“Strigoi,” Valkyrie said, switching Octavian for Liam.
He lay his mother down and gently lifted her top to the hole in her abdomen. “What?” He took the canister Valkyrie offered him and wrenched off the top. “Why would a strigoi do this?”
“He was here for me,” Riley murmured from her kneeling position next to Octavian. “He was following orders.”
A dark frown pinched the center of Magnus’ brow. “Ordered?” He worked the cream into the wound in his mother’s side. “Strigoi don’t take orders.”
“Unless it’s coming from a Master,” Valkyrie reminded him.
“But why would a strigoi Master want Riley?”
That’s what Riley wanted to know, but if Magnus was confused, odds were that she wasn’t getting an answer either.
“Whatever it was,” Valkyrie said. “He didn’t get it and you know what that means.”
The two exchanged knowing glances.
“What?” Riley asked when neither was forthcoming with an answer.
From the bar, Reggie groaned. He sat up, rubbing the back of his skull. “Ow…!” He squinted through one good eye around the room. “Man that was one bad ass strigoi.”
A little ways away, Gideon stirred and sat up as well. “Tell me we got the son of a bitch.”
“The only thing you got was your ass kicked,” Valkyrie supplied helpfully. “Luckily for you, I was here to keep you from becoming BBQ. You can thank me later.”
Gideon groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Aw man! Why couldn’t I have just died?”
Liam awoke next. He sat up, his head turning almost instinctively in his wife’s direction. “Kyaerin.”
She didn’t react, not even when he scooped her up into his arms and cradled her the way one would a child. He smoothed the hairs off her face, wiped the blood from her cheek and pressed a kiss to her brow, all the while murmuring in a language that Riley had never heard before, but it flowed like steady brook over smooth stones. The musical hum of words seemed to do the trick. Kyaerin’s lashes fluttered against the rosy slopes of her cheeks like butterfly wings preparing for lift off. They lifted and sleep blue eyes met his. She blinked. Her hand found the side of his face.
“Liam.”
“Mo chroí,” Liam breathed, drawing her tighter into his arms. His fingers slipped into her heavy mane of curls as he pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder.
Riley averted her eyes, feeling like an intruder to an intimate moment she shouldn’t be witness to. Everyone else in the room seemed to be doing the same, inexplicably fascinated by everything and anything but the two huddled on the floor, lost in their own world.
Riley turned her attention to her own mate. Her insides ached with the need to see the gray of his eyes. It had already been so long. Why hadn’t he awakened already?
Desperate and trying so hard not to panic, she turned to the others in the room, hoping against all odds that one of them would have an answer.
“He took the worst of it,” Liam told her, catching her eye. “He wouldn’t let the creature into the kitchen, but he was completely alone and unarmed.”
“He was trying to protect me,” she murmured, feeling her eyes sting.
“Why would a strigoi do that?” Kyaerin asked her husband. “We have always had a reasonably civil relationship with the Forsaken.”
“It was ordered,” Magnus said. “He told Riley as much.”
Liam frowned. “Ordered? Only a Master can order—”
“Exactly,” Magnus interjected.
Kyaerin shook her head. “But why would a strigoi Master want Riley?”
“That’s the million dollar question,” Magnus said.
“This is becoming ridiculous.” Kyaerin exclaimed, pushing to her feet. Magnus was there in a flash when she swayed. He caught her arm, holding her steady as she pressed her free hand to her brow. “I think I may need to lie down a moment.” She offered the room a slight smile. “I’m not as young as I once was. It seems that it will take a moment longer for me to recover from a wound.”
Liam was up behind her, taking her other elbow. “I’ll walk you.”
She leaned gratefully into him as they started for the kitchen. But they couldn’t have taken more than a handful of steps when there was a whoosh followed by a scream and then a thud as a body hit the ground. Everybody in the room stiffened, expecting another attack. Instead, it was Daphne. She was on the ground, crab crawling backwards away from Gideon who had poofed himself across the room to stop her from leaving.
“Not so fast, lovely,” he told her. The transportation from one end of the room to the other after being brought back to life only moments earlier zapped the little remaining strength he possessed and he slumped against the door.
“You… you… you…!” Daphne seemed incapable of coherent speech as she gawked wide-eyed at Gideon.
“Me, me, me,” Gideon groaned, sliding to the ground, legs sprawling uselessly in front of him.
“It’s all right, Daphne,” Riley said, moving to help her friend to her feet. “No one will hurt you.”
Daphne jerked her arm free of Riley’s grasp. “He just…” She made a chaotic waving motion with both her hands towards Gideon, “from thin air! Did you see?”
Riley nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Daphne stared at her, seemingly waiting for something. “And? Is that all you can say? The dude just…”
“Poofed,” Riley supplied.
