Bite Back 05 - Angel Stakes

by Mark Henwick

  What had she said to me when she’d visited me in the night? Something about deserts and rain.

  I couldn’t remember; the whole conversation seemed blurred. It must have been when she altered my memory of Kaothos for Huang to find. I could remember agreeing to something. But all the words escaped me.

  I could remember that Athanate love poem. That had deserts and rain. Jen always quoted it when I bit her. I tried that.

  In the desert, I am your rain,

  And in the darkness, I am your light.

  I make this gift with love that we both may live.

  A sigh from her, a definite sigh.

  “You said you’d wait for me,” I whispered. “I’m here.”

  Had her lips moved against my neck? Was it just my imagination?

  My pulse thundered in my ears.

  I swallowed. “Trust thyself—” I began.

  “…and another will not betray thee.”

  Her words were silk against my skin. And behind the softness came fangs.

  I gripped the edges of the bier so I wouldn’t move. Her fangs buried themselves in my neck, and she pulled.

  “Oh, God,” I muttered. Lights exploded in front of my eyes, and my knees began to buckle.

  Alex’s hands caught me. Steadied me.

  “What’s happening?” Jen.

  Worried. But there was nothing to worry about now.

  Skylur. “It’s all right.”

  The world went pale. Pleasure flowed up out of Diana and soaked into me, poured out of me like I was a leaky pot, and washed over everyone in the van. Gasps and staggering.

  And following that burst of pleasure, streaming up from Diana: another presence.

  The van filled with mist that rolled and spun. It made a sound, like the sizzle of water on hot coals.

  I knew who it was, but I didn’t dare move with fangs in my throat.

  “Kaothos!” I hissed.

  She played her half-manifesting trick, filling the van with shimmering, sliding scales and rubbing against everyone.

  “Amber Farrell,” she hissed back with her laughter. But she stopped teasing.

  From their reactions, I could tell everyone in the van could hear Kaothos.

  “Mmm.” Diana’s arms reached around me. Her fangs withdrew and she ran her tongue over my neck. Aniatropics stung for a second before some analgesics kicked in. The area went sort of numb, leaving just an afterglow of pleasure.

  “Damn you,” I murmured, blinking. “Damn both of you for doing that to me. I thought…”

  “Sorry, Amber. Both of us are sorry.”

  She gave me one last squeeze and then pushed me away gently before stretching out an arm.

  Kaothos twisted and manifested as an iridescent blue lizard a foot long. She perched on Diana’s arm. “Yes, Amber Farrell,” she said. “We are sorry for tricking you.”

  “I don’t believe you, lizard.”

  Kaothos opened her mouth and hissed in mock disbelief and outrage.

  “That’s a clever trick, manifesting as a lizard,” I said. “Somehow appropriate.”

  “We have learned many new tricks,” Kaothos said, waving one leg.

  “Really? So, how powerful are you now, lizard?” I said. “Can you predict the future, for instance?”

  “I knew you were going to ask me that,” Kaothos replied, and we all laughed.

  “Kaothos has been hiding with Diana since Carson Park?” Alex asked.

  “She has,” Skylur said. “It was difficult, for both of them.”

  I had a flashback to strange visions of running through rooms, knowing someone was hiding from me. And that night when Diana had visited me: I’d woken up to a fleeting impression of dragon wings.

  “Kaothos wasn’t strong enough to defend herself against all the Empire’s Adepts,” Diana said. “I knew that right away. She didn’t agree at first, but she realizes now that hiding was the best option. She’s eager to return to your friend Tullah.”

  “Huang’s Adept saw Kaothos die in Amber’s memories,” Alex said. “That was…”

  “A false memory,” he said. “Amber agreed to let Diana make that change to protect Tullah and Kaothos. Breaking the lock on Diana was very nearly the death of Kaothos anyway. A tiny twist at the last moment was all that was required. But of course, once it was done, the memory that it had been done had to be erased as well.”

  I stared at him. “You intended all along to allow him to probe my mind?”

