by Carol Roi
The two women looked at each other for a moment, then back at him. "What?"
"Jim would be here with us if I'd just said something this afternoon. He asked me what I was working on, and I told him I'd tell him later. If I'd just told him our suspicions about Brad& "
Megan shook her head. "Sandy, he would have thought you were nuts, especially if you added in all that stuff about Eolia being CIA and working with Brackett. He'd be checking you for feverish hallucinations. Besides, you had no hard proof, only a few tenuous paper trails and a big leap of imagination. And even if you had told him, it wouldn't have changed Brad's actions any. Dee still would have been shot, and Jim probably would still have gone to a safe house with Lee."
"I know, it's just--"
Crossing to his side, Dee slid her arm around his waist. "Come on, Lobo. What's done is done. We came through it okay; we're safe. We've heard from Jim; he's fine, too. And I'm tired. Can we go to bed and worry about this in the morning?"
"I--"
"No. I am not going to let you torture yourself over this anymore. Bed." She pushed him gently down the hall toward the bedroom. "Night, Megan, and thanks for giving up your bed."
The companion's "No problem" was cut off as Dee closed the door behind them. She turned around to face him, her lips parting as if to say something, but the words never came.
Instead she raised her hand to his face, her fingertips tracing lightly over his features. He blinked at her, a little surprised by her actions. "Dee?"
She leaned in closer, her hands cupping his face, her lips pressing gently against his temple, his eyelids, his cheek, the corner of his mouth. A tiny sigh escaped him, and Blair opened up the spiritual link between them, feeling her love pour over him like warm, sweet honey. "Angel..." he breathed, then whatever else he might have said was lost in her kiss.
Hands roamed freely, unfastening buttons, undoing zippers, layers of fabric pooling on the floor. The cotton bedspread was cool against his back, contrasting sharply with the fire of her hands and mouth on his chest. Her fingers glided further downward, her touch intimate and arousing. His low moan gave voice to his need, and grasping his hand, she pulled him to his knees. He swayed for a moment, then her arms went around him, steadying him as she swung her leg over his thighs, straddling him.
Her fingers tangled in his hair as she tilted his head back, pressing a kiss against the skin in front of his ear, her tongue trailing across his cheek to delve between his slightly parted lips. Blair returned the deep kiss, his hands stroking down her back, pulling her closer, feeling the warm brush of her breasts against his chest. Rising up on her knees, she lowered herself back down slowly, her silken heat surrounding him. He gasped as she squirmed, driving him deeper. Then she began a kind of rhythmic swaying of her hips, her muscles clenching and releasing over and over.
He clung to her, his hands on her hips, his mouth on her neck, her long hair whipping back and forth as she tossed her head. He felt her nearing the precipice, her fingers digging into his shoulders, her body tightening against his. Fireworks exploded in his groin, and he groaned, his cry mingling with her moans of pleasure as she followed him over the edge.
Blair fell back against the mattress, his heart racing, his chest heaving. She collapsed on top of him, her face buried in the join of his neck and shoulder. After a few minutes had passed, he found enough strength to wrestle them both under the covers. Diandra attached herself to him again, pillowing her cheek on his chest, throwing an arm around his waist and a leg over his thigh. He stroked her shoulder gently, whispering he loved her as she drifted off to sleep.
Part 22
Not sure, at first, what had awakened him from his sated sleep, Jim slowly opened his eyes, only to find that Lee was snuggly curled against his side and dawn was slowly breaking through the bedroom's single window. Moving as carefully as he could, he slid out from under the very lithely muscled leg entrapping him and got out of the bed. Dark red hair, almost dark brown in the slowly gathering light, spread out over the pillows and barely covered one enticingly pale shoulder. Snapping his mind from the thought of crawling back into the warm bed and warmer body lying there, Jim walked from the room, pulling on the sweatpants he'd packed the evening before.
Moving down the hall to the kitchen, after a fast trip into the bathroom, the chirp of his cell phone drew him from his intent of making coffee. Picking up the phone, he saw that someone had left a voice mail for him. Entering the proper code, he listened to the message.
"Jim, I hope to hell you're all right, since Simon wouldn't tell me where the hell you are. Like I said in my previous message, we're at Megan's. We're all fine, in case you're wondering. Call me."
Shaking his head, Jim closed the phone and walked into the kitchen. "Later, Chief. Like when I get back to the station." His back to the rest of the cabin, he nearly jumped out of his skin when two soft hands touched his waist above the band of his sweatpants.
"G'Morning, Jim." Her voice was soft, almost smoky in its tone. "Blair's worried?"
Turning around to face her, he placed a kiss on top of Lee's sleep tousled hair. "He's like that. Morning, Lee. Sleep well enough?"
Stretching like a cat, hands above her head and going up on her toes, the black silk robe parting to reveal the wealth of alabaster and rose skin, Lee Eolia smiled. "Better than I have for months. You were amazing."
Clamping down on his physical response to the woman's teasing ways, Jim met her sensual smile with one of his own. "You amazed me as well, Lee. And as much as I would love to leave the coffee and carry you back to the bed, we really should get everything cleaned up and packed for our trip back into the city."
