by Karen Lynch
“Because you need to hear it.”
Her eyes widened. “Why? What does this have to do with me? Or my parents?”
“I’ll get to them in a minute. First, tell me, haven’t you wondered why you’re different from everyone else you know?”
Before I told her what she was, I needed to know what she felt around me. Bonds were not one-sided. I could sense her Mori, and all mine wanted to do was touch her. How could she stand this close to me and look so unaffected? Even if she had no idea what she was, she should feel something.
“D-different? I don’t know what you mean.”
“I think you do.”
She shook her head. “Listen I –”
My eyes locked with hers. I felt for the new bond stretching between us and pushed against it gently. Immediately, her demon responded and reached out to me. My Mori fluttered happily, and I felt a deep sense of satisfaction. She might not recognize our connection, but her Mori did.
Suddenly, it was like a wall slammed down between us, pushing me away from her. I barely had time to react before she spun away from me, her eyes dark and frightened.
“Sara?” I reached a hand toward her.
“I have to go.” She moved past me without looking in my direction.
I sighed. “Running away won’t change anything, Sara.”
She ignored me so I tried another approach. “I didn’t take you for a coward.”
She stopped walking but didn’t look at me. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I think we both know that’s not true,” I said to her back.
Her eyes were ablaze when she turned to confront me again. “What about my parents? Did you know them?”
“Not your father. But I knew Madeline Croix for many years.”
Disbelief crossed her face. “You’re only a few years older than me.”
“I’m older than I look.”
The fire left her eyes. “So what are you trying to tell me? How do you know Madeline?”
There was no easy way to say it; she was going to find it hard to take no matter how I put it. Sara had to hear the truth about her mother so she could accept who she was.
“I watched her grow up.”
Her head moved from side to side, and denial filled her eyes as she stared at me. I watched emotions cross her face as she processed my words. I wished there was something I could do or say to make this easier for her.
“No!” She turned and fled.
“Sara,” I called, but she ran faster. “Damn it,” I muttered, going after her.
I moved past her and stopped. As she collided with me, her palms pressed against my chest to steady herself, and I felt their heat as if they were touching my bare skin. A wave of need pulsed from my demon, but I refrained from touching her. She was as skittish as a colt. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten her more than she already was.
A gasp slipped from her. “How –?”
“Demon speed, remember?”
“Someone could have seen you.” She backed up, pressing her lips together.
“You and I both know that people see only what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. But just because a person chooses to not believe something, doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
The double meaning in my words was not lost on her, and she wrapped her arms around herself defensively.
“How can you be so sure?” Desperation filled her voice as she fought the truth. “There must be more than one Madeline Croix.”
“I was sure of what you are before I heard her name. As soon as I saw you the other night, I knew.” I stared at the water, afraid of what she might see in my eyes. “My Mori recognized yours.”
“What?”
“Mori can sense each other when they are near. It is how one Mohiri always recognizes another.” And my Mori would know yours anywhere.
She started to shake her head.
“They are never wrong,” I said with gentle firmness.
“I…”
I searched her eyes, looking for recognition in them. “You felt it, didn’t you?”
Her lower lip trembled, and I finally saw what I was looking for. When she gave a tiny nod, an emotion I couldn’t define made my chest constrict.
Solmi, my Mori growled softly.
“This can’t be happening,” Sara whispered.
I gave her a small smile. “There are worse fates, you know.”
“You’re telling me I have a demon parasite inside me, and I’m supposed to be okay with that?” Fear colored her voice, but I knew it was only fear of the unknown. She would lose that when she got to know her people and accepted what she was.
“It’s not as bad as you make it sound,” I said.
She winced, her internal struggle visible on her expressive face. “No, it’s worse.”
I felt the urge to comfort her, but there was nothing I could do that wouldn’t scare her away. Paulette would have known exactly what to say.
“I know this is strange and frightening, but you are not the first orphan we’ve found. You will adjust as they have.”
“Orphan?”
“It’s just a term we use for young Mohiri who were not born to our way of life,” I explained when she recoiled. “They have no idea who they really are until we find them.”
Her eyes widened. “Then there are others like me?”
“Not exactly like you. The others have been much younger.” By at least ten years. It shouldn’t be possible for her to be standing in front of me, but she was. One more piece of the mystery surrounding her.
“What does that matter?”
I searched for the gentlest way to explain it without frightening her more. “Our Mori need us to survive as much as we need them, but they are still demons, and they have certain impulses and wills of their own. We learn from an early age to control those urges and to balance our human and demon sides. Otherwise, the Mori will try to become dominant.
“Orphans who are not found young enough to be trained grow up with deep mental and emotional problems, tormented by their demon sides. The worst cases become severely schizophrenic and end up in institutions…or they kill themselves.”
She shuddered, and I could only imagine what was going through her mind in that moment.
“How old was the oldest orphan you ever brought in?” she asked.
