On a sigh he stepped back and dropped his hands, scanned her. “Better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“We must know if the game is affecting you, Kiri.”
She didn’t want to think about that. “Can’t be.”
He angled his head, opened his mouth and she put her hand on his chest. “Please, let it be for now. I’m tender enough.” Her smile was a little wobbly, got even shakier at the gentleness in his look.
Reluctantly withdrawing her hand, she took a leap of faith and broached the matter. “I didn’t do well in the Fire Realm.”
Lathyr inclined his head. “Not as well as in the other realms, and not as well as expected, but no one believes it is unusual for someone to have a problem in at least one of the realms.”
“Oh.”
He waved toward her computer setup. “Are you universally competent in Fairies and Dragons?”
She laughed and grinned. “With the right characters, yeah.”
“But not with all characters.”
Her brows came down. “Not all archetypes can handle everything. The heavy fighters have the best chance, but even then real good magicians can get ’em.”
“And you’ve played Fairies and Dragons for...”
“Years.”
“And Transformation for...”
“Days. You’ve made your point.” She sighed, slid a glance at him. “You’re looking better than you did at the start of the week, too.” Memory of what happened last Thursday night socked her and she flinched.
Lathyr drew her arm within his. “We’ll never forget what happened last week.”
She wasn’t quite brave enough to ask him about his role in saving people in the bus, or how he’d left so quickly.
He said, “You like to watch the koi. Let’s go.”
“It’s dark.”
He smiled. “Then we’ll walk around the Circle and look at the lights on in the windows and perhaps see people hunched over their computers instead of enjoying the evening. And I will take you to the Sensitive New Age Bean for cocoa.”
“Sounds good. Let me get my jacket.” She got the bright quilted jacket that would focus attention away from her sweats. Lathyr took it from her and held it for her.
He opened her door, watched as she locked it and took her fingers.
And she couldn’t resist any longer. “I guess if you’re here and being so nice, I didn’t screw up my chances for the job.”
His face was serious as he looked down at her. “No.”
“Not yet,” she amended.
He hesitated, then nodded. “Not yet.”
“And since I did so poorly in the Fire Realm, I might do really well in the Water Realm?”
His lips twitched. “Perhaps.” They walked north, by the dark and empty Fanciful House. Kiri sighed and grimaced.
“What makes you sad?”
“My best friend and her husband live close.” She waved toward the west a few blocks. “And they’re moving away. I wish they could have bought one of the open ones in Mystic Circle.”
“Rafe Davail controls the dispensation of some property, yes?”
An odd way to put it. “Yes. It’s a wonderful neighborhood.”
“Indeed,” Lathyr agreed.
Kiri moved closer to him, so they brushed legs as they walked. Not as awkward as she’d thought. Though he was taller, Lathyr kept at her own steady pace. And he liked the Fanciful House, something that most regular American guys she knew would look askance at, with the round windows and a couple of turrets.
“Rafe owns it, but he’s living with Amber in her house,” Kiri said.
“Amber’s house is bigger,” Lathyr said, “and their yard is more extensive and they have large dogs.”
Kiri shrugged and glanced back at the dark house. “And I heard that when Rafe bought it the house was painted peach. It’s beige now.” That was definitely a guy-change.
They’d reached the next house, the Spanish-influence one owned by Dan and Frank. The porch light was on, and bright light was shining out of a south window that showed a long, ornate desk with the couple sitting side by side. Frank was talking into his headphone mic, and Dan was grabbing the desk, he was laughing so hard.
“Looks like the Mystic Circle gang is having fun on Fairies and Dragons tonight,” Kiri said, a hint of envy in her tone, but only a hint. Her eyes still hurt and she didn’t want to stare at a computer screen. In fact, she blinked and turned her head away to appreciate the darkness and the night.
Lathyr dropped her arm and she missed the connection and his warmth until his fingers found hers and intertwined.
She smiled as the buzz of attraction ran from her hand through her, also warming her.
