by Aliya DalRae
“So?”
“So…my mother is pureblood, and my father was—not human. The purebloods among the race look down on the human/Vampire combo, but they tolerate it to a point because it’s kept our race going. Me, they pretty much repudiate. My mother suffered my existence while my father was alive because he’d have it no other way. But when he was murdered, which was inevitable, given the animosity the race showed him, she eventually banished me from her life and spent the next century kissing ass, and getting back in the good graces of the Primeval.
“She eventually found a pureblood male to marry her, in spite of her sullied past. He gave her two equally pureblood daughters and the pretentious life she’d wanted, but had been denied, because of a Shifter mate and their rot blood spawn.”
“Oh Harrier, that’s terrible. How could they be so…prejudiced?”
Harrier shrugged and continued on down the hall. I was late on the uptake, and had to hurry to catch up with his long strides as he said, “It’s the nature of the race, I guess. Whatever. I hung around for a bit, but ultimately I left Scotland, jumped the pond. I heard there was a guy with the Legion who was big on recruiting hard luck strays. I was unaware that his biggest pet was the race’s first and worst true monster, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go, and Mason was good about taking me in.”
“But it must have been hard to swallow, Raven being able to gain such a high level of responsibility in the Legion after all he’d done, and you having to answer to him. All you were guilty of was being born.”
“Past is past,” he shrugged again. “I’ve found a place, now, and I’m good with that. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stomach that male of yours, though.”
“So why are you suddenly being nice to me? You hate Raven. I still don’t understand why, but I can accept it as fact. So why in the world would you get friendly with his girl?”
Harrier blew his hair out of his eyes. “Not sure. Haven’t been able to figure that one out myself.” His smile was a wry one, but the first almost genuine smile I’d seen on him yet. He looked nice. The conversation was going much better than I’d expected, so I took the opportunity to ask him something that had been bothering me for a while.
“If you hate him so much, why on earth did you save us? It was the perfect opportunity for you to get rid of him. From what Raven’s told me, there are very few who would have raised much of a fuss. Besides, you were the only one there. No one would have blamed you had you said you were too late.”
“You really don’t know?”
I shook my head. We had come full circle, back to the elevators.
Harrier pushed the button, and the elevator opened up right away, allowing him to walk inside and stab at the panel. The doors were closing and, just as I was convinced he wasn’t going to answer he said, “I did it for you.”
Chapter Fifteen
I had no idea what that meant.
I watched the lift doors seal together and considered continuing my walk outside, but by now I was simply too tired to get the air and sunshine I’d thought I wanted. The previous night’s lack of sleep was catching up with me, so I decided to go back to Raven’s rooms and take a nap until Mason was ready to see me. As I waited for the elevator, my thoughts turned back to Harrier.
Twice in as many hours he had chosen to hang out with me, and each incident added to my confusion. This sudden interest in me was baffling, but if what he’d said in the Club were true, the interest wasn’t so sudden, was it? If he’d really been trying to protect me from getting involved with Raven and the Vampires as a whole, it was way before all that “Sorcerer in the Clearing” stuff had gone down. He had a goofy way of getting his point across, but still.
I wondered about his family, about how old he had been when his father was killed. Shame on his mother for turning her back on him, though. If I ever met the woman, I’d certainly give her a piece of my mind. No one should ever abandon a child, not for any reason. But then my birth parents were guilty of the same thing. Guess Harrier and I had a lot more in common than one would think.
A bell dinged the arrival of the elevator. As I entered and pushed the button to Raven’s floor, I thought about Allie, the little Were pup I’d rescued at the gravel pit. Her parents had been so happy to get her back, or so I’d been told, and she seemed like a normal, well-adjusted little girl.
I didn’t know a lot about Weres, about how they propagated or where little Were’s came from. The fact that there were children, had me hoping that it was a genetic condition, and that they weren’t turned in some horrific Hollywood manner. The former seemed likely, considering Harrier’s situation.
Which had me thinking, if a Shifter could mate with a Vampire and produce offspring, would the Shifter community be as unforgiving as the purist Vampires seemed to be? Or would Harrier have been better off being raised with his father’s people?
His father was obviously not a wolf, given Harrier’s Shifter form, and I wondered if that made any difference, socially speaking. He’d become a raven, of all things, and I was curious as to whether that was his only Shifter form, or if he was just being ironic. I wouldn’t put the latter past him at all.
As the elevator stopped and I exited toward Raven’s hall, I thought I might ask him about the whole thing. But that would mean having to confess being with Harrier, and the way things were between us right now, I wasn’t sure that was the best course of action. Maybe I would see Harrier again and he would be open to more questions. I hoped so, because for every answer he gave me, five more questions popped up.
I found myself in front of Raven’s suite, and for the first time I didn’t know whether I should knock or go on in. Raven only ever flipped the locks when I was there alone or we were there together and didn’t want to be disturbed. Now, for some reason, I felt like I was intruding.
Before I could decide, the door flew open and Raven was standing there looking—well, he looked like hell on a hot stick. His hair was a mess, signs that he’d had his hands through it a lot, his face drawn and pallid. And his t-shirt was all stretched and wrinkled, like he had been wrestling with someone.
