“I don’t think anyone will say anything.” Neil shook his head. “That’s not why—”
“Do you have any meetings scheduled today that you’d need to put on that business face for?” Isaac cut Neil off before he could get into his explanations.
“No meetings. I like being prepared.” Neil frowned.
“You’ll be prepared regardless of whether you’re wearing a jacket or not. You are one of the most organized people I’ve ever encountered. You have everything done before you need it. I know it’s part of the image you project to clients, but you’re more than a suit. I’d bet it’s your attitude more than that suit you wear.” Naomi smiled at him.
“It might help some of your coworkers to see that you’re not some kind of machine.” Isaac raised an eyebrow.
Neil laughed
“Thank you for that.” He slowly exhaled and relaxed. “I’ll go without a jacket for today. My coworkers can think what they like as long as they don’t get in my way when it comes time to advance.”
That was one determined man. He’d probably succeed in his goal of getting to management level. He focused on his goal and his talent would carry him through.
“Good, now, sit down and tell me if you have any brothers and sisters.” She smiled at him. She didn’t know what had convinced him or if he’d decided to humor her and Isaac for the space of the meal. He could go get a jacket from a suit shop before he went to work.
“Two brothers, both younger. They’ve trained elsewhere, but didn’t find someone as I did. They’re caught up in that mess. I wish I could get them out of that area, but they wouldn’t want to leave mom and the dads yet. I know I wouldn’t have at that point in my life.” He sighed and settled back in his chair.
“What are their names?” She took a sip of the water in the glass before her. Their wine would be here soon
“Calvin and Whit.” Neil smiled. “They’re smart and strong.”
“Before you met Isaac and came here, did you know about any different way of doing things than your clan? Do Calvin and Whit realize that the way their clan isn’t the way it’s supposed to be?” She frowned. If he’d grown up in that kind of atmosphere, how could he know of another way to live?
“Mother and our dads explained to us that the way we were organized wasn’t right. That we shouldn’t have to fight for territory.” Neil shrugged. “I didn’t know how it should be, but yeah, I knew if I found a partner outside of my clan, I’d live differently.”
“That’s good.” She nodded.
“Once I got here and felt the power of the Cim, I realized exactly what I’d missed when I was with my people. Their power grounded me. It’s not something that’s easy to explain, but when I lived at my parents’ home, I was always tense, always had to be prepared to prove my strength and protect my domain.” Neil’s eyes focused at a point beyond her. She knew he thought about the past, not looking at anything specific.
“What are your two brothers and your sister’s named?” Naomi looked to Isaac.
“My sister is named Marie. She’s married and has two husbands. My brothers are Clark and Vance. They’re still single and live here. You’ll meet them soon.” Isaac gave her fingers another squeeze. “What about you? Do you have any siblings?”
“One brother and one sister, Anthony and Grace. They’re much older than me. Both have families now.” Both had married the people their parents had chosen for them. “Do your brothers do the same type of work you do, Isaac?”
“No, Clark does accounting and Vance is a craftsman with wood. He does handmade furniture.” Isaac smiled. “A couple of the pieces in the house are his work.”
“The table? That’s beautiful work.” She glanced at Isaac.
“Yes, that’s one of the pieces he did.” Isaac reached over and squeezed her hand.
She enjoyed the meal with them. They talked about inconsequential things for the rest of the meal. After leaving the restaurant, Naomi hugged and kissed Neil before she let him leave. The hunger blazing in his eyes promised for an interesting evening after he came home.
Chapter Nineteen
Naomi strolled beside Isaac through the park. She glanced over at him. He was such a handsome man. If only his looks attracted her though, she wouldn’t be here. Much more had grown between them. Even the draw to them had begun to be eclipsed by her growing feelings.
She didn’t want to think about it much. The intensity scared her. It seemed too soon. She’d already run scared once. She had a suspicion that the questions she’d have would make her want a little distance between them.
They could relax and be themselves in this park. It rested within the Gargoyle community. No human came here unless they were a mate to a Gargoyle, but hadn’t completed the transition.
She saw a couple of young Gargoyles in mid transition running over the clear grassy area. They didn’t kick a ball as three of the young children were. She didn’t know if they tried to become accustomed to their alternate form, or if the form took a lot of energy to complete. Perhaps they couldn’t hold a single form for long periods of time at this point. Isaac had something about needing to gain control.
“Those young boys, are they training?” She nodded toward the boys.
“No, they’re reveling in being able to change. They can’t control it well enough to train. Around nineteen, they’ll begin actual training.” Isaac smiled. “Mainly they’re playing and showing off. It’s a big thing for a male to be able to change. For a female, as well, but they don’t tend to go out and show everyone.”
“It’s nice that they’re able to do that here. How do they learn to fly? It’s not like they can fly here.” She tilted her head. She couldn’t see anyone teaching a young person to fly in the dark.
“There’s a large building. A big open warehouse type building. They can’t go high, but they can stretch their wings and get some of the basics of flight down. They’re also given some instruction on where they can fly.” Isaac nodded as one of the young men lifted off the ground, but didn’t get more than two or three feet off.
