by Devon Monk
“Give you a back rub,” I said.
“Mmm. Now?”
“After this is all done. I’ll get you naked, I’ll get me naked, and I’ll warm the oil.”
I could feel the flush of pleasure that rolled down his spine.
“Then what?” he asked.
“I’ll lay you down on the bed, pour some of the oil in my hands, then start here.” I slid my hand down and rubbed it up his ass, slowly. “Of course since I’ll be straddling you, I’m bound to get some of that oil on me. Might get messy.”
“I like where this is going.” He glanced over at me. “I can handle this.”
He didn’t mean the back-rub fantasy—he meant magic. “I know you can,” I said. But what I didn’t say was how much it killed me not to be able to use magic. Not to be able to help him bear this cost I was telling him he had to pay. I hated having my hands tied. Hated not being able to carry my own weight in this fight.
“We’re going to get through this,” he said.
I nodded. “Sure we are.” But that didn’t even sound convincing to me.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Oh!” Cody squealed from ahead of us. “Monster! Monster is here.” He took off running toward Stone and Victor.
Nola called his name, but he didn’t listen.
Ghost Cody, drifting next to me, pulled in a little closer to the quilt, as if uncomfortable to be out in the open. “Have you asked him?” he said.
“Who?”
“Zayvion. Have you asked him to Unclose me?”
No time like the present. I took a deep breath.
“Cody wants you to Unclose him.”
“I’m going to,” Zay said. “But it’s going to take a little time. I Closed him twice, so we’ll need to do it in stages.”
“Will it hurt, do you think?” Cody didn’t sound worried, just curious.
I passed the question along to Zayvion.
“It will be disorienting,” he said. “But not painful. Not painful for him.”
“I can Proxy,” I said.
“No.”
“Zay—”
“No.”
“Really?” I said. “Because the knight-in-shining-armor thing you have going is a nice look, but it is so last season, Jones. Just because I can’t use magic doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten how to deal with pain. You Unclose Cody; I’ll Proxy.”
Zayvion stopped and swung his arm forward. Since my arm was still locked around his back, I had to take an extra couple steps and turn toward him.
He pulled me close. “Listen to me.” He dragged his thumb along the whorls of magic that ran from my temple down the side of my face, his golden gaze burning into me. He cupped my jaw and brushed his thumb over my lips, his mouth opening slightly as if hungry to taste me.
“What—”
“Listen.” He bent his head, just enough that his eyes were even with mine. He looked away from my eyes, his gaze falling to my lips. And then he kissed me.
I melted against him, opening my mouth and savoring the flavor of peppers mixed with the taste of him. His shoulders rolled as he shifted around me, holding me as if he could guard us from prying eyes, from the world.
As if his body alone could shelter me from the night.
I shivered with the want of that, to find myself lying warm and safe in his arms, far away from this fear, this pain.
I pushed my hands under his coat, palms pressing up his sides, wanting the heat of his body against more than just my hands. I shifted closer, pressing my hips against his.
Zay made a soft sound deep in the back of his throat and drew his hands up my back, his fingers sliding up into my hair and clenching there.
Then his pain rolled though him, rolled through me, washing over us like a wave. We endured it, caught on exhalation, caught in his pain and so much more. His fear for me, his love for me, his need for me, all wrapped around us, blending with that pain, thickening it with an aching sweetness. It was heady. Intoxicating. Overwhelming.
I was drowning, breathless in the heat of his emotions. Breathless in the heat of him.
Zayvion gently pulled away, breaking our kiss, but not our connection.
“No,” he whispered.
And I understood. It was going to take a lot of his strength to Unclose Cody. He knew he could do it, but after that, the pain might be more than he could bear and remain conscious or sane. If he used me as Proxy, I’d be in pain too. I might even be unconscious. We were too close together to work Proxy.
Soul Complements meant we could make magic do things no one else could make it do. But I couldn’t use magic right now. And if I were bearing Zay’s Proxy price, it was entirely possible neither of us would be worth anything to anyone.
Soul Complements or not.
“I want,” Zay began, then, “I need you to watch over me. And Cody. The only thing that matters right now is unlocking Stone.”
He stepped back and held me at arm’s length, pausing a moment as if trying to get his footing that far away from me. “You have to make sure we win this.” His gaze searched mine and he smiled. “Because I want that back rub.”
The heat he had planted in me bloomed across my stomach and pooled at the base of my spine. Lord, the man could get under my skin. I licked my bottom lip, savoring the taste of him that lingered there.
“Let’s do this,” I said.
“Let’s,” he agreed.
We turned, holding hands now, just holding hands, and crossed the park to where everyone was standing around Stone in a circle.
As we got closer, I heard Paul talking to Victor.
“…all of them,” Paul was saying.
Victor didn’t look convinced. “If I do that, and at this point I don’t see why I wouldn’t, you have to understand it will take you time—hours, if not a few days—to recover from it.”
“You let me worry about that,” Paul said. “Just give me back my memories.”
Victor shifted, tucking his arms across his chest. “Do you want me to do that now? Tonight?”
