“Jenny?” Allie couldn’t hide her shock. It was the last thing she’d expected. “Is she…is she alive?”
Something moved behind his eyes that made her wish she hadn’t asked, and his voice when he answered was still flat and neutral, “Yes. She still lives. Brynneth is seeing what he can do for her, if anything.”
If anything Allie repeated to herself. That was one of the most terrifying things anyone had ever said to her. She thought back to how badly she had been hurt, how her body had been broken, and Brynneth had helped her easily. She was overtaken by the all-consuming urge to ask to be taken home, but she knew that was not an option. So she leaned back against the wall and shut up instead.
“What does Zarethyn want done?” Jess asked, his voice businesslike.
“We must contact the human police, because the person who lived here is definitely human. The captain fears that this will be a jurisdictional nightmare. The girl is being healed, but I am to contact her mother after the police, and an ambulance to take her to the human clinic,” Natarien listed off these things as if repeating something that had been told to him, which he probably was.
“And I?” Jess asked.
“Stay with Aliaine,” he said simply. Allie flushed, then paled, mortified. A major crime scene, Jenny found, the suspect on the loose, and Jess had to babysit her. She felt angry tears gathering in her eyes and blinked them away; she would not complete this embarrassment by crying like a child.
Natarien moved down the longer stretch of hallway, pulling out his phone. Jess reeled her in against his body, the movement caching her off guard and making her stumble. He cradled her against his chest, his plate armor cold, his hand still gripping hers tightly, his arm now across her chest. His sword was held out slightly and off to one side, an ever present reminder that they were still in a dangerous place. She stood rigidly in his arms. His voice in her mind was full of worry and love “What is it Allie? What has upset you?”
She refused to answer him, putting as much energy as she could into blocking him. He pressed her, speaking through her best attempts to keep him out, “Is it that the girl is badly damaged? If she lives then she can be healed, even if it takes time.”
The thought of that made her turn her head aside and she started shaking. She was angry that she was holding Jess back from getting anything done. She was angry that her own weakness had kept her from finding Jenny sooner; if only she had been able to really start looking as soon as she knew the girl was missing, maybe she could have found her sooner. She was angry that even with Brynneth’s help she still felt fragile.
“Allie,” Jess spoke aloud this time, his voice a whisper in her ear that raised the hair on her neck, “why will you not speak to me? Why are you so angry?”
That last startled her enough to break her out of herself, “You can feel that?”
“I can feel your emotions sometimes when we are very close and touching,” he said. He leaned forward another fraction of an inch kissing her neck lightly, “Usually I enjoy it very much.”
She elbowed him, forgetting the armor, and winced as her arm hit metal. But her voice when she spoke again was lighter, “Do men never think of anything else?”
“You are a very tempting thing Aliaine McCarthy,” he whispered, “under any circumstances.”
She thought of her conversation with Shawn, “Draighean.”
“Draighean?” he repeated, his voice questioning.
“My clan. Aliaine of clan Draighean,” she said, testing the sound in Elvish.
His love surrounded her, as he took her offering her clan name for the gift it was. “Firinne is mine. Jessilaen of clan Firinne.”
“I know, your brother told me once. It’s good to hear it from you though,” she said. “And now we’ve been fully introduced.”
“Indeed,” he smiled against her neck.
“Jess, really you should go help them, not be stuck here with me,” she said feeling serious again.
“We have a different perspective on the situation,” he replied calmly.
She pulled away from him, stepping out of his arms and sliding her hand out of his. He gasped, reaching out to her as she stepped back, “Allie, what are you doing?”
“Showing you that I can handle this,” she said through gritted teeth. And she was confident that she could, as long as she didn’t go in the apartment or step into the energetic trace itself. She kept stepping back slowly, widening the distance between them.
He reached out for her again not quite willing yet to chase after her, and she stepped back further staying against the far wall away from the door. “Allie stop this. You do not need to prove anything.”
“I feel like I do,” she said.
“I have been tasked with guarding you while we are here, if anything happens to you while you are seeking to prove this to me I will be in a great deal of trouble,” he said reasonably, tensing and leaning forward as if he was prepared to leap after her if she moved much further away.
She heaved a heavy sigh, turning towards the main entrance so he wouldn’t see the surrender on her face. “Fine, I guess you’re right.”
“Allie?” Jess asked, his voice wary.
Allie froze as a dark haired young man rushed in through the door, jogging down towards them. He was wearing worn jeans and a leather jacket and she could just make out a tattoo on his neck. He finally noticed her and, probably more importantly Jessilaen who was standing a half dozen feet behind her, and checked in mid-step. Allie felt her jaw dropping as the pulse of familiar rage-excitement-lust hit her across the open space between them, no more than twenty feet. Their eyes locked for what seemed like forever. In her mind Allie screamed, “Jess! That’s him!”
