by Kimbra Swain
“Where did that come from?” I asked. “That is not one of my dresses.”
“Sure, it is. I bought it for you,” she admitted.
“When?”
She smiled devilishly, “This morning.”
I just shook my head, and started taking the navy one off. I really didn’t care. It was a pretty dress. A new dress to wear might make me feel better.
I looked at myself in the mirror in the bedroom. “You did good.”
“Of course, I did,” she replied, “now let me do something with your hair.”
“You said nothing was wrong with my hair,” I exclaimed. She pulled out a glittering comb in a matching blue that was shaped almost identically to the vines on the dress. No sense in stopping her now. I sat down in a chair at the dining room table, and she sat down a glass of ice water and a peanut butter sandwich.
“Eat,” she said. I ate, and my surrogate sister fixed my hair for the party.
The alcohol started wearing off, and I was just sad. “I’m going to move to Jakarta or Edinburgh.”
“Stop being a drama queen,” she said finishing up. “You guys will work it out. I’ve got to get going. Ichiro will be waiting on me.”
I stood up and went to the bathroom mirror. My golden locks were swept up around my head and braided in spots. The comb aligned perfectly with one of the braids. Little loose strands fell around my head. “It looks great, Ash. I’m incredibly happy for you, too.”
She hugged me from behind. “I love ya, Abby. Hang in there.” I walked her to the door.
“Thanks again, Ash. Not for the dress and hair, but for just being here,” I said.
“Anytime,” she said. “Besides you know what the two of you need to do?”
“What?” I laughed at her playful tone.
She reached for the door knob and said as she opened the door, “You two just need to kiss and makeup.”
I started to laugh until I saw him standing at the door just about to knock. He wore in a black suit and a slate blue tie hung untied around his neck.
“Damn Ash,” I said wincing. I knew then she had set me up.
“Oh, hello, Mr. Duarte,” she said inviting him in with a hand wave.
“You can call me Tadeas,” he said to her, but he didn’t take his eyes off me.
“I’m Ashley or Ash. What about Tay?”
He looked at her with a “you’ve got to be kidding me look.”
“Um, what about Deas?” she suggested.
“No, Ashley. I like just Tadeas,” he laughed at her.
“Jag,” I said.
Ashley cooed. “Oh, I love it! Yes, you look like a Jag.”
“No,” he said shaking his head at both of us. I saw the glint in his eye though. He liked it.
“Too late, Jag it is,” Ashley said as she walked out the door, “See you two in a bit.”
“Seriously?” he said to me. I just shrugged.
“I didn’t think she would take it and run with it,” I said. “You are going?”
“I will if you know someone who can tie this damn thing for me,” he said pointing at the tie.
“Come here, I’ll do it,” I offered. He walked up to me, and I tied the tie as I had many times before he came along. I don’t know what kind of cologne he wore, but it smelled awesome. His hair looked great. When I finished, I pushed down his lapel and straightened the slate blue handkerchief in his pocket. He looked unbelievably handsome. I gritted my teeth. This was ridiculous. Ashley was ten times worse than me about sneaking around and doing stuff. Of course, that’s what I paid her to do.
“You look gorgeous, Abby,” he said kindly. I still felt the tension between us.
“You look very nice too,” I returned the compliment. He left the 5 o’clock shadow, and it gave him a rugged look. His hair hung just a bit on the left side of his forehead. I reminded myself he said he wanted a haircut, but I loved it like that. I did not know what else to say.
“Have you eaten?” he asked.
“Huh? Yeah, Ashley made me eat a sandwich,” I said. “Why would you ask that?”
“She said you’ve had a few drinks. I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said backing away from me.
“Yeah, well unfortunately the alcohol has worn off,” I said.
“Maybe we can agree to get through this night without ripping each other’s heads off,” he suggested.
I closed my eyes and winced, “Yeah, maybe we can.”
“Alright,” he held his hand out to me, “let’s go.”
I took it, and we went out the door cursing my best friend for setting me up.
When she took my hand, hers felt like ice. Ashley told me when she brought the tie by that she spied on her earlier, and that she had made her way through half a bottle of bourbon. I’m pretty sure I could have put down a whole bottle. She seemed fine now though. The most unusual thing at the moment was her heart rate. Her normal steady rhythm disappeared. Instead it pulsed quickly. She was genuinely nervous.
We waited for the elevator, and I tucked her hand into the crook of my arm. She smelled like honeysuckle to me. “You cold?” I asked.
“No just nervous,” she admitted.
“Why? Something you want to give me a heads up on?” I asked.
“This is grandfather’s party. I don’t know what he has in store, but I promise that I’ll help you through it if he pulls anything. Do you dance at all?” she asked.
“Not really,” I said. “I can sway to a beat.”
“Okay, that will do,” she said. She looked up at me. “Did he threaten you?”
“No.” I reached over and hit the emergency stop on the elevator. It jolted to a stop.
A voice came over the speaker, “What’s the emergency?”
“Barry, this is Abigail Davenport. I just needed a moment to talk to my friend. Please don’t restart the elevator,” she said quickly. She picked up on things easily.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and I heard the speaker click off.
