AIR Series Box Set

by Amanda Booloodian

  It was a beautiful day, but I was covered in bruises and sore as hell. You can only drive that kind of thing aside for so long.

  I couldn't open the Path when I needed it, and couldn't follow it as long as I needed to. The stronger the flow, the faster my energy drained away. Coffee helped, usually. Maybe I should start carrying around caffeine pills or energy drinks.

  Then again, what would happen if I kept taking them and then kept going? Not being able to do my job was one thing. Killing myself while trying to do my job didn't sound like the smartest way to move forward.

  "Logan wants to know if you're still reading," Ethan said.

  Being lost in thought, I hadn’t heard Ethan come back. I also hadn't heard the comms.

  "I'm not. Do you mind letting him know where we stopped and which direction Einar left the park?" I plucked the small piece of plastic from my ear and examined it before turning it off and stowing it away.

  "No problem."

  I yawned and started to stretch, which turned into a wince and a groan. Carefully, I laid my head on the back of the bench and closed my eyes again. I was feeling steadier, but I wasn't ready to start moving around yet.

  Ethan settled down on the bench beside me. "You didn't tell me you could die from what you do."

  I didn't open my eyes and tried to let the remarks flow over me without getting frustrated. "I'm an agent, you're a lieutenant. We could both die from what we do. For that matter, so could anyone on the street."

  "Fair point," Ethan said after a while. "They should be wrapping things up at the house soon. You all have a forensics unit on the scene already. Another house is taking in the residents overnight."

  "And from the scene this morning?"

  "Logan and Vincent are going to the morgue."

  My brow furrowed and I lifted my head. "Did he say where Rider was?"

  "Bringing us your car."

  "Thanks for that. And sorry, I should have called him. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be working with your guys, not following me around."

  "I went where I was needed. Logan seemed to approve anyway."

  "They all would," I muttered.

  "Besides, my side of things is a little...less complicated."

  "You can catch up with Logan if you need to," I said, stifling another yawn. "I'll meet up with Rider and work with him."

  "I'm on strict orders to take you home."

  I raised an eyebrow, but I was too tired to feel any real frustration. "Did Logan give you an order? You don't have to listen to him, especially not if it gets in the way of the case."

  "Technically, Logan made a suggestion. It was one that I happen to agree with, though."

  "So you ordered yourself?"

  Ethan nodded. "Orders that I intend on following."

  I couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm fine. Just tired. We can go back and help out."

  A horn honked. Rider was at the edge of the park, waiting for us. Being incredibly stiff made standing an ordeal, and after a few steps, I was grateful that we didn't have to walk back to the house.

  Ethan opened the door for me and I slid in without comment. Rider's nose curled as Ethan slid into the back seat.

  "You are bleeding."

  "Still?" I asked, feeling aggravated by my body's limitations.

  Rider leaned over and helped me tug off the jacket Ethan had given me. My scrapes burned in the places the where the fabric had to be peeled off the skin.

  "I think I ruined your jacket," I said as Rider lifted and turned my arms until he found the spot he was looking for.

  "Don't worry about the jacket," Ethan said, leaning forward in the seat.

  "It has slowed," Rider said. "Are you injured elsewhere?"

  "Bruises and scrapes," I said.

  "Your bruises have their own bruises now. Have your muscles healed?" Rider asked.

  "Those take longer. I'll re-wrap them when I get home," I said.

  Rider swerved in and out of traffic and I felt Ethan grip the back of my seat.

  "We need a plan to fight Einar," Rider said.

  "Yeah, we really do," I said.

  "Vincent has volunteered—"

  "No." I put all my resolve into the response. There were two options for Vincent, take Einar's soul, or take him between the worlds, and I didn't want Vincent to do either of those things.

  "I agree," Rider said. "He has not gone back to his old work since he came to this office. That should continue. We will meet and come up with another plan."

  "That sounds good," I said.

