by A. R. Moler
“I’ll try.”
* * * *
Riadh stumbled along beside Dale, Dale’s arm supporting him. He felt weak and dazed as they made their way back to the car. He’d spent large amounts of time in the form of a man in the past few months, but this felt different. The world felt sharp and harsh. Uneven spots on the sidewalk hurt his feet and despite the tablecloth around his body, he was cold. He shivered.
“We’re almost to the car. It’ll be warmer inside,” Dale said, rubbing a hand along Riadh’s upper arm.
The car was parked along a side street. Dale hastily unlocked the car and helped Riadh slide in. Once the door was shut, Dale hurried around to the driver’s side and turned the ignition. He adjusted the heater as he pulled away from the curb.
“I’m not sure we should go home. I think maybe I should assume that Henning guy knows where we live.”
“He does,” Riadh answered.
“He said so?”
“At home, I’d gone back to the box. You said you were going to do some errands. He’s the one…He’s the one that opened the box next.” Riadh shivered again.
“The house was warded. I still can’t figure out how he got in to take you.”
“I would guess that Archimedes gave him some method to defeat the warding.”
“God…I thought I had done an adequate job protecting the house, protecting you.” Dale’s hand clenched on the steering wheel.
“You did what you could.”
“Which was damn near nothing. We should go to Summer’s. I think we’ll be safe there, at least until I can figure out if we’re still in danger.”
“Okay.” Riadh was rattled and finding it hard to be coherent.
Dale reached over and took Riadh’s hand. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I was prepared to die rather than be owned by him. He made me…” Riadh couldn’t bring himself to give Dale the details of what the mage had done to him.
“Tell me when I’m not driving, okay? I want to know, and want to focus on you, not the road.”
“Okay.” Maybe he’d get his thoughts together, given a little time.
Chapter 6
It took nearly two hours to drive back to Summer’s farmhouse. As he pulled into the driveway, Dale looked at Riadh. Riadh had fallen asleep, curled against Dale’s shoulder. He looked so…vulnerable. That was not a word Dale tended to associate with Riadh, but then until a few hours ago his lover hadn’t been human. Human meant no longer bound to another’s wishes. Human meant he wouldn’t have to spend hours in a box. But human also meant mortal. That last realization sent a pang of fear through Dale. Mortal meant he could lose Riadh.
Dale switched off the car and leaned over, placing a gentle kiss on Riadh’s forehead. Riadh jerked awake with a gasp, looking disoriented and scared. “Easy, you’re safe. We’re at Summer’s.”
“I thought I was in the box and he was…” Riadh trailed off. He took a deep breath in an obvious measure to calm himself.
“He is dead. Come. Let’s go talk to Summer.” Dale got out of the car and came around to Riadh’s side. He wrapped an arm around his lover as they walked up onto the porch. It was three in the morning and Dale hesitated. Summer had to guess that he might come back here if he found Riadh.
The porch light flicked on and Summer opened the front door. Dale pulled the screen door open.
Summer stood there in her usual mode of jeans and a t-shirt. Either she hadn’t been asleep or maybe dragons didn’t sleep the way humans did, Dale thought.
“Oh…my…” she said softly, looking mildly surprised.
“Can we come in? I didn’t feel safe taking him home.” Dale cast a glance at Riadh.
Summer nodded and beckoned them in.
“Before I get going on explanations, do you have a heavier blanket or some clothes we could borrow?” Dale asked.
“Go to the kitchen. Put on the kettle to heat. I’ll get him something.” Summer headed up the stairs.
Dale guided Riadh into the kitchen. Having been there a number of times before, it felt calm and familiar. Riadh sat in a chair at the table and Dale filled the tea kettle and put it on the stove to heat. Riadh was bent forward, elbows on his knees, still looking fairly rattled, with good reason.
Summer came into the kitchen, carrying a heavy flannel bathrobe and pajama pants. “Here.” She handed them to Riadh. “Bathroom’s in the hall.”