“He called me up there this afternoon, and said that he appreciated me giving it a good try. He offered me a job to be the new director of training and canvas crews for the Agency. He said it was a position he made up just for me, since things didn’t work out between us.”
“Oh,” she said quietly.
“My thing is where did he get the impression that we weren’t going to resolve our issues, and move forward?” I looked at her for a reaction. Shock rolled over her face.
“I haven’t spoken to him this afternoon. I did this morning before we argued, but not since then,” she said. “But he has a way of knowing things. Perhaps he just assumed.”
“I told him I didn’t want the job. That we are partners, and that we may fight, but we would figure it out.” She backed away from me. I couldn’t believe it, but I heard it. Her heart skipped a beat. Occasionally, they do. The songs and poems aren’t wrong. Sometimes they skip. I moved toward her. “Don’t cry. Please don’t. You look too lovely to mess it up with red eyes.”
She took deep breaths and fought it. I knew that I probably shouldn’t say anything else. “We are going to figure it out?” she asked.
“Of course, we are,” I said. I spent the entire morning dying to get out of class to go talk to her. We had spent too much time, including the time she masqueraded my class that should have been used to get me caught up on the big picture of things. But being away from her, I knew one thing for sure. We had a bond. The bond between a jaguar and his wielder even though at times she was more like a bruja, and I was ready to get to work. “Give me a quick rundown of what we are facing here.”
She took a deep breath, and went into business mode. Her heart rate steadied as she spoke, “I’m not sure of the exact details, but don’t be surprised to see a hundred people or more there. They will be from all sorts of affiliations and supernatural communities. I’m sure the Six will be there. They are the representative offspring of Hyperion’s children. At some point, formally in front of everyon
e I will have to introduce you to all of them. Your response should be a bow to each person. They will return the bow. Everyone in that room for the most part will assume that we are together. Like together, together.” She paused a moment to let it sink in. I nodded at her, and she continued, “These people are all various parts of the Agency. When we go out there, we are kind of the face of the Agency to the proxies and regents. Do not trust anyone in that room. Besides me, and you know you can trust me, right?”
“Of course,” I said without hesitation. “Let them think whatever they want about us. I don’t wait either of us to have to get into an awkward conversation. If we can avoid it, fine. If not just roll with it.”
“You want me to pretend we are together?” she said.
“Yes, Ashley suggested it, and it makes sense. It will keep any propositions from Fae or whoever else is in there at bay. She said if they think that I’m yours they won’t even try, because they would be afraid of you. Except Lianne. She said Lianne can’t help herself,” I said.
“I’m going to kill Ashley,” she said.
“No, you aren’t. You admit it makes sense?”
“Yes. It does, but most of them in that room will know we are not. It doesn’t matter what we say or how we act,” she said. “Especially any Fae, they go by scent almost. Like if you are with someone, that person leaves a mark on you.”
“That I understand. Ashley said the same thing,” I moved toward her quickly that way she wouldn’t fight it. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me. The heart skipped again. I was sure this time. She trembled for a moment and looked away.
“That’s what she meant,” she said. She didn’t pull away from me, but she tensed up.
“Yes. Just for tonight, you are mine,” I said and she turned to look at me. I couldn’t tell if it was fear or anxiety. She continued to tremble, but she looked me in the eye. Ashley was insistent that this be done. I hated that we had fought. I hated that it bothered me so much with that man making moves on her. She was not mine. I listened as Ashley explained it all to me. About how the women, and even some of the men here would see me as fresh meat, but to avoid it all, I just could claim to be with Abby. However, she insisted that we make it in the form of a Fae deal. She assured me Abby would agree to it. She also said it had to be more than just the two of us parading around this party. And now I was at the moment, and I wasn’t sure I could do it. But then I felt her cool hand on my cheek, and I focused on her. She understood.
“It’s okay,” she muttered.
She agreed. It was all I needed to solidify my resolve. The animal inside me stirred. I pushed it back. I leaned into her lovely face, and my lips met hers. The kiss lasted longer than I expected it to. Her heart stopped beating, and when I pulled away, she let out the smallest of sighs. I didn’t realize I had her pressed against the wall of the elevator. There was no heavy breathing or surges of heat. Just a very good kiss. I stayed close to her. “We good?” I asked.
“More than,” she replied. I backed away and pulled the emergency release button, and the elevator started to move.
“Can you explain all of that to me? Ashley tried,” I looked at her. She still stood there against the wall.
“You just made a deal with a Half-Fae and sealed it with a kiss,” I said. “You suggested the deal. I agreed, and we sealed it.”
“What exactly is the deal?”
“For tonight, you own me. I am marked just like Samantha and Travis basically. You give me an order, and I have to do it,” she rolled her eyes.
“Huh, interesting,” she glared at me daring me to do it. “Okay, I’ll refrain from ordering you around, but please scratch your nose.”
Immediately her hand went up and scratched her nose. She growled at me and punched me in the arm.
“Ow,” I said and rubbed my arm.
“Baby,” she said, and finally there was the smallest of smiles there. We would be okay.
