by C. V. Larkin
When her breathing had smoothed out, becoming soft and even, he scooped her up and took her back to the bed, pulling back the covers and then tucking them around her sleeping form. He went back to his position by the dresser because it was less comfortable than the chair and he wasn't ready to sleep. He didn't sleep. He just sat there keeping watch over her, holding his own private vigil as they passed through the night.
The sky began to brighten, illuminating the picture window behind her bed as she stirred. Watching the disheveled halo of her hair greet the day made him anxious in a way he would have liked to mistake for lust. For a panicked second, he thought he'd nodded off sometime during those long hours of darkness. She cursed when she saw that he was still awake, shattering the illusion.
"You didn't sleep," she said. He shook his head confirming her suspicions. "You should have slept," she said.
Tian climbed out of bed, walked over to him, and held out her hand. He took it and the sensation of metallic wings was back, fluttering against his spine and spilling through his exhaustion. She led him over to the bed where she pushed him down onto it. His bastard hormones gave a startling jerk, causing his pulse to trip around erratically. She leaned down until they were nose to nose and he was staring into those exotic eyes of hers.
"Thank you," she said, pressing him back onto the mattress.
Her image blurred under the strain of his own exhaustion. Sio slid all the way into her bed feeling like he was falling, feeling like his cells were too heavy and he couldn't hold them up anymore. Her scent lingered, desert rain and electric ozone, on her sheets, on the pillow under his head. He caught a glimpse of her as she knelt by the bedside before the world was swallowed by darkness and he went down for the count.
Chapter 18
On a Mission
Asleep Sio looked almost innocent.
Almost.
Tian rubbed the spot in her chest that had been in constant meltdown since she'd first seen him at The Gates. Exhausted, disheveled, and unconscious in her bed he was damn near irresistible, not that the fallen angel thing he normally had going on wasn't enough to send all vital systems into alternating bouts of acceleration and shutdown. His lips were full and soft; relaxed with the barest hint of that crash cart smile curling the corners.
What are you dreaming about?
She didn't want to know. It was easier to avoid thinking about what had happened last night altogether. She stumbled backward. The wave of relief that came on the heels of the ability to generate enough momentum to back away from her own bedside nearly put her back down on her knees. She grabbed one of the ornate handles on the wardrobe for balance and proceeded to dig around looking for clothes. Tian got dressed in a hurry, ignoring the persistent desire to turn around and crawl into bed with him, to feel the warmth of his skin against her own and be still.
That is not a luxury that was ever meant to be yours.
The second she was decent she bolted. If she couldn't get him off the brain at least she could get out of the danger zone. Baby steps. She found Avery in the kitchen mixing up a putrid ground meat concoction in the kind of large steel bowl TV sitcom families used for chocolate chip cookies. When he saw her, his boxy mug lit up and his eyebrows began to twitch in overdrive. Avery was smart enough not to start grinning right off, but barely, and he was working as hard as she'd ever seen to suppress it.
"You look like your head is about to explode," she said.
The dam broke, and his shit-eating grin spread from ear to ear like an infection. "I don't know what you're smiling for," Tian continued, staring into the bowl and wrinkling her nose, "your second breakfast smells like death." Her comment did less than nothing to put a damper on his glee.
"It's the capers. I'm shifting Cu Sithe to check out reports of increased goblin activity in the SOMA."
"What's the peanut butter in there for then?" Tian asked, leaning forward and poking the furry mass with a spatula out of the jar on the counter.
Avery cleared his throat with as much dignity as he could muster before responding. "It masks the taste of the dog fur."
"Good times." Tian tossed the spatula into the sink with a loud clatter.
"Speaking of..."
"We are not having this conversation."
Avery's face took on a stubborn cast that said he was in no way satisfied with her response. He set his bowl of yuck onto the counter with an emphasis that made the gesture seem more important than it was, and walked over to the fridge. He rummaged and brought out two small bottles of juice before returning to his position at the counter and handing her one. When she took it, their eyes met and he held on while he spoke. "You do realize that your shirt's on inside out." He grinned wider as she yanked the bottle from his grip.
"I think Virgil can fix Loren. I had a dream about him last night," she said, ignoring the gibe.
Avery looked startled, but he busied himself adding the grapefruit juice from his other hand into the bowl. He shook his head, tossed the empty container in the recycling, and began folding the liquid into the ground meat concoction, working it towards the consistency of vomit.
"There are so many things wrong with that sentence I don't even know where you want me to start," he said eventually.
"How about the section where you don't sound like an asshole."
He gave her an indignant snort before stuffing a giant spoonful of rancid furry upchuck into his face with a grimace. "The Myan is a vet..." he began with his mouth full.
"He's fae and a healer."
Avery swallowed and waved his spoon at her while continuing, "Who hates humans, hence the vet part. I mean, don't get me wrong, the Mayan's a hot piece, but I'm about as persuasive as it gets for us and he don't swing that way, mm'kay." He ladled another soupy pile onto his spoon and shoveled it into his mouth.
"So I'll go and ask him nicely."
Avery choked and Tian hoped nothing he was chewing on was about to come out of his nose. He sputtered for another minute before getting himself under control. "Threatening to shoot him in the face isn't considered 'nice' in polite circles."
