I glanced at the elevators quickly before returning my full attention to the Atlantean. Obviously Bahlin wasn’t coming back any time soon. “You’re right. I should be more direct. But he’s avoided any direct conversation regarding his age,” I admitted truthfully.
“Then I suggest you negotiate with him,” she said with a sharp smile.
I grinned, appreciating her innate female darkness. Obviously she assumed that I had something with which to bargain and, in this instance, she was right.
“Oh good idea,” I said, smiling even wider.
She stood, offering me her hand. I took it and followed her up and, without releasing my hand, she led me to the dining area. She smiled at me over her shoulder and looked almost chagrined.
“I know it’s probably dreadfully predictable, but I love sushi and Bahlin’s restaurant has the best in the area.”
I smiled, still following her by the hand. “They have great steak, too, so I’m cool. Eat anything that you want but the guests.”
She gave me a sharp look, tightening her grip on my hand for a brief moment, and I cringed. Maybe that hadn’t been a couth menu suggestion. But her shoulders relaxed, her grip following suit.
“I gave up the murder of humans a very long time ago,” she said softly, her eyes boring directly into mine. I felt the weight of her words as if she’d laid them in my hands like a counterweight on the scales of justice.
“I apologize for my poor attempt at humor,” I said in a quiet voice. “I’m not familiar enough with you to make such personal jokes.”
“As your people say, no foul, no harm,” she said with a small smile.
I smiled in return. “Close enough.” I was relieved to have both feet firmly out of my mouth and on the floor as the waiter led us to a prime corner booth that faced the entire room.
“Leave the privacy curtain open,” I instructed the waiter. He bowed and did as I asked before walking away.
“Smart girl.” Sarenia looked pleased with my directive.
“Not really. It’s only that I don’t want anyone sneaking up on us or listening in to our conversation. So,” I said, adjusting the napkin in my lap and taking a sip of water before continuing, “tell me about the murder of the limnade.”
“A limnade is a water sprite, as I told you, though they are sometimes call nixies. Females are much more common than males. Limnades have the ability to live outside in the fresh air or to build their homes under water and live as true underwater creatures. They are very versatile in this sense though they are few in number. Their prophesies are never wrong, though sometimes they are vague enough to be open to interpretation.” Her voice had taken on sorrow enough I could have carved my name in it with the butter knife. “If you catch a limnade, you can have your future told, and they never lie though they can be obscure, intentionally or otherwise. The dead limnade is the one who foretold of your coming when Hellion caught her on the bank of her lake. Her body was left, though her lungs and her corposis were taken.”
“What’s a corposis?” I felt so out of my element.
“It’s a small organ at the base of a limnade’s brain that is their prophecy center. There is much speculation as to how it works, but no one knows for sure. It’s a biological and astrological interpretation of some sort.” She sighed. “There’s so much I don’t know, and this murder is especially hard.” Her eyes shown with a sheen of tears before she ducked her head, and her hair fell to cover her face.
I reached a hand out to her and gently touched her hair. The texture felt a lot like seaweed, even though it looked like hair.
“Sarenia?”
She looked up, and the tears coursed down her cheeks. “This limnade’s name was Meyla, and she was my only daughter.”
I wasn’t sure how to comfort someone on the loss of a child, but I could relate to the grief of losing someone to violent death. I gripped her hand hard and let her silently cry, saying nothing to her. Because honestly, there are no words that will make you feel better when you’ve lost a piece of your heart to death.
A quarter hour passed and she finally looked up at me, and her eyes were the color of storm-tossed seas. “Niteclif, I want the killer brought to me for justice. An eye for an eye. I will have his lungs mounted on Atlantis’s gateway as a testament of your findings. I will find no mercy for when the time comes.” Her voice resonated like a speaker under water, the words muffled but dense, echoing through my body and making my stomach vibrate. It was a sickening feeling. And this was coupled with the familiar yoke of justice that my life now carried, and the weight was harsh.