She pouted her lips. "Are you sure we can't stay here a little while longer?"
"Not if we're going to meet your bodyguard on time."
Shaking her head, Lee reached for his hands, pulling him with her as she backed out of the small kitchen. "Then, in the interest of saving time and water& "
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The drive back into the city isn't as tense as I thought it would be, even if Jim and I seem to have lost the will to communicate verbally. What more could we say anyway? Our hands are doing the talking for us, twined together, fingers interlaced, where they meet on the bench seat of the Jeep he's driving. All too soon, we're pulling into the garage at the police station and I've spotted my student. Jan-Michel LaFollet is waiting for us, his body insolently leaned up against the black body of the Lexus RX 300 I had driven up from Seattle earlier in the week, his facial expression thoughtful. My oh so recent lover manages to park right next to the car and my bodyguard and I'm soon out of the Cherokee, greeting my friend.
"Jan! I see you got my message." I reach out to clasp his shoulder in friendship, only to have him take my backpack from my hands while remaining uncharacteristically silent. Confused by his actions, I turn to make my farewells to Ellison, while my Student watches my back.
"I hope we can talk again tonight, Jim."
Blue eyes I have watched go through a myriad of emotions are almost sparkling in their intensity as the tall detective turns to face me with the most mischievous smile on his face. "Talk? Tonight? Are you sure you just want to talk?"
I'm in his arms, the place where I feel safe, protected and most of all, where I have learned I want to be. "Well, yes. And maybe something else afterwards?" I stifle an inward groan as I suddenly recall my promise to Diandra. "Actually, Jim, there is more I really need to talk to you about. Things you need to know if I'm to seriously consider coming back to Cascade once I retire from WindHawk and the Company."
"Hmm, sounds serious. Give me a hint?" I shake my head, then he's leaning down to place a chaste kiss on my forehead. "Fine, I'll wait. I'll have to call you though. I'm not sure what may be in store for me today here."
"That's all right. Use my cell phone, you have the number, right?" He nods, patting the left pocket of his leather jacket. "I'm not su
re what my day has in store for me either, but I really want to talk to you. Heart to heart and mind to mind." We part and I wait until I see him enter the elevator before climbing up into the Lexus. Jan-Michel's already waiting inside.
"You didn't tell him, did you?" My student mutters as he turns over the engine and pulls out of the parking garage.
I sigh. "No, not yet. He'll find out about my Immortality soon enough. Tonight. I'll tell him tonight." And I find myself praying to deities I haven't spoken to in a long, long time, asking that they grant my wish and that Jim will understand why I didn't tell him the truth from the very start.
Startled out of my meditations by Jan-Michel hitting the steering wheel in frustration, I stare at the man. "Not that, damn it! You didn't tell him that his buddy practically kicked us out of his lady friend's place after the attack on Diandra, did you? Or that you know that the man who has tried to kill you twice, nearly killed Pallas, and did murder young David is one of US!" Venomous, dark hazel eyes bore into my own as he pulls to a stop at a traffic light. "And just how long have you known that?"
"I couldn't tell him. Not yet." I drop my face into my hands. Everything is becoming a very tangled mess. "Friday night."
"What?"
"I knew the other man at QuestScape was a possible Immortal when he walked into the lab and tried to blow my head off with that blasted shotgun of his."
"Shit! Didn't you think I had a right to know that?"
Oh, goddess! He's right! By not telling him, I've endangered my Student. Not to mention pissed off my bodyguard. "I wasn't sure, Jan. Honestly. I've lost so many of my skills since Azir was taken from me that I wasn't sure. For all I knew, the man could've been a pre-emergent or a full-blown Immortal -- I just didn't know! Not until he cut down John David and came after me again." Not exactly a lie, nor the full truth but it'll have to do for now.
"Then you told Sandburg the truth? You didn't know, for certain, that the thief from QuestScape was Immortal?"
"Yes. I couldn't lie to him just then, not with Dee dying in his arms like that." I turn my gaze outward, studying the passing landscape for a few tense moments before deciding to tell Jan-Michel more of the story. "I paid a little visit to Norman Ventriss yesterday, before everything went so damn bad."
"When? You were still in bed when Pallas and Sandburg woke and left& " He cuts himself short as he pulls in the parking lot of an Econo-Lodge. A far cry from the Excelsior, but we really don't have a choice now, do we?
"I was up way before the sun. I broke into Ventriss' home, hoping to find the DVD and instead, I found out the name of my Immortal enemy." Yes, that is how I've come to think of the kid -- an enemy. One to be taken out of the Game with extreme prejudice, and I'm the one to punch his ticket to Tartarus.
"Oh? And just who might that be?"
"Bradley Ventriss. The old man's adopted son."
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It doesn't take me long to unpack the meager belongings I had stuffed into my pack before running off with Ellison last night. Then I have to face the music, or rather, my bodyguard and Student. It takes over an hour for me to convince him I have to go back, if only to apologize, to Diandra's home -- to face both her and Sandburg. To tell them the truth, even if that might mean having to face the Amazon in a Challenge. To get him to agree to take me there, I have to tell my Watcher everything about my past: my involvement in the CIA, my life as a spy and agent provocateur and my true age. That nearly floors the man, until he recalls his duty as my Watcher and asks for a condensed version of my life story. He manages to use up all of the microtapes he'd brought with him and has to resort to taking notes by hand.
