“Anyone else joining us?” I posed the question to Liam, but then turned it to Serena by looking at her also. She turned to him and I can only admit, a tad begrudgingly, the look she gave him was absolutely precious.
“Michael said he might, and Erin was a definite yes. She should be here anytime,” He answered, then looked at me pointedly. “Gideon never quite gave me a reply, so who knows.”
I nearly choked on my ale. “Gideon here?” I sputtered, trying not to spray beer as I laughed.
“Why is that so funny?” Serena asked. “What’s wrong with this place?”
“Well, okay, I could see him coming here for a steak; I’ll give him that…” And I could. There was a masculine sophistication throughout the restaurant that fit very well to Gideon. There were no tables, only tall booths of dark leather. The walls were of brick and brushed steel. Fixtures were of bronze and the tables a highly polished wood. It was the antithesis of the Snug, though the color theme was similar. This establishment was sleek, refined, stylish in a noble kind of vein. Yes…very Gideon. A gas lamp even burned in the center of the table, casting a warm and flattering light across the three of us.
“But I cannot imagine him next door dancing.” I laughed again.
“Hi guys!” Erin drawled as she walked up and scootched into the booth next to me. “Have you ordered yet?”
I hadn’t seen her since the dinner at Elysium. She looked stunning. I’d never seen her all dolled up for a night out; she’d been dressed pretty casually at the meeting. She and I had similar taste in fashion, and I wondered for a moment if she had ever shopped at Catastrophia.
“Not yet.” Liam answered.
So, were Liam and Serena so into each other already that he was introducing her to the Bháis? It couldn’t be a formal meeting of some sort, there was no way we could discuss ‘business’ around Serena. I hadn’t realized that Liam and the others hung out on a social basis. I guess I’d been so wrapped up in my own stuff all month, why would I know?
“Great!” She picked up a drink menu. “What about drinks?”
“A round of Guinness on the way.” Liam beamed. I think he moved in just a touch closer to Serena.
I looked away. I didn’t care.
My mind was still on Gideon. The dreams of him. The actuality of him.
Michael showed up only a few minutes later and after some small chit-chat we ordered.
At first I had amused myself with pondering what the conversation would be like over dinner. I mean, it’s not as if Liam, Erin, or Michael could discuss their jobs within the Bháis in front of Serena, at least she knew I was a writer already. But, I was very happy that the topic did not arise over the course of dinner. I had no idea if Liam or Gideon had mentioned it to the others.
Conversation ended up not being an issue at all; it flowed quite readily and energetically. We talked about music, upcoming possible concerts to attend, local art, books—at which point Liam gave me something of a warning scowl—great used book stores, vacation spots, and recent movies we’d seen. Completely normal topics.
At the beginning of the evening I’d been afraid that I’d be uneasy about Liam being with Serena, that I wouldn’t be able to stand witnessing it. But I found myself so preoccupied with thoughts of Gideon, actually missing his presence, that I didn’t have much left to feel for the situation, which I guess was a providential thing, seeing as how they were so very snuggly with each other all through dinner.
Thoughts of Gideon. That baffled me nearly as much as turning a leaf into cash, which by the way, was currently in the pocket of my boot, and I planned on using to buy a drink with later.
The club had a great DJ; the past few times I’d been here he’d played an awesome mix of artists. It felt good to relax and dance. No pressure. No thinking. Just our little cluster dancing…like my life used to be. The music pushed all the other stuff that was filling up, and mucking up, my thoughts to the side for awhile.
We broke up the bouts of dancing with drinks at the table we’d managed to snag; another one of the atmospherically recessed booths with velvet privacy curtains and beveled-glass enclosed candle light. It was mysterious and rather befitting of the majority of the group, to be secreted away while having shots and sipping cocktails…it lent a true feel of decadence. And I think maybe we even began to bond.
