Simply Irresistible

by Grayson, Kristine

  “Hmm.” He made it sound as if he were considering her statement, as if she were being really profound. She wasn’t even trying. She was just watching him move, enjoying his grace and power.

  “Viv,” he said. “I can’t concentrate when you think about those things.”

  She smiled. “Maybe you don’t have to concentrate.”

  “Maybe I should.” He was moving the boxes so that they all rested on the carpet instead of clothing, books, or shoes. “The fact that you recognized Erika O’Connell changes everything.”

  And then he stood suddenly. The movement seemed almost involuntary. He put a hand to his forehead, and Vivian felt a thread of panic run through her, followed by an exasperation she knew wasn’t her own.

  Neither was the panic. It had come from Dex.

  “You saw her at Quixotic?”

  Vivian nodded.

  “With Noah Sturgis?”

  Vivian nodded again. Her heart had started beating harder than it had been a moment earlier. She wasn’t sure if Dex’s panic had infected her or if she was responding to the sense of urgency that suddenly filled the room.

  “She owns KAHS,” Dex muttered.

  “Yes,” Vivian said.

  “Not K-A-H-S, like we’ve been saying it,” he said. “Like C-N-N. All separate letters. Sound it out. Kay-ah-sss. Chaos.”

  “Chaos.” Vivian felt the uncomfortable urge to giggle. “It almost sounds like something out of James Bond. What is that? Smurf?”

  “You mean Smersh?” Dex asked.

  Vivian nodded.

  “That’s Austin Powers,” Dex said. “Bond is Spectre.”

  “That’s even worse.” One of the cats got up, circled, and lay back down, pressing against Vivian’s thigh. “Why would anyone call her company chaos unless she was going for supervillain status?”

  “It’s a clue, Viv.” Dex grabbed his jeans and slipped into them. “We don’t use our real names, remember? But sometimes, we use things that are connected to us. A myth we created, or a work of art we’ve influenced. I’m sure the reason Blackstone called his restaurant Quixotic isn’t because he liked the adjective. I’m sure it has something to do with Vari. Didn’t you hear everyone call him Sancho?”

  Vivian nodded.

  “Erika O’Connell was in Quixotic,” Dex said. “I didn’t notice, but I wasn’t there long. I’m not sure I would have sensed her, since there were so many other magical people around.”

  He picked up his shirt and slipped it on without buttoning it. Then he handed Vivian her clothes. His mood definitely had changed. He even seemed to have forgotten his real hunger—for food, not for Viv.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. Apparently she was broadcasting, and he knew what she was thinking, each and every word of it. “It’s just this situation is even more dire than I thought, Viv. If she was in Quixotic, then Blackstone and Vari had to know who she was.”

  Vivian shook her head. She had no sense that Blackstone or Vari had lied to her about knowing who was going after the Fates.

  “Viv, they should have sensed her. They would have recognized her.”

  “Unless she was a regular customer.”

  “Why would she be?” Dex asked. “She’s from New York—or so all the gossip rags say. She wouldn’t be a regular in Portland.”

  “Maybe they know her from the past.” Vivian still couldn’t make herself say a few hundred years ago.

  “Maybe.” But Dex didn’t believe it. She could tell from his tone as well as his mood. “I’m so glad I didn’t tell them where my cave is. They would have gone right there.”

  “I don’t understand,” Vivian said, slipping into her clothes. “If they were helping Erika O’Connell get the Fates, then why would they let the Fates out of their sight?”

  “I didn’t give them much of a choice,” Dex said.

  “Yeah, but they had a lot of chances to take the Fates away before you did, and no one took advantage of it.” Vivian finger-combed her curls. She adjusted her glasses, feeling somewhat put together, although not at all the same as she had been before. Her entire body tingled. Even her mind tingled, and all that tingling was wonderful.

  “You have a point.” Dex smiled. “And another one about the Fates.”

  Vivian grinned.

