“No,” Nina said to herself, making her way to the dresser. Maybe if she had…
The ring.
She pulled every item out of her dresser drawer frantically, dread a cold knot in her chest.
“It’s gone. The ring is gone….”
Someone had taken the ring and, with it, Alec.
Kaelee was the only other one who knew…no. Lindsay. Lindsay knew, and suddenly it all added up. Her boss’s insistence that she find the jinn, and her glee when Nina had done just that. Her insistence on meeting him, her easy capitulation when Nina had backed down on the story, and the conversation rang in Nina’s memory.
You expect me to believe you have really found some magical being who grants wishes, and who can grant wishes, change his appearance to whatever he wants, who is poisoned by iron?
Nina had never told Lindsay about the iron, and Lindsay knew, from their earlier conversation, about the ring, and where Nina had kept it.
Dashing out to her front door, Nina slid her fingers underneath the ledge of the stone leading up to her apartment, where she taped her spare key. It was there, in the dirt—the tape had been removed.
Only two people knew about that key, Kaelee and Lindsay. Kaelee would never do such a thing. It had to be Lindsay.
“Oh, God,” Nina said, feeling sick as she paced. Here she had been wasting time all day, all evening, feeling stupid and sorry for herself. Of course Alec would be here, if he could.
She had been so caught up in her plans and her pity party that she never imagined anything bad could have happened to him. And if anything really bad had happened, how could she not be to blame? Why had she not thought of the ring earlier? She’d been gone most of the afternoon shopping. Lindsay had plenty of time to come here, get the ring, and take him…where?
She grabbed her cell phone, and called the only person she could call at 2:00 a.m. about a missing jinn.
“Kaelee?”
“Uh, yeah?” Her friend was groggy, probably awakened from a deep sleep.
“I need you. Someone has taken Alec—I think it might be Lindsay. I think she’s the jinn hunter.”
“THIS MAY NOT have been such a great idea,” Kaelee whispered, holding the flashlight on the door while Nina tried to pick the lock of Lindsay’s office. The offices didn’t have security cameras; there was just a night guy who walked through now and then. He wasn’t too enthusiastic about his job, watching a game where he was sitting in his office, and waving her on when she’d stopped to explain.
Still, Lindsay’s office was off-limits and locked.
“When does the security guy come through?”
“I have no idea, but hopefully not before we have what we need. I couldn’t find Lindsay’s address in the phone book, and nowhere on the directory we have at home. Everyone is on that directory, except for her. I never noticed before.”
“Does the security guy have a gun?” Kaelee asked worriedly.
“Nah, probably not,” Nina said with far more certainty than she felt.
“Probably not?”
Nina had once learned to pick locks while researching a story on urban theft, but she was rusty. “Ah! There we go. We’re in,” she said with a quiet hoot of victory.
“I’m a lawyer, I could get disbarred for this. I really should have—”
“I’ll be as quick as I can, Kaelee. You stay out there, and keep watch. I appreciate this more than I can say. You’re the absolute best friend in the world,” Nina said sincerely, knowing what she had asked of Kaelee, who always followed the rules.
Kaelee shrugged. “Fine. Who needs a career, right?”
“I’ll hurry and see what I can find. This bitch has to live somewhere, and she has Alec.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here. So go look, already,” Kaelee urged, not taking her eyes off the main door.
Nina didn’t dare turn on the overhead light, but pulled open drawers, searching for anything personal that would have Lindsay’s address. She really didn’t want anyone knowing where she lived, and there had to be a reason for that besides privacy.
She saw what looked like the same icon used on her own telephone bill and grabbed at the slip of paper buried within a bunch of other documents. Yanking it out, she hooted with success before becoming very quiet.
“What? Did you find something?” Kaelee said from the doorway.
“Oh, yeah,” Nina replied, seething with anger. “Check out this telephone bill.”
Kaelee took it and shrugged.
