Selene

by Lilith Saintcrow

Nikolai laughed, surprising her, kissed her temple. He shook slightly, his entire body trembling. “Time,” he said into her sweat-damp hair. “How many nights I have waited, and now I have no time.”

  “What’s going on?” Her body sparkled, purring with Power. God, that was something else. I had no idea.

  “Grigori will come tonight. Or I will find him.” Nikolai kissed her temple again, slowly slid to the side. The bed accepted his weight, silk moving slick and cold against her skin. “Jorge and Netley are taking the Seal back to the Sitirrismi.”

  Selene nodded, her hair stuck to her forehead in sweat-soaked little curls. “Good riddance to the goddamn thing.” Her heart was beginning to slow down. “You’re not keeping it?”

  “Of course not. I never wanted it in the first place. I simply wanted it located, since it had been stolen from them. Then Danny stole it from the thief, and so you see.”

  Here we are. Why am I not trying to get away from you? Selene rolled onto her side, propped herself up on her elbow. The silk and velvet slid away, she yanked at it, clutched the sheet to her chest. “Grigori stole it in the first place.”

  Nikolai lay on his back, his chest rising and falling with deep breaths. His eyes were half-lidded. His black hair raveled wetly over his forehead. A low rumbling sound emanated from him.

  Purring. Selene realized, and wondered why she wasn’t shivering. Nichtvren purr sometimes. What just happened? I’m not thirsty at all. Her entire body glowed.

  Literally glowed. When Selene held her hand up, her skin shimmered alabaster in the dim light from the red-lace lamp. I’m a goddamn night-light. And you. . . you protected me. It was you in my head, when Grigori started rummaging through my brain. You kept me from having to feed in alleys and bars, you scared off everyone who might have thought of hurting me. . .and I still want Grigori and you to fucking deal with each other and leave me alone.

  You know, Nikolai, this is a seriously messed-up relationship. If it even qualifies as one. The sex is great, but the rest of this sucks.

  He appeared deep in thought. “I have given the matter careful consideration. The Sitirrismi were once the only force on earth the Nichtvren feared. It would be like Grigori to challenge them to prove his survival.”

  “Were the only force on earth? And what the hell is the Seal anyway?”

  “It holds one of the Greater Words of Awakening.” Nikolai laced his fingers behind his head. Selene rested her cheek on her hand and watched him. I should be getting up and getting dressed and getting the hell out of here.

  Instead, she made sure the sheet and comforter were pulled up over them both, smoothing the velvet over his chest. The texture was soothing; he didn’t move but seemed to arch slightly into her touch anyway. Where would I go? Both of them would come after me, and isn’t that a prospect to make a girl tremble. “So it what, raises the dead? I thought the Sitirrismi messed around with time.”

  “Among other things. The Seal holds its own curse, though. It consumes the one who uses it.” Nikolai watched her hand moving on the coverlet. “Usually. . .grotesquely. From the inside out.”

  Oh, ugh. “You knew this and you let me haul it around all over hell and creation?” Selene pushed her hair back from her face, stroked the velvet over his chest again, her fingers trailing.

  “Your scent covered the marks of the Seal’s presence. And you could not unlock it, there was no danger to you.” His eyebrows dropped another fraction. “Selene?”

  She snatched her hand back, pushed herself upright, yanking the sheet up. “Okay. Well, I’d guess we’d better get started, then. If this guy killed my brother, I want him dead.” And you too. But I’d give you a pass if you would just leave me alone and quit messing with my head and my hormones. Not to mention controlling every little thing I do.

  “You will stay here in the nest. I will dispose of Grigori.” He lay very still, Selene glanced back over her shoulder to find him still watching her.

  “What if he ‘disposes of’ you?” She slid her legs out from under the covers. Pale, perfect skin over her knees, still with that foxfire glow. I don’t suppose Nichtvren shave, she thought, and looked back over her shoulder at him. “What about that?”

  “I killed him once, or close enough to send him underground to recover for a long time. And I am no longer a fledgling. In any case, you will be safe here.”

  “No. He killed my brother.” Her voice bounced off the walls, made the velvet on the bed rustle. You are not going to control me any longer, Nikolai. I’ve got some power now, I might as well use it.

