by Abby Blake
“Time to go,” he said as he twisted the dial on the wall panel, placed his hands on them both, and then made the world spin out of control once more.
Chapter Three
“Don’t,” Kali said, swallowing hard, “ever, ever do that again.”
“Cell phone, Kali? Where is it?”
“Jacket pocket,” she managed to force past her chattering teeth. It felt like someone had put her in a paint shaker. Her head pounded, her stomach threatened revolt, and every ounce of energy she’d owned had completely fled. Even her eyes refused to focus. Kali registered her phone being taken from her jacket. The smell of melting plastic and hot metal a moment later was confusing, but she couldn’t really identify its source.
Ronan still held her, but he was also shaking with fatigue. From a strange type of sitting position he fell onto his ass on the floor and managed to take her down with him. He stretched out, and she lay sprawled across him, unable to move without feeling like she would lose her lunch.
“I agree with Kali,” Ronan said as he wrapped his arms around her and shifted her to a more comfortable spot. “No more slip travel. Twice in one day is very unpleasant. I think another one just might kill me.”
“Nah,” Alex said from somewhere above them. It sounded like he was moving around. “You just need to find your sea legs. It gets easier.”
Considering that she felt way worse than she had the first time, she found that hard to believe. “Wait! ‘Slip travel’? What the fuck is that?”
“It’s the way fire demons travel. Quite convenient really.”
“Fire demons?” Okay, now she knew for certain that they’d broken something in her brain. Fire demons? Slip travel? Incinerated seven-year-olds? There was no way she was sane. Maybe she was already locked in a rubber room.
Alex pressed something into her hand. “Eat this. I promise it will make you feel better.”
She squinted at the salt-encrusted cracker and really wanted to roll her eyes. She resisted, of course. Her headache was bad enough as it was. Unable to form any type of smartass reply, Kali lifted the cracker to her mouth and nibbled on the corner instead. It was really, really salty. Great, now she felt nauseous and thirsty.
Kali could hear Ronan munching away, the chewing sound rather noisy with her ear pressed against his chest. She shuffled sideways, intending only to climb off the man—she really shouldn’t have stayed there in the first place—but Alex lifted her into his arms and settled her on his lap as he sat on some sort of bench.
Feeling just a little less woozy than she had a moment ago, Kali managed to keep her eyes open long enough to look around. “Where are we this time?” They seemed to be in some sort of gym.
“My place,” Ronan said as he managed to lift himself off the floor and stay upright with minimal swaying. “Good choice.” He nodded to Alex and then turned and headed out of the room.
“I’m crazy, aren’t I?” she whispered to Alex. “I would have sworn I saw you attack a seven-year-old with flames from your fingers. I’m really in a hospital psych ward or something, aren’t I?”
“Sorry to disappoint you, darlin’, but you really did see what you thought you saw.” He touched her face softly but shook his head as a grin formed on his lips. “Well, except for the seven-year-old. That was actually a pixie assassin, and unfortunately she’ll recover from that and come after you again. Of course, that’s if she can find us. I think she got lucky at my place, but I destroyed your cell phone just in case she was using modern technology to track you.”
“A pixie assassin?” Her voice was way higher in pitch than she liked—and she’d get to the part about her destroyed cell phone in a moment—but pixie assassins? He was joking, right? “Aren’t pixies supposed to be cute and nice and…not assassins and…I don’t know…not real?”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but despite their positive—and very much undeserved—reputations, pixies aren’t nice, aren’t cute, and really do assassinate people. Well, they usually stick to paranormal-type people to assassinate, but I can assure you they are very real.”
“Oh,” Kali said as her headache throbbed just a little more. Maybe she wasn’t the only crazy one in this room.
“Now fire demons, on the other hand,” Alex continued, “have a bad reputation, yet we’ve never done anything to deserve it. I mean, yeah, we can incinerate anything we want to with our bare hands, but it’s not like we go around doing it all the time. And hey, what’s with the Halloween BS? I don’t look like a guy with red skin, yellow horns, and a tail, do I?”
