by Mercy Loomis
“Thanks. And thanks for saving me.” He let go of her wrist, lacing his fingers through hers instead. His hands were bigger than hers, but not uncomfortably so. His eyes traced paths across their joined hands, and Ariane swore she could feel the warmth of his gaze moving across her skin. “I didn't know what it would mean, giving Gloria what she asked.”
She gave him a comforting squeeze. “I know that.” Not that it makes a difference.
Kiran swallowed hard. “I'm scared, Ariane. I feel like I fell in a river and I don't know how to swim.”
Ariane reached out with her free hand and tipped his chin up until he met her gaze. The heat she'd imagined feeling on her skin seared into her, but she tried to push it aside. “I'll help you as much as I can, Kiran,” she told him softly, and then, to break that scorching electricity she added, half-laughing, “And call me Ari, everyone does.”
Kiran's expression shifted, the worry fading, the fear morphing into something sharper, more confident, as if he had found the riverbank and regained firm footing.
“Ariane,” he said just as softly but with firm assurance, and she shivered at hearing her name spoken with such intensity. A lump of longing rose in her throat, making it hard to breathe. There was a roaring in her ears, an inferno of soundless emotion that made the air around them almost shimmer with the heat of it.
Kiran cupped her cheek with one hand, his thumb tracing lines of fire over her lips, before drawing her to him. Ariane let her eyes slip closed, and kissed him.
Ariane's heart gave a hiccup as her lips met Kiran's. She'd been imaging this since the first day of class, but those dreams had not involved running for her life beforehand, much less doing it twice. What started out as a slow, cautious kiss quickly escalated, passion mixing with adrenaline and igniting a bonfire in Ariane's heart. She shuddered against him, overcome with desire, and Kiran only kissed her harder, pulling her to him like a drowning man clutches at a branch.
From upstairs came the thud of Dave's bedroom door, and the sound of his footsteps on the stairs. Ariane broke away with a gasp, her cheeks flaming so hard they felt sunburned.
Kiran had that same glazed expression he'd had when Gloria grabbed his hair, like a man waking up from a stupor, cast adrift on a calm sea. “I’m sorry, I…I’m not normally this impulsive.” He touched her cheek with a fingertip. “It’s like I’m on fire.”
“I don’t mind if you don’t.” Ari was still trying to catch her breath. Oh, wow. There needs to be a bigger word than wow for that. But she couldn’t think of one. She could barely think at all.
“It's just as I thought,” Dave announced as he strode into the room. He paused at the threshold and gazed at their joined hands. “Oh, excellent idea, Ari, that should help.”
“Why? I mean, he said things were better when I was touching him…” She struggled to let go of the impulse to leap up and pin Kiran to the couch.
“Your aura is helping to shield him. It won't stop the attack, but it will slow it down. Skinshifters,” he explained to Kiran, apparently interpreting Kiran's blank expression as confusion, “are bi-planar, partly in this plane and partly in another, and tend to warp certain magical energies—”
“What Dave is trying to say is that skinshifters are immune to having our thoughts messed with or controlled.” For all of Dave's theories, she'd never had proof of “warping” or anything else beyond the fact that the vampires couldn't use their usual psychic tricks on her—an immunity she was grateful for every time she had to deal with them. Although Gabriel still managed to get her to do what he wanted nine times out of ten… “Anyway, maybe that's why you could understand me, because you were touching me.”
Kiran shook his head. “No, I heard you before that, when you tripped and started swearing a blue streak.”
Dave cocked his head to the side. “You understood Ari in a non-human form? On this plane?”
With an uncertain glance at Ariane, Kiran nodded.
Dave started pacing again. “You shouldn't have had that ability after the attack…but then, the gift of tongues is not a human gift…”
Ariane interrupted him before he could get too caught up in puzzling over whatever had his attention this time. “Dave, what was it you found out? What's happening to Kiran?”
“The mage, Gloria, she is stealing his power from him.” Dave shook his head, bemused. “It's quite clever really, akin to how living zombies are made. Instead of stealing his ti bon ange, she is taking just a small piece of it, the part that lets him use his abilities.”
