by Carmen Caine
“Naz, you’ll be staying here all day, dawwwling,” she said, accepting another cigarette as I arrived. “You shouldn’t be walking out and about until we assign you protection.”
“Protection?” I repeated, lifting a bewildered brow. “Why would I need protection?”
A sudden burst of silver light came from the bed, and we both dashed over to see Strix lying there, gasping as Dr. Kip held his hands over the wounds. A sheen of sweat glistened over the doctor’s bald head as random bolts of light shot out from the cuts under his fingers. As I stared, dark, slimy tendrils looking very much like worms crawled out of Strix’s flesh, wrapping around the doctor’s fingers before sizzling and turning to ash.
A blast of nausea mixed with fear assailed me. “What is that?” I croaked in horror. I’d never seen anything like it.
At the sound of my voice, Strix weakly turned his head my way. Pain ran rampant in his eyes. A ball of light bubbled out of his wound to dance toward the ceiling. I understood it then. It was his power. He was bleeding mana, the root of his magic. I could do nothing but watch as this battle between the dark and the light went on for some time, until at last, the flesh zipped closed under Dr. Kip’s hands, and it was finally over.
As Strix fell into an immediate deep sleep, Dr. Kip sat down on the edge of the bed, exhausted.
“Well done, doctor,” Edna said, stirring from her position at the foot of the bed. “That’ll stop them from tracking him here. At least for a bit.”
The tired doctor nodded in agreement.
Edna abruptly leapt off the bed then and strutted to the door, whistling for the other imps to follow, and the next instant they’d gone.
“Get him to drink as much of this as possible,” Dr. Kip said, pulling from his bag several bottles of what I guessed were healing potions. “Edna says you’re the nurse, so keep a close eye on him. I’ll try to check in on him again later, but if for some reason I can’t and he doesn’t gain strength by dinnertime, call me.”
I was hardly qualified to be a nurse, but I knew now wasn’t the time to object, so I accepted the glass bottles and watched as the doctor stumbled out of the room, clearly drained. After the door clicked shut, I set the potions down on the bedside table and moved to one of the wingback chairs to finally catch my breath and reflect.
As far as days went, this one had been downright strange so far. I didn’t quite know what to think, especially about Edna’s cryptic comments. What did she mean I needed protection? And why had she so abruptly assigned me to play ‘nurse’ and to a particularly powerful sorcerer—a Nether Reach Keeper, no less? Scowling, I crossed my arms and jiggled my knees, disturbed over the whole thing. I’d have to pin Edna down for answers—after she battened the hatches down to ward off whatever she thought headed our way.
I sat there for a while, lost in thought and staring into the cozy, crackling flames until a slight movement in the corner of my eye clued me into the fact Strix was awake and watching me. I glanced over at him, but instead of looking away, he boldly met my gaze.
“Who are you?” he asked in a blunt, yet curiously polite way.
“Naz,” I answered with the same frank courtesy.
He knotted his brows and the muscle on his lean jaw tensed. “I meant … what are you?”
Alright, that bordered on rude. It was, after all, a touchy subject with me. “A humanoid,” I snipped in reply. What did he expect me to say? The family dud? Just to make sure this line of questioning ended then and there, I added firmly, “I’m your nurse. That’s all you need to know.”
A strange look stole over his face. I couldn’t place it. Confusion? Disbelief? Something else? It didn’t matter. I padded over to the side table next to the bed and picking up one of the glass bottles, held it out to him. “Here, drink this. Doctor’s orders,” I said.
He lifted himself on his elbow and, obediently accepting the potion, tilted his head back to take a sip. White gauze banded the hard planes of his chest, contrasting with his tanned skin and drawing my attention to his physique. Starting with the tantalizing stretch beneath his navel to the shadow of his Adam’s apple above his collarbone, he was quite the specimen. Really, a girl couldn’t resist ogling him, just a little.
Of course, he caught me doing so. After all, I’d done it right in front of him, but strangely, it didn’t bother me, nor did it seem to bother him. Our gazes locked, and I found myself drowning in the depths of a pair of gorgeous and unusual gray eyes, ringed with silver and flecked with gold. After a few intense moments, I looked away. This was going somewhere. Fast.
