Just as I was about ready to attempt a trip over to the stove to remove the whistling kettle from the heat, Nate clattered back into the kitchen. He set the skirt and panties on the table next to me and headed over toward the range.
“I assume we’re having tea? Dani said she’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“I think that was Archer’s plan.” I unzipped my jeans and, using the table for leverage, stood, bearing all my weight on my uninjured leg. My other knee gave a pop, sending another wave of pain through my leg. I let out a short cry, and dropped back into my seat.
“You’re going to let me help you, and I don’t want any arguments.” Nate moved around to kneel in front of me, keeping his gaze clearly focused on my face and not lower down. “I’m going to have to look at that leg when I take off your pants. Just think of me as a doctor.”
“I don’t know why I feel so shy all of a sudden. You know that’s not me.” I wasn’t embarrassed by my body in the least, but right now the last thing I wanted to do was to give Nate a crotch shot.
“Maybe it’s because you’re giving up your business? Or maybe it’s just all the stress. Whatever the case, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. Now, I’m going to ease your jeans over your knees. This is probably going to hurt, but I’ll be as gentle as possible. I have to take off your boots first, though.” Nate gently removed my boots, setting them to the side. As he was easing my jeans down my legs, a sudden glimmer caught my eye. I looked over to see Marsh appear by the sink.
“Where have you been? And thank you so much for letting them know I was in trouble. You saved my life, Marsh.”
Marsh raised his eyebrows as he took in the scene. “Well, this is cozy. I’ve been out and about. I decided to follow the weretigers when they left the parking lot. Sure enough, they met up with Tricia Jones. They were having quite a tête-à-tête. She sure was pissed, I’ll tell you that. They told her about Archer, that you are hanging out with a chaos demon. That went over like a lead balloon and after she nailed one across the face with her claws when he laughed at her reaction, she stomped away, mad as a hornet. You know she’ll be out for revenge now, so you—all of you—should keep on your guard.”
By then, Nate had managed to get my jeans off. My knee was a throbbing purple mass of bruises, swollen double its usual size.
Nate let out a whistle. “You really banged this up. Here, let’s get your underwear and skirt on and then I will take care of this.”
He had brought a pair of panties that had plenty of stretch in them, so it was easy to slide them up my legs without scraping my knee. Standing up to get them up over my butt wasn’t quite as comfortable, and once again my knee twinged sharply. I winced, moaning as I leaned on the table hard, but at least I didn’t feel so exposed now.
“Here, let’s get this on you while you’re still on your feet.” Nate unzipped the skirt and gently slid it over my head as I raised my arms, one at a time so I could keep my balance. Then he positioned it at my waist and zipped it up. Relieved, and exhausted from the pain, I sank back into the chair.
“Teatime now.” Nate took a moment to pour our tea, then pulled out the bread and popped a couple pieces into the toaster. While it was toasting, he found an ice pack in the freezer, and wrapped it in a towel.
“This is going to hurt, and there’s nothing I can do to help that, but it will be good for your knee. Once you’ve got it flush against your knee, tell me what pain relievers you have and I’ll get them from your medicine cabinet.”
I took the ice pack and gingerly placed it against the bruises. If I had thought the pain was bad before, the sensation of ice hitting my knee made me want to scream. I doubled over, wanting nothing more than to throw the ice pack across the room and then throw up from the pain.
“Breathe. Breathe deep, honey.” Marsh was kneeling beside me. He reached up to pat me on the shoulder, but his hand went right through me and a look of consternation crossed his face.
“It’s all right. Thank you for trying to help. It’s my own fault; I got myself in the situation and I take full responsibility. I should have known better. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We’ve all done stupid things,” Archer’s voice sounded from behind me. He had come into the kitchen behind us. “I got the chains on. The snow is coming down so fast and thick that it’s wiped out any sign of our tracks from when we arrived. I think we’ll be okay heading back to White Tower Center, but after that we’d better hole up and stay home for the rest of the night.”