It was a good thing she was already flat against one wall because Jess ran past her at speed with his sword raised, calling for Natarien. The other Guard was fast on his heels, but the dark haired man was already out the door. Elves could run much faster than any human, but when they reached the door they found it jammed and wasted precious time forcing it open. Irrelevantly Allie hoped that whoever handled maintenance on the apartment had a repair company on speed dial because the door was in pieces within moments.
Jess and Natarien disappeared through the wreckage just as Mariniessa, frowning in a way that made even the beautiful elven woman look unattractive appeared from the apartment. “What is going on out here? I cannot concentrate to cast these trace spells with all of this noise.”
“He’s here, was here, the suspect. Jess and Natarien just chased him out…“ Allie said quickly pointing towards the ruined door. Mariniessa swore, a mild lady’s curse, and a moment later she and Zarethyn ran out, only to be met by Jess and Natarien coming back in. Jess’s eyes glittered with anger. Allie felt her shoulders slump. So he’d gotten away then. No one had thought when his wards broke he’d run directly back here to see who broke them; they’d all assumed he’d do the exact opposite and run away.
“What happened?” Zarethyn asked, his eyes sweeping the empty hallway, taking in the broken door and the Guards, Allie inclusive, standing uneasily around him.
“The suspect returned here. Allie saw him and identified him, but he fled immediately. Natarien and I gave chase but he jammed the door. When we forced our way through he had gotten to his vehicle and he escaped before we could get close enough to disable it,” Jess reported all of this quickly, obviously still agitated. Allie was surprised by how much she wanted to go to him and wrap her arms around him, but she resisted the urge.
“Can you describe him?” Zarethyn asked Jess.
“Not clearly. I did not get a good look at him in the hallway, and saw only his back as he was running. Nor can I describe the car very well. Did you see the plate number Natarien?” Jess’s frustration was plain.
“I did not. The angle was bad for it,” the other elf said regretfully.
Zarethyn turned to Allie, “Can you describe him?”
“Ummm. Yes. Medium height, perhaps a few inches talle
r than I am. Dark brown hair, just about shoulder length. Brown eyes. Tattoo on the side of his neck, I didn’t see that clearly but I think it may have been flowers,” Allie said, trying to remember as many details as possible.
Zarethyn looked at her intently, “You would know him again if you saw him?”
“Yes,” Allie said simply.
*******************************
Later sitting in the back of one of the Guard cars, Allie watched the activity in the parking lot with interest. Zarethyn had alerted detective Riordan and the human police had sent several cars, which now sat parked haphazardly, their emergency lights filling the air. An ambulance and paramedic vehicle had also arrived and sat close to the building, adding their lights to the mix.
Long before the influx of emergency responders Allie had asked to leave, forced to point out to the Guard captain that she didn’t think she could handle the flood of emotional reactions. He had been unwilling to let her leave entirely but had compromised by putting her in one of the heavily warded cars the Guard used. She could not argue his logic: the Guard vehicles were so carefully spelled that she would be safe from any threats. He could leave her alone without worrying for her safety, although he had made her promise not to wander off. That might have embarrassed her if not for her recent habit of following emotions without thinking; she could see his reasoning. And Jess had been so reluctant to leave her side because of his concern for her that she had actually been worried he would be reprimanded in front of everyone. Promising to stay put in the car had mollified him enough that he had gotten back to his own job, even if he was checking in with her, in her head, every few minutes.
She noticed a familiar figure at the periphery of the lot and cracked her door, “Hey, Jason! Over here!!”
Startled Jason turned, his eyes searching the chaos of the lot until he found her. He jogged over his expression shell-shocked. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Just super tired, and I’ve got a headache,” Allie realized she was whining and stopped herself.
“What’s going on?” he asked eyeing the multitude of emergency vehicles.
“We found Jenny. Alive.”
“Oh my Gods!” he said. “You did? Is she, I mean is she okay?”
“Honestly…I don’t think so,” Allie said, shivering. “But she’s alive. They’re bringing her to the clinic, or maybe out to the hospital, I’m not sure.”
“Did you catch the guy?”
“No,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “He got away. But they ID’ed him. He’s human but since the Elven Guard was investigating the disappearances and the girls are mixed…I guess it’s a jurisdictional mess. So for now everyone’s investigating and I guess they’ll fight over whose case it is later.”
“Are you okay?” Jason asked again, frowning.
“Hmmm? Yeah. Any scene I don’t get carried away from is a good one.”
“You seem pretty flat out honey,” Jason said, and Allie looked down, thinking that it almost felt like before, as if his secret wasn’t hanging between them.
“I guess I am. This emotional tracking stuff takes a lot out of me,” she grudgingly admitted, wishing Jess was here so she could strengthen herself from his emotions and then immediately feeling guilty for wishing that.
“Anything I can do? Want me to bring you home?” Jason asked looking down uncomfortably at his boots.
“I can’t leave. But if you could grab me a coffee that would be great. The caffeine will help with my headache at least,” she said.
“Be right back,” Jason said, already jogging away.
