“That's not where it goes!” I insisted, offended that she had stolen my fork but didn't even know how to treat it properly. My feet carried me closer, seemingly independent of my mind as I took in the scene.
My cutlery nemesis was dangling off Mel’s back, her forearm pressed against his throat. He was grunting, blocking her attacks as best he could. To my surprise, she jabbed him twice in the arm and didn’t draw blood. When she got him in the neck, he let out a low, long growl and grabbed her wrist, fighting her as she used every bit of her strength to push the fork toward his face.
“I didn’t want to do this,” he warned, abruptly tipping forward. Chloe cried out as she flipped over his head, dropping onto her back on the floor. I watched the fork as she descended, seeing the perfect opportunity to get it back.
I scrabbled for the fork, leaning over her to grab for it, even as she let out a very human growl of her own and tried to hold it out of my reach. I pushed my hand against the side of her face but she let out a battle cry and knocked her thigh into the back of my knee to throw me off balance. A struggle ensued, Chloe dragging me down with her. We rolled along the carpet, kicking, biting, and slapping. Despite the fact that both of us were trying to get the fork and get away, all our shoving, clawing, and complaining couldn’t separate us. She had the fork and wasn’t willing to give it up, but I weigh more than she does and figured out pretty quickly how to use it to keep her down.
Luckily for me, she didn’t try to stab me in the eye like she had Mel.
I’m not sure how long our tussle lasted, but it officially ended when Mel dumped an ice bucket full of water over us. My cry of, “I need it, please!” devolved into a sputtering coughing fit as Chloe paused with her free hand on my cheek, the fork held out at arm’s length. Her wail of rage trailed off into a moan of confusion.
“Dammit,” she said after a moment.
I did my best to wipe the water away from my face, flipped over to cough as much of it as I could manage out of my lungs. Chloe slapped my back and I looked over in time to see Mel gently lean down, slide the apparently disarmed fork carefully from her grip, and then stand up.
“You okay?” Chloe asked. I coughed again, silently cursed the water that had managed to make its way down into the cups of my bra, and nodded.
“I think so. What the hell happened?”
“That was almost fantasy material right there,” Mel mused. “Too many clothes, of course.”
Chloe got to her feet and reached down to pull me to my feet. Sure I was stable, Chloe turned to Mel and lifted her fist.
“I hit you once, I’ll do it again.”
Mel just laughed and tossed us each a towel.
Chapter Twenty-One
“If I never see another fork, it’ll be too soon,” I said once we were in the car and on our way back to Merrin’s. I had Devon in my lap while Ashley and Felicity were strapped in the back seat next to me.
“How will you eat cake?” Chloe asked.
I scoffed. “With my hands. Duh.”
“Of course. I shouldn’t have asked.”
I was exhausted. The week had been the worst of my life. It even trumped the one that followed my cowardly decision to leave my ex-husband. I’d thought at the time that leaving the sweetest man on the planet would be the worst thing I ever experienced. Even considering that running away from my marriage had left me with ten years of bitterness and guilt, this was worse.
The kids were all asleep, still under whatever enchantment the demon had laid down. I could feel inconsistent emotions coming from them, so I knew their sleep wasn’t genuine. Brushing my hand over Devon’s hair, I looked up to Chloe.
“If Laurel and Hardy can’t deal with the demon, what are we going to do with these little guys?”
“A specialist has been called in.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It is,” she said, though she shot me a small, encouraging smile. “I was promised he’s the best, though—that once he’s done with the demon, she won’t cause trouble for anyone ever again.”
“I was wrong; that sounds ominous.”
Chloe chuckled. I fought off a yawn and spoke as she gave in to one as well. “Mel, how are you doing? You look distracted.”
“I’m just thinking.”
“About how Chloe stabbed you with a fork?”
Chloe threw me a look I didn’t like. “Don’t say that like you haven’t wanted to stab Mel yourself.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” I said, holding up a hand in defense. “I’ve never lacked for fantasies of jabbing Mel with something pointy, but it’s one thing to fantasize and another entirely to actually try it.”
