“I would like to remedy that, if you will allow it,” he said softly.
She thought of all the reasons this was a mistake, not the least of which was the domestic turmoil it would unleash in her previously peaceful home. She thought of the likelihood that he was just looking for a new novel experience or something different and interesting. Of the misery of having her heart broken by someone who probably saw her as an interesting diversion to keep himself occupied with until the next new thing came along. And realized that part of her didn’t care about anything but the feel of his mouth against hers. “Yes, I would like that; to be courted.”
He smiled and kissed her again, pausing as he straightened up to inhale the scent of her hair before stepping away. “Then since we are courting I will be back as soon as I can.”
She stood watching until the Guards’ car pulled away. It was impossible not to recognize the vehicles the Guard used no matter how much effort went in to making them look like ordinary cars; they were manufactured special without any iron and layered with so much magic they veritably glowed. Usually the sight of one arriving created dismay, but Allie found herself feeling something very similar watching this one drive away. She wondered if this was how her father had felt around her mother, and found the thought extremely unsettling.
It wasn’t until she turned to go back into the house that she realized that she had just made the greatest possible mistake anyone could make with Fairy; she had agreed to something without understanding fully what she was agreeing to.
*****************************
The house meeting was a tense affair that didn’t accomplish much except to alienate Allie from the other 4 roommates. Allie had managed to put Bleidd and Syndra off until Jason and Liz returned home insisting that she didn’t want to have to repeat everything but that only gave them time to get more upset about it. By the time the other two got there Bleidd in particular had worked himself into a fine rage.
He started talking as soon as Liz walked in the door, turning on Allie, “How could you speak to them? What did you tell them? Why would you even let them in the house at all?”
“Let her answer one question before you ask another,” Liz objected, frowning.
Allie found herself searching for the best way to explain and blurted out the truth, “It wasn’t like that. They came and talked to me at the store the other day…”
“What?” Bleidd took a step towards her and Jason intervened.
“Al, why didn’t you tell us?” Syndra asked, sounding hurt.
“I was going to…” Allie said.
“Which day? When did they seek you out first?” Bleidd snapped.
Allie felt her mouth go dry. Everyone was looking at her, waiting. Finally she mumbled, “Monday.”
“Monday!” Syn looked appalled. Liz just shook her head not even trying to defend her cousin.
“I’m sorry!” she said sincerely, but no one seemed to care.
“Oh Allie,” Jason said, “You should have said something.”
She had been avoiding looking at Bleidd but when he said nothing she couldn’t help glancing his way. He was glaring at her, his green eyes furious, and she swallowed hard. His voice was cold “You look like an adult but you act like a child, thoughtlessly. What did it take to buy your cooperation? Money? Empty promises? Or some flattering words? And never mind that you aid my enemies in framing me for crimes I’m innocent of.”
What he said stung and Allie snapped back “That is not true! I’m trying to help you, to prove you didn’t do anything. Nobody’s paying me anything…”
“Oh, you should get paid,” Syn cut in. “Don’t let yourself get taken advantage of. If they expect you to be some kind of on-call expert…”
“Expert in what exactly?” Liz asked, frowning again, “No offense Allie but what could you possibly be an expert in that can help the police with these murders?”
Allie floundered, feeling ganged up on, “I’m not–they just had some questions about ritual murders and ways to raise energy that might apply here, and people recommended me because of the store. I told them I’m not an expert. And I’m not on-call.”
“Then why did they show up here, at our home today, if they’ve already questioned you?” Bleidd asked sharply.
“Yeah, at the fucking ass crack of dawn no less,” Syn added. “There’s something not right about the whole thing.”
Allie flushed, trying not to think about the feel of Jess’s mouth against hers or her agreement to do something she didn’t fully understand. No way was she mentioning his personal interest in her while everyone was already so angry and suspicious. “They wanted to see if I had thought of anything else that might help.”
Syn looked skeptical and unfortunately Jason chose that moment to start contributing to the conversation “If you ask me I think that blond Elf has the hots for you.”
Allie looked at him, horrified, which made him nervous so he kept talking, “I saw how he was looking at you. When you went to go change he watched you the whole time you were walking away and I know that look, like he wanted to go with you and…”
“Jason!” Allie cut in desperate to get him to shut up.
“Holy shit,” Syndra swore, obviously remembering her rush to walk the two Guards out and her delay in returning “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
“Unbelievable! That is how little I mean to you that you betray me for the promise of a pretty face? Or are you such a fool that you believe he has any interest in you besides using you to get a foot in this house?” Bleidd was so angry now he was yelling in Elvish and she felt a mix of guilt and her own anger.
She found herself yelling back in kind “Why, because it’s so impossible to believe anyone might find me attractive without an ulterior motive?”
He opened his mouth to respond and then turned and all but ran from the room instead. After a stunned moment Liz and Jason went after him, making it clear with their actions whose side they were on. Syndra stood indecisively shaking her head.