  Skylur inclined his head. “There was a limit to hiding Diana from him. It seemed the best way. I’m sorry that, once again, you’ve been our unwitting stalking horse.”

  “Well, this time I agreed to it, apparently.”

  The thought of my memories being altered, even with my permission, gave me cold sweats.

  Diana remained lying down, looking weak. That didn’t stop her and Skylur from exchanging a rapid update in Athanate of what had happened while she was ‘dead’.

  “Very well,” Skylur said to me. “There is no other way I can see to do this. Huang must not hear, so we will need to keep the knowledge of Diana and Kaothos to the fewest people possible.”

  “Until Kaothos is strong enough to stand against the Empire,” Diana said with clear confidence that it would happen.

  “While we wait for that, you cannot come to New York with me, Diana. You and Alice will need to stay in Denver.”

  “Good. Exactly where a Mentor should be,” she murmured.

  “Tullah and her parents as well. Even after we get Kaothos back to Tullah, we must keep this secret.”

  Kaothos crawled in beside Diana’s neck.

  “We must lie to friends,” she said. “Amber Farrell told me that I should not lie and I have come to believe she is right. I do not like lying.”

  “We need to,” Diana said softly.

  “Not forever, but we will need to mislead the rest of the world while we guide it to safer waters,” Skylur said.

  “It will not happen in a rush,” Diana said. “We are not at the end for Emergence.”

  Skylur laughed. “At best, we’ve reached the end of the beginning.”

  He clapped his hands. “We will all need time to recover before the next step. You as well, Amber. The ‘trick’ to getting Kaothos back to Tullah may be difficult, and we can’t start until Diana’s recovered. Once we start work again, we have a lot to do. Discover exactly how useful your Carpathian connection will be. Find out if your Blood will reduce crusis and infuse hybrids. Explore exactly what Adept powers you have. So until then, you and your House rest. My orders. Christmas with your family. Food and wine and television. Cards and presents. Go. Now.”

  “Go,” Diana echoed. “I will come to you with Tullah, and this creature.” She flicked at Kaothos, who sizzled quietly and rubbed herself against Diana’s shoulder.

  Chapter 72

  We didn’t all go straight back to Denver. Six of us helicoptered in to Jen’s ranch in the Rockies. The place she never took other people back to.

  I was expecting a mansion, but it was a ranch, a working ranch, and Jen left us for an hour to talk with the ranch hands and fuss over her horses.

  Yelena, Julie and Keith had gone crazy. Luxury accommodation, and they were making preparations to spend the time outside. Snow camo, backpacks, dried food—the works. They’d even changed the lube on their guns.

  “You sure?” I said to Julie. “Gonna be cold out there.”

  A snowstorm had followed us in and chased the helicopter back down to town.

  On a clear day, the ranch overlooked a steep valley. It was already blanketed in snow, and the wind was blowing ten-foot drifts up against the steep sides of the house. With the wind chill, it had to be around 15 degrees below freezing.

  Julie was acting twitchy—checking and double-checking her equipment.

  “That’s the whole point,” she said. “Yelena wanted us to show her the basic Ops 4-10 training for extreme conditions.”

  I bit my lip. I had an
opinion about the whole point of this little expedition.

  “Well, remember all that stuff about the importance of shared bodily heat and so on,” I said.

  “If I recall correctly, I was the one who trained you, back in the day.”

  And she was absolutely right. She’d shown me how to dig holes under the snow, packing the sides so they wouldn’t collapse, closing the snow over us to retain heat and then occasionally breaking through to breathe. We’d done that in Alaska, and just thinking of it made me shiver.

  “Well, then, Yelena will be in very good hands,” I murmured.

  Julie glared at me.

  “Not getting any warmer,” Keith said, as he limped toward the patio doors. “Let’s go.”

  Yelena was holding something up and taunting me. A cellphone.

  I reached for my pocket.

  Yeah. My cellphone.

  She laughed and was outside before I could reach her.

  A flurry of snow swirled around them, and then they were just shadows fading into the white.