“The address, Kae, look at the address. I don’t think there’s any way Lindsay makes enough to live there unless she’s up to something nasty,” Nina said, knowing exactly how her boss must manage to maintain a residence that overlooked the ocean, high on one of the most coveted locations just outside Boston in Marblehead.
“Maybe it’s a family home? Old money?”
“Yeah, really old. Like, thousands of years old. She’s obviously a jinn hunter. She uses her resources here at the paper to track them down, or in this case, has us do her hunting for her, and then she sells them to people who want to use them or hurt them, thus keeping up this kind of lifestyle.”
“Unbelievable skank,” Kaelee breathed. “But what do we do? If she’s able to control them, how do we stand a chance?”
“She’s just a woman, and she doesn’t know we’re on to her. We have the element of surprise.”
“Do we know what to do with it?” Kaelee asked.
Nina hugged her friend. “Hey, you don’t have to go any further than this. Alec is mine, uh, I mean…my responsibility. And I’m the one Lindsay used to do her dirty work, to find her way to him, and probably to Joe, too. I can do this alone. But wait for me to come back and if I don’t, send the police to that address.”
“Do you know exactly what it is you’re going to do?” Kaelee asked, crossing her arms over her middle.
Nina pursed her lips. “You mean, do I have a plan?”
“Yeah.”
“I figured I’d get one between here and there.”
“Probably the easiest thing to do is stake out the house, and wait until she leaves. Then just sneak in and free them. And if you need me, I’m there. I’ve come this far, what’s breaking a few more laws to win back the man you love?”
Kaelee’s words stopped Nina’s mind cold. “I don’t, I mean, I can’t…He isn’t…”
“Do you love him, no matter what he is or isn’t?”
Nina blinked hard to prevent tears. She couldn’t afford tears right now. “Yeah, I do.”
“Do you think he feels the same?”
“I think so, but there are too many obstacles, and I’m not even sure if I care that we can’t be together forever.”
Kaelee smiled and reached out to hug Nina. “Hate to break it to you, kiddo, but no one is together forever. You just have to take what comes your way, and enjoy it. And by my count, you have two more wishes left. I say draw them out as long as it’s still good for both of you.”
Nina’s hope blossomed as she took in her friend’s words. If she could find Alec and get him back, could she convince him to stay with her for as long as they both wanted to be together? Would it make eventual parting worse?
“Well, okay then. But my car will stand out like a sore thumb. I don’t think we have the time to stake out the neighborhood. I just have to go in there and try to take back what’s mine,” Nina said, sounding braver than she felt.
Kaelee tapped a finger on her chin. “Then what we need is a distraction. Something to give you time to get in and out quickly.”
“You’re right. Okay. This is the plan….”
“MA’AM, I’VE BEEN sent by the city hall to administer a questionnaire about your neighbor’s petition to…”
Nina heard Kaelee at the front door of Lindsay’s mansion and knew it was now or never. Sneaking around the side of the humongous house, she peeked in one window after another until finally she saw what she was looking for, and held back a gasp, by claspi
ng her hand over her mouth.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. Though she didn’t see Alec, a Nordic-looking man was shackled to a wall with heavy iron chains. Her heart broke a little as she stared at Alec’s friend, bloody lashes covering most of his body. He was naked, and Nina averted her eyes. His dignity had been more than abused, and she wasn’t going to add to it by gawking.
Now she had to figure out how to get in. Jiggling at the window, she found it snug.
Cursing, she checked along the entire side of the house and finally found a basement window that gave way as she pushed on it, creating space just wide enough for her to sneak through. She could still hear Kaelee chattering on out front, so she was okay, but she had to move fast.
Pausing for a moment to get her bearings, she tried to figure where the room was that held Alec and his friend. It had looked like a library or a study. Quickly she dashed up a set of stairs, heading left down a long hallway.
Coming around a corner, she heard a noise and froze. Stupid. She had assumed Lindsay lived here alone. What if there was someone else in the house?
