Dark Bound

by Kim Richardson

  “Or that you’re a lousy Hunter.” Tyrius winked and laughed at his own joke.

  He seemed in much better spirits with Pam around, with her expert hands carefully examining and caressing him at the same time. She’d just stopped fussing with him moments ago to look at my leg.

  Not that I minded. Pam had been very concerned when we told her of Tyrius’s attack in the cave. She’d been particularly troubled when he mentioned that he hadn’t been able to use some of his demon mojo—specifically that he hadn’t been able to Hulk-out since the attack, which had me also worried. But when she’d plopped a fresh slice of steaming pizza onto a plate for Tyrius, he was in baal Heaven and barely said a word for fifteen minutes. A baal record.

  Pam had to cut through my jeans, high up my thigh to get to the arrows. Jax didn’t seem abashed about staring at my exposed flesh as I sat on the edge of the bed. After our swift escape from Sylph Tower, he’d driven us to here to Parks Hollow, to Pam’s ALL SOULS REPAIR clinic for the angel-born in need of fixing. Me. And I was grateful for it. So I’d kept my mouth shut.

  We’d agreed to meet up with Danto later around ten o’clock tonight at Father Thomas’s church. And yes, vampires, being part human, could trespass in a church without bursting into flames, though it still wasn’t a place they liked to frequent.

  I needed to speak to the priest about what I’d learned and get his insight on how we were going to approach the subject with the Gray Council, mainly about the Tooth Faerie and The White Grace.

  Danto would speak to his coven of vampires, and I hoped he’d bring us some good news, maybe a way to kill the queen before she had a chance to do anything stupid.

  Only the leaders of the courts or heads of houses could address the Gray Council, so having Danto as part of this was crucial. Father Thomas’s reputation was well liked within the Gray Council as well. That was good enough for me.

  Jax shuffled nervously, looking on edge with his arms crossed over his chest as he stood next to Pam. I tried not to think about how handsome he was when he was nervous. It was almost as though he cared about me. I don’t know why… he should be putting his feelings towards his fiancée.

  Pam kicked off with her rolling office chair over to a metal side table and picked up what looked like a pair of pliers before rolling back to my side. Although it was cool inside the clinic, droplets of sweat formed on her brow.

  We’d woken Pam up at 5 a.m. by Jax banging on her door. The surprised look on her face at the sight of Jax that turned to a deep, menacing scowl was priceless. She’d been giving Jax the cold shoulder since we’d shuffled in, and it was awesome.

  “Why are you smiling?” asked Tyrius, his brows furrowed as he looked up at me. “Did I miss something? Doesn’t pulling arrows out of one’s legs hurt? Pam… did you give her a sedative? Did she pop some valiums?”

  “No,” I answered for Pam, setting my expression bland. “I didn’t get a sedative. I don’t like the way they make me feel—all screwy.”

  “You might change your mind after this.” Pam’s large blue eyes met mine and her face became serious. “I’m sorry, Rowyn. This is going to hurt. A lot,” she said as she angled the plier-like instrument towards my thigh.

  I stiffened, not liking the idea of having Jax witness this. “Do it.” Pam leaned forward and pinched the broken end of the arrow. I winced at the sudden pressure on my wound.

  “Wait,” interrupted Jax, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Pam. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

  Pam’s raised brows were the only indication she’d heard him. Then with a powerful thrust, she yanked the first arrow out of my thigh.

  Holy. Hell. And all that is holy. That hurt.

  I bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming and tasted blood. “Damn,” I breathed, feeling the spams of adrenaline hit me. I was horrified that Jax was witnessing all of this. “That felt worse than I thought it would. Is my thigh still in one piece?” Yellow pus and blood oozed out of a fleshy, inch gap in my thigh. It was disgusting. And it smelled worse. But I knew now my body could heal with the arrow out. One more to go…

  Tyrius leaned forward, sniffed and then jerked back. “Well, that definitely doesn’t smell like honey and roses, more like spoiled hamburger meat and sour milk. You smell like a corpse, Rowyn.”

  “Jeez, thanks, Tyrius,” I snapped, my pulse thundering in my thigh. “You know… I still have Evanora’s collar in my pocket. Silver is your color, right?”

