I sprinted for Bahlin as hard as I could and watched as the window caved outward and began to crumble under his weight. Hellion charged him and the two crashed through the window in an explosion of glass. I couldn’t slow my momentum, and I hit the open air, backpedaling as I tried to stop. I had a total moment of vertigo as I hung suspended in the air before beginning to fall.
It was twenty-two stories to the ground, and we were all observing Newton’s Law, falling at an equal rate of descent one to another.
Everything happened too fast. Bahlin spun end over end, his destroyed leg flopping uselessly as he tried to gather his bearings and determine up from down. Hellion was falling with his back to the earth, and his eyes widened perceptibly when he saw me follow them out the window.
I could hear him shouting something, and he spread his arms and legs out so he looked like he could be mounted to a St. Andrew’s cross. His fall slowed dramatically, and he reached out for me, snagging me around the waist as I raced past him. He wrapped his arms around me and twisted; I lost sight of Bahlin. Everything went black, my ears popped and with a flash of light I found myself mashed into an Oriental carpet that didn’t belong to the hotel, trapped beneath a great weight.
Hellion pushed himself up and I choked, gasping for air. He flipped me over and crushed me to his chest.
“Holy hell, woman.” His limbs shook, though whether it was from restraint, fear or fury was beyond me.
“What happened to Bahlin?” Tears coursed down my cheeks. “Tell me,” I screamed.
“I don’t know, lass.”
I pushed against him, scrambling out of his arms. “You son of a bitch! You did it on purpose! You threw him…you threw him—” I huddled on my knees, arms clenched around my middle, and rocked back and forth as shock settled over my body.
“Maddy—”
“Scry, damn it,” I screeched, hysterical. “You find him.”
Hellion pushed himself to standing and went down a long hallway off the living area we’d materialized in. He came back, holding his side, and sat on the ground. He unfolded a map of England and Scotland, went through the centering ritual and took the crystal hung from horsehair out of a velvet bag. He began with small circles, ever widening, until he’d moved more than a hundred miles in any direction from the hotel.
Head down, he mumbled something unintelligible, then asked, “Is there a chance he cloaked himself?”
“He told me he was bound to cloak in darkness. And I don’t know if he could cloak when he hadn’t shifted. I’m going to say no, he didn’t cloak himself.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, looking up at me with flat black eyes. “I’m so sorry, Madeleine.”
I shook my head. “No. He’s not dead.” I choked on that last word. “Until there’s proof, absolute and irrefutable proof, I won’t believe it. I need to get back to the hotel, see if he’s there. In the meantime, hand me your phone.”
Hellion moved slowly to dig his phone out of his pocket and hand it to me. Our hands touched. I jerked away.
Dialing Bahlin’s number, I waited. It rang once, then went straight to voicemail. Closing my eyes and breathing slowly, I waited for the beep. “Bahlin, it’s me. I need you to call me, let me know you’re okay. I don’t have my cell but I’ll get it. In the meantime, call the number that showed on caller ID. It’s Hellion’s. Just…let me know you’re all right. Please.” I didn’t care that the message sounded like pleading.
Hellion reached for me. I shrugged his hand away and clung to the phone. He’d call back. I knew he’d call back.
“Madeleine.” Hellion’s voice was gentle, too gentle in the given situation, and I flinched.
“You don’t understand. I can’t be sure, absolutely sure, until I see the—“ I stumbled a bit, unable to say the world “body.” I just couldn’t. It would be too much like accepting this at face value, which I refused to do.
“I’ll take you to the hotel,” Hellion began, and I scrambled to my feet. He shook his head. “Not now. I’ll take you tomorrow, when the dragons will have either vacated or calmed down. To walk into that mess now would be akin to calling for war, and I won’t do that.”
A cold weight settled in my chest. “I need to go now.”
