The Passion Season

by Libby Doyle

  “Both parents? That’s rough.”

  “Yeah. He looks sad sometimes.”

  “He must be a sensitive soul, your Rainer.”

  “He is, he is,” Zan said, smiling to herself. Mel left her to her reverie.

  The two Covalent hurtled through the dark energy of the kinetic rift to emerge near Barakiel’s home. Pellus waited as the warrior took a few seconds to re-orient himself. For all but travelers, the feeling of being incorporeal engendered by a passage was disconcerting. After Barakiel cleared his head, he asked Pellus to stay and have a drink with him. He said there was something he wanted to discuss. Pellus was not surprised.

  He wishes to talk to me about that woman. I do not think I will like it.

  A few minutes later, they sat on either side of Barakiel’s massive kitchen table drinking cognac.

  “So, what is it you want to talk to me about?”

  “Zan.”

  “You know I think your relationship is a bad idea, but I have accepted that my admonitions will have no effect on you.”

  “Are you still willing to meet her?”

  “I said that I would.”

  Barakiel smiled, whether at Pellus’ obvious reluctance or the mere fact of his assent, Pellus could not tell.

  “Thank you,” he said. “When is a good time for you?”

  “Shortly after your next tour of duty in the Turning would be best.”

  “All right, Pellus. I appreciate how you always place yourself at my disposal. I should let you know that I told Zan you were my mother’s friend and that you looked after me when I was young. You will need to appear as an older gentleman.”

  “Yes, of course. The effort will be slight.”

  “Do you remember that time in Constantinople? You made me look older while I was dealing with some merchants and you dropped the illusion too early? You did not realize that little boy was watching us.”

  “Ha! Yes. He went all wide-eyed and started babbling in that incomprehensible language,” Pellus said. “How did we deal with that?”

  “He was a little boy. We did not care. Zan will be harder to handle.”

  “You see. You admit it. To be involved with her is a terrible idea.”

  “To the contrary. It is the best idea I have ever had,” Barakiel said, giving Pellus a don’t-start-with-me look. “But you can help with another concern.”

  “What concern?” Pellus asked, his tone wary.

  “She will find it strange, I think, if I leave town for several days and engage in no communication with her. I can tell her I hate to talk on the telephone and that will have to do, but that does not explain away the lack of texts or emails. Can you help?”

  “Of course, but again, your concern makes it clear that I am right.” Pellus leaned forward. “Your relationship with this woman is ill-advised.”

  “For good or ill, my relationship with her will continue. You can help me avoid suspicion, or protest my actions with no result until Zan decides to scrutinize my background.”

  “This is rather like blackmail.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  Pellus pushed back in his heavy wooden chair until an intense wave of annoyance passed. Barakiel was amused by his blackmail remark. It irked him.

  “Very well. I can instruct your computer to send out messages while you are gone. I can have Roan, my apprentice, come here to see if Zan has sent you a message that requires a response.”

  “Thank you, Pellus, thank you. I am quite relieved.”

  “And I am quite agitated.”

  “You do not look agitated.”

  “Well, I am. Why would this woman expect to hear from you? Wouldn’t it be better to politely tell her that your business dealings are not her concern? That you should not be expected to account for your whereabouts?”

  Barakiel looked down, then sheepishly glanced at Pellus. He rubbed his forearm. Pellus recognized the behavior.

  Obviously, there is more to this than the logistics of deception.

  “Out with it.”

  “Since I last spoke to you about Zan, our relationship has grown a bit more serious.”

  “How so?”

  “I have professed my love to her.”

  Pellus grabbed the edge of the table and squeezed before extending his hands toward Barakiel, palm up.

  “Please, listen to me. I know you were lonely. I know you are bursting with power and your craving to share it with another is only natural, but how can you love her? She is human.”