I looked at Sarenia, unsure how to console her, knowing the truth would not ever be enough. “I will do my best to find your daughter’s killer and leave it to the High Council to mete out justice. I cannot turn the killer directly over to you without a Council vote, Sarenia. I just can’t. It goes against all that I am to condemn a man to violent death, so I’ll leave it to the Council to decide. If they give the killer to you, I will walk away from the case satisfied and wish you well of each other. But until that time, I will not be influenced in my decision. Justice is more important than vengeance.” My voice had taken on that unfamiliar steely tone and I froze with the utterance of the last word, worried that I was about to get myself killed. Cause of death? Brazenness.
“I agree with you,” Sarenia said, her voice haunted with grief. “You are the Niteclif. Justice will rule the case. I knew better than to ask for other than this from you.” She set her napkin on the table and stood. “You’ll pardon my departure, Madeleine Niteclif. I am not the slightest bit hungry.”
“Sarenia?” I stopped her from standing all the way by grabbing her forearm. “How many people know of Meyla’s death?”
“Only the people of Atlantis.” She gently, but without compromise, extracted her arm from my grip.
“Would you please consider keeping it confined to only the people who know already? I don’t want anyone else to know yet, and that includes the High Council.”
She arched a dark brow at me but gave one sharp nod of her head agreement, bending to kiss my cheek and I allowed it. Sarenia smiled at me, though it never reached her eyes, then she stroked my head and walked away.
The waiter chose that moment to return with our orders so I sat across from a plate of sushi and an empty seat, and I began to eat my steak alone.
Bahlin showed up two bites into my fabulous meal, his face drawn and eyes tight. He sat in Sarenia’s seat without a word, watching me eat. The food turned to lead in my stomach, and I put my fork down.
“Get everything done upstairs that you wanted to do?” I asked. I was astounded at how calm my voice sounded in the wake of my tumultuous emotions.
“Where’s Sarenia?” he asked, his aggressive tone setting me back in my chair.
“She came to see you, but when you left so abruptly she decided to leave as well.”
He looked at first my plate, then the sushi. “So this is all yours, I assume?”
“You said both room service and dining were on the house. Reneging?” I goaded.
He growled at me, soft and low. “Fine, avoid the question. Our rooms were tipped, so I ordered housekeeping to gather what was salvageable and pack it in luggage to be picked up tomorrow.”
I stared at him. “What were they looking for?” I asked. “What did I have that could be of any value?”
“The family tree, for one, as it proves you’re the Niteclif.”
“And? I’ve been affirmed so that shouldn’t matter.”
“Ah, but it does. Your date of death was open-ended, Maddy. That tree will tell the owner if decisions he or she makes will likely lead to your death. It can influence what decisions are made regarding you, Niteclif.” His voice was hard, his eyes flat.
“Holy hell. So this will tell them whether or not their plans will lead to my death?” I hissed, tossing my napkin on the table.
“That’s what I said.”
“Then tell me why we left withou
t taking it earlier? Why did no one tell me about the significance when the tree was discovered?” And then I remembered. Bahlin was the only one to have seen the tree. Bahlin was the only one to have been in the room with me. Bahlin had ordered my bags packed. Bahlin’s sister was a Seer.
“Was it you at the circle? Was it you who took the tree?” I asked, standing up to create room for maneuverability if I needed it. “Was. It. You.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he snorted, leaning back in his chair. I was learning that this was his piss off look. He glared at me, then said, “I could have taken it and run a number of times the first night I met you.”
“But that would have been obvious,” I said. “No intrigue there, huh Bahlin?”
“Maddy, you’ve gone off your meds, sweetheart, if you think—”
“Don’t you dare call me sweetheart, Bahlin,” I growled. “I need a safe house, and I need it now. Do you provide it or do I need to go to someone else on the Council to get that taken care of?”
He was dumbfounded, staring at me with his mouth hanging open in either shock or surprise. I wasn’t sure which.
“Shut your pie hole, Bahlin. All you’ll catch with it is flies,” I snarked.
He snapped his mouth shut and sat up, looking up at me slightly since I was standing over him. “I’ll take you to the safe house I had arranged. We’ll discuss this further when we get there.”