“Thank you,” Riadh said. He took the clothes and stood up.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Dale asked. He wasn’t sure if Riadh dared be alone right now.
“No, I’ll only be gone a couple of minutes.” Riadh walked slowly in the direction of the bathroom.
“I guessed you might be capable of something like that,” Summer said, as she put tea bags in a pot. “But I confess I’m still a little surprised.”
“I was desperate. He was, too. He begged me to destroy the box rather than be owned by that…piece of shit.” Dale leaned back against the counter. “Just like the damn hummingbird, I’m not entirely sure I could tell you how I did it.”
“Interesting.”
Riadh returned, wearing the robe and pajama pants.
Dale opened his arms and Riadh willingly curled against Dale’s chest. Folding his arms around Riadh, Dale rubbed the man’s back. “Better?”
“At least I’m warmer,” Riadh said.
“That’s a start.” Dale brushed a kiss along Riadh’s temple.
The kettle squealed and Summer lifted it off the stove, filling the teapot. She set it on the table along with some mugs. “So maybe now would be a good time to tell me what happened?”
“Yeah, especially because I may need some more help.” Dale sat down at the table. Riadh sat beside him.
Dale spent the next few minutes explaining what had happened at Archimedes house.
“So, you used his energy to break the binding spell on Riadh and make him mortal,” Summer said.
“It was in desperation to save Riadh. The box was destroyed and he was beginning to fade around the edges. I had a flash of memory about the bird and truthfully, I didn’t expect it to work.” Dale squeezed Riadh’s hand. “It was a crazy ass gamble, then you were okay. That bastard was just a lifeless husk that looked like he’d been about a hundred years old. I left him. Henning, his muscle for hire, I threw the pickled demon at him and froze him in place. I don’t know if he’s likely to call the police or how they’d react. I don’t know what to do. It felt like kill or be killed but I don’t know if the police would view it that way.”
“Their opinions are irrelevant,” Summer poured tea into the cups.
“I’m not sure the Philly police would agree.”
“Safeguarding knowledge of magic outweighs all human rules.”
“Help us make sure it stays that way,” Riadh said. “I’ll promise you a favor.”
Summer tilted her head and gazed at Riadh. “When you were djinn, you could not have made that offer.”
“I know, that’s why I offer it now. It has worth. Even though I am no longer elemental, I retain the knowledge of more than a thousand years and many masters.”
Summer gave him a curt nod. “Done.” She stood up from the table. “Stay inside the house. I’ll be back in a bit.”
After she left the room Dale asked, “Was that wise?”
“A calculated risk, and a necessary one. I need you not to be in jail. Do you regret sacrificing Archimedes for me?”
Dale cupped his hands around Riadh’s face. “Fuck no. I love you. I would do anything to keep you alive and keep you safe.”
“Then don’t begrudge me promising a favor. You agreed to one, too.”
“I did.”
* * * *
Sitting at the table, hands around the cup of tea, Riadh heard a strange windy flapping noise outside. It was gone after a few seconds. He looked at Dale. “Do you think that was her?”
“Since I have no idea what she might look like when she’s not a
ppearing as a woman, your guess is as good as mine.”
Riadh took a sip of the tea. He had often joined Dale at meals over the past months, without any actual need for sustenance. He knew what tea tasted like, but it felt odd to know that now he would need to eat to stay alive. The tea was aromatic but slightly bitter. He noticed that Dale was stirring sugar in his own cup. “Am I supposed to put sugar in mine?”
“If you like. I’m ambivalent about tea. Coffee’s more my speed, but I usually put sugar in that, too.” Dale pushed the sugar bowl toward him. “I know when you’ve eaten with me in the past you just usually take whatever’s offered. Did you not have preferences?”
“I never really thought about it.”
“Um, okay.”
Riadh added sugar to his tea, and took a cautious second taste. The bitter edge was mostly hidden now.