Chloe hummed in agreement and looked to Mel. When he didn’t speak, she poked his temple.
“What’s going on in there?”
“Oh, nothing. I’m just fantasizing about jabbing Gwen with my—”
“Hey,” I interrupted. “There are children present!”
Mel caught my eye in the rearview and smiled. Refusing to give in to the laugh in the back of my throat, I rubbed my hand over Devon’s hair again and got back to PG topics. “So what’s the verdict? Are you still weak as a kitten?”
“I’m a little sore where Chloe punched me and in all the places she stabbed me with a fork,” he said after a moment. Chloe laughed. “And where she kicked me, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“Fine like all better?” I asked.
“No, the specialist will need to work on him, too,” Chloe said.
“Does the specialist have a name?”
Chloe was quiet for a moment. “That, you’ll have to ask him.”
She sure made it sound like a bad idea.
***
The atmosphere in Merrin’s tiny apartment was uncomfortable, to say the least. Merrin was locked in her pantry with her cards again, evidently disinterested in meeting this specialist or seeing how everything ended. Laurel and Hardy were on demon duty, standing watch over the girl that had wreaked havoc on several lives during the last few weeks. She was bound and gagged on her back, motionless save for her head, which she kept lifted so she could watch the room.
Evadne was sitting on the couch, eying Laurel and Hardy with distaste, as if they were maggots she wished to squish under her stylish boots. Mel was keeping quiet, unwilling to risk Evadne’s wrath in his state. I was tired, parked on the floor next to the children, wondering when the so-called expert would be arriving. The kids were still asleep, stretched out on the fluffy rug, a pillow tucked under each of their heads.
Chloe, however, looked completely relaxed, sitting in Merrin’s desk chair, using her toe to spin it slightly left and right.
“Did he say he’d be so late?” Chloe asked Evadne. The fairy rolled her icy gaze to Chloe, watched her for a moment, and shook her head.
“He has not told me anything.”
I jumped when someone knocked at the door.
“Better not be Girl Scouts,” Chloe quipped, going to answer it. I turned to watch her, wondering why I felt nothing on the other side. In twenty-nine years, Hardy had been the only emotional void I’d ever come across. It didn’t seem likely I’d come across a second so soon.
The man who stepped in looked human but most certainly wasn’t. He looked tall, slim, and was dressed in a well-tailored charcoal suit. His skin was a soft brown, his hair black, his eyes the color of smooth, melted dark chocolate. Well-groomed and clean-shaven, he was casual as he entered the apartment, looking at everyone individually. He managed to make each quick look a heady connection, like we’d all made friends with him in an instant. Despite the fact that it had been raining outside, he was dry and carried no umbrella. His shoes looked as if they’d just been pulled from their box moments before.
“Evadne.” He inclined his head slightly toward her, stopped just out of arm’s reach of me. I suddenly felt very small sitting on the floor. Our visitor’s eyes dropped to the children and the faintest trace of disappointment flickered over his face.
“I see. And our problem child?”
Evadne simply looked to where the demon lay. When he turned to look at the girl, anger burst out of her, smacking against me like wet bread dough. I flinched, swiping at the slimy, thick feeling of it before my nerves caught up to the fact that nothing was really there. The man walked over slowly, lifted his hand lazily in the air, and flicked his fingers toward Laurel and Hardy twice.
“Off you go,” he ordered calmly. Without waiting for them to obey, he dropped down into a crouch, meeting the demon’s eyes. They scurried; Hardy even managed to make his retreat look small and terrified, despite his bulk. “I let you off your leash for one moment and this how you betray me.”
The demon did her best to thrash but, like me just hours before—had it really only been hours?—she was paralyzed from the neck down. She did manage to smack her head on the wooden floor, but I’d bet that wasn’t her intention. I wasn’t entirely sure, since our visitor’s emotions were so faint as to make me think I might be imagining them, but it seemed to me he found her rage funny. He watched her until she stopped struggling, saying nothing when she tried to speak through her gag.