“Take a couple more sips,” I suggested.
He obliged, and after a few more swallows, collapsed back onto the bed. “Edna’s probably sitting in her office, cackling over the bill,” he said, a ghost of a smile playing over his lips.
“Hope you’re rich,” I replied lightly. The entire Charmed world knew about Edna and her love of money.
The mirth on his face faded, and he turned on me then with a sharp, piercing look. “I’m only bringing danger here,” he said, trying to sit up again. “I shouldn’t stay.”
“Whoa, there. You’re supposed to rest,” I disagreed, quickly moving to push him back down. Again, I couldn’t help but notice the familiar touch of his skin beneath my fingers.
He stared at me, his dark lashes softening the intensity of his penetrating eyes. “How can I rest when they’re on my trail?”
“They?” I almost asked, but then bit my tongue. Did I really want to know the answer to that question? Especially after what I’d just seen crawling out of his flesh?
But he answered anyway. “You have the right to know what you’re dealing with,” he acknowledged grimly. “I’ve got three Fallen Ones hunting me down.”
I snorted in disbelief. Fallen Ones. Foul creatures of the hell kind, ancient and evil. Legend claimed they’d once been powerful men who had succumbed to the promise of eternal life on Earth. They’d gotten it, but not like they’d wanted. Instead of walking the planet as men, they’d been condemned to eternity as rotting skeletons, feeding on men’s souls, wreaking havoc with their every touch, and some say, seeking revenge on the sorcerer who had betrayed them.
Strix stared at me, steadily.
A sense of dread washed over me then. “So, they’re real,” I whispered, shuddering at the thought.
“Unfortunately, yes,” he murmured, running a heavy hand over his face.
That wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear, but what could I do about it? It wasn’t like I, Naz, the family dud, could make a difference one way or the other. I’d decided long ago that I wouldn’t let the things beyond my control, rise up to control me. Heaving a deep breath, I focused on the matter at hand. “Well, nothing to be done about it right now, except to get you better. As it is, you’re too weak to fight them off, right?” I asked, and cocked a brow at the door. “And those six elite imps out there say you’re staying in bed, so you might as well just rest and sleep.”
Our gazes locked once again and held longer this time.
Finally, he narrowed his eyes, a faint frown marring his brow. “Have we met before?” he asked, his voice rumbling soft and deep.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. I certainly would have remembered it if we had. “Again, my name’s Naz.”
“Strix,” he belatedly introduced himself, searching my face once more before closing his eyes and sinking back into his pillows.
I returned to the wingback chair and, kicking off my sneakers, curled up to glance his way from time to time. As the slow rise and fall of his chest signaled he’d fallen asleep, I lay my head back and closed my eyes.
The next thing I knew, I felt Strix’s tongue dragging over my flesh, leaving a trail of heat as he nipped my earlobe in a way that made me purr.
“I find strong women so intoxicating,” he moaned in my ear.
A thrill of pleasure rippled over me as he took my lips in a soft, sweet kiss that melted every muscle in my body.
Ru
mblings of Things to Come
I awoke with a start, sitting upright as a curious mix of relief and disappointment washed over me. But then, I noticed it. Beads of water rolling down the mirrors—my T-shirt, damp, and clinging to my skin. The air felt hot and muggy, like a summer day in New Orleans rather than a winter day in New York. I frowned at the heavy condensation in the room and stood up, slowly. Had the ventilation system malfunctioned?
Strix lay sweating on the bed. As if sensing my gaze, his lashes lifted.
Checking the clock on my phone showed me that I’d slept a whole three hours. Strange. I wasn’t one to take naps in the middle of the day. After walking to the bedside, I picked up another healing potion and held it out to him. “Come now, drink up.”
He obliged, managing a couple of swallows before falling back onto the pillows again. “Thanks,” he whispered, his voice, though weak, was deep and sexy just as it’d been in my dream. A smile lifted his shapely lips, but then his mood suddenly darkened and his brows knit in a puzzled line. “What is with all the humidity in here?” he asked, wiping the moisture off his brow.
