Ann Gimpel

by Earth's Requiem (Earth Reclaimed)

  She rounded on him and placed her hands on her hips. “Kind? Who the fuck is kind anymore? Or gentle. Or considerate.” She pounded a fist into her other hand for emphasis. “What world do you live in? There are no friends. No place is safe. And just in case you hadn’t noticed, no one is kind anymore.”

  Because she couldn’t just stand there, looking at the incredulity—and something else, was it hurt?—in his eyes, she took off at a dead run back toward Rune and Bella. What’s wrong with me? Have I been by myself for so long that I can’t even have a conversation with someone else if they don’t see the world just like I do?

  Yeah, it’s a whole lot easier to screw ’em and move on.

  Arms closed around her. She’d been so lost in herself that she hadn’t heard him come up behind her. He held her against him. She felt his heart thud against her shoulders. Heard him breathing into her tangled hair. “Aislinn, Aislinn. Don’t run from me. Please. You carry so much pain, you remind me of a cactus. All spines. What happened to the human parts?”

  “They died a long time ago.” To her horror, she wanted to cry. Wanted the relief of tears. Her eyes stung, but tears refused to come.

  “Ssssh.” He held her easily with one arm. The other hand smoothed her hair. “Ssssh.”

  She leaned into the hand cupping her head. If the only way I can feel anymore is sex, I know how to do that. Twisting in his arms, she pressed herself against him and turned her face up for a kiss. His lips covered hers. His arms tightened around her. Their kiss deepened until it was the only thing in the world. He drank her in, and she smelled the musk of his arousal. Her nipples hardened into points where they pressed against him. A low, frantic moan escaped her.

  She insinuated a hand between them to grasp him, but he pulled back. His breath came fast, and color was high on his face. “No.” He shook his head. “Not yet. We’d just be using each other. Besides—”

  All she could think about was wanting him inside her. She’d felt him straining against her, hard and ready. Glancing at the bulge tenting the front of his jeans, she saw that he still was. Squirming, she pressed her thighs together and ran her tongue over lips that felt swollen from their kiss. It wouldn’t take much to bring her over the edge. She locked her gaze on his, too proud to beg, but willing him to want her.

  With a sound midway between a moan and a sigh, he pulled her back against him and shoved a leg between hers. He closed his arms tight around her body and held her, raining kisses down her face and neck. She came almost the minute she touched him, shuddering with release.

  Wanting to return the favor, she reached for him again, but he caught her hand. “I can wait,” he murmured. “I want to get to know you.” A crooked smile lit his face. “Besides, we have to figure out how to get along out of bed first.”

  Is that how it’s done? She’d been so young when the world had turned to shit. Her only experiences with sex had been furtive groping in the back seat with her boyfriend. Sex since then had been quick and impersonal. Needs filled without any emotional baggage attached. She found herself smiling back. “If we’re going to do that, we need to find some way to talk about who we are.”

  He looked sheepish and reached a hand down to rearrange himself. “So we do.”

  Feeling unaccountably shy—after all, he’d just brought her to orgasm—Aislinn bit her lip and said, “Maybe for starters, neutral ground would be teaching me about being a Hunter.”

  He laughed. Joy lit his features with a warm glow. She liked the way he laughed. It made tiny crease lines around his eyes, and the merry sound made it seem the world was still normal. His blue eyes glowed in the morning light. “That is how we started.”

  “And look how we finished.” She giggled and then realized with a shock that she sounded like a girl again. “Do you think it’s safe for us to stay here?”

  “Oh, right. The fucking bats. They’re what got you in such a temper.”

  “Well?” She met his gaze and raised a questioning brow.

  “We’d probably be safer at my place. It’s warded.”

  “Or mine,” she countered and then thought about the logistics of getting there and decided his was probably a better idea.

  “Mine’s much closer.”

  “It would almost have to be,” she said.

