Fairyville

by Emma Holly

  The icy hall immediately warmed, enough that sweat broke out on her brow. She smiled just a little. Michael was a warrior angel, a being of fire. One of the surest signs that he was around was things heating up. Encouraged by the quick response, she continued.

  "Michael, we thank you for clearing this room of lower energy. Banish any who wish its occupants harm. Love is welcome here, and any spirits who are kind. All others we send back to the field of illusions from whence they came."

  "Hey!" said a gruff male voice so close to audible sound that it startled her. "I am NOT an illusion. Or a lower energy. I'm just delivering a message."

  "Messages are fine," Zoe told it, "but violent acts are not acceptable."

  "Hah! This is an open spirit vortex. Anyone can come here who has the juice. I have as much right to be here as a ghost. I'm—Ack!"

  A huge rustling of wings, invisible but somehow glowing, told her Archangel Michael was looming over their visitor. He wasn't fighting him, just pressing against him with all his angelic will. The spirit said ack! again, and Zoe had the distinct impression that it was searching for an opening to wriggle free. Michael wasn't letting it find one, and in less than half a minute, the thing gave up.

  "Hold on to your feathers, Mr. Bigstuff," it grumbled ill-naturedly. "I'm going!"

  Zoe's ears popped as if they'd been stuffed from landing too quickly on a plane. Without opening her eyes, she knew that whatever had been haunting the room was gone.

  When she did open her eyes, the rocks had disappeared as well. "Rats," said Alex's friend. "I was going to take pictures."

  Magnus had always liked small hotels. They made him think of tourists and weekend sex, of warm, appreciative women he'd probably never see again. He'd have given a great deal to be staying in this one with Zoe. He couldn't remember what it was like to be completely satisfied, not just physically but in his heart. He wanted to wake up soft for once instead of aching, with a woman he cared about snuggled to his side. Zoe was right about him missing that. She simply didn't realize how much.

  Frustration aside, he was glad she'd let him come along tonight. It said that she was warming to the idea of having him in her life in a bigger way. Yes, maybe their sex life was destined to be eccentric, but men and women could have other fun in bed besides intercourse. Magnus knew he had the skill to pleasure her creatively. Conceivably, he could string out unwrapping her "gift" indefinitely.

  Right, he thought sarcastically to himself. Zoe wasn't going to put up with him putting her off forever, and she really wasn't going to tolerate him continuing to sleep around. At the time he'd worked the spell that got him out of Fairy, the monthly carnal offering had seemed a small price to pay. Now, he was screwed every which way, except the one he wanted most.

  He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, glum and aroused at once. He knew he'd better stop dwelling on what he could and couldn't do to Zoe. A full-blown erection wasn't easy for a man his size to hide, and Mrs. Fairfax was already hovering a bit too close. Women her age usually responded to fairy charm with mothering and not flirtation. While Magnus didn't mind his women seasoned, Mrs. Fairfax unnerved him. She was candy-sweet instead of earthy. And her undergarments creaked.

  "Oh, Mr. Monroe," she said with the plaintive sigh that was beginning to wear on him. "I do hope Zoe will succeed."

  "I'm sure she will, Mrs. Fairfax. She's very good at her job. And you might start a pot of coffee in the meantime. Give your guests something to keep them occupied."

  "What a wonderful idea," she gushed, beaming up at him. "It's so comforting to have a levelheaded man around."

  Magnus answered her beaming look with a shoulder pat, then sighed in relief when she scurried off. He needed breathing room to tune his radar onto Zoe, to make certain she was safe.

  As amped up as her focus was, he found her easily. Another energy curled over hers, blending at the edges in a shimmer of midnight blue. Sensing no threat, Magnus concluded it was one of the beings she called angels. The sheer might of it amazed him, unwavering strength meeting absolute love in a form so huge he wondered that the inn could hold it.

  It didn't hold it, of course. No man-made structure could contain a consciousness of that magnitude.

  Fascinating, Magnus thought. Angels weren't a force in Fairy, and he'd never thought of studying them, but when in Rome…

  Before he could follow this train of thought, his senses picked up something far more familiar and far less nice. The back of his neck crawled with memory. An elemental was at the inn, a bogeyman for fairy children that his mother sometimes used to run her nastier errands. Elementals were only half physical. They could move between realms wherever supernatural occurrences had thinned the veil. They were vicious creatures, with little conscience regarding how they used their power. If Zoe was tangling with one of them, Magnus had no business waiting in this lobby!

