“Oh, boy.” Natalie got up from the sofa and followed Kimber to Duncan’s office.
When they walked in, Kimber saw a tall, willowy blonde standing by the bank of windows. Her posture and clothing reminded her of Aodhán. She looked toward the big mahogany desk. Duncan was seated behind it and Atticus stood to his side. And there just in front of Atticus was her fey friend. “Aodhán!” She gave a screech of welcome and threw herself at him.
His arms came around her in a tight hug. It was the first time in seven days she’d felt someone’s arms around her, and it brought the pain of the growing distance between her and Duncan that much closer to the surface.
“Mo chara.” Aodhán rested his cheek against the top of her head. “I am so happy you’re all right.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, too,” Natalie called out. “Just in case you were worried. Which you probably weren’t, since you’ve been gone so long.”
Kimber pulled away from Aodhán. “Go easy on her,” she whispered. She had no doubt Duncan could hear her, and maybe even the fey woman by the windows, but Natalie wouldn’t be able to. “She’s really missed you.”
“As I have her.” He looked at Natalie. In a louder tone, he said, “I am glad to know you’re fine, Natalie. I had no doubt that my friend Duncan would keep you safe.”
“Hmph.” She crossed her arms. “What’s all this about?”
Duncan motioned to the leather armchairs in front of his desk. “Please, sit.”
After Kimber and Natalie sat down, Aodhán said, “I come with dire news. The imbalance in the Unseen has spread to the fey realm. It’s in its early stages, but all signs indicate it will be as big as what you have here. Brigid”—he gestured toward the fey woman—“is able to focus supernatural power. Think of her as a collector that gathers your powers and then sends them back out in one concentrated beam. She is most successful when dealing with triangular sources. We believe she could do the same for you.” He looked at Kimber. “We need your help.”
There was silence while Kimber digested the news. Then Natalie said, “Oh, this is rich. When we asked you for help, you told us to go screw ourselves, that the problems of the human realm were no concern of the fey. Now you have the balls to ask us for help?”
“Natalie.” Duncan’s voice held a warning note. Even Atticus had stiffened.
Aodhán waved them off. “No, no, it’s all right. I understand how she feels. If the situation were reversed, I’d most likely feel the same way.”
Kimber shot to her feet. “We really need to take care of this, Duncan. Now. I’m not sure how, but I think I need to start with Maggie and Jason. And Brigid, of course, if she can do what’s claimed.”
Duncan narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“What’s the matter, you afraid we’re going to take over the world?” She scowled. “The only ones who’ll be able to push the Unseen out of the zombies and back into itself are necromancers. Manipulating the Unseen is what we do. Maybe Brigid can keep us focused so we don’t accidentally yank any Unseen out of your people while we’re fixing humanity’s problem.”
He didn’t like her attitude, she could tell. Tough. He shouldn’t have been treating her like a leper for the last seven days.
“Fine. But you’ll still have guards.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t expect anything less. And I’ll make sure to remind them they’re not to touch us. Save you the trouble.” With a deeper glower, she turned on her heel. “Come on, Leon,” she said to her guard. She looked at the fey woman. “You coming?”
When the woman walked toward her, Kimber nodded and headed to the door, her vampire guard on her heels.
* * *
Natalie watched them go. Feeling suddenly shy and unsure, she got to her feet. “Um, I guess I’ll go, too.”
“Wait, please.” Aodhán walked over to her and looked down into her face. “We need to talk.”
Yes, they did. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he had to say. He’d walked away and only returned because their little zombie problem had bled over into the fey realm. She rubbed at the pain in her chest. He hadn’t come back for her.
That wasn’t the behavior of a man in love, not in any book she’d ever read.
She glanced at Atticus. He hadn’t fed in several days and she knew he had to be hungry. He shook his head and jerked it toward the door, giving her permission to leave. “Come to my room,” she murmured to Aodhán, and led the way.
