by Michele Hauf
She sputtered.
“It was only four feet there. You don’t swim?”
“I…” She shivered against his solid chest. Her tears mixed with the pool water. She was thankful he could not see her cry. “I hate water.” She choked and spit out a mouthful. “Get me out of here.”
He lifted her easily to set her upon the edge. Shivering and gasping, Aby scrambled away from the pool until her back hit a lounge chair.
Max heaved himself out from the pool. Dripping water from his body, he leaned over her, and she cringed.
“I hate water,” she said again.
“Aby, it was just a little spill.”
It wasn’t his fault. But she was too upset to explain. “T-towel?”
He grabbed a towel, and shuffled it over her hair then wrapped it about her shoulders. He squatted before her, their knees touching. He hadn’t wiped the water from his skin, and it glistened in the light beaming indirectly from beneath the palm trees.
“Sorry, Aby. I think it was my fault. I scared you. Damn, I can be an idiot sometimes.”
No argument there. Aby snuffled and hugged the towel.
“You need to get some dry clothes.”
Her loose blouse clung to her body and the skirt twisted about her legs. She clung to the towel as if it were a life vest.
“I’ll be fine. I—I want to go home. But…” She shivered, her musculature reacting to the chill and scare. “It won’t work. The summoning. Trust me on this one, Max. You need your partner to make this happen.”
“But I haven’t seen Rainier since the night we took on the demon shadow.”
“Never? You haven’t stumbled across him? Looked for him?”
“I’ve looked, and wondered. If I’m ever near a phone booth I’ll pull out the book and scan for Rainier Deloche, but I’m sure he’s changed his name.”
“You didn’t.”
“It’s easy enough to keep it when you’re off the grid. I missed the social security number thing. I don’t exist. Which means Rainier also doesn’t exist. He’s impossible to track.”
“Isn’t there a paranormal detective you could hire to find the guy?” She sneezed delicately. “I would think, if the two of you share the demon’s shadow, you’d have some kind of connection.”
He shook his head. “Never felt it.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“Listen, Aby, Rainier may be dead for all I know. Are you sure we can’t try this without him?”
“Yes.”
Didn’t he realize all she wanted to do was pull him against her and warm her shivers with his body? The man was half-naked, dripping with water like some Atlantean god raised from the depths. She wanted to dive into his clean scent and lose herself in the splashes.
“Kiss me, Max.” The words spilled out before she thought them through.
He straightened, planting his palms on the lounge chair.
“I like your kisses,” she tried. “I need them.” To get warm. To know he cared.
“This can’t happen between us, Aby.”
There was no warmth in that reply. “But I thought it already was.”
“That was a mistake I made. I should have never encouraged you. I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but we have to keep this business.”
“Max, I—”
“I think you should leave.”
Blinking at the cruel swiftness of his refusal, Aby found the sense to nod and stand. Tugging the towel about her like a cape, she grabbed her high heels. Shivers wracked her body.
She would not beg for anything from a man. Not even kindness.
“Then I suppose we won’t be seeing each other again. Because I won’t expel the energy to bridge a demon for you when you’ve but half the means to do so. Nice meeting you, Highwayman.”
She couldn’t walk from the pool atrium fast enough. By the time the air brushed through Aby’s wet hair, she was crying and walking swiftly away from the one thing she’d always wanted.
A relationship with a real man.
“Hell.”
Max fisted the wet towel into a thick twist. He’d played it wrong with Aby. The hurt in her eyes had slapped bars around his hopes of freedom.
He hadn’t meant to be cruel to her. It was a defensive reaction, to push away the one thing that had made him feel in years. Because the last time a woman had appealed to him so much, he’d fallen in love.
And he’d had to watch her die.
Max had vowed to never again have a romantic relationship. He wasn’t meant to take responsibility, to care for a woman and put down roots. Women were anchors. And anchors tended to dredge up detritus best left buried.
Demons stalked the world. He had to constantly work the high roads. It was who he was. He wasn’t a boyfriend, or a lover. He was a hunter. He could not be tied to one place or person.
But he couldn’t let Aby run out of here thinking he hated her. He had to stay on her good side if he were to ever get this demon off his back.
He’d follow her. She wasn’t being careful, and with demons after her, for reasons unknown to Max, Aby needed protection.
Rarely did she get lost. Aby possessed a sort of homing instinct. Severo had said she followed electromagnetic fields. He called them ley lines. She didn’t know about that. She just had a good sense of direction.
She scrambled across the street and toward the all-night grocery store. The air was strange with imminent rain. She hated water!
Her skirt had dried a bit in the breeze. Her short hair always dried quickly. But still shivering, she thought a building would be the place to warm up. She entered through the sliding doors.
The air-conditioning swept from above like an Arctic wind. “Bother.”
Turning to retreat, she saw the sky suddenly crackle and lightning flash. Rain plundered the parking lot.
“This is not my best day,” she muttered.
“You’re tellin’ me.”
Aby turned to the store clerk who’d spoken. An elderly black woman with braided hair and soft brown lipstick. She propped a hand at her hip and gave Aby the once-over. “You fall in the pond out back, or what?”