  “My grudge with him is older.” Nikolai still lay on his back, his eyes heavy-lidded. The pale expanse of his chest showed, muscle flickering under the skin. “You will stay here, dorogaya moya.”

  “You can’t make me,” she pointed out. “Go ahead and use your magic-command thing on me. I’ll just wait and escape you later. You’ll have to tie me up permanently to keep me here. Grigori won’t have to kill you if you keep this up. I’ll do it.” Come on, Nikolai. Be reasonable, for once.

  Nikolai sat up, a single fluid motion. The coverlet fell away, pooling between them. “You seem determined to harm yourself despite all my care.” He touched her shoulder, ran his fingers down her bare back. Selene closed her eyes, exhaling. His fingers burned all the way down to her bones, pleasantly, as if she was an instrument and his the hand of a master musician. “If I asked you to stay, Selene, would you?”

  Surprised, she leaned back into his touch. Well, that’s a distinct improvement. “I can’t. Any more than you would if I announced I was going to go and get medieval on this Grigori guy all by my lonesome.” The thought made her flinch. There’s no way. He’s too scary. Remembered pain bit at her wrists, her head throbbed once, remembering his pale mental fingers slipping through the inside of her skull. “I told him I wanted you dead, and all the way out of my life.”

  His fingers stopped their steady caressing. “And?”

  Her throat was dry, she swallowed against the lump lodged right above the notch where her collarbones met. “I guess the first place I ran to get away from him was here.” Her eyes squeezed shut, hearing Grigori’s silt-dark, painful voice. Six hundred years he served me. . . I want him back. I want him fettered at my feet as I break that regrettable pride of his. She scrubbed her hands together, trying to rub away the burning settling into her wrists. “All I could think of was. . .what if you weren’t home? Jesu, Nikolai. Don’t try to make me stay here. Danny. . .” Her voice broke, she had to swallow hard. Took a deep breath, rubbed her hands together. “Besides, I’m not entirely useless. I know how to use a gun.”

  “Grigori—” he began, but she shook her head, her hair brushing her cheeks. The crisped bits were gone, her hair was a little shaggier but so silky it seemed not to matter.

  “Yeah, I know. Won’t do any good against him. But what about all the werecain? Huh? And I know how to cast Power.” She laced her fingers together and squeezed to stop them shaking.

  “Too dangerous.” Nikolai shifted his weight. It was a small, restless movement. “No, Selene. Please.”

  She shrugged. Are we actually having a discussion instead of him giving orders and me whining? My God. It’s a miracle. And far too fucking late to make any difference. “I’ll either go with you or follow you. If I go with you, you’ll know where I am and be able to keep an eye on me, right?”

  Nikolai resumed stroking her back, his fingers scorching-hot. The entire room rattled with silence. “This presents an interesting choice. Do I risk your enmity by ensuring your safety, or do I risk losing you to your foolish pride?”

  What does it matter if I hate you? You never cared how I felt before. “Look at it this way.” Selene shook away from his hand and stood up, letting the covers fall back on the bed. “If you be a good boy and take me along, I’ll let you help me get dressed.” How about that? Isn’t that the way to get around you?

  Nikolai sighed. “Grigori warned me never to make a fledgling.” The bed creaked
as he levered himself out of its embrace. Selene ran her fingers back through her hair, grimacing as it tangled. “He told me, they break your heart.”

  “Considering that you want to kill him, it was probably good advice,” Selene heard herself say, and flinched slightly. I’m talking to him as if I know him.

  Amazingly enough, Nikolai laughed. He paced around the bed and took her shoulders, turned her to face him. His hands were gentle, so she didn’t fight him. He ran his palms up her shoulders, up her neck, and cupped her face in his hands. Selene drew in a sharp startled breath.

  He looked thoughtful, his eyebrows drawn together, no gold-green catshine over his pupils. Her entire body was liquid, and she leaned into him. He used to be cold. Why is he so warm now? Because he Turned me?

  Why don’t I want to back away?

  “I do not want your enmity, dear one,” he said, very quietly. “Grigori earned mine and to spare, I do not wish for yours. Why such stubbornness?”

  A fine tremor ran down Selene’s entire body. His face seemed suddenly familiar. How the hell did I get here? I just spent the day sleeping next to a Nichtvren—again. And now I’m actually insisting on going with him. “I’m not stubborn.” Her voice sounded very small. “You’re just a manipulative, spoiled sucktooth.”