The biggest thing, though, was his eyes. The sapphire blue orbs that usually sparked a bit when they rested on me, were dull and vacant. I saw all of that in the one brief second he was actually able to meet my eyes before looking away. He stepped aside to allow me entrance, and closed us in together.
Obviously, the meeting with Mason had not gone well.
“Raven?” I asked, the too long silence testing my already jumbled nerves.
“Where were you?” he said it like an accusation, and I decided I would definitely not be mentioning Harrier.
“I went for a walk.”
“Harrier said you were in the Club.”
Raven mentioned him, not me.
“Well, I was. Then I came back here. Then I went for a walk.” Jeesh. What was with the third degree? I was smart enough not to ask, though.
“Okay,” he said, and without another word he went to the bathroom, and shut me out both literally and figuratively. After a brief pause I followed, only to be stopped by an engaged lock. Did I mention, Raven never locked doors?
So I knocked.
“Raven,” I pleaded. “Please, talk to me.” He didn’t answer, but I could hear him growling behind the barrier between us. I’d gotten used to that growling thing over the last couple of months.
I knocked again. “Raven, come on, talk to me.” This growl was louder and may have sounded a little like, “Go away.” I pretended I didn’t understand.
“Please, Raven. I’m not going anywhere. I understand if you need a minute, but I’ll be right here when you’re ready to talk. Okay?”
He didn’t even growl.
Chapter Sixteen
W hen the incessant knocking ceased, Raven pulled his clothes off and stepped into the marble double shower, aimed both jets at his head and turned them on full blast and lava hot.
He’d stopped at the C
lub to look for Jessica, where her scent mixed faintly with that of sweat and some fairly old blood. But it was also mixed with her jumbled emotions, these scents masking any trace of distress she may have felt.
The fact that she had managed an encounter with Harrier without overwhelming the Club with fear-scent was a testament to her bravery. Most humans wouldn’t be able to face a male like Harrier before being attacked by him, let alone after.
That being said, Jessica wasn’t most humans. She was fairness personified, and would have extended that fairness even to Harrier. After all, he’d saved her life. Raven’s too, for that matter, and didn’t that still rankle. That and the fact that she was more afraid of him now than she was of Harrier.
Upon leaving the War Room, Raven had been fairly pumped at the prospect of hunting down the bastard that was setting him up for murder. However, after feeling Jessica’s emotions emanating through the Club, he knew she was struggling. And they both knew why.
As the water sluiced over him, Raven fell back against the shower wall. The steam from the too-hot water created a wall of fog, a temporary separation between him and his problems.
How was he going to tell her that her dream was real? Chances were she already knew, and was trying not to worry him. Or maybe she was trying not to worry herself, in which case, she was making a piss poor job of it.
He fisted his hands, and flesh met marble as he took his frustration out on the shower wall. Her anxiety assaulted him, even through the thick door. It was as though she had settled there instead of going back to the living room. Christ, how was he going to do this? Mason would be expecting her, so he couldn’t put it off for long. If he wanted her to be prepared, he was going to have to face her. Soon.
Now.
Raven turned off the shower and grabbed a black bath sheet from the towel rack near the raised tub. Wrapping it around his waist, he took a deep breath and opened the door inward. Jessica toppled onto his feet.
And it was exactly what he needed.
Chapter Seventeen
T hat was unexpected.
I was preparing myself for many things as I waited, but was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I was not prepared for the door to open. Lying sprawled out across his bare feet like I was, I was even less prepared for what came next.
Raven laughed. I was a little miffed—I mean, I was there for support, but I suppose comic relief was a close second. As long as I was useful, right?
He collapsed to the floor beside me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, still laughing, and the tighter he held me, the harder he laughed. I couldn’t help myself. I started to giggle, and when he heard me, he pulled away from me and gazed into my eyes. Some of the spark was back, but he still looked awful tired. I reached up and brushed a strand of damp hair out of his eyes, and he put his hand on top of mine.
“I’m sorry, Jessica.” The laughter was fading from his eyes as he reached down and cradled my injured wrist in his hand. “It’s been a long day, and I’m afraid it’s not over yet.”
Yippee.
“Mason wants to talk to you, probably about that dream you had. The one that wasn’t a vision? But I wanted to talk to you about it first.”
“Raven, really, it was…”
“No, Jess, it wasn’t. You dreamed that I attacked a young girl, a pretty blonde with pale blue eyes…”
“No.” It was a whisper, and my body went limp in his arms, but Raven held onto me as he continued to speak.
“I don’t know why you saw what you did, but you have to know, it was not me.”
I was shaking my head, and it was way too long before he let me pull myself away. I wanted to run, get as far away as I could, but my legs and my brain weren’t communicating very well. Instead I drug myself away from him and leaned against the door frame. I drew my knees up, hugged them to me, and tried to make myself as small as possible.