“You get to make choices. I tried to give you as many options as possible but I’ve never been certain if it was enough because I know by the letter of the binding you had to do as I ordered.”
Riadh drew a shaky breath, thinking of the things Archimedes had done to him. They weren’t the worst of his existence, just the most recent and somehow that made them more traumatic.
“He did things to you, didn’t he?” Dale said softly.
Riadh nodded. He opened his mouth to begin the tale and then there was a slow realization that the overwhelming compulsion that went with questions…wasn’t there anymore. He looked down into the cup in his hands. He was allowed to postpone reliving those things. That was weirdly comforting. Maybe if he had a little time to sort through the events it would be easier.
“Maybe when we get home we can talk about it. My therapist would be proud,” Dale said with a wry smile.
They sat in silence for a while, drinking tea. Dale got up and rinsed out the cups, sitting them in the sink.
* * * *
It was less than an hour before Summer returned. She came through the back door and leaned against the sink. “It’s taken care of.”
“Um, what exactly does that mean?” Dale asked. Leave it to Summer to be as cryptic as possible.
“Fire fixes a multitude of problems.” She smiled slightly.
“You burned the house down.”
“Yup. It’s been a good long while since I got to use that particular skill.” She exhaled and a trickle of smoke drifted from her nostrils.
“And Henning? The guy Archimedes had working for him? I left him paralyzed in demon goo.”
“Guess it wore off. He left. In a hurry.”
Okay, that reassured Dale a bit. “So now what? Is it safe for us to go home?”
“It’s four fifteen. You haven’t slept in what, thirty hours or more? There’s a bedroom upstairs. You could probably both do with some sleep.”
Dale was grateful, but also suspicious. “Is this an extension of what is covered by the favor?”
She gave him a long look. “I have the most powerful mage in this country under my roof, and it might be nice to have that secret to myself for a day or so.”
“Most what?” Dale tried to grasp the idea.
“I would have said it was beyond human magic to unbind a djinn and render him mortal.”
“So, what are you going to do with the information?” Riadh asked.
“Nothing, for the moment. I’m owed a favor. Two actually. I haven’t decided what I want yet.”
“Does this mean you’re done being mentor?” Dale said.
“Nope, that was terms of your favor. I teach. You learn. It just changes the level of what I might be able to teach you.” Summer picked up the teapot and set it on the sink edge.
“I need you to teach me how to protect my house. Right now, that’s priority one for me. I want it so there aren’t any repeats of breaking and entering and so that Riadh is safe. Me, too, I guess.”
“Okay.”
* * * *
It had been incredibly tempting to refuse the offer of sleeping in Summer’s house, but Dale didn’t trust himself to get back in the car and drive another hour. He was so tired he felt groggy. Sitting on the edge of a double bed, pulling off his shoes, Dale wondered if the art work on the wall was genuine old masters. Probably so. It clashed so weirdly with the wrought iron bed frame and the quilt on the bed and the flowered sheets.
Riadh sat cross-legged on the bed behind him. The robe lay folded on the floor. “I could probably have driven.”
“I know, but that wouldn’t solve the problem of our house not being sufficiently protected. I’m undoubtedly going to have to get Summer to go over the stronger warding spell again. I’m not sure I actually understood the steps.” Dale stood up and shucked his jeans and t-shirt. He held out his hand and looked at the fine tremor. All the adrenaline of everything that had happened over the past couple of days had burned off. He’d experienced it in combat and knew he was about a half step from being incoherent. “I need sleep. I suspect you do, too.”
“I thought I was used to this form but being…human feels a little different.”
“I hope you can adjust.” A flicker of worry went through Dale. What if he’d made the wrong choice?
Riadh crawled across the bed and stood up beside Dale. “Different is okay. I thought I’d be dead or nonexistent, however it works for an entity that wasn’t born.”
Dale dipped his head and kissed Riadh. “Get in bed, please.”
The lopsided smile Riadh gave him tugged at his emotions.