When she stopped, however, he reached a hand out, grabbed her neck, and pushed to his feet in one smooth motion. It caused him no strain to lift her by her throat until she was on her feet.
“You’ve lost all the privileges I was so kind as to bestow upon you, Nysgrogh.” He gave her name a very specific inflection and her eyes went wide.
I can’t exactly say how I knew he was sucking the life out of her, but there was something there, under the obvious. Maybe it was the connection she’d created between us, or maybe it was just my lizard brain puzzling together what all my other faculties couldn’t make sense of individually. Whatever it was, I knew what it meant.
Thanks to whatever the fairies had done to her, she couldn’t really fight it. Because of the bruising grip the man had on her neck, she couldn’t scream. When it was finished, when the last of the demon was gone and the girl’s eyes closed, the man dropped her limp body to the floor.
I gasped at the heavy sound. I’d never been in the same room as a corpse before, let alone one that had been dropped like a bag of rotting oranges. I thought of Chloe’s words earlier about the girl the demon had possessed. Supposedly she’d been lost long before, but that only made it worse. I stared at the ex-demon and wondered what would become of her. Did she have a family? People who missed her?
The man spun to face the rest of the room and flicked his gaze to Chloe. The question of what would happen to the dead girl died on my lips when he spoke.
“Who’s next?”
“The kids,” I said without thinking. My nerves couldn’t outweigh the connection I still had to them. If their enchanted sleep was anything like the snotty nightmare I’d had over a tub of ice cream, I wanted it stopped as soon as possible. “They should get home soon.”
The man was still, a faint smile on his full lips.
Chloe got to her feet. “The kids,” she repeated.
“Very well.” He moved forward, dropping to one knee in front of them. He was quick, merely placing a hand on each of their little foreheads for a beat before moving to the next. He stayed crouching as he finished, looking to me. I fought the urge to scoot away. “And you’re the last.”
“Am I that obvious?” I asked, trying for a casual laugh. It came out a squeak. He only smiled as he reached toward my jacket.
“Is this for me?” he asked. Puzzled, I looked down, flinching when he dipped his hand into my pocket to pull out a little pink square of paper. The candy thief had struck again.
“Just call me Pony Express,” I sighed, gesturing for him to get on with it. The man smiled, read the paper over, and then lifted his gaze to mine.
“I take it you didn’t know this was in there?”
“I’ve been a little busy lately.”
“Would you like to read it?”
“Is it dirty?” I asked. He chuckled and twisted his elegant fingers in such a way that the note flipped in one move to face me.
It said simply, You need shorter leashes, B.
“Are you B?” I asked. He just watched me, his smile a wall between me and the answer. I tried for another. “Do you know who keeps leaving me these notes?”
Ignoring that question, too, he said, “I look forward to seeing you again.” Then he pressed his fingertips to my forehead and I passed out.
***
I woke up on the couch in my office this time. It took me a bit to realize what was happening and my first instinct was to assume I’d just fallen asleep between appointments. When I heard Mel’s voice in the waiting room, though, the week came flooding back to me and I propped myself up on my elbows. A second later, as the outer door opened and shut, Mel leaned tentatively through the doorway.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“Where’s Chloe? How’d we get here?”
Mel came in, dropped down in the chair across from me, and propped his ankle up on his knee. “She said she had some things to take care of and left me to make sure you got home safely. As to why we’re here, Evadne kicked everyone out pretty fast after the suit finished up.”
“The kids? They’re safe?”
“As houses. Evadne took care of it.”
“Can we trust her?”
“Normally I would say no, but this got out of hand. Generally speaking, upper fae don’t care much about helping humans. As long as you’re not a threat to them, they’re not interested in you. This, however, went too far, got too close to their operation. They’ll get the kids back to their families and set up some poor schmuck to take the fall.”