  His lips thinned, turned up at the corners. The corners of his eyes crinkled slightly. Oddly enough, the smile didn’t make Selene want to back up and find something to hide behind. “Be kind to me,” he murmured. Leaned forward, and kissed her forehead. “I am at your mercy, dorogaya moya.”

  Power settled over Selene, a thick warm cloak of it. “Don’t think we’re going out or anything. You—”

  Nikolai stiffened. His spine straightened, and he cocked his head as if listening. The air stilled, dust settling and scorching, Selene gasped. She tried to pull away, but he held her still, as casually as he might hold an inanimate object. “Someone’s here,” he said. “Get dressed, Selene, and come with me.”

  He let her go. Selene stumbled back, regained her balance, crossed her arms defensively over her breasts.

  “Do you have anything that will fit me?”

  ***

  “Nikolai!” A crash—something breaking. “Goddamn you! Nikolai!”

  Selene followed Nikolai’s back through the dim halls. Hardwood floors thudded beneath her boots. Nikolai moved soundlessly, blurring through space, the chill breeze of his passing ruffling velvet curtains and brushing against antiques set in niches.

  “Nikolai!”

  It’s Rigel. What the hell?

  The hallway opened up, and Nikolai moved silently down one of the staircases that led into the foyer. Selene followed, looking down over the balustrade.

  Rigel stood in the middle of the checkerboard squares of marble flooring the foyer. A huge porcelain vase—it had been standing on a cherrywood table by the door—lay in dust-ground pieces on the floor. There was a tide of spilled water, the heavy scent of the lilies crushed under Rigel’s boots vying with the heatless static of Power in the air.

  He whirled as soon as Nikolai became visible, the gun coming up. “Nikolai,” he said, hoarsely.

  He’s a mess. Selene gasped. Rigel’s face was bruised and torn, blood threading down from his nose and the corner of one eye, and he held his free hand clamped to his ribs, where blood leaked out and down his shredded jeans. The entire left side of his lean face was covered in blood from a deep gash along his scalp. The smell of the blood rose, mixed with the smell of the flowers, and made Selene’s fangs ache slightly. His long black coat was torn and scorched, and the powerful additional stink of violence, smoke, and fury that clung to him was enough to make Selene’s eyes prickle. For a moment, she saw something like a skitter of Power around him, then it was gone. She wondered, once again, just what he was.

  Nikolai barely paused at the bottom of the stairs. Selene saw the tensing in his shoulders and arrived behind him, her hand shooting out and catching his arm. He stopped, so quickly she almost ran into him.

  Wow. Her eyes fastened on her pale hand on his arm, too slender and frail to stop a Master Nichtvren in his tracks.

  “They took her.” Rigel sounded like his throat had been scraped out. “Goddamn you, they took her. I’ll pay you. I’ll pay you anything you want—they took her—”

  Selene’s heart dropped into her stomach. “Oh, Jesu,” she said. “Marina? Rigel, who took her?”

  She tried to slide around Nikolai, but he was suddenly right in front of her, crowding her back up another step or two. She hadn’t even seen him move.

  “Who took her?” Nikolai’s voice sliced right through hers.

  Rigel dropped the hand holding the gun to his side. “I don’t know who they’re bloody well working for, why do you think I’m here? It was werecain. A lot of them. They knocked her out—or she was. . .God, I don’t know.” Rigel’s sallow face was dead white except for two fever-spots high on his cheeks, his dark hair matted down with blood. “I swear to God, Nikolai, I will pay you anything you want, anything.”

  “Oh, Christos. So Grigori had a plan B.” Selene tried to go past Nikolai, again found herself shoved back. Oh, for God’s sake. “He’s not going to shoot me, Nikolai, will you just quit it?”

  “Put the gun down, Rigel.” Nikolai’s tone crackled through the foyer, dust skipping over the marble floor. The spilled water rilled out in a pattern of interlocking triangles, evaporating with a slight phssht. “Then we will bargain.”

  “Bargain?” Selene pushed at Nikolai’s shoulders with both hands. Even with a Nichtvren’s strength, she accomplished exactly nothing. “Nikolai!”

  Rigel’s hand holding the gun twitched. His eyes flicked over Nikolai, met Selene’s. “I’ll pay whatever you want.” Rigel’s accent made the words crisp and clear. “I swear it. Bring her back alive, and I’m yours.”

