by Donna Grant
“Hello,” he said when his eyes fell on her. She looked nervous, unsure of herself, and he found it charming. “Come in,” he said and moved aside.
After a brief hesitation, she stepped into his home. He stood back and watched her look the place over. It was evident by her wide eyes and gaping mouth that she thought the place very fine indeed.
“Is it what you thought it would be?” he finally asked.
“More than I had imagined actually.”
Roderick smiled in spite of himself. He hadn’t thought much of the place, but he was glad Aimery had made it their home if she was impressed.
“Oh, the view,” she gasped as she hurried to the window behind the dining room table. “I bet you look out here a lot,” she said and glanced over her shoulder.
He didn’t, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. Instead, he shrugged.
She moved away from the window to turn toward him and that’s when he saw it.
The blue stone nestled against her chest just inches away from her cleavage. For a moment, Roderick couldn’t speak. Never had he imagined he would find the stone so soon and before he and Val found the creatures.
“Peculiar necklace,” he said and took a step toward her.
Elle looked down and fingered the stone. “Odd isn’t it? My best friend gave it to me just yesterday for my birthday.”
Roderick was so relieved to hear it was a gift that he almost didn’t respond to her.
“I hope you had a great day.”
“It was all right. Jennifer wanted to take me down to Galveston for the weekend.”
So that explained why she was there as well as who the other woman was. He would have to get Val to find out all he could on this Jennifer and just how she came to have possession of the stone.
“Do you mind?” Elle asked and pointed to the array of liquor bottles on the cart next to the window.
Roderick mentally shook himself. “Please. Help yourself.”
“Would you like for me to fix you a drink?”
“I’m fine now, thank you.”
She walked to the cart, her shoes soundless against the white marble flooring. He eyed her clothing again. She had changed before coming over.
A long, full skirt that fell just past her knees in a nice shade of mixed blues. She wore another long sleeve white shirt that buttoned up the front, but this time she only buttoned one button right under her breasts. The shirt fell open to reveal another shirt underneath of blue.
Her feet sported the shoes he had seen nearly everywhere. Val had compared them to the shoes he had worn in Rome, and Roderick had to admit they looked A KIND OF MAGIC
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comfortable if one could get used to something being between the toes.
“You like my flip-flops?” she asked.
Roderick jerked his head up. “I don’t think I’ve seen any like that.”
She took a drink and smiled. “I sewed the sequins on myself a couple of months ago when I got the skirt. Now you can find flip-flops with sequins everywhere.”
Roderick wasn’t about to ask what a sequin was, but he supposed they were the shiny things on her…flip-flops. He looked at the shoes again. Well, they did make a flip-flop noise when one walked.
He moved his eyes away from the shoes and found himself staring at the necklace again. “Anything odd happen since you received that necklace?”
“Odd?” she repeated. “The only thing odd to happen is bumping into you. The museum isn’t normally a place I meet men.”
Roderick motioned to the sofa in the next room. “Why don’t we sit?”
Her eyes darted into the room before she walked ahead of him. She settled herself on one end of the sofa next to the fireplace and faced him.
“So tell me about yourself. Where do you come from?”
He had dreaded this question. “Some place very far away.”
“That would explain the accent,” she said and took another drink of the merlot. “I loved geography in school. What country did you grow up in?”
“Thales,” he answered, though it wasn’t a country, it was his realm.
Her brow furrowed. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that country.”
“No one ever does. Where do you hail from?”
She laughed, the sound filling the large place with warmth and energy. “About two hours east of here in a very small town. When I graduated, I packed my bags the next day and moved here. It was about two years later that Jennifer moved as well.”
“You and this Jennifer have been friends a long time.”
“Since sixth grade,” she said, a small smile on her face as if she were remembering the day. “We were inseparable during junior high and high school.”
Since Roderick didn’t know about sixth grade, junior high or high school, he just nodded. “It’s nice to have a friend for so long.”
Suddenly, soft music filled the air, startling Elle. Roderick barely moved even though he knew Aimery had something to do with it. He found it hard to imagine the Fae commander had no idea Elle wore the necklace, and with so many creatures being released, there wasn’t time for any of them to become involved with anyone.
“Oh,” Elle said and sighed. “You must have it on a timer.”
