Kissed by Smoke

by Shéa MacLeod

  Zip gaped at me like a fish out of water. “But I can’t.”

  “Why can’t you?”

  “It’s … it’s not protocol.”

  I leaned into her face until our noses were inches away. “Listen to me, you twit. You will take me to Inigo and the Marid, now. Understand?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was barely a squeak.

  “Good.” I smiled. “Let’s go.”

  ***

  Zip led me through a series of tunnels to what she called the Throne Room. I hadn’t expected the djinn to live underground. I don’t exactly know what I expected, but not that. For one thing, there was the whole living on another plane of existence thing, which this definitely was not. For another, they were not creatures of earth, but of air. Not a lot of air underground.

  The Marid’s “throne room” was surprisingly ordinary. The room was really a small cavern about the size of my living room back home. There was no throne, per say, just a large desk with a leather swivel chair behind it and two visitor chairs in front. Much like Kabita’s office.

  The Marid, however, was anything but ordinary. He towered over me close to seven feet tall, muscles rippling everywhere. His skin was red. Pure, rich, blood red. His hair was a green so dark, it was nearly black. His face had the breathtaking beauty of a fallen angel.

  But that wasn’t what stopped me in my tracks. What did was one thing: The Marid was the djinni I’d seen murder Agent Vega.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I’ll admit with only a minor amount of embarrassment that in that moment, I very nearly wet my pants. The man, the Marid, was huge. And not only was he the freaking king of the djinn, he was a killer. I had seen him suck the life and soul out of a government agent. I had no idea what to do. Which was an unusual thing for me.

  Inigo was standing in front of the desk, a look of concern on his face. He must have read my expression because I could feel that slight push of his mind against mine.

  Morgan? Morgan, honey, what’s wrong?

  I marched across the room and grabbed Inigo’s arm. I must have used my Hunter strength because he actually winced. It had been years since I let my more-than-human strength get away from me. Rattled was an understatement.

  “We have to get out of here,” I hissed.

  “Morgan, the Marid has asked us to stay … “

  “No fucking way!” It came out a lot louder than I intended. And a lot ruder. Even Inigo seemed shocked, and he was used to my less than stellar manners.

  “Morgan,” Zip spoke up in her breathy little Marilyn voice, “it’s an honor to be asked to dine by the Marid.”

  “Yeah?” I snarled, whirling on her. “And what exactly is he going to dine on, huh? Is he going to eat our souls like he did Daniel Vega’s?”

  Zip’s eyes went wide in horror as she looked from me to the Marid and back. Not sure if she was more horrified at my behavior, or at what I’d just said. Me and my big, freaking mouth. Seriously, you’d think I’d have more control by now. Instead, everything was boiling inside me; the Air and the Fire and the Darkness were raging and I was this close to losing control.

  “Marid, I apologize …” Inigo began, but before he could finish, I lost control.

  The amulet around my neck flared to life, turning the cavern sapphire blue. I could feel the heat even through layers of clothing, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

  The Air rushed up and spilled out of my chest, hitting the room with gale force. It swirled around, ripping papers from the Marid’s desk and slamming furniture up against the wall. Inigo opened his mouth to yell something, but I couldn’t hear over the sound of the wind.

  Zip cowered under the Marid’s desk as Fire surged up out of me, spilling down my arms and over my body. As usual, it didn’t hurt me, but I knew anyone or anything I touched would be immolated on the spot. I tried desperately to rein it in, but my control was gone. Completely shattered. There was nothing left but fear.

  The Marid finally stepped out from behind his desk and strode toward me. I hadn’t thought until that moment I could be any more afraid than I already was. I was wrong.

  The Air whipped and howled around the room and the Fire surged higher. I was a human flame in the middle of a tornado and I couldn’t stop.