Paul opened his mouth, then glanced at Stone.
The living Cody knelt next to Stone, his arms thrown around him in a huge hug. He was mumbling to him, and was on the edge of tears, telling Stone it was going to be okay, he was going to be okay.
Paul’s mouth turned down. “No. Not now.”
Stotts might not know all the rules to the game, but he was smart enough to make sure he wasn’t compromised when the action was going down.
“Good choice, Detective,” Victor said.
I knew he meant that. Victor respected Paul—hell, all of us did. He’d been fighting the good fight, trying to keep innocent people safe from magic just like we had. He just hadn’t been a part of the Authority while doing it—which appeared to have been the better choice the way things were working out.
He wasn’t on their hit list, for one thing.
“How are we going to do this, Allison?” Victor asked.
Paul raised one eyebrow and looked from Victor to me. And the realization that I was the one calling the shots here worked a dark blend of surprise and worry across his face.
What? Didn’t I look like a leader? Sure, I’d given most of the decision-making powers in my father’s business to Violet, but that wasn’t because I couldn’t run the business. It was because I didn’t want to run the business.
Stotts knew I was the head of the Hounds in town.
But he obviously hadn’t expected me to be the one calling the shots.
Yes, okay, I hadn’t expected it either. Still, a little confidence would have been nice.
“Shame said there are police looking for us in the neighborhood,” I said to bring Victor up-to-date. “Paul, do you know how many?”
He shook his head. “I wasn’t informed, and it’s not on any of the channels.”
“Are you sure it was police, Shame?” I asked.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Looked like it to me. Lot of unmarked cars moving through the neighbo
rhood like they had a certain purpose. Could be Authority.”
“Either way, we can assume they’ll have Hounds, or will be trying to track us,” I said. “Zayvion needs to Unclose Cody, which means using magic. And if it is the Authority, they’ll know your signature, Zay.”
“Illusion?” Maeve offered.
“I think so,” I said. “Or Block. But they know all of our signatures too.”
“Let me,” Terric said. “I still haven’t turned in my resignation. They might think I’m on their side.”
“They know by now,” Victor said. “I’m sure they know very well that we have turned against them.”
“Who’s them?” Paul asked.
“The Authority,” I said.
“Names? People?” Paul ticked on his fingers.
“Jingo Jingo is leading them now,” I said.
“He’s a piece of work,” Paul said. “I ran his record after you gave me his name.”
“And?”
“And I don’t know why he hasn’t been locked away in a cell for the last ten years.”
“Did he kill children?”
Paul gave me a sharp look. “You knew about that?”
“Someone told me they thought he’d killed children. I didn’t have any proof. Still don’t.”
“Neither, apparently, do the police in five counties,” Paul said. “So he’s the one in charge of this secret group who decides how people use magic?”
“Right now he is,” I said. “And he’ll be the one deciding whether they’re going to stop the spread of the poison.”
“He wants the poison to spread?” Paul asked.
Terric spoke up. “He doesn’t think it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with. Said it will just work itself out.”
“You talked to him?” Paul asked.
“He called a meeting,” Terric said. “I was there.”
“I’ll want to talk to you, Mr. Conley.”
“Not now, but yes,” Terric said. “And please, just Terric.”
“Still need an Illusion,” Shame reminded us. “I’ll do it. Don’t care if the bastards see me do it. Don’t care if Jingo himself comes by.” He cracked his knuckles, then dug in his pocket for a cigarette. The crystal in his chest was still burning a bright pink. “Might actually like it a little.”
“Can you do it from a distance?” I asked. “Throw a spell, but make it look like it’s coming from somewhere else?”
“Maybe.” He glanced at Terric.
Terric and Shame were Soul Complements. No, they’d never taken the test, and no, Shame hadn’t outright admitted it. But the way they used magic together, the way they fell into natural sync with each other, made it obvious to everyone—well, everyone but Shame—that those two men could bend magic to their will if they wanted to.
Terric was considering Shame. “It’s possible. In theory. We haven’t tried it.”
“No,” Maeve said. “It’s too dangerous and difficult. If it isn’t done precisely, they’ll see it for what it is, and just track it back to Shame. That is, if he’s still standing from the backlash.”
“We need a solution,” I said. “We need to keep the magic Zayvion is using hidden. I’m open to suggestions, people.”
“I’ll do it,” Paul said.
“Paul,” Nola said, startled.
“They don’t know I’m with you,” he said to her, then to me. “They probably know how I cast magic, but they might think I’m looking into something else in the neighborhood. I’m out here fairly often.”
It was a good idea, our best bet to buy enough time for Zay to Unclose Cody.
“Yes,” I said. “What Illusion can you cast, and how long can you hold it?”
“Solitude is probably the easiest,” he said.
“Nice choice,” Victor said. “And it will take less magic than some of the others to support it.”
Paul nodded. “Which is why I like it.”
“Can you pull on magic out here?” I asked.
“I’ve done it before. Give me a minute.”
He strode away a bit, then walked around us, pacing to calm his mind for the spell, and also sort of feeling for where the pull of magic seemed easiest, like an antenna tuning in on a signal.