  “It is not like you to offer such a bargain, thrall,” Nikolai said, and Rigel’s chin dropped. He was breathing harshly, painfully. Blood dripped down from his nose, slid over his lip, pattered on the floor.

  “For Christos’s sake, Nikolai.” Selene shoved at his shoulders again. “He loves her, goddammit, and she’s a friend—my friend! Will you just quit it? Come on, let’s go!”

  “Rushing headlong after the healer will accomplish exactly nothing.” Nikolai’s voice could have frozen water. “Verscht za? For you, Rigel, you’ll accept my service again, though the healer shall have the use of you. Accepted?”

  Selene was possessed of the sudden irresistible urge to grab a handful of Nikolai’s crow-black hair and yank it as hard as she could. “Nikolai, you bastard, quit playing the Nichtvren and get your ass in gear!”

  “Accepted.” Rigel yelled over her words. “Just get her back, Nikolai. Just bloody well get her back or I’ll—”

  His eyes fluttered up under his eyelids and he slumped.

  A confused flurry of motion ended up with Selene catching him, his weight slight in her new Nichtvren-muscled arms and Nikolai subtracting the gun from Rigel’s fingers. Selene eased him to the floor and heard footsteps. Thralls. Summoned by Nikolai. Why didn’t he before?

  “He must have fought them.” Nikolai checked the gun absently, then laid it aside. His pale fingers felt Rigel’s pulse. “Like a wolf, hmm?”

  “What is he?” The floor was hard and far too cold under her knees. “He’s too quiet to be human, but he doesn’t smell paranormal.”

  Nikolai shrugged. “Ask him later.” The footsteps drew closer. Voices rang—someone calling Nikolai’s name, a panicked sound, high-pitched excitement. “You will need body-armor, Selene.” He touched Rigel’s forehead with two fingers. Blood marked his pale hand. His black silk T-shirt shifted as the muscle underneath moved. “We must be calm. The sedayeenen is valuable, Grigori will not harm her. Ease yourself.” A curious look passed over his sharply handsome face. “What did you say of him?” He pointed at Rigel’s bruised face.

  Selene held Rigel’s shoulders. He’s so light. She pushed blo
od-crusted hair back from his forehead. Christos, he’s really messed up. Poor guy. Lucky Marina. “What?”

  He shook his head, dismissing it. “She is your friend, the sedayeenen?”

  “Yeah,” Selene said. She was the only one who would help me, and he helped me because he loves her. I wish I. . .well, never mind. It’s not like I’m not used to it. “Is that a reason for you to rescue her?” The accusation in her tone tasted like sharp lemon.

  Nikolai shrugged, holding the gun loosely. “Perhaps. I seem to be a fool for your pleasure, nenaglyadnaya. Besides, she is valuable.” His voice was cold. He stood up, looming over her with the gun held loosely to one side, Selene twitched, pulling Rigel a little closer as if to protect him.

  Nikolai’s face closed with an almost audible snap as the slim blond thrall Selene had seen once before skidded into the foyer. “Master? News. The city, we’ve lost the clinic and two of your downtown holdings. Gutted, fire—”

  “Call everyone,” Nikolai snapped. “War on any paranormal who is not personally allied with me. Kill them all, God will know His own.”

  Selene gasped. The blond man glanced at her, then nodded, sharply. “Yes, Master. And him?” He meant Rigel.

  “Send Eric. This thrall needs some care.” Nikolai paused. “And be careful of my temper,” he added, very softly. “I am not safe just now. Selene, leave him be, he will survive. Come.”

  The blond man nodded, spun on his heel, and was gone. There was an excited babble of voices.

  Selene lay Rigel gently down on the marble, cradling his head. The thin man’s pulse thudded strongly in his neck and temple, he would live. Nikolai wouldn’t lie. “You’ll take care of him?”

  Nikolai rounded on her, his eyes completely black and sparking with green-gold shine. “Do you doubt my word?” he said, in that same cold soft voice that changed the air into black knives. “Do you?”

  Selene’s entire back rippled with gooseflesh. She opened her mouth, meaning to scream at him, but what came out instead was, “Don’t talk to me like that. I only asked.” Her tone was flat and she folded her arms so he wouldn’t see her hands shaking.