“Problem with the ventilation, I guess.” I shrugged. “I should make sure Edna knows about it.”
He nodded and closing his eyes, drifted back to sleep again. Hesitating to leave his side, I stood by the bed for a moment looking down at him. He had such long, dark eyelashes, and his lips curled in the corners with a sensual kind of charm. Suddenly realizing I was staring like a fool, I abruptly turned away and crossed the room to the door.
A rush of cool air caressed my face even as the steam rushed to escape. I nudged one of the elite sake bottles with my toe. As two green and very grumpy eyes popped up to greet me, I hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “Something’s wrong with the ventilation in here. Better tell the boss.”
With an exaggerated groan, the imp lifted himself from his bottle and, flattening his ears, stomped off down the hall. I stepped back into the room and began closing the door, but as I did so, a shadow darted forward, attempting to slide through. I had fast reflexes, amazingly fast. I couldn’t have been an imp babysitter without them. As quick as a flash, I snagged Olivia mid-slide and lifted her up. She dangled from my fingers, her lips split into a wide grin. “You know very well you’re not allowed in here.”
She batted her lashes at me and chirped her favorite word. “Whyyyyyyy?”
I just put my hands on my hips and glared.
She thrust out her bottom lip and for a brief moment, lost control of her four-inch form, giving me a glimpse of the fabled beast inside, a bulky-shouldered creature with massive jaws and fangs suddenly towered over me, its face petulantly contorted. But then she regained control, melting back into her four-inch figure to stomp off, the floor vibrating beneath her hulking weight with every step.
I just laughed.
Again, I tried to close the door, but this time Edna arrived, followed by a parade of imps carrying a large tray of sushi and a box of oranges, and with Dr. Kip bringing up the rear. As he proceeded to check on his patient, Edna joined me to sit near the fire, dribbling ash from her cigarette all over the carpet as she’d trotted to the wingback chairs.
“It’s getting late, Edna,” I said with a yawn. “I should really be getting home now.”
“Tch, tch, not tonight, dawwwling,” she clucked in disagreement. “It’s far too dangerous, especially now that it’s past sundown.” Before I could interrupt to object or ask questions, she waved her cigarette at the ceiling. “By the way, the ventilation here is fine. Let’s think about that, shall we? Just where are we headed with you now? That is the question.”
“What?” I asked, looking at her in confusion. “Just what are you trying to say, Edna?”
But she was no longer listening to me. Flattening her ears, she suddenly hissed, “They’re coming. Stay here. You’re defenseless right now.”
She then vanished in a shower of yellow sparks and I jumped back, alarmed, having never seen an imp do such a thing as the lids of the sake bottles outside the door all rattled at once. Defenseless? Against what? The Fallen Ones? I rolled my eyes at the thought. Yes, Naz, let’s think about that. Why would the Fallen Ones care about you? I wasn’t the kind to ping on their radar—except as maybe a forgettable, late-night snack. Still, I couldn’t shake a foreboding chill as I joined Dr. Kip at Strix’ bedside.
“He’s coming along nicely,” the mustachioed doctor announced as I arrived. He pulled out two more bottles of glowing medicine from his medicine bag and set them on the bedside table. “Should be on his feet soon. Make him stay here until I return in the morning, will you?”
I gave the doctor a look. “Not sure I can make him do anything,” I said. And really, stay the night? Didn’t nurses work shifts?
He only laughed and then he left.
Again, I stared down at my patient. He’d definitely grown stronger. A bit of color graced his cheeks and the bruise there had already faded. When he stirred, I turned away and headed back to my chair. While I’d much rather return to the comfort of my own tiny apartment, I supposed it wasn’t a bad idea hanging out in one of the most highly protected rooms in the city—especially when Fallen Ones were running around loose. I wasn’t in the mood for danger, especially of the kind that ended with black worms crawling through your flesh. Most likely, it would all be over soon, and I’d pin Edna down to explain all her cryptic warnings.