Swallowing hard, she slipped into a nook and peeked, only to see a gray cat, rubbing the side of his head on the corner as he looked up at her inquisitively.
“Hey, I know you,” she said, narrowing her eyes at the cat. “You were the cat in the alley.”
The cat purred loudly and turned away, walking down the hall. He stopped, looking at her, and the message in his eyes was clear. Follow me.
Nina grimaced, but the way her world had been flipped upside down lately, who was she to argue?
Stepping lightly, she followed the cat down the hall, through a few archways, and then heard the front door slam. Uh-oh. Kaelee’s ruse was up and time was running out.
“Hurry, kitty, I need to find them and the ring,” she urged and the cat moved more quickly until Nina found herself standing before a closed door. It had to be the room where she’d seen Alec and his friend. The cat purred around her feet.
“Thanks, kitty, whoever you are,” she whispered. Some magical friend of Alec’s, she figured as she opened the door. She closed it quietly; she could hear someone humming. Lindsay.
She ran to Alec, shaking him, and he groaned. She heard a growl from the other side of the room, and turned to find the other jinn glaring at her, his eyes wild.
“Shh…Joe? I’m Nina. I’m here to help. I’m a friend of Alec’s.”
Joe eyed her warily, but stopped growling.
Nina didn’t hear the humming anymore and had no idea where Lindsay was. Spotting a chair by the edge of the wall, she wedged it under the door to buy her more time, and set about loosening the chains that bound Alec, who was stripped to his briefs, but appeared unharmed, she realized with relief.
“Alec, c’mon, Alec, I need you conscious,” she said.
His eyes fluttered briefly, and he winced, stretching his arms and legs.
“Nina? What are you doing here?” he finally said, groggy but eyeing the chains that had him bound to the wall.
“Has she hurt you?” Nina asked, unlocking his chains, her eyes scanning his gorgeous body.
“No, not yet. She’s been, uh, taking her time with Ahja, I mean, Joe,” he informed her, anger brimming in his eyes as he looked at his friend.
“I’m here to help you escape.”
Alec shook his head sadly. “I can’t escape. She has the ring, and I am bound to whoever has it.”
“Then I guess I have to get it back. Do you know where it is?”
“Probably on her person, I would guess. She wouldn’t let it go far.”
Nina sighed. “Well, that’s a problem. Can you help me take it from her?”
Alec placed his hands on her shoulders, looking between her and the door with what seemed like great worry.
“Nina, you have to leave. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Nina drew back. “Why would you hurt me?”
“If she has the ring…”
Awareness dawned. “She could wish for you to hurt me. I get it,” she said on a whisper. “The bitch.”
“Yes.”
“Then we’d better get the jump on her, hadn’t we?”
“Nina—” Alec began to object.
“No, Alec. I’m not leaving you, and we’re not leaving him.” She nodded toward the other jinn. “Who knows how many jinn she’s done this to, and it has to stop.”
“You have no idea—”
Their argument ceased as they heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Nina moved away from Alec, taking her position by the door and quietly sliding the chair back into place.
“When she comes in, distract her,” Nina said softly. “She won’t expect you to be free, and that will give us the element of surprise.” She put her back to the wall. Reaching next to her in the dimly lit room, she closed her hand over the first object she found on a shelf that filled the space next to her.
The door opened, pushed inward, and Lindsay, dressed from head to toe in dominatrix black leather, walked in, not noticing Alec at first.
“Sorry for the interruption, boys. Now, I’m changed and…You! What are you doing out of your chains?”
She stepped toward Alec, who brought himself up to his full height and glared at her.
“I suppose you thought that—”
Nina cut the thought off short, bringing the heavy object in her hand down hard on Lindsay’s head, and hoping it was enough.
Her boss collapsed in front of her, and Nina froze, still holding the heavy antique in her hand as she waited to see if she’d delivered a knockout.
“Score!” she said under her breath as she toed Lindsay. She saw that Lindsay didn’t move, but observed the pulse still kicking hard at the base of her throat.