“Al, honestly, what were you thinking?” she asked her friend “I don’t know what that last bit in Elvish was about, but seriously, he has a right to be mad. You should have told us Monday. And getting involved with a cop–elf cop or otherwise–who’s investigating your friend for murder is just fucking asinine.”
“I have to go or I’m going to be late opening the store,” Allie said blinking back tears and feeling thoroughly misunderstood.
Syndra gave her a long look before saying “I guess you should do what you have to do then.”
Chapter 4 - Friday
Allie spent most of Friday in a dark mood, glaring out the store’s windows, resenting the bright sunny spring weather and not doing anything useful. She had worn an old hooded sweatshirt and jeans, refusing to even make an effort to cheer herself up by dressing nicely. Business was still slow giving her ample time to brood. She wished she could go back in time and undo everything.
Late in the day her thoughts were interrupted by two figures in heavy cloaks with the hoods pulled up walking in front of the store. Although the sight wasn’t out of place in a town with a mixed population something about the two caught her attention. They pushed open the door to the store but the little bell above it remained silent; Allie felt her skin prickling as the ward set in the bells broke. Whoever these two were, they meant trouble. She watched them apprehensively as they pretended to browse but surreptitiously watched her watching them.
After a few minutes of this they both headed in her direction and she realized they were elves. If their entrance had broken the wards that could mean only one thing, and her mind raced, trying to think of the best way to handle this, if she could handle it at all.
“Hello,” the closest of the two greeted her pleasantly, stopping a dozen feet away, “Perhaps you can help us? We are looking for a certain book.”
“Good afternoon,” she replied struggling to sound calm, “We have a wide selection of books. Which one are
you looking for?”
He smiled, but his eyes were coldly assessing, “This one is special. Rare. One of a kind actually.”
It was awkward talking with so much distance between them, but she hesitated to come out from behind the counter. “Do you know the title?”
“I know that it’s here and that you know about it,” he replied, still pleasant. The other elf stood near the book shelves, his fingers tracing the spines of the nearest books. Allie had no doubt he was magically searching for something, but she had no idea what.
She shook her head slightly, “I don’t know what you mean.”
His smile made it plain that he didn’t believe her. “Is there a special section for rare books?”
“Yes, back left section of the store.”
“Can you show us?”
She hesitated a moment and then edged out into the open area. There was a small space between the end of the counter and the wall which controlled access to the back. One of the large couches her grandmother had set up for people to sit and read in sat at a right angle to the wall six feet back from the counter, creating a small open space for people to stand when they were checking out; towards the bookshelf side of the store it opened up into a wider space. She walked to the rare book section with the second elf following behind her and showed him, wordlessly, where the shelves where before retreating. When she returned she found the talkative one leaning against the counter, blocking the narrow opening to the back. “So you are Elizabeth McCarthy’s granddaughter,” he said.
The words caught her totally off guard. “Yes.”
“Interesting,” he smiled and it wasn’t pleasant, but then he seemed to switch gears. “This would be much easier if you would simply give us the book.”
He leaned forward and she edged back and around wanting to get to the dubious safety behind the counter. He followed her, crowding her against the couch back and still blocking her way. “I don’t know what book you are talking about.”
“We can pay you. More money than you can imagine,” he said, as alarms went off in her head. She wished now that she had stayed in the open area.
“I really don’t know what you are looking for,” she said, knowing it was true and wishing she could hand him what he wanted so he would leave.
“Or maybe,” he said, reaching out to stroke her cheek, “if money doesn’t interest you, you’d like a different form of compensation?”
She could feel his magic pushing at her, carried on the physical contact. Glamour was a potent thing and using it for seduction was illegal, the magical equivalent of a date rape drug. If she didn’t have personal shields and a resistance to Elven magic she’d be panting at his feet right now with no idea why she suddenly wanted him. Her head jerked back reflexively, and before she could think of a more diplomatic reply she blurted out “No.”
His eyes narrowed and he gathered his magic and pushed at her, hard. She stood fast. “No one,” he said, his voice deceptively gentle, “turns me down. I have had more women than I can count. You should be grateful that I would even consider you.”
Allie knew she was treading on very dangerous ground, that she should refuse him carefully without hurting his pride or insulting him. But she was genuinely frightened and before she could think it through she heard herself saying, “I’m sure you can find a willing girl down at the Star.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth she was certain that telling him to go find a bedmate at the club where the Fairy groupies hung out wouldn’t go over well, but his reaction was worse than she anticipated. Faster than her eyes could follow his arm jerked back and he punched her. Her nose broke beneath the blow, blood spraying, and as she started to crumple from the pain he grabbed both her upper arms and slammed her into the wall. Then he kissed her, pressing his lips against her bloody mouth. She felt her stomach turning, both from his action and from the roil of emotions she could feel from him: a blend of lust, anger, and satisfaction. She struggled futilely against his iron grip. He pulled his face back slightly from hers, licking her blood off his lips. His eyes narrowed, a calculating expression on his face. Using one hand to hold her against the wall his other hand reached up and pushed her hair back from her right ear. “Well, well, what have we here? A little mixed blood girl masquerading as a human. How delicious you are little half-breed.”
