Tara

by Jennifer Bene

  So, was he supposed to be praying as well? Was he supposed to be asking this goddess to help them?

  A wave of nausea passed through him and he shuddered, forcing air in through his nose and out through his mouth.

  What the hell? Might as well. He thought, and tried to steady himself enough to think straight so he could pray to a goddess that he knew almost nothing about. Except that she apparently wanted his blood.

  Um, Eltera? Hi. If you’re out there, I just want you to know that I love Tara. If this is what you want from me to keep her safe, take it. Take my blood, take whatever you want. Just keep her safe. Let her be free. Let her be herself.

  He almost stopped the fumbling prayer, and then a bright violin solo in the current song made him smile, remembering the way she’d captured everyone’s attention as she had played in the shop.

  One more thing, if I can ask, let her have a violin. She can do amazing things with it, and it makes her happy. Even if I’m gone, let her have a violin. Thanks. Amen, or, whatever I’m supposed to say to you.

  With a sigh he tried to shift his weight, but he was starting to feel dizzy, and the bowl was getting full. It looked like a lot of blood, and he had no idea what would happen if he overfilled it and nothing happened. Did that mean Eltera had ignored all of them? Did it mean he wasn’t worthy of Tara?

  As he looked over at her, the bright gold of her hair, the blue eyes she currently had squeezed so tight that he was sure she was going to give herself a headache, he couldn’t believe she had even opened up to him. The poor kid in East Sussex would have never pictured this as his future. To be an assassin with more money than he would likely ever need again, surrounded by god-touched immortal beings, making a blood sacrifice to an ancient goddess hoping he could keep his new girlfriend.

  He laughed softly, and Tara’s eyes popped open. “Hey, beautiful.”

  “Alaric?”

  The world was fuzzing on the edges, and Tara’s soft voice sounded a little further away, but he tried to hold on to reality. Alaric bit down on his tongue, and for a moment the world swam back into focus, but then it was fading again. “I love you, okay? Just remember -”

  A bright flash of light knocked him back, and he was immediately worried that he’d just spilled blood everywhere, but when the spots faded he was staring at a perfectly empty bowl, and two very surprised immortals sprawled on the other side. Tara gasped to his left and he turned to check on her, but she was grabbing his arm and grinning broadly. “She accepted it!”

  The others jumped up and cheered, and Tara turned and hugged him hard, but he was a little lost until he realized his arm didn’t hurt at all. When she leaned back he looked down and saw that the cut was healed as if it had never been there. “What does this mean?”

  “I have no idea!” Neala cheered and hugged Kiernan, but Alaric was just confused.

  “Wait, take your shirt off.” Kiernan gestured towards him, just before he pulled his own sweater over his head.

  “Whoa, whoa -” Alaric laughed and looked at Tara. “I’m not kissing him if that’s part of this thing, I am only planning on kissing you from now on.”

  She grinned at him, but then Kiernan cleared his throat. “Hey, lover boy, check your chest. Do you have something like this?” The man was pointing at a strange set of tattoos. There was a black sword, pointing down, and it was circled by something. “Just the ouroboros, not the sword. You wouldn’t have that.”

  “The what?” Alaric asked.

  “Ouroboros, it’s Eltera’s symbol. Snake eating its own tail, symbol of death and rebirth, infinity, etcetera. Just look at your damn chest.” Kiernan waved his hand and Alaric sighed and stood up, impressed by how good he felt. Not dizzy at all anymore. When he pulled up his shirt, all three of them leaned forward to look, but he could tell by their crestfallen faces there was no mark.

  “Alright, well, maybe Eltera did something different with Alaric.” Neala smiled, but Kiernan just looked frustrated as he reached down and grabbed his sweater to pull it back on.

  “It’s okay, Alaric. She accepted the sacrifice, and she healed your arm, that’s a good thing.” Tara snuck an arm around his waist as he lowered his shirt.

  “Sure,” he nodded, but inside he didn’t feel even a bit confident. The only good news was that the people coming for him and Tara weren’t immortals, they were just regular killers like him – and those he could handle just fine.