  “Who asks, ‘how,’ when speaking of love?” Barakiel said, looking like a wounded little boy. “Are you not curious about us? She has pledged her love to me. She can feel me within her, feel how I love her. She confides in me, shares her pain with me. Our time together is magical and beautiful, and all you can do is question my sincerity. Why are you not happy for me?”

  Fine warrior, she will die. You will turn around and she will be dead.

  “It is incomprehensible to me, the idea that a Covalent could fall in love with a human.”

  “How so? I have lived in the Earthly Realm now longer than I ever lived in the Covalent Realm. I feel this world. I draw my energy from its rhythms. When I am with Zan I feel like I belong with her, to her. I feel loved, so do not say it is incomprehensible. You must meet her. You will understand.”

  “Perhaps,” Pellus said. He turned his eyes to the ceiling and sighed.

  “You will. This is important to me, Pellus. I want your blessing because I want you in my life in a way that reaches beyond duty, and my life is filled with Zan.”

  Barakiel’s joyous expression broke Pellus’ heart.

  I have watched everything you love be taken from you. I do not want to watch it again.

  Zan and Mel sat in the cramped anteroom to Nguyen’s office waiting for him to finish a telephone call. They needed his permission to request arrest warrants for a raid on a house in Northeast Philadelphia they believed was the hub of the straw-purchasing ring. Zan worried that Nguyen would hesitate to green light a raid, afraid of a standoff.

  Let’s hope he realizes that no matter how long we plan, bullets might fly when you’re dealing with a house filled with guns.

  They’d tailed their original surveillance target to this house. The woman had visited twice in as many days. The second time, she’d removed a large gym bag from the trunk of her car. Judging from the tautness of its handles, it contained something heavy. She left without the bag some time later. This was enough for Mel and Zan. They staked it out.

  Three days in, they got their first sign they were at the right place. A woman carried a cardboard box into the house, stayed for about a half hour, and left without the box. The next day a man repeated the same behavior, except that he carried a canvas duffel. The two agents considered a search warrant, but then Mel got a better idea. A wiretap. Recorded communications would be strong evidence in court if they wanted to get this crew on trafficking charges.

  She was right. They were able to record the occupants of the house discussing gun prices and deliveries.

  Zan hadn’t seen Rainer in the nearly three weeks since they began their surveillance. She spent day after day sitting in a nondescript sedan with Mel, staring at various losers enter the shabby house, followed by days in a van listening to inane telephone chatter.

  My frustration is almost at an end. Hallelujah.

  Mel had her nose stuck in the outline they’d prepared to sell Nguyen on the raid. She paused with her finger on the page.

  “Hopefully, if the boss gives the go-ahead, we can set it up fast with the tactical team and the ATF and get out of here early, since we’ve been working such long hours,” she said. “I told everyone to expect to hear from me today. The warrants should come through on Monday, so we should plan the raid for Tuesday if it’s a go.”

  “I’d love to leave early. I’m meeting Rainer’s business manager tonight, the guy who’s like a father to him. I’m nervous as hell, but if I can head over there early, I know
just the thing to calm me down.”

  “Tonight’s the big night, huh? Yeah, if you don’t get it on with Rainer before you meet this man, I doubt the two of you will pay any attention to him. You’ll be all on fire.”

  “Yep. And that’s the last thing I need. We’ve had to delay this dinner already because of our surveillance time.”

  “It will all be worth it,” Mel said.

  “I know. I’m sorry if I’ve seemed impatient.”

  “Don’t worry, I get it.” Mel went back to her outline.

  A few minutes later, Nguyen opened his office door and waved them in. “Have a seat, ladies. What have you got for me?”

  Mel emphatically listed the evidence she and Zan had compiled against the inhabitants of the house, taking care to highlight the intercepted communications that revealed these guys were selling a lot of guns, and some of them were making their way out of state.

  She’s so good at this.

  “Why do you want to take the house?” Nguyen asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to divide and conquer? We can pick them up individually.”

  “That would risk the destruction or disappearance of evidence at the house,” Mel said. “Besides sir, the tactical team is all excited.”