  He shot her a thousand-watt grin and took her hand. “Let’s round up the animals. It’s only about a ten-minute walk.”

  He took her to a cunningly constructed dugout that looked just like the neighboring hillside. She had to close her eyes and let him lead with his magic to get inside. His home was surprisingly spacious. It consisted of a cooking space, a living area, and an alcove where he’d piled pine boughs and blankets. Books sat on rough shelves, away from the dirt floor. Though a mage light obligingly followed him once they were inside, lanterns hung from hooks, too.

  “Recapping, because the Old Ones knew humans would take time to become adept at flushing out the dark, they gave us animal companions. Their sharper senses, coupled with our intelligence, made for a good team. Together, we hunt the enemy, flush them out, and work with the other gifted to kill them.”

  “You are not smarter than I am.” Bella squawked, flapping over to where they sat.

  “It’s not polite to eavesdrop.” He smiled fondly at her and reached out to ruffle her feathered head.

  “What’s eavesdrop? It sounds dirty.”

  “It means listening to conversations you’re not a part of,” he informed her.

  “We are part of all conversations that include our human.” Rune jumped into the fray and padded over to stand next to Aislinn.

  “See.” Bella pointed a wing at Fionn. “I’m not the only one who thinks that way. If you weren’t such a loner—”

  Fionn jumped to his feet, knocking a book off the table they’d been seated at. “Silence,” he thundered and thudded his fist down on the table.

  “She was not right for you,” Bella said sweetly. “I merely encouraged her to move on. And her bond animal was simply impossible.”

  Aislinn’s ears pricked. So there had been a lover, or maybe a wife, but the bird hadn’t liked her. “Do bond animals have a say in such things?” she asked, glancing from Fionn to the bird.

  “Of course we do,” Rune answered. “We see these things more clearly sometimes.”

  “I didn’t ask you,” she told the wolf. Aislinn shifted her attention to Fionn. “Maybe you could tell me what happened.”

  “Later,” he snapped, jaw tight. A small muscle twitched beneath one eye.

  Aislinn understood that he was still angry. Angry enough to throttle his bird. Glad I’m not the only one who gets out of control.

  “So, uh, how long have you lived here?” she asked, trying for a neutral topic.

  “Since the beginning.”

  “And before that?”

  He blew out a tense-sounding breath, sucked down air, and exhaled again.

  Sensing he was too tightly wound to sit back down, she came to her feet. “How about if we go hunting? It’s about time for supper, and I’m hungry.” And it’s okay by me if we put off the “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours” conversation. Makes me just as uncomfortable as it makes you.

  “Good idea.” He slammed a hand over her eyes and ushered them out of his house. She felt his magic at work. Once they were outside, he chanted, resetting the wards to render his dwelling invisible. The familiar tasks seemed to relax him.

  Looks like the animals aren’t the only temperamental ones. She chuckled inwardly. What a pack of oddballs they were. “How about rabbits and greens?” she suggested a shade too brightly.

  “Ever eaten marmot?”

  “Yeah, I like them, too.”

  “We’ll get the meat,” Rune volunteered.

  “Excellent.” Bella’s
wings pumped air. “Two each,” she called back. Apparently feeling challenged, Rune took off at a lope and disappeared into thick timber.

  “I’m surprised she left us alone,” Fionn commented dryly.

  Seems like a good lead-in. Maybe if I keep quiet, he’ll tell me more. She followed him back toward the lake, plucking edible greens she recognized along the way. By the time they reached the water’s edge, her hands were already full.

  “Can’t carry any more.”

  He turned toward her, taking in the mixture of growing things draped over both arms. “I’ve always just gotten watercress or onions. What are all those things?”

  “Well.” She pointed with her nose. “These are Fairy Bells. This one is False Mermaid. Here’s Burdock. And these are Mariposa Lilies.” She plucked a couple of bunches from underneath the others. “Mint.”