When the door to her room one floor down closed behind them, she motioned him toward the plush teal-colored sofa in the living room. The floor plan to her room was like a loft. It was large and open, with the living room flowing into her bedroom area, the two rooms separated only by a half wall. The other side of the living room led into the kitchen, with a small dining room off to the side. The bathroom was the only self-contained room, and it was just large enough for a toilet, sink, and tub with a shower. It had suited her needs, but with Aodhán taking up so much space, it seemed too small now.
She sat down on one end of the sofa and watched him lower himself to the opposite end. God, he was gorgeous. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail with those ever-present small braided sections at his temples, also caught in the tie holding his hair back. He wore leather pants and a supple ice-blue shirt that buttoned partway down. The neck was open, allowing some of his dark chest hair to show. His sword in its scabbard hung from his left hip. His bright blue eyes focused on her, making her fight the urge to squirm.
“You said you wanted to talk,” she prodded him. God, she’d missed him so much, but she’d thrown herself into her new responsibilities here at the enclave, making herself so tired she hadn’t had much time to think. Besides, he’d been the one to walk away, not her. As a matter of fact, she’d chased him down and pretty much begged him to stay only to be shot down. She was under no obligation to make this easy on him, especially if he was going to break her heart again.
He leaned toward her and cupped her face. His thumb ran across the fading bruise on her cheek. “What happened here?”
His light touch sent shivers through her, weakened her resolve to remain stoic. Unmoved. She drew away, and he dropped his hand and leaned back into the sofa. “I had a difference of opinion with someone,” she murmured. “His face looks worse than mine.”
Aodhán stayed silent for a moment. “I don’t like the sound of this. Who was it?”
“It’s okay. I’m fine. Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” An awkward silence spread between them.
“I never meant to hurt you, Natalie,” he finally said, his voice soft and husky. It rasped across her senses and made goose bumps pop up along her arms.
Damn him. What kind of fey magic did he have to make her respond so easily? She scowled at him.
“I hadn’t planned on being gone as long as I was.” He brought one leg up and twisted to face her, leaning forward to brace one forearm across his thigh. “Time moves differently in the fey realm than it does here. For me, only a little over a week has passed.”
“But you knew more time was passing out here, didn’t you? You knew it had been a month and a half? I know it doesn’t seem like a long time, but when there was no word from you, I thought—”
He sighed. “Yes, I knew. And I worried about you.”
She wanted to believe him, she did. She just didn’t want to get hurt.
He went on. “But I couldn’t get away before now. It has taken me several days to convince our rulers that we’d need humans’ help to battle back the Unseen and the effects it has had on our realm.”
“Just what effects are you talking about?”
“We don’t have zombies, thank the Makers, but we are losing magic. It’s as if the Unseen is sucking it up like a sponge. Our best philosophers have determined it is using our magic to continue to fuel the apocalypse here. If we can stop the zombies in the human realm, our realm will also be saved. That’s our greatest hope, anyway.” He reached
out and took her hands in his. “I would have come back sooner if my people hadn’t been in such danger, Natalie. You must believe me.”
At his words, much of her anger retreated. She swallowed. “Why?” she asked in a whisper. “Why would you have come back? To help protect Kimber?” As far as she knew, that was the only reason he’d stayed to begin with. Other than tease her with sexual innuendos, especially about his mighty sword, he’d never really showed a lot of interest in her until right before he’d left. And then he’d left anyway. Oh, she realized it was necessary. He had to help his people. It just wasn’t fair.
“For you, grá mo chroí. I would have come back for you. Kimber is merely my friend.”
She stared down at their joined hands, then looked into his face. Sincerity blazed from his eyes. Her pulse skittered. “What does that mean, grá mo chroí?”
“Love of my heart.” He let go of her hands and cupped her face. “You are my heart, Natalie. The reason it beats, the reason I draw breath.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.” She drew away from him and stood, putting distance between them. She couldn’t think when he touched her. “You kissed me like you thought you’d never see me again. You can’t sit there and tell me you planned on coming back when you left the last time and expect me to believe it. If it weren’t for the problem with the Unseen in your realm, you wouldn’t be here now. At least admit that much.”
