“Elvis?”
“Yeah, you know Elvis? He went around buying new cars for total strangers…oh, never mind! Take the next exit and hang a left at the stop sign.”
****
Her cat was sitting in the bay window watching for her as the car crunched into the drive. The house, as always, seemed timeless; wooden rockers on the front porch, the porch swing off to the side, comfortably attired in peeling paint and rusted chains, swaying and creaking in the slight breeze. It had been her grandmother’s house and later, her mother’s, a house safe for dreaming. Kat’s mother, Lilly, had acquired the house shortly before Kat’s birth, along with a stepfather for Kat who hadn’t lasted long enough to leave more than a fuzzy memory and his name. It was the only home Kat had ever known. Inconvenience aside, the main reason Kat had never moved into the city was because wherever she went, she was only partly there; a piece of her was always here.
Kassian followed her up the walk. His eyes widened as she reached for the loose board on the second step. She lifted it and smiled, triumphantly showing him the front door key. Kassian closed his eyes and counted aloud to ten.
“That is not where you leave your key when you go out.”
“Don’t be silly. I usually don’t lock the door at all unless I’m going in to the city overnight.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” He winced. “How have you survived this long?”
“Interestingly, I’ve never really had a problem with dangerous situations until I met you, McAllister.” She smiled as she said it. She’d meant it as a joke, but by the look on his face she could see he took it far more seriously than she’d intended. Wisely, she let it drop.
She unlocked the door and reached inside to flick on the hall light. One of the bulbs was burned out and she made a mental note to replace it. Sid had seen her coming up the walk and was waiting inside the door to weave acrobatic figure eights around her legs.
“Hi, baby…miss me?” She scooped up the purring calico and rubbed her face into his fur. She turned to Kassian to make the introductions but stopped when he took a quick step back. He was obviously not a cat person.
“What’s wrong?” she crooned, scratching Sid under the chin. “Is the big strong tycoon afraid of the itty bitty kitty?”
“You aren’t planning to take that beast back with us, are you?” He grimaced.
“Well, I was considering it.” She laughed out loud at the look of horror on his face. “Relax, McAllister. My neighbor, Mrs. Norton, will take care of him for a few days. I just have to let her know I’ll be away.”
Kat bent to deposit the animal back on the floor and headed into the kitchen.
****
Kassian was relieved when he heard her calling the neighbor to make arrangements for the cat. He wouldn’t have refused her if she insisted on bringing it along as she was obviously attached to the creature, but he would not have been happy about it either. The damn thing probably slept with her. While she chatted briefly with the neighbor, Kassian scanned the place with a practiced eye. Her house was about as secure as a pup tent. Now that he’d had a chance to look it over, there was no way she was staying here, even if he’d been almost willing to consider slumming it in her guest room if it would make her more comfortable with the whole situation. He heard Kat moving around in the kitchen and the click of the answering machine followed by the sound of Elle Gates’ voice. He couldn’t make out the words, but could guess the content by the increasingly frantic tone following each succeeding beep.
“You’d better call Miss Gates,” he called from the living room. “I forgot to tell you that I promised her you would.”
“Yeah, thanks…that would explain the eight messages bordering on hysteria.” She reproached ruefully.
She dug her cell phone out of her bag as she passed back through the living room.
“I’m going to send Elle a quick text to let her know I’m okay and will call her later. If I call her back now, I’ll never get off the phone and I’m guessing you’re anxious to get back to the city?” He nodded, but she didn’t pick up her head long enough to notice.
“Make yourself comfortable,” she called as she breezed through the hall and headed for the stairs. “There’s juice in the fridge, or beer if you’d rather, although then I’ll be driving back so you might want to take that into consideration before you decide.”
Alcohol didn’t affect him in the least unless he ingested massive quantities, and there was no way she was driving him anywhere. The car itself was enough of a risk. He noticed the damn cat stuck to her like glue, and Kassian sadly realized he might have to investigate aversion therapy. But there was no way it was ever sleeping on his bed. He glanced at his watch; Luca should have been here by now.
He listened to the faint sounds of Kat moving around upstairs and stretched, wincing as his spine cracked in several places from the long, cramped ride in her car. He clamped a hand to the back of his neck, rubbing out the kinks as he wandered around the downstairs rooms. The front door opened into a cozy hallway leading straight back to a spacious farmhouse style kitchen. To the left of the hallway was the living room and behind that, a formal dining room with a large, heavy table which looked like it dated to the twenties. All of the furniture was old and mismatched with no distinctive style. It was well used and in need of replacement, but the overall feeling was warm and welcoming. Unlike his penthouse, the place felt lived in, loved; it felt like a home. It had been a long time since he’d lived in a place that actually did. It was a surprise to discover that somewhere deep down, he missed the feeling.
He turned back toward the hall when he heard her thumping down the stairs. She’d changed into a faded pair of jeans that hugged her curves in all the right places, a pair of tennis shoes, and a soft, yellow V-neck sweater that flashed a tantalizing glimpse of lace and cleavage when she moved exactly the right way. She carried a brown quilted vest with a faux fur collar over her arm. She’d brushed out her hair and it cascaded down her back and around her shoulders in a soft, silvery cloud. Kassian took a firm grip on the gut wrenching lust that rose to bubble and hiss at the sight of her. She was struggling with a duffle bag. He moved forward and plucked it from her like it weighed nothing and set it near the door.