“You’ll stay here, with me, until we get this sorted out.” He held up a hand to stave off my indignant protest. “Listen to me. There’s a killer out there targeting women who look like you, the weyr is going to be angry one way or another, Imeena is still unaccounted for, and frankly you’ve made quite a few enemies. You’ve nowhere else to go that’s safe.”
That cold weight in my chest intensified, making it hard to breathe. Rubbing between my breasts didn’t help, and my panting became more noticeable as I fought for air. Hellion reached for me and I flinched, but it didn’t stop him. He turned me gently and traced fingers across my back. The weight dissipated like mist in the sun, fading to nothing in a few seconds.
He laid both hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. “Better?”
“Yeah. Thanks.” I looked up at him, and that pull of familiarity, that sense of belonging, flared. I stepped back, breaking away from his touch, but the feeling lingered.
“You need rest, Madeleine.”
“It’s just Maddy. And no, what I need is to go find Bahlin, but thanks.” I looked around the room for the door.
“Stay here tonight and I swear I’ll help you look for him tomorrow. Give the weyr time to tend their own—“ I jerked at his words “—regardless of what that may mean.”
The phone in my hand rang, startling me so badly that I dropped it. Hellion leaned in and picked it up, answering smoothly. The conversation was short, his face blank of any emotion. Hanging up, he turned to me, and his face went from blank to compassion.
“No,” I whispered, backing away from him and shaking my head. “Don’t say it.”
“I’m sorry, Maddy. A few things were found below the window—a broken watch, some blood, a single shoe they believe is his—but no…body. It’s missing. The weyr’s afraid he may have somehow survived the fall only to have been grievously injured. If so, they believe he may have hauled himself somewhere private to...” Hellion looked down, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s not checked in with anyone, his brother’s frantic—“
“How can they just assume the worst?” I demanded. “They can’t be sure. If he did ‘haul himself off,’ it could be to get help or else to treat himself on his own. You can’t just assume he’s dead without proof.”
“He would have reached out to the weyr healers for help. And where would he go that his own people, his personal sentinels, wouldn’t have checked, Maddy? They’re as desperate to find him as any but you, I’m sure. And they have access to magic of their own, whether it’s truly theirs or simply purchased.” He paused, running his hands through his hair. “Between what they’ve said and the fact I’ve yet to find a trace of him, you’ve got to brace yourself for the likelihood he’s dead.”
The word rocked me back on my heels. Dead. I couldn’t rationalize it. “But I have to see him. I have to know, Hellion.” My voice sounded small, uncertain. I sank to my knees and buried my face in my hands.
Hellion gathered me up in his arms and took me into what had to be his bedroom. He laid me gently on the bed, unfolding a quilted silk coverlet over me. Kneeling next to me, he took off his shoes and shirt and crawled under the cover.
“No,” I whispered. Bone-chilling numbness was spreading through my body at an alarming rate. Shock, my mind whispered gently, you’re in shock.
“I only seek to offer you comfort. I never would have done him permanent harm, Maddy, particularly knowing it would cause you heartache. I’m so sorry.”
I nodded. His acceptance that magic proved Bahlin was gone began to seep into me, and I felt a massive wave of grief roaring up from deep in my soul. Needing ease from any source I could find it, I turned and let him tuck my face into his bare shoulder. I jumped at the heat emanating from his body.
I couldn’t stand having my nose pressed into his skin when it smelled so different from my dragon. I turned my back to him, and he spooned against me, wrapping me tightly in his arms. It was an awful comfort.
Sleep, elusive sleep, didn’t find me that night.
Chapter Six
I was staring at the same wall I’d watched all night when the sun broke over the horizon. Hellion’s breathing was slow and even but I didn’t think he was asleep either. The night had seen me swing back and forth between despair and rage, shaking with each emotional shift, as I waited. All night I clutched the phone, mentally willing it to ring. The silence had been an unkind companion.
Hellion had held me tight, never making it a matter of sexual interest but rather human support. Not once did he complain.