  “Okay, well, either way I can get you guys out of here. How about we all go back to my place in Seattle and then we can sort this out.” Kiernan put on a smile, and Neala nodded.

  “Yes, we’ll just take you with us until we figure this out.”

  Alaric was about to respond when another burst of light exploded in the living room, but this one was accompanied by a loud boom that felt like an explosion. He grabbed Tara and threw her onto the couch, shielding her – but then nothing else happened.

  “He’s got fast reflexes for a mortal,” Kiernan commented.

  “And he thought of her first,” Neala added.

  Alaric sat up and glanced at them as Neala wandered over to where a large yellow packet sat on his floor – and he was sure it hadn’t been there a minute before. Tara smiled up at him, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as they sat up. “What the hell was that?”

  “That was Eltera’s delivery system for information. Trust me, I’m going to be handling noise complaints from my building any day now.” Kiernan rolled his eyes. “The sooner our new place is ready, the better.”

  “I’m not sure what all of this is,” Neala muttered as she walked back to the coffee table, clearing it off before she started pulling things out of the envelope and laying them out.

  “Wait, this has Alaric’s name on it.” Tara grabbed a piece of paper from the stack and started reading. “Did you get shot?”

  Alaric took it from her hands and skimmed it, looking at the date on the report. “Yeah, about four years ago. I was young, and charged after some guy we had a contract on without thinking. He shot me on my right side, hit a rib. My friend Haruo saved me that day.”

  “The guy that taught you Japanese?” Tara asked and he smiled at her.

  “The same one, but why would Eltera send us my medical records? We did the surgery at a private practice place, one of Luca’s safe spots.”

  Kiernan drew out a sheet of x-ray film, and held it up to the light. “Could it be because of this?”

  The man handed it over to him, and Alaric’s heart stuttered as he looked at the film. They had repaired his rib that day. He’d been told there were tiny metal plates repairing the place the bullet had ricocheted before exiting out his back. The fact that the bullet hit his rib had supposedly saved him from a punctured lung and all kinds of other injuries, and at the time he’d felt lucky. Now, he didn’t feel lucky at all. His voice was a low growl when he was finally able to speak, “They put a tracker in me. He put a fucking GPS tracker in me when I was in surgery.”

  There it was, right next to the tiny metal plates holding his rib secure. Plain as day on the x-ray.

  “So -” Neala started to speak, but Alaric cut her off.

  “So, that means Luca will know where I am, no matter where I go.” He cursed and kicked the coffee table, standing up and pulling away from Tara to pace in the open space. “I’ve always wondered how the fuck he knew where I was all the time. I was sure it had to do with my phones, it’s why I was always tossing them and grabbing new burners.” He laughed. “I am such an idiot.”

  “Maybe he did it because he was worried about you?” Tara spoke up, and he turned towards her, appreciating the thought, but he was learning more about Luca today than he ever wished he had.

  “No. This was all about controlling me. Controlling the kid he built to be the perfect little mindless assassin.” Alaric growled and let out a short shout as the betrayal sank in. Had he ever really loved him, or had it always been a show? “Fuck. I am so bloody fucked.”

  “It’s o
kay, we’ll figure this out.” Tara stood up and came over to him, holding on to his arm, but he couldn’t even look at her, because he knew what he had to do and it was going to tear his heart out.

  “Kiernan, you have to take Tara to Seattle with you. Keep her safe.”

  “What? No!” Tara shouted.

  Alaric turned and grabbed her shoulders, gripping them tight. “You have to go, Tara. It’s the only way you’ll be safe. I’m a fucking beacon for these guys, and they’re coming, and I cannot let them have you.”

  “They will kill you, Alaric!”

  “No, they won’t.”

  “Bullshit!” Tara shoved him back. “Do you really still believe that after all of this? After Luca blocked you from Claude? After he put a GPS tracker inside you?”

  “Tara, you have to go with them.”

  “NO!” She screamed, and he almost ordered her to go. The words were on the tip of his tongue, the command floating and ready to be spoken, but he saw the pain in her eyes already and he shut his mouth.