  “Even I know that one, but not the others. How’d you learn about them?”

  “My father. He was interested in things like that and took me into the backcountry with him—a lot.” Fionn seemed relaxed, so she took a chance, infusing a smidgeon of calming magic into her next words. “What did you mean about being surprised your bird left us to ourselves?”

  He shifted from foot to foot, but held her gaze. “Oh, that. Ah, I’ve had a couple of female partners. She didn’t like either of them.”

  “What’d she do?”

  He bent and pulled a bunch of wild onions out of the ground. “Why do you want to know?”

  “So I can be ready if she tries the same thing with me.”

  “She likes you.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “She wouldn’t have left us otherwise. And she likes your wolf.” He spoke matter-of-factly. “The other problem was she hated the wolverine and the owl.”

  “How could anyone hate an owl?” Aislinn was mystified. “They’re so beautiful.”

  He shrugged. “If you ask Bella, I’m sure she’ll tell you her reasons. I think we have enough. Let’s head back.”

  Curiosity burned a hole in her guts. He still hadn’t told her very much. What the hell could a bird do that would run a human woman off?

  “She has a sharp beak. And a sharper tongue,” Fionn muttered.

  “You can read my thoughts?” Aislinn stopped walking, thunderstruck.

  He nodded. “Uh-huh. It’s my second gift. A variant of the Healer magic. It’s why I knew how, uh…never mind.”

  She understood. It was why he’d known how desperate her body was earlier. “It’s okay.” Walking close, she stood on tiptoe and kissed his stubble-covered cheek. “When Rune told me he knew my mind, it was a shock. Like my privacy had been violated. Guess I’ve had a chance to get used to the idea.” Stepping back, she turned and headed the way they’d come. He fell in next to her.

  “Both my Hunter partners really tried to make peace with Bella, but that bird is intransigent. Once she makes up her mind, there’s no reasoning with her. And…” He paused for a second. “I suppose they weren’t all that important to me. Bella knows me better than I know myself sometimes.”

  “Well, thank God she’s taken a shine to me.” The fine hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Aislinn froze, pulling invisibility about herself. “Don’t say anything, but we’re not alone.”

  “I know. Trust yourself to me. I won’t hurt you.”

  He closed his arms around her. She felt the shift and knew he was moving them. In seconds, the walls of his home shimmered into being. “What was out there?” She dumped her armload of plants on a rough counter. His impromptu embrace when he’d transported her had crushed the greens. The front of her shirt was sticky with aromatic plant juices.

  “Not sure.” His brows knit together. Then his frown deepened. She felt him pull earth magic, lots of it. “Stay here,” he barked. “Bella’s under attack. She needs me.”

  “Not a chance.” Aislinn locked her hands around his arms. “Either I’m coming with you, or neither of us goes. Rune is out there, too.”

  Chapter Seven

  The stink of dark magic was thick in the air. What had merely been a hint a few moments before had turned into a positive stench.

  “What’s your strongest suit?” she hissed as soon as they were back in the forest.

  “Earth. Then water.”

  “Okay. You draw earth. I’ll mix in fire and stoke it with air if we need more.” Using a dollop of magic to partially mask her presence, Aislinn started off at a fast trot.

  Fionn made a grab for her arm.

  “Not so fast. You could be running right into a trap. Mind speech only from here on.”

  She stopped, spun to face him, and jabbed an impatient finger into his chest. “If you have a better idea, let’s hear it.”

  “I don’t recognize what this feels like. Do you?”

  Reaching out with tendrils of her Seeker sense, she realized with a shock that she didn’t either. “No.”

  “Since neither of us knows what we’re facing, we go really slow. And I go first.”

  She fumed, but she didn’t want to jeopardize them by arguing, so she followed him, her senses hyper alert. What the hell was out there that felt so putrid? And why couldn’t she sense Rune?