They both got under the sheet and quilt, arms around each other.
Chapter 7
Riadh jerked awake. Where was he? Was Archi…He managed to ratchet down the panic in his head as he realized he was in bed and the weight across his chest was Dale’s arm.
“S’kay,” Dale mumbled and rubbed a hand along Riadh’s side.
Breathe. Just breathe. He was in a bedroom in Summer’s house, and Dale was beside him and Archimedes was dead. That didn’t stop a shudder from running through him, even just the memory of what had been done to him was difficult to deal with.
Dale pulled him closer, up on his side. “Nightmare?”
“Sort of.” Where did the line fall between dream and memory?
“It’s over. You’re here with me and the S.O.B can’t ever get to you again.” Dale threaded his fingers through Riadh’s hair and brushed his thumb along Riadh’s cheekbone. He kissed Riadh.
The soft, warm press of lips and Dale’s hand against his skin, sent a curl of warmth through Riadh’s body. He knew what arousal was and somehow this sensation left him feeling both aroused and vulnerable at the same time. It shook him, more literally than he would have liked.
Dale just held him, one hand stroking Riadh’s back. The situation was such a reverse of the past months, and Riadh wondered if he’d done enough to comfort and steady Dale when his PTSD flared.
“I wonder if Summer has any other clothes you can borrow?” Dale said. “Not that the pajamas and robe wouldn’t do. I want to go straight home from here, but just in case we had to stop.”
“I’ll ask.”
Looking at his watch, Dale noted, “It’s past ten. At least we got five or six hours of sleep. I hope I can convince Summer to make some coffee. Tea doesn’t really have enough kick.”
* * * *
Dale let his thoughts wander as he drove toward home. Summer had provided coffee, breakfast, too. There were clothes for Riadh. Considering the jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers Riadh now wore resembled the ones he had often conjured for his corporeal form before, Dale wondered if the clothes had been made with magic or if Summer had made an early morning run to some store. It seemed too dicey a question to ask.
Summer had also provided explicit instructions on how to ward the house with much more powerful magic than before. Fingers crossed it would work. They’d be safe and hopefully could have some time to deal with what had happened.
He reached across the seat and put a hand on Riadh’s leg. “Are you holding together?”
; “Yes. It just still feels weird.” Riadh dragged his fingers along his jaw. “I have stubble. That was never a facet of my physical body before.”
Dale laughed. “Shaving has always been a take or leave it thing for me.”
“Hence the beard.”
“Hey, I trim it every week.”
“I’ve never shaved myself before. I had a master about a century ago who I used to do it for.”
“I’ll help if you like,” Dale offered.
“Maybe.”
“I hadn’t really thought about it but what about bodily functions?”
“I’ve seen it done. I figured it out…this morning.” Riadh’s skin flushed slightly.
“Being human has its drawbacks.”
“Still better than being his property,” Riadh said softly.
Dale squeezed Riadh’s hand.
* * * *
Once they got back to the house, Dale set about gathering the few items he needed for the protection spell, including a knife from the kitchen. “I’m not thrilled about the fact this needs my blood.”
“Don’t cut your palm,” Riadh advised
“Duh, I’m not that stupid. I was leaning toward a little slit on the inside of my forearm. Summer said this should only take a teaspoon or two. Is the copal upstairs?”
“It should be in the chest of drawers with spell ingredients. I’ll get it.” Riadh walked up the stairs.
Dale set the knife, a pottery bowl, a bottle of vodka and a candle on the kitchen counter along with a canister of salt. There was a mortar and pestle somewhere in a cabinet. Now if only he could remember where.
Riadh returned with a small glass jar containing the copal resin chunks.
“Does order of mixing make a difference? I forgot to ask Summer,” Dale said.
“The blood should be last, right before you heat it over the flame.”
“Okay.” Dale answered tentatively.
“My memory hasn’t been impaired by my change in state. All the spells I have been exposed to, I can still remember.”