She shook her head and wondered how long she was going to get to stay in crazy-land.
“You still going on about needing a better publicist?” Ronan said as he strode back into the room. He didn’t seem the least bit affected by whatever had knocked him on his ass a few minutes ago. Lucky bastard. Although, if Kali were honest with herself, she’d admit that she was staying in Alex’s arms more for her own reasons now. The headache wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been, and the nausea was mostly gone. But she snuggled just a little closer when she saw jealousy flash across Ronan’s features. It lasted but a moment, yet she knew exactly what she’d seen.
Served him right. One disastrous date and pity sex five months ago didn’t mean they were involved. It didn’t even make them friends.
The saddest part about that was she’d been the one on the receiving end of the pity sex. Pathetic. Sad and pathetic and something she’d never wanted to be reminded of. She made a mental note to smack her big brother upside the head next time she saw him. It was all his fault after all. He’d set up the date. He’d introduced them. He and his wife had left her alone with the man. He…Okay, her brother hadn’t suggested she ask Ronan to take her to bed in a pathetically weak and drunken moment, but he was to blame for the rest of the mess.
Ronan watched her with eyes that saw way more than she wanted him to see and then seemed to shake himself and get back on topic. “Are we safe here?” he asked Alex.
“I would suggest one more slip.” Kali actually shuddered at the thought. She might not believe her eyes or her ears at the moment, but there was no way she wanted to experience again whatever it was that had caused the nausea. Alex pulled her closer and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “But since neither of you seem up to it, we should probably take your car. We can head for the safe house. It shouldn’t have been compromised.”
“Did you learn any news from your squad?”
“I did,” Alex said with a nod as he pulled her closer. Somehow that didn’t make her feel any better.
“Okay,” Ronan said as he headed out into what seemed to be a hallway, “we move out in five minutes. Grab whatever you think we might need. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Kali didn’t quite know what to do. Even when they’d been at her home the only thing she’d thought to pack was technology. But if they were tracking her by her cell phone signal, chances were they’d be able to trace her location the moment she connected to the Internet. It seemed really strange to be thinking this way but, almost like she was lost in a thick fog, her life just seemed surreal. If Ronan said he was here to protect her, and Alex said he was a fire demon and that pixies were nasty little assassins, who was she to argue?
Seriously, who was she to argue?
Willing to go on a little faith—at least until she had proof otherwise—Kali let Alex lead her around the house as he gathered “stuff” for while they’d be away. She wasn’t even sure what he was collecting. She was just really glad that he held on to her hand while he did it.
“Ready?” Ronan asked as he came into the room. She must have been wearing a shell-shocked expression because he gathered her in his arms and held her close. “I know this is a lot to take in, Kali, but I assure you you’re safe with us.” She nodded against his chest and held on tight. It wasn’t like her to be so needy, but she gave herself permission to lean on these men…just this once.
* * * *
Alex happily sat
in the back of the car with Kali. He knew it was driving Ronan nuts, but at this point he didn’t really care. If they needed to slip travel urgently, it was far faster if he was already touching the woman. And besides, despite her human status, Alex found himself quite happy to hold the beautiful redhead while she was in such a compliant and snuggly mood.
He had no doubt that would change once they got to the safe house and she gained some perspective. Unfortunately, the information he needed to share with them both wasn’t going to help any of them get back to their normal lives.
They’d barely made it out of the driveway before Ronan gave him the “start talking” look.
“It would seem that Kali’s birthday was a rather big event in the paranormal community. One of the Oracles was murdered that same day.” He was going to explain what an Oracle was, but both humans nodded as if they understood and so he continued. “When an Oracle dies she sends her entire knowledge to the next female child who is born. Since there weren’t any paranormal communities in the area where she was murdered, it was assumed that the information was lost.”