  Nguyen smirked. “Yeah, they would be, wouldn’t they?” He rubbed his face and looked at the copy of the outline they had given him.

  “All right, ladies. This is solid evidence and I appreciate the time you put in to acquire it. You can petition for the arrest warrants and have the resources you need for the raid.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Mel said.

  Nguyen nodded and gave them his I’m-counting-on-you look. “Get Philly PD involved,” he said. “And for the love of god, do this right. We don’t need any civilians getting hurt.”

  CHAPTER 17

  THE RED LIGHTS WERE TOO MANY and too long. Zan was insane with impatience. She had to force herself to focus on driving, force herself to stop having visions of Rainer filling her up.

  Although she was wearing a simple yellow sundress, she had nice dinner clothes hanging from the hook in the back seat of the car. Her acoustic guitar was in the trunk. She would be charming for Pellus, but she couldn’t think about that now.

  As she pulled into Rainer’s compound, he came out wearing only jeans. She barely had time to drive up and turn off the engine before he opened the door. He took her hand and gently tugged at her to come to him. She didn’t get out. Instead, she unzipped his jeans, pushed his pants down and kissed his fabulous cock, already hard as steel. She ran one hand along the back of his leg and looked up at him.

  “Nice to feel you again,” she said, her voice as soft as a kitten.

  Rainer lifted her from the car, kicked off his pants and tore off her underwear. She wrapped her legs around him, kissing him hard. He held her suspended and walked a few steps. She felt his muscles flexing.

  “I missed you so much, Rainer,” she said. “I feel like I’m going nuts.”

  Intensifying his kisses, he raised the fabric of her dress and pinned her to him with one hand on the small of her back. He slid the other down, slightly grazing her skin until his hand rested beneath her. He slid his fingers into her wetness. She broke away from his mouth as her body trembled.

  “Kiss me more,” he whispered. Zan sought his lips as if he was the source of all her nourishment, until his touch made her moan, soft and high. Rainer swayed against her, his tongue caressing the soft skin of her neck before he entered her, moving slowly in a circular motion.

  She wanted so much of him and here it was, delivered, with no separation. She moved in a trance-like rhythm with the pressure of his hands, his delicious thrusts, her head hung back, her eyes closed, making breathy sounds each time she felt him plunge deep inside. Waves of golden color played beneath her lids as warmth spread up from between her legs through her chest.

  I don’t understand the way you make me feel.

  Moving smoothly in a left to right arc, Rainer held a vibration in his throat that slid into a moan as Zan licked the sweat from his chest. She could feel him building inside her, calling her to come to him. She did, her body shuddering and bucking. This made him finish with a burst so powerful he seemed to struggle to withstand it, biting her shoulder and pressing his face hard into her, his raspy cry muffled by her flesh. He crushed his face against her hair then, and said, “I love you, how I love you. I don’t like to be away from you.”

  “Too long,” she murmured.

  They held each other, panting. When Zan’s intoxication had faded she put her feet on the ground and gave some thought to where they were.

  “Do you think anyone can see us?” she asked, heavy-lidded and smiling. He said no, not there, not with the wall, the hedges and the trees.

  “This was a bit more successful than the last time we tried to have sex outside, eh?” Rainer observed.

  Zan brought his hand to her lips. “You’re a little dangerous when you’re that worked up. You almost took a chunk out of me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, no. I liked it. I like dangerous.”

  “Still,” he said. “Let me soothe you.” He cradled her, gently kissing her shoulder, her neck, and her face while softly humming. The sound that came from him almost made Zan cry, he was so lost in touching her.

  For a minute or two, they caressed each other. Inevitably, Rainer grew hard. His breathing became heavy, his kisses more insistent.

  “I want you again,” he said, to which Zan delivered a wicked grin.

  “Good. Be dangerous for me.”

  “You should beware of saying that to me. I can barely contain my passion for you.”

  Zan gave him an earnest look. “Then don’t contain it.”