  Rider parked in front of the sorority house, but didn't get out of the car. "I am working here with the clean-up crew. Ethan is driving you home?"

  "I could drive—"

  "Yes," Ethan said over me.

  Rider looked in the rear view mirror at Ethan and then back to me. "I have not spent much time with Ethan. Do you trust him to help with your injuries?"

  "I know first aid," Ethan said. "It comes with the job."

  Rider pretended not to hear, but continued to look at me until I answered.

  I patted Rider's hand. "I trust him."

  Rider didn't look completely satisfied, but he nodded and got out of the car. Ethan followed suit and came around to the driver's side. There was a brief exchange of words between the two before Rider moved back and Ethan got behind the wheel.

  Ethan looked a little pale and he watched Rider in the rearview mirror as we drove away.

  We were a block away before Ethan said anything. "So, werewolf, huh."

  "Yep." I looked out the window to hide my grin.

  "I don't think he trusts me."

  "He doesn't know you."

  “You two seem to care for each other. A lot.”

  "Of course. He's my best friend."

  "He takes his friendship seriously."

  "You could say that. We both do."

  "How did you become such good friends?"

  I had to think about that for a minute. About where the friendship actually started to form.

  "I shot him," I said finally. "That's where it had all started anyway."

  "You what? Why did you shoot him? How did that make you all friends?"

  I wondered if Ethan was going to get pushed too far again. He had walked away last night when I had answered his questions.

  In the end, I decided I wasn't going to tip-toe around in my own life. "He was going to kill me. Actually, I think he wanted to eat me, but I'm not sure if he was serious."

  Ethan started to say something and then stopped. The rest of the drive to my house was made in silence. At some point, I must have dozed off because I missed a great deal of the ride.

  Yawning, I hauled myself out of the car and into the house, straight to the coffee pot. Unfortunately, we had left the house in a hurry, so I had to clean out the current pot before I could start another. Once the coffee was brewing, I turned to find Ethan leaning against the kitchen entry, watching me.

  "You don't have to stick around," I said. "You can take my car and ask one of the others to bring it back."

  "Actually, I was hoping we could talk."

  Chapter 19

  If Ethan had started speaking in tongues, I'm not sure my look would have been any different.

  "Not right this minute," he assured me.

  Waiting for the coffee wasn't an option, so I grabbed the pot while it was still brewing and poured a quick cup.

  "Help yourself to anything," I said, knowing full well that Gran would be shocked by my poor manners. Still, I felt grungy. "I'm going to get cleaned up."

  I wasn’t at my best today. Hell, the last few days were varying levels of depressing. Taking time to contemplate what I wanted, I didn’t rush through my shower and I inspected my bruises and scrapes. There was a lot to contemplate. My job, my social life, my on-again, off-again powers as a Reader, and not the least of which, the fact that someone seemed intent on killing me.

  Again.

  Looking in the mirror and seeing bruises
marring my skin everywhere didn't help my mood. After running a brush through my hair, I threw on some loose-fitting clothes and then went downstairs. Ethan was waiting for me in the kitchen.

  "I hope you don't mind," he said, gesturing to the table, "but I rummaged around your bathroom for supplies."

  Strewn across the table were different sizes of adhesive bandages, alcohol, peroxide, and a giant bag of cotton balls. He had enough stuff to disinfect a small platoon of goblins.

  "Thank you for helping out," I said as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

  "Consider it self-preservation at this point." He grinned at me and winked. "Oh, you received a package while you were upstairs."

  I looked around and didn't see anything.

  "I left it at the front door. Let's start with your arm."

  He had a careful hand, but I hated him seeing all the bruises and scrapes. It made me feel distinctly not pretty. It wouldn’t be so bad if I had been capable of taking down the bad guy, but alas, that was not the case.

  "You've had a busy few days," Ethan said, moving to the other arm. "Or are things always like this?"

  "Only when someone's trying to kill me."

  Ethan looked up at me, startled.

