Mask

by Jan Irving

  “Finn,” Luke whispered. “He shot me and—”

  “Do you know where?”

  “ Nick was talking about….” Luke closed his eyes, grimacing as he tried to remember. “About that fire at your apartment. How he was convinced all youd been through… was connected to that night.”

  Kains mouth hardened.“The fire. Someone died.” He looked at Ross. “Or did he?”

  “What are you saying?” Ross whispered. “ Nick thinks someones been stalking both of us for months. Someone who maybe wanted to get back at me… and you,” Kain said. “You havent met someone recently, have you?”

  “ Not that its any of your business, but yes. He reminded me of—” Ross paled. “Oh, my God! He was so jealous of you! I told Aaron over and over that wed only ever been friends.”

  “Stay with him.” Kain pushed Luke flat when he tried to struggle to his feet. “Youre shot, remember?”

  LUKE came around as he was loaded into an ambulance, Ross climbing in with him, looking dazed.

  “F-Finn,” Luke whispered.

  “Shhhhh. Im sure Kain wont let anything happen to him.” Rosss eyes were moist. “Hes actually a very good friend.”

  “The thing behind this… you know him?”

  Ross rubbed his jaw, still pale. “I might have been dating him recently. Again.”

  “IB-BROUGHT him, Aaron! The little troublemaker and his big

  fucking-mouth.” Finn shoved Nick into the gaping brick ruin of the penthouse. Nick looked around, taking in sodden furniture, the burned-out kitchen with silver appliances, an Italian hanging fixture nearly at floor level.

  The place was only a little worse off than Kains house, he thought with a touch of graveyard humor.

  “Kains fuck pad,” a grave voice informed him. “Once upon a time.” “ So I gather.” Nick folded his arms, trying not to give away how scared he was. “Youre Aaron, arent you? Rosss boyfriend, Kains rival. One of the dark fey fed too deeply off you the night of the fire and….” He swallowed, remembering how hed almost died when Kain had lost control.

  He took a deep breath, steadying himself.

  Kain. Kain will come for me.

  A rough laugh, like a blade scoring wet brick. “Finns mind is a little broken, like the rest of him, but hes been very useful this evening, bringing you here and disposing of Luke.”

  Nicks breath left him as Aaron stepped from the shadows. The cold, the driving rain, dissipated the worst of the smell but— “ Oh, fuck!” he whispered.

  “This is what your Kain made of me! You think he’s scarred? The fucker could still hire someone to service him, but those same whores would look at me and—”

  Nick panted, hand cupped over his nose to ward off the scent of the revenant. “All those boys. You raped them, killed them.” A smile revealed oozing gums. “Mitchell thought hed done it! I planned to lure Ross into that big pile where Kain had hidden himself and make it look like Kain had done his best friend.” The grind of denuded bone as Aaron lurched closer. “But then he found you. How, I dont know, but you werent one of the little rent boys he used. I couldnt find you.”

  “ In a chat room,” Nick clarified, throat tight as he saw Obsidian really had been lost, needing rescue, just as hed sensed so long ago. “We met on the Internet.”

  “ He became obsessed with you. Watching you at night working at that Pancake House. One night I almost had you when you threw out the trash but…. He wouldnt have liked you so much after I was done!”

  Aaron flattened a bony hand against one of the pillars, leaving a smear of congealed blood. “ Even set up your little boyfriend, Miguel, so you would break up and then Kain could touch you, have you. What would be better than if he believed hed killed you, his obsession? But Finn here kept fucking up, so I couldnt get to you.”

  Nick shuddered and looked to Finn. Finn stared back, eyes glassy but oozing slow tears, as if he were locked inside himself, locked inside since Aaron had violated his mind, broken it.

  “And Mark?” He swallowed thickly, not wanting to know, but driven now. Hed told Kain they had to look in the shadows. “ He was the quintessential victim. Kain already hated him for touching you. Finn kept me apprised of everything that went down at the house. I made him in my image, but taught him enough to trick you on Halloween.”

  “A revenant,” Nick choked. “You played the role of my rescuer, Armand. Was it just a game to you, watching Mark stalk me?” “ Mark fucked up. He lacked my patience.”

  Aaron yanked Finn close.

  Finn made a high, soft sound as teeth sank into his neck, tearing.

  “No!” Nick lunged for Finn. Aaron shoved Finn aside, so he crumpled to the burned-out hardwood, gasping. “ Leave him alone!” Nick bent down to cradle a shivering Finn, bruises, blood; for months hed been caught in a nightmare, kind, gentle, trying to be a friend to Kain. Even warning Nick away… to protect him, not from Kain, but from Aaron?

  A fist caught Nicks hair, yanking his head back. Aaron loomed over him, so fucking strong, teeth hung with shreds of skin. “ Niiiiicky. Your innocence, I want to put a bruise on it,” he said in that same affectionate voice hed used the night hed stalked Nick and Kain through Kains house.

  Glass shattered. Nick blinked as water lashed his eyes through the open windows, the tattered curtains shifting like rising ghosts. Kain.

  Hair in his eyes, crouched, glowing green eyes.