“That’s
right,”
Roderick answered and rose to get himself a drink. He needed something strong.
“I love Mozart.”
He stopped just before he began to pour the drink and looked over his shoulder at her.
“The man who wrote this music.”
“I know,” he murmured the lie and finished pouring the amber liquid into the glass. Whiskey.
“Where are you from really?”
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Roderick spun around to find Elle just behind him. “Thales.”
“Where is that? Europe?”
He nodded and lifted his glass to drain the contents. He needed to distract her to get the necklace off her and destroyed. It would be nice if Val were here to help.
Val was going to be saying ‘I told you so’ for a month once he discovered out Elle had the stone.
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Chapter Six
Elle knew something was wrong the moment he refused to answer her. “I shouldn’t have come,” she said as she sat down her wine glass and began to back up.
“I need you to listen a moment, Elle. You could be in danger.”
“Yes. From you.” She tried to run around him, but he caught her and held her back against his chest, his arm under her breasts.
If it weren’t for the fact that she was scared witless she would have been turned on by the way he held her. It had been so long since a man had touched her that she wished he was normal. “Please let me go.”
“Not until you agree to listen to me,” he whispered in her ear, his hot breath fanning her skin, causing it to tingle.
What choice did she have? At least if she listened or pretended to, she might get a chance to escape. “All right.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth he released her. She pushed aside the fact that she missed his arms around her and concentrated instead on slowly making her way toward the door.
“Can you take off your necklace?”
“What?”
“I need to destroy the stone.”
She backed away from him and shook her head. He was nuts. “What kind of drugs are you on? This is just a stone. A harmless, meaningless stone.”
“’Tis far more than that.”
She had to give him credit, he stayed where he was, his arms calmly to his sides, and his voice low and soothing as if he were speaking to a wild animal.
But something he said caught her attention. “Who says ‘’tis’ anymore anyway?”
“What?”
She opened her mouth to repeat her question when she spot
ted something on his balcony behind him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she opened them again. Yet, they were still there.
Her lips tried to form the words, instead all she could do was mumble incoherently and point. Roderick looked over his shoulder and swore.
“Get down,” he shouted as he dove at her.
His strong arms came around her and pulled her to the ground with him. Just when she thought she would get the breath knocked out of her when he landed atop her, he deftly rolled, and she found herself on top of his chest.
“Stay down,” he said as he moved her to the side and got to his feet.
She watched as he disappeared into a hallway. She was about to get up and follow him when she heard scratching at the window. Slowly, Elle got on her knees and looked over the back of the couch at the three women, no birds … things … trying to get A KIND OF MAGIC
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in.
There was no mistaking what they were. Her mind was just having a hard time adjusting to the fact that Harpies were at Roderick’s window. Harpies. The kind of creatures she had read about in countless ancient Greek and Roman tales. They were mythological and not supposed to exist.
“I told you to get down,” a voice growled in her ear.
She let Roderick pull her back down behind the couch. “Either that drink went to my head much too fast or there are Harpies at your window.”
“They are Harpies all right, though I have never encountered them before.”
What?
She turned her stunned gaze to him to find him shirtless and carrying a sword and flail. She wished she could gawk at his wonderful pecs but danger lurked just a few feet away.
“Do you often carry a sword and flail?”
He shot her a glance that screamed ‘of course’ and began to rise.
There was no way she was staying here by herself. “Where are you going?”
He knelt beside her and took her chin in his hand. “I’ve got to kill them before they kill more people.”
“You can’t do it alone.”
“I have to try. It’s what I do.”
Somehow, she believed him. But that wasn’t what scared her the most. What terrified her was that he might be killed, leaving her to the mercy of the Harpies. “Isn’t there someone that can help you?”
“They are too far away,” he said absently as he started to make his way around the couch. He stopped and turned to look at her. “They are here for you, so no matter what, don’t let them catch you.”
“What?” she cried the same time something hit the windows and glass flew around the room.
She heard Roderick curse again as he lunged back at her. Her eyes were glued to a long piece of glass that protruded from his left bicep.
“Elle,” he bellowed.
She pulled her eyes away from the glass to his face.
“We have to get you out of here. Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, unsure. “I don’t think so.”
