by D. D. Miers
I nodded. Right now, I didn’t feel it.
Just a few sips of the cocktail had made me strangely bold. Regular Earth alcohol never did that to me, but I guess I had yet to build up a tolerance to this stuff.
“So this is about the time you ask me if I’ve slept with Kieron yet,” I heard myself say.
Dorian winced. “I wouldn’t put it like that.”
“Of course. Because you’re a gentleman. The answer is no, but I wish I understood enough about this elhun thing to understand why everybody’s so invested in it.”
“Not all of us are,” Dorian said. “But it’s a reality that has to be dealt with. And for the record, I don’t think it was particularly fair of Isadora and the rest of them to tell you about it like that. You could have used some time to process what the hell was going on, without being told you were soulmates with a stranger on top of it.”
I shrugged. “Could be worse.”
Dorian scoffed. “It’s hard to imagine how.”
“Come on. I know you two have a history together, I know you resent him, but . . . he’s not . . .” I hesitated, remembering Dorian’s agony as he writhed on the ground under some kind of tortuous spell that Kieron cast. All for the crime of kissing me. “. . . he could be worse,” I finish, finally.
“Of course, he could be worse,” Dorian laughed. “He could be a genocidal maniac instead of your standard-issue dark sorcerer with a sociopath streak. The point is, Abby, he’s only out for himself. Never forget that. The moment your life isn’t tied with his, he’s going to discard you like an old rag.”
“You mean he’s going to kill me? That’s a pretty serious accusation.”
“No, no, for . . . no,” Dorian repeated, shaking his head. “That’s not what I meant at all. Just, if you give in to those feelings for him, if you let them become real, he’s going to break your heart. And he might break more than that, if you’re not careful.”
“People betray people. Trust me, that’s not exclusive to immortals.”
The street outside the bar seemed oddly empty, but then I remembered just how late it was. The sun had been gone for several hours, and the moon already hid behind a cloak of clouds.
Dorian led the way, like he always did, but something felt a bit off. There was something odd in the tense pull of his shoulders that kept my tongue silent and my hand still.
Without warning, the lights on the street flickered sharp as a lightning storm.
“Dorian?”
No warnings slipped from his lips as we backed against the nearest shopfront.
Sparks flew from the lampposts, and the power lines surged with crackling electricity until silence descended. Then, the world around us plunged into darkness.
I blinked several times over in an attempt to ready myself for the darkness, but the moment I saw what drew closer I dared not close my eyes. Hollowed eyes, black as night shrouded with hanging, putrid skin poured down the streets from both directions. We were surrounded, and I patted at my empty pockets in search of something to use as a weapon.
“Here.” From his back Dorian pulled a blade I’d never seen before.
I snatched the blade and readied myself as Dorian did with his sword.
“Where the hell did this come from?”
Even in the face of absolute danger, he laughed. “Magic. You ready?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. Come on, out from the wall!”
We ran into the street’s center. As much as the wall could have kept some of them off of us, it could have been our prison, too.
The first Necro swung for me with jagged nails and oozing flesh that made me want to retch, but I wasn’t about to let it touch me. I slammed back hard with the lift of my blade, and with a snap of my wrist tore the thing open from neck to shoulder.
He slumped to the ground in a heap as more rushed forward.
Behind me, Dorian’s blade sang and cracked hard against rotting bone under the bright crack of his magic.
All I had was my blade, and I’d be damned if I didn’t make it count.
I cried out into the sky and let the anger of it fuel me. Every beast that rushed at me clawed and raked at my form but hit nothing but air. I was too fast in my slashing hits, and they were too slow to take me out when I wasn’t ready to go.
“You all right?” Dorian cried out as I ducked under a wildly swinging blade that nearly took my head off.
“Just great!” I swung out hard and fast, severing the Necro’s height at his knees. To the ground he plummeted, and just as I stood I let gravity again take over.
A dagger raced toward me, quick as the thunderous pounding of my heart. It barely missed me, whizzing so close to the crown of my dropped scalp it took several strands of hair with it. I snapped back upright, just as three more creatures flung their sharpened weapons my way.
I fought them in quick succession, my small blade singing against their own steel as my foot slammed into the chest of one assailant and gave me leverage to jam my blade into the neck of another.
Their thickened blood coated the ground at my feet as they fell, and across the street I saw a single target where the thrown dagger had sailed.
Only one man stared back at me, his face veiled behind a mask. The moment my eyes connected with his, he ran and vanished into the sea of beasts that threatened to take Dorian and me down.
“You better be ready. We’ve got more coming!”
“I’ve got this!” There was no other way to think about it, not if I wanted to survive.
Every inch of the street swarmed with the putrid beasts, giving us no hope to escape. The only way we would now is if we fought our way out.
My arms burned with exhaustion as I slammed the edge of my blade against every onslaught I could. I slung off their weapons I slung off and slashed their drooping skin with a fury outmatched only by Dorian’s skill and lift of his magic that cleared pathways behind me.
Had it not been for him at my back, I would have been dead.
