The Hob

by Dana Marie Bell

  Robin took a deep breath. McNeil had gotten away.

  Robin wanted to growl at the human who had interrupted his rightful kill. Instead, he smiled, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt. “Why did you interfere with a federal officer?”

  The man blinked. “Whu?”

  Robin pulled out his fake credentials, ones that had gotten him out of trouble on more than one occasion. “Special Agent Robin Goodman, at your service. The man you just stopped me from apprehending was a wanted kidnapper.”

  “What? Oh shit.” The man’s eyes went wide. “So those noises we heard weren’t ghosts?”

  Robin sighed. Where did the humans come up with this shit? “No, it’s a scared young man who has been held here against his will.”

  “Should I call for an ambulance?”

  Now wouldn’t that be amusing? Perhaps Michaela’s friends would show up to deal with the prince. “The young man is still in the hold, but safe for now. I will fetch him and return him to his family.”

  “Don’t you need to, like, secure the crime scene or something?”

  “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Robin looked behind the worker to find Jaden, his eyes covered in dark glasses, smiling at the worker. “Agent James Black. Pleased to meet you.” Jaden shook hands with the worker. “If you’ll follow me, we’ll let Robin deal with the victim while I secure the area.”

  Robin sighed in relief. The vampiric ability to scrub minds would ensure that the worker remembered nothing of what happened this day. Jaden’s newfound ability to tolerate sunlight was coming in handy.

  Once Jaden and the worker were out of sight Robin misted to the location where he’d last seen Evan. There, the prince huddled against the wall, his head pillowed on his knees. He lifted his head and stared at Robin when he appeared, then climbed to his feet. He squared his shoulders. “Am I going to die?”

  “Do you wish to?”

  Evan visibly swallowed. “What I wish doesn’t matter. Are you here to kill me?”

  “That depends entirely upon you.” Robin studied his claws. “I overheard you rejecting the Black, but are you truly untainted?”

  “I…I believe so.”

  “You believe so.” Robin scented none of the Black on the boy save McNeil’s scent, and that was fading. “Then I believe I have no reason to. Your aunt, on the other hand…”

  Prince Evan hid his wince well. “She will tolerate no hint of the Black.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Please. I only ask one thing. Protect my family. She’ll hurt them, thinking them tainted as well.”

  Well. Color Robin impressed. The boy’s last thought was to protect his family.

  He leaned in close and confirmed his suspicions. The boy’s scent was clean, far cleaner than any Robin had dealt with before. “You’re a good boy.” Evan barely flinched as Robin took hold of his arm. “I have one last question for you.”

  “Yes?”

  “Have you ever spoken an oath of fealty?” And Robin whisked the prince to Oberon, content in the knowledge that Jaden would take care of any witnesses.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Michaela shot a look at Kael and decided to take her chances. “I need to run back to my apartment for something.”

  Michaela wasn’t certain what Robin was going to do when he returned, but she was willing to bet it involved whisking her away back to Colorado. He’d still been pretty snarly about leaving her with Kael when he left for his appointment with Big Red. She wanted to grab a few important things, like her nursing license and a few irreplaceable photos in case Robin grabbed her and hightailed it back to the mountains.

  Besides, she wanted some clean panties, damn it.

  Kael eyed her warily before replying. “No.”

  Michaela rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I’m running to the convention.” No matter how badly she wanted to. “I’m just going up two floors.”

  “Then let me rephrase it. Hayl no.”

  “Kael.” Michaela gave him her best puppy-dog eyes.

  From the look on his face he wasn’t buying it. “What is so important that you have to leave the safety of the apartment, and thus put my life on the line?”

  Michaela decided to have some fun with him. She decided to go with the one thing that had always squicked out her brothers. “I need tampons.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Sit on a towel.”

  “Kael!” She smirked. “Fine. Here’s some cash.” She dug in her purse and handed him a twenty. “The kind I like to use are—”

  Kael stuck his fingers in his ears. “Lalalalalala.”