  “But I’m not sure what to make of it. We recognize each other’s magic. It’s part of our abilities. We even recognize those who haven’t come into their powers yet. They should have known she was there.” Dex had his hands on his hips. He was staring at the boxes.

  “You and Vari said that the magic she was using was advanced stuff,” Vivian said.

  Dex nodded.

  “Couldn’t this be advanced too?”

  He looked up at her. “You’re saying she’s hiding who and what she is from us?”

  Vivian nodded.

  “I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “I saw her,” Vivian said. “And I almost didn’t remember it. I even had trouble remembering it here. When I saw her in the restaurant, it was like we knew each other, like we were past enemies or something.”

  “Future enemies,” Dex said. “Given what your aunt said.”

  “Why would Erika O’Connell kill Aunt Eugenia?”

  “I don’t know,” Dex said, “but the answer’s in those boxes.”

  Vivian sighed. Toto had sat down near the door. He was watching her. Sadie was in the room too, near the pile of clothes. Vivian hadn’t noticed that before.

  “You’re going to have to look through the boxes some time,” Dex said. “Let’s do it now, when it might make a difference.”

  Vivian nodded. “Here? Or in the living room?”

  “Neither,” Dex said. “I’m taking you somewhere new.”

  “New?” Vivian asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Don’t argue with me about it. We’re in big trouble here and we need a lot of protection.”

  “You have another cave?” Vivian asked.

  “Not like the ones the Fates are in, but I—” He stopped, put a finger to his lips, and then frowned. “Forget it. Let’s just take them to the basement.”

  Vivian felt an odd disconnection, as if Dex weren’t even speaking to her. Then she realized what he was doing. He was lying in case Erika O’Connell was monitoring them somehow. “Basement?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I have a family room down there. We can spread out.”

  “All right,” Vivian said, hoping she sounded convincing.

  But Dex didn’t pick up any of the boxes as he walked out of the bedroom. Vivian followed, knowing they weren’t going to any family room, but uncertain where he was taking her.

  How many hideaways did this man have? And how many did he need?

  Just two, he sent back to her. I made a few enemies who are long-lived and probably won’t forget.

  Vivian’s heart was still pounding too hard. She wondered if Erika O’Connell ever forgot.

  Then Vivian remembered the look on O’Connell’s face as she used her magic to attack Aunt Eugenia. Somehow, Vivian sensed, O’Connell never forgot.

  And that was part of the problem.

  TWENTY

  IT WASN’T THE HIDDEN PANEL in Dex’s linen closet that unnerved Vivian. It wasn’t even the fact that the hidden panel opened to reveal a state-of-the-art elevator. What unnerved her was the way all of Dex’s animals responded when he yelled, “Basement!”

  Pets ran toward the linen closet from all corners of the house. Sadie stayed beside Dex, as if waiting for the others to show up. Even Toto, who had been lumbering along behind Vivian, waited beside Dex as if he were afraid of losing his only family.

  Nurse Ratched scurried past both dogs and stopped in the back of the elevator. The other cats followed, until a dozen of them covered the elevator’s floor.

  More cats waited outside, along with a rabbit Vivian hadn’t known was in the house and a ferret that only had three legs. One more dog showed up, its head bandaged and its back covered with scars. It
was the last creature to arrive.

  Vivian had never seen animals behave like this. They weren’t fighting, and yet they were in close quarters. If they weren’t on the elevator, they were waiting to get on.

  Dex reached inside, pressed the button marked BASEMENT, and slipped his hand out as the door closed. The group of cats disappeared, and after a moment, the elevator whirred.

  “This house doesn’t look big enough—” Vivian started, but Dex put a finger on her lips.

  “Wait here,” he said. “I’m going to get a couple of boxes.”

  He slipped past her and headed back to the bedroom. Her stomach growled. She wondered if there was food in this second hideaway, and then decided it wouldn’t be a problem. Dex could probably conjure food whenever they needed it.

  She sighed. She wondered what it would be like to have that kind of power. To make anything appear when you wanted it to, and to make it disappear if you didn’t want it there. To make yourself vanish.