“Poofed in front of me!” Daphne exclaimed, practically screaming. “Now, I’m a pretty open minded sort of person. I’m down with the whole roleplaying thing you guys got going on here with the fake blood and cool fading knife wounds and whatever, but I don’t see any mirrors around here so this little magic act thing is seriously messed up!”
“You’re right,” Riley said, snatching at the excuse with both hands. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you.”
Daphne’s eyes widened. “Warned me? Dude, I don’t even know where to begin with you. I mean, you call me four weeks ago, all in a panic about something and tell me to come running down here to Dracula’s mansion. Okay. Fine. I’m down with that. I come down here and then you freaking vanish. I mean, I have been scared out of my mind that you’d died or something. No one was telling me anything and I kept calling your phone, but no one was answering. Dude, you owe me way more than I’m sorry.”
The guilt was a red hot tapeworm burrowing inside her. She couldn’t even look her friend in the eye.
“You’re right. I do owe you an explanation.”
Daphne nodded. “Yeah, you do and you can start with… this!” She waved a hand over the room. “Did someone film the Texas Chain Saw Massacres in here or something?” She shook her head. “No, you can start from the beginning, like what the hell happened to you and what’s the deal with Kung Fu Barbie over there.” She jerked a nod towards Valkyrie, who bared her teeth and hissed.
Behind them, Gideon wheezed a laugh as he pushed unsteadily to his feet. “Somebody call the priest, I think I want to marry this girl.” He gave Daphne a wink as he shuffled past her towards the kitchen. “After a long nap.”
“Why don’t we give Riley and her friend some privacy,” Kyaerin suggested not unkindly. “I’m sure they have much to discuss.”
Gideon was already gone. The only ones left were Kyaerin, Liam, Magnus, Reggie and Valkyrie.
“Reg?” Magnus turned to the youngest brother, who hadn’t moved since waking up. He sat slumped against the bar, staring down at his lap like raising his head was just too much effort. But he did it. He raised his head and glanced at Magnus. Magnus motioned him over. “Help me get him upstairs.”
Reggie looked ready to drop where he sat, but he shuffled to his feet and stumbled his way to where Magnus stood over Octavian. Gently, they hoisted one of Octavian’s arms over their each of their shoulders and carted him through the kitchen doors.
“But what do I tell her?” Riley said, desperation ringing clear in her tone a
s she realized everyone was leaving and she would left alone to explain things even she didn’t understand fully.
Kyaerin offered her a weak smile. “Whatever you think is necessary.”
That was no help whatsoever.
“That’s it?” Valkyrie seemed to come back to herself. “We’re just going to let the humans have a cup of tea and discuss what? All the things we swore to protect and keep sacred? We need to call on the Summit. We need to get them both cleansed before—”
“That is not an option, Valkyrie,” Kyaerin said evenly. “Riley is Octavian’s mate. She is my daughter and Daphne is her friend. We are of course very grateful for what you have done for us today, but I will not allow that.”
Valkyrie looked so outraged, so perplexed that Riley didn’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for the girl. She had the face of someone offered a puzzle box and told to solve it in a second.
“But it is our duty!” she exclaimed. “We can’t just have humans traipsing through this place.”
“Riley will handle the situation,” Kyaerin said evenly.
Valkyrie threw up her arms, letting them smack down on her leather clad thighs. “Oh well, of course, because that’s not crazy at all. Here, blind person, take this other blind person and go for a walk off the lip of a building.”
“Valkyrie—”
“No!” Valkyrie’s blue eyes flashed. “You might have forgotten what we stand for, what we do, but I’m not going to get dragged down with the rest of you when the Guardians come in here and see Thelma and Louise over there. I am honor bound by my duties as a Caster and as a Devereaux to follow the rules.”
Without waiting for a response from anyone, she snatched her coat up off the counter and stomped to the door. It slammed shut behind her, sending a rush of frigid air in after her that raked through Riley like claws. She shuddered.
“Wow, someone forgot to take their Midol this morning,” Daphne mumbled.
Kyaerin looked to her husband. “Liam…”
He placed a gentle kiss to her fingers. “I will take care of it. Let’s first get you to bed.”
Once they were gone, Riley was completely alone with Daphne and the million questions she could see reflecting in the other girl’s eyes.
Chapter 38
Fifteen minutes. That’s how long Daphne stood by the window overlooking the parking lot, weighing everything Riley had just finished telling her. Riley couldn’t see her face, but her small shoulders were stiff and her back a little unnaturally straight. The gloomy light that spilled through the trees cast a dull halo through her orange curls. She had her arms folded like somehow that would protect her from the world she’d just tripped into, all because of Riley. Her life was in danger because she made friends with the wrong person. Had she never met Riley that afternoon on the side of the road, she wouldn’t be here now with the knowledge that, at any moment, blood thirsty Angels could pop into the room and kill them both.