“Who is here that we need protection from?” I asked as the elevator doors opened and she took her position to my right with her hand on my arm. We walked out into a large ballroom on level #10. It was the top level closest to the surface. A mini-orchestra played and beautiful people swirled around the dance floor. I felt her hesitate. I turned and looked at her. “Use the spell.”
Without hesitation she said, “Communico. And Jag you gotta be careful with your phrasing.”
I would have to really think before I spoke, “Are you really going to call me Jag?”
“Yep,” she said.
“Why the hesitation when we came in the room,” I said in her head. The connection was easy. I assume that was the deal.
“The blonde-haired man over at the bar with the ladies. That’s Lukas Castille. My ex-fiancé.” she said.
“The incubus?”
“Yes,” she said out loud. Ashley and Ichiro came up to us. Ashley hugged her, said something in her ear and she blushed.
“Thank you for your help this evening, Ashley,” I said.
“I see you got everything squared away,” she said.
“Yes, we did.” She was quite pleased with herself. I guess she assumed there was more involved than the deal, but I knew there wasn’t. However, it would keep the wolves away. Perhaps too, and very likely that Ashley’s endeavors to fix her friend up was endearing in a way. She tried her best to make Abby happy again. I can’t say how misguided she was, but the gesture indicated a sweetness in her for her friend.
“Everyone else is over here at a table, come join us,” she said.
“We should go say hello to Gregory,” Abby said.
“Okay. Come over once you’ve done that,” Ashley said. Ichiro didn’t speak the whole time. He just watched Ashley talk. He had it bad. I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t know what Ashley’s lineage was exactly, but she was extremely pretty.
I looked over at Abby and tried to find the right words to say. I started to say “Let’s go,” but that could lead to a lot of places. I didn’t know what to say.
“Oh, just say something, I’m not going to be mad,” she said.
“We should go see your Grandfather, now,” I said. She smiled and locked arms with me again and we went to find the Titan who blew a small welcoming party into a huge celebration. We passed through lots of people. Many who spoke to Abigail. She would politely and briefly introduce me, and we would try to keep moving. I could see the crowd watching us as we made our way through. It made me uneasy. I could hear whispers. Bits and pieces of conversations of what a wonderful-looking couple we made, of how much of a whore Abigail was, of how some woman wished I wasn’t marked, because she’d like to do things to me. We had to stop for the caterers moving across our path.
“You just gotta tune it out. I hear them. Just remember they can’t touch us tonight. It really was a good idea. I had no idea so many would be here,” she whispered in my head. I didn’t respond because the path reopened, and we were approaching Gregory. He dressed as dapper as an older man could. Black tuxedo, crisp white shirt, black bow tie and a huge smile on his face as he talked to those standing around him. His presence was intense. As we approached, he waved us closer.
“Please excuse us, ladies and gentlemen, I need to speak to my granddaughter and her partner. Tadeas and Abby, it is good to see you both. You look wonderful tonight. Please follow me for a moment,” he walked through a double set of doors and into a side room which was empty.
“He’s pissed. Just hang in there on this one,” she said.
“About what?”
“The deal,” and she had no more said it than a wave of force slammed me against the wall, and I felt my air being choked off. He didn’t move. No words were spoken. No hand motions.
“Stop now!” Abby shouted. I felt dizzy and clawed at my neck. “Gregory Theodoard, Hyperion, master of the watch and rising of the sun, I said stop!”
He turned to her and snarled. “What have you done?”
“It was a precaution,” she stammered. “P
lease let him go. He’s not done anything wrong. I swear it.”
The power released me, and I slid down the wall gasping. She hurried over to me, and started to fuss over me. I brushed her away a little and rasped, “I’m fine. No big deal.” I stood up, and she helped me. She rounded on him.
“How dare you?” she said. “Do you have no faith in me at all?”
“The mark on you is forced,” he said.
“No, it’s not forced. It just was a last-minute decision,” she explained.
“I would never do that, sir,” I said still trying to catch my breath.
He pointed his finger at me and said, “You shut up.”
I held my hands up in surrender. “We are going back out to my friends. I’m not playing his game anymore.” She spun to walk out the door, and I grabbed her arm gently. There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t be a command.
“Hey, I’m fine. It’s okay,” I said. I wanted her to talk to him. To avoid confrontation later. I had the feeling it was going to be a long night.
“It’s not fine,” she spouted. She grabbed my hand to lead me out of the room.
“Abby, stop. Come back here this instant,” he demanded.
“Tonight, I’m his and you can’t command me to do anything,” she glared at him, and we went back into the party. She composed herself before we started meeting the crowds and took her place on my arm.
“He has you marked?”
“Yes, but the bond between us tonight is stronger. A deal for a specific amount of time. I’ll pay for it I’m sure in the future, but it can’t be helped.”
“He can order you around?”
“Yes, but generally he doesn’t. He’s just mad. He thinks you….”
“I know what he thinks. I would never, Abby,” I tried to explain.
“I know,” she said. I could see Ashley, Ichiro and the others sitting around a large booth table. They slid around and let us sit on the end. There was barely room, and Abby practically sat in my lap. No complaints.