“But someone has decided it went to a human child?”
“That’s my guess.”
“So they’re killing every female born on my birthday?” Kali asked in a small voice. Alex nodded and wanted to pull Kali closer, but of course the stubborn redhead chose that moment to find the attitude he so admired. “We have to help them. We have to warn them.”
“Your brother is working on it, but we’re still talking a hundred or more potential victims here. There’s no way we can help them all,” Ronan said from the front seat. Alex had known him long enough to sense the despair behind that statement. No matter how many innocent lives Ronan managed to protect, it had always been the ones he couldn’t save that stuck with him.
“There has to be a way to narrow it down. I mean…we have to know something more. Surely there’s something missing. What are we missing?” Kali’s gaze swung between both men, but almost as if a light bulb had switched on in her head, her eyes settled on Alex. “How long does it take for the information to be passed on from a dying Oracle? Is it something gradual or is it instant? Would there be a specific window of time for the baby to be born? I mean…hell, I’m not sure what I mean…I just…is it possible that they are targeting women born at a specific time on that day?”
“That’s quite likely,” Alex answered as theories started forming in his brain. “I’m not exactly an expert on Oracles, but I believe the information transfer is almost instantaneous at the moment of death.”
“So,” Kali said, looking thoughtful, “if whoever is looking for these women knows that, they’d be targeting the ones who’d been born the exact moment of the Oracle’s death.”
“Give or take a couple of minutes to allow for slight differences in clock settings,” Ronan added with a nod.
“Okay, so if we know the specific time the Oracle died, then we can narrow down the list of women who need protecting.”
Alex ground his teeth together, not wanting to upset Kali but needing to give her the bad news anyway. “Trouble is I don’t know her actual moment of death. I doubt anyone knows, except maybe her murderer.”
“We don’t need to know it,” Kali said, looking maybe just a little bit excited. “Call my brother. He’ll have access to the victims’ birth certificates showing the time of birth. I know it’s a long shot, but it’s a fair assumption that whoever wants the Oracle’s supposed recipient dead is also the person who wanted the Oracle dead.” Alex nodded in agreement. “So they would be the one person who would know her time of death. Why send assassins to kill hundreds when they can narrow it down to a handful?”
“Good point,” Ronan said as he pulled the car to a stop. “Don’t scare Dave. He doesn’t know anything about paranormals. If we need to tell him, I’d rather it be before he sees you appear out of nowhere.”
Alex nodded, pressed a kiss to Kali’s lips, and slipped straight to her brother’s office across town.
* * * *
Ronan ground his teeth, annoyed at the soft smile that graced Kali’s face. “Climb into the front seat,” he growled even though it was supposed to be a suggestion, not an order. He would have tried to smile but was worried that it would come off as more of an aggressive show of teeth instead of the reassurance he was hoping for. Kali moved quickly, climbing over the seat just like he’d asked rather than stepping out of the car. He spared a moment for her to grab her seat belt before setting the car in motion once more.
“He’s gone to talk to Dave?” she asked quietly, but before he could say anything, she seemed to answer her unasked question. “Oh, right, no cell phones.” She glanced around the ordinary-looking streets of the small town they were passing through and then turned her attention back to him. “Are we vulnerable without Alex?”
Great. Fucking great. It wasn’t that he begrudged Alex’s rather handy skill set, but it pissed him off that Kali would think he needed Alex’s help to protect her. He was more than capable of holding his own against paranormals. It was how he and Alex had met in the first place. Granted, he hadn’t come up against pixies before, but that shouldn’t be a problem anymore, especially now that he had a whole box of demon shots. He could very literally stand over the ashes of a pixie, wait for her to reform, and shoot her again. He also had an inkling that a sticky substance like paint lacquer or the spray glue he’d tucked under his seat would slow the pixie’s reformation down, if not stop it all together.