Kassian felt the first faint shocks racing up his spine as Kat opened her mouth to say something. The words never came as he saw the blast of sensation affect her first before hitting him mere moments later. It was far less toxic than last night, but it was definitely evil. Sid yowled in alarm and ran for the kitchen. Kat’s eyes widened and locked on Kassian. In one long stride, he reached her side and shoved her behind him, her back against the wall. There was a loud crack like a light bulb exploding and Luca appeared in a bright flash, crouched in the middle of the living room, a dagger already gripped in either hand.
“Incoming,” he called, just as the air near the fireplace began to shimmer. Kassian reached behind him and slid a long, deadly looking blade from the neck of his shirt, moving toward the disruption, but Luca was quicker. As soon as the figure had fully materialized, the dagger in his left hand whistled through the air, straight and true, burying itself in the dark figure’s throat just as it became solid. The thing immediately collapsed into an oily looking puddle with a gurgle and a hiss. Luca casually strode across the room and fished his dagger out of the slime, holding it between his thumb and forefinger with a moue of distaste. He glanced around and grabbed a couple of Kleenex from a box on the table and wiped it clean. He laid it against his forearm, where it dissolved back into his tattoo, did the same with the second dagger, then tugged the sleeves of his sweater back down. “Sorry I’m late.”
Kassian slid the sword back into his shirt where it also dissolved into the tattoo Kat had admired earlier in the day.
“Shit, Luca!” Kassian roared striding across the room.
“Sorry about the mess,” Luca said quietly, rubbing his palms together briskly as an eerie blue glow began to emanate from them. He looked
beyond Kassian and nodded in Kat’s direction. “I’ll take care of this. You might want to take care of that.”
Kassian spun to where he’d left Kat and his heart contracted painfully. She’d slid to the floor and huddled against the wall, curled into herself, frozen and wide eyed. Her gaze was fixed on Luca who’d turned his palms toward the oily remains of the intruder, vaporizing them almost instantly.
“Ah, damn.” Kassian reached for her and she flinched away. He picked her up anyway and carried her to the sofa where he held her carefully on his lap.
“Breathe, Kat,” he coaxed gently. “It’s okay, just breathe.”
Kat remained silent, sitting stiffly in the circle of Kassian’s arms, her eyes darting between Luca and the spot where the puddle had been. Kassian looked helplessly over her head at Luca, who offered nothing more than a raised brow and a shrug in the way of assistance.
“Mac, maybe we should get out of here. I think I lost the rest of them, but…” He shrugged again. “Looks like Rapier already knows where she lives.” He eyed Kassian meaningfully.
Kat’s head turned slowly in Luca’s direction.
“The rest?” she croaked hoarsely. “There are more of those…whatever they are…coming here?”
“It’s possible,” Kassian replied carefully, “but once we leave they have no reason to bother. C’mon, let’s get Sid some food and water and then we’ll go.” He set her on her feet as he got up, but kept an arm around her waist, just in case.
****
Kat stifled a completely inappropriate urge to laugh hysterically. She’d been worried about what he might think of her freaky baggage? He could apparently pull a sword out of his body and had friends who just popped in; really popped in. Oh, and those friends could also make themselves glow in the dark. In comparison, she was the all American girl! As for his friend, she couldn’t even allow her mind to go there at the moment. She decided to pull a Scarlett O’Hara and think about it tomorrow, or the next day, or whenever she was able to wrap her head around it. If ever. At any rate, she was pretty sure that whatever was going on had nothing to do with organized crime, or anything else even remotely connected with her sphere of reality. She didn’t know how Kassian could have even begun to explain what she’d just witnessed, so maybe she shouldn’t hold it against him that he hadn’t. Oh, yeah, she was scared nearly witless at the moment, not to mention confused as hell, but implausibly, she still trusted him to keep her safe. And how twisted was that since at the moment she rather doubted either he or his friend was even human? And if that was the case, what did it make her? Kat couldn’t stop staring at Luca and knew the look in her eyes was murderous.
“Kat, look at me,” Kassian gave her a little shake. “C’mon, we need to leave now. I’ll explain later, but we need to go now.”
****
Kassian stood and tucked her in beneath his arm and held the length of her body close against his side to ensure she would stay on her feet. To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around his waist and held on for dear life. He doubted she was even aware of it, but right at the moment he figured that he was her life preserver in a rapidly rising sea of confusion.
“Grab that, will you?” he said to Luca, nodding toward her duffle.
Kat stayed pressed against him, following his lead like a mindless marionette. Outside, Kassian took the key from her numb fingers and relocked the door, replacing it under the loose board for the neighbor. He all but dragged her down the sidewalk to the car, and threw open the door. It apparently took her that long to regain any semblance of composure or coherent thought. She roused suddenly and pushed him away. Placing her hands on her thighs, she bent forward, dropping her head between her arms and taking several deep breaths. She straightened at last and searched his face, her eyes begging for answers.