Or was she just being a selfish, frustrated bitch?
He stood, too, but didn’t come any nearer. “I won’t lie to you. At the time I was leaving, I thought I would never leave the fey realm again. I thought I would go home and be able to forget about you. Get on with my life. Find a nice fey girl to fall in love with.”
She narrowed her eyes. This she didn’t want to hear. At all. “You’re such a jackass.”
He ignored that. “But as time went by, I realized I wasn’t forgetting you. You had worked your way under my skin, into my heart, and you weren’t budging. I had no life if you weren’t in it. There weren’t any fey girls to fall in love with, because I had no more love to give. It’s all yours.”
Her heart thumped a staccato beat against her ribs and thrummed wildly in her throat. Dare she believe him? “Those are some awfully pretty words, Aodhán.” From an awfully pretty man. She shook her head. “I’m afraid to believe you,” she finally whispered what was in her heart.
“I know, mo chroí. I’m sorry for that, and I mean to prove you can believe what I say. That you can believe in me.” He came closer then and drew her into his arms. “There is a human saying that actions speak louder than words. If you have trouble with what I say, then believe this.”
He slanted his mouth over hers, lips coaxing her to open. When she parted on a gasp, his tongue surged in. One big hand wrapped around her nape, holding her head where he wanted it, and the other grasped her hip to pull her lower body closer. The hard ridge of his erection pressed against her belly with only a few layers of clothing separating them. It was just like that last kiss all over again.
With a low moan, Natalie twisted away from him. She blinked back tears. “No! You can’t just waltz in here and kiss me, then expect me to fall into your arms. You hurt me,” she yelled. “You kissed me, like you just did, and then you left.”
He held himself stiffly. “I had an obligation to my people,” he said.
“I understand that.” She wrapped her arms around her waist. “So what’s to keep those obligations from making you leave me again?”
His expression softened. “I’ve explained my…situation to the rulers, and they have accepted it. If I leave the human realm to return to the fey, you will go with me.”
She blinked. And frowned. “I can’t just up and go to the fey realm.”
“Why not?” He glanced around her apartment. “This is nice, but you live among vampires, surrounded by zombies. Once the zombie threat is eliminated, why would you continue to live here? We could still come back to visit your friends, if that’s what’s worrying you.” His dark brows drew down. “Unless it’s Atticus? That’s it, isn’t it? I saw the way you exchanged looks with him. What does he mean to you?”
She almost told a fib, that she and Atticus were lovers, just to see how he’d react, but it would be done only out of pure cussed meanness, and she wasn’t going to sink that low. “We’re friends, like you and Kimber.”
“I think he’d like to be more than that.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.” She knew she had to tell him the rest. Even if she and Atticus had never had sex, sharing her blood with him lent an intimacy to their relationship she knew Aodhán didn’t have with Kimber. “I’m his personal donor.”
Aodhán’s eyes darkened. “You give him your blood?”
Natalie nodded. “There’s nothing sexual about it,” she hastened to add.
“He lets you feel the pain of the bite, then?” He moved closer. His hands in fists at his sides, he asked, “Or does he allow his vampire glamour to turn the pain into sensual pleasure?”
She heaved a sigh. “Okay, okay. He does that, but I don’t…” Her cheeks flared with heat and she had a feeling she was as red as a boiled lobster. “I’ve never, you know, come from it.” She scowled. “And, anyway, you weren’t here, weren’t even planning on coming back, so it’s really none of your business anyway.”
This was not the sort of conversation she’d ever expected to have with Aodhán. Damn it. How embarrassing.
He leaned back on his heels. “Well, at least he doesn’t give you an orgasm while he feeds.” His scowl matched hers. “I don’t like the thought of him touching you in any way.” He reached out and slowly drew her back into his arms. “Just give me another chance, mo chroí. That’s all I ask.”
