by Zoe Forward
“Feeling better?” he asked, his voice gritty.
Her heart flip-flopped. “How long was I out?”
“’Bout thirty minutes.”
He had held her for a half hour? Kiss him, her hormones screamed. Her mind said, No kissing. You’ve got a catastrophe to avert.
“I need to speak with Vance.”
“Why?” His body stiffened.
“He’s a problem. Imagine what he’ll think when he sees Ethan’s miracle recovery. Somehow, I’ve got to convince him to leave. I think Javen can make him forget.”
“Javen?” His aura went red and dark. Violent. Jealous.
She bit her lip to prevent a smile. He cared. And far more deeply that he’d probably admit.
“I have every confidence you could bully Vance into whatever you wanted, but I think Javen can use his special ability on Vance.”
“What special ability?”
“His mind-thing.”
“A mind-thing? I thought his mojo was fighting.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. You don’t know? How long have you known this guy? He can muck around in people’s heads. How can you possibly not know this?” In her mind she added, Stop looking at me like I’m about to get it on with Javen. I need his help. He might have a great ass, but I don’t want to touch it.
You’re the one that noticed his ass to begin with.
Kira sighed. “Give me a break. His ass has nothing on yours. Trust me.”
“Bad for him you took note of it at all.” Ashor wiped all expression from his face, although his anger crackled in the air between them. He moved her out of his arms and stalked to the door. “I’ll get Javen.”
When he returned a few minutes later, he scowled at Javen before leaving.
Javen maintained his post on the opposite side of the room throwing Kira a distrustful glower. The same crazy madness that resided in Ashor simmered beneath Javen’s surface. A slight intrusion pushed within her mind. In response, she slammed up a barrier she felt reasonably confident he couldn’t breach without making it obvious he was spying. Intuition told her if Javen could enter a person’s mind, he could probably make alterations in there as well.
She walked toward him.
Javen threw up his hands. “Oh, no. You bloody well keep to that side of the room. Ashor may be down the hall giving us the appearance of privacy, but I guarantee if you get any closer, there will be a bloodbath.”
She backed toward the sofa and sat.
“That’s better.” Javen began the process of hand rolling a cigarette. “Now, what do you want with me?”
“I need you to erase Vance’s memories. Make him forget all of this and go home.”
He dropped the cigarette and cursed. He swiped it off the floor and scowled. “I won’t ask how you know I could do this, but no.”
“Why the big secret? I think it’s pretty cool. And why not?”
“I haven’t found it to be a particularly useful skill.”
“You can scan through a mind and barely let the person know you’re there. It’s got to be difficult to sort through all the chaotic thoughts. ”
“The last time I attempted to induce amnesia the man forgot a lot more than what I suggested. Poor bastard couldn’t recall his own name and died of a stroke a week later. I passed out for two days from the backlash migraine.”
“Was that when you were less practiced?”
“It’s too risky.”
“Let me help. I should be able to help you not to pass out and control your pain.”
His scowl morphed into a no-fucking-way. Although intimidated, she pressed on, “Vance is now attractive to the Hashishins. Imagine what he’s noticed about you guys? Making him leave and forget is our best option. You haven’t got much to lose. If you don’t try and he babbles about something odd that happened here, Hashishins may torture him to death for the info. Think of him as a practice dummy.” She sensed the moment Javen’s deliberation changed to consideration. She rose from the sofa and moved to stand in front of him. “Please try.”
He nodded tightly. “No guarantees. The Hashishins will probably kill him anyway out of sheer spite. Aside from that, I’m high as bloody kite right now on some new turbo-charged meth. Who knows how that could affect things.”
****
Kira pushed into the kitchen and halted. The tension in the air registered about twelve on a ten-point scale. Vance paced. Christian tracked him with deceptively bored eyes from a nonchalant lean against a counter. Sweat dampened the chest and armpits of Vance’s tailored, light blue shirt. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing a heavy bandage over his previously slashed wrist.