Trying my best to brush my uneasiness aside, I settled back in my chair to wait. Time passed. I ate the sushi and a couple of oranges, kept busy on my phone, and periodically checked in on my patient. After a while, I heard the sake bottles rattle and I knew the elites had returned. I opened the door and spent a good hour trying to pry information out of them, but it was a big waste of time. It’s impossible to make an imp do something it doesn’t want to do.
The night passed in fits and starts. I jerked awake several times, convinced I’d heard something, but each time the room lay shrouded in silence with Strix breathing deeply on the bed. Three times, imps pried my eyes open, delivering messages from Edna, each a variation of, “Do not set foot outside the restaurant until further notice.” It bothered me, of course. She’d never done anything like it before.
Strix slept through it all. I took it as a good sign, his body was healing.
I fell asleep yet again, but again, I awoke with a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me awake.
“What is it this time?” I grumbled tiredly before opening my eyes to find myself looking directly into a pair of stunning gray ones.
Feeling momentarily lost, I stared into those incredible depths, admiring again the length of his incredible dark lashes. Then it sunk in. Strix. Out of bed and not resting as the doctor had ordered.
Before I could object, he asked, “What’s wrong? You were growling in your sleep.”
I blinked, taken aback. “Growling?” I lifted a brow and sat up slowly in my chair. Yeah, my skin felt unusually hot, but hardly feverish. Then it struck me. Ah, consider the messenger. He was probably delirious. He certainly shouldn’t be up and about. “What are you doing out of bed? The doctor said complete rest.”
I stood up, intending to shoo him like a wayward impling back to his bed, only I hadn’t accounted for his sheer physical presence. My thoughts immediately went in a different direction. He was much bigger up close. The top of my head barely came up to his shoulder. My eyes dropped in a quick inspection of his lean physique carved with muscle before traveling back up again to the shadow of his Adam’s apple, the lean jaw, chiseled cheekbones, and back again to his eyes, this time filled with silent amusement.
Oh, he knew I was gawking in admiration, and I would’ve cringed with embarrassment, had I not caught the dip of his lashes checking me out in return. Peering down at me with a half-smile, he murmured, “You’re even smaller than you looked.”
The deep undercurrent in his tone nearly made me shiver. Then I noticed his black body armor and the keeper scarf tied around his neck. “Yo, du
de, you’re in no shape to run around,” I said, pointing to the bed. “Dr. Kip said complete rest. Pretty sure body armor isn’t required for that.”
He drew a deep breath and stepped away. “I’ve stayed here long enough,” he replied. “Too long, in fact. I will not bring destruction down upon this place. I must go.”
I glanced at my phone. 4:00 AM. “At least wait until daylight, huh? Dr. Kip’s coming back in a few hours. He really should take a look first before you go.”
“I can’t wait. The Fallen Ones are gone for now—at least from here,” he replied, already moving to the door. “And if I stay any longer, the imps will only be able to hold them at bay for so long. Now is the best time … for all of us.”
He strode out into the hall, his long legs carrying him quickly through the imp warrens as I struggled to catch up.
“Edna’s not going to be happy about this,” I said, finally catching up with him as he paused before the front door.
“I should never have involved her to begin with,” he replied, twisting the knob and stepping outside.
I leaned out the door and glanced around. It was still dark. A vast blanket of rolling clouds obscured the stars above as a warm wind blew down the street, carrying with it the first hint of an early spring. The soft glow of the streetlights lit the empty sidewalks and the rows of red brick, dark-windowed townhouses. A car alarm blared in the distance. All in all, it seemed like a pretty typical New York City night and not a particularly dangerous one—no more than usual anyway.
I glanced up to see Strix watching me, a mysterious expression on his face. When our gazes met, he bowed in quite a gentlemanly way. “I thank you for your care, Naz.”
“You’re welcome,” I replied, my heart skipping a beat.
He left. At once. I watched him go, wondering why he made me feel so odd. I’d just reached for the knob to shut the door when I caught a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye. Olivia. Trotting after Strix as fast as her little four-inch body could carry her.
