by Lisa Cardiff
She opened her mouth to ask what they wanted, but her words disintegrated into a finely ground dust that floated into the air, hovering just above the heads of the cloaked figures. When she blinked, they were gone and in their place was a torch flickering with a hallowed blue and yellow light balanced next to a glittering gold box. Thinking she was alone, she pushed herself from the floor, reaching for the lid of the box, but before she could touch it, she felt a cold hand shove her back to the ground. She looked up to see if the cloaked figures had returned; but instead, she saw Thomas Flannigan laughing.
She shot up in bed and screamed. The darkness of the room swallowed her scream. She lifted a shaky hand to her mouth, like she was trying to recall her scream. She couldn’t see anything, and she couldn’t remember where she was. Presumably, it was the middle of the night—the room was still cloaked in darkness. Uncertain of the layout of the room, she blindly sought the bedside lamp, knocking the alarm clock to the floor in her frantic fumbling. The fall jarred the on/off button of the radio, and static mixed with fragmented music slithered through the darkness.
“Shit, Shit, Shit,” Avery mumbled under her breath as she continued to fumble for the light switch.
“Would you like some help with that?” A beautiful, deep voice floated almost dreamily through the air from the corner of the room.
Avery’s hand froze mid reach for the light switch. She held her breath while her eyes desperately searched the far corners of the room, trying to locate the intruder. She couldn’t see or hear anything—no shadows, no movement, no sound. Despite the frozen, heavy silence, she was certain he could hear her heart violently pounding against her chest. I am not afraid, I am not afraid, Avery chanted in her head, too paralyzed with fear to move.
“Are you afraid of me, Ashling?” mocked the intruder.
Half blind with a breath-robbing fear, she couldn’t respond. Instead, she sat unmoving in bed with her hands shaking and her eyes wide, still frantically searching for any movement in the darkness.
Just as silence seemed to engulf the room, the man let out a bone weary sigh. “Are you going to faint? Before you do, may I suggest that you turn on the light so we can talk? I’m not here to hurt you.”
Avery’s eyes and ears seemed to have grown used to the dark. Now she could see shadows shifting in the chair, in the corner of the room, and she heard the faint rustling of clothing.
“I’m not going to faint, and my name is not Ashling, but I am calling for help,” she said with a degree of authority that defied her bone chilling fear. Willing her hands to stop shaking, she leaned toward the nightstand and turned on the light switch, flooding the room with a harsh yellow-tinged light. Before her eyes could adjust to the light, she blindly reached for the phone on the nightstand.
Unfolding his body from the corner chair with an inhuman grace, the intruder didn’t seem particularly concerned with her answer or with her threat to call for help. Before Avery could raise the phone to her ear, the man caught her wrist in one hand, using his other hand to take the phone away from her and return it to the receiver. Feeling a tingling burning sensation on her birthmark where his hand wrapped around her wrist, she tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he wouldn’t release her.
“That won’t be necessary. Like I said, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m going to help you,” the man said, gently rubbing the inside of her wrist with his thumb before he released her.
Avery raised her head to meet the focused gaze of the intruder, and she gasped, “You.”
“Yes, me,” he said, turning his back to her to sit in the corner chair again.
A shudder ran through Avery as she watched him stretch out his long, muscular legs in front of the chair. Clad in black pants and a black shirt, he had tousled black hair, iridescent, almond shaped eyes that changed from sea green to jade at a moment’s notice, and a firm, sensual mouth. His features were perfectly sculpted with chiseled cheekbones and a strong square jaw all wrapped in beautiful, gold-kissed skin.
She exhaled slowly, feeling almost dizzy with longing for this stranger in her room. She was a rational person, but she wasn’t feeling that way right now. She should run or scream or both, but she just couldn’t make her body do either. He mesmerized her with his perfect symmetry and sleekly muscled body, and for one crazy moment, she wanted him to kiss her, hold her, and protect her. They were two magnets drawn together; she tilted forward, unable to resist the pull. She should stop staring at him and run out the door, but she couldn’t help herself.