“You need to get some breakfast,” he finally said, speaking into my hair so his breath was hot on my scalp.
“I’m not hungry,” I croaked.
“It’s not a matter of hunger, Maddy, it’s a matter of survival. Your body needs fuel. I’m going to the kitchen to make you put together a smoothie. It’s not open for debate. Any flavor requests?”
“Strawberry.” I ignored the command and gave in to the practicality. What was the point in fighting?
“Done.” He got up and tucked the coverlet around me while I continued to lie there.
“Then you have to take me to the hotel,” I murmured.
He traced a hand down the back of my head. “As I promised, so I’ll do.” Then he was gone.
I could hear him rummaging around in the kitchen, pans and such clanging as he dug out whatever he needed while muttering to himself. I felt like such a traitor, having spent the night with Bahlin’s potential killer… No. I couldn’t think that way. I’d seen the whole accident, and logic had to rule my thoughts. Bahlin had started the fight despite my admonition about no retaliation. True, Hellion had continued the fight, going so far as to even follow Bahlin out the window. I’d lay no blame anywhere. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t grieve the loss, whether it proved temporary or more permanent.
The sound of the blender ripped through the silent morning, and I winced at the obnoxious grating noise. Burrowing farther under the covers, I realized I was cold without Hellion.
He walked back into the room carrying two smoothies and I sat up, folding the coverlet to the side. He smiled gently and, setting the glasses on the night table, he scooped me up in his arms and folded the bedcovers back before setting me down on the mattress. I propped myself up on the pillows and he crawled back in bed, handing me one of the glasses. I snuggled up to him for his warmth and drank.
“Thank you for this.” I didn’t know if I meant breakfast or the night just passed. I didn’t intend to look too closely at it.
“I’m so sorry, Madeleine. For all my new and unexpected jealousy, I never meant to seriously hurt him.”
I turned in slow motion, a horrible thought crossing my mind. “Did you kill him to satisfy your debt against Gretta’s life?” If he had, I’d kill him myself.
His eyes flared with shock before settling into outrage. “No. I told you, that debt is long past, particularly with our situation. Had Gretta lived, I would have left her, if not for cheating with Tarrek then because I’ve found you. Gretta is done, history.”
I nodded, settling back into numbness. I had new empathy for how Hellion must have felt when I killed Gretta. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you I was really sorry for killing her. I was, you know.”
“Not so directly. But I know well enough now that you’re not comfortable with killing, Madeleine. Your job will force you to handle it, but you will never kill indiscriminately.”
“Thanks, I think,” I muttered, finishing my drink. I lay under the covers, shifting to my side so I faced him. Hellion slid down with me so we were lying with our noses only inches apart.
He kissed my forehead gently and I pulled back, too broken to rail at him for a simple kiss, too scared if I didn’t move he might try to take it somewhere I wasn’t ready for it to go.
I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. “I need to get it together and go to the hotel.”
“Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up, and we’ll go. For now, rest. I know you didn’t sleep last night.”
I shoved pillows up behind me, displacing him and forcing him to move back some. “Will you turn on the news so I can watch for any additional information on the murdered girls?” I asked. “I have to get my mind off this while I wait on you. Work might help.”
He nodded and flipped on the TV with a wave of his hand. Surfing to the local station, he settled down to wait with me. I was about to ask him to get moving so we could leave when a local reporter came on with a news update. “Again, today’s victim was found outside the Pemberton Hotel, near the valet entrance, her throat slit ear to ear. The victim profile seems to be the same. Panic is beginning to take hold as Londoners wonder exactly who it is targeting these similar young women. I’ll bring you more information as it’s available. Back to you at the station.” Hellion switched off the TV and I lay there, the smoothie a heavy block of ice in my stomach.