  He took the steps three at a time, so intent on saving Zoe that he ran straight into her on the second landing.

  He caught her before she could fall over, then hugged her tight. "You're all right!"

  "Of course I am." She pushed a curl from her face, laughing. "I don't know what was dropping those rocks, but Michael got rid of it just fine."

  "Michael?" He narrowed his eyes at the two hastily dressed men coming down the stairs behind her.

  "The archangel? Tall? Big, flaming sword?"

  "Right," he said, pulling himself together. Humans knew about angels, and human was what he was supposed to be. He could leave his warnings about his mother's evil minions unmentioned. "I'm glad you were successful."

  "No biggie," Zoe assured him. "The stone throwing was impressive, but Michael did all the work."

  The men had stopped on the landing beside Zoe. Magnus's hackles bristled. Something was wrong here, something that made his fairy warning lights go off.

  "Oh," said Zoe, craning around at them. "This is, um, Bryan McCallum and Alexander Goodbody. They were staying in 410 when the incident began. Alex and I knew each other in high school."

  They more than knew each other. Their energy was tangled up like old lovers. Magnus put his arm around Zoe's shoulder.

  "Nice to meet you," he said coolly. "I'm Zoe's friend, Magnus."

  The one who hadn't been her lover offered his hand. "Nice to meet you, Magnus. Your girlfriend has quite a gift."

  "Oh, we're not—" Zoe started, then shut her mouth.

  Like hell we're not, Magnus thought, shaking Bryan's hand.

  The other one, Alex, didn't offer his. He was gazing at Magnus as coolly as Magnus was at him. He was very handsome, very smooth and golden and buff. He crossed his arms with perfect superciliousness across his chest. "You and Zoe know each other long?"

  "Two years," Zoe answered before Magnus could. "Magnus is my manager."

  "Among other things," Magnus added, his fingers sliding slowly to Zoe's wrist. Her pushed-up sleeves left her forearm bare, and he fed his personal magic into her skin, letting it curl low in her body, where the nerves bundled thickest inside her sex. He made the magic lick her where he wished he'd had a chance earlier, right over the swollen tip of her clitoris.

  The energy had exactly the effect he'd intended. Zoe gave a little gasp as her nipples tightened violently. She immediately yanked her sweater closed over her flimsy tank top. She tried to pull away from him, but Magnus wasn't having that.

  Alex's sea-blue eyes narrowed down to slits. "Her manager and more. How very ethical of you."

  Magnus's vision flashed red with rage, a reaction that came to him straight through his mother's blood. His father would have been ashamed, but in that second, he didn't remotely regret the maternal half of his heritage.

  "Hey." Zoe pushed at his chest as he stepped forward. Her voice was husky from his secret touch, and a primitive satisfaction, every bit as potent as the rage, swelled in his chest. She was his, and this Alex couldn't get in the way. Magnus had at least four inches on her old boyfriend and who knew how many pounds of muscle.
He'd smash him into a pulp before he used that smirking tone again.

  Magnus leaned closer, maybe looking like he was going to try something, because the force of Zoe's shove increased.

  "What the hell is wrong with you?" she hissed. "You never treat people this way."

  Magnus felt his upper lip curl back from his teeth. His awareness of Zoe's nearness was all that kept his snarl silent.

  "Magnus," Zoe said, changing tack to stroke his upper arm. Her words weren't nearly as conciliatory as the caress. "Just say hello to the man and shake hands. Alex, you stop glowering and pull out the manners your mom taught you."

  Oh, Magnus did not like hearing that she knew this man's mother. In the human realm or in Fairy, meeting parents was serious. With an effort, he forced his jaw to unclench.

  "Sorry. Force of habit. I tend to be protective of my friends."

  Alex's hooded eyes seemed to hide a smile. He put out his hand. "I understand. Friends like Zoe are worth protecting."

  Magnus took the hand, fully intending to exert some fairy strength on its human joints. The moment their palms slid together, he knew that wasn't going to work.