“The next house is uninhabited? The Castle’s southeast neighbor?” Lathyr asked as they walked on.
Kiri glanced at it, frowned and tried to recall what was said at the neighborhood party that seemed so long ago—a different world. She had changed. “I think the resident, an old lady, died and the estate has offers from both Eight Corp and Rafe Davail’s company.”
Lathyr grunted.
They passed the Castle. The gate at the bottom was shut, but there were lights on in both turrets and the main mansion block, making it look warm and welcoming. That had her smiling, too. “You left lights on even when you aren’t home?”
“The brown—” He stopped and coughed, then answered simply, “Yes.”
She gave him a sidelong glance but didn’t comment and they walked farther around the Circle in a nice silence. The quiet didn’t press on her, make her feel as if she should say anything, but she became more and more aware of Lathyr—his height, the easy grace of the man...his scent.
Tamara’s house, the Tudor, showed only one light at the back behind a lace curtain and no shadow of the small woman. Kiri recalled that she played a tall, slender and blond avatar in Fairies and Dragons, but if she’d been in Transformation, Kiri would have cast her as a dwarf.
When they passed Amber and Rafe Davail’s house, they heard yelling and cheering from an open window on the first floor. Kiri chuckled and Lathyr squeezed her fingers.
“The Mystic Circle residents enjoy playing that game together,” he said.
“Yes.”
“We haven’t left the Circle yet. Would you like to return to your home and log on? Or go to the Castle?”
“You know, I haven’t seen a computer set up in the Castle.” Something she hadn’t thought of until now.
“There’s one in the east turret.”
That was the opposite turret than where she’d bathed after the bus accident. She shivered.
“Are you cold? If you want we can go in,” Lathyr asked. He gestured to Jenni and Aric Emberdrake’s Denver Square house, lit up from roof to basement.
Kiri slowly let her breath release. “No offense, but I’m not up to speaking with Jenni right now.”
Lathyr stopped, turned to her and grasped both her hands. His head tilted down toward hers, but when she looked up it was too dark to note the expression in his eyes. “Would you rather not see me, either?”
“No!” Kiri cleared her throat. “No. I’m liking our walk.”
“Good.” That was pure male satisfaction. He let go of her hand and they began to walk again, past the Emberdrakes, curving around to the last house, another empty one, the bungalow opposite her place.
They crossed the street and walked out of Mystic Circle and south. It was odd, but a half block down toward the business district, the atmosphere seemed to change—getting colder, darker...and not feeling quite right. She shivered and tripped over a crack in the walk, as if her equilibrium was a little off.
“You’re safe with me,” Lathyr said, but he began scanning the blocks as a fighter would for any trouble.
“I’m sure,” she said. They continued down the few blocks to the business district, and Kiri got the impression that he wanted to talk to her specifically about something. She didn’t know him well enough
to lead the conversation around to what he might want to discuss.
The Sensitive New Age Bean coffeehouse was loud and cheerful and had live jazz, and she and Lathyr crowded in on folding chairs, sipping their cocoa. Lathyr seemed to ease, and from the half smile on his lips, enjoyed the music.
They stayed an hour, then walked back, and once more Kiri felt something like a demarcation of energy. If she’d been in the game, Transformation, she’d have believed that the flow of magic had changed. She’d explored enough of the edges of the Earth and Air Realms where they joined with the other zones to notice the difference in the type of magic.
When they reached the corner of the cul-de-sac, her corner, Lathyr stopped under the old-fashioned streetlight, turned to her and took her hands again. This time she could see the gleam of his deep indigo eyes. “Tomorrow you will be entering the Water Realm.”
That he wanted to discuss the game surprised her. “Uh-huh.”
“I am going to offer to team with you, and I hope you will accept.”
Also surprising. “You haven’t accompanied me before.”
His lips flexed up in a smile, then down. “I am not much of a game player, but have followed your progress closely.” His smile deepened. “I’ve practiced the water spells.”
“Oh. Sounds good.” She eyed him. “You won’t leave me, like Jenni did.”
