuddered in his arms.
He hated this.
He absolutely hated seeing her like this.
And these visions … there seemed to be a lot of them. Too many.
Hoping no one was paying them any attention, Kiyo muttered soothing words in Niamh’s ear until her body finally grew still. He held her a few seconds longer, and she didn’t make a move to retreat.
Finally, he eased away from her.
Her cheeks were pale again, her expression wounded and frazzled.
“They’re happening too often,” Kiyo observed.
She nodded wearily. “I started to get more after Ronan … but these past few w
eeks. When Ronan was alive, I used to only get a vision every few months, sometimes only once or twice a year.”
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know.” Concern strained her beautiful face. “I don’t know.”
“What was the vision this time?”
She stiffened beneath his touch, drawing Kiyo’s attention to the fact that he still held her. He released her quickly but blocked her path so she couldn’t walk away from him.
“Well?”
Niamh stared him directly in the eyes. “There’s a child abuser here. At the airport.”
Frustration filled him. “No.”
“No?”
“Did we not just have this conversation back at the apartment?”
Looking away from him, Niamh sighed. “We did.”
“But?”
“It’s hard not to do anything about it.”
“But you have to. Niamh, what did I say about the darkness?”
Her eyes flew to his, guilt filling them. “I know. I know you’re right. But I can do something about evil people like that … and why do I keep getting the visions if I’m not supposed to do something about it?”
He didn’t know how to answer that. Instead he focused on appealing to her common sense. “Every time you veer off the right path, you put yourself in jeopardy. You put the gate in jeopardy. As hard as it is to walk away from these visions, you need to. For the greater good.”
“Do you really believe in the greater good?”
Surprised by the question, Kiyo took a step back. “I have to.”
“Have to?”
“If I don’t … then what the hell is the point of anything?”
She nodded, understanding. “I want to ignore these visions but I’m afraid of the guilt if I do.”
Yeah. Kiyo bet she was. She was carrying enough of that shit around. “Niamh.”
She seemed to shiver at the sound of her name on his lips, and Kiyo’s body tightened in reaction.
“You don’t understand.”
“Make me understand.” His tone was harsher than he meant.
“This one’s personal.”
“You know this child abuser?” His gut twisted at the thought.
“No.” She shook her head. “But … the first person I ever killed was one.”
His pulse raced at the implications. “Niamh,” he whispered her name, sorrow and anger beginning to fill him.
“No,” she reassured, pressing her hands to his chest again. “I got away. I was twelve. He was my foster mother’s boyfriend. I …” She broke off, and then her voice was in his head. I killed him. Accidentally. Just turned him to ash. Ronan found us and we ran. We’ve been running ever since. We had been running ever since … As her voice trailed off, she dropped her hands from his chest again and stepped back, her gaze pleading.
Kiyo thought of that sick bastard touching Niamh as a child, and he could find no sympathy or horror for the guy. Everything he felt was for Niamh. Everything he felt … was too much.
“I get it,” he bit out. “But no, Niamh. This has to stop. Every time you answer a vision … I think you lose yourself a little more.”
Tears glittered in her eyes. “I know you’re right.”
“Come on,” he said, his voice gruff as he grabbed his duffle bag with one hand and took hold of her elbow with the other. “Don’t think about it. One foot in front of the other. We’ll go to the lounge, we’ll eat, and then we’ll board that plane.”
Kiyo wasn’t fooled by her sudden docility. He didn’t know if it was weariness, confusion, or agreement that caused her to keep up with him, he just knew he wasn’t letting his guard down. Any second now, he expected her to try to slip away from him and go after whoever it was she had seen in her vision.
When she suddenly stumbled to a stop, his grip on her tightened. “Niamh,” he warned.
She shook her head, pulling at his grip as her eyes darted around them. Searching. “It’s not that,” she promised. “I feel it again.”
“Feel what?”
Uncertainty filled her gaze. “Someone’s following me.”
13
The creeping, crawling sensation that tingled all over her at the park back in Sèvres had returned as she and Kiyo made their way toward the lounge. Like before, the feeling wasn’t accompanied by a sense of danger, but it was still unsettling. She pulled again on Kiyo’s grip, and this time he let go. She turned, searching the faces of the people moving through the airport.
“Do you sense anything else?” Kiyo asked at her back. She could feel the heat of him down the length of her body.
“No. I just …” She frantically searched but the feeling was dissipating. “I don’t understand.”
“Niamh, if this is a trick—”
She spun on him in indignation. “It’s not.”