When she saw his lips curl up in a faintly amused smile, as if he knew exactly what she thought, her rational thought immediately returned, and the pull she experienced moments before disappeared as though it never existed. “What do you want?” she said, her voice failing to express the indignation she thought she should feel.
“Such an interesting question, but I’ll keep it simple and stick with the original reason why I’m in your room. It’s come to our attention that you need our protection.”
“Whose attention? Whose protection?” Avery’s question hung in the air and was met with absolute silence. Avery moved off the bed and stood to regain some semblance of control. “Are you going to answer me?”
“Does it matter?”
“Does what matter? Is that going to be your response to all my questions?”
The man shrugged in response.
Avery cleared her throat in frustration. “Yes, as hard as it may be for you to believe, your answers do matter to me. I don’t even know who you are.”
“Don’t you know the answers already? Think out about it.”
Avery let out a bitter laugh. “No. I’m not a mind reader.”
The man stood and searched her face as though he were looking for something, then he shook his head. “Perhaps I was wrong. I was sure you felt it too,” he said, his voice trailing off.
Avery opened her mouth to respond and then quickly closed it. “Who are you?”
“It’s not important.”
“Just tell me. It’s not complicated.”
“Everything is both complicated and simple.”
“I didn’t ask for your philosophy of life. A name will suffice.”
The man barked out his laughter. “Okay, it’s Kalen, just Kalen.”
“Well, just Kalen. What are you doing sneaking around in my room in the middle of the night?”
“All you need to know is that I’m here to keep you safe from the people who killed your mother. I’ll take you somewhere safe until you can protect yourself.”
Strangely enough, she believed him. The sincerity in his eyes calmed her, making her believe she could trust him, that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. “Who killed my mother?”
For a long time, he remained silent. “I think you know. Why don’t you tell me who you think killed her?” Kalen asked in a guarded tone.
“Would I be asking if I knew?” she retorted sharply.
Kalen regarded her for a moment. “Okay.” Kalen shrugged. “It was the Foundation.”
“What foundation?”
“I believe you’re very familiar with the Foundation.”
“The Foundation, as in my employer? That’s comical. They’re a nonprofit research foundation. Why would they care about Dierdre? Can’t you be a little more inventive than that? Do you think I’m so dim-witted that I don’t remember you watched me go into the Foundation yesterday?”
Kalen shifted impatiently in his seat. “Dim-witted? Absolutely not—unaware, uninformed, and naïve? Possibly.”
“Is that comment meant to endear me to you? If so, I think you’ve sorely overestimated your powers of persuasion.”
“I don’t need to charm you, just keep you safe.” Kalen flicked a piece of lint off his sleeve. “Beyond that, I have no interest in you whatsoever. Think of me as a mercenary sent to deliver you safely to… my proprietor.”
“Who is this so called proprietor?”
Kalen stood up and studi
ed the small hotel room with an air of indifference. Just when Avery thought he wasn’t going to answer her questions, he abruptly fixed Avery with his stare. “Why, my dear Ashling, I’m going to deliver you safely to your father—end of story.”
A wave of astonishment washed over her face before she could replace it with a look of practiced detachment. “Excuse me, did you say my father?”
“Yes. It will be a heart wrenching reunion, don’t you think?” Kalen responded, sardonically.
“Just for the moment, let’s ignore the fact you may be lying about my father being your so-called proprietor. Why, exactly, am I supposed trust you now that I know your proprietor is my father?”
“Blood bonds and all that.”
“From the little I know of my father, he is hardly trustworthy.”
“Ah, now we come back to my earlier point. You are uninformed, and just as you stated, you know little of your father. Without getting into the reason for your lack of relationship with your father, from what little insight I have into your situation, your mother hardly turned out to be a beacon of motherly love and affection. Given your mother’s track record and lack of candor, it would behoove you to ignore everything she told you about your father. He couldn’t be more neglectful or self-absorbed than her.”