  Tyrius’s eyes widened at my false threat. “I’ll pretend that’s the fever talking.” He turned and wrinkled his nose. “What kind of poison am I smelling? Nightshade?”

  I shook my head as the pain lessened a little and I took in a breath. “No. The faerie called it faebane.”

  “Faebane?” Tyrius looked up, his whiskers twitching. “Never heard of it. Must be new on the Night Market. But it’s a lethal one. The poison was intended to kill the ones it infected.”

  “Can it…” Jax uncrossed his arms looking pale and distraught. Worry filled his eyes as they flicked from me to Tyrius to Pam. “Will it…”

  “Kill me?” I answered for him, and I saw real fear in his eyes, fear for me. “I don’t think so,” I added, turning away before my emotions betrayed me. “I’d be dead by now if the poison had any effect on me. I know Daegal was hoping it would. Guess I’m immune to that too.”

  “Like that vampire bite,” said Pam, nodding like she’d answered her own question. “You’re probably resistant to a great deal of other poisons and demon viruses.”

  With my hands splayed on either side of me, I gripped fistfuls of the bed linen. “Right.”

  Pam dropped the arrow shaft on a medical-like steel table and dabbed the wound with a clean cloth. “Here. Hold this. There’s one more left. After that, it’s just a couple of stitches and you’ll be as good as new.”

  My hand shook but I did what she ordered and pressed down on the cloth, holding it over my wound.

  “So,” said Pam as she wheeled herself closer to the remaining arrow stuck in my thigh and pushed her glasses up her nose with a white latex glove. “Tell me more about this stone, The White Grace,” she added, and I couldn’t help but think she was trying to distract me by talking while she yanked the last arrow out of my flesh. “How can a stone change a person into a faerie?”

  “It’s spelled.” Tyrius lay next to my left hip snugly, his body heat very comforting like a heating pad. “The stone’s power can remove a person’s humanity to replace it with demon essence, changing them into half-breeds.”

  Pam straightened, her face twisted quizzically. “Anyone? Young or old? Sick or healthy?”

  Tyrius nodded. “Anyone.”

  Pam’s eyes widened. “But what if you don’t want to be turned? Can she still turn you into a faerie?”

  “Yes,” said the cat, solemnly, and I shuddered when I remembered that poor young woman’s struggle and cries. Even with my eyes closed, I could still picture her and hear her.

  “Whoever holds the stone holds the power to turn any human to a half-breed,” said Tyrius, his voice full of a venomous hatred that he’d probably kept to himself since Isobel first changed the human into a faerie.

  “Souls help us,” breathed Pam. Her flushed face paled. But then she looked up at me, her expression both serious and scared. “You need to get that stone back.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said, the shame striking me hard. I didn’t want to curl up and die. I wanted to get even. I wanted revenge. I wanted to get the stone back and bitch-slap that fae queen.

  And then a terrifying thought occurred to me. “She’s probably going to steel a human baby first,” I said, remembering the look of misery in her hateful black eyes when she spoke of losing a child. “She’s going to get herself a new son.”

  “Or a dozen babies,” said Tyrius, his voice full of hatred and spite. “Why stop at one? Go big or go home, right? I pity those human parents when they discover their empty cribs. It’s not right.”r />
  I felt a wave of nausea well inside me, and I strained to push it away.

  “Can it change a half-breed into another type of half-breed?” asked Jax, shifting from foot to foot as he ran a hand over his jaw.

  My mouth opened slightly at his question. “That idea scares the hell out of me.” I looked down at Tyrius, fear tingling up my spine that had nothing to do with Pam’s twitchy fingers and obvious eagerness to pull out the last arrow.

  “Can it?” I asked the cat. The thought that the faerie queen of the Dark Court might be able to turn vampires into faeries or vice versa made me feel ill. Not only did she now have the power to turn thousands or even millions of humans into half-breeds, maybe she could morph an army of werewolves or vampires all into faeries.

  Faeries to dominate over all other half-breeds. A shiver of fear took me, shocking me still.

  Tyrius gave a tiny shrug. “I honestly don’t know. I’d never seen it before and all I know is rumors that have been passed on from the mouths of witches and demons, which are not the most trustworthy sources. Who knows what’s actually fact or fiction.”