A song by Xx came on and we rallied to the dance floor, coerced into motion by the atmospheric mixed acoustic instrumentation, the breathy vocal-centric aesthetic. Following that was Marilyn Manson, Orgy, Insight 23, and then Ministry. The excellent music never ceased, and time passed quickly, spent between the two locations of our cloistered booth and the crowded dance floor.
I felt increasingly other, altered. I wasn’t exactly human anymore, so what was I? What were we, other than Rúnaigh? I knew what our titles were, but if not angels, then what? As every day passed I felt an increasing sense of power, and that otherness. Tonight I felt in charge of myself, strong, balanced. Something was happening to me. I felt like I did within the dreams. It was something…preternatural. I felt silly using that particular word. It’s a word I used in my vampire novels…not in real life. But it was the only one that fit…aside from mystical, or perhaps ethereal.
I’d always had such an interest in the inexplicable, hence the writing topics I chose. And now I lived it, was it. But there was something kind of on the awesome side of that. I’d died and come back. I could go places, apparently, in my dreams. And bring stuff back. I’d turned a leaf into a ten dollar bill today. Not in dreamland this time, but in my courtyard.
The music segued into NIN, Terrible Lie, and I felt myself getting lost deeper into the techno synth riffs, and the gravelly, aggressive male vocals. I felt my eyelids drift closed halfway, a smile play on my lips. And that something in me woke up, tickled that special place in my brain and spirit.
Could anyone else see it? Should I care? Could they see the dark amber glow coming from me? Barely there, but it was there.
I danced closer to the group, my friends, my new friends. They could be? They could be my friends, my new family. Being with them felt right. There had been a level of clicking and bonding over the course of dinner and then drinking and dancing.
Could they see it? The Bháis, I mean. Could they see this radiance? I had to presume Serena would not be able to. But yes, both Michael and Liam saw it. Both sets of eyes locked onto me with unreadable expressions. Erin wasn’t facing me, but I bet she would have seen it, had she been turned in my direction.
I danced away. Good to know.
I did note, as I worked my way through the others on the dance floor, that even though they may not be able to see the luminous atmosphere surrounding me, they could feel it.
And it did something to them.
I wanted to try something, to see if I could deliberately move it. To see if I had any control over it.
I mean, after all, I’d changed a piece of foliage into money earlier; I should be able to rein in some ethereal light filaments, right?
I closed my eyes. Felt the music. Felt the energy of the people all around me, let it wash over me and through me, felt it slide along my own energy
I picked out a nice looking guy. I gently pushed the energy, the light filaments out towards him. I felt where the wisps touched him, I could feel it stretch out from me and wrap around him, gently embrace him.
He smiled. He felt it. I gave a gentle pull back…and the light retracted away from him, quite easily, and came back to me. The way it looked, to my eyes, was like the way a mermaid’s long, lustrous hair floats about her face and body in the water, gently ebbing and flowing gracefully about her. My delicate strands of power did exactly the same.
The guy looked a little startled at first, sort of cast off, but then he danced away as though nothing had passed between us. But he kept his smile, the one I’d given him.
I think I liked this. Now, what was the purpose of it? Did I have it merely for culling? I had used it in culling; it�
�s why it was so easy for me. It had been more subtle, but still, no touch was needed, and I could only wonder as to why I didn’t have to speak, like the others.
Why didn’t they have this? They didn’t or they would not have looked at me the way they had a moment ago, right? That what-the- hell-is-that look.
I had danced myself to the far side of the dance area and the last song segued into Lullaby by The Cure. Another perfect melody to lose myself to.
“It draws you in Gideon, make you see things in your head. Images, places not here, things you weren’t thinking about. Makes your heart go light. What is it? What is she doing? What is she?”
I could hear Liam, his voice faint, but I could hear him all the same…though they were nowhere near me. He sounded winded, exuberant. He was waiting for Gideon to say something.
Gideon is here.
“Everyday she’s changed, something changes about her. She becomes more. Why is she different? Why is she like this fantastic, implausible, untamable creature?”
