by S A Archer
Riley glanced back, just as Kieran took one of the other kitchen chairs and pulled it up half behind his. Kieran’s long legs angled, one alongside of Riley’s right leg, and the other straddled around behind so his foot rested on the crossbar of Riley’s chair. Kieran wrapped his arms around the back of the chair, and Riley at the same time, and then leaned in to rest his chin on Riley’s shoulder. He looked at the screen as if he might be able to figure out what it was that had Riley so worked up. “I heard about you guys, and those werewolves. I’m not happy about the idea of my druid putting himself into danger like that.”
Riley leaned back so that his cheek rested against the side of Kieran’s head. He loved how casually affectionate his patron was with him, how touchy-feely he could be. Riley placed his hand on Kieran’s bare knee, just below the bottom hem of his soccer shorts. Kieran had great legs; muscular, defined, and well-tanned from the time in the sun. Riley’s fingers gently scratched back and forth along the thigh muscle as he glanced back at Kieran. Joe kept reminding him not to fall in love with his patron, and that was something Riley couldn’t quite comprehend. Of the four Sidhe that had touched him in his life, he’d fallen in love with three of them. Even Lugh, who’d only given him the Touch one time, and that was probably more about getting information from Riley than actual compassion. Even though it had felt very much like compassion at the time. “It’s the druid’s job to protect their patron,” Riley said.
“Who told you that?” Kieran drew away enough to try and get a better look into Riley’s eyes. “I don’t remember that being a part of the vows; that you’re supposed to take a sword for me. You are to be the sword at my side, not the sword acting out on his own.”
“You and the other Sidhe have enough to do without having to fight every little skirmish. The werewolves, vampires, they’re always going to be trouble. We can stop them; Joe, London, and I. You have bigger fish to fry. Besides, you’re supposed to be deep into studying or something, aren’t you?”
“Oh, Lugh’s beating my butt every day, but that’s not going to change anytime soon. He’s been Champion for, like, ten thousand years. I have had that job for less than a month. It’s gonna take a lot more training, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to shirk responsibility to my druid.” Kieran glided his fingers up under Riley’s hair and fisted, giving his head a playful tug. “Are you hearing what I’m saying? I want you to call me next time something’s going on.”
“We totally had it handled. I promise you, if it gets bad enough, I’ll call you.” And even as he said it, Riley wasn’t sure that it was true. Anything that he couldn’t handle might be too much of a danger to Kieran. When it came right down to it, it was more important for him to protect Kieran, than to put him at risk. Maybe he did love him. Or maybe this was just the way it was for a patron that he respected and needed. Human lives were short, just a blink of an eye in the lives of the Sidhe. It just seemed like protecting Kieran meant protecting something bigger than himself. Protecting the future, and the future of the fey. Kieran had just admitted that he had a long way to go before he would be prepared to take up the role of Champion, and be able to fight all the battles that the fey would need of him. It would be ridiculous for him to get taken out by a bunch of drooling werewolves.
Not while Riley could do anything about it.
Chapter Eleven
It had been one of those nights where London just wanted to go someplace familiar and be with a friend. The Satin Club always called to her, more like home than the flat where she crashed. After the encounter with Derek, and then Granger, that familiar ‘home’ seemed like a good place to be.
As London pushed through the front door, Mike, the vampire bouncer on duty, didn’t immediately get out of her way. His initial scowl took a moment to step down a notch, as recognition seemed slow to worm its way into his mind.
“Long night?” London asked, flattening her palm to his chest and moving him aside.
The usual commotion, with the usual pairings, seemed to quiet more than necessary as she entered the main lounge. Something had them on edge and London felt the uncomfortable focus of their attention. She slipped onto a stool and leaned in to whisper to Jason behind the bar. “What’s got everyone worked up?”
Jason quirked up a questioning brow. “You have to ask?”
From the circular booth in the back corner, Selena glided away from her guests and strolled over with the smooth, liquid grace of a vampire on the hunt. “London, I wouldn’t have thought you would come here.” The vampire mistress drew a possessive arm around London and guided her towards the open stairway to the second floor.
“What’s going on?” London hazard the whisper. Rarely did Selena require such privacy that she would usher London to her bedroom. Usually, the office in the back of the club was private enough.
Once in the bedroom, London hugged herself. Not often did she get the creeps, especially around vampires. This entire night seemed cursed, though. Maybe her stars were out of alignment. Whatever it was, everything felt off.
Selena locked the bedroom door, and then strolled close enough to tug at London’s collar. “You come to my club smelling of blood and fey magic? What were you thinking?”
Her hand covered Selena’s. “I didn’t realize I’d gotten any on me. It was that vampire that came in from the States a few weeks ago. Derek, I think his name was. He said there is a price on my blood. Do you know about this?”
Selena glided her fingers under the bloodied collar and leaned closer to the bite marks. “He bit you deeply. I imagine you bled a lot.”