  This was just too easy. God, the look of utter horror on his face was priceless. “Make sure you get the multipack, since I might be here a few days. Oh, and some extra Ultra Absorbency ones would be good too.” She sighed. “It’s like a red Niagara Falls some days.” She bit her lip. “Do you think you can pick up some Midol too? I’m starting to get cramps. Oh, and ice cream and chocolate covered pretzels, so I don’t kill someone. You, most likely.”

  He whimpered. “Shit.” He stood up with a scowl. “Fine. We’ll go. But if he kills me and eats me, my ghost is haunting your ass.”

  “Won’t he eat that too?” Michaela opened the front door and headed for the elevator.

  “I hate you so much right now.”

  Michaela giggled and stepped onto the elevator. “C’mon. I’m in, I grab what I need, and I’m out. We’ll be gone ten minutes, tops.”

  “That’s nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds too long.” Kael banged his head against the elevator. “I’m so dead.” He glared at her as she bounced off the elevator a few seconds later. “You don’t really have…female issues right now, do you?”

  “Nope, but I do need some stuff from my apartment.”

  “It couldn’t wait until Robin got back?” He followed her in, taking in her tiny studio in a single glance. “Hell, I thought my place was small.”

  “It’s not exactly Robin’s mansion, but it’s mine.” She made her way to the dresser and began pulling things off of it. The pictures of her parents, both deceased, and her brothers and sister, living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Her parents had a thing for “M” names, with Matthew being the oldest, followed by Martin, then Michaela and finally Melissa. Mel had just graduated from college and was looking for work. Maybe she could convince Robin to give her a hand?

  God. How am I going to explain my move to them? I met my dream man a few days ago and I’m moving to Colorado with him? That would go over well. Matt was almost as protective as Robin. If he thought for one second Michaela was in trouble he’d be in her apartment with a rifle, ready to take on the world. She’d have to make sure she called them and let them know she hadn’t completely lost her mind. She picked up the picture, unable to hold back her smile. They were going to love Robin, and Robin...

  He’d get used to them. Eventually.

  “Is that it? Just some pictures?”

  “Family pictures.” She held up the one of the four siblings. “See?”

  “Huh. What else do you need?” Kael was twitchy, his eyes darting around the room.

  “Are you okay?” Michaela took a step toward Kael, but before she could reach him a hand latched on to her arm. She shrieked as she was whisked away.

  “God damn it! Stop scaring me like that!” She turned to smack Robin, only to find herself face to face with Raven. “Oh. It’s you.”

  Raven sighed. “Yes, let’s make it absolutely clear where I stand, shall we?”

  “Raven.” She put her hands on her hips and tapped her toes.

  “No, please. Unman me.” He glared at her. “Got any more Cheerios? Those worked nicely.”

  She shook her head. “What the hell are you up to?”

  He flung his arms wide, his expression mocking. “The roof. What else?”

  She blinked and looked around. “Huh. So we are.” She sighed. The view of the city was stunning from up here, but she didn’t have time to admire it. “
What’s going on? Why did you bring me up here? I know you’re not going to hurt me, so don’t even try to frighten me.”

  He took hold of her hands, turning them in his. He seemed to be studying them. “Such delicate fingers you have.”

  “Uh, Raven?”

  The longing in his blue eyes was intense. “Do I have a chance?”

  She wanted to cry at the loneliness in his gaze, but she couldn’t give him the answer he wanted. “No.”

  He took a deep breath and released her hands. “I thought not.” He tilted his head, the gesture reminiscent of Robin, and suddenly she missed her lover fiercely. “Do you love him?”

  She smiled. “Now that I know he’s real, I’m willing to admit that I can’t remember a time when I haven’t.” Her friends were going to shit a brick when she introduced Robin to them.

  His eyes closed briefly, but whatever he was feeling was hidden from her. “I see.” He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “Then there are some things you should be aware of.”

  “Like?”

  “Robin is my father.”

  Michaela froze. “Um. What, now?”

  He laughed, the sound hollow. “Robin Goodfellow is my father.”