  Someday she would know what it was like. Someday, she would be able to do what Dex did and more.

  She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Her psychic gifts had been difficult enough. Adding real magic on top of them wouldn’t be the free ride that a lot of people seemed to want. She knew that much.

  The animals were still waiting patiently in line. Sadie and Toto remained in front of the elevator door as if they were guarding it, although Toto kept peering down the hall, looking for Dex.

  Finally, Dex reappeared in the hallway, carrying two of the boxes. Together, they were taller than he was. He staggered beneath their weight.

  He arrived at the elevator door just as it opened a second time. He set the boxes inside first. Then most of the remaining pets got on. All of the cats squished toward the back, not seeming to mind the close quarters. The ferret joined them. But the rabbit hung back, and so did the injured dog.

  Dex reached inside and pressed the basement button again.

  Of all of the strange things that happened that day, this had to be the strangest of all. But Vivian didn’t say that.

  “Who’s this guy?” She nodded toward the injured dog. She didn’t pet it, because she was afraid she’d hurt it.

  “Mmm.” Dex peered down. His look was fond. “That’s Portia. She’s another one the vet gave me. Just last week. She’s doing a lot better.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “Don’t ask.” He crouched, held out a hand, and let Portia sniff it. “Good girl,” he crooned. “I know how hard this is for you. I’ll make sure you have an extra-comfortable bed downstairs.”

  The dog licked his fingers. Even that seemed like an effort.

  Sadie watched, and Toto trembled. The rabbit continued to stare at the elevator, as if willing it to arrive.

  “How many pets are here?” Vivian asked.

  “I don’t honestly know,” Dex said. “I’m afraid of the number.”

  “Then how do you know you have all of them?”

  He scratched under Portia’s chin. The dog’s tail wagged. “Magic. I know I use too much, but—”

  “But it’s for the right cause,” Vivian said.

  Dex nodded, but it was an absent gesture. “Let me get that last box.”

  He hurried down the hall. Toto watched him go, still trembling. Portia sighed and settled back down.

  Dex saw his magic as a burden, a gift he couldn’t properly use. Vivian hadn’t really understood that completely until she saw Portia. There was a lot of suffering in the world, and Dex didn’t like any of it. If he had his way, this place would be perfect, with no one hurting and nothing evil around them.

  But because he wanted things that way, he had two hideouts and trouble with his own judiciary. He had to hide his good deeds.

  Maybe Vivian would talk to the Fates about that. Maybe Dex’s ploy would work. Maybe after taking care of the kittens, the Fates would understand what Dex was struggling with.

  The elevator clanged. Sadie whined, as if she were urging Dex to hurry up. Toto trembled again, and his trembling seemed to strike fear into the rabbit. The creature was completely immobile, only its nose twitching.

  Dex came out of the bedroom carrying the last box. Vivian wondered why he wasn’t spelling them to the basement, as he called it. It would certainly be easier.

  He arrived just as the elevator opened. He set the last box inside, then helped Portia. Sadie nudged the rabbit forward, and Toto followed.

  “Go on,” Dex said to Vivian. She nodded and stepped inside. She felt like she was stepping off a cliff. This was harder than the sudden appearance/disappearance thing. This was a conscious choice to get on an elevator that probably shouldn’t exist, to go to a place she didn’t know, with a group of animals that behaved like—well, like drugged people.

  Sadie waited outside until Dex stepped in. Once he crossed the elevator’s threshold, Sadie entered too.

  The door closed as Dex pushed the basement button for the final time. The elevator lurched once, then plummeted, almost as if it were out of control.

  Vivian grabbed onto the railing behind her. Toto whined and leaned on Vivian’s leg. Vivian found the trust oddly touching. Sadie didn’t move. The rabbit stayed in the middle of the floor, its nose twitching. Dex braced Portia so that she wouldn’t fall.

  Vivian made herself breathe. “How come you didn’t just magic us down below?”

  “Magic leaves a trail that can be followed,” Dex said. “Or it should. Somehow O’Connell has figured out how to defeat that too.”