“We’ve got this!” he cried out, and I grew more certain of it, too, until a brute of a beast hulked toward me with a sword. He stood at least a foot taller and his arms were thick as tree trunks. My feet were so entangled in the bodies of the dead, I had nowhere to run.
I slammed my blade overhead, the crack of meeting steel shaking my bones. I tried to hold on, to fight back, but he was too strong with his every downward push. With one final shove, I gave way, and in a hurried tumble to the side I was left without a weapon as his eyes swung back on me.
My blade was down at his feet, but I’d never get it, not when it was within his reach. I scrambled to my feet over limp limbs and groaning undead.
“I lost my weapon!” I screamed back at Dorian, as I ran through the paths his magic had blasted clear. “Watch your back!”
I saw him spin toward the towering creature before several more tried to take me down.
I wasn’t about to let them.
I ran as fast as my feet would carry me.
I skidded into the nearest alleyway, in the hopes I’d find something near the piles of garbage heaped against the dumpster. I dove into them, my hurried search flinging trash in all directions as I came up empty.
Boots crunched loudly on the pavement, snapping my attention up to where several more of the damn beasts bore down on me. I backed up, one step at a time, away from them until my back slammed into a chain-link fence.
I was trapped and had nowhere to run.
This disgusting, trash-littered alleyway would be the place of my death.
I readied to defend myself at all costs, when piercing cries lit up the sky.
Over the heads of my attackers I saw cracks of magic felling the beasts left and right, and it wasn’t just from Dorian.
As much as I didn’t want to cry out like a damsel in distress, I didn’t have much choice as I ducked beneath a well-aimed swing and heard the blade rattle against the caged fence behind me.
“Kiero
n!”
The sound of their fight was almost deafening with how it echoed down the alleyway, and somehow it egged me on, fueling my desire to keep fighting. I grasped the fence behind me for support and jammed my foot outward, slamming one man square in the chest. He flung backward, but not before another grabbed my ankle and pulled me entirely off balance.
I fell hard against the damp pavement, my head pounding from the wavering fence that teased at my hair and tapped against my skull. Between the height of the buildings and the tower of their forms over me, I could barely see a thing. I threw punches and kicks in every direction, most hitting air but a few landed against something solid.
Just as the heel of my shoe jabbed into the chest of one, he cried out in utter agony beyond what I could have caused. Then I saw the blade protruding through his chest. He slid off it, half atop me as I squirmed to get free. The rest fell in quick order, before a single form stood looming over me.
“Get up.”
Shit. Kieron sounded anything but pleased. I scrambled to my feet and hurried after him as he burst out from the alleyway to take care of the remaining Necros. His Triae was there, and from the looks of it, Dorian had needed their help desperately.
Reagan offered me a sheepish smile the moment I stepped into the street, though she kept it well hidden from Kieron.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You were nearly killed,” Kieron snapped as his eyes narrowed to pinpoints at Dorian, as if he blamed him entirely.
“What, so I should stay cooped up somewhere safe all the time?” I couldn’t help it, nor could I help the slip of my arms across my chest.
Kieron’s stare nearly sunk me into the ground, the piercing catch of his gray eyes drowning me. I half expected him to reach out to me, to touch me in some way, but he held his ground.
“Don’t be so reckless next time, Ms. Davenport.”
Chapter Twelve
“How could you be so stupid?” Kieron shouted, ramming his sword down on the floor.
He raked his hands through his hair, pacing over to the liquor cabinet and jerking the door open. “Do you realize what you could have done? Selfish, headstrong, impossible woman.”
The normally controlled, guarded Kieron had been replaced by a raving demon ready to rain death and destruction.
“I’m tired of being your prisoner!” I shouted back. “I’m not some pathetic damsel in distress, remember? I’m supposed to be the big damn hero. You taught me how to behead Necros yourself. How to defend myself, how to protect my mind. I don’t expect you to trust me, but it’s like you don’t even trust yourself.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust,” he said, darkly. Was the glass of dark liquor shaking slightly in his hand, or was it just my overstimulated imagination? “But you must stop recruiting Temple Boy to take you on your little adventures just because you’re upset with me.”
“Recruiting?” I echoed. “What the hell are you talking about? He asked me to go out with him. Insisted, actually.”
The minute I said it, I realized it was a mistake. I should have taken the fall. Kieron wouldn’t hurt me – not really. But when it came to Dorian, all bets were off. I’d seen it myself”
“Dorian!” Kieron’s voice boomed through the stone hallways.
It only took a few seconds for him to appear in the doorway, looking gaunt and hunted. “Yes, Summoner?”
Kieron’s eyes were like a deep summer storm. “Ms. Davenport says it was your idea to go out drinking. That you practically insisted she go.”
Dorian swallowed audibly. “She needed a break from this place. Right, Abby?”
I nodded, but Kieron wasn’t interested in me
“Stop,” he commanded. “Don’t use her as a shield. That’s low, even for you.”
“I don’t know what you’re implying, Kieron, but I would never endanger her. You know that.”
Kieron advanced on him. “Tell me the truth. Why did you take her there?”