The toast popped up and Nate moved to butter it. He slid the plate in front of me, along with the honey jar.
“You need to eat something. You’ve had a rough afternoon and your body is in shock. So start with that, and I’ll see what’s in the refrigerator.”
I stared at the toast. “I’m not that hungry. I had that sandwich this afternoon.”
“Just do as he says.” Archer gave me a stern look. “I’m ordering you to eat—as your boss. Dig in. Now.”
“Okay, okay.” I bit into the toast, and the buttery rich flavor of the honey and bread hit my taste buds like a loaded gun. I moaned. “Maybe I am hungry.”
Just then, Dani joined us, dressed, with fresh makeup and clothes. “That feels better. The news about the vampire rights bill made me feel slimy all over.”
Archer glanced over at her. “What do you mean? What news?”
“You haven’t heard? In one week, the president will be signing the vampire rights bill into law. Strike up another victory for the blood-sucker crew and the Deadfather.” Her voice was icy, and she looked so angry that I was very grateful to be on her good side.
I was about to say something when she noticed my knee. “Good gods, what happened to you?”
“I screwed up. Thanks to Marsh, I’m alive. Well, Marsh, Nate, and Archer. But without them, I’d be in a world of hurt right now.” I briefly told her what I’d done and, when I finished, she reached out and flicked me hard on the forehead.
“You idiot. Just…next time I’m going to smack you across the head, woman. What the hell were you thinking? Didn’t you get it when I refused to let you pay for my shop repairs? We’re all in this together, Lily. You, me, Nate, now Archer. Even Marsh. You’re not fighting this battle alone. We won’t let you. Remember: the Souljacker is after us as much as he’s after you. And now we’re going to head over to Nate’s to make sure nobody has messed with his wards. After what happened at my shop yesterday, I thought it might be best. You’ll be okay with Marsh for now, won’t you? We’ll be back soon.”
“Of course. Go—it’s a good idea.” As they headed out the door, I glanced up at Marsh. “It’s going to be a long night.”
Marsh nodded. “I think I’m going to ask Mr. Whiskers if there’s anything he can do. I may not be able to understand him, but he seems to be able to understand me.” He hesitated by my chair for a moment, giving me a wan smile. “We’ll find Charles, Lily. We’ll find him before he finds any of you. Don’t worry, please.”
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him more than anything. But it was getting hard to be optimistic. “Do you really believe that? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?”
Marsh shook his head as he headed over toward the stairwell. “Mr. Whiskers is upstairs. I’m going up to talk to him. You call me if you need me.” He paused, and looked over his shoulder. “Lily, I don’t know what I believe anymore. But we have to believe that things will work out. Otherwise, what’s the point of trying?”
As he vanished up the stairs, I leaned back in the chair and adjusted the ice pack. He made a good point. I just wished we had more than fumes to go on.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
While I was waiting, I put in a call to Vesper. She came on the line almost immediately.
“Vesper here. What can I do for you?”
“This is Lily O’Connell. I got myself banged up a little today. In fact, my knee looks like a giant blueberr
y. Should I still come out tomorrow afternoon? If I do, I’m going to have to have someone drive me out and they will need someplace to stay besides my car.” I found myself hoping she would tell me to wait and come out when I was healed up, but no such luck.
“You’ll be here at one p.m. Bring whoever you need to; they can sit in the common room. If you can’t walk, I’ll have a cart waiting for you. There’s plenty you can learn that doesn’t require you to be jumping around. There’s more to being an Aespion than just fighting. You’ve got a lot of book learning and class time to put in. And we have to get you signed up on the payroll. You get paid for your training as well, so if you don’t show up, your pay will be docked.” Her voice was gruff, but I detected the hint of a smile behind it. I had a feeling she was the type of leader who would enjoy breaking people in.