“What in the hell was that?”
He reached out to stroke her hair, gently tucking a stray strand behind her ear. “We’ll talk about it later. C’mon, we need to get going.”
Kat took a deep breath. “No, we’ll talk about it now. If I’m in the middle of this, I need to know what it is. You said you got me into this…in that case, don’t you think you at least owe me the truth?”
He glanced over her head at Luca who shrugged helpfully yet again. Kassian took a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering.
“It was an animorti…it was a, well, a kind of ghoul is the best comparison I can think of at the moment.”
Kat appeared to digest that for a moment. “A ghoul. Of course, I should have known that right away. Who wouldn’t? I mean, it was obvious, right? Riiiiight.”
Kassian knew they had to move, but he wanted to give her a minute. Hell, after what she’d just been through she deserved an hour.
“A ghoul,” she repeated mechanically. “I see.”
She began edging carefully out of the space between him and the car and held up a forefinger. “Hold that thought for a minute, okay?”
She started back toward the house, walking quickly, picking up speed as she went. He didn’t know why she was running; after what she’d just seen, she had to know there was nowhere she could go that he couldn’t follow. Her fingers were closing around the key when Kassian’s arms snaked around her and pulled her back against his chest. He briefly buried his face in her hair. God, she smelled good.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked mildly. Okay, her breathing was a little erratic and he felt her heart pounding against his forearm where it rested below her breasts, but she wasn’t hysterical…yet. He hoped it was a good sign.
“I, um, thought I’d better check to see if the fairies and gnomes needed anything before we left,” she choked out.
Kassian laughed loudly, giving her a quick squeeze and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. Even with animorti on their tail and Rapier on the prowl, he hadn’t felt this good in centuries. “Gnomes are nasty little creatures and fairies are pretty self-sufficient…I think we’re good.”
He swung her up in his arms before she could protest and carried her back to the car. He set her down in the drive and waited for her to climb in. So far, he was doing a bang up job of keeping her safe; he’d almost allowed them to get to her in her own home. He found it a little hard to breathe when he thought of how close that had been. In a matter of hours, she’d invaded his soul and given him something that made it nearly unthinkable for him to go back to what he had been—nothing, an empty shell whose only company was bitterness and regret. He swallowed the little bubble of hope that had begun to percolate somewhere in the region of his heart by telling himself he still had unfinished business and couldn’t afford to be deterred, not when vengeance was so close at hand. But, now that he’d found her, could he really let her go and spend the rest of his life thinking of her with someone else?
“Listen, McAllister, I’m sure you two have some important ghoulie business or something to take care of, so maybe you should just snap, crackle, and pop your way back to your place. I’m sure it’s much quicker.” She glanced furtively at Luca. “I think maybe I’ll…um…catch up with you later, okay?” She sounded so hopeful. He hated to disappoint her, and hated even more to push her, but they really needed to get out of here before more animorti arrived.
“I understand you’re upset and confused, but you can’t stay here alone. You understand that, right?” If Luca hadn’t materialized already prepared to fight, Kassian knew he might have been a split second too late to protect Kat and that had scared the hell out of him. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and one he wasn’t at all comfortable with.
****
Kat motioned Kassian down to her level, put her lips to his ear, and whispered, “Then can he snap, crackle, and pop his way back?” Whatever they were, whatever was going on, at least she felt relatively sure that McAllister felt some kind of responsibility to protect her. As for Luca, he was a wild card and she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. No doubt he had a genetic predisposition to indifference.
>
Kassian gave her a puzzled look. “What’s up? Luca’s no threat…hell, I’ve known him forever.”
“Not quite that long, but close enough.” Luca frowned across the roof. “Wait a minute, does she think we’re the bad guys?”
Kat’s brows drew together in confusion as she looked from one to the other. She hadn’t really thought about it one way or the other. In fact, she hadn’t really had time to give it much thought, at all.
Luca’s face split in a wide grin that went from ear to ear. “No worries, sweetness… we’re the good guys!”
Chapter 5
“Head back but stay close. I’ll feel better knowing you’ve got my back if we run into trouble.”
“No problem.” Luca shrugged. “Hey, about before…I did plan to knock. I couldn’t very well materialize outside with him right behind me not knowing if there were witnesses around.”
“No worries, my brother, I get it. I just really hadn’t planned on telling her…at least not yet, and certainly not like this.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“No idea.” And he didn’t like feeling so indecisive. It was another emotion he wasn’t comfortable with, but one that certainly seemed to be afflicting him more since he’d first laid eyes on Katrina Shephard.
“Well, maybe you could start by not talking about me as if I’m not here,” Kat snapped.
“Well, damn!” Luca gasped looking hard at Kassian.
If the situation were less serious, Kassian would have laughed out loud at the comical expression on Luca’s usually unreadable face. He was certain he wore a similar expression on his own, as they turned in unison to gape at her. Kat had unknowingly intercepted a telepathic conversation they were having on a mental pathway used exclusively by Earthbounds.
“What?” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them both. “You knew I was telepathic, McAllister. You can’t blame a girl for eavesdropping under the circumstances.”
Undiscovered Angel Page 7