“A pool.” She clasped her arms over her breasts. “It’s raining.”
“I can see that. You brought it with you, girl.”
Aby followed the clerk to her checkout lane. “No, I didn’t. I can’t make it rain.”
There were no others in the store. It was small and the aisles were low. Aby could see everything from here. She’d never been in a grocery store before. There were so many things!
The clerk leaned against the register. “I wasn’t being literal. Where’d you come from? Planet of the bimbos?”
“I resent that.”
“Sorry.” The woman rubbed her hand along Aby’s shivering arm. “I’ve had a long day—two six-hour shifts without a break because someone called in sick. No need to take it out on a skinny little thing like you. There’s sweaters in aisle nine. Clearance for five bucks. You should go get yourself one and warm up.”
“Thanks.”
Making a beeline for aisle nine, Aby smirked at her late-night adventure. Soaking wet, browsing the grocery store shelves. She didn’t do stuff like this.
So this was an adventure, she wondered wryly as she eyed the stack of zip-up sweaters. Amazing—food and clothing in the same store?
She grabbed the pink one and tried it on. It fell to her knees and the shoulders landed above her elbows. Shuffling her arm, she worked the sleeves up to expose both hands.
“Are there only extra larges left?” she shouted over her shoulder.
“Mm-hmm,” came the reply. “Take it or leave it, girlfriend.”
Being called girlfriend gave Aby a tickle, though she knew the woman could probably care less and wasn’t about to take her under wing as a potential friend.
As she glanced around, her spirits lifted. While she lived at Severo’s estate, he had all the groceries delivered, and his chef, Heloise,
prepared their meals. Since she’d been on her own, a delivery truck brought Aby her groceries, mostly prepared meals that simply needed heating in the oven. Who had time to learn to cook when their death could be just around the corner?
Wrapping the sweater across her chest, she wandered toward the back of the store where she eyed the wax cartons of milk. Low-fat, two-percent, one-percent, whole and…
“Cream. Mmm, yummy. You don’t need it, Aby,” she said aloud. “You just crave it. You are not going to walk home in the rain with a big jug of milk. Not even a small carton of cream.”
Fine. Tracking to the front of the store, she admired the rows of colorful products. How did the bees get the honey in those funny bear-shaped bottles? Why didn’t they put all the red juice together, rather than sorting it all out amongst the colors? What the heck was a kumquat?
“I’ll have to come back here. This really is an adventure.”
“What’s that, girlfriend?”
“This store is amazing. There are so many things. And clothes in the same store as food?” She hugged the sweater to her wet body.
Aby filed down the row of carts to the front window and ducked to look below a huge sign that advertised peaches for forty-nine cents. The downpour still bulleted the parking lot.
“You got a ride home?”
“I live a couple blocks up the street.”
“Then you’ll have to make a run for it. But not in those high heels. Better go barefoot.”
Aby sucked in her lower lip. “Yeah, I suppose.”
She was the one who had wanted adventure. But after a near-drowning did she really want to go out there?
“That’ll be five dollars.”
“Huh?”
The clerk rubbed her fingers together, expectantly.
“Oh, sorry.” She dug through her purse for a five. At the sight of her cell phone she wondered if she could call for a cab. For a few blocks away? “Maybe it’ll let up.”
“You have a good evening, girlfriend.”
“You, too, girlfriend.” She waved and went out the doors.
The rain was cold, but not as cold as the pool had been. Aby shivered under the awning. The sweater took on spatters and jeweled with water beads.
“I should have stayed home.” She took a step out into the rain, and leaped back under the safety of the awning. “But I had to go. He needed to know. Jerk.”
But he had rescued her.
And then told her to leave.
“Men are maddening. I don’t need him.”
She wanted him. But need and want were two different things.
Shoes hooked on two fingers, she made a dash for it across the parking lot. The sweater soaked up the water and weighted her shoulders. She stepped in a puddle and water splashed her leg.
“Oh!”
When a black Mustang pulled to the curb, Aby could but stand there, her shoulders hunched against the wicked weather. Shivers renewed, her teeth chattered.
“Aby?”
“What is this, my unlucky night?” She thrust out her shoes and marched before the car. “I hate this stuff. I’ve never had to walk in the rain before. When I lived at Severo’s he had a driver. All I had to do was say, ‘Driver, take me somewhere,’ and he would. Easy as that. No need to walk in the rain.”
He stepped in front of her. “Get inside the car, Aby.”
The Highwayman offered his hand, but Aby kept on pacing.
“I wanted adventure!” she shouted. “What do I get? Nearly drowned the first time around, and if that didn’t work, then why not try again?”
“Aby.”
With the sound of her name she was swept from her feet and cradled in Max’s arms. He drew his nose across her cheek, and Aby thought he was smelling her, or maybe savoring her. The touch surprised her. He slid across the passenger seat, tucking her onto his lap, and pulled the door shut.
“It’s all right, Aby. I’m sorry.”
She pounded his chest with ineffectual fists. “You told me to go away. Now you come find me? What do you want? I don’t know anymore, so please, just tell me!”
“I’m sorry about what happened by the pool. The things I say…sometimes they don’t come out right. There is something more between us than two people coming to a business arrangement.”