“Never.” He lifted her hands to his lips, kissed the back of one, then the other and she suppressed a girlie sigh at the sheer romance of it all.
“Jenni had just turned a corner,” Kiri said, compelled to be fair. “I was only a few paces behind her.” Enough for an ambush behind her that defeated her the first time and threw her totally off balance, which, of course, wasn’t Jenni’s fault but Kiri’s own. She hadn’t recovered well. Any of the times.
“We’ll stay side by side, but I think you will do well in the Water Realm.”
“Because I sucked in Fire?”
Lathyr laughed, full and nearly musical. “No, you might suck in the Water Realm, or even the Air Realm, but sucking isn’t advised in the Fire or Earth Realms, seared or dusty lungs come from that.”
Kiri laughed. “I’ll take your word for that.”
He drew her arm to link with his elbow again as he walked her up the path to her house and the steps and stopped at the front door. “But, yes, because you did poorly in the Fire Realm, the Water Realm may suit you better.”
“As the Fire Realm suits Jenni Emberdrake.” Emberdrake. Fire dragon. Duh!
“That is correct,” Lathyr confirmed. So Averill had been right all around.
And for the third time that night, Lathyr took both her hands, gazed down at her. “Beautiful Kiri,” he said.
Her heart thumped. He was going to kiss her. Oh, yeah! She tilted her head back, watched his face come closer as he bent down, wished she’d turned on the damn porch light so she could have seen him better, watched his eyes dilate or something.
Then his mouth was on hers, softer than she’d expected. And she felt the shock of lip-to-lip contact zoom straight to her core, along with a wave of pure lust. He opened his mouth and their breaths mingled. He tasted of cocoa and whipped cream with the barest hint of salt that added a touch of deliciousness to the kiss.
His tongue rubbed along hers and her mind went blank...like the midnight-blue night befogged her brain and air rushed in her ears like waves...a tide that matched her heartbeat, fast and heavy. She grabbed his shoulders, sturdy muscle, and leaned into him, feeling the strength of his chest, the tenseness of his body, his arousal.
Then he lifted her, his tongue probed her mouth, withdrew, and he set her away at arm’s length from him.
She gasped and blinked and actually put her hand over her chest because her heart thumped so hard it might beat right out. Major sexual attraction here. She hadn’t been expecting that.
“Good night, Kiri.” He reached out and brushed back some hair that edged her vision. “Sleep well. Sweet dreams.”
His mouth looked darker. So did his skin. She’d definitely had an effect on him, too. But he could talk and words were still stuck in her mind, not flowing down to her tongue.
He bowed, then kissed his fingers at her.
Oh, man. Romance!
“Until tomorrow, Kiri.”
He turned and swept down the stairs and strode up the curving sidewalk and was out of sight before her feet unstuck. She hurried to the side of her porch and yelled, “See you tomorrow! Thanks for the great night!” And did that sound lame.
She used her keys and opened the door, dropped her purse on the floor and followed it down to sit and pant. She’d never had a kiss like that. One that had completely turned off all thought. Wonderful.
Maybe too good. Especially with a guy she worked with, and one she’d only known for less than two weeks. Dangerous in so many ways.
She wanted to explore more than the Water Realm with him.
* * *
They swirled into the Water Realm by funnel, and hand in hand, hovered over sandy ground a few feet under the turquoise ocean’s surface. Joy bubbled through Kiri and a wide grin spread over her face.
Her hip-long green hair moved around her when she craned to see—and her whole body turned—including a tail longer than her legs with a large end fin larger than her feet. She moved, flexed and looked at it.
Gorgeous, an iridescent greeny-blue, like teal sequins. Green hair, tealish tail, Kiri glanced at her hands, received a little shock as she noted they were a light blue. A low ridge of fins rose along her arms.
And she both felt bare and not, and didn’t have any nipples. She put her hand on the minuscule scales of her abdomen.