She rested her cheek against the hard muscles of his chest. She was so afraid he’d walk away from her again, and she wasn’t sure how she’d get through it a third time. He’d asked her to give him another chance. How could she?
How could she not? If he left, she’d be heartbroken, but at least she would have tried. One thing the apocalypse had shown her about herself was that she wasn’t a coward. She refused to start acting like a scaredy-cat now.
So she’d give him another chance. And if he hurt her, maybe she’d just bust his balls before she let him walk away from her again.
Chapter Six
I think we can all agree that the situation is worse than we ever dreamed it could be,” Jason said. He sat beside Maggie, the fingers of one hand twined with hers, his other hand covering hers comfortingly.
Kimber stared at him, then looked down at her own hands, fingers twisting in her lap. She was acutely aware of Leon standing several paces behind them, close enough to hear their conversation even if they whispered but not close enough to be touched. The fey woman Brigid perched on the edge of a folding chair situated between the sofa and the armchair upon which Kimber was seated. As of yet, she hadn’t contributed to the conversation. If anything, she’d seemed completely disinterested in the discussion up to this point.
Kimber focused on the ongoing conversation. “Yes, if the fey realm has been affected, and I have no reason to doubt what Aodhán has told me, then we’re SOL.”
“It is as he said,” Brigid murmured, her voice holding a note of censure, probably for Kimber’s apparent lack of faith in Aodhán. “Day by day our magic wanes, siphoned off by the Unseen.” Her gaze flitted over the necromancers before it settled once more upon Kimber. “Without our magic, we will die. It is what sustains our realm. It is everything to us.”
“So what do we do?” Maggie leaned forward, never letting go of Jason’s hands.
Kimber paused. It would be so much easier to practice using a vampire, but she knew that would never happen. Plus she didn’t want to put any of Duncan’s people at risk. This was still such an unknown. She explained to Maggie and Jason about her previous experience in drawing upon the Unseen to fell zombies. “But it’s not easy, and it’s very draining. The first ti
me I tried to draw the Unseen out of a friend who’d been bitten, I almost died.”
Maggie and Jason took a few moments to mull that over. Then Maggie said, “Tell us what to do, and when do we start?”
Kimber drew in a deep breath. This was where things got a bit murky. “I’m honestly not even certain this will work. I’ve never tried to join my power with other necromancers. But I think it can be done. Except…” She looked at Maggie. “I’m not so sure you should do anything.” She motioned vaguely toward the pregnant woman’s midsection. “I don’t want you to do something that could jeopardize your baby.”
The other woman frowned and, disengaging one of her hands from Jason’s grip, placed a palm protectively over her belly. “Nor do I, but how does practicing my craft—doing my job—put my baby in jeopardy?”
“With what I think we’ll need to do, it very well could. It will take a tremendous amount of energy, even energy that would ordinarily be given to your baby as a natural process of childbearing.” Kimber briefly closed her eyes. Now was the time she should tell them that she carried around some of the Unseen within her and let them know how it was affecting her mood. She didn’t want to verbalize it, though, because now that she was pregnant, too, it made it all the more real. Logic told her that whatever might put Maggie’s baby in danger would surely have the same effect on her baby.
“Just what is it you think we need to do?” This from Jason, who looked as concerned as Maggie did.
There was no hope for it. Kimber had to come clean. At least partially. She cleared her throat. “Just to be sure we’re all on the same page, you are aware that the Unseen is what’s animating the zombies, right?”
They both looked startled. Brigid looked bored once again with the chitchat going on around her. Damned fairies. Nothing was important until it affected them directly.
“You didn’t know?” Kimber frowned.
Maggie and Jason exchanged a look and shook their heads. “No,” Maggie said. “I thought it was a virus, since it’s spread by bite.” Her expression became uncertain. “You know, like in the movies.”
Vampire's Thirst (The Awakening Series) Page 6