  "In other words, it's not often like this," I said.

  Ethan nodded, but when he spoke again his voice was softer and slower. "When you were on your last big case in the city, things got bad there, too."

  Memories flickered through my mind. The basement. Being tied up. Pain.

  My breath was shaky and my veins started to fill with ice. "What do you mean?"

  Ethan rubbed my arm with one hand before moving to the next scrape. "Rider mentioned..." He didn't look me in the eye.

  "What?"

  "When you got back into town, he said things got bad. That you were hurt. He wanted me to keep an eye on you."

  I shook my head trying to dislodge thoughts that rose up and threatened to overtake me. One disaster at a time. That was all in the past.

  "Rider gets worked up over little things," I said.

  Ethan didn't say anything.

  "Trust me; it's not every day that this stuff happens. Most of the time I'm doing house calls and checking in with people. I told you before; I usually don't even carry a gun."

  Ethan nodded, but still didn't look directly at me.

  "Would it be an issue if it was like this often?" I kept my voice level because I was curious about how he felt about my job. Then I realized that this was the exact opposite of giving him time. “Not that you have to answer that. I’m not trying to…” I tried to get my brain to catch up with my mouth and it wasn’t working.

  Ethan ignored my babbling. "It would take some adjustments."

  That sounded promising at least. Now, I needed to figure out exactly what I wanted here.

  I winced when Ethan put alcohol on a particularly nasty gash. He leaned forward and blew on it to take the sting away.

  "Did you learn that in training?" I asked, letting a smile escape.

  "Sure. The guys really appreciate it when I do that." Ethan chuckled. "No, that I learned from my mother."

  "Get into a lot of scraps when you were a kid?" I asked.

  "A fair few. How about you? I picture you as hell on wheels. Hanging with the guys and giving your mother fits."

  I laughed. "Maybe a few small incidents, but I didn't give Mom fits until I quit my job as an accountant and started to work for AIR."

  "She doesn't approve?"

  "Not exactly. She'd rather I forget about what I can do, and get a job where she works. After Zander, I started in that direction, but it wasn't for me. I didn't even last a full year at my firm before AIR recruited me."

  "Zander's the guy from last night."

  "Has it really only been one night?" The thought made me tired.

  "It was a long night," Ethan said. He sounded dejected, which started to fill me with tension.

  "Yeah," I agreed. "A long night. Followed by a long day."

  "Turn around and lift up your shirt."

  "Uh...what?"

  He started to turn red. "Your back. You slid down the roof on your back, I wanted to check..."

  "Oh, right." I turned and lifted up the back of my shirt.

  Ethan's fingers felt cool as he traced a few lines onto my back. "Rider wasn't wrong. Your bruises have bruises."

  I twitched away and let my shirt drop. "It's fine. They'll fade away soon enough."

  "Yeah. I guess they will."

  This wasn't improving the atmosphere.

  "Let's get your arms wrapped," Ethan said.

  "I'll get it." I was getting self-conscious of Ethan seeing my injuries.

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Self-preservation." He snatched up a long wrap and started to wind it tightly around my aching muscles. He worked for a while, looking very intent on the process.

  Then he waded into the deeper waters, ones I was hoping to avoid. "I need to apologize for last night."

  "I understand," I lied.

  "I shouldn't have left the way I did."

  "I'm sure it was a lot to take in all at once."

  Ethan cleared his throat. "As soon as I drove away, I knew it was a mistake."

  Since I agreed, I didn't say anything. He picked up the second wrap and moved to the other arm.

  "I seem to be tripping myself up where you're concerned,” Ethan said.

  "I'm not always the easiest person to get along with."

  A ghost of a smile flickered across Ethan's face. "You're plenty easy to get along with. I'm just a little on the slow side and having a hard time catching up."

  "You kept up pretty well today."

  Ethan let out a grim laugh. "When I saw you fly out the window, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. And I barely recognized Logan. And with Vincent...well, I'm not even sure what happened there."

