When I had taken down two more vampires, I blinked, realizing that we had taken out nearly all of those that had charged us. The only ones that were left alive had begun to run away, seeing that their odds weren’t as good as they’d originally thought. I frowned, wondering where Absalom was hiding. I hadn’t spotted him in the mess. Clapping came from out of the shadows behind me. My back stiffened and the hairs on my neck prickled to attention. Absalom. I swung around with Soren and Milena flanking me.
“That was impressive, little warper,” the vampire drawled out. “But I’ve seen better.”
“Why don’t you come out here and let me show you something impressive, Abe,” I taunted.
“Ah, you found who I am. I feel so special.” He laughed again and the sound set my teeth on edge. “How long did it take you to figure out you were going to need the other warper, little orphan?”
He was on the ground beneath me with the point of my sword at his neck before anyone had time to register the movement. Soren grabbed my arm, trying to warn me that we needed him to give us some information. I blinked and wondered why the vampire hadn’t even tried to defend himself against my attack. He was still quicker and stronger than I was. He gazed up at me, not moving a muscle.
“Tell me what’s wrong with my powers,” I spat. “I know something is off. I can’t freeze time, just manipulate it right now. The only other time this happened was when Soren and I were ambushed not far from the club.” The vampire remained quiet for a second longer than I thought necessary, so I leaned onto my sword, drawing blood.
“My necklace!” The vampire screeched. I nodded to Soren and he crouched down to yank the necklace from Abe’s neck. At the end of a long golden chain hung a small clear glass vile filled with a red liquid. I swallowed and narrowed my eyes at the vampire beneath me.
“What’s in the vile, Abe?” I asked through gritted teeth. His smile was no surprise, but his answer almost knocked the breath from my lungs.
“The blood of your little warper friend, of course.” He smiled like he’d revealed the most welcoming tidbit of news. I slammed the handle of my sword into his face and smiled when blood spurted from his nose. “Don’t worry, she’s still alive.” He spat blood out of his mouth and moved his jaw back and forth, testing to see if I’d broken that along with his nose. “She wouldn’t be useful to the cause if she were dead.”
“Why would her blood affect my warping powers?” I yanked his head back with a handful of hair.
“It only does a little,” the vampire answered. “But...if she were here, you’d not be able to use them at all. She’s been cursed, and as long as she remains so, every time you are within two hundred feet of her, your powers will become nullified.” My head spun with what Absalom said. If that were true, I wouldn’t be able to warp at all when I went to save her and anyone near her would be safe from my abilities. That could prove to be very tricky. I light flickered in the back of my mind, and I remembered the figure in the black robe at the old Court House when Soren and I were surrounded by baby vamps and my powers didn’t work at all. Colleen was the “weapon” the vampire had spoken of. She had been right there in the room with us, and I hadn’t even known it.
“Why are you telling me all this?” I yanked his head back again and leaned into him as I whispered into his ear. “I will kill you, just like you killed my parents. It’s just a matter of how and when. But I’ll allow you to continue your pathetic existence just a little bit longer if you answer me.” When I straightened up I thought for a half second I saw a flicker of regret in his copper eyes, but I nipped that thinking in the bud as soon as it entered my mind.
“I want to help get her out,” he ground out. I reared back like I’d been punched. There was no way. He had to have an agenda. “I’ll cooperate fully, show you where they are keeping her, everything. Just let me go with you when you get her out. I have some unfinished business to take care of...then, you can kill me, warper.” His eyes were pleading and for a second I thought he was sincere. I glanced up at Soren and gave him a questioning look. Whatever his game was, we knew he couldn’t be trusted. We could use him until he wasn’t useful any longer though.
“All right, but so help me, if you try anything...”
“I won’t. I swear,” he said quickly. I cracked my neck and briefly wondered if I was making a huge mistake. I sheathed my sword and nodded my head. “Well, then,” he smiled up at me, blood staining his teeth, “unless you just happen to like this position...” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. I jumped off him just as Soren’s boot connected with his face.