  He leaped for Aaron, hands wrapped around rotted flesh clinging to exposed bone. Wisps of hair shaking, plastered to a bare gleaming skull. Throwing Aaron across the room to smash into brick.

  And then Siren was also there, rolling with the thing, Aaron. Nick fell back, holding Finn, protective, watching Kain and Sirens shadows writhe as lightning illuminated the apartment in a burning second.

  In the dark again, the rain striking like piercing needles in flesh, Nicks hand searching, anything, anything…. Groping, hand on the empty wooden block that once had held kitchen knives.

  He grabbed the kitchen counter and made it to his feet. Kain with his arm around Aarons neck, struggling.

  Siren on the floor, head down, black hair soaked, bleeding—

  Nick swung and the heavy wood cracked two of Aaron s ribs. Eyes in open sockets tracked his movement as he struck again and again. Gasping, tears mingling with the rain.

  Kain sinking his teeth into Aaron, fingers gripping flesh like webs, tearing—

  And then Aaron was down and Kain stared across the space at Nick who was shivering, soaked, splashed by Aarons blood.

  With a choked sound, Nick rested safely in Kains arms. Kisses burning his face, his neck. But then Kain was shaking him. “I told you not to play detective!”

  Nick leaped higher in Kains arms, wrapping his legs around him as well as his arms. “Kain. God!” HIS coat wrapped around Nick, Kain looked over his shoulder at Siren, who was rubbing his shoulder, one eye swelling. He didnt look the smooth entertainer now.

  “ Hes safe.” There was relief in the enticing velveteen voice. Kain gave a curt nod.

  “Finns in my car; Ill take him to his Luke,” Siren promised. “Samuel will… dispose of Aaron.”

  “Siren,” Kain sighed. “Maybe one day, if Nick—”

  Siren shrugged, lips twisting. “Tempting as your offer is, I dont think Samuel would forgive me.”

  Kain lifted a brow. “That matters to you?”

  Siren didnt answer, already heading back to his vehicle. IN HIS bed at Kains house, Nick woke a few days later.

  “Finn?” he croaked.

  “Shhhh,” Kain chided. “You were far too sick. I didnt like it!” “Im sorry, Kain. I fucked up and you had to rescue me.”

  “ You did fuck up, but Id call it even. You rescued us both the other night, remember?” Kain stroked Nicks sweaty hair away from his forehead. “And anyway… you came down with a bad flu bug from getting soaked at the apartment.”

  “Kind of a comedown for the boyfriend of a superhero,” Nick said ruefully.

 
; “Some superhero.” Kain played with Nicks fingers. “You were right about everything. It was never me hurting anyone.”

  “Only yourself.”

  Kain swallowed, nodding. “You had a visitor while you were sleeping.” “ Who?” Nick frowned, drowsy, holding Kains hand.

  “My son wants to meet you when youre conscious.”

  Nick s lips curved. It would be okay. Kain was healing. Hed pulled off his rescue of the prince in the tower. “Id like that,” he said shyly. “As sizzling as our online conversations were, do you know what really drew me to you?”

  Kain shook his head, looking bemused.

  “I knew you needed me. And now.” He licked his lips. “I want my reward.”

  “Kitten!” Kain shoved him back onto his pillows. “Youre too sick.”

  “„M a bit feverish,” Nick judged. “But getting off helps.” “I doubt the nurse I hired will approve, Nick.” Kain swallowed thickly and Nick read his eyes, what he didnt put into words. I missed you. “ No screwing around now. If you continue to get better, you can consider it your reward.” Kain stroked the hair off Nicks forehead. His fingers were trembling slightly.

  Noticing that, Nick smiled. He knew where he stood, how Kain felt. He pulled him close and whispered his fantasy. TWO nights later, since he couldnt entice Kain any sooner while he was still so weak, Nick crouched in the awful seventies bathroom, nude, handcuffed to the towel rail.

  He looked over his shoulder at the shadow looming in the doorway, knowing just who it was. He remembered Obsidian telling him he wanted to chain you in darkness. You love being so fucking helpless. You’ll love taking cock, any cock, but especially mine.

  He made a needy sound as lubed fingers penetrated.

  “Shhhhhh.”

  Kain kneeling behind him, his knees between Nick s, and then the broad head broached him and his head fell back as he made another soft sound.

  Oh, yes, this is what hed been craving.

  Fucked like one of Kains hustlers, eyes heavy lidded as he lived it at last. “I love you,” he whispered. Kain s fingers twisted in his hair. “Mine, Nick.”

  Kain didnt say the words, but Nick felt them, in the building heat, in the way he licked his neck and then the searing bite that made Nick gasp.

  Love against his skin. JAN IRVING has worked in all kinds of creative fields, from painting silk to making porcelain ceramics, to interior design, but writing was always her passion.

  She feels you cant fully understand characters until you follow their journey through a story world. Many kinds of worlds interest her, fantasy, historical, science fiction and suspense—but all have one thing in common, people finding a way to live together—in the most emotional and erotic fashion possible, of course!

  http://www.janiceirving.com http://jan-revealed.livejournal.com