  Suddenly I was a lot more nervous. I sighed through my nose, staring at the pliers that were an inch away from the last arrow. “That’s why I want to speak to Father Thomas. I want to know if the church’s ever heard of this stone. The priest has an incredible private collection of books on demonology. There’s stuff in his library that would make the council salivate. Maybe we can find something there.”

  “And all this time it was hidden inside a goblin’s stomach.” Pam’s eyebrows were high on her head, and she had that manic look in her eye, like she would have loved to cut open the goblin just to see how he could have carried a magical stone in his belly.

  “It was a good place to hide it,” I said, my voice low, and I couldn’t escape the hurt that went out with my words.

  “Until the queen sliced him open like he was a bag of rice and plucked it out,” pointed out Tyrius.

  Shame hit me again and my gut clenched. I was angry at myself for letting Ugul down, for letting him die like that, a spectacle in a show. I hated that fae queen. I wanted her dead.

  “He must have had a hell of a time swallowing that thing.” Tyrius shifted his body. “Must have been spelled to stay there, and not, you know… come out of his ass.”

  Jax snorted, which only gave Tyrius more ammunition, and he looked smug.

  Annoyed that these two would find this funny, my voice rose as I said, “What I’d like to know is, who created this stone and why? Why create something so dangerous and then hide it?”

  Tyrius slumped back a little at my tone. “I don’t know.”

  “Something must have happened,” I argued. “Ugul volunteered or he was forced to hide it—Christ! That hurt!”

  “Sorry.” Pam wheeled away with the last arrow clamped tightly with the pliers in her hand. “All done.”

  I frowned. “Why do I get the feeling you enjoyed that?” Pam didn’t answer, but I swear I caught a glimpse of a smile on her face before she turned around. It didn’t take long before she wheeled back over with a needle and thread.

  Pam looked up and said, “The worst part is over. This won’t take long, I promise.”

  I gritted my teeth as the needle first punctured my skin. Pam pulled on the thread and made the tiny first suture.

  I felt a hand brush mine and turned to find Jax leaning next to me with his hand wrapped around mine. How did that happen? He was so close his breath moved my hair. His touch was soothing and sent a jolt of desire right to my core. Before I knew what I was doing, I intertwined my fingers around his, finding comfort in his touch.

  Heart pounding, I looked up and our eyes met. Jax’s face was creased, his elegant features marred by sorrow. His feelings were unguarded, open. The caring he felt for me was somehow beautiful on his face. But his beautiful, caring face didn’t belong to me. It belonged to another…

  Flustered, I pulled my hand away in a rush, peeved he thought I needed someone to hold my hand while I was being stitched up.

  Jax took a breath to say something but then stopped, shifting his weight as he changed his mind.

  An awkward silence followed. I could see Pam’s face had darkened another shade of red and Tyrius kept shifting next to me, as though he couldn’t find a comfortable position. Okay, so I’d pulled my hand away with a little too much force and emotion. Sue me. I didn’t want Jax touching any part of me, not when it sent that damn tingling all over my skin and made my heart race in my chest.

  Besides, I didn’t need rescuing. A couple of arrows in my leg were nothing compared to what had happened to Ugul.

  “He must have been really lonely,” I muttered, thinking about all the years in that dark cave with no one to share his life with but those veth hounds. “Knowing the disasters that would follow should he lose The White Grace, no wonder he lived in that hell hole of a cave. Poor Ugul. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.”

  “No, he didn’t,” said Tyrius. “And stop blaming yourself for what happened. I know you’re doing it. I can feel it in your aura. You didn’t force him to guard that stone. It’s not your fault, Rowyn.”

  “It is my fault,” I said flatly. “I dragged his ass to her front door. Well. Almost.”

  “You didn’t know about The White Grace,” said Jax, but I refused to meet his eyes. “You let him go, remember? You can’t blame yourself. If you want to blame someone, blame that faerie queen.”

  I clenched my jaw. “I do blame her. How’d she find out where it was, anyway? If it was Ugul’s job to hide it, someone betrayed him and got him killed.”

  “My guess would be another goblin,” said Tyrius. “If the faeries from the Light Court were hiding it, then one of them betrayed him. One that’s in bed with our favorite queen.”

  I frowned at him. “Why?”

  “For the simple reasons why people turn on each other in the first place,” answered the cat as he shifted next to me. “Power. Greed. Stupidity.”