I thought about the blonde trainee at Westhorne. “The oldest reclaimed was ten, and she was the exception. The others were no more than seven.”
“Ten?”
“I know what you’re thinking; I see it in your face. You are Mohiri. I know that with one hundred percent certainty.” I took a step toward her, and my Mori tried unsuccessfully to reach out to hers. “What I don’t know is how you learned to subdue your demon without training. I’ve never seen control like yours. Your Mori is practically dormant.”
When she retreated again, I didn’t follow. She needed space, and I wouldn’t push her.
“Is that why I’m not fast or strong like you?”
“That and we reach maturity around nineteen or twenty. You should already have noticed some of your abilities starting to show by now, but you’ll have to learn how to use your demon side to enhance your physical abilities.”
Her face blanched.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head slowly. “No. It’s just so much to take in.”
“It will take time.”
My words failed to comfort her, but she appeared to collect herself. “So, what else can you do besides move really fast and catch people falling off buildings? What other powers do you have?”
I tried not to think about her falling in that alley. “Powers?”
“You know, can you compel people like vampires do or read minds or heal things? Stuff like that.”
Her expectant expression drew a laugh from me. “No special powers or compulsion or anything else. We have the speed and strength to fight vampires. That is all we need.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“No, I’m just trying to understand it all.” Her eyes moved slowly over my face. “How old are you? And I don’t mean how old you look.”
Her gaze snared me, and I almost forgot to answer. “I was born in eighteen twenty.”
Her jaw dropped. “Am I…?”
“Yes. Once you reach maturity, aging will stop for you, too.” Growing old and dying were two things most humans feared. Knowing she would never have to worry about that should ease her mind a little.
“Oh.” Her chin quivered, and I was surprised to see something akin to sorrow filled her eyes.
“That upsets you?”
She nodded and rubbed her shivering arms.
Concern filled me, and I moved to give her my leather jacket. “You’re cold.”
“I’m fine, thanks.” Her shoulders heaved as she took a deep breath. “What if I don’t want to join the Mohiri?”
My Mori growled unhappily.
“You don’t join. You are Mohiri.”
She lifted her chin. “What if I don’t want to live with them, and I just want to stay here? You said yourself that I can control this demon thing better than anyone you’ve ever seen, so I don’t need your training.”
I knew my next words would hurt, but she had to understand what all of this meant for her. “You don’t belong here anymore. What will you tell people when you stop aging? What will you do when everyone you know here grows old and dies? You need to be with your own people.”
She flinched. “These are my people.”
“That’s because they are all you’ve ever known. Once you get to know the Mohiri –”
“No!” Anger burned in her eyes. “I knew a Mohiri, remember? All she did was abandon me and my father. My loving Mohiri mother deserted us, and my dad was murdered by vampires. Where were my people then?”
Stunned by her outburst, I stared at her. “Vampires killed your father?”
Her laugh was bitter. “Pathetic, isn’t it? You’d think someone like me would be a lot less likely to be taken in by a vampire, considering my past and my genes. Some warrior.” She started walking at a fast pace toward the waterfront again.
I walked beside her. “That vampire, Eli, knows what you are now. He’ll be looking for you. Vampires love nothing more than draining Mohiri orphans. We deprived him of that pleasure, and he will not forget it.”
She stumbled slightly, but didn’t stop walking. “I thought you said he wouldn’t get away.”
“He was more resourceful than most.” I cursed myself again for letting the vampire escape and for being the cause of the fear that had crept back into her voice.
“Well if he does come back, he’ll think I’m in Portland, right?” she said hopefully. “There’s no way he would know to look for me here. Besides, this is werewolf territory and the werewolves are doing sweeps of Portland to find the vampires.”
“The werewolves might not catch him either.” Eli had evaded the pack for the last three weeks. He might not be stupid enough to come this close to the Alpha, but I’d seen how much he wanted Sara.
She glared at me. “Are you trying to scare me?”
“No, but I will not lie to you either.”
When we reached my bike, she faced me with her shoulders back and her arms crossed. “I don’t want you to think I’m not grateful for you saving my life because I am, more than I can say. But your way of life, your people – I don’t belong with them.”
Her statement made waves of agitation roll off my demon. I wasn’t too happy either. But short of forcing her to go with me, there was nothing I could do.
Solmi, my Mori insisted. It wanted its mate, and it sent me a vivid image of me carrying her away.
Ignoring the demon, I pulled out a small card and handed it to her. “This is my number. Call me if you need me or when you reconsider your options.”
She took the card and looked at it for several seconds before she put it in her jeans pocket. “I won’t reconsider.”
The set of her jaw told me she wouldn’t be easily persuaded, and I would not force her to leave. Something told me she would never forgive me if I did. I’d never cared much about people’s opinions, but the thought of this girl hating me did not sit well with me.
“One more thing.” I took a small sheathed dagger from an inner pocket of my jacket and held it toward her. “You may feel safe here now, but as you found out Friday night, danger can find you when you least expect it.”