  “Did he—”

  “Know? No, not until a couple of days ago.”

  She needed to sit down. “I’m a mommy?”

  He burst out laughing, but the sound was hollow. “Please don’t call yourself that. I have a mother, thank you.”

  “Who?” She could barely breathe. While she was certain Raven’s mother was in Robin’s past, it was still a shock. It brought home how much older than her Robin was.

  How old was he?

  “Erin MacSweeney. She was a Gray Court sylph, but when she got pregnant with me the Black Queen captured her and kept her prisoner. She’s still there, being held against her will, as a guarantee that I won’t fail in my—” He eyed her warily.

  “Your mission.” She blew out a breath. “You’re supposed to do something to Robin.”

  “And she will kill my mother if I don’t.”

  “Catch twenty-two. Kill your father, or kill your mother.”

  “Exactly.” His smile was weary. “You understand. I knew you would.”

  “You can’t do it.”

  He scowled. “What choice have I?”

  She took his hands in her own. “The right one.” When he opened his mouth to argue, she stopped him. “Tell Robin. Get his help in saving your mother. You think he’ll let her rot away?”

  He flinched. “You don’t know that he won’t.”

  “I do. You’re his son, and if there’s one thing I know, Robin Goodfellow takes care of his own. That means you too.”

  “He just met me. He didn’t even know I existed! How can I be certain he’ll help?” Raven threw her hands off and began to pace. “You don’t understand. She…she was the only light in the darkness.” He whirled around and glared at her. “Until you.”

  Michaela winced.

  “So how can you ask me to trust him?”

  “Because of who he is.” Michaela watched him pace. There was a restlessness in Raven that was absent in Robin. “If you can’t trust him, then trust me.”

  “And if he’s too late? If he can’t save her?”

  He looked so damn lonely, staring out over the edge of the building at the city below. His hair was blowing against the breeze, whipping around his face, and she wondered if that was his mother’s sylph blood in him responding to his emotions. “Then he’ll avenge her.”

  He snorted in disbelief. “It’s not that simple.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  She’d know that voice anywhere. Robin. Warm arms encircled her from behind, his hair brushing against her. “Hello, Robin.”

  “Hello, Michaela.”

  “You’re late.” She snuggled back against him.

  “Terribly sorry. My dinner date got cancelled at the last minute.” The sharp look Raven shot Robin should have worried her, but she didn’t have time to examine it. “Be right back, Raven. Please don’t leave this spot. I’d hate to have to hunt for you.”

  Michaela sighed as dark mist whirled around her. They reappeared in Kael’s living room. “Great. I finally got out of here and you put me back.”

  He turned her around and kissed the tip of her nose. “Stay put this time, my dear, or we will have words.”

  She saluted him smartly. “Aye aye, sir!”

  Robin sighed and disappeared.

  Michaela flopped down on Kael’s sofa and called Kael’s cell. She didn’t even say hello when he answered. “I’m back in your apartment.”

  “Thank fuck.”

  “Robin brought me.”

  “Aw, shit.”

  His pained groan made her laugh. “He’s mad at me, not you.”

  “That’s what you think.” He paused for a second. “How much is a plane ticket to Abu Dhabi?”

  Michaela rolled her eyes and hung up her phone.

  “Kidnapping. Very nasty business, that.” Robin shot Raven a displeased look.

  Raven rolled his eyes. “You whisked her away quickly enough, didn’t you?”

  “Why did you take her up here in the first place?”

  Robin watched as Raven stiffened. Raven turned his gaze away, once more studying the city laid out below them. “None of your business.”

  His hair was blowing against the wind again. “I’ve Claimed her, bonded her to me. She is mine.”

  “So she informed me.”

  Robin waited, but that seemed to be all Raven was willing to say on the matter. “Tell me about your mother.” The nearly imperceptible flinch told Robin all he needed to know. “I will help you, if you will allow it.”