“What the hell is going on, then?” he snapped.
“I don’t know, you impatient furball,” she snapped back, ignoring the dangerous narrowing of his eyes. “I just know … someone is here and they’re following me. Or they were …” She trailed off in confusion as she searched their surroundings again. “The feeling is gone. It came as fast as it arrived.” A wave of nausea rattled up from her gut, and her eyes flew in horror to Kiyo. Something was wrong. They never came in twos! “Vision,” she choked out.
Images slammed into her brain with one painful instruction after another. Four stones. Four faces. Hers. Elijah. Rose. And Astra. Astra. ASTRA. Mount Fuji. Kiyo. A garden. Kiyo. Astra. Astra. ASTRA.
Shuddering as the images faded, Niamh’s eyes flickered open. To her shock, she found herself on the cold floor of the airport, huddled against Kiyo as strangers peered down around her in concern.
What the hell? she asked Kiyo in his mind.
His grim face came into clear focus and he bent to whisper in her ear. “Your vision transferred to me. It took me down too. I couldn’t hide us.”
Well, that was shit on multiple levels.
Exhausted, Niamh was grateful for Kiyo as he helped her to her feet. The people surrounding her included an airport security guard. Questions about her welfare came in several languages.
Calling on all her energy reserves, Niamh took turns looking every single person in the eyes as she assured them she and her friend had merely tripped and they were fine. It took longer than it normally would for the mind manipulation to take hold.
However, eventually it did, and the group wandered off in a daze.
Kiyo’s warm, strong hand came down on her shoulder.
She glanced up at him and flinched at his expression.
“What the hell did I just see?”
The urge to divulge the truth was great, but Niamh needed time to gather her thoughts. She was still reeling from what she’d nearly done to Meghan and her awful demise at the hands of a quite rightly pissed-off werewolf. Her head was muddled. And she needed to process the information from the vision before she could talk about it. “Not now.”
His expression darkened; he looked angrier than she’d ever seen him. “There’s something about me in that vision.”
“Did you understand that part?”
He looked incredulous. “You think I would tell you if I did, knowing you don’t trust me enough to explain why we’re really going to Tokyo? I saved your life.”
Remorse flooded her. “I know that. And I’m grateful. But I’m just a job to you, Kiyo. And this … this is much bigger than you or me. I just need time to process.”
“Then why are we going to Tokyo? Why did I feel myself in the vision somehow? How the hell are the visions transferring to me?”
All valid questions.
Niamh’s head swam.
“And who the hell is Astra?” At her silence, he exhaled in exasperation. “Whether we like it or not, we are now a team. I’m getting your visions. There’s something there about me. If we’re going to get through this, we have to trust each other.” He stepped closer. “Never mind I took a blade for you �
� I have never told anyone what I am.”
She frowned in disbelief. “What about Fionn and Bran?”
“They guessed. But even they don’t know my story. I told you what I am.” He seemed to swallow hard. “That took a lot more than you think.”
A flood of emotions filled her. Emotions she didn’t quite understand. Emotions that pushed her to clam up when she might not have if he’d just given her bloody time to think! “Kiyo, I’d like nothing more than to have someone I could confide in again. To have someone fighting by my side. But we both know that this”—she gestured between them—“is temporary. I can’t give you everything. In fact, I think it’s better for me if I give you very little and you do what you’re being paid to do.”
“Being paid to do?”
“Jumping in front of iron daggers and such.” She lowered her gaze, unable to see his expression. “You saved my life because you’re being paid to. Let’s not pretend it was for any other reason.”
A terrible silence fell between them.
Then he practically growled. “That doesn’t explain why I’m getting your visions.”
“I don’t know why. And I need time to ponder it.” She pushed past him abruptly, her heart racing and aching at the same time. Niamh was alone. Pretending she wasn’t, that Kiyo was something more than a paid bodyguard, was dangerous.
She was all alone.
“What about the frequency of the visions?” Kiyo caught up to her, grabbing her elbow to stop her. “Niamh, that can’t be good.”
No, it wasn’t. “That’s not your problem. You guard me as we follow the clues.”
“It would be easier to do that”—his grip tightened almost painfully—“if I understood the clues.”
Niamh lifted her chin in an air of studied arrogance. “You’ll understand what I allow you to understand.”
Kiyo released her. He searched her face in suspicion. “What just happened? What did you sense in that vision that I’m not getting?”
He was too perceptive for his own good.
Niamh looked away and continued onward more slowly toward the lounge. All she knew was that the game had changed because the players had changed.