  “What do you want me to do to you?” His eyes became hyper-alert.

  “Bend me over the hood of the car and fuck me from behind.”

  Rainer blew air from his sculpted lips. He picked her up, walked to the front of the car, flipped her to face it and shoved her down, fast, stilling her body with his giant hands just before she hit the surface. Roughly, he moved her down, pushing her dress up over her back and pressing his body into her from behind. She could feel his steel-smooth cock against her ass. He bent and grabbed her hair, pulling her head up before he bit the side of her neck, hard. Zan grunted and Rainer’s mouth began to travel down her back, licking and biting while his hands massaged her ass and he flicked his fingers between her legs. Zan squeezed his hands with her thighs, an involuntary movement.

  Oh, Rainer, what are you doing to me?

  Falling to his knees, Rainer pressed his mouth against her ass. She felt wet kisses and licks followed by sharp bites as she moaned and writhed against the hood, gritty with dirt and still warm from the drive.

  “Now, Rainer, now.”

  He obliged, surging into her, withdrawing and then surging into her again, over and over, picking up speed, his hands on her hips.

  “Harder, Rainer, deeper, ah,” Zan said, her voice cracking. He began to growl in a rhythm that matched his movements. He ran his hands up from Zan’s hips to her torso and seamlessly pulled her up until she was standing in front of him, her feet on the front bumper of the car. He wrapped his arms around her and thrust up and into her.

  I want you this deep, always.

  Rainer caressed her breast through the soft cloth of her dress as he trailed his other hand lightly down her body to reach her cleft. As he fucked her with a power she didn’t know a man could bring, he stroked her, his chest resonating with enjoyment. Zan pressed herself back against him, greedy to take all of him. She could feel all her blood rushing to meet him.

  You pull my tides to you whenever you touch me. How do you do this to me?

  Her breathing grew shallow and erratic as the tension inside her became nearly unbearable. Her muscles contracted like a bellows and sweet, pinpointed pleasure seized her, spreading up and out to suffuse her whole body with a delicious, tingling warmth. A moment later her bo
dy convulsed with a wave of feeling that traveled up from the base of her spine and gathered around her heart. She felt like it was shooting out of her chest.

  It’s love. I feel like I’m shooting love out of my chest. I’m fucking crazy.

  When Rainer felt her come to him he let himself go with a hoarse cry, then held her tight against him, breathing heavily.

  “You are astonishing,” he said, his voice thick in his throat. Zan expelled a long, satisfied sigh as she leaned against him. He flipped her into his arms and sat on the hood, the car dipping under his weight. He smiled tenderly, kissed her on the forehead and held her head to his chest. They were still for a while, as Zan listened to him breathe. Eventually, she remembered they had something to do that evening.

  “Oh my god, what time is it?”

  “Only a bit after 5:00 my love. Plenty of time. Pellus will not arrive until close to 6:30.”

  “Good.” Zan swung her legs down from Rainer’s arms. “I’ll go shower and make myself presentable.”

  Pellus emerged from a kinetic rift about a mile from Barakiel’s home. He didn’t want to chance using a rift within the compound when an anxious human might be peering out the window. Having to use another rift was annoying. As he prepared to leave, Jeduthan had teased him about the gray hair and slightly desiccated skin he adopted, as well as his pinstriped suit. Usually, he did not change his appearance before leaving the Covalent Realm. Having to do so was annoying. Barakiel’s relationship with this woman was annoying, as well as dangerous. Still, he would try to be gracious, considering he had agreed to meet her in a fit of affection for his hard-to-handle warrior.

  I owe him that much at least, to pass a pleasant evening with her before I tell him that still, I think it is a mistake.

  He reached the front door and rang the bell. Having to do this was annoying. Barakiel showed him in. The woman was standing there, by the kitchen counter. She was wearing a sleeveless, teal-colored dress. Her lustrous black hair cascaded around her porcelain face, which Pellus had to admit was quite beautiful.