Allie sighed, pulling the door closed while she waited. This should have been the end of her part of things. She’d done what she’d agreed to do, she’d helped them find Jenny. But somehow she had a feeling things were only just beginning.
*******************************
“It was a huge mistake,” the group’s leader said, her voice projecting displeasure, “to use that knife. Honestly I’m shocked that you’d screw up so profoundly. I thought better of you.”
The woman hung her head, her fists clenched, “How was I supposed to know the knife was a murder weapon? He gave it to me and said I should keep it because it was iron and could be protection against any of them. He never said it had blood on it.”
“You’re a smart woman, you should have known better than to trust anything coming from him after the way he betrayed us,” the leader said, tsking and shaking her head as if she were reprimanding a child. “Still, it may work to our advantage. It has the police very confused and it has to be unnerving her. They’ll all be chasing their tails and looking for shadow killers that don’t exist and that might work out for us.”
“I just don’t want you thinking I’m not trying,” the woman said, a whining tone in her voice. “I’m doing my best.”
“I’m not saying you haven’t done your best,” the leader said, patting the woman’s hand, “and it looks like the damage is minimal so far. But they never should have gone back to the site or realized the deaths were still happening. And it’s because of her that it’s all stirred up again.”
“Please don’t hurt her,” the woman said. “She’s not really in a position to do us any harm.”
“She’s a loose cannon,” the leader said. “Of course I don’t want to hurt her. We need her. But…something has to be done. Something more direct.”
“What?” the woman asked, sounding resigned.
“Don’t worry about. I’ll handle it,” the leader’s voice was brisk.
“But…”
“Leave it to me,” she repeated firmly.
The woman hesitated, then nodded.
Chapter 11 - Friday
“Allie, be reasonable,” Jess said patiently.
“I am being reasonable,” Allie shot back, knowing that she didn’t sound reasonable at all. She stretched and threw back the covers, shivering slightly in the open air, but resolved to get up and get dressed for work before he could talk her out of going.
“I will be done within a few hours, by lunchtime at the latest,” he said, running his hand down her side, trying to distract her. It was a good plan. She hesitated, sitting up in the bed. It was already getting late and she knew that he had to get going as well or he would not get to the Outpost in time for his meeting. The Elven Guard had been extremely hectic since finding Jenny and losing the suspect and he had meetings at the Outpost and at the police station both the day before and planned throughout the day today. She wasn’t technically under Guard or in protective custody but Jess had been at her side whenever he wasn’t in one of these meetings and while he wouldn’t admit it she suspected that it was on the theory that the killer might go after her. She thought that was highly unlikely; while she had seen him his identity was no longer a secret and not only had his apartment provided a treasure trove of forensic evidence but preliminary DNA tied him to all three of the dead girls in the woods. He had no reason to go after Allie and she was, at this point, superfluous to the investigation.
“I can’t go with you to the Outpost and hang around all morning. I have a store to run. Business has actually been going well lately, and I have bills to pay,” she insisted, as his mouth replaced his hand. She tried to twist away only to find herself pinned on her back, blinking up in surprise at him. He grinned widely, amused by her expression.
“Maybe I’ll just keep you here in bed all morning and you’ll be too tired to go anywhere until my business is done,” he thought at her, his words as mischievous as his hands.
She refused to give in that easily. But she couldn’t deny he was making it very difficult to concentrate. She decided to hit back with something that was almost certain to ruin his mood. “Bleidd will take me into work today, since the police still haven’t finished with my car. And I won’t be alone so you don’t need to worry.”
He growled at the mention of the other elf’s name, grabbing her wrists and holding her hands above her head. One hand held her wrists and the
other wandered across her torso. She started to think that she should have waited to have this conversation until they were both dressed. Dressed and downstairs eating breakfast, she thought her body betraying her despite her best efforts to act unmoved by his attentions. She squirmed helplessly, then decided to turn the tables on him and see how he liked it, changing her helpless squirming into intentional writhing. He groaned and clamped his mouth down over hers. She lost herself in the emotions entirely and forgot what they had been arguing about…
Afterwards she lay in his arms, her breathing slowing, his heartbeat in her ear, and she wished that there was some way that they could both stay here. She was afraid to even mention it though, because with the odd mood he’d been in he might just decide to take her up on it and she would not let herself be the reason he got into any trouble with the Guard. She already worried about the strings he may have been pulling to get permission to stay with her so much. So she carefully shielded her thoughts and enjoyed the moment as long as she dared before forcing herself to sit up again.
“We are both going to be late if we don’t hurry now,” she said reluctantly.
He sighed, “I suppose we must. Will you come with me today?”
She leaned forward and kissed him gently, “I can’t, love, you know I can’t.”
To her surprise he smiled, his expression lighting up, “Do you know that’s the first time you have ever called me your love?”
She blushed slightly and tried to look away, but he caught her chin and held her face where he could see it. He sat up as well, leaning into her and kissing her forehead, “I like it very much. And I suppose I cannot dissuade you from the course you have set.”
“You made a heroic effort,” she said and then couldn’t help giggling.
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