Should have stuck with the whole no friends rule, Riley thought miserably. It had been simple when she’d been alone. She hadn’t had to worry about getting anyone killed. Now, at every turn, someone was getting hurt because of her. Yeah, she and Daphne had cleaned up the mess in the diner, scrubbing until every last drop of blood had been eliminated from sight, but it was still there in her mind, a reminder that, once again, something had nearly killed her family because it had been after her. It was becoming a really bad mantra. People should just stay away from her.
“I’m sorry,” Riley whispered, not for the first time.
Daphne said nothing. She continued to say nothing until Riley feared she’d fallen asleep standing up.
“Can you just… say something?” she pleaded.
There was a shift in Daphne’s posture, a slight tilt as she switched her weight from her right foot to her left. Her fingers did a slow glide up and down her arm once before releasing their hold and falling away. She turned.
Riley had expected anger. She had expected tears. She had expected a lot of things, but she had not been expecting determination. There was fire in Daphne’s gray eyes.
“How long do I have?”
Riley blinked, taken aback. “What?”
Daphne moved to stand at the table Riley was seated at, planted a hand on the flat surface and leaned in. “I’m going to die, right? So, when? Do I have a week or a month? A few days? I need to… handle things at home. My brothers…” she trailed off, biting her lip.
“You’re not going to die,” Riley murmured and realized too quickly that she shouldn’t have said that. There was no way she could guarantee it. “I mean…”
Daphne pushed back. “I get it, okay? I always knew I would eventually die. I mean, you can’t know when or how… it just happens and you have to accept that and go on.”
Riley had nearly forgotten that Daphne had lost both her parents simultaneously. If anyone knew about unexpected deaths and losses, it was the younger girl.
“How old are you?” It was strange that Riley had never asked her that. She had always assumed Daphne was her age, because they shared the same height, but it had never crossed her mind to ask.
Daphne switched feet, averted her eyes and folded her arms over her chest in a stance a bit too defensive. “Sixteen.”
“What?” The sharp retort didn’t come from Riley. She was as surprised as Daphne by the third voice introducing into their silence.
Healed and looking much more alive, Reggie stood in the kitchen doorway, fully dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt. He looked freshly showered. His brown curls were still damp and curled around his ears and the back of his neck. But it was the look of horror in his eyes that propelled Riley to her feet.
“Reggie? What’s wrong?”
He seemed intent on glowering at Daphne in a way that made Riley wonder if she’d missed something.
“Sixteen?” he repeated.
Daphne’s fair skin pinked like she’d been slapped. “You never asked.”
“Oh I totally asked and I distinctly remember you saying almost eighteen!”
Riley frowned. “What did I miss?”
“So I shaved a year and a little bit,” Daphne snapped back. “It’s still legal!”
Riley’s eyes widened. “Uh…”
“Shaved? Seventeen is almost eighteen. You cut out two years!”
Daphne switched feet again, something Riley noticed she did a lot when she was nervous. “It’s not two years! I’ll be seventeen in three months.”
He threw up his hands. “So you shaved fifteen months, am I supposed to be relieved?”
Pale eyebrows crinkled into an irate scowl. “What difference does it make? We weren’t dating or having sex. We were just hanging out. People can do that you know.”
Daphne’s argument seemed to only infuriate him further. The muscles in his jaw strained as he grounded his teeth together. The knuckles on his hands blistered white around his tight fists. He looked the most angry Riley had ever seen.
Then, he blurted a series of really long words in a language that was not English, spun on his heels and stormed out.
Riley turned to Daphne, slack-jawed. “What…?”
Daphne glowered at her through wet, shiny blue eyes. “Nothing!” she barked.
Riley pointed in the direction Reggie had just gone. “So not nothing,” she said. “That was so something.”
Daphne rolled her eyes. A tear slipped and she hastily wiped it away. “We kind of hung out a few times,” she muttered. “Whenever I’d come here looking for you. I thought we were getting to be friends… or something.”
Riley may not have been the best person to talk to about relationships, but she wasn’t completely stupid. “You like him.”
Daphne snorted, the sound wet when she sniffled at the same time. “Clearly a mistake.”
Riley went over to the other girl and pulled her into her arms. She had no idea what she was supposed to say so she just lightly rubbed Daphne’s back.
“This has bee
n the worst day,” Daphne mumbled into Riley’s shoulder. She drew back wiping her blotchy face with her sleeve. “I mean, I guess it rocks that I found you after all these weeks, but now I’m being hunted by Angels and I lost the first real guy I ever liked. Yup. Totally topping most crappy day ever.”
“I’m sorry,” Riley murmured. “This is all my fault.”
Daphne sighed heavily. “I want to say yeah, it totally is, you jerk! But I can’t.” She zipped her coat up to her chin and leveled Riley with a sad look. “It was fate. I was supposed to meet you on that road and I was supposed to be here today. Nothing ever happens if it wasn’t meant to.” She shrugged. “We’ll just have to see how this plays out.”
Octavian's Undoing (Sons of Judgment) Page 39