No we won’t, I thought sadly. No we won’t. Because I was going to figure out a way to get away from him.
Chapter Ten
With a great sense of dèjá vu, I exited the hotel lobby on a dark evening with a gorgeous supernatural creature by my side. The rain misted and gathered glittering dewdrops in his hair. It looked like he wore a dusting of diamonds. Cars swept past us with a subdued swooshing sound, though more frequent in number than the first night I’d stood at the curb waiting for a car. Streetlights offered bright nimbi of light at regular intervals, creating an artificial halo of color that the overcast sky offered back to us in purples and grays as we waited on Bahlin’s car to be delivered via valet. We didn’t speak.
Only moments later the valet driver pulled up to the overhang in the Mini I’d rented days ago.
“Yehr car, sir, is going tehr need some repairs.”
“Repairs?” Bahlin asked.
“Yes, sir. The windows are smashed and the tires slashed. And it looks like someone took a heavy object to the hood and bashed it but good,” said the valet.
Bahlin sighed. “But Ms. Niteclif’s car was left alone?” Bahlin stalked around the car and looked for signs of damage, going so far as to check the undercarriage. Finding none, he opened the driver’s door.
“Apparently whoever’s messin’ with ye either didn’t know about Ms. Niteclif’s car or didn’t recognize it since it’s such a regular little ride.” The valet jogged around to open the passenger side door for me, and I balked.
“My car, I drive.”
“Just get in the car, Maddy,” Bahlin said quietly, climbing in behind the wheel.
“My car, I dr—”
Bahlin shut the driver’s door and started to pull away from the curb. I threw myself in the open passenger’s door, and he sped away before I had the door firmly latched. “Holy underpants, you sadistic, power-hungry, conscienceless son of a bitch. What is your problem?” I fumbled with my seatbelt, relaxing a little when I heard it click. “Maybe it’s you behind the attempts on my life.”
For the second time in less than six hours, my seatbelt locked up when the car was ground to a halt hard enough that the air bags should probably have deployed.
“What did you just accuse me of? Because I’m no’ sure I heard yeh right,” he said in a dangerously soft voice. His eyes were dragon blue and the cat-slit pupils were narrow in the bright lights of the city. Cars honked, driving around us. Bahlin didn’t even flinch.
“I was trying to get your attention, and it worked.”
“So does me bloody name. For the love of the goddess, Maddy, yer pushing just to push and yeh need to quit. We’re in trouble here, and yehr distractions and fight picking may get us killed. So can the attitude and give a little help or so help me I’ll tan your ass when we get to the safe house!” Bahlin roared, beginning to end. Nostrils flaring, he stared at me hard, vibrating with an otherworldly energy that left the same biting sensation from earlier marching across my skin. He grabbed his hair and pulled hard, making the muscles in his forearms flex. “Nothin’ to say now? Well, if yeh’ve shut up for hurt feelin’s, I’m sorry for it. The truth is a wicked bitch of a mistress, Maddy, but I’ll use her well if it keeps us alive. I’ll no’ lie to yeh, no’ now, no’ ever, though I reserve the right to lie to others if I think there’s a specific reason that might keep us unharmed. And then I’ll be sure to apologize for it later. But yeh’ve got to trust me. If yeh canna give me that one confidence, then we’re dead already.”
He turned back to the road, breathing hard. Gathering his wits about himself, he shoved the car into gear and drove on. We were headed toward the northern side of London to the trendy neighborhood of Battersea. I rode in silence, not once answering any of his rant with one of my own. Truth? I didn’t have much to say after the discussions first with Sarenia and then with Bahlin. I was feeling pretty much like an incompetent ass. The turning point in all of it had to be when I found out that Meyla, the dead limnade, was Sarenia’s daughter. I’d found my common ground in this world where I didn’t belong, death. More specifically, the death of someone so beloved that your whole world is changed with her loss. That’s what the loss of Meyla did to Sarenia. It changed her permanently, and I knew that if I could stop this from continuing to happen, I would.