The high pitched screams of the Harpies rang around them. While Elle covered her ears, Roderick reached over and pulled the glass from his arm. Blood sprayed her clothes, but it was the last thing on Elle’s mind. All she wanted was to get away from the Harpies and certain death.
“Run,” Roderick said and pointed to the hallway.
Elle didn’t hesitate. She jumped to her feet and ran as fast as she could, the sound of Roderick’s boots right behind her. He took hold of her arm and pulled her into a room she was about to pass.
She stood, shaking, as he hurriedly shoved aside an armoire to reveal a hidden door.
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“Inside. Quickly,” he urged her.
Elle entered the dark room and waited for Roderick as he followed her and pulled the door closed behind him.
“That won’t fool them for long,” he said. “The stone will guide them to you.”
She was about to ask what he was talking about when one of his arms came around her and brought her hard and close to his chest. Breath left her lungs at the feel of his hard body against hers.
“Hold
on.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Elle felt herself falling. She gripped his muscled bare arms as if he were life itself. A scream lodged in her throat as they fell, and she knew, had there been light, her life would have flashed before her eyes.
His arm tightened around her just seconds before she felt her feet hit the floor.
Light filtered in from a source behind her, and she saw him holding a thick rope with his right hand.
She pulled out of his arms and felt something sticky on her hand and looked down to see it covered in blood. Roderick’s blood.
“Oh, my gosh.” She jerked off her favorite Abercrombie and Fitch shirt and reached for his arm.
“What are you doing?” he scolded. “We have to get moving.”
“Not with you bleeding all over the place. Now be still,” she said and wrapped her shirt around his arm.
When she finished she stepped back to look at the finished product. She wouldn’t win a nurse award, but it would do until she could get him to a hospital.
“Thank
you.”
The words were softly spoken. She raised her eyes to his face and found him staring at her strangely. “Why do I get the feeling you don’t trust me?”
“Come,” he said in answer and took her hand as he pulled her along winding staircases and long hallways until they came to the garage.
She wondered what kind of car he drove as they ran passed Porches, a Ferrari, Mercedes, and her favorite, Jaguars.
When he finally stopped in front of a motorcycle, Elle nearly laughed. When he handed her the helmet and straddled the bike, she let out a strangled cry.
“Get
on.”
“I hate these things. They’re dangerous.”
“It’s either this or the Harpies.”
At that moment, she heard the Harpies scream, and she hastily jumped on the back of the bike.
“Don’t kill me on this thing or I’ll come back and haunt you.”
She was sure she heard him chuckle, but she didn’t get to think long on it since he gunned the bike and they flew through the garage, narrowly missing other cars.
Elle finally gave up and squeezed her eyes closed, refusing to open them. She had no idea how long they traveled, but she was too scared to do anything other than hang on and pray.
“Where do you live?” she heard him ask over the howl of the wind as they sped A KIND OF MAGIC
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down the street.
“In the Montrose area.”
She opened one eye to find them on Westheimer only blocks from her home. She quickly gave him directions to her house, thankful that he had to slow because of an intersection.
By the time he pulled into her driveway, her entire body shook. She hopped off the bike and found her legs barely supported her. Instantly, strong hands grabbed hold of her.
“Are you all right?”
She looked up into his clear blue eyes and shook her head. “No. I’m not. I’ve been chased by Harpies, dropped to what I thought was my death, and then rode on one of the things I swore I would never get on. I just want to curl up in my bed with a glass of wine and forget about all of it.”
“Give me your keys.”
Without hesitation, Elle pulled her keys out of her hidden pocket in her skirt, a skirt splattered with blood, and handed them to Roderick. She went along when he put his hand on her back and guided her up the steps to her house, and then inside once he had unlocked the door.
She left him at the door and walked to her room. A nice hot shower was just what she needed. She stripped her clothes off as she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. As soon as her clothes were off, she stepped into the spray of the scalding water.
Steam
rose around her, shielding her from the horrors outside and the questions running amuck in her mind.
* * * *
Roderick watched Elle walk to the back of the house. He wasn’t afraid of where she would go since the place was only about a third in size of his home.
He flexed his left hand and felt a small sting from the vicious wound on his upper arm from the glass. It would heal quickly enough. He walked into the bed chamber and unbelted his sword and flail from his waist and laid them on the bed. He wanted them within reach at all times.