“Yes. It didn’t stop right away.” From the corner of her eye, London watched the slow track of Selena’s tongue across her upper lip. When her tongue disappeared inside once more, the hint of Selena’s fangs still peeked through her parted lips as she inhaled the scent.
London remained very, very still; just watching her friend. Any sudden move could tip even a well-controlled predator into hunter-mode. Controlling the speed of her heart against the trickle of adrenaline slipping into her blood stream wasn’t as easy.
The scent of the edge of her fear must have reached Selena’s sensitive nose. Her gaze flicked up from London’s neck and their eyes locked. The moment stretched between them, as the vampire’s grip on London’s collar tightened.
And then it released. The animal hunger cloaked behind the civilized veil of Selena’s control. Her focus glided down London’s figure, before finally slipping away completely. With a casual grace, Selena turned her back towards London, and then she opened a miniature refrigerator to select a bottle of blood. London never bothered to learn the code of symbols that Selena used to mark her stash, but she knew the twisted shape wasn’t one for human blood.
“Lugh doesn’t visit as much as he once did, and he’s left a number of us wanting.” Selena’s voice mingled with equal parts sensual purr and hungry hiss. “London, you’ve been welcome here, and protected, since your uncle first started bringing you around. Many of us have delighted in watching you blossom from precocious child into a capable and beautiful woman, but you are changed. Life has changed with you. In your veins is the blood of prey, and instincts and hunger can only be diverted for so long.”
“What are you saying?” London could only whisper through the pain. “I’m not welcome here anymore?”
“I would never want to say that to you.” But then she didn’t say anything else.
London hugged herself and turned away. Her hands gripped the insides of her elbows. What more could she say? This wasn’t choice, it was circumstance. It wasn’t about what either of them wanted; it was about the reality they faced. “I’ll leave.”
“Use the fire escape, or you will be followed.” Selena ruled within her club, but once outside all bets were off.
London circled the bed to go to the back window, aching t
oo much to linger a minute longer.
“London,” Selena’s voice warned.
She glanced back over her shoulder, hands gripping the handles of the window.
“Leave your bloody shirt behind. They will smell the blood and assume you are still in here with me.”
London stripped out of her jacket, shoulder holster, and shirt, and then tossed them onto Selena’s bed. The chill of her skin, standing only in her bra, couldn’t melt through the heat of her hurt.
The vampire mistress circled the bed, gathering a white silk robe from her vanity as she approached. She handed it to London. “I don’t know anything about Derek’s business, but I’ll make some inquiries and text you.”
London couldn’t meet her best friend’s eyes. This was the beginning of the end for them; it had to be, even if Selena’s gestures seem to indicate that the sense of futility wasn’t mutual. The holster was the only thing she put on again, before London pulled on the robe and belted it. It was a summer robe; the sleeves only reached her elbows and the hem just reached her upper thighs. It was modest enough to get her home.
The stroke of Selena’s fingers through her hair made her gaze up at her. The graceful curve of her palm cupped London’s head, as she leaned in to kiss her, possibly for the last time. The touch of lips lingered.
And the sting of tears began.
When their mouths parted, Selena whispered against her lips. “Be safe. Go quickly, and don’t hesitate to kill any vampire that approaches you. Tonight, or in the future.”
London gave the barest of nods.
Selena opened the window and held it until London crouched on the fire escape.
She glanced back, but the window was already closed and the curtains drawn.
Chapter Twelve
London walk through the streets, her arms folded tightly across her middle and her head down against the drizzling rain. It chilled along her skin and ran in rivulets under the silk robe, which now clung to her body and provided little protection against the cool rain. Her head remained lowered, watching the streaks of light across the wet pavement, like scars of light etched into the night. Her strides moved quickly; more quickly than her mood would have driven her. The sooner she got out of this rain the better and it drove her on towards her flat. The night had started on a downhill turn, but then it spiraled into an abyss. Now, she just wanted it to be over. She wanted to shower, curl up on her sofa, and hide under the throw blanket until the world made sense again.
Every shifting shadow and glint of light seemed like movement in the darkness. Every time London glanced towards the trick of her eyes, she saw nothing there. As much as she wished that that was true, she knew that somewhere out there was Derek and he seemed far from done with her. She could only hope that Granger had had his fill of the supernatural and was willing to drop the matter when it came to what happened in Liverpool. But given her luck, she couldn’t expect that hope to pan out.
She reached the glass door to the building where she lived. Her flat was on the upper floor and she glanced towards the one illuminated window where she left the light on for security.
London jogged upstairs, fishing her keys out of her jeans pocket before she even reached the landing. Once inside, she closed the door, locked it, and then rested her forehead against the wood before releasing a slow exhale. Home at last. The crap day could end now.