  As the Marid approached, the Darkness hurled its way out of my body and wrapped itself around the djinni’s throat as thought to strangle the very life out of him. The Darkness was responding to my fear, but I had no control. I tried to grab onto its leash, but I couldn’t. Sheer terror swamped me. I was going to kill them. All of them. Even my Inigo.

  The Marid ignored the Darkness squeezing the breath out of him and pressed on through the whirlwind. He was inches from me. Close enough to kiss. It was a wonder I didn’t just pass out from the fear. My heart pounded so hard I was afraid my ribs would shatter.

  And then he placed his palm flat against the center of my chest. Instantly the wind died down, the flames receded, and the Darkness uncurled itself from around his throat. Then slowly, each of my elements receded back to where they belonged, deep inside of me.

  I collapsed. Fortunately the Marid caught me before I hit the floor.

  “You need to learn more control, little one.” His voice was deep and a little gravelly. Like if Barry White and Vin Diesel got together and had a vocal baby. Now there was a thought. Yikes.

  “My control is just fine. Usually.”

  A greenish-black eyebrow went up. Why were people always raising their eyebrows at me? “Seriously,” I insisted, “I usually have perfect control.” Well, almost. “I just don’t meet a murdering lunatic every day.”

  “I can assure you that I am neither a murder, nor a lunatic. And obviously your control is far from perfect, if you let the Queen’s magic overcome you so easily.”

  I glared at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “Ah, now that is a story to tell.” He sat me down in one of the visitor chairs which Inigo had pulled back to the desk after my little temper tantrum.

  Inigo immediately knelt by my side. He ran his hands up and down my arms, his forehead creased with worry. “Are you all right, Morgan?”

  “I’m kind of freaked out,” I admitted. “And totally embarrassed. Are you okay?”

  He winked. “I’m tougher than I look.”

  No kidding. “He’s the one,” I whispered. “The one I saw kill Vega.”

  “I know he is.”

  I blinked. I wasn’t sure I’d just heard what I thought I heard. “Excuse me?”

  “Please, little one, rest. I will tell you all.” The Marid sat behind his desk and leaned forward, forearms resting against the dark wood.

  I scowled at the Marid. “Would you stop calling me ‘little one’? Do I look little to you?”

  Laughter spilled from his throat. “Everyone looks little to me.”

  Fair point. The man — djinni — was massive. As I leaned back in the rather comfy visitor chair, I noticed a small, brass lamp on the side of his desk, like something out of Aladdin. A djinni with a lamp. Seriously.

  “Fine. I saw you murder Agent Vega.” I didn’t bother to clarify it had been while channelling my new superpower. A superpower which had just gone haywire. “What’s your side of the story?”

  “You saw me kill this Vega, yes,” the Marid said with a nod, leaning back in his seat, “but it was not I who did the killing.”

  “Sorry, could you run that through the ringer again?”

  He smiled a little. “You know we can take different forms.”

  “Uh, yeah, thanks to Marilyn there.” I nodded to Zip who had moved out from under the desk and was now hovering around the edges of the room.

  “Zip,” the Marid’s voice took on a very commandeering tone. “Please go find refreshment for our guests.”

  The djinni did some bobbing and curtseying and made a few squeaking sounds before scrambling out of the room, her little kitten heels clacking against the stone floor. She was seriously adorable. I wondered what
her true form looked like.

  “Okay so, you can look like Hollywood stars. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “We can take on the form of many things,” the Marid said. “Animals, people, even each other.” His eyes bore into mine.

  “So, you’re saying another djinni took on your form and murdered Vega?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. But my guess is that someone forced him to take on my form and murder your agent.”

  I frowned. “Okay. Fine. Why should I believe you? How do I know that it wasn’t you?”

  “Because I have not set foot off this land in over ten thousand years.”

  That got me. “Sorry, did you say you’ve lived here in this desert over ten thousand years? I thought the djinn were from the Middle East.”

  Again, a slight smile quirked his lips. “We are. But my people were sent here millennia ago.”

  I frowned. “All the djinn?”