It's nearly four in the afternoon when he pulls up to 852 Prospect Avenue and I gesture for him to wait in the car. This is something I have to do, alone.
The zip-zing of warning ripping up my spine tells me there is an immortal nearby, but I'm still having trouble telling where so I don't know if it's Diandra I'm sensing or someone else. I climb the stairs to the third floor and the buzzing gets stronger as I approach the Dorian's home. Raising a hand to knock, I step back when the door is pulled open and I'm face-to-face with a pissed off Amazon wielding her deadly katana.
"What the fuck do you want, Lee?"
I raise my hands at my side, weaponless, and hang my head. I'll gladly accept whatever punishment this woman wants to give me, after all, I deserve it. "I came to apologize, Dorian. And to beg your indulgence and ask you to listen to me." Her blades whips upwards, coming to rest on my throat. I don't move, barely breathing, accepting my fate.
The silence between my old savior and I is broken, not by her, but by Sandburg. "I should let Dee take your damn head, Eolia, but we just got the last of the blood cleaned up and I do not want to do that again anytime soon."
The hard steel edge drops from my throat.
"Maybe I'm just too curious for my own good. Get in here, Lia." And Diandra is pulling me into the loft, slamming the door behind me. All too soon, I'm seated in a straight-backed chair in the living area of the apartment. Facing me are Diandra and her consort, who opts to stand behind her while she sits in another chair, her sword resting on her knees. She's looking at me through hooded, vibrant blue eyes -- gazing into my soul, seeking my truth, like she used to do at Delphi. "Tell me your story, Eolia."
I lock my gaze with hers, never flinching from those far seeing orbs, and the truth spills from my soul. "I knew, Friday, that the thief at QuestScape who shot at me was possibly immortal, just like I knew it was the same man who shot down John David in the alleyway. At the time I thought he was after me because I could identify him to the authorities." Diandra nods, accepting that truth. "But yesterday morning, I found out this Immortal's name and his connection to Norman Ventriss -- which made me think the man had set me up." At the edge of my vision I see Sandburg flinch and I turn my gaze to the young man. "You knew. Yesterday, you knew, didn't you?"
"I suspected. It was the only way the pieces fit together and made any sense. Then Dee stumbled in here, dying, and I snapped."
"You had every right to explode on me. I hadn't told you, or Dee, the truth about my attacker. If I had, then maybe you wouldn't have had to watch as she died in your arms."
"What do you plan to do now, Eolia?" Diandra's calm voice pulls my attention back to her.
"What is right. Dee, I spent last night in a safe house with Jim and we talked. I told him almost everything about me -- what I've done for a living--and he said he's willing to try to put that behind us if I am. And I think that I am. I want out of the business, Dee."
"You haven't told him you're Immortal yet." It was a statement, not a question. She knew I hadn't. I nod and the Amazon sighs as she leans back in her chair. "You'll tell him. Tonight, and I'll be there with you to make sure you don't back out."
"I had already planned on telling him tonight, but thanks. I could use the support."
"Wait a damn minute! You told Jim you're CIA and he took it well?" Sandburg looks as though he doesn't fully believe me.
"Yes, I told him. He seemed to understand, admitted that he didn't like the idea, but I don't blame him."
"What do you mean?"
"Sandburg, he told me about his last mission as a Ranger. He's special, isn't he?" He nods, his eyes turning curious, probably wondering where I'm about to go with that statement, and Diandra's watching me like a hawk, her fist closing on the hilt of her blade. "Have you had a chance to read over my Chronicles?"
"Only part of them, why?" His voice is leery. He's frightened? Of me? Or the Company?
"Then you read about my involvement with the CIA. You have to know that Leandra Evans left the Agency under a cloud of suspicion, right? And that Emil Saunders followed shortly there after?" He nods, and I gather myself for the pain that is to come. That part of my life was very difficult and just thinking about it brings the old festering wounds back to the surface. "I left, under orders from both Dir
ectors -- Intelligence and Operations -- to follow a agent they suspected had gone rogue on us, but was still operating under the Company's black operations budget."
I can no longer sit still, I get up from the chair and find myself pacing the floor of the living area. "I followed him into Peru, where I managed to get hired on at the Embassy as a clerk. I tagged along with him when he returned to the States, where he started to set up experiments at the Sandia Labs in New Mexico, looking for people with heightened senses. I think he was hoping to find someone, anyone, with more than three 'hyper' senses. I was working as his aide, maintaining discreet contact with Azir, and we started to find people with extreme sensitivities. People like Jim."
"WHAT?!" One outburst, then a deep breath, and now Blair Sandburg is facing me where I stand next to the couch. He's toe to toe with me, Dee's sword in his hand, and his dark eyes flashing blue fire at me. "You have no idea what you're talking about, lady. What was the name of that agent? I have contacts who can confirm or deny your story."