I wondered about Imeena, the rogue vampire and former member of the High Council who had defected with Tarrek. She’d also been intimate with him. Imeena was vicious and hated me with a passion I hadn’t recognized until it was nearly too late. My hand unconsciously caressed the small scars her fangs had left on my neck. “That’s three in three days. No one’s found Imeena yet, have they?”
“No, no one’s seen her since she escaped the night we took Tarrek down.” He shifted to lean on one elbow and look up at me. I fumbled with the edge of the comforter, feeling like I had with Bahlin weeks ago—uncomfortable, uneducated, unprepared. “I suppose…well, I suppose she could be biting the victims and then slicing their necks to hide the evidence?” I posed it more as a question than a statement, so if it was foolish I had an out.
Hellion pushed himself out of bed and began to pace around the large room. He was irritated, his steps choppy and unbalanced. “What concerns me the most is that the newest victim was taken down at the Pemberton without witnesses and that she, again, looks like you. We have to assume someone is trying to kill you, Maddy.”
He hadn’t answered my question, so I forced my mind to slow down, consider the facts and apply a liberal dose of logic. I knew each woman had looked similar to me, at least from the back. Each murder was moving the killer closer to my last location. Bahlin had said their throats had been slit from left to right. Slicing is a pulling activity whereas stabbing is a pushing activity. Logically, this meant the killer was right-handed. Bahlin had also said the blade was non-serrated, and I had taken him at face value, though I had no idea how he’d obtained this information or, when combined with the other facts I had, what it might mean. And, most importantly, I knew each victim had been killed at night. The murders had been fast and efficient, or else mind control was at play, because there were no witnesses.
Hellion stopped and looked at me. “What are you ticking off on your fingers?”
I hadn’t realized I’d been labeling each item with my fingers, but he was right; I had. “Facts I’m sure about.” I covered all my points, and he agreed with me. It looked like I was the target.
Hellion took a quick shower and, while I waited on him, I thought about the events of the last twenty-four hours. I couldn’t cry anymore, and I couldn’t be any more fearful or angry or confused. After a long debate, I had agreed to let Hellion go back to the hotel room alone to get some of my clothes and things and to scavenge for any information he could find on Bahlin. If the dragons were there and on the warpath, Hellion wanted me far away from the potential violence. I had grudgingly agreed.
Hellion walked out of the bathroom with a towel slung low on his hips, water droplets decorating his chest and arms, and his damp hair darker and heavier, hanging just past his shoulder blades. I openly stared, unable to look away. Guilt wound its way around m
y legs, whispering, “Bahlin, Bahlin, Bahlin,” and I couldn’t move.
Hellion noticed me watching him closely and he stopped. The dripping water made little pools on the hardwood floor, and still he didn’t move. His eyes were so alive, hungry. He raised a hand and trailed it slowly down his chest, sliding it between his pectorals, and my eyes were glued to his every movement. He swirled a thumb knuckle around his nipple and it rose slightly, his breathing shifting to shorter, harder breaths. He dragged his hand lower, pausing at his bellybutton.
I didn’t look away.
He hit that sexy, narrow strip of hair from bellybutton to groin, and his fingers played in the hair lightly before sliding lower, hooking the edge of the towel where an impressive, twitching bulge was starting. It demanded attention like a living thing.
I swallowed hard.
“Madeleine?”
“No.” I turned away from him and closed my eyes, breathing hard. I didn’t know if I’d ever wanted anyone so badly as I wanted him. But wanting and loving were two different things. I’d wanted Bahlin, had broken all my rules about fast sex, started truly falling for him and he’d broken my heart. It left me questioning whether or not it had ever been, or had the chance of being, real love. And didn’t that just make me feel horrid about myself. “No,” I said again, more firmly this time, though I still didn’t look at him when I said it.
“I’ll not push, but I’ll remind you that the prophecy is what it is. We’re predestined, Maddy,” he said, emphasizing my name. I looked back at him and he smiled. My tiny, answering smile trembled with uncertainty.
Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 Page 6