  He looked over at Kiernan and could see the sympathy in the man’s eyes. He knew that if he ordered her to go, Kiernan would do it. He’d take her, and he’d keep her safe, but Tara would probably never forgive him for it – and like she said, they might just kill him.

  There will be consequences.

  Luca’s voice echoed in his head and Alaric let out a stream of curse words in a variety of languages, trying to find some way to encompass the fucked up situation he’d found himself in. When he finally went silent, the only sound in the room was the low keen of the strings coming from the dock. It was a sad song, like the violin was crying for him, and he almost laughed at the absurdity of it.

  “You two have to go.”

  “We can stay and help you fight.” Kiernan spoke up, but he met the man’s eyes and shook his head.

  “They already want one Faeoihn, let’s not give them a two for one deal, alright?”

  Kiernan stiffened, and then nodded once, but Neala exploded next. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not going to stand by and let my sister go into battle alone! Faeoihn don’t do that!”

  She looked over at Tara for support, but Tara just shook her head slowly. “Neala… thank you for coming, for trying to help, but Alaric is right. They only know about me right now -”

  “I don’t care!” Neala screamed, tears tipping out of her eyes to spill down her cheeks. “I am not losing you again, I just found you!”

  Tara stepped forward and hugged her sister, and they held each other so tight that Alaric felt his own chest ache. He could hear Tara whispering in a language he didn’t know, soft and lyrical, and Neala nodded a few times. Kiernan was standing close, but he was staring at the floor, giving them their space.

  “I’m sorry, for all of this,” Alaric mumbled, but three sets of eyes turned towards him.

  “Without you she would have gone straight to the next master,” Kiernan spoke up.

  “This isn’t the best situation, but it’s better than no chance at all. Trust me on that, as long as she has you, she’ll be okay.” Neala pulled back from Tara and took Kiernan’s offered hand.

  “They’re both right, you know.” Tara smiled a little at him as she moved to his side, and he felt guilty for how good it felt to have her in his arms again.

  “Listen, when you guys kill these bastards. Give me a call. We’re working on a safe place, it’s just not ready yet, but we’d be glad to have you crash in our apartment when this is over.” Kiernan reached forward and handed him a piece of paper with an American phone number scrawled on it.

  Alaric nodded and tucked it into his pocket. “We will. We’ll call when they’re all dead.”

  “Now that sounds like a warrior.” Kiernan laughed. “He’ll fit in just fine.”

  “Don’t take too long, okay? It’s been over two thousand years since I’ve seen Tara. It would be nice to catch up.” Neala smiled a little, and then Kiernan pulled her against his chest.

  “See you both soon,” Tara waved and they both waved back.

  “Warning,” Kiernan grinned and then the two of them disappeared. Actually disappeared. As in, one moment they were there, and the next – nothing. Empty space. Alaric’s head ached trying to process it, so he turned away from the spot to focus on Tara’s blue eyes.

  “I hope you don’t regret staying with me.”

  “As long as you don’t regret wanting to keep me in the first place.” A smile tugged at her lips and he hugged her tight again, his mind spinning with his options. There were too many, and his head was pounding. Every option he could think of seemed to run up against Luca, and how could he defeat the man who had taught him everything he knew?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tara smiled as Alaric glanced over at her from the driver’s seat, they’d been driving for a couple of hours after they had rushed to get out of the flat he’d rented. He had spent most of the drive on the phone, but for the last thirty minutes there had just been road noise and the constant worry in her head. “We’re almost there, dolcezza.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked, her stomach still full of knife-edged butterflies as the world whipped past them.

  “To a secondary location a friend told me about. We’ll crash there for a few hours, and then we’ll head north into Switzerland.” He reached over and gripped her hand. “I’m going to keep you safe, I’ll figure this out. Luca just needs time to think this over and then he’ll change his mind. I know it.”