  Hellfire, he thought, his own hand getting squished in his slack-mouthed horror at the surprise.

  Alex was a fairy, too. Not only that, Alex was Magnus's cousin on his mother's side. The signature Murphy energy was impossible to mistake, though Alex's genetics—and thus his features—had been altered to match whatever human had traded realms with him. Now that Magnus thought about it, he'd met Alex's human opposite at one of his friend Tryon's flying hunts. Magnus's Aunt Elena had been terribly proud of her adopted son, said he had a head for spells most humans in Fairy lacked.

  All of which boiled down to Zoe's old boyfriend being a changeling.

  No wonder Magnus's territorial instincts had gone into overdrive. The Monroes and Murphys were royal lines, closely matched in power. Magnus wasn't facing off against a human, he was in a pissing contest with a full-blood fey, a preternaturally seductive, sexually insatiable full-blood fey. Worse, being a changeling gave Alex permanent green card status. He actually couldn't return to Fairy unless his counterpart agreed to return. Which meant Alex could screw Zoe senseless without losing his right to stay.

  The only bright spot was that Magnus's competition didn't have a clue what he was. The Murphy magic was in him, but his human parents wouldn't have taught him what do with it. Fair or not, that was the way the exchange worked.

  "We should go," Zoe said, pointedly separating Alex's hand from Magnus's. "You two need someplace else to stay."

  "Someplace to eat," Bryan corrected, his hand pressed to his stomach. "After that rain of rocks, a few lights turning on and off aren't going to scare me away."

  "We also need to talk," Alex said, sounding like he meant just him and Zoe. Zoe must have looked reluctant, because he held up one hand. "Nothing personal. You might have information about the case that brought us here."

  "That's right," she said. "Your mom mentioned you'd become a private detective."

  "She stayed in touch with you?"

  Zoe smiled with the gentle understanding that had made Magnus fall for her. Seeing that warmth directed at another man caused his hands to curl into fists. "Christmas cards, complete with pictures of your older brothers and their kids."

  "I'm sorry I didn't—"

  "No," Zoe said. "I never expected you to write." She shrugged as if that could end the trip down memory lane. "I'd be happy to answer whatever you want over food, though I'm afraid it's going to have to be take-out pizza. My larder is bare, and that's the only thing that's open this time of night."

  "Pizza is not a problem," Alex laughed. "Left to himself, I'm not sure Bryan here would eat anything else."

  He slapped his companion's shoulder, causing a curl of energy to flare between them. To Magnus the link looked new, but definitely sexual, and it was equally strong in both directions. Bryan's gaze dropped to the floor. From the tension that had just ramped up in Zoe's body, she'd picked up on the connection, too.

  Well, well, Magnus thought. Isn't this getting complicated?

  Whether the complication was good or bad he didn't know. Historically speaking, Murphy men had always had sufficient charm to collect harems.

  * * *

  Chapter Seven

  Zoe's legs were even better than Alex remembered, curvier, with more muscle in the thighs and calves. He couldn't take his eyes off them as she preceded him and Bryan down the stairs. Knowing Bryan was watching made him feel vaguely guilty, but Zoe had haunted his self-torturing fantasies for so long he couldn't stop himself.

  Zoe was the one who got away.

  Hell, Zoe was the one he'd thrown away in his stupid teenage hormone fog. He'd never stopped wanting her, not for one single day, and the idea that—theoretically—he could have her now was driving him insane.

  When that lunk who managed her had tried to claim her as his girlfriend, Alex had wanted to crush his knuckles into dust. The pity was, Magnus had barely noticed. That was the problem with men that big: They didn't have the decency to wince when you were giving them your best power handshake.

  "Hey," said Bryan, elbowing his ribs as they threaded through the crowded lobby. "Check out the shoes."

  Alex wasn't in the mood to be entertained, but he looked in the direction Bryan pointed. Magnus was talking to Mrs. Fairfax, the woman who owned the inn, no doubt assuring her that her guests could go back to bed because his "girlfriend" had saved the day. Annoyed by the reminder, it took a moment for Alex's eyes to slide to Magnus's feet.