“My T-bone what?” Kiran asked.
“Ti bon ange. Your soul,” Ariane said before Dave could get into the explanation.
Dave frowned, but after a brief internal struggle he shrugged and let her definition stand.
“But couldn't I have just taught her how to do whatever it is I do?” Kiran looked from Ariane to Dave and back while they shook their heads at him.
“You can't teach someone to be taller, and you can't teach them to be telepathic. Either you are born that way, or you're not. It's part of the confluence of body and soul. For example, a disembodied person cannot use their psychic powers, even if they take over someone else's body.”
Dave was starting to warm to his topic, so Ariane interrupted him again. “But because she has part of his body to attach it to, she can draw the psychic part of it to the talisman and bind it there. No wonder Gloria doesn’t smell like a mage.” Mages were humans, but normally Ari could smell the extra energy they learned to store in their blood. Gloria wasn’t storing it in herself, but in the talismans; hell, she might even still be leeching energy off the original owners whenever she needed to use their abilities.
“Yes.” The zombie looked a bit disgruntled at her breaking his train of thought. “You stopped her before she could complete it, but her spell is still working, still stealing his powers. Eventually it will drain them totally.”
“There must be a way to stop it,” Kiran said desperately.
“There is, especially while it's still ongoing…” Ariane trailed off.
Kiran's expression had suddenly changed, brows knitting in confusion, his gaze going distant like he was listening to something far, far away. He started to try to get to his feet, but Ariane held him down. “Kiran, what is it?”
“I have to go,” he mumbled, staring past her toward the door. He began to struggle, but she was stronger than a healthy human, much less one as weakened as he was.
“She can't be summoning him,” Ariane said doubtfully. “He's human.”
Dave looked even grimmer than before. “I think she is. He must have some other blood in him, Ari, and the ritual woke it up. The gift of tongues is a fae gift, not a human one, and it doesn't appear to be impaired by the draining spell.”
“And tonight of all nights, with the veil so thin...” She broke off as Kiran surged against her. He was getting stronger. “Well, this is one way to find her,” Ariane muttered.
“Be careful,” Dave told her, regret in his voice.
“I will.” She knew he wished he could come with them, but the energies of November Eve wrecked havoc with his soul's connection to his body. With all the people running around, their drunken boisterous energies adding to the already volatile mix, not to mention the mages and the non-humans that tended to be attracted to such things…well, it was the same reason Gabriel always left town.
Cautiously she eased up on Kiran, who scrambled to his feet. “We're going, we're going,” she murmured as he tried to bolt for the door. “Calm down.”
Now that he was able to move, a little sanity came back into his eyes. He walked like a man with a mission, but he gripped her hand tightly, pulling her along when she didn't follow fast enough. “I have to go,” he whispered, despairing. “Please, Ariane, don't leave me?”
“I'm right here,” she said. “I won't let her have you.”
Kiran gave a tiny shudder as they passed through the wards again, but it didn't slow him. Ariane closed her eyes
as they stepped outside. The air was vibrating with energy, the wind rattling the now-bare branches, the nearly full moon playing peek-a-boo with the high, thin cirrus clouds, like a belly dancer peering through one of her veils. The night called to her, pulled at her, and somewhere to the south she could feel the wake of the Hunt's passing, a ripple in the ley lines that she itched to follow.
“Come on” Kiran tugged her after him.
“Where are we going?” Ariane asked, a little breathless from the rush.
His free hand rose, pointing. “She's still there. She never left.”
Ariane frowned. Her apartment was smack in the middle of downtown, and with Freakfest in full swing there'd be no way to get a car through without going all the way around the lakes. With such a close call the last time she was leery of cutting through the Underground again, but Kiran was pulling her straight toward the pookha hole. She held back, refusing to think about opening the way. “I really don't think we should—”
The hole stretched wide before them. Ariane cursed, clutching Kiran's hand. “Don't! You don't what you're doing yet!” But Kiran ignored her, plunging into the tunnel, and she had no choice but to dart after him.
The darkness was total, and went on and on and on. Kiran's breath echoed off the walls, a harsh panting that grew as the minutes kept going by.