“Now let’s see where you hid the ring, boss,” Nina said, patting Lindsay down in the leather, and finally finding the ring under the skintight top she wore, hanging by a chain around her neck.
Nina looked up at Alec, who watched quietly, their eyes meeting as Nina slipped the ring on her finger and they became bound again. The relief was palpable, their bond a tangible thing between them as she couldn’t resist crossing the room and throwing herself into his waiting arms.
“I was so frightened, Alec. I didn’t know if I would ever see you again,” she admitted, too relieved to hold back.
“I know. I felt the same, my love,” he said, burying his face in her hair.
As they separated, she checked on Lindsay. “I’ll chain her, and we can decide what to do next, but we have to help your friend Joe.”
Alec looked at Joe, who eyed them darkly, and nodded. “You bind her, but Joe…he’s taken too much. She pushed him too hard. If I let him go, he’ll hurt you. He’ll hurt anyone in his path.”
A low growl came from the other side of the room, as if confirming Alec’s words.
Nina’s heart sank. “You can’t kill him. You can’t possibly mean that?”
Alec shook his head. “No, but he has to be contained. He has to heal, to come back to himself. That could take tens or hundreds of years,” he said sadly.
“How?”
Alec nodded at the heavy glass lamp on the floor where she had dropped it. She’d used it as a weapon, not realizing its importance.
“The lamp is Joe’s talisman, much like my ring. Whoever holds it, commands it. If you take it, you can command him. You can tell him to go there. He will have no choice. He won’t be free, but he won’t be dead or able to hurt anyone else. I can take him where he will be safe.”
Nina nodded as she finished securing the chains around Lindsay and then picked up the lamp. It was large and thick, the rose glass so thick that when she held it to the window, it seemed to radiate with a thousand sparks of light.
“His real name is Ahja?”
Alec’s expression was gravely serious. “Nina, no one should ever speak a jinn’s real name. To know that…it grants too much power. But yes, that is his name. No one can ever know.”
&nbs
p; “I promise,” she said softly, walking up closer to Joe. As close as she dared to get.
“Joe, I command you to your vessel, where you are to stay until you are healed from this terrible ordeal,” she said with both authority and remorse.
The man before her struggled against his chains, his mad eyes glaring and fixing on her as if she were the devil incarnate. The chains were left dangling from the wall as he melted into the lamp, where Nina quickly replaced the cover.
“There. He’s safe now,” she said, handing the lamp to Alec.
“No!” came a scream from the other side of the room, and they realized with a start that their quarry had awakened. Lindsay struggled with her chains, but only tired herself trying to escape them, eventually collapsing to the floor, breathing heavily. Nina could feel the waves of hatred emanating from Lindsay.
“I won’t stop—you’ll have to kill me. And you can’t do that, can you, Miss Goody Two-shoes?” she sneered.
“I can,” Alec threatened in a low tone of voice and stepped forward. Lindsay shrank back to the wall, fearful as she should be, Alec looming over her.
Nina took the lamp from Alec and placed it on the desk, staring at it and thinking of Joe. She touched Alec’s arm. “No. I have a better idea…”
“Alec, I wish she should live her life as if she had never met a jinn, never knew a jinn and has no knowledge about jinn,” Nina said, the full weight of her heart behind the wish. “That she could have no knowledge any of this ever happened.” Alec smiled, and Lindsay went pale with absolute terror.
“No, you can’t, I won’t—”
Alec walked up close to where the woman kneeled on the floor, and then squatted down, staring at her hard. “It is done.”
Nina took a deep breath, nodding, and watching as Lindsay blinked, pale and confused, scanning their surroundings.
“Where am I? Nina, why are we here? What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry, Lindsay. We were working on a story, and you’re safe now.” Nina looked at Alec. “We all are.”
“There are others,” he said, glancing at the lamp, then going over to lift it. “I must take this where he will be safe.”
She nodded.
Blazing Bedtime Stories, Volume IV Page 16