  "Shit," he said. Zoe's manager was wearing the same stupid fucking yellow cartoon high-tops Alex had been forced to buy on the drive here. Alex had switched them for a pair of sandals first chance he got, but this man didn't seem to realize the things weren't standard adult wear.

  Bryan had started to snicker, but the minute Alex turned his glare to him he stopped. Most men would have kept up the ribbing once they knew it bugged him, but Bryan's eyes went soft.

  "I get it," he said with almost too much understanding. "This particular coincidence is just between you and me."

  He couldn't have turned the screw on Alex's guilt any better. Bryan liked Alex, and Bryan had finally gotten into his bed, in part because Alex was too freakishly horny to do without. It didn't matter what Bryan said about his lack of expectations; he didn't deserve to watch Alex squaring off with this tower of muscle over someone else.

  "Bryan." Alex put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

  Looking back later, he decided everything was context. Mrs. Fairfax had known Alex looked familiar when he checked in, but until she saw him in Zoe's presence and with another man, two plus two hadn't equaled four.

  Once it did, she sucked a shrieking gasp that echoed through the room.

  "I know you," she said, her grandmotherly face quivering with rage. "You're that perverted Goodbody boy, the one who ruined Coach Vickers life. How dare you come back after the heartache you caused this town? Tom Vickers was a good man. The least you could have done was stick to your own kind!"

  Her outburst shouldn't have shaken Alex. It was only what he'd heard a hundred times before, what he'd expected before he came. All the same, he had to swallow a lump the size of Mitten Butte before he could speak.

  "Believe me," he said as levelly as he could, "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have a job to do."

  "A job!" Mrs. Fairfax's cry drew every eye that hadn't been on her already. Parents began to hug their children to their sides. "You don't deserve a job! Trash like you deserves prison!"

  She was closing the space that separated them, her hand coming up to strike like she was in some damn catfight on a soap opera. Alex didn't know how to stop her and wasn't sure he wanted to. His face felt like it was frying with self-consciousness, his feet frozen to the ground. Let her slap me, he thought. There just wasn't a good way to defend yourself against a woman your mother's age, especially when you knew her accusations held a l
ot of truth.

  And then Zoe was between them like a Fury, straight-arming Mrs. Fairfax's shoulder so she had to stop.

  "You are so not doing this in front of me," Zoe said.

  Airs. Fairfax wasn't the only one whose jaw dropped. Alex had never heard sweet Zoe Clare sound like this. Her declaration had been so deep and angry it was a growl.

  "Zoe," Mrs. Fairfax protested. "How can you defend him?"

  Zoe put her fists on her hips. "I can defend him for three very good reasons. First of all, Coach Vickers probably was Alex's 'kind' all along. Loath as this town was to admit it, men don't turn homosexual overnight. Second of all, Alex was a teenager, which ought to cut him slack by itself. Third of all, even though he was a teenager, and could have stayed nice and cozy as everybody's poor victim, he chose to come forward and tell the truth. It wasn't his fault people were angry because he wasn't the perfect golden hero they made him out to be. They built that pedestal, not him. He chose to do the right thing."

  "The right thing! But he hurt you worst of all."

  Mrs. Fairfax's astonishment had turned to pleading. She'd obviously been sure her stand against the depravation Alex represented would be approved, but Zoe didn't back down an inch.

  "He was a kid, Mrs. Fairfax, and aside from Coach Vicker's involvement turning it into a public stink, what he did was no worse than kids do to each other every minute of every day. If I can forgive him, I see no reason why people whose hearts weren't broken can't do the same."

  Her voice had a ringing clarity. One of the teenage guests, a boy with a nose stud and a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt, began to clap. He was quickly shushed by his parents, but the brief offering of approval tipped Alex into a welter of emotion from which there was no turning back. His eyes went as hot as his face had been a minute earlier. Zoe forgave him. His knees began to shake in reaction, like he might fall if he didn't sit.

  "Shit," he whispered, and grabbed the edge of an end table.

  Mrs. Fairfax was murmuring a flustered apology and backing off. As she disappeared somewhat huffily into the office behind the reception desk, Zoe thrust her hands into her curls. Her hair had been skewered messily atop her head, and her elbows stuck out on either side. As she stood there, the other guests began to drift away. She exhaled loudly and turned to him.