"And what would you suggest then?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
Avery shrugged, polishing off the bowl of doom with a pained long suffering look. "Send Sio."
"Hell motherfucking no. What? Did you not point out that Virgil doesn't bat for the blue team or have you gone senile in the last seven seconds?"
Hello hostility, thy name is Tian.
Avery shook his head and fought down another smile. He went to the sink, dropped his bowl in and turned on the water before addressing her.
"You don't have to be gay to get hard for any male that looks like that. He's also got some seriously planetary pull that has nothing to do with the fact he's so fine he should be charging admission." She opened her mouth, but he held up a hand to shush her before continuing. "I swear if you sit there and try to deny it I'm gonna punch you open fist like. Besides, he's smart, charming, and he can handle you so Virgil should be a cake walk. He'd do it if you asked him."
Damned if he didn't have a point. She couldn't argue with any of it. Tian got up and walked over to the fridge and started looking for food she wouldn't screw up.
"You got a crush, sweetheart?" she asked. She tossed a bunch of items on the marble countertop and shut the door. If Avery was at all mortified by her reaction he covered it well.
"Nope, I've got a dick," he said, taking a slow sip from a Boston Red Sox mug the size of a split cantaloupe. "And dick and I, we notice these kinds of helpful tidbits."
Tian didn't bother to hide her amusement. "How could you not notice? I get it...you know I do," she paused, shoving a couple of bagels in the toaster and wondering what'd prompted her to cop to that. "Be that as it may," she continued, "we are not using Sio for shit. You get me? He doesn't owe us anything."
"Eamon might feel differently."
Avery watched as she loaded down a plate with bagels, smoked salmon
, cream cheese, dill, lemon wedges, the leftover capers, tomato, and a couple of slabs of red onion.
"Forget the goblins," she said ignoring his last comment. "Why not play dog for a couple of hours in the Mission with me. If the Mayan gets stubborn you can shift back and we'll kidnap him. No harm no foul."
She got out a platinum tray with a lip and covered it in crushed ice from the freezer.
"Developed a taste for abduction, have we?"
"How the hell else is a girl supposed to get a date?" Tian took the overburdened plate, settled it over the bed of ice and covered the whole thing with the corresponding domed platinum lid. She thought better of it and collected a San Pellegrino plus another bottle of juice to add to the pile.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Avery said, resuming the incredulous look of ecstatic entertainment he'd had when she entered the kitchen. "You're not eating that?"
"Does it look like I'm eating it?"
He started laughing. It was a deep resounding chuckle laced with mirth, but he moved out of her way. She was about to round the corner to the hallway before he pulled himself together enough to comment. "That motherfucker's cock must be solid gold."
"Avery, you have a big mouth."
Tian brought the tray back to her room and slipped inside, trying to ignore the thrill of anticipation that quickened in her veins. Sio hadn't moved from where he'd fallen asleep. She set the tray down, and walked over to the bedside as if she'd been compelled. She hadn't, and it was on her that she didn't have enough willpower to leave. His breath was gentle and warm, sliding against her fingertips as they hovered a scandalous inch from his lips.
She snatched her hand away, and backed up. Tian was torn between giving in to the pull to get it out of her system and the fear that if she touched him, really touched him, he'd be an addiction she couldn't shake. It took every ounce of willpower to turn around and walk out the door instead of waking him up and giving him what he'd asked for in the portal and then some. The idea sent electric shivers snaking across the surface of her skin.
After escaping her room, Tian made a quick pit stop at her workshop to pick up a couple of firearms and un-fuck her wardrobe. She could hear the whistled broken melody to "Sweet Caroline" echoing down the hall as Avery started his shift. After years of living with it, she could tell by the regulation of breathing that it was going to be a smooth transition even before she turned the corner to the kitchen. In all of the books and movies, shifting was rarely described as a concentrated effort that required frequent bizarre dieting and careful planning. Then again, Avery wasn't a Were and being part Pooka meant skin-walking was different. For Avery, it was an act so well prepared he'd mentioned on multiple occasions that he considered it a small, but important step up from contortion.
Wet popping sounds had punctuated the melody by the time she parked her ass on the barstool bench next to the counter. Tian watched the serenity in Avery's face with an envious twinge as he shuffled his DNA around, displaying the casual grace reserved for cracking a couple of joints. Thick tufts of calico fur emerged from his torso, sprouting along his obliques and spreading over his entire body in exotic designs and shifting lines of motion. She could see the bones in his feet breaking and elongating, using the extra marrow from his shortening femurs as Avery resettled into canine form. The whistling faltered as his face shifted beyond the scope of human capacity. Thirty seconds later she was leaning against the counter, face to face with a gigantic Cu Sithe Hound.
"You ready?"
Avery gave a disdainful snort from dog form and started towards the garage. He let himself in and made a be-line for the Jag before plopping down.
"No fucking way," Tian told him. "You know you're never gonna fit in that thing and I'm not driving around San Francisco with your ass in my face."