“So...what’s with the crazy, deadly nails, Milena?” I asked as we made our way back across the city to the safe house as I’d dubbed it. She snorted from the back seat.
“I may be gorgeous, but I am dark fae, and I can hold my own against a horde of baby vampires,” she said dismissively. I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see me. Okay, so much for small talk. The rest of the ride was silent as death with Soren deep in thought as he drove, Milena trying to clean the blood out from under her nails, and Absalom staring sulkily out the window into the night. I scooted back in my seat and closed my eyes. We pulled into the driveway forty-five minutes later.
After we got inside and updated the house on the night’s activities, we all pretty much sunk away to clean the blood and grim off ourselves. Aldwin and Soren kept an eye on Absalom as Milena and I took our turn in the two showers the house had. I didn’t trust Absalom for one second, and from the looks on Aldwin and Soren’s faces, neither did they. I came back out to take my turn guarding Absalom with Aldwin as Soren went to take his turn getting clean.
“So, your powers don’t work when you get close to this other warper?” Aldwin rubbed his hand over the stubble on his jaw.
“Seems that way,” I answered distractedly.
“And you think it is a good idea for you to be in on the rescue mission tomorrow even though you won’t be able to use your warper powers once you get close to the girl?” he asked incredulously. Absalom chuckled softly under his breath from across the room. I shot him a scathing glare and his laugh quickly turned into a slight cough. I turned the same glare back to Aldwin. His jaw was set and his eyes bore into mine like he could change my mind if he just stared hard enough and looked intimidating enough.
“Obviously, you haven’t learned much about women over the last hundred years, fae,” I ,.bit out. A low whistle sounded from the corner, but I didn’t pay our little audience any mind. “If you think you can waltz back into my life and expect me to just sit back and watch the “boys” handle things while I sit around with my thumbs up my ass, well, you got another think coming.” I’d already poked him in the chest once before I could stop myself. Aldwin’s nose flared dangerously and memories came flooding back in a rush. I stumbled back ever so slightly, stunned by the onslaught.
Soren was by my side a second later with his hair still dripping wet, glaring at Aldwin. “Everything okay in here?” he asked. I nodded mutely as Aldwin glared at Soren and then stomped from the room, his eyes promising me he wasn’t done with the conversation.
“I’m all right. I’m just exhausted,” I sighed as Soren pulled me into his arms. “Can we just go to bed?” I asked.
“That we absolutely can do,” he murmured.
“What about him?” I glanced over at our unwelcome house guest.
“Oh, I have a feeling we won’t have any problems with him tonight.” Soren smiled and Absalom frowned. Soren had Trina spell a bedroom just for our little problem before she and Matt left. Once Absalom crossed the threshold, he wouldn’t be able to leave again until the spell was broken and only Soren knew how the spell could be undone. After we dropped Absalom off into his cozy little cursed room, I followed Soren into the master bedroom.
Sleep was just a mocking figment of my imagination that night. I tossed and turned, only to find my body was still too wound up and my mind too busy to get any real rest. I was sitting at the breakfast
nook, looking out into the dark, eerily quiet night, drinking a cup of coffee when I felt more than heard someone enter the kitchen.
“Figures I’d find you of all people up at this hour,” Milena snapped. She helped herself to a cup of coffee, and I took the time to study her profile. She was beautiful even with her hair a little disheveled and with absolutely no make-up on. Her red cami complemented her skin tone perfectly. I noted the cute little smiling cherries on her black silk pajamas and blinked in surprise. Whodathunk?
“What?” she snapped, catching me staring at her with a grin on my face.
“Nothing.” I shrugged, but I couldn’t help grinning a bit wider.
“Whatever. Why are you up? Soren couldn’t wear you out enough to sleep?” She smirked when my mouth popped open. I narrowed my eyes.