  “The signature you were talking about with my neck?”

  “That’s part of it,” he said.

  Portia sighed. The dog was in a lot of pain, but she was healing. Vivian wanted to touch her, but knew better.

  “Why bring the animals?”

  Dex kept one foot braced on the box, so it wouldn’t slide into the frightened dogs and rabbit. “Think about it, Viv. If someone wanted information from me, what would be the best way to get it?”

  “They’d hurt these creatures?”

  “I don’t know for sure,” Dex said. “But I can’t risk it.”

  The elevator lurched again. It seemed to be picking up speed instead of losing it.

  “Do you run drills to get them to do this?” she asked.

  “You mean like grade school fire drills?” he asked.

  She nodded, imagining Dex with a whistle, herding animals toward the linen closet. Now, class. No pushing and shoving. No fighting. One at a time through the doors. The quicker you do this, the safer you’ll be…

  “I wish it were that easy,” he said. “I tried a whole bunch of things. First I used food, but that only got the healthy or the hungry pets. Then I tried having Sadie herd them, but that made some of them hide.”

  Sadie looked up at Dex at the sound of her name. Her tail thumped once, as if acknowledging his mention, then she turned her attention to the elevator again.

  “In the end, I had to use a bit of magic to explain to them the importance of going into the basement. Once the animals know that this is for their own safety, they cooperate.”

  Vivian smiled at him. She had never met anyone like him. “You could have spelled them down there the first time, right? Then they wouldn’t have been so frightened.”

  “Actually, no. The basement is—.” He stopped, and shrugged. “Well, you’ll see.”

  The elevator stopped suddenly, bouncing on its cables. Vivian was very glad she was still holding the interior railing.

  The door opened, revealing a herd of animals on the floor outside. Vivian couldn’t see beyond the cats and the ferret. Toto was still leaning on her leg, and the rabbit was blocking their exit by refusing to move.

  Dex picked it up. “Everyone, into the kitchen.”

  The cats dispersed, and none of them went in the same direction. The ferret took its time. Once it was gone, Dex set the rabbit on the floor outside the elevator. He turned around, picked up the box, and set it outside, next to the other tw
o boxes. Then he picked up Portia and carried her out.

  “I have to feed them now,” he said. “Their reward for being good. When I’m done, I’ll show you around.”

  He and Portia turned left, disappearing down a long hallway. Sadie gave Vivian a worried look, as if she was preventing Sadie from doing her duty.

  “It’s all right,” Vivian said. “I’m coming.”

  Sadie woofed softly, then hurried after the others, Toto at her heels. Vivian left the elevator slowly.

  The room she stepped into was huge. It wasn’t a room so much as a great hall or an antechamber. The ceiling—several stories above her—glittered with its own light, as if a hundred stars had been captured against its darkness.

  A large corridor opened to her left. The wall, black and shiny, curved away from her on the right, widening as she stepped into the great hall. A series of lamps, designed to resemble torches, flickered against the blackness, their fake flame reflected in the surface.

  More lights illuminated five steps that led into the hall proper. Vivian walked toward them.

  The great hall wasn’t really a hall. It curved, the walls protecting it on all sides. More stairs led down to another level. A car was parked there. Vivian saw its rounded hood and oddly shaped headlights, and found herself thinking of the Batmobile.

  She supposed it wasn’t unlikely for Dex to have a tricked up car á là James Bond. After all, Dex had said he had a lot of enemies, and he had taken a lot of his ideas from comic books. Clearly this place was based on the Bat cave, and Professor X’s secret rooms, and all those hidden chambers that showed up in various superhero myths.

  It just startled her. The house above—way above, if that elevator ride had been any indication—had seemed so normal. So single-guy chic.

  This wasn’t normal at all.

  A desk, also made of the same shiny black material, protruded from the far right wall. A black leather chair, pushed up against it, was nearly invisible until she came upon it.

  Computer screens receded into the wall, all of them dark. She saw no keyboards, so she touched one of the screens. It instantly turned white.