“You have places where you can go to fly without being recorded?” She hadn’t thought they’d be able to do that.
“Yes, the mountains are a great spot to do that. We fly mostly at night or dusk or dawn. It’s easy to be mistaken for one of the larger birds, but in most cases people aren’t looking at the sky. They’ll be looking at the mountains and might see something from a distance, but won’t be able to identify it.” Isaac glanced at her. “You realize you’ll have to learn to fly?”
“I hadn’t given it much thought. Will I be able to finish school? You said that controlling the shift could be a problem. I don’t want to start school only to have to stop because I can’t maintain form.” She frowned. The thought made her anxious. She wanted to do nursing, not have to wait years until she could control her shift.
“With those who are changed, that period takes time to hit and isn’t as long as in natural Gargoyle. We think it’s because they’re adults when they’re changed. But we can’t be sure how it will affect you until you go through it. You’re the first Branal in our midst in a while.” Isaac shrugged.
She grimaced. Well, she could understand his lack of information there. There hadn’t ever been that many Branal taken by the Gargoyle. It tended to be one or two here or there as far as she knew. If their change occurred anything like the change to Branal for human mates, a huge variation in response between people from pain level of the change to time.
The thought of pain did remind her that she hadn’t asked that question of them. “Will there be pain with the—”
A scream cut off the last of her sentence. She tensed and spun around. With her heart pounding wildly, she searched for the source of that scream. She saw people running away at first, but not the source of what frightened them.
“Oh, hell, we’ve got to get to them.” Isaac’s words shocked her, but he already started running.
She didn’t understand him.
He’d tried to keep her away from danger, yet here they ran in the direction that others had raced away from. She hadn’t seen any sign of a fight or attack yet, but knew something must be wrong.
“What’s wrong?” She kept looking.
When she noticed a woman stumble, she recognized the problem. A young man lunged forward and swiped at the ethereal pale form of an Appari. His blow hit, but the being barely reacted to it. They didn’t feel pain in the same way that other beings did because they’d been pulled from realm and were more spirit than flesh.
“Damn,” she breathed the word.
Now, she knew why Isaac rushed toward it, because she could deal with the Appari better than any of them could. She’d practiced a little with the blade since she’d been back with them, but she didn’t feel ready.
Her heart slammed against her chest. All the saliva in her mouth disappeared, leaving her mouth dry and tongue feeling thick and unwieldy. Her breath rasped in her throat.
“You can do this. Trust in your instincts and don’t overthink it.” Isaac glanced over at her as they neared the scene.
Easy for him to say. He’d been trained for fighting. She’d ignored everything about this. Because of that, she knew the few things that had penetrated in spite of her determination that she wasn’t suited for the fighting life and shouldn’t have to know about it. She regretted that decision now more than she could say. If she had trained, she’d know exactly what to do and not have to rely on instincts she didn’t know if she could trust.
She took the knife that Isaac held out to her. The silver blade gleamed in the sunlight. It was the one the Agali had thrown on the ground the night the Appari attacked them on the beach. The woman made it look easy. The weight settled in Naomi’s hand. Somehow, wrapping her hand around that hilt reassured her.
The Appari backhanded the young man, knocking him to the ground. He fell and didn’t move, but the Appari didn’t advance on him. She turned to the woman she’d first attacked. As the being advanced, Naomi knew that she couldn’t let the thing get to her. She had to stop it before it took the woman’s life energy.
“Hey, you pale skinned hag, why don’t you come over here and try a taste of me.” She summoned the fire within her.
It pumped through her giving her a little confidence. She took slow steps forward, all too aware that she had no real idea what to do. The haggard being turned her head, but continued toward the woman. Naomi held her palm out flat and shot a bolt of fire toward the soul-stealing bitch.
The hot flame hit the woman. The smell of seared flesh carried on the wind. The Appari screamed and swung around to face Naomi. That did it. The creature lost its focus on the easy prey now.
Even if Naomi ran over, she might not get to the woman before the thing stole her soul. She had to stop it before it started drawing the spirit energy from her, and before the Appari fled. A body could only live so long without its spirit. A Branal or Gargoyle’s body would eventually die if the soul didn’t return to them.
“Be careful, Naomi.” Isaac’s words came to her as she approached the Appari.
Naomi didn’t shake her head, but wanted to look back at him. He wanted her to be careful while she fought a beast that could take her spirit. And he’d urged her to come over here and do this. It made no sense.
As her focus narrowed to the thing in front of her, her worries and fears fell away. She didn’t know how she’d do it, but she would kill this thing. Her body relaxed. She channeled her fire into the knife in her hand. The heat and fire were necessary. Claws could cut it, but the fire within its body hurt more.
The pain itself wouldn’t do much, but if she could hold it and hurt it enough, she should be able to take its energy. Hopefully, it didn’t have a soul within it. She didn’t know what to do with that either.
The Appari glared at her and swiped at her. Naomi jumped back, but lunged forward again. She swung her blade. It slashed across the being’s hip, drawing a screech from it.