Vance stopped and gave her a fierce glare that slid into a sneer of revulsion. She backed up a step, shocked. This was a new side. And, confirmed her instinct not to reveal her not-so-normal abilities.
“What the hell are you doing with these freaks?”
Javen said, “Christian, go have V to fix you up. We’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks,” said Christian who seemed almost giddy to exit.
He wore the same blood-soaked shirt. She reached out to catch his arm as he passed by. Quickly, she repaired what she could in the few seconds of contact.
She grabbed Christian’s arm to stop herself from going down when a wave of weakness hit.
He caught her and softly said, “Thanks, but you didn’t need to do that. Want me to get Ashor?”
“No. For right now, let’s try to keep him out of this. He’s, uh…not in the best mood. I’ll be okay.” She smiled reassuringly. Depletion drummed through her and she staggered, stabilizing herself with the counter Christian just vacated.
Vance shuffled away from Javen. “If you’re recovered, Kira, why aren’t you returning to Baltimore to get away from these crazies, especially that Ashor guy? He tried to kill me. Did they tell you that?”
She massaged her forehead against a budding headache. “I don’t think I can go back to Baltimore.”
“What do you mean you’re not going back? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see whatever caused that blood bath in the other room. You can’t even begin to imagine what that Ashor guy did to the man that had a knife to your throat. There was blood everywhere like a horror movie. Only, it was real.”
Vance stopped his tirade. His eyes glazed over. The revulsion was back. “You’re screwing him, aren’t you? Is this the reason you’ve become a cold fish in bed?”
Her cheeks blazed. “That hasn’t happened.” The word “yet” hung ominously in the pause after her statement. She cleared her throat. “Why don’t you have a seat and we can talk about this?”
“You want to screw him. How many months has this been going on?” He advanced fast, and grabbed her wrist with a twist.
She gasped against the pressure. Bones were within seconds of snapping. She pulled and twisted, but was unable to get free. Were she a bit less woozy, she’d unleash a can of whoop-ass on him. Her heart thudded loudly when she caught the insane glint in his eyes. Her peripheral vision saw Javen moving in fast.
In a flash, Ashor exploded into the kitchen. He punched Vance, knocking him to the far side of the room while simultaneously catching Kira against his side. He gently pushed her into a chair. Within seconds, he had Vance by his throat.
“I warned you,” Ashor murmured as he squeezed. Gurgling was all that erupted from Vance as he clawed at Ashor’s hand.
“Crap,” she said. Moving to Ashor, she placed her hand on his back. “He’s an asshole. We know that, but I’m okay. Let him go so Javen can do his thing.”
“The shit doesn’t deserve life.”
“Please.” She touched the arm crushing Vance’s throat, and absorbed some of Ashor’s violent energy.
The fury in Ashor’s gaze receded. He threw Vance away from him, but kept his body between her and Vance.
Vance stumbled into the kitchen table, struggling to breathe. “You’re crazy. You’re all crazy! Who are you people?”
Ashor gave
a slight nod to Javen. He then lifted Kira’s wrist, gently massaging. “How bad did he hurt you?”
“You prevented any permanent damage. Don’t worry.”
Sweat dotted Vance’s forehead as he backpedaled away from Javen. “Stay away from me with your weird eyes.”
Javen glanced uncertainly to her. In response, she came around from behind Ashor. Touching her hand lightly to his arm, she controlled the building pressure in his head. Within half a minute, her energy waned. She staggered and lost her connection to Javen. Ashor’s arm snaked around her, pulling her tight against him.
Javen silently stared into Vance’s eyes. Vance’s face went slack. Hypnotized, he gaped blankly at Javen, unable to look away.
Javen put a hand to his forehead. Kira knew that was her cue.
“I need to help him, Ashor. If you could just help me not to fall?”
The stubborn refusal in his gaze changed to concern.
She whispered, “I’ll be okay.”
He nodded but kept his arm firmly around her.