  I got cold just watching, until Alex’s arms wrapped around me from behind and I was warm again.

  “Are they really going to be guarding us while they’re burying themselves in the snow?” he said.

  I snorted. “No real need for guards. No one’s getting in or out at the moment.”

  I twisted around and nuzzled his neck.

  Mmmm.

  “What if Basilikos had left a team up here on the off chance that we—”

  I kissed him to shut him up. There was plenty of time to get back to being paranoid when we were in Denver.

  We heard the front door open again. Another blast of cold air and snow eddies came in with Jen.

  Alex and I met her in the hall, kicking her boots off after stomping them free of snow.

  “How are all the little horses?” Alex said. I elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Safely tucked in and happy for the moment.” She didn’t rise to his teasing.

  We met in the middle of the floor and did one of our three-way hugs.

  Strange that it could feel so good and so unsettling at the same time.

  Jen had something in her pocket and I shifted to stop it from pressing into my side.

  She saw.

  “I guess this is as good a time as any.” Her voice wobbled.

  Jen? Nervous?

  She reached into the pocket and drew out a box. It was rectangular, about the size of a hand, and covered in soft black velvet with a gold clip on the front.

  Jen fumbled with the clip.

  “I know there’s not a hope in hell that anyone official’s going to recognize what we have, I mean outside of the Athanate,” she said. “But I wanted…”

  Her voice trailed away.

  The clip finally released and she opened the box.

  Inside were six gold rings.

  Alex swallowed. “Isn’t it supposed to be five gold rings, four calling birds—”

  I hit him in the ribs again.

  “Two each,” I whispered, and Jen nodded.

  They fit perfectly.

  Whether it was wearing the rings, or just finding ourselves alone with each other for once, it was suddenly awkward.

  Jen was quickest to recover. “Let’s have lunch.”

  This was a ranch. No Carmen to cook, and it was only because she’d called ahead that there was any food in the kitchen. We’d cook together.

  “Steaks,” Alex said, looking into the fridge. “Or…steaks.”

  “Hmm. Wine first,” Jen said, opening a bottle of red wine and splashing it into glasses.

  She turned the stove on and toured the kitchen, retrieving what we needed.

  “Finger food,” she announced. “Spicy beef strips and chopped salad.”

  “Okay, I’m a doctor,” Alex said. “I’ll cut the meat.”

  “I don’t cry, I’ll chop the onions.”

  That left me with the chilies. “I need spicing up anyway,” I said.

  They laughed.

  We arranged ourselves around the central work surface and started. The wine was good.

  “Hmm. Can I taste black olive? Cherry?” I said.

  If he’d been the type to roll his eyes, Alex would have, but I noticed he topped his glass up. And since my wolf and Athanate had opened new experiences in taste and smell, I was going to enjoy them, whatever anyone else thought.

  I was worried about Alex. Apart from teasing Jen, he’d mainly been quiet since we’d left LA.

  “Happy?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “Well, you should be happier,” I grumbled. “You should be as happy as a dog with two tails.”

  Jen snickered, and even if he kept his grumpy face on, I was sure I saw the corners of Alex’s eyes squeeze a little.

  “Nulla cani iocis,” he said pompously, concentrating on slicing the fat from the meat.

  I looked at Jen for help.

  “The good doctor is showing off his Latin.” She put her knife down, took a nibble of onion and sauntered round the table. “No dog jokes, he says.” She walked behind him and her hands slipped around his waist. “So how do we do it doggy style, honey? Hmmm?” She pulled him against her. “Do we have to say wolfy style?”

  I choked on my wine.

  “Stop it. You’re embarrassing Amber,” he said. He was keeping his face straight, but I could see how much he was enjoying it.

  “Oh, I am, am I?” she murmured against his neck. “You know Amber goes pink for all sorts of reasons?”

  She tugged his shirt out of his jeans and her hands slipped sensuously over his belly, then trailed away till her fingers just scratched his skin, raising goosebumps.

  Then, having gotten a reaction out of him, she slunk around to my side of the table.