She shook her head, but I put the knife in her hand before she could pull it away. I watched her unsheathe the dagger and study the silver blade with open curiosity. Seeing her holding one of my weapons gave me an absurd rush of pleasure. I grabbed my helmet and donned it before she could see the smile tugging at my lips.
I mounted my bike and turned my head toward her. “I’ll be seeing you, Sara.”
Very soon.
Chapter 5
Riding away from Sara, I wasn’t prepared for the mixed feelings that assailed me. I’d expected my Mori to be upset, but it surprised me to realize I didn’t want to leave either. When I’d decided to come here today, I had only wanted to make sense of what I was feeling and to clear my head. If it wasn’t for the bond, she’d be just another orphan.
I laughed at my pathetic attempts at denial. There was nothing average about Sara Grey. I could blame all of this on my demon, but the truth was, I’d noticed the girl before I’d touched her and felt the bond. And the more I got to know her, the more intrigued I was by her. She looked so small and defenseless, yet she possessed inner strength and courage. She’d had no idea what she was, but she had not only survived her demon, she had somehow mastered it. In my whole life, I had never met anyone like her. Her vulnerability and fear made the warrior in me want to protect her, while her soft curves and sweet voice stirred me more than I wanted to admit.
I swore harshly. How the hell had this girl managed to get under my skin so effortlessly? She didn’t want anything to do with me, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I tried to recall some of the beautiful women I’d been with, but all I could see was her face.
I’d convinced myself I had to come here to get answers, and that I should be the one to tell her what she was. After all, it was part of my job to protect our people, and she needed my protection even after I broke the bond.
But seeing her today… The bond was too new for me to be having such a strong reaction to her. And yet, I was a thought away from turning this bike around and going back to her.
Exhaling loudly, I focused on other things, such as the fact that I had to tell Tristan about Sara. He was going to be beside himself when he learned he had a granddaughter. My mind was still trying to grasp that Sara was Madeline’s daughter. Madeline was a lot of things, but I never would have believed her capable of deserting her child and leaving her unprotected in a world so dangerous to our kind.
Before I told Tristan about Sara, I needed proof of her identity. By the time I made it to the town limits, I’d called Dax and put him to work looking into Sara’s background, particularly her parents’ marriage and her father’s death. If there was anything to uncover, Dax would find it.
That left me with one job to do. If Sara would not leave Maine, I’d make Maine safe for her. I would scour Portland until I was confident there wasn’t a vampire in the city and Eli was no longer a threat to her.
Saturday night, we had cleaned out the house the vampire had sent us to, capturing two vampires and disposing of another three. If our informant had been honest with us, there were at least two more vampires running around Portland along with Eli, unless the three of them had turned tail and run.
But I’d seen Eli’s hunger when he had to let Sara go. His was not the face of someone who was going to give up easily. I’d seen it before, a vampire fixating on a human to the point of obsession. And Eli had to know Sara was Mohiri after being that close to her. Vampires loved the taste of our blood
, and the younger the Mohiri, the purer the blood.
* * *
I spent the rest of the evening helping Erik and his team set up the new safe house we had established in Portland. The discovery of so many vampires in the city had necessitated a Mohiri presence for the time being. We still had no clue what had drawn Eli and his brethren here in the first place. We had the two vampires from Saturday night on lockdown, and a few days without feeding would make them talk if they knew anything.
The next morning, there was a voice mail from Dax by the time I got out of the shower. I returned his call, and he confirmed what I’d already known. Daniel Grey had been married to a Madeline Croix until his death ten years ago. There was even a black and white photo of the couple that had accompanied an article in the Portland Press Herald about his grisly murder. Strangely though, Sara was not mentioned in the article.
After I hung up, I sat on the bed, thinking about the conversation I’d be having with Tristan soon. My thoughts inevitably turned to Sara, and I wondered how she was faring after our talk yesterday. Would she be less resistant to the Mohiri if she knew she had family among them? She’d been very defensive when I’d mentioned her leaving and adamant that her family was here. I was afraid any more revelations might be too much for her.
Chris was in the kitchen making breakfast when I went downstairs. We lived mostly off restaurant and bar food on the road, and both of us enjoyed a home-cooked meal when we could get one. Luckily for me, Chris liked to cook and he was good at it.
He shot me a questioning look when I walked into the kitchen, and I knew he was waiting for me to tell him where I’d disappeared to yesterday. We’d been friends a long time, and there wasn’t much we kept from each other. But I found myself reluctant to talk about Sara.
“Did you call Paulette to take care of your orphan?” He slid scrambled eggs and sausage onto a plate and held it out to me.
I took the plate and sat at the counter. “No. I decided to take care of it myself.”
He spun around, sending bits of egg flying off the spatula in his hand. “You did?”
I dug into my eggs, ignoring his stare. “It was your idea.”