Avery shot her a tongue filled doggie grin as she pulled the keys to the restored '70 Barracuda off the hook next to the door. She went over and opened up the passenger side of the vehicle. Avery continued to wait next to the Jag.
Stubborn prick.
Tian gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. "I didn't have sex with Sio," she said. "Now get in the car."
The Cu Sithe chuffed, sneezed once, and trotted over to the vehicle. Tian kicked the passenger side shut after him and walked around to slide into the driver's seat. "I'd forgotten how much I enjoy these moments where you're incapable of comment," she said. Avery leaned in and ran his tongue up the side of her face.
"Get the hell off me." She shoved him back into his seat. The smug bastard plunked his mammoth dome down on the side of the open window and prepared to hang his head out for the ride. Tian pulled out onto the street. She took a shortcut through the Castro before turning left towards the Mission. They managed to get there with minimal irritation, getting stuck once behind a city bus, and narrowly avoiding a collision with a couple of irate cyclists. At 26th street they circled the block to find parking for almost an hour as she cursed the fact that there weren't more glamoured parking spots around the city.
Eventually they found a parallel space on a side street. Avery was up and out, squeezing through the window before she'd shut off the car. He took off, barreling through clustered pedestrians and dodging the gauntlet of debris littering the sidewalk. Tian took her time getting out and locking up before trudging down the road in search of the 26th Street Animal Clinic.
Virgil's place was the ground floor of a squat brick structure covered in colorful murals. The bay windows in front had sky blue decals running across the bottom border that boasted the same lettering as the animal shaped wooden sign that hung above the front entrance. The fire engine red trim matched the twin hydrants on either side of the door.
The bells on the inside of the entrance jingled cheerfully as she walked in. She found Avery sitting in the corner of the waiting room looking like he'd tried and failed to butter up the tattooed receptionist behind the recycled material desk. The woman stared out from under a mound of bright yellow hair and eyed Tian with blatant irritation.
"Can I help you?" the girl asked. The look on her face said that being helpful was the last thing she had any interest in doing. Tian eyed her back and the woman's animosity built on the brightly colored surface of her skin.
"I'm here to see Virgil."
"You don't have a pet."
Tian sighed. Why was it that things like this were never as easy as they should be? She gestured toward Avery, who sat radiating amusement in the corner and dwarfing the four foot fish tank next to him. "I'm with him."
"The doctor is in with a patient," the receptionist lied, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms across an ample bosom. "Since it's not an emergency you're going to have to make an appointment and come back next month."
Tian pulled a 1911 out of its holster and screwed on the custom silencer. She pointed it at the corner of the room and pulled the trigger, clipping Avery in the shoulder where he watched the exchange. He blinked, glanced at the cut, then back at her with a low growl.
"You earned that," she told Avery as he licked the wound, "and it's barely a scratch so quit being a pussy." Tian turned back to the receptionist. "There you go, he's bleeding, happy?"
Tian leaned over the desk and dropped the muzzle of the silencer onto the empty schedule box for the date on the calendar. "It would be a good idea for you to call in and tell Virgil his eight o'clock is here."
The girl picked up the phone. The dark polish on her nails was chipped where she'd been gnawing on it. Before she got anyone on the line, the door to the exam room swung open and a sawed off shotgun was leveled at Tian's face. The receptionist shot Tian a dirty glare, leaning into Virgil as if he'd run to her rescue.
"Nice to see you too, Healer," Tian said, fisting what was left of the barrel and guiding it away from her nose. "I think Avery is in need of a couple of stitches."
She let go and the muzzle dropped. Virgil looked at them with clinical detachment.
"Did he need stitch
es before or after you walked through that door?"
Tian shrugged and re-holstered her weapon. The woman behind the desk became more petulant by the second. "Not that it's relevant, but he had it coming...We need to talk, V."
The Mayan raised an eyebrow and gestured toward the empty exam room with the shotgun. "After you."
Virgil shut them in and flipped the lock. He set his firearm on top of a brightly painted row of cabinets that matched the outside trim. The rest of the room was a yellow orange color that came off as playful or inviting. It was hard to imagine that Virgil had picked the colors himself.
"Did you have to shoot him in my lobby?"
"I told you. He had it coming," Tian said. She folded her arms and leaned back against the wall opposite the window.
"I believe that."
Avery interrupted him with a sarcastic snort.
"It doesn't change the fact that my receptionist's already been glamored within an inch of her life. I'm going to have to get a new one. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find good help these days?"
It was Tian's turn to snort. She stared at the door to the waiting room. "Exactly how short is the skirt she's got on behind that desk?"
Virgil laughed. "I make them all wear pants."
"Kids must be devastated."
Virgil shook his head as he rummaged through one of the cabinets. "That's not my problem." He turned toward Avery and patted the exam table. "You planning to stay a dog or do you want to shift back before I fix you?"
Avery shot Tian another dirty doggie glare before climbing up on the table. A series of wet cracks and loud grinding sounds began to emanate from his furry body. The hair rippled around his skin, as if it were detached, before disappearing through gaping pores in chunks and tufts. There was a short lived moment of heavy panting that usually preceded a pile of vomit on the rug and then the whistling started up again. Before he got to the first chorus he was done.