“I could ask you the same thing, but I already know firsthand about that, now don’t I?” I waited for her to launch herself across the table at me and try to tear my heart out with her dark fae mojo nails. Instead, she threw her head back and laughed. I blinked in confusion.
“Good one, warper. I’d begun to think your spirit had been broken.” She smiled. I gazed back out the window and took another sip of my cooling hazelnut-flavored coffee.
“So what’s going on with you and Aldwin? You didn’t trust him enough to just let me know he was still alive?” I held my breath, knowing she’d blow me off or maybe even hurl a few more insults, but when she didn’t answer right away, I glanced over and found her staring down at her own cup of coffee with a frown creasing her forehead.
“Let’s just say you don’t know Aldwin as well as you thought you did. He has his reasons.” Her jaw hardened, and her eyes met mine. “Did he ever tell you what happened to his eye? How he got the scar on his face?” I looked quickly away from her stare and frowned. “Didn’t think so,” she murmured.
“We didn’t exactly have time on our side,” I snapped a little too loudly.
“He was of the light court fae...did you know that?” She asked sharply, and I just scowled. I really didn’t know anything about Aldwin. I wasn’t kidding when I said time had been against us. “Not playing well with others, not looking the other way when the weak are preyed upon, and not knowing when you’re an underdog are some of Aldwin’s greatest attributes, but those attributes can get you killed in the fae court.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Fortunately for Aldwin, it only cost him half his eyesight and his place in the light court.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. Milena sighed and pursed her lips in thought, clearly trying to decide how much she should tell me. I waited, hoping that if I kept my smart aleck comments in check, she’d tell me what I wanted to know.
“Aldwin helped someone he thought was being mistreated, someone who belonged to a fae king.” Her eyes glazed over a bit, and she sat so still, off in her own thoughts and memories, that I finally caught a glimpse of how old she might really have been. Her eyes gave her away. They were the color and depth of the deepest blue ocean, and when she was far off in thought, you could almost catch a swirling glimpse of the world she was from. She abruptly shook her head.
“Anyway, the kings are, of course, some of the most powerful. Aldwin is very very strong, but he was no match against a king. The king not only scarred Aldwin with a special dagger, crafted to kill fae, but he also stripped him of his titles and banished him to the Realm of the Dark Fae.” She met my eyes, and I could see how much pain and shame Aldwin must have gone through. Not only to be shamed in such a way by such a vain and beautiful race, but then to be banished to the dark courts. I frowned down into my already cooled cup of coffee.
“So what happened to the fae he was trying to help?” I asked softly.
“The king killed her in front of Aldwin after he had been maimed and banished.” I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry and my heart heavy with all that Aldwin had suffered at the hands of the supposed light fae.
“What does that story have to do with what’s between you and him? What does it have to do with him not letting me know he was alive, so I didn’t have to mourn him any longer?” I asked. Milena smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked...lonely.
“It tells you just what you need to know right now. Aldwin goes out of his way to protect the people he cares about, even if it hurts him in the process.” I opened my mouth to ask her to elaborate so I wouldn’t have to pull out my hair, but she stood abruptly and held up a hand. “Sorry, warper, but if you want to know anything else, you’ll have to convince Aldwin to tell you. I can’t.” She walked over to the sink and rinsed her cup before leaving me alone in the kitchen more confused than ever.
I curled up next to Soren an hour later and fell into a fitful sleep with dreams of Aldwin and creatures of the dark and light fae courts dancing in my head.
I woke up to the sound of laughter drifting in from the kitchen and to an empty bed. The clock on the side table showed that I’d slept until past early afternoon. When I stepped into the kitchen to find myself some caffeine, I had to rub my eyes several times to try and figure out if the scene in front of me was real or imaginary. Matt, Trina, and a too-cheery Milena were sitting at the kitchen table playing a rousing game of Uno. Evidently, Milena was winning, much to her own amusement. I would have sworn her ego couldn’t have inflated any more, but I hadn’t counted on what the effects of winning such a strategic game could do to a girl.