His hand in her hair clenched, forcing her head back painfully. She struggled against him as he pressed his body into hers pinning her to the wall. He ran his tongue up her throat, licking the trail of blood that dripped down into the fabric of her sweatshirt. She hit out at him with her free hand, barely connecting with his side; he smiled and said, “If you like it rough that’s fine, I prefer a girl with some fight in her.”
Allie panicked at the promise in his eyes and reflexively brought her knee up as hard as she could. She missed her target, but hit his thigh hard. He stopped smiling, pulling away from her, and punched her again, his fist catching the left side of her face. Multicolored lights sparkled in front of her eyes and she felt herself falling. She landed in the narrow wooden aisle between the wall and the end of the counter, with his weight settling above her pinning her down. She struggled to get her arms up but before she could do more than shove weakly at him he wedged his forearm under her chin, pushing her head back and pressing down on her throat. Her hands clawed at his arm as she tried to breathe but he was stronger than she and her efforts were useless. He shifted his weight to one side and his free hand pulled at the waistband of her jeans, yanking with increasing force until she heard fabric tear. Someone was speaking, but the sound was meaningless as her vision started to go dark and her lungs burned for oxygen. And then, without warning, the weight lifted and she took a deep breath. She tried to roll over but his hand returned, pinning her down; she almost didn’t care as she lay there gasping in huge lungful’s of air.
“You fool,” a voice said angrily in Elvish somewhere above and to her left, “This is a public building.”
“Did you find the book?” he snapped back. The haze had cleared and she realized that he was half kneeling above her, the second elf’s hand grasping his shoulder. She stared at the long pale fingers digging into the heavy fabric of the cloak, and realized that the second one had pulled the first off of her.
“No, and we have no more time to delay here.” The second elf never spared a glance at her, as if she didn’t exist. Her head ached fiercely and she could feel the blood dripping across her face from her nose.
“I’m not ready to leave yet.” He started to turn towards her, but the second elf jerked him back.
“Are you mad? And if someone walks in what will you do? Forget her and let us leave quickly and hope we don’t draw any attention.” For the first time his eyes settled on her, cold and measuring, “Leave her for now. We can come back later and search again for the book.”
The words stirred a fresh sense of panic but her body refused to move. As if in a dream she found herself lying helplessly while the first elf considered his companion’s words. After far too long he nodded once and the second elf let him go, disappearing towards the door.
Her tormentor leaned forward until his mouth was almost touching her ear. “I will be back little mixed blood girl, and next time we will not be interrupted. I will take my pleasure from your body and listen to you scream until your throat is raw.”
As he spoke his hand snaked up underneath her sweatshirt, grabbing her breast and squeezing until she cried out and writhed away from him. A dark satisfied look filled his face and then he was gone, leaving her lying alone on the floor.
She had no idea how long she lay there, gasping, listening to the sound of her own heartbeat roaring in her ears. The sudden realization that they could return at any moment finally spurred her to action and she forced her battered body to move, half crawling to the door and locking it. She reached up to the light switch on the wall and turned off the lights, feeling slightly safer in the locked, dark store. Then she thought about how
lucky she was that he hadn’t thought to simply lock the door and she felt herself starting to shake. She tried to stand and a wave of dizziness drove her back to her knees, forcing her to crawl back to the relative safety behind the counter.
She needed help but she didn’t know what to do. If I call 911 there will be lights, sirens, she thought, and strangers. I’ll have to explain to strangers. She shook her head but stopped when the motion made her stomach turn. She needed someone she could trust, someone she could honestly talk to about the wider implications of what had just happened, of who those two were, and more importantly what they represented. Unfortunately the only person she could think of calling was barely speaking to her right now.
Finally she reached for the phone and reluctantly dialed.
****************************
“Unbelievably stubborn, ridiculous, fucking pigheaded,” Syn’s words matched the cadence of her steps as she paced across the small exam room. Allie had tuned her out, knowing that the other woman had to run out of adjectives eventually and that the stream of invective was Syn’s way of expressing worry. Instead of listening she kept her eyes closed and focused on the pattern of Syn’s steps on the industrial linoleum of the walk-in clinic that served as a small community hospital for the town and pressed the ice pack against her throbbing face. Syn had been at the gym when Allie had called and she was still dressed in her workout gear, a black tank top and spandex shorts; her sneakers squeaked every time she turned making Allie wince. Allie wanted to ask her to stop but Syn had done her a huge favor, getting her to the clinic, sitting with her, handling everything. She knew her friend didn’t understand why she was refusing everything except basic medical care, and there was no way to explain it to her that she’d understand right now.
Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel Page 7