  I nodded sadly at his description and became uneasy.

  "I'm betting I've seen more unreal things in the past few days than most people do in a lifetime."

  "You're not wrong," I said, trying to keep the looming stress out of my voice.

  Ethan finished the arm and tentatively took my hand. "I really want to say that I won't fall over myself when...I don't know…when a fairy jumps out at me or something. But I'd be lying if I said that."

  It felt like my throat was starting to constrict.

  "Still," he continued, "I'd like to at least try to understand your world. That is, if you're willing to give me the chance."

  Some of my concern over where the conversation was going changed directions. "Are you sure you still want to see me after all that's happened in the past few days?"

  Ethan's hand gripped mine a little harder. "Yes, if you're okay with that. I'd like to stay."

  My brow furrowed as I reflected back on the past few days. "Why?"

  "You want the list? You're smart, driven, and tough."

  I couldn't help but laugh. "I've spent the past two days having my butt handed to me."

  "You also have a great laugh." The cutest little half grin rose on Ethan's face. "And you're beautiful. Plus, you've managed to put up with me for a few months now."

  I shook my head, but I was still smiling.

  "What do you say?"

  I kissed him. It turns out I didn't have to say anything.

  He grinned through our kiss. "Is that a yes?" he asked when I pulled away.

  "I don't know," I said coyly. "Maybe we should see how you deal with the fairy first."

  "Point me in that direction and I'm there."

  I bit my lip to keep from looking too pleased and I pointed out the back door.

  It was Ethan's turn to look confused. "Here, in the backyard?"

  "Really, Gran has a stray fairy in the garden."

  The confusion slowly deteriorated into an amused look, and he stood up. "You'll introduce us?"

  "Let me find something for you to give her."

  Ethan looked out the window in the back door.<
br />
  "It'll be better if you meet her without me," I said as I started to dig around in the fridge.

  "You two don't get along?" Ethan asked.

  "Not exactly." I hesitated, but decided it was best to forge ahead. "Fairies have really short memories. Since she doesn't remember me...well, you've seen how people react when they meet me." Not seeing any fresh fruit, I turned to go to the pantry and found Ethan behind me.

  He wrapped his arms lightly around my waist and kissed me. "It's a shame she doesn't get the chance to get to know you."

  "Hmmm." The contented sigh was all that I could manage before he kissed me again. This time it was shorter.

  "What can I do to help?" Ethan asked.

  "We usually have some chocolate chips in the pantry. She'll like those."

  Ethan let me step away. "What do I do? Do I hand it to her?"

  "You can call out to her. Her name is CiCi. Once you see her, talk to her like you would anyone else you’re meeting for the first time. Introduce yourself and then put the chocolate chip down on top of something."

  "I shouldn't give it straight to her?"

  "She'll want to make sure it's not poisonous first. She might not even take it while you're out there." I found the bag and selected a small piece of chocolate. "Are you allergic to any plants? Poison ivy or anything?"

  "Sumac," Ethan said.

  "I'm not sure if she'll have any of that, but if she starts flying over you and dusting you with something or throwing things at you, come back inside."

  "Fairies try to poison people?"

  "Not only people," I said. "When you're not much bigger than a butterfly, you fight any way you can. They like to try stuff out to see if they can add new plants to their dust. Think of it as a greeting more than anything else."

  "She's that small?" Ethan was starting to look nervous.

  I handed him the chip and pointed at the door. "Go face the fairy," I said.

  When Ethan stepped outside and closed the door behind him, I watched for a minute. Remembering the package out front, I went to retrieve it, and got back to the window in time to see Ethan set down the chocolate. He talked to CiCi for a short period while she approached the lone sweet with clear suspicion.

  It didn't take her long to decide she'd rather be on the safe side and chase Ethan away before trying the food. She disappeared and quickly reappeared buzzing around his head. Ethan made a quick retreat into the house.