“It’s rather like a natural armor,” Lathyr said, smiling. “Hardscale.”
She stared at him, his upper body revealed, his lower also a tail, but with a bulge where his sex would be that looked like an athletic cup. She figured that portion of his body would be very well protected. His skin tone was lighter than hers, a silvery blue, nearly white; his hair a lighter shade of green than her own. He looked absolutely right, and pretty much like he’d been the first time she’d seen him that evening in the park, except for no pointy ears.
Her fingers brushed her stomach, as she tried to describe the texture. Cool, flexible, strong, and a few “nots.” Not rubber or plastic or fiberglass. Now that she thought about it, she could feel a softer, inner skin under the tougher hide. She tapped her side with her knuckles. “Does it ever come off?”
He slanted her a look. “Ah. Portions can be thinned for sex or feeding young. As for the rest of the skin armor...only if you’re dying.”
She grimaced.
With a whirl of his tail that looked all too smooth and graceful, he turned and tugged her in the direction of...a pink glow? She tried to follow and flopped around, then thrashed and realized she was breathing water and went glug, glug, glug. Pushed with her fin on the bottom of the sea to shoot up and get air.
Lathyr stopped her. “Waterfolk have bilungs.”
He sounded completely serious—and though he usually did, this was a game. “Lungs that process oxygen and other necessities in the water as you breathe water, and that process oxygen et cetera in the air. This is the Water Realm. We will not be going above the surface or on land.” He squeezed her fingers. “Going above the surface could harm you if you haven’t learned how to use your bilungs.”
Her eyes got wide and probably bulged.
“The surface of the water is out of the zone, the realm,” Jenni said through the visor that Kiri never felt in the game. “The game parameters would have stopped her.”
Suddenly the Water Realm felt all too alien. She didn’t have legs! Wasn’t like the game Fairies and Dragons where most everyone had wings as appendages stuck to their back. Not that she could feel them. She froze.
“Watch and follow my movements,” Lathyr said, ignoring Jenni.
He flexed his tail in front; Kiri mimicked him. They went through turns and f
lips, dives and whirls. At any moment Kiri expected Jenni to scold them for fooling around, but the woman was silent.
In a few minutes, Kiri was laughing, sending bubbles of glee bouncing to the top of the ocean where they burst and sounded very odd to her ears.
Finally they faced the pink glow again. There was a click and her vision changed.
“Just your nictitating eyelid,” Lathyr said, and took her hand again with his—his long, four-jointed fingers, with thick webbing between them and nails that appeared fearsome—like her own. They couldn’t hold hands like humans, but the webbing was clingy, at least between them.
The water felt wonderful, sliding against her skin, and her nose actually twitched as more scents came to her than she’d noticed in other areas of the game. Maybe only because she was becoming accustomed to the virtual reality. The fragrance of water magic seemed to soak into skin and scalp, slide along the strands of her hair, gather on the webbing between her fingers, coat her arm and tail fins.
Soon colorful fish joined them, populating this realm. Once again she stopped and Lathyr hovered near, smiling. “Much more beautiful than the koi,” he said.
She had to agree.
“What is that pretty light?” she asked.
“The great Pearl.” Another slashing grin by Lathyr, showing teeth that weren’t human. She vaguely thought that her dwarf teeth hadn’t been, either. He shook his head and his shoulder-length hair floated. “The Merfolk—naiads and naiaders, mermen and merfems, swear by it...though I think it isn’t so big in—”
“A great Dark one comes to attack and slay you,” announced Jenni.
Chapter 16
“WHAT!” DEMANDED LATHYR.
“A great Dark one, the most fearsome villains in Transformation, attacks,” Jenni said.
Lathyr swore and grabbed Kiri by the arm, pulled her from the turquoise water and into a rough cave entrance she hadn’t noticed since seaweed and stalactites obscured it. She scrabbled to find info on “a great Dark one” in her belt pouch. Deformed. Evil. Kills questors and sucks magic.
Enchanted Ever After (Mystic Circle) Page 14