He shook his head when he imagined Alex’s reaction to that. The trouble with paranormals was that they lived so long they forgot to think outside the box. Alex was one of the more progressive members of his species, having embraced human science and modern technology, but the majority of his people still clung to the past. It was amazing how few of them had any clue of the destructive range of weapons humans had developed in the past hundred years. Ronan could still see the shocked expression on his attacker’s face when he’d shot the massive creature with a bazooka. He didn’t enjoy killing anything, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to stand by while a creature from his nightmares tried to snack on him and his squad.
“Ronan?” Kali asked quietly. “Ronan, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Kali.” He glanced in her direction and saw the concern on her face. “I’m sorry. I was just…” He trailed off, not really wanting to explain his trip down memory lane. It had been a life-changing experience. Although, he’d met Alex that day and they’d been friends ever since, so it hadn’t all been bad. “If we keep the car moving, nothing paranormal can slip in. They need two stationary points to travel that way. There’s nothing between us and the safe house now, so we have no reason to stop.”
“Oh.” She didn’t really sound convinced, and he glanced in her direction before turning his attention back to the road.
“Oh?” he asked, hoping she would elaborate. This couldn’t be easy for her. Not only was she learning about paranormals for the first time, but she got to spend time with a man she’d already rejected months ago and a stranger who just happened to be a fire demon with a penchant for seducing pretty ladies. Although, come to think of it, Alex usually restricted his flirting to females of the paranormal persuasion.
“I’m just…” Kali twisted her fingers in her lap, and Ronan felt his apprehension level increase. Despite their short acquaintance five months ago, he would have sworn that she didn’t have any emotional “tells.” She’d worn what he’d considered a polite and friendly expression for most of their time together, but it hadn’t given him any clues on what she’d been thinking. It had only been when she was in the throes of arousal and screaming in orgasm that he’d seen the passionate woman underneath. How was it that months after she’d fled his bed he still wanted a chance to do it better? To make up for whatever he’d done wrong? She was just one woman in a long line of disastrous relationships. Why was this one special?
Kali took a deep breath and started again. “I�
�m just sorry that you got dragged into this mess. I mean…it…it can’t be easy for you to have to deal with me after the way I embarrassed myself on my birthday.”
“The way you…” He bit back the words, trying to figure out what she meant. She’d been lovely—a perfect date and an unexpected gift as a bed partner. They’d spent most of the night exploring each other, and even now he could feel his cock rising at the memories. Granted, he’d managed to say and do just about everything wrong on their “date,” but the sex had been amazing, and it hadn’t been until the morning after that the awkwardness had started.
He wanted to pull the car over and deal with whatever it was that had gone wrong between them five months ago, but the threat of paranormal attack was still very real. He kept his eyes on the road and asked the question he’d wanted an answer to since that day. “Why did you leave?”
“Why did I leave? Are you nuts?” He frowned and gripped the steering wheel tighter. He was about to ask the same question again when she took a deep breath and started talking really fast. “I shouldn’t have used you that way. It was wrong and I’m sorry. I’m not usually so needy, but it was my birthday and I was feeling lonely and depressed and…well none of that excuses my behavior. I just…I wanted you to know I was sorry, and even though we’re going to have to spend some time together while this shit all gets sorted out that I won’t do anything so selfish again.”
Hell, if he could stop the car, he’d drag her over his knees and smack her ass. And then kiss it better and maybe even roll her over so he could trace his tongue over her pussy, find her clit, and suckle on the hard nub until she came screaming his name.
Fuck. She thought she’d “used” him? He hadn’t just been a willing participant. He’d wanted in her bed almost from the moment he’d met her. He’d sensed something, felt something…hell, he couldn’t describe it, but it was almost as if they belonged together. He may have seemed reluctant when she’d first suggested that he take her to his bed, but that had only been because he’d wanted more than a quick fuck from her. If he’d known she was going to run, he would have tied the woman to his bed long before the morning had come.