But Gideon didn’t have an answer for him.
And I needed answers of my own. So I picked out another test subject.
This one was an intense hottie, a little older than the last. I maneuvered myself closer, not making eye contact.
Could I do it without meeting gazes? I relaxed my mind again, reaching into myself to find that ability. I relaxed into it, breathed into it, I felt it quicken and light.
This time it made me shudder when it rose and extended out of my skin, from my center. I opened my eyes to see it. It wasn’t amber this time. That surprised me; it didn’t fit how I felt. It was a deep, dark red. It was burgundy. It was shot with glittering black streams.
There was something dangerous and raw to it, to the way I was suddenly feeling. He looked at me. The guy I picked out. And there was nothing sweet in his smile. He was danger…not the sexy-fun kind either.
I could feel, from across the room, anger, rage, unbridled protectiveness. It was coming from Gideon. He had a distinct imprint; I knew it was him I was feeling, his energy I was sensing from across the room. He was pissed…beyond anything I’d ever encountered from him. And I hadn’t even looked over at him yet. But I could feel him.
My energy reached out, and I locked eyes with the man in front of me. From behind me, a motion in charcoal and pewter moved around either side of me…wings…my wings moved around us and enveloped us. I was mesmerized and the power had taken me over. I watched as the glittering black and burgundy streams stole around him, beneath my wings, entered through his chest. The feeling of raw strength and power surged through me and I felt momentarily supreme, like I was something so much more than this creature in front of me.
The feeling from Gideon was rising higher. He was seeing this and hated it.
“I don’t think she’s supposed to be with us.”
I heard Gideon as he finally responded. He said it quietly, simply, his voice tinged with regret.
“So, do we get to keep her?”
“I don’t know.”
What was that supposed to mean?
I leaned into the man I’d surrounded with my wings; I leaned in and breathed him in. Not his actual scent, but the essence of him. I was scenting his mhésen.
That was new. It startled me. It was second nature, as if I was supposed to do that. It was for a reason. He sighed and his aggressiveness melted away from him, like I had neutralized it. His head tilted back. My wings released him and I moved away from him. I couldn’t help but smile, and I felt just ever-so-slightly wickedly empowered. I felt energized and alive clear through. I had no idea what all of that was about, but I liked it. It felt fierce and incredibly as it should be.
I felt a hand touch my arm, fingers wrap around it, felt the glow rise, and I watched as a rich golden light raced from my arm and up his, up Liam’s arm. But he didn’t release me, even though a violent tremor ran through him.
He leaned in, “Gideon is requesting you take a break and come have a drink with him.”
I could tell by his tone, that there could be no refusal. Whatever. I felt too good to argue. I had gone from sweet to ominous with such ease, and now balanced somewhere between the two.
I stood at the edge of the table, our table, their voices fresh in my mind. I don’t think she’s supposed to be with us. His voice echoed on replay in my head.
I was feeling flushed, happy, from all the dancing…and from that whatever-thing that I did. Gideon had witnessed it.
“Sit, please.” Gideon motioned towards the leather seat near him.
I didn’t move.
The look on his face was straddling the line somewhere between wrath and distress. It was unsettling to me to see that in him. He’s always resolute.
He passed a cocktail glass to me, filled with an Aviation. I accepted it. “Thank you.”
He stared at me, that look warring on his face. I sipped my drink and let my eyes fall closed, soaking in the music again and the feeling of my secreted away power. I saw him in my mind. I saw myself kissing him. Softly, hesitantly…a first kiss. We are racking those up…in my head. I could feel the kiss on my lips and it left me breathless enough that I needed to open my eyes to ground myself.
I took another sip. How had he come to mean so very much to me?
I was in my element here, and he was so obviously out of his. It still shocked me that he was here at all, but I was glad that he was.
I felt bold, as though the parameters had shifted. I felt mesmeric. I reached out with a small smile playing on my lips, and touched his brow, to smooth it, smooth away the look of consternation etched there.