“I guess I’ll see you then. And I will need that cart.” I was determined to make sure she saw my bruises, so she wouldn’t think I was slacking. I suddenly realized I already wanted to impress the woman. Which probably meant she was a good leader—inspiring your underlings was a skill and an art, not a given.
As I hung up, Nate, Dani, and Archer re-entered the room, the snow swirling in behind them. They were covered in thick flakes, and the chill and wind that burst through the door behind them was enough to make me shiver.
“How were the wards?”
“Good. Though it looks like somebody beat the crap out of Nate’s mailbox, but that could have just been some driver who slid off the road in the storm tonight.” Dani glanced at the window. “It’s blowing pretty bad. Are you sure you want to chance going to White Tower Center?”
“We have to. We need to talk to Ray Bender.”
“It’s supposed to die down around three in the morning. Until then, the city is ordering all vehicles to stay off the road. So let’s hope we don’t meet any cops along the way.” Nate began unloading a bag of groceries.
“We’re not exactly the Donner party, Nate. I do have food here, you know.”
He winked at me. “Yes, and we’ve eaten so much of it that I decided to raid my cupboards to replace some of what we’ve used up. Cookies, so stop bellyaching about it.”
Archer poked around in the refrigerator. “You don’t keep much real food here, do you? Mostly I see leftover takeout boxes that look a couple weeks too old.”
I shrugged. “Hey, I cook. I bake cookies and cakes, and I make sandwiches. That’s about the extent of my repertoire.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Nate said. “Lily is a damned good cook, but she just doesn’t like to do it.”
“I see. So she pretends she doesn’t know how in order to get someone else to cook for her. How often does that work out?” Archer was laughing, his hand on the cupboard doors as he peered inside.
“More often than not. Or it nets her dinner out.” Nate began stowing the groceries away.
“What do you do for a living again?” Archer glanced at Nate. “I remember computer something… How good are you with those machines?”
“Good enough to be one of the highest-paid developers at Modal Technologies. They were in a bidding war with two other software tech companies over me. I’d never told anybody this, not even Lily, but I have quite a reputation in hacking circles. MT hired me to break their systems as much as I could so they could tighten security. I’m the reason their software is trusted nationwide.” There was a flash of pride in his voice that I had never heard before, and it made me happy.
Archer cleared his throat. “I don’t suppose that you’re looking for a new job?”
“I’m not certain that you could pay me what I’m worth. I like my job, but I am available to freelance on the side as long as it doesn’t conflict with what I do for MT.”
I lifted the ice pack to examine my knee. It still looked like shit, but the throbbing had lessened some. I leaned over for a closer look, and winced. A knot had formed on the inside of my knee, and it looked like somebody had taken a sledgehammer to my leg. I poked at it, swearing loudly as my finger triggered a ripple of pain.
“Stop playing with it,” Dani said. “The more you play with it, the more it’s going to hurt. I wonder if you broke anything in there. You can’t walk on it.”
“I better not have broken it. Shattered knees take forever to heal, even for the Fae. I really should see a doctor about this.” I let out a long sigh, not wanting to resort to drugs but realizing it was going to be a while before anybody could take a look at my injury. “Nate, I forgot to tell you. If you’ll run up to my bathroom, you’ll find a bottle of pills labeled ‘Arnricat.’ If you would get them for me, I’d sure appreciate it. That’s the strongest pain reliever I have in the house. And lucky for me, I can take it with a good glass of wine.”
As Nate headed upstairs, I glanced over at Archer, who was stirring together the stovetop casserole. My stomach rumbled as the smell wafted past me.
“I had a rather disturbing thought a moment ago. What if the Souljacker and Ray traded tattoos? It’s not uncommon for artists to ink each other. That would mean Ray’s in danger. We’d better warn him when we head over there.”
“Good thought. There are a lot of people who are in danger thanks to Terrance Schafer. If he’d let his son be properly taken care of, this wouldn’t have happened. Of course, the situation was horrible, but a vampire isn’t the person they were in life.”