  Frustrated, I rubbed my temples. “This is nuts. I can’t believe this is happening,” I said. “Especially if there’s a magic stone out there that can turn humans into half-breeds or half-breeds into different half-breeds.” I swallowed hard. “A queen needs an army, right? That’s what she’ll do. And she’s not going to ask nicely. I don’t think a lot of humans are going to be thrilled to be changed into faeries, creatures they thought were make-believe. She’s going to round them up like cattle and turn them.” And I wasn’t going to stop it by sitting here and complaining. I had to act. I had to act fast.

  Shaking inside, I stood up. “Tyrius, you were right.”

  The cat beamed. “Like I’m ever wrong.”

  I flashed him my teeth. “I do smell like death and worse. I need a shower, a change of clothes and food. Lots and lots of food.”

  “Here! Here!” Tyrius leapt to the floor and looked up. “Can we order some Tandoori Chicken and some naan? God, I love me some naan.”

  “Sure.” I turned to Pam as she tied the last stitch. “Thanks, Pam. I owe you big time for this. If there’s anything I can do to repay you, just let me know, okay? Anything.”

  Pam stood up from her chair smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I don’t want anything. I was glad to help. And you’re welcome, Rowyn.” Her eyes grew worried and moist. “Be careful, okay?”

  My chest tightened at the concern in her tone. “Promise.” I looked away quickly and slipped from the edge of the bed. Pam had done an incredible job with the sutures, and I knew the scarring would be minimal.

  “Here.” Pam’s face reddened as she handed me a pair of pink yoga pants covered in rhinestones. “They’re probably ten sizes too big, but they’re clean and comfy. You can change in the bathroom down the hall.”

  “Thank you.” I smiled at her. I hadn’t owned anything pink since I was five. “I’ll bring them back.”

  “No need.” Pam’s eyes darted to Tyrius. “And what about you? You sure
you’re okay?”

  Tyrius grinned the way only a cat could. “Better than okay. I’m awesome.”

  “Hmmm.” Pam didn’t look convinced. “I have a small sweater that belongs to my nephew that I think could fit you. I can cut out some extra holes for your legs—”

  “Baals don’t wear articles of clothing!” cried Tyrius, clearly affronted. “Who do you think I am? Puss in Boots?”

  Pam only smiled at the cat. “It was only a suggestion.”

  Tyrius stood with his ears perked, tail in the air and said, “I prefer to go commando, thank you very much.”

  I rolled my eyes and tried hard not to laugh. If it wasn’t for Tyrius, my life would be seriously depressing.

  “I’ll take you home,” Jax offered and I stiffened. With my emotions running high on shame and fear, I feared that letting Jax drive me home might end up with Jax in my bed.

  That was a very bad idea.

  I didn’t meet his eyes. “Thanks, but Tyrius and I are fine taking the bus.” Why does he have to be so nice? Why can’t he be an ass like most men his age? “It’s not that far anyway. Besides,” I said, exhaling loudly and grabbing my bag. “I need to check on my gran first.”

  “And give her the bad news,” offered Tyrius.

  And give her the bad news. Cringing inside I added, “And you said you wanted to speak to Pam. Now’s your chance.” He hadn’t said it, but he wasn’t going to get away with not calling her. The woman had been in a fit. She didn’t deserve that.

  When I finally met Jax’s eyes, I smiled at the visible discomfort and guilt I saw creasing his oh-so-pretty features.

  I exchanged a knowing look with Pam and saw the amusement in her eyes as I walked past her and out the door, just before I saw her grab those pliers.

  “Jax is going to get it. Isn’t he?” whispered Tyrius as we headed down the hall.

  A smile curled up the edges of my lips. “Yeah,” I said, beaming. “Oh, he’s so going to get it.”

  25

  After a hot shower, a lot of Indian food and a little two-hour nap, Tyrius and I had gone over to my grandmother’s and finally convinced her to come with me to the bank to argue her case. Of course, Tyrius couldn’t miss the excursion and had hidden in my grandmother’s large, nineteen sixties vintage Coach bag, his head poking out from the top. No surprise, the bank employees all marveled at the beautiful and exotic Siamese cat and how the tan-colored leather bag brought out his eyes. Please.