“What's wrong?” he finally asked. “Why aren't we there yet?”
“Because you don't know where you're going. You're trying to cut straight over to Picnic Point, but you can't do that. You could wander in here forever trying. I need you to stop walking.”
“I don't know if I can!” he said, his voice rising. “Whenever I think about stopping, it feels like I'm smothering. Like there are a thousand little hooks in my skin pulling me forward.”
“Well, try, or we're going to be stuck here for a very long time.”
Kiran paused, stumbled forward a few steps, paused again, stumbled some more, but eventually managed to halt, quivering like a frightened horse.
“Now let go of the path,” Ariane said. “Clear your mind of any destination other than following me.”
That took even longer, but the moment Ariane felt control shift—the airflow changing, the echoes coming back from new directions, a slight change in the grade of the stone under her feet—she started walking. Kiran came after her gratefully.
In less than a minute they emerged into the Underground, coming out of an old hollow tree into a dark, menacing forest. Sighing, Ariane pulled Kiran after her when he started to head off to their right. “Not that way,” she scolded. “You can't trust your direction sense down here. Let me lead.”
Kiran winced, but came along without protest. “This is awful. It's like…like being tortured, and they keep giving the thumbscrews another twist.”
“That about sums it up. Why do you think demons are always so angry in stories? Getting summoned sucks.” She paid little attention to what she was saying, more concerned with getting out of there. The branches above them creaked and clattered as the trees whispered to each other. Ariane had heard them hundreds of times before; tonight they sounded nervous. “Just passing through,” she called softly. “No need for alarm.”
“I'm not scared,” Kiran said, thinking she had spoken to him. “I like it here.” He sounded surprised. “It feels…right. Homey. Not exactly familiar, but like it should be, you know?”
The trees around them murmured appreciatively, and Ariane let out a long breath. “Yeah, definitely fae blood in you somewhere. Once we get this spell off you, we need to have a nice long talk.”
The trees around them shifted subtly, causing them both to blink hard. Just ahead of them was what looked like a fox's den. “Blessings on the forest!” Ariane cried in relief, pulling Kiran forward. Grateful as she was, you just never knew when the trees would decide to hinder instead of help, or switch from one to the other. “You do make an impression, Kiran.”
“What?”
“I'll explain later.” She all but dragged him into the tunnel.
Kiran looked back wistfully as the darkness closed around them. “Couldn't I have tried to take us up? I know where I'm going this time.”
“But you don't know when. I mean, what time do you think it is, up top?”
“I dunno, it felt like we were in that tunnel for hours. It's gotta be past one.”
Ariane smiled. “See, that's just it. I can take us out five seconds after we went in.”
Any reply Kiran would have made was cut off by the glow of the exit ahead of them. “What's the plan?” he whispered.
Ariane squeezed his hand. “I have no idea.”
Kiran swallowed hard. “You're not very comforting, Ariane.”
“I never claimed to be.” Ariane let go of his hand as Kiran stepped reluctantly toward the mouth of the tunnel. He sucked in a startled breath as Gloria's spell took a firmer hold, no longer buffered by Ariane's presence. “Resist her as best you can, Kiran. Don't let her touch you if you can help it. I'll try to take her out before it comes to that.”
Kiran turned, walking backwards, hand outstretched toward her, but Ariane shook her head. She released her human skin, Kiran's pleading eyes fading from her sight in a heartbeat, his protesting words growing distant as she spun herself out into the air. Before Kiran had finished three steps she was flesh and blood again, darting up into the sky on crow's wings.
She climbed quickly, her gaze searching the landscape. The faint crunch of leaves echoed up from below her as Kiran made his way inexorably back to the clearing. It was that dry carpet of leaves that had made her decide on the crow—there was no hope of sneaking up on anything if she had to go overland. Marty might have been able to do it in his squirrel skin, but Ariane had never bothered with that form.
The clearing came into view as she rose above the trees. The earth was undisturbed, as if the giant had never made an appearance. Typical, and a sign that it had most likely been dismissed already. Gloria stood alone in the middle of the clearing, staring fixedly toward the sounds of Kiran's approach.