  “Right,” she whispered, but inside she didn’t have the same faith that Alaric had in his adopted father. How he had even retained that faith with everything he’d learned about the man… she wasn’t sure. It had to be that he loved him the way a son would – hopelessly hopeful that his father figure couldn’t be as bad as the evidence suggested. That he couldn’t be just another heartless person willing to buy and sell her. He was blinded by his memories of the man who had saved him when all was lost, and so there was no way that Alaric would accept the situation. The fervor with which people came after the Faeoihn. Tara had seen the hunger firsthand at live auctions, and at meetings, where she was traded over and over like some kind of rare good.

  Which, unfortunately, she was.

  She had to swallow down the bile in her throat, because he was doing what he could. He was running with her, against the will of the very man he cared so much about, and pointing out how insane it all was would have been meaningless.

  No matter what - Neala and Kiernan had given them a gift and she was going to enjoy it – he loved her, and she loved him, and they had both said it out loud. Tara tightened her grip on his hand and stared out at the lights as they sped by on the highway, wrapping herself in the knowledge that he was still alive, still with her, and they hopefully had the will of Eltera on their side.

  Not like she’d made her presence known since she’d accepted Alaric’s blood and healed his arm.

  “There! Look up ahead, that’s where we’re going.” Alaric released her hand and pointed at a small hotel nestled between a restaurant and another set of buildings. He smiled over at her and nodded. “We’re going to be okay, dolcezza, we are.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” My sweet knight. Tara made sure she was smiling as he turned off the highway and into the carpark. When the engine cut off he shifted to stare at her, his vibrant green and brown eyes pinning her to her seat.

  “This is going to work out. I have friends in France, and in a few days we’ll be with them, and they can fly us anywhere we want to go. Pick somewhere, anywhere, and that’s where we’ll head next.”

  “Japan?”

  He laughed, leaning closer. “Why Japan?”

  “I just learned to speak the language, I figured I might as well test it out.” She smiled a little as he laughed.

  “That’s right. Good choice. So, in the morning we’ll head into Switzerland. I’ll ditch the car, and we’ll get another one to take us into France. In a day or so we’ll be in Japan, and yo
u can see Tokyo. It’s incredible.” He kissed her then, his lips melting against hers, and for a brief moment all of her worries slipped away. Tara wrapped her arms around his shoulders pulling him close as he leaned into the kiss.

  He’s alive. We’re safe. It’s going to be okay.

  When he pulled back she could see the hope in his expression, and she wanted to echo it, wanted to feel what he felt, but nothing in her life had told her that hope was anything more than a mirage. “Wait here for a second, I’m going to check us in.”

  “Okay.” She made herself smile again as he climbed out of the car, but it crumbled as soon as he shut his door and walked across the concrete. Rather than preparing for battle, they had spent the last few hours running, and now adrenaline rumbled through her veins, unspent. Her leg bounced, and her fingers toyed with the hem of her skirt, because what she wanted to do was plant a knife between the ribs of whoever had threatened him. She wanted to scream at Luca until he recognized the torment he was putting Alaric through, until he relented.

  Now who’s being foolish?

  Tara growled and buried her face in her hands, pulling her knees to her chest. The last few days had been some kind of fairy tale, a glorious respite in a long string of bad days and worse nights. He cared about her, he wanted to protect her, just like some knight in an old story – one where the hero was blind to all the dangers around him as he rushed towards the damsel.

  ‘Damn it all,’ she cursed in her head, shifting anxiously on the leather seat. It was like he didn’t take their enemies seriously, didn’t accept the threats as real risks. He had done his best to avoid being specific about who was coming for them, about what they had said, but she could guess. She’d heard it all before, and she knew they wouldn’t stop. They’d never stop.

  Alaric tugged his door open and she lifted her head, turning on a bright smile as he shook a key in his hand. “Come on, let’s get inside.”

  Soon they were unlocking the door to their room, the chill in the air cutting through her thin clothes, and he guided her inside to block out the frigid night air. Alaric moved blearily towards the bed and she followed him as he kicked his shoes off and ripped the sheets back to sit down. “I think I need about ten espressos in the morning.”