“Don’t look so glum, Gideon,” I teased. “This is a fun zone.” His flesh was warm beneath my fingertips, a slight current passed between us, I saw a faint spark in his eyes, and I saw myself leaning in to him over this table, kissing him again, it flashed through my mind. Just a hint of an image, like a brief glimpse through a window.
I sat down at the oval table with them, across from Liam, and to the side of Gideon. Liam looked at us both, accessing the situation I suppose, before deciding to withdraw from the alcove, excusing himself, to return to Serena I presumed.
Gideon was holding the wine bottle, looking at the label. “Liam,” He called to him before he could get more than two feet away. “What we discussed. It’s between us.” He stated it firmly, his eyes unwavering, that oh-so-familiar threatening look present. I loved that look, even when it was being directed at me. It held such raw power, command.
Liam nodded, said nothing, gave away nothing, and rejoined the clique on the dance floor.
I turned my eyes to Gideon, wondering what I’d missed. Or had I missed anything? Was he referring to what I had ‘overheard’? I tasted my drink. “Never thought I’d see you here.”
“It’s not where I’d normally choose to spend my time.”
“So why are you?”
Gideon shrugged. “Guess I wanted to see what the lot of you gets up to.” He turned his enraged eyes to me. “And when it comes to you, I’m not very pleased.” He leaned back in the seat, crossed his arms over his chest. His look was pure, carefully held back infuriation.
The electric tide between us was crackling and popping.
“Why?” Let him actually say it, say something.
“Your behavior out there.” He nodded towards the dancers.
“What? Dancing?” I knew exactly what he was referring to. He had seen it. That was why I’d felt from him what I did while I was dancing. How I felt it, was the mystery…in addition to how I did the other stuff of course.
His eyes flared at me. When he spoke his voice was low, lethal. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know.”
Why did you try it a second time?”
“Because I could.”
“Why did you pick a killer the second time?”
“What?”
“Your second ‘dance’ partner, he was a Dhealramh, a Disfigurer. You need to not only be more
careful, but stop screwing around with abilities that you have no idea how to use, or what they even might be.”
“Because you know what it is? If so, please tell me. And I did control it…the first time.”
“And the second time it controlled you.” His chest was slightly heaving; he was grinding out his words between clenched teeth. His face betrayed him. He’d been scared for me. I’d been dancing with a killer? He’d used a word from that other language. Not just a killer, but someone who evidently took pleasure in disfiguring his victims.
I felt my disposition shift and intensify. I knew exactly what I’d done now. I’d gravitated to him in particular because of what he was. “I knew what I was doing. And I neutralized him.” When I spoke, I heard the sense of wonder in my own voice. I had. My wings had spread forward, wrapping around, trapping him as the filaments had spread across him and pushed into his center, into his heart, his mhésen. He’d had a broken one. Gideon had mentioned that before.
“What I did…will it last?”
He was just looking intently at me, motionless …so very still.
“I don’t know.” He held my gaze, and something in it made my breath catch in my throat. “Don’t do it again.”
He didn’t have to say please. It was in his eyes…even if he couldn’t, for whatever reason, bring himself to speak it. It was there in his eyes.
“Okay.” I breathed out softly.
He pulled out cash from his wallet and left a couple of large bills on the table. “Next round is my treat.” Don’t stay out all night. You have work tomorrow.” He slapped his hand on the table to mark his point. “Don’t be late.” He began to slide out from the opposite side. His look was back to all-business.
“Do you have to go?” I asked. I wasn’t done being near him yet. “It’s not very late.”
Why did I suddenly have a sensation of panic grip me? I needed him to stay near. Was I freaking out because I’d had a close encounter with a…whatever he’d said? I suddenly didn’t want to dance anymore; I wanted to stay here tucked away in this shadowed, protected, place with him.
No Time to Cry (Nine While Nine Legacy Book 1) Page 23