  She heard the bird squawking long before they found her. Either Rune wasn’t with her, or he was already dead. A cold edge of fear knifed into her gut. She fanned magic around herself, less concerned about invisibility than having power at hand if she needed it.

  “Good that you’re ready,” Fionn said approvingly.

  A bat dive-bombed them. She swatted it away and then stopped dead. Bats. Were they the same ones she’d seen earlier? Half running, she caught up to Fionn. “I think it’s the bats I was worried about.”

  “I don’t. Hurry. Bella’s dying.”

  The bird’s life force was weakening. Aislinn felt it flicker, flare up, and pulse and knew the bird was waiting for Fionn. Trepidation chilled her. She’d seen it happen often enough in battles. People waited for those special to them, only to die in their arms. She wondered what it would do to Fionn to lose his bond mate. It would tear his heart out, but would it sap his will to go on?

  Aislinn swallowed hard. She knew. She’d struggled against just packing it in—and more than once. It would have been easy enough to toss herself in front of the enemy dozens of times. But something inside—maybe a misplaced preservation instinct—kept her fighting to stay alive. Damned if she was going to simply hand her world over to the invaders.

  Lost in her thoughts, she wasn’t paying attention and ran right into Fionn. She heard his sharp intake of breath and peered around him.

  Fuck. Aislinn lunged forward, but Fionn snagged one of her arms and held on tight. Something that morphed from form to form held Bella suspended by her wings. One moment, it appeared as a man, then a large, growling cat that looked like a cheetah, then an impossibly tall bird. Realization slammed into Aislinn: it had to be D’Chel, the dark god who controlled illusion. Blood dripped from the raven. Was she truly mortally wounded, or was her appearance another of D’Chel’s trickeries?

  At least I know why the evil didn’t feel familiar. D’Chel must have twisted it somehow.

  A tortured sound burst from Fionn. Letting go of Aislinn, he raced into the clearing. “Loose my bird,” he snarled. “If you want to fight someone, fight me.”

  Maniacal laughter with an ice-cold edge filled the air. “It would scarcely be a fair contest, Celt.”

  Aislinn groaned. They were supposed to be in this together. Fionn had just stormed into the fray as if he’d forgotten she even existed. Rustling sounded behind her. Worried it might be D’Chel’s minions, she pivoted in the direction of the noise.

  Rune charged past at the head of a pack of at least a dozen forest wolves. Quick as a thought, they launched themselves at
D’Chel in a blur of gray and black—and were tossed through the air like a gaggle of rag dolls. Rune screamed his disapproval. She heard him encouraging the others with a mix of snaps and snarls. Regrouping, they charged again. “Lend your magic,” sounded in her mind.

  Using her Mage skill, Aislinn cast a protective net over the pack, begging the Old Ones for strength.

  D’Chel dropped Bella and twisted to give the wolves his full attention. Still laughing, he matched their form, making himself into a wolf, but one three times as large as any of them, with glittering copper eyes. Aislinn moved closer so she had a clear view of the impromptu battlefield and upped the ante on her spell. She still didn’t understand why she hadn’t been able to sense Rune until he flashed past her. I’ll have to ask Fionn about that later.

  The bird lay as if dead. Fionn scooped her up, held her close for one heartbreaking moment, and then cried to Aislinn to come take her. Grief was etched in the hard line of his jaw. His blue gaze flashed fury.

  She couldn’t protect the injured animal and help fight. Rune needed her. So did Fionn and Bella. Aislinn edged forward, holding out her hands for the bird while trying to maintain the spell helping Rune and the wolves. Blood ran warm down her fingers.

  The raven croaked weakly, “Put me somewhere safe. Help my bond mate.”

  She truly is dying. Hoping it would stem what felt like the inevitable, Aislinn sent as much energy into Bella as she thought she could without shorting out something important. She cursed her lack of Healing knowledge. When she’d worked on Rune, it had been guesswork. She’d had an opportunity to experiment then, but time was in short supply just now.