Kalen wandered to the dresser, picked up Avery’s cell phone, and slowly twirled it in one hand. Avery eyed him with suspicion. He stopped twirling it and casually scanned through her recent texts and email. When she opened her mouth to protest, Kalen slid her cell phone in his pocket. “We really don’t have time to sit here and debate everything. Luckily, you didn’t unpack your suitcase, so it will only take a few minutes to get your things ready. I have to get you to a secure location before the Foundation comes after you.”
Kalen moved toward Avery’s open suitcase resting on the hotel’s luggage rack and started tossing Avery’s belongings on the top.
“Wait.” Avery held up her hand. “I’m pretty sure that I didn’t agree to go anywhere with you.”
“That’s funny. I don’t remember giving you a choice. You’re leaving with me, and that’s the end of the debate.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“Okay, you want a choice? Here is your choice: come willingly or forcibly.”
“While I am deeply touched by your concern for me, I think I’ll decline your offer of assistance and take my chances on my own,” Avery remarked sarcastically. “I don’t know you, and I’m not sure I believe what you said about the Foundation.”
“Come on, Ashling, I thought you were smart enough to put the pieces together. Didn’t you recognize the man in the room with your mother?”
Shadows flickered through Avery’s eyes and then abruptly cleared. “He may have seemed familiar, but that doesn’t mean anything. How did you know there was someone in the room with her?”
“Damn it, use your intuition. You can figure this out. I don’t have time to play nanny. Stop suppressing who you are and what you can do. This is ridiculous. Are you even Dierdre and Cian’s daughter? If you are, you should be able to read people. You should know what’s going on here.”
“I don’t know who I am. No one bothered to share that information with me. Why do you think I’m in Ireland?” Avery admitted, her voice quivering.
“Thank you, goddess Danu. At least you’ll admit some lack of understanding, and a curiosity to know more. That’s the first step. Now help me finish getting your things together and let’s get out of here. The sooner it’s done, the quicker I can deliver you to your father. Then, you can get those answers you came to Ireland for. Isn’t that what you want?”
Avery hesitated, unwilling to agree. Kalen stopped packing and studied Avery’s face. “Ashling, I’m not going to hurt you. You know that, right? Look at me. I mean really look at me without all the walls you built around yourself, like you did outside of the Foundation office and you’ll know the truth.”
“I can’t do it. I’m scared. I’m not sure I know what you’re asking.” Avery refused to make eye contact with him.
Kalen groaned in frustration. Without warning, her eyes met his, and she was unable to look away, completely mesmerized. Memories of every moment of longing and confusion she felt for the father she thought she didn’t know drifted through her mind and she felt duty-bound to go with Kalen to seek out her father.
As if coming out of a daze, Avery said, “Don’t worry, Kalen. I’ll go with you. I want to meet my father, and if that means I have to trust you to do it, I will. Just do me a favor, stop calling me Ashling. My name is Avery.”
Kalen exhaled loudly and a satisfied smile touched the corners of his lips. “Okay, Avery it is, for now anyway.”
In agreement, they both stuffed her belongings into her suitcase and Kalen quickly zipped it and carried it to the door. “Let’s go. We’ve wasted too much time already.”
As they left the room, the elevator door at the end of the hall opened and she heard two men talking in a hushed whisper. “She has to be back in her room by now.”
The other man responded, “I still think we should break into her room, grab her, and leave through the exit stairwell. Someone could be in the hall when she comes out in the morning.”
Avery froze and looked pleadingly at Kalen, her eyes round with fear. Cold sweat crept down her spine. He raised a finger in front her mouth to silence her, quietly closing the door to her room. When he grabbed her firmly by the hand, electricity shot through her arm, and Avery flinched and tried to pull away. His gaze hardened, and he tightened his grip on her hand, reminding her to remain quiet and compliant. Standing rigid with her back pinned to the wall next to Kalen, she frowned, but she didn’t attempt to resist again.
Kalen firmly pulled her arm and she felt herself inching quietly toward the exit stairwell. Behind her, she could hear the men arguing in hushed tones. Numbly, she noted each numbered doorway along the way as if it were some sort of a countdown.