Where is the other one? Ariane wondered, scanning the trees anxiously. She didn't dare attack Gloria without knowing…wait, there!
A dark form stood shrouded amongst some bushes just within the treeline, perfectly positioned to see both Gloria and the end of the trail Ariane had taken earlier. The mage's hood was pulled low to hide the pale skin of her face, and a human would have easily overlooked her, but the crow's eyes saw her shape against the branches.
Gloria's out in the open like bait. I don't think I'll take it. Maybe if I get this one out of the way, it'll distract Gloria from her spells…
Kiran was already nearly to the clearing from the sounds of his footsteps. Ariane dove, planning on changing forms just before the branches got in the way. Let’s see how you like a bobcat on your head—
Impact shook her. A sickening crack as her left wing folded mid-bone, and she was free-falling, flapping uselessly with her right wing, the pain and sudden nausea of the break stealing her breath. She struggled to let go of the wounded form, but she was crashing through the branches now, out of control, her wings catching in twigs and leaves and sending new shocks of agony through her that shattered her concentration. It was only that stupid instinct to keep flapping that saved her from a brutal landing as she finally broke free of the grasping branches, half fluttering and half falling at the mage's feet.
Except the robed figure wasn't the mage at all, but the female initiate. Ariane had last seen the girl curled on the ground clutching her head; apparently Ari’s rescue of Kiran hadn't bought the girl enough time to get control of her new powers. The girl stood slack-jawed and glassy-eyed, arms limp at her sides, and took no notice of the bird trying to right itself in front of her.
An unseen force lifted Ariane from the ground, and she froze.
“Julianne here was telekinetic,” a feminine voice said brightly. The air next to the tree wavered, and the missing mage stepped out of her camouflaging spel
l. She tossed a stone into the air, which hung suspended for a moment before dropping back into her hand. She'd been wearing jeans and a t-shirt under her robes, apparently, and a necklace festooned with what looked like bulbous homemade glass beads. “I think I've picked up the basics very quickly, don't you?”
“Show off,” Ariane squawked.
The mage cocked her head to the side. “See, that's how I knew you weren't just an animal. I can touch an animal's mind, understand what they're thinking. But you, I get nothing.” The spectral hand holding Ariane tightened. “Should I snap your neck now, or see what use we can make of you?”
“Tabitha, have you got it?” Gloria called.
The mage—Tabitha—pouted. “Yeah,” she called back, and started across the clearing toward Gloria. Ariane floated along in front of her, and Julianne stumbled behind looking like a movie zombie that hadn't started to decay yet.
Craning her neck, Ariane saw that Kiran had stopped at the edge of the clearing by grabbing onto a tree. Remembering his affinity to the Underground forest, she wondered just what kind of fae his ancestor had been. Still, from the look on his face she didn't think he'd be able to resist the summons for very long, assuming Gloria didn't just go to him.
Gloria didn't. Instead she waited for Tabitha to join her, reaffirming Ariane's belief that Gloria had been waiting in the middle of a trap all along.
“Stop fighting. Come here, Kiran Connor Eckhart,” Gloria called, and Ariane made a mental note to get Kiran a new true name if they managed to survive until morning.
Kiran shuddered but held his ground.
Gloria clicked her tongue. “There's no need to make this difficult, Kiran. You never had use of your full potential before tonight, so how can you miss it? Once we've taken your memories you won't even know you ever had any abilities. You and Julianne will be right as rain in the morning.” Gloria laughed, but there was a steely edge to it. “We did have to give Steve to the elemental, but since your little friend killed Deirdre it's only fair, don't you think?”
When he didn't reply, she turned her attention to Ariane. “Is this a pet of yours? Some faerie creature? I knew there was something odd about you, but with a power like yours I was willing to risk it.” Gloria smiled sweetly. “A dangerous little thing, this pet. Now, if it were your familiar, the backlash from killing it could do serious damage to you—and I wouldn't want to risk that just yet. But I don't think you know enough to have a familiar, Kiran, so I can avenge poor Deirdre without losing the chance to finish taking your power.” The smile vanished. “Unless you come here. Now.”