  He shook his head. “No. Just my clan.”

  “Why?”

  The muscles in his jaw flexed. Anger. Whatever had happened all those ages ago, he was still really pissed about it. “It is not important.”

  “Oh, I think it is. You say that someone took on your form to murder a federal agent, just miles from your land. Land you claim you haven’t left since before the pharaohs. And you don’t think why you’re here might have something to do with it?”

  Fury was written on every inch of the Marid’s face, but I didn’t care. The fear had vanished and been replaced with my usual recklessness. Inigo reached over as though to warn me, but I squeezed his hand and ignored the warning. I knew I was being rude. I just didn’t care.

  “Very well. Our banishment was part of a Binding. We were all banished to this land, but I alone am bound not to leave it.”

  “Binding?”

  He scowled. “The djinn are very powerful. The Marid, the most powerful of all. Yet there are a few with the ability to bind our magic to theirs, and force us to do their will.”

  Something clicked inside my mind. Something so bizarre I could hardly credit it. “Why were you bound?”

  “I cannot say.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He shrugged. “Part of the Binding.”

  “Who bound you?”

  “I cannot say.”

  Crap. I was getting a really bad feeling. I fingered the amulet around my neck. He’d known what it could do. “Atlantis.”

  I swear if a being with skin the color of a fire truck can grow pale, the Marid did. Yet he said nothing.

  “You were bound by the last High Priest of Atlantis.”

  His expression told me I was right. I just had no idea why a priest of Atlantis would bind a Marid shortly before destroying the city. It was just … weird.

  “Okay,” I was thinking it through even as I spoke. “So you were bound by the priest, and forced to this land ten thousand years ago.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I was told you only appeared here a few hundred years ago. That you came to escape an evil magi.”

  The Marid shrugged. “There was a time my people grew restless and began wandering outside our lands. I called them back, but not before they’d revealed themselves to a small tribe of humans. Got their shaman all worked up. So, I had one of my people allow the shaman to capture him. The story we gave the shaman was simply what you might call damage control.”

  So, Tommy’s ancestor hadn’t captured the Marid, after all. And what Tommy knew of the djinn wasn’t entirely accurate.

  “What does the Fairy Queen have to do with all this?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. He nodded toward my amulet. “I know the amulet is from Atlantis, and that it glows in the presence of certain types of magic. Particularly the magic of the Queen of the Sidhe. Her magic must be involved for it to react as it did earlier.”

  “You’ve seen my amulet before?” That was a new one.

  This time his smile was genuine, full of fondness and memory. “Yes. I saw it shortly after it was made. Before the Binding.” His smile faded.

  I sensed pain behind his words. Betrayal. Something that had happened back then still caused him pain now. Though I wondered at it, I knew better than to ask. He wouldn’t talk, and it probably wasn’t important.

  “All right,” I took a different tack, “why would another djinni take on your form to kill someone?”

  “I have no idea,” he admitted. “My best guess is the Queen is up to something, and wants to frame me.”

  “Why on earth would she do that?” In my experience the Queen of the Fairies wasn’t much interested in anyone but herself and her queendom. And, oh yeah, me.

  “I suppose that would best be answered by knowing what she had to gain by the death of this Vega.”

  He had a point. But there was something else niggling at my brain. “That’s true. But it might also be answered by knowing what she has to gain by your death.”

  A look of pure bafflement crossed his face. “I don’t understand. The Fairy Queen has no sway here. I never leave my land and no one can come unless I bid them. I would certainly not bid one of the sidhe. And my own people cannot hurt me. It’s part of the Binding.”

  The nasty little thought niggled harder. “I’m here.”

  Inigo and the Marid both stared at me. Finally the Marid spoke. “I don’t understand.”

  I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward in my chair. “I am here. On your land. You couldn’t stop me.”

  “I admit, you have … interesting abilities. You seem partially immune to our defences. Yet, I am in no danger.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  “Excuse me?” The look of surprise on his face was absolutely priceless.