Except…
There was a subtle sound in an apartment when it was empty. And that was not the sound that she heard now. The presence of another crowded against her senses. Maybe it was the presence of a body that disturbed the air flow and the echoes. Maybe it was just the awareness of being watched. Whatever it was, London spun around. Her hand slipped up under the robe and pulled out her pistol before she even finished the turn. The gun was up, the safety off, and the muzzle aimed at the man in her apartment before she even recognized who it was.
London froze for a full breath. Her body stiffened for action, and then suddenly relaxed with relief. Her gun hand lowered to her side, as if the muscles just gave away, and then she dropped the gun on the side table as she rushed forward to throw her arms around the one man she’d needed to see all evening.
He was tall; even with his bum leaned against the arm of the sofa and his hands casually resting at either side of his hips. His long legs extended out at a comfortable angle. The expression on his gorgeous face was as gentle as his smile was tender at her relief. Those blue eyes would always see right into her and London needed for her patron to see her now, even with all of her pain.
Lugh’s arms wrapped around London, as he gathered her into his embrace.
London’s cheek nuzzled against his chest. Her head tucked under his chin since he was so much taller than her even sitting as he was. Her fingers curled into the front of his shirt, clinging to him as his warm, strong arms pulled her near. “Where have you been?”
“I felt your call, but by the time I left Bastion, and could teleport to you, I felt the urgency had waned. I’ve been keeping mental tabs on you all evening, waiting for you to have a quiet moment where we could talk before coming to you.” Lugh’s voice had that deep, musical baritone that just seemed to vibrate right through London. “I’m glad to find that you are unharmed.”
“All the pain is on the inside,” London said, shaking her head. “It’s been a rough night and I really need you now.”
“Are you unsafe? Do you grow weary? Perhaps I should take you away from here for a while. Would you like to come to the Isle of Fey and take a respite?”
The invitation sounded so much like an escape that London actually had to think twice about what he was saying. She’d not been one to run away from her problems before. And she knew that she could now. Lugh would protect her, if she asked it of him. He would hide her away on the Isle of Fey where Granger couldn’t find her and Derek wouldn’t know where she went. She wouldn’t have to think about vampires anymore or Interpol.
But she wouldn’t be given relief from the worries that plagued her. The safety of the Sidhe, and all the fey really, felt like a responsibility to her. Ever since she’d been a part of saving the fey, and building the new fey realm, she’d felt that it had been her purpose. The Scribe, Willem, had opened her eyes to a bigger world beyond herself.
Protect Malcolm. End the wizards.
Lugh’s directives still echoed within. The wizards were destroyed with the destruction of their headquarters. Malcolm, however… If either Derek or Granger set their sights on him the young man would be in serious danger. “I don’t want to leave these problems for someone else to deal with. There is some vampire that’s got it out for my blood, and he seemed just as content to feed off the fey in my stead. There is something more going on with him and I need to make sure I know what.”
“This wouldn’t be the first vampire who’s come hunting for the fey,” Lugh said, something unspoken still shadowing in the depths of his eyes.
“I know. But if there’s anything I can do to stop him, then I need to.” She ran her fingers through her wet hair, or what should have been wet hair. As she gazed up at Lugh, a puff of warmth flooded over her like a summer breeze. Where her fingers had started into wet hair, by the time she finished the stroke, her hair was completely dry and softly falling around her shoulders. Her robe was dry as well, and her skin had lost its icy chill. Having a sun god for your patron had its perks. “There’s something else going on,” she confessed. “The government is investigating the collapse of the wizards’ headquarters. They got video of Malcolm and me escaping the building through teleportation. They know I was there and I’m worried that they’ll figure out who Malcolm is as well. I’m not sure how this is going to end, but it could expose the fey.”
Lugh’s strong hands rubbed up and down London’s back reassuringly. “You understand your people and this time be
tter than I do. But humans in authority have usually found it within their benefit to keep the magical world from the attention of the common man. Even in my time on the surface there was a tendency to imply that magic and the fey were only legends. Many more humans knew the truth then, than do now. Now they seem to not look past those scrying devices in their hands. Or past the windshields of their autos. It is an interesting phenomenon that the more crowded humans have become, the more shortsighted they seem to be. It is as if their world only extends as far as their hands can reach, and they have trouble seeing beyond it.”
“This government agent, Granger, seems to know more is going on. He spoke of demons, and vampires, and I wouldn’t imagine that the fey are outside his realm of awareness.” The more she spoke of it, the more certain she was that she couldn’t walk away.
Lugh glanced down at London and his fingers traced the chain from the curve of her neck down to the cleft of her collarbone where his symbol gleamed. “Do you think you’ll be able to divert the government’s attention?”
“I’m not certain, but I need to try. That was quite a dramatic event, where the dwarves brought that building down. The humans think it was a terrorist attack, and terrorism is something they take very seriously.”
“As I can imagine.” His gaze lifted from the symbol to meet her eyes once more. “Come, you seem exhausted. Allow me to hold you as you take your rest and give you comfort before beginning the battle anew.”