He finally stopped about three yards away, closer to the river than the city that rose beyond the park’s hills and up the streets.
“Cody,” Zayvion said. “I need you to let go of Stone for a minute, but you can sit right there next to him.”
“Monster is all broken now,” Cody said, turning so he was sitting with his back against Stone’s side.
Zay crouched down in front of him. “I know. We’re going to fix him. And we need you to help us fix him. Do you want to do that? Fix monster?”
“Yes,” Cody said, nodding vigorously.
“Allie,” Zay said, not looking away from Cody. “Can we have the blanket?”
I handed Zay the quilt and watched as ghost Cody hesitantly stepped forward with it, and then stood next to the living Cody.
“So the first thing I’m going to do is help you get warm and comfortable,” Zay said, draping the quilt around Cody’s shoulders.
“I don’t know how to fix monster,” Cody said quietly, as if it were a secret between just him and Zayvion.
“That’s okay. The older part of you knows how. And I’m going to help you hear him better. He’ll know what to do to help monster.”
“Okay,” Cody said. “Older me is smart.”
“So are you,” Zayvion said.
He couldn’t have given him better praise. Cody practically beamed. “I try,” he said. “But sometimes it’s hard.”
“You do a good job,” Zay said. “Nola’s told me you are a lot of help to her.”
He smiled over Zayvion’s shoulder to where Nola stood.
Nola smiled back.
“Allie?” Zay said. “Is he ready?”
The ghost Cody sat down right next to himself. It was strange to see the younger version of Cody sitting next to his older version.
“I’m ready,” ghost Cody said. He took Cody’s hand, and the living Cody smiled.
“He’s ready,” I said.
“Tell Stotts to cast his Illusion.” Zay placed one hand down in the grass and settled, cross-legged, in front of Cody.
The rest of us stepped back, far enough we would be outside the edge of the spell Paul was already drawing.
The Disbursement he had cast hovered near his side, like a blue jellyfish balloon. A string tied the Disbursement to the ground at his feet, not to any part of his body. He was going to Proxy this spell so he didn’t have to pay the price of pain for it.
Police officers had access to the Proxy pits.
I’d seen Solitude a few times. In some public places like libraries, coffee shops, churches. Places where people wanted the feeling of being alone in a crowd. But Paul used a modification to the spell.
He finished the glyph, pulled magic into it, and cast. The spell wrapped around Zayvion and the Codys and Stone.
Solitude usually just blocked something from casual notice. It wasn’t that it turned anyone invisible; it just made looking straight at something less intriguing.
But this Solitude closed down like a proper Illusion, and where a moment before, I had seen Zayvion drawing a spell, slowly and carefully between him and Cody, now I just saw grass, a few trees, electric lamps, and the dark sky around.
I blinked a couple times and the spell ribboned apart just enough I could see through it to Zay and Cody.
“Does it look solid to you?” I asked Maeve, who was standing next to me.
She nodded. “I can’t see them. Hayden?”
“It’s tight. You know your magic, Detective Stotts.”
“Thank you,” Paul said. The glyph for the spell also remained as a black and green netting over the fingers of his right hand. “It should hold for an hour. I can Refresh it if I need to.”
“How long do you think it will take Zayvion to Unclose hi
m?” I asked Maeve.
She glanced at Victor. “Maybe an hour or so?”
“Maybe.” But Victor didn’t sound certain.
“Then I want everyone to stay here,” I said. “Shame, I’ll need one of the Pooh thingies.”
“What you need is to get your head checked,” he said. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Out. On the streets. To see who’s looking for us. And to see if I can throw them off our trail.”
“Oh, you’re so very not doing that,” Shame said.
“Allie,” Maeve said. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Listen,” I said. “I can’t do any good here. I’ll take only a half hour. Just enough time to see if there are any Hounds in the area who can give me the lay of the land. We can’t let anything stop Zay from what he’s doing, and after that, we can’t let anybody stop Cody from unlocking Stone.”
“Allie,” Nola said. “Maybe I should go with you.”
“No. Cody’s probably going to be really disoriented after this, and we’ll need you to keep him calm. Terric, you and Shame can set up a perimeter by the parking lots. Anyone heads this way, tell Victor.”
“Not going to happen,” Terric said. “Shame and I are going with you.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but from his bland deal-with-it look, I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere.
I turned to Victor. “I think it’s a good idea to have more eyes out there. If you think some of us should set up out a little farther from this”—I pointed at the empty spot where Zayvion was Unclosing Cody—“would you see that it gets done?”
“Yes,” he said. “Be careful.”
“I’ll be back in thirty minutes exactly.”
I got walking, and after about six strides, Shame was on my right and Terric was on my left.
“Do we really have to do this together?” I asked.
“Why?” Shame asked. “Don’t you like our company?”
“I’m looking for Hounds. I can do it faster alone.”
“Alone and without magic,” Terric mused, “you will also probably die faster.”
“I know plenty of ways to defend myself without magic,” I said.
“Right,” Shame agreed. “Like with that gun you refuse to shoot.”