  “Don’t mess with me while I have a sharp knife in my hand,” I said, looking down at the peppers and chopping furiously. It was unfair to have my kin teasing me about my tendency to blush.

  “Hmm.” Jen yanked my shirt up without warning and slid her hands beneath. I bit down on a gasp. “See, Alex? Pink as a flamingo.”

  I leaned back into her embrace, dropping the knife and chili pepper, and turned my face towards her. Her lips met mine, full of wine, onion and promise.

  We broke the kiss and she nuzzled against my neck.

  “I think he enjoyed that,” she whispered.

  Alex was still trying to look serious, but I could see his jeans would definitely be feeling too tight. Jen had just put the lunch back by a good half hour, but she had also completely changed the mood.

  “This isn’t getting the onions chopped,” I said.

  “No,” she said, walking to the stove and flicking the main switch off. “What do you say we have a late lunch? Or maybe just dinner?” She grabbed her own shirt and in one languorous stretch lifted it up and off. She was so beautiful, my heart skipped a beat. Or three.

  She tossed the shirt over her shoulder and walked off, coyly glancing back.

  Alex growled and chased her, the steak forgotten.

  She ran. There was a delighted scream from the hall. More growls.

  I carefully washed my hands first; it wouldn’t do to rub chilies into anywhere sensitive. Then I followed slowly, collecting Alex’s discarded shirt and one shoe where he’d dropped them.

  The trail of clothing led me to the bedroom.

  They were stark naked and rolling on the bed.

  And yes, they were the most beautiful couple I’d ever seen.

  I expected a sting of jealousy. Nothing. Nothing but intense desire, so fierce I had to lock my legs to stop from collapsing.

  Jen took her hand off his butt, crooked a finger and beckoned me.

  I stayed on the other side of the room. My knees were about to fail and my fingers were trembling, but I refused to rush. I folded their clothes, ignoring the impatient growl from Alex.

  All in good time.

  My shirt that Jen had loosened came off. My bra. One boot.
Then the other.

  I had their attention all right.

  Alex made to get up and ‘help’ me with my jeans, but Jen dragged him back. He was much stronger, of course, but a man can be downright amenable when a woman has that good a grip on that part of his body.

  Bright-eyed with desire, they watched as I shimmied out of the jeans.

  Then the thong that Jen had bought me. Slowly.

  It was very hard to slink over to the bed with the strength draining out of me and my knees threatening to knock.

  I had so little control over my limbs, I thought I might not manage the climb onto the bed. As it happened, Alex grabbed me and yanked me down between them.

  In a second, I was pinned in place with them on either side of me.

  Déjà vu.

  “Now, where were we?” Jen said. “Can you recall, honey?”

  That was Alex-honey.

  “We had this tease right here, like this,” he said.

  I had to clear my throat before growling. “You were practicing kissing badly.”

  “I think she’s saying we have to do better,” Jen said.

  They copied me—they didn’t hurry it. Eyes drank each other in. I could feel their hearts racing. Jen gave a little sigh just as their lips finally met.

  Nothing bad about that kiss now, not from either of them. Hungry, rough and tender all at the same time.

  It lit me up, seeing their desire, sharing it.

  I wasn’t forgotten.

  Jen first. Her lips were soft, bruised with passion. I could taste her. I could taste Alex. Their flavors coiled over our tongues. Their scents were like wildflowers tangled through the lattice of my marque. Our marque.

  Alex nipped at my neck impatiently, and when I gasped, breaking Jen’s kiss, he nuzzled her aside and took over, kissing me hard.

  Jen enjoyed watching us as much as I’d enjoyed watching them.

  I rolled him onto his back, pushed Jen on top of him and mounted up behind her, pressing against her back.

  This was a horse ranch, wasn’t it?

  No law against riding tandem. If your horse can take it.

  I ran my hands over both of them. The feel of their skin set me on fire all over again.

  Alex sat up and ran the tip of his tongue over one nipple, making Jen groan. I cupped the other breast in my hand, loving the perfect weight of it, the softness, the hardness of the nipple under my finger.