“Hey, Sage. ’Bout time you got up!” Trina chimed from the group. I grunted a reply and busied myself with finding a soda pop.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked after a proper amount of sugar had been consumed to help me face the day. I stopped wiping down the counter when silence met my question. I looked up and found three people all trying not to look at me. Even Milena looked uncomfortable. “Well?” I asked.
“They went to scope out the area where Absalom said the other warper, Colleen, was being held,” Matt said quickly. I stared at him until his gaze darted away from mine.
“They decided to go and ‘scope’ out the place while I was asleep...with Absalom?” I asked quietly. Matt nodded. “Right.” I murmured. I spun on my heel and left the room before I did anything stupid in front of everyone. I’m pretty sure stomping my feet and throwing the world’s most epic temper tantrum wouldn’t have gained me any cool points from anyone in the room. But, most of all, I didn’t want anyone to see how hurt and disappointed I was. Hurt was nothing new to me, but I’d come to expect more from Soren. She’d always respected my wishes, and I never would have thought he’d have gone along with leaving me behind like that. I didn’t know what to expect from Aldwin anymore. He wasn’t the same man I’d fallen in love with back in 1904...but, then again, I wasn’t the same girl he’d known then either.
When I was dressed, I strapped my new twin blades to my back, attached my sgian dubh to my thigh, and head outside to do some practicing until the scouting party made it back. I fell into a steady rhythm of lunges, swings, and sword maneuvers, allowing my arms to become one with the blades, letting my feet move quicker and quicker with the aid of my warper powers, until the landscape surrounding me blurred into a watercolor of rich greens from the forest and oranges and purples from the sun setting in the western sky.
I worked the blades until a fine sheen of perspiration dotted my forehead and sweat soaked into the front of my Lucky Charms tee shirt. A noise nearby snapped me out of my trance, and I swung my blades in a defensive arc, stopping in just enough time to realize Aldwin, trying to get my attention, had come up behind me while I was zoned out. The tip of my blade rested in the hollow of his neck, and I stood there staring at him, my chest heaving from the exertion and my arm trembling from fatigue.
“I told him not to,” Soren remarked from the back door. I glanced over and saw everyone standing outside, some with wide eyes, and some with smirks. I had no idea how long they’d all been standing there. Aldwin cleared his throat.
“If you don’t mind?” He raised a questioning brow and
I quickly removed my sword from his throat.
“You shouldn’t have interrupted me like that. I could have killed you, Aldwin,” I remarked as I sheathed my swords and removed them from my back.
“I was willing to bet you’d stop in time,” he murmured. His eyes settled on the sgian dubh strapped to my right thigh, and then his gaze searched mine, but I wasn’t sure what he meant to find there.
“When I warped back, it came with me.” I shrugged in answer. Sometimes I warped through my dreams. The dagger had been given to me in one such dream, and when I’d woken up back in my own time, I had only my scars and the sgian dubh to show for my travels. I didn’t mention how the dagger had become one of my most precious possessions or how sometimes just having it in the palm of my hand would calm me like nothing else could. Sometimes things are better left unsaid.
“Can I talk to you in private?” Aldwin’s voice was serious, and I was instantly on edge. I glanced over at Soren, who could, I knew, hear us as we spoke even though he was across the yard and surrounded by a group of people talking loudly to one another. His mouth was planted in a firm line. His eyes caught mine, and I could see how much he wanted to tell Aldwin “No way in hell,” but he knew, just like I did, that I’d have to figure out this mess on my own. Pushing me in any one direction would be disastrous on too many levels. He had to trust me. I just hoped his trust wasn’t misplaced. I headed into the house with Aldwin following close behind.
Relativity (A Sage Hannigan Time Warper Novel #2) Page 13