Bahlin pulled into an underground parking garage and parked in a numbered slot. Still silent, he got out of the car and went to the back, retrieving small travel bags I hadn’t seen. Apparently at least some of our personal stuff had been retrieved and returned to us to get us by. I’d have to find a couth way to thank the hotel staff personally for my underwear.
Climbing out of the little car, I followed Bahlin to the elevator where we rode up to the penthouse floor in strained silence. It required an elevator key to access it and, once there, it was the only residence door in the elevator’s little foyer. We got out and the elevator hissed shut, automatically descending. Bahlin stood there, staring at the front door. Then I heard the locks turning, and the door swung open.
Before I could ask, Bahlin said, “The door is magically warded. It takes dragon magic to get inside. Not even Hellion will be able to snatch you from here. Unless, of course, he’s hired a dragon to retrieve you. But let’s not borrow trouble. The flat’s got two bedrooms, so you won’t be forced to endure my presence too much. Nice, hmm? Oh, and don’t touch the door or it will burn you—badly.” He walked inside leaving me to drag my bag along and do my best to get inside the door before it swung shut. Nightmares were made of things like this.
The apartment, or flat, was a rectangular shape with a small foyer that was part of the dining room. Passing through, I found the bedrooms, one on each side of the living room. Bahlin came out of the room on the left and said, “This one’s mine. You’re welcome to the other or to the couch.”
I flinched, and he said, “It’s a product of your own making, Maddy. I won’t feel guilty about what happened between us, I will not let you trivialize my feelings for you, and I will not take the blame for the way your life has turned out. Sort it out, and fast, because we have work to do. If you want to take a rest, I’ll stay awake in case you dream.” And with that he turned on the television, sank to the couch and started watching a rugby match.
I wandered back into the bedroom that he’d said was mine. It was efficient, with a single window over the bureau, the double bed shoved up against the wall near the door, and the utility bathroom was through a door across from the bed. Nothing like the opulence the hotel provided, the whole thing was trendy and modern. My stomach growled, and I realize
d I hadn’t eaten in forever. Two bites of steak just didn’t count. I decided I’d grab a shower and change into my own clothes before foraging for something to eat.
The shower was a single-person tiled stall almost claustrophobic in size. It was like standing in a plumbed coffin. I cleaned up as fast as I could and went out to my bedroom to put on some clothes. The TV was turned off, and I wondered where Bahlin had gone. I dug through my sparse bag of clothes and pulled out—hallelujah!—underwear, a pair of jeans and a non-see-through long-sleeved T-shirt. Digging further I found socks and a pair of Nikes. I dressed quickly and went to find Bahlin and see about something to eat. He was stretched out on the sofa, hands crossed over his stomach, the remote on the floor. It looked like he was sleeping until I got closer to him and realized there were dark shadows beneath his eyes and a sallowness to his skin that hadn’t been there before. All I could think of was poison and I literally threw myself at him, terrified. He gasped for air as I landed on him, his arms and legs coming up around me automatically to bind the movement of his attacker. He snugged me down close and hard to his body and I couldn’t breathe and I didn’t care. For a minute, for just a minute, I’d had the sheer terror of irretrievable loss again. I didn’t want to look too closely at the emotions behind the feelings I was experiencing, so I laid my head on his chest, listening to his heart thump in adrenaline-induced double-time.
“Maddy?” he asked. Then, realizing there could be danger, he flipped me over and put himself on top of me, shielding my body with his own. His eyes switched color and he scanned the room, looking for danger. He scented and found nothing, and it was only then that he began to relax. He pushed himself off of me slightly and he asked, “Maddy? What’s happened? Did you dream again? How long was I out?”
Tears were coursing down my cheeks. I shook my head and struggled to get my arms free. He let them loose, and I threw them around his waist and pulled him down to me. As angry as he was with me, his body had still offered a primal response to the threat. His erection pressed against my stomach, and I smiled a little where he couldn’t see me. Men. I hugged him hard, hiccupping a little, ashamed to have fallen apart because, for the love of his goddess, he’d been napping. I didn’t want to tell him the truth, but I couldn’t lie, either.
Legacy: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1 Page 16