A surge of exhilaration raced through her. She’d hurt it. A smile crossed her face. She hadn’t expected to do that yet. She hadn’t thought about what she was doing.
The Appari lashed out. Her hand slammed into Naomi’s shoulder. Naomi cried out and stumbled. Instinctively, she jabbed the knife into the beast. It shrieked and jerked back. Naomi didn’t think. She followed, trying to keep the knife buried inside it.
Time to begin drawing in the energy. She didn’t know how to do as the Agali had done and surround the creature to subdue it. She grasped the Appari’s wrist, partly to keep that hand from swiping at her, and partly because she needed the physical contact to pull the thing’s energy into her.
That one point of contact worked. She pulled the energy into her. She could sense the mass of energy at the being’s core. It writhed and reacted.
The thing might be created, but it thought enough to want to continue its existence. It wrenched against her hold. She maintained her grip and jabbed the blade back in when it slipped free.
Inhale. Draw the energy into you. She remembered that from the seminars. They never said that the anger and desperation the being felt would be transmitted in that energy. She kept breathing and concentrated on the task at hand, taking everything the Appari held—its energy and that of one soul. Not human. She could recognize the masculine feel of the spirit. She didn’t know anything more than that at the moment, and didn’t have time to try to look.
The Appari began to sink into itself. She wanted to drop it, but knew she had to take it all, or it could be used against them again. At least, if she took it, the mage or whoever sent this creature would have to summon more of the things. When it disintegrated and fell to the ground to blow away with the wind, she knew she’d taken it all.
Extra energy thrummed through her. She felt like going for a long run, but she couldn’t keep the spirit for long. She had to return it. The energy she’d pulled in would eventually burn away, but she did need to use some of what she’d taken.
Isaac rushed forward and circled in front of her. He looked her over as his hands ran over her arms. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m good. I had no idea what I was doing, but I’m all right.” She shook her head.
She’d never have thought he’d send her to fight the Appari. All right, she could take it down much easier. The Gargoyles had to beat the things nearly apart. This man had kept her back when a Gobel attacked them
“Are you sure? I saw you get hit.” Isaac frowned and his fingers brushed over her shoulder.
“She got me with her hand. A strong hit, but no claws that time. Do you have any men in the hospital? Someone who was a victim of one of their attacks?” She frowned at him.
“There are a few men in our hospital.” Sim Bram’s voice came from behind her. “You did good. A little practice and you’ll be more prepared to face the next Appari.”
She looked around and saw that men practically surrounded the area where she’d been fighting the Appari. Next Appari. She didn’t want to think about trying to fight that thing or another like it anytime soon. They hadn’t made any effort to interfere and help. She knew their reaction would be different with any of their other enemies. It surprised her that they’d all stayed out of it.
She shook her head. She didn’t understand them. “I’ll need to go walk through to see if the soul I pulled from the Appari is one of them. It’s not human, and I don’t think it’s Branal. It feels different than me. I think that it’s one of yours.”
“Something bothering you, baby?” Isaac took her hand.
“I never expected that you’d be able to stand aside and let me take care of the Appari. I would have thought you’d try to grab her or something.” She looked over at him. It would have made things a little more difficult, but it would have fit what she knew of them.
“It was the hardest thing I ever did, especially when I saw her hit you.” He shook his head. “But I’d be a hindrance.”
“Are you sure it’s not the bo
y’s soul? He’s not stirring.” Sim Bram knelt next to the young Gargoyle who’d tried to help the woman.
“She didn’t take his soul. She knocked him out and went after the woman. If she succeeded in taking the woman, she’d go after him, but didn’t get a chance.” Naomi looked at the boy. She’d have thought he’d be up now, but she could see his slow breaths.
“She’s right. He got hit hard and went down. The Appari immediately turned away from him.” Isaac put his arm around her.
It took a few minutes, but the boy did begin to awaken. He started up as if he expected that thing to be right on top of him. She couldn’t blame him. After today, she’d have a few nightmares herself about that.
“We’ll take him to get checked out and then go to the hospital to see who you have inside you.” Bram helped the young boy to his feet.
“How did all of them get here? Did you know that thing was around, and you brought me out here to face it?” She stopped and glared at Isaac. The suspicion burst through her.
“The Cim were here talking to the betas, and the rest live here. No, I didn’t know that the Appari was here. I’ve been carrying this knife around with me in case we were attacked again. I wouldn’t spring something like this on you without warning.” Isaac turned and scowled at her.
“No one knew that thing was close. We wouldn’t have had children in the area if we did.” Bram leveled his piercing eyes on her. The chill of his disapproval washed over her.
“Sorry. I didn’t know what to think when it suddenly appeared and I finish with that thing to find myself surrounded by people. I didn’t hear anyone yell for someone to come help,” she apologized. She exhaled and tried to get her thoughts together.
Bram nodded. “We guessed that you didn’t have much experience with fighting or protecting yourself. Isaac, take her home and we’ll meet you at the hospital.”
Capturing Their Flame [Stone Passions 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 14