“I told you everything,” Dorian insisted, his eyes shifting nervously from one side of the room to the other. “Maybe you should consider that you don’t own her. Or any woman. And when you try to pretend like you do, terrible things happen.”
Looking back, it was very clear how the events played out. But in the moment, it was all a blur. Glass shattered on the stone floor, liquid splashed in a wild spray, and the crunch of bone connecting with bone made Dorian fly backward, clutching his nose. And Kieron, the eye of the storm, shook his hand as if to rid himself of the stench of his rival.
“If you could learn to care about anyone but yourself,” Dorian spat out, swiping blood from his face, “maybe you’d understand why she needs some time away from you.”
Kieron’s voice was quiet and deadly. “Why would you take her there alone? Without the others. Without Reagan, even. All alone. Completely at your mercy. What were your motives?”
Dorian’s face turned ashy-pale.
“Put it back in your pocket, Kieron,” he said, quietly. “Paranoia doesn’t suit you.”
And with that, Dorian got to his feet and left. I found myself wondering what he was hiding from me. From both of us.
For the first time, I really wondered who in this room I could trust.
Kieron stood there a moment longer before yanking the same bottle out of the cabinet and taking a long swig. Then, he turned to the door and left.
I wasn’t letting him off that easily. Not after what he did. I might be second-guessing Dorian, but that didn’t excuse Kieron’s rash behavior and the way he kept treating me like a child.
I ran after him, following him on his trek down the hallway. I had a feeling he was headed for his bedroom, and that was dangerous territory for us. But right now, I couldn’t give a damn.
“What the hell was that about, Kieron?”
He glared at me. “How many times do we have to go through this, Ms. Davenport? How many times are you going to make the same stupid mistakes? You are smarter than your behavior’s letting on, and we’re all going to suffer for it. Do you forget what’s at stake?”
“I’m so sick of your stupid rivalry,” I said. “You’re incapable of believing he can do anything right. And what does hitting him achieve? He was trying to help me.”
“I told you not to trust him,” Kieron said. “I told you not to leave this place without me. It isn’t safe.”
He huffed and then turned his gaze to me.
“You’re shivering,” he said. More of a flat observation than an expression of concern, I thought at first. But then I looked at him and saw, just for a moment, something genuine swirling in his eyes.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, but my voice came out shaky and unsure despite my best efforts.
“And you’re pale,” he went on, ignoring me. He advanced on me with a frown, and his sudden proximity made my knees buckle slightly. He caught me with a swift arm around my waist.
“Lie down,” he commanded.
“I’m fine,” I muttered, shaking my head fruitlessly as he steered me toward the bed. His bed.
“You are clearly not,” he replied.
I would be fine if you hadn’t invaded my personal space. Over time I’d gotten used to the profound effect he had on my mind and body, but I was so drained and exhausted now that I didn’t have the energy to fight it.
The next thing I knew, I was lying on silk sheets, surrounded by the scent of him. As he covered me with a sumptuous blanket, I tried to protest one last time, but the words died in my throat. This felt . . .. amazing. Like laying on an angora cloud.
Suddenly a thought popped into my head unbidden, and I couldn’t stop a little giggle from escaping.
Kieron had turned away, but he stopped and glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow. “Something funny?”
“No,” I said, burying my face in the comforter. A big mistake because all it did was surround me with his essence.
His eyes softened a little. �
��Tell me,” he said. “I like knowing what makes you laugh.”
He said it so quietly, almost like he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
“I just . . .” My voice was muffled by the blankets, but I didn’t make any effort to free myself. “I don’t know how somebody who sleeps on a bed like this could possibly be so—”
I cut myself off, but it was too late.
“So what?” Kieron crouched down so that our faces were level, and my heart hammered in my chest. “What do you think I am, exactly?”
I swallowed thickly. “You know what you are.”
“Yes, I do.” Something almost like regret flashed across his face, but it passed so quickly, I must’ve imagined it. “Get some rest. I’ll go speak to my men about your father.”
“Kieron?”
He stopped, with his hand on the doorknob. But he didn’t speak.
“Where are you going to sleep?” I asked him.
“Does it matter?” He smiled humorlessly. “There are plenty of beds in this place.”
“Not here?”
He blinked. “Here? With you?”
I wanted to bury my head under the covers and never come out. “Yeah,” I said in the smallest voice imaginable. “Would you? I mean, here?”
Kieron stood in silence for a moment, his eyes changing from gray to black, and back again. “I don’t think—”
“The dreams,” I cut in. “The visions. They’re getting . . . they’re getting worse. I think if you were here, maybe . . .” I had no idea how to finish that sentence, so I drifted off.
There was a long silence, and then finally, Kieron spoke.
“Very well,” he said. “I’ll be back in a minute when I’ve made the arrangements.” And with that, he was gone.
As I lay there in the semidarkness, my overtired mind raced. I wondered what the hell I’d just done. It was like I was operating on auto-pilot. The moment Kieron started to leave, I felt an overwhelming clench of panic in my chest. I knew I needed him to come back, that somehow, his presence would keep the darkness in mind at bay. At least for a little while.