“I wish I could have staked Greg,” Dani said in a soft voice. “I could live with the memory of that a lot easier than what I live with now.”
Nate returned with my Arnricat and brought me a glass of wine. I downed three of them, as well as the entire glass. The tablets were an anti-inflammatory, used by the Fae like humans used aspirin and ibuprofen. “You really should eat more than toast.”
“He’s right.” Archer knelt by my side. “Anytime you sustain an injury, your body uses extra energy to cope with it. I have no doubt you’ve used up your reserves. How are you doing on chi?” His frank question startled me.
I was about to answer that I was fine, but I stopped and assessed myself. I closed my eyes and listened for the hunger. It was there, hidden beneath the pain. “I think that I need to feed soon. It would help my injury as well. Chi helps us heal. It won’t fix me up totally, but it would lessen the pain and probably reduce the swelling.” I glanced over at Archer.
He caught my look and nodded. “Nate, do you mind making me some coffee? I’m going to need the caffeine.” He glanced over at Nate. “So how did you and Lily meet?”
Moving to the cupboard for the coffee, Nate answered, “When I moved in, I saw Lily’s sign. I decided to come over and say hello, given that I had no clue what she was doing here.”
It was true—my signboard simply read LILY BOUND — A PRIVATE SALON.
“I invited Nate in for tea, and we got to talking. He seemed cool with what I was doing, and when I realized he was a computer tech, I thought it might be neighborly to hire him to set up my website. I had one, but it was pretty rudimentary. Nate showed me samples of his work and it was brilliant. He also set up my financial spreadsheets and helped me create ads to bring in business. We started having dinner once a week, and it didn’t take long before he became one of my best friends.” I glanced over at him fondly. “He worms his way into your heart pretty quickly.”
Nate blushed, but finished making Archer’s coffee.
“Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?” Archer asked him.
That brought Nate’s attention around. He glanced me, then at Archer. “I don’t talk about it much, but no. I haven’t found anyone I really click with yet. Most women are attracted by my money, but when they find out that I’m… Let’s face it, I’m a geek who’s married to his job. That turns most women off really quickly. I’ve had a couple of girlfriends, but it was a game to them. After a while, they wanted someone who would fawn over them and go to parties, and I’m just not like that.”
His voice was so sad that once again I vowed to find him the right match. I
was hoping that Archer wouldn’t make fun of him, and I wasn’t disappointed.
“That’s rough. It’s not easy to find someone to love, no matter who you are. Are you open to nonhumans? I know a variety of people, and I might know a couple women you might hit it off with.”
Nate blinked. “I’ve never really thought about it, but yeah—if you think we might hit it off, I’m willing to date outside my species.”
“Will a kiss be enough?”Archer carried my plate to the sink as I popped a mint in my mouth. I needed to make the kiss as hot as I could. Sex was out of the question until my knee stopped hurting so much.
I grinned at him. “Oh, don’t worry about me. A kiss will do fine. Come here, please.”
He dragged his chair over beside me, so that he was well away from my knee. “How do we do this?” he started to say, but I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.
Drinking chi was like drinking wine—you could chug it down if it was cheap, but good wine? You wanted to savor.
I slowly drew his life force into me, like a thin wisp of mist flowing from his lips into mine. As I swallowed the heady taste of his energy, it filled my lungs and rolled through my body like a warm fog, filling all the empty spaces where the hunger rested, uncoiling like a snake rising up.
The energy soaked through my muscles and raced through my blood like a drug. Archer was strong and his energy carried that strength. As it reached my knee, the throbbing began to subside. My shoulders sagging with relief, I drew him closer, my arms around him in a fearsome embrace. Another moment, and the swelling begin to reduce, the inflammation fading to a manageable level. His joy and sorrow, his desire—it all flowed through me in the taste of his breath, and I reveled in it, soaking it in till it hit my very core.
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