  “You see,” I said, “if I were to find out you had anything to do with Agent Vega’s murder, there isn’t a power on earth that would stop me from ripping your heart out of your chest.”

  I stood up and walked slowly to the desk. Then I leaned over right into the Marid’s face. “You know I can do it, don’t you?” His expression told me I was right. I smiled. “Lucky for you, I believe you’re being framed.” I waited a beat. “So, maybe you should ask yourself: Why does the Fairy Queen want you dead?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Great way to win friends and influence people, love.” Inigo’s eyes twinkled just enough to tell me he was joking.

  I rewarded him with a scowl. “Well, can I help it if he looked like the murderer? Besides, I want him to know I’m serious. Somebody obviously wants him dead, and I think it has something to do with this Binding he keeps going on about.” It was a stretch, but it was the only thing that made sense.

  I’d double-checked with Zip before we left the djinn land, and she’d confirmed the Marid hadn’t left their borders in over ten thousand years. How he didn’t go completely Loony Tunes I didn’t know. But the point was that it was highly unlikely that the vendetta against him had been created since then. It had to be about something that happened before the djinn arrived in America. Or pre-America.

  Though how on earth I was going to find out about that something was beyond me. The Marid wasn’t talking, and my options for ten-thousand-year-old gossip were pretty limited.

  “I think we need to consult Eddie’s book. Maybe have a talk with Jack.”

  Inigo frowned at the mention of Jack’s name. “You sure?”

  It wasn’t like Inigo to be jealous. Protective, maybe, in his own way, but not jealous. “He’s my Guardian, remember? And he’s connected to this whole Atlantis thing just like I am. I need to know what he knows.” If he knew anything.

  “It’s just that you get so… upset when you talk to him.”

  I almost laughed at that. Inigo’s oh-so-polite way of saying I got bitchy. He wasn’t wrong. Jack always managed to get on my last nerve. I would rather not examine why that was. Jack had made his decision. I was in love with Inigo and that was the end of it.
<
br />   Of course it was.

  Once we made it back to the car and onto the highway, I pulled out my cell and dialed Trevor’s number. He answered on the second ring.

  “Yeah.”

  “Hey, Trev. How are you feeling?”

  A short bark of laughter. “Like I got the shit beat out of me.”

  “I don’t doubt it. When are they letting you out? Do you need a ride?”

  “Naw. I’ve got my rental.”

  Men. I swear to the gods they can be so thick-headed. “You just had the shit beat out of you, and you think you should be driving?”

  “Stop worrying, Morgan. I’m fine. A little sore, but nothing that will affect my driving. Now, what did you find out?”

  “Not much. I think we found more questions than answers.” I told him about our visit with Tommy Waheneka, followed by our trip to djinn lands.

  “So what does this vendetta against the Marid have to do with Vega?”

  “No idea,” I admitted. “But I mean to find out. Listen, we’re headed back to Portland to do a little research. You staying here?”

  “Yeah,” his voice held a note of determination. “I’m not leaving until I know the truth.”

  “Okay, I’ll keep you posted. Let you know what I find.”

  If I found anything besides more questions.

  ***

  “You going to have a talk with your mom?” Inigo glanced at me from the driver’s seat.

  “Not yet. But I will.” Our visit with Tommy had brought up a lot of questions. I wondered more and more just what my mother knew.

  She’d always insisted my dad had died when I was a baby. I’d believed her. Until I met Trevor. And now Tommy’s mention of her having known Alister Jones. It was all just a little too crazy. She had to know something.

  I just wasn’t sure I was ready to face her.

  “First, let’s have a chat with Jack. Then we’ll pay Eddie a visit.”

  I had no doubt things between the two men would be awkward. I even thought about asking Inigo to wait in the car, but that would have been even worse. In the end I kept my mouth shut and decided to grin and bear it.