“Just a random—” I realized I was still lying down and swung my legs around so I could sit up. The motion made me slightly dizzy but I pressed on. “They’re going to just blame some random person?”
“They won’t pick a priest out of a lineup and dump it on him, sweetheart. They’ll probably pick someone who’s pissed them off or made trouble for them. It won’t be an innocent, don’t worry.”
I didn’t feel any better about a frame job, but at least I could be sure the kids were getting home safe. That was the important part. I scrubbed my hands over my face. I wasn’t sure of the last time I’d taken a shower, couldn’t even remember what I’d eaten last. I gazed out the windows behind my desk before looking at Mel again.
“You look better.”
“Than?”
“You did before.” I grinned. “Chloe hit you pretty hard, and after getting kicked in the head by the demon, you looked a little green.”
“I got my full power back.” Mel grinned, waggling his brows as he leaned forward. “Who do you think carried you up here?”
I winced, not thrilled with the idea of Mel’s hands on my unconscious body. To my surprise, though, I found I actually trusted him not to have gone too far. He hadn’t taken advantage of me when I’d been drunk and that had been the least of the good-guy things he’d shown me he was capable of. If I could’ve super-glued the necklace to his chest for eternity, we might’ve been able to be friends.
“Chloe say how long her thing will take?” I asked after an awkward silence.
“She didn’t. But I’m sure there’s time for a quickie on the couch.”
I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “You’ve been halfway decent this week but the answer will always be no. And, at this point, not only capital-N No, but also Ugh and Gross.”
Mel only laughed, shaking his head in mock disbelief. I took a deep breath, got to my feet, and dragged my sore body toward the records room. I wasn’t sure I felt well enough to eat solid food—for once in my life, I wasn’t craving straight sugar—but tea sounded like a pretty good idea.
I was halfway there when the sudden appearance of Laurel and Hardy shocked me into a yelp and a stumble. Hardy remained a blank slate, his expression betraying no opinion on my embarrassing outburst. Laurel, however, was immediately irritated with me, squinting and turning his head
as if he couldn’t bear to look directly at me. Hand to my heart, I sighed out a breath, then turned to fully face them.
“What are you two doing here? I thought we were done with you.”
“We have come to give thanks for your assistance.” Hardy came over slowly, his head bowed slightly in respect. Laurel stayed back by the door, stiff and disapproving. I decided to ignore him, at least as well as I could with the cacophony of his emotions pounding at me. Mel stepped out into the waiting room, looked the two fairies over with the barest hint of interest. His presence seemed to outrage Laurel even more and I sighed, pointing at him.
“Hey, Skinny. You’re kind of a pain in the ass to be near, you know that?”
He balked, gaping at me, horrified by my words. Hardy turned to him before he could speak, though, and whatever look they shared shut him up. When Hardy turned back to me, he bowed his head deeply.
“Our apologies, Gavel.” His tone made the word seem like a formal title, though I had no idea why.
“Gav—”
Mel cut me off immediately, clearing his throat sharply. I flicked my gaze to him, but he wasn’t watching me. In fact, he looked bored by the whole situation, his eyes roaming along the ceiling. Hardy continued as if I hadn’t spoken.
“Please accept this payment. Your help exceeded our best expectations and we are humbled to be in your presence.”
I blinked, flinching slightly when Hardy swung his arm around, held up his hand, and uncurled his massive fingers to reveal a tiny blue box in the center of his palm. I glanced to Mel for guidance and he nodded slightly. I took the box. It weighed nothing and didn’t look all that dangerous with the little dark blue bow tied around it.
It made me nervous.
“Thank you,” I said, scared of moving in case the box decided to open up and release a noxious gas or explode outward into a deadly shower of nails. “And this is—” Before I could finish my question, Mel cleared his throat again, catching my eye and twitching his brows over wide eyes in a way that clearly asked, “Are you nuts?” I shut up about the box.
Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) Page 23