  Raven glanced at Robin over his shoulder. “The plan was simple. Distract the great Hobgoblin, kill him if at all possible. Allow her agents to do what they’d planned all along. Recruit the prince, kill him if that wasn’t feasible.”

  Robin nodded. “I had surmised as much. What is the bitch queen’s plan?”

  Raven shrugged and turned back to the city. “I don’t know. It wasn’t my job, and if captured I could rightfully claim ignorance.” He took a deep breath. “You saved the prince.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  Raven’s head drooped. “Then it was for naught. She’s dead, and it’s my fault.”

  “You don’t know that for certain.”

  Raven shook his head. “You don’t know her. She does not take kindly to failure. You are alive, and the boy is free. Therefore, my mother is dead. Anything else is irrelevant. Even if her main objective succeeds, I failed.”

  “I do know her. She was my king’s bride for centuries.” Robin moved until he stood shoulder to shoulder with his son. The boy was taller and broader than he, but not so much that Robin felt dwarfed. “If you are sure—”

  “I am.”

  Robin nodded. “Then is it vengeance you wish to seek?”

  “Against her?” Raven’s lips twisted in a mocking parody of a smile. “I want to watch as her pet demon feasts on her entrails.”

  “So. Vengeance it is.” One that Robin would be more than happy to mete out.

  They were silent for a few moments before Raven quietly spoke. “Take care of her, or I will take her from you.”

  Robin smiled. The boy was stubborn. He reminded Robin of someone. “You will try, but you will fail.”

  Raven’s twisted smile eased a fraction. “You wish.”

  “I know.”

  Raven’s shoulder brushed against his. “The Black Queen will call us back soon.”

  “And the punishment?”

  “Has more than likely already fallen upon me.”

  Robin clenched his hands. He very much doubted that was the only punishment Titannia would hand down. Raven would pay in more ways than one. “Stay.”

  Raven smirked. “And watch you make love to the only other woman I’ve ever given a damn about?”

  Robin arched his brow. “I didn’
t ask you into my bedchamber, dear boy. Just into my life.”

  “Same difference.” Raven brushed his shoulder once more against Robin’s. “You’d trust me near your precious king?”

  Robin took a deep breath, scenting the air around his son. Titannia’s stench was fading, leaving behind only the scent of clean, fresh air and the Hob himself. His aroma was not the purest Robin had ever taken in, but the boy had no real ties to the Black beyond that of his forced coupling with Titannia. “Yes.”

  “You’re joking.”

  The shock in Raven’s voice shouldn’t have surprised him. What else had the boy learned but mistrust firmly planted upon betrayal? “Do you truly think a dedicated agent of the Black could fool the Hob?” Robin turned and tapped his dark nail against his son’s cheek, drawing blood. He licked the droplet off the edge of his claw.

  Robin nearly sagged in relief. The boy was clean. There was no taint in his blood, no foulness to mar the salty taste. “It would take a greater one than you to fool me, Raven. You are no true agent of the Black the way your brother was.”

  “Hobart was not my brother.”

  Robin begged to differ, but he understood the sentiment. “As you say.”

  “Do you love her?”

  Robin blinked. “Love who?”

  Raven shook his head. “When I asked her, she didn’t even hesitate.” He glared at Robin. “Are you worthy of her?”

  Robin tilted his head. What was the boy talking about? “I assume you mean Michaela.”

  Raven nodded once, sharply.

  “She is mine, and I hers.” His private thoughts and feelings were his own, and as such not up for debate. Not even with his child. Only with Michaela would he share his innermost feelings.

  Raven turned back to the skyline. “She loves you.” He snorted in disgust even as Robin’s heart leapt for joy. “Why, I don’t know.” He brushed his hair back from his face. “She seemed to like the artistic type at first.”

  Robin didn’t miss the sideways glance, nor the teasing tone. It was weak, but there. Raven was hurt by Michaela’s confession, but cared enough for her to abide by her decision. “I—”

  The mirror in his pocket quivered. Robin stepped back from his child and pulled it from his pocket. Oberon’s face immediately appeared.