It was real. All of my futile attempts to convince myself that it was not a vision had been useless. Stupid. I’d really seen Raven kill an innocent girl I had known most of my life. A girl I’d hung out with, gone to parties with. Poor Mandy. She didn’t deserve to die that way, and if I knew anything about the Vampires at all, her death would go unreported. Her family would never know, never get to lay her to rest, and say goodbye the way they should. The Vampires wouldn’t let that kind of information get out.
My head was buzzing with hive-like white noise. When I looked up, Raven was still talking, but his words failed to register. I could see the devastation in his eyes, eyes that had been smiling a moment ago, and he seemed to be pleading with me. Thankfully he didn’t try to touch me. That would have been disastrous.
He was begging, I think. Saying “please” a lot and “believe me” too. But I couldn’t fit the words into any shape or form that made sense.
This was my fault. I released the demon, and Mandy was dead because I was selfish and thought I could find good in a mythical monster. Typical girl think. I know he’s a bad boy, but I can change him with my love. Well, I’d changed him alright. Right back into what he used to be. And Mandy Jenkins paid the price for my hedonism.
Christ on a cracker, I needed to get out of here. I tried again to stand, bracing myself against the door frame and pulling myself up the best I could. When I stumbled, Raven was right there, hovering as though he would catch me if I fell, and I put my free hand up to stop him coming any closer. He was still begging me to trust him, but how could I? I’d had a vision, and my visions always came true. I needed to get as far away from Raven, and Vampires and Sorcerers, and whatever else was out there, as fast as I could. This wasn’t—couldn’t be—my life. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“I have to go.” It was barely a whisper, but I knew he could hear me.
“Jessica, please wait…”
“No,” I said with a little more strength. “I can’t do this, Raven. I can’t be here right now.”
“I understand,” he said, but he had moved to block my way, and I couldn’t help the stab of panic that pierced my soul. Raven flinched as though I’d slapped him, but I was beyond caring.
“Raven, let me pass.” I sounded a lot calmer than I felt. In truth I was freaking out, all rational thought right out the window.
“I can’t, Jessica.” I stared at him in open-mouthed disbelief until he added, “Mason still wants to see you. Let me get dressed and I’ll walk you to his office.”
“No,” I said as he reached for a pair of jeans lying on a chair nearby. He stopped mid-reach to stare at me, his argument on his lips, and I said, “I know where Mason’s office is. I’ll go to him, tell him what he wants to know, and have him find a daywalker to take me home.”
“But Jessica. . .”
“No, Raven. I did this. This is my fault. And I just…I can’t be near you right now.” And before he could ask I added, “Maybe never.”
Chapter Eighteen
I was in a daze as I grabbed my bag, which was lying on the floor, still mostly packed, and walked out the door and into the hallway. The clothes I’d been wearing before my workout were still in that room somewhere, but I’d just have to buy new. I wasn’t coming back here if I could help it. I couldn’t even look at Raven as I left.
Somehow I found my way to the Sub-T level and was heading down the hallway that led to Mason’s office, my mind roiling like a tank full of piranhas at feeding time.
Harrier had been right. I had no idea when I got involved with Raven how much it would impact the people around me. Putting myself in harm’s way was one thing, and I hated that Piper and Alex had been dragged into the whole Sorcerer situation. But when people around me started dying?
My God, what had I done? I was in my own little world, somewhere between the Vampires and the humans, and I thought I was big and bad and able to handle it all.
I was wrong.
My hands were shaking, and I could barely see where I was going through the tears filling my eyes, streaming down my face. I was still in my workout
garb, which I normally wouldn’t have worn to meet with the Legion’s Warlord, but Mason was going to have to deal.
That’s what I was thinking when I ran into a wall. At least it felt like a wall, hard and unmoving. But no, it was (surprise!) Harrier, who grabbed me to keep me from toppling over. In spite of the almost chummy conversations we had earlier, I went a little nutso. I was screaming, beating my fists against Harrier’s chest, begging him to let me go.
My hysteria was ended abruptly when he did as I asked and I fell flat on my ass in the middle of the hallway. I looked up to see my own surprise reflected in the Warrior’s expression.
“You heard?” Harrier asked, schooling his face back into his standard scowl as I scrambled back to my feet and out of his reach. Not that he couldn’t grab me if he wanted to. I’d never be fast enough to evade him, but the space afforded the illusion of safety, and at this point, I would take what I could get.
Landing on my tail also did something to realign my mental processing, and I was able to think again. Harrier’s eyes were more yellow than gold, and he looked fairly calm, albeit a little smug.
I took a deep breath, folded my arms over my chest, and tried to rein in my anxiety. The extra step backward was for good measure.
“Yeah, I heard. Save your ‘told-you-sos’ for another day. Your Warlord is waiting for me, and after that I’m leaving.”
Harrier’s expression was unreadable. After a minute he asked, “Where’s Raven?”
I didn’t answer, but shook my head again, and Harrier’s expression told me he was sorry he asked.
“Never mind. I’ll walk with you to Mason’s office.”
“I know where it is,” I argued, but he turned around and headed the same direction I was going, and I had no choice but to follow. I made no effort to catch up with him, and he didn’t slow his pace to let me, so we continued like that, with him several paces in front of me.