With a light touch to Javen’s shoulder, she discovered a singular, concentrated pain filled his mind. Sensing his hesitation, she squeezed his arm. And did what she could to alleviate the headache.
After a minute, the tension in the room disappeared. Vance slowly collapsed into a sitting position on the floor. His eyes drifted closed. He snored noisily.
“Bloody hell, I’m decently sure that worked. He should sleep until instructed to wake. I’ll have one of the gate guards transport him to Baltimore.” Javen laughed.
She smiled in reply. Weakly, she looked up at Ashor and mouthed, “Thank you.”
Ashor carried her to his office and laid her on the couch. Within seconds she slept.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ashor wished he could just lay his head on the desk and give in to the exhaustion pressing on his brain. Don’t. Too dangerous. He downed another energy drink, the sixth in ten minutes. Gods, the shit was nasty.
He reclined in his desk chair and watched Kira sleep. A part of him envied her. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he’d slept. Really slept. Not just passed out.
He closed the ancient, leather-bound text, the Thutmose Treatise, and flipped the desk lamp to low light. Now that he’d read and re-read the section on the akhrian five times in the past hour, he concluded he was fucked.
His oath to the gods required he persuade her to accept her role as their akhrian. And then stay away from her. Far away. For however long he remained in this life.
She shifted restlessly on the sofa. Her subtle fragrance wafted up his nose. Raw need gripped his lower body. His arousal strained painfully against the fly of his jeans. He shifted, unable to get comfortable, and popped open a new energy drink.
Right. Stay away from her. The two of them in the same room was the Titanic headed for the iceberg. He rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. Just kill me. Please.
Focus on consequences. If he horizontal mamboed with her, then the gods’ wrath would pour down on them. And the gods didn’t do wrist-slap reprimand. Case in point: Chapter twenty-two in the book. Early after their inception as the Scimitar, a magus took vengeance and killed the man who murdered his sister. Understandable. But definite rule breakage. The human this magus killed turned out to be the great-grandson of the god Thoth—bad luck—and the magus got himself sentenced to watch his senariai burn to death.
Nope, they were not going to break this do-not-get-involved rule.
But, holy shit, did he want her. He wanted to throw her up against the nearest wall or drag her to the nearest surface, be it horizontal, vertical, or any angle available. He wanted her so badly that his mind pushed responsibility into a dark corner where it could become best friends with Who-cares. Had he ever been this desperate for one woman?
No. Hell, he’d been trying to get her out of his head for years.
All he wanted to do was peel those horrid ill-fitting clothes from her body and lick his way down to where he wanted most to be.
A vision of her naked with that spineless asshole, Vance, flashed into his mind. The thought of that guy touching her made him killing crazy. Fury blazed hotly in his head. Mine.
Shit. Read the book again. Think: consequences.
****
Kira glanced around Ashor’s office. He studied an oversized book with yellowed pages. There were nine empty energy drinks, four sodas, and an empty twelve-pack of stay-awake pills strewn across his desk. A pulsating beat came from his headphones.
His dark eyes shot up and connected with hers. He pulled out the ear buds and fingered the screen of his mp3 player.
She moved less than gracefully to the plush chair positioned to face his desk.
Her inventory had missed a can of something called Nuclear Cheetah. She’d never heard of it, but it sounded supercharged. “If I dared drink that many cans of prepackaged adrenaline, I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a week. And the bathroom would be my best friend. Are you immune to caffeine?”
He swiped all the empty cans into a waste bin without comment.
She asked, “Ethan doing okay?”
He nodded.
His bared upper arms flexed as they crossed in front of his chest. The gold band around his right arm was sexy as hell peeking just beyond the sleeve of the black T-shirt. The poor guy had red-rimmed eyes and fatigue lines, despite the obvious caffeine bender.
“How long has it been since you’ve slept?”
He shrugged. “Who needs sleep?” Uncrossing his arms, he reached for the only energy drink left on the desk. His facial expression changed to determination as he took a sip.