“She’s leaving, follow her!” The man’s voice pierced through Avery’s limbo-like numbness.
Looking over her shoulder at the man at the end of the hallway, Avery let out a gasp. Another man came sprinting around the corner with a gun drawn. Kalen dropped Avery’s suitcase with a loud thud that reverberated through the empty hallway. Without pausing, he pushed open the door to the exit stairwell, shoving Avery in front of him toward the stairs. When she turned to look for Kalen, she heard a sharp, sudden burst of gunfire. A bullet whizzed by her head, and then she saw blood staining Kalen’s sleeve near his shoulder. Kalen slammed the exit door closed behind them, effectively buying them a few seconds free of flying bullets.
Just as she opened her mouth to scream, Kalen’s arms circled her waist, lifting her over his shoulder. Avery made a feeble attempt to protest, both hating and loving the contact with him, but he ignored her. “Be calm, Avery, we are going to make it—both of us.” Avery grabbed the back of Kalen’s shirt and closed her eyes, her silence a combination of shock and relief. Avery vaguely heard the men’s voices echoing off the concrete walls of the exit stairwell as Kalen raced down the stairs.
When they reached the ground floor, they burst through the door into the velvety darkness of the night. Wind whipped through her hair, heralding a coming storm as Kalen mechanically wove through the buildings near the harbor with a speed that surprised Avery. The men pursued them through the darkness for nearly a half hour, but they were never close enough to fire more shots. Soon the men’s fading voices melted into the night air, signaling their weariness of following them through the twisted streets of Galway.
Just as the rain began to fall, Kalen found shelter under a stone archway attached to the Galway City Museum. Gently setting Avery down on her feet, he leaned into the damp stonewall. Remembering his injury, Avery’s checked his shoulder. Noticing her scrutiny, Kalen shifted away, causing the light from the Museum to highlight his profile. He looked like a mythical creature, both dark and light, both good and e
vil.
Avery cleared her throat to break the silence and made her voice intentionally mundane. “Are you okay? Let me look at your wound.”
“There’s a lot more blood than damage.”
“There’s less blood than I expected. I can tear off some of my shirt to bind it and stop the bleeding.”
“That’s not necessary. It already stopped.”
Avery grabbed his arm. “At least let me look at it, so I don’t feel guilty that you carried me through the streets of Galway in the dark with an injured arm.”
“I heal fast. Don’t worry about me.”
Avery studied his face and noticed that his coloring was normal. In fact, his skin seemed to glow unnaturally in the darkened space. His breathing was even and clearly without pain. She shrugged her shoulders. “You look fine—healthy even. Where are we, anyway?”
“We’re under the Spanish Arch.”
“Why is there a Spanish arch in Ireland?”
“It’s a misnomer. The Spanish had nothing to do with the arch. It’s part of the original walls of the city designed to protect merchant ships from looting. It used to be called Ceann an Bhalla, which means Head of the Wall. Aren’t you some sort of history expert? Why are you asking me?”
She shrugged. “Just testing my knowledge. Thanks for the refresher.”
He snorted. “My pleasure.”
“Where are we going now?”
“We’re going to rest for a while. We’ll leave when the rain stops or when morning comes.”
Avery listened to the drops of rain as they hit the pavement. The sound soothed her frayed nerves and helped clear her mind. After the incident in the hotel, she wasn’t sure whom to trust. Maybe she should try to escape from Kalen too. Just because he said he was there to help her, and bring her to her father, didn’t mean she should believe it. Assuming he told her the truth, she still wasn’t positive that seeking out her father was better than being on her own. Nothing made sense. She was sure one of the men in the dimly lit hallway of the hotel was Thomas Flannigan. What would the Foundation want from her? They were just a nonprofit research organization, right? She shook her head as if it would unscramble the mystery. Maybe the Foundation wanted to protect her, and Kalen was the person she should be hiding from. After all, they didn’t shoot at her. They shot at Kalen, or at least she thought they did.