So he felt it, too?
The confession worked wonders to her sodden soul.
He coaxed her head forward and she dropped it to his shoulder. “I’m getting your car all wet.”
“The seats are leather. They’ll dry.”
“And you?”
“I dry, too. I should have never sent you off like that, Aby. Especially not after you fell. You needed comfort not distance. Forgive me?”
Burying her face against his shoulder, she hugged him. “I don’t want you to be my enemy.”
“I don’t have to be.”
“But Severo is smart.” She stroked her tattooed wrist. “He had me do this for a reason. He’s never wrong.”
Gripped in a fierce hug, Aby ceased her blabbering. It was like no hug she’d ever had before. Wet, sloppy and perfect. She drew up her knees and snuggled into him. He kissed the crown of her head.
The rain relentlessly pattered the hood of the car. Water streaked the windows, entrancing the gleam from a streetlight.
And she suddenly knew everything she wanted could never be hers. Max was too distant. He didn’t have a home. What made her believe he could drop the important mission he’d dedicated his life to and just fool around with her?
Turning on his lap, putting her back to his chest, Aby twisted to look out the windshield. She tucked Max’s hand around her waist and held him as fiercely as he held her.
“Why is it when you really want something,” she whispered, “life steps in and says, ‘Sorry, not for you’?”
A soft chuckle sounded near her ear.
“It’s not funny, Max.”
“I know it’s not. But that’s exactly how I feel right now.”
“Really?” She twisted to study his dark gaze. “You…want me?”
He nodded. “But life is saying no. It’s shaking an admonishing finger at me and warning me to keep back.”
“Oh.” Laying her head aside his neck, she toyed with the metal button on the leather strap at his shoulder. She liked sitting like this—surrounded by man. A man as confused about life as she was.
“Know what I do when someone says I can’t have something?” he whispered.
Meeting his gaze again, she found the answer. “You steal it?”
“That I do.”
His kiss was urgent, not about to allow any naysayers to part them. A kiss to slay her demons. A kiss to bring him new ones.
He slipped his hands over her wet hair. Aby traced across the wet leather jacket as she straddled him.
She was ready to unzip the sweater and press her breasts to the warmth inside his coat, when a fist banged on the driver’s window.
Chapter 11
A lerted by the intense scent of brimstone, Max swung a look over his shoulder.
Three demons stalked outside in the rain.
“What the hell is with all the demons following you?” He shoved Aby off his lap. “Stay inside. It’s warded. You’ll be safe. No shifting this time. Promise?”
“Promise.”
Max got out and unhooked the whip from his hip belt and released the ten-foot length of braided leather with a smart crack across the tarmac.
“You the Highwayman?” one of the three demons asked.
“The one and only.”
“Then Severo wants your ass.”
“Wolf boy, eh?”
So that’s who was behind the demon attacks. Didn’t surprise him one bit.
“Let’s do this,” Max muttered, and stepped up to meet the first demon that lunged with glinting talons.
While the whip snapped the air and caught bits of demon limb here and there, the three did not relent. They went at Max as a team, and had him on the ground
and on his back more often than standing.
Max was able to take one out before the leader slashed his face with a nasty talon.
Aby moaned. Her fingers clutched the door handle, but she knew better than to go out there. There was nothing she could do to help Max. As he’d said, the demons would laugh at her silly kicks and punches.
A splatter of blood traced the window. Max’s blood, because demons bled black tarlike substance smelling of sulfur.
The Highwayman dropped near the front tire. The one remaining demon lunged for the window. Exposing razor teeth, it growled at her, then misted off into the night.
Counting to five as she scanned the sky for signs the demon would return, Aby didn’t make it to four. She scrambled out into the rain and knelt over Max. He groaned and pushed himself against the front tire.
“Get in the car, Aby.”
“They’re gone,” she said. “Are you going to live?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Just got my pride beat out of me, is all.”
“It was three against one.”
“Yeah, but I had the fancy weapon. Never been taken down so easily like that before. Those bastards packed a punch. I don’t like it when I lose a fight in front of my girl.”
His girl? He couldn’t be aware of what he just said. Maybe she should ask him to repeat it?
No. She’d take what she could get without giving him a chance to renege. His girl.
Aby’s mirth quickly vanished. He bled everywhere. On his hands, the side of his neck, from his nose. But most prominent was the gash at his hairline.
“Do you heal like werewolves do?” Severo, if ever wounded, would heal within minutes.
“Nope. Broken bones and cuts take as long to heal as if I were mortal.”
“Then you’re coming home with me. I happen to be talented with a needle and thread.”
He was a mess. The fight with the demons had drenched him in muddy water, all of which he’d tracked onto the white rug before the bathroom vanity.
Max sat on the toilet seat in the stark white bathroom, wincing at the thread tugging through his flesh. Aby wielded the needle like a charm. She attributed the skill to her third life, as she’d cheerfully explained while gathering medical supplies, spent in a foster home with a crafty matron who had sewn clothes, bedding, even curtains. She knew that snippet from the past, thanks to Jeremy, who had met her during her last lifetime.