She frowned. “Are you breaking up with me already?”
“What?”
“You’ve got that look as if you’re about to say, it’s not you, it’s me.”
He shook his head.
She smiled. “Thanks for coming to get me from the Hashishins.” She inclined her head and said dramatically, “Again.”
Anger pulsed from him in waves.
“Are you upset with me? It really wasn’t my fault Marelena poisoned me. And then Ethan needed help. I just couldn’t leave him that way.”
Ashor’s eyes roamed her body. He mumbled low to himself, but loud enough she could hear, “Not happening.”
“What? You’ve got that grim look again. The one that I know means you’re about to say something I don’t want to hear.”
“Tell me about your mother’s death.”
Kira’s body cramped in dread. Talk about conversation detour. “What? Did Kane say something to you?”
“Terek killed your mother while searching for me. Right?”
“How about we not rehash that episode of our lives? It’s history. You’re not responsible for the outcome. Blame Terek. Isn’t that enough for right now?”
“No.” He sighed deeply before he asked, “Then, why did you enter that hellhole to help me?”
Memories of Ashor’s agony flooded Kira’s mind. The suffering inflicted on him while imprisoned by Hashishins had been reflected in vivid exactness within her body. She had successfully kept those memories on off-limits lockdown for years. They were things she never wanted to remember. Things she absolutely never wanted him to know she knew.
Involuntarily her gazed darted to her hand. That had been the most unforgettable torment. It had seemed as if her flesh had swollen with each serpent strike. Her eyes met his. He opened and clenched the fist. She shuddered.
The memory of Ashor’s pleading cries to the gods for mercy reverberated anew in Kira’s mind, sending chills down her back. Worst of all was Ashor never vocalized those tormented screams. She understood his determination to remain silent and not give his tormentors any pleasure in their persecution. Thwarting them in this small way had been the only thing he controlled during that time.
But she had heard every single silent cry for two weeks. She had cried with him and then for him. Ashor’s last scream was the one she remembered the most.
It was the one that finalized her decision to find him and do whatever she could for the tormented guy. It was the soulful cry of an irreparably damaged man accusing his gods of abandoning him.
After several moments, Kira replied, “I just…I had to find you. Honestly, I couldn’t manage hearing any more of your suffering by the time I decided to search for you. You were in my head for a long time. My friends at school thought I was nuts. I’d scream at random and run from the classroom crying.” She was not about to admit to him she’d felt it as well. For days she’d lain in bed curled into a fetal position sobbing.
She watched Ashor’s pupils go pinpoint as he glowered. Somehow, she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her.
“I asked my mother to make sense of the experiences you inadvertently projected onto me. I thought I was losing it. At the point I went to find you, I would’ve done anything to make everything stop.” She shook her head and smiled sadly. “Mom had nothing helpful to offer other than to drink tea. The woman was a tea fanatic. Tea solved everything, in her book. She gave me some herbal stuff made of some Nigerian plant.”
“Did it help?” Ashor’s face lightened.
“No. And it tasted like burnt toast. But it was the last time we shared tea.”
“How much of my experiences did we share? Did you feel it?”
Don’t tell him. But he’d detect her lie. She averted her eyes and nodded.
“Impossible,” he said. “We had to have met at some point before then in order to form a bond that strong.”
“Trust me, we didn’t. If we’d met, I don’t think I would’ve forgotten. In retrospect, getting you out was completely insane. But something in me knew you were going to die unless I did something.” Her voice filled with disgust. “I overheard a group of them laughing at the things they’d done to you. They discussed Terek’s plans to kill you in some sort of ritual sacrifice the next morning.”
Silence rested thickly between them.
“I’m impressed you made it into the place undetected,” Ashor commented.
“Once I decided to find you, I figured if I couldn’t get you out, then at least I could meet you. Okay, really I just wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy. That you existed. You know the rest after that.”