by Ann Aguirre
“It’s clear you two have unfinished business, so I’ll leave you to chat,” she said.
When she left the room, the first prickles of lightning came back. My skin tingled, and I looked away, braced for the time when he’d hit me visually like a force of nature. Did Kian know what it would be like under the Harbinger’s protection when he made the deal? I truly hoped the answer was no.
“You still hate me,” he said unexpectedly.
I couldn’t tell if it was a statement or a question. But I nodded anyway, in case he was checking. Then I demanded, “Who took my dad? I have to save him.”
“What makes you think I know?”
“That thing recognized you. So it stands to reason you know what it was. And who it works for.”
“You underestimate my renown. Do you think there are many immortals of my caliber who choose not to play the game?”
That was a good point, but … “You’re jerking me around. Why?”
He let out a faint sigh. “If I tell you, you’ll go after your father. And I don’t have the power to save you. Edie Kramer, you are exhausting.”
“Sorry.” The apology was instinctive and I regretted it at once. Though I had a ton of grievances against him, I hadn’t meant to suck him dry like a psychic vampire, but I’d rather not admit it.
His expression shifted, the minute difference undecipherable. “But that doesn’t alter your resolve … and that puts me in an awkward position because if I let you die, that voids my compact with your beloved.”
“Really?” Wait, no, that wasn’t a solution. He’d offered to eat me a while back if I wanted to die, but giving up wasn’t the same as trying your best to save someone and failing.
“You’ve changed since we first met, grown more intractable and courageous. I understand how you became the little queen.”
Those words rang a bell in my head, but I couldn’t place them. When it hit me, my eyes widened. “Mr. Love…?”
The Harbinger’s face shifted for a few seconds, showing me the teacher who drove poor Nicole nuts. “I’m touched. I wondered if you would recognize me.”
Holy shit. I remembered how afraid of him I was, the way we clashed, and how the symbol reacted to him. Weirdly, they didn’t activate in my defense when I went up against the monster in the pit, when I sparred with Raoul, or while the Cthulhu beasts attacked me at the lab. I wonder why not. Distracted, I pondered for a few seconds. As for Raoul, my brands probably sensed he didn’t mean me any harm. Possibly the other assailants weren’t smart or powerful enough to trip the alarm? At best, I was only speculating.
“Trying to solve complex problems with insufficient data?” It was like he read my mind, and how disturbing if he could.
No, it’s a just good guess. He already said he’s tapped out.
Not letting the Harbinger intimidate me, I demanded, “Why did my mark throw you so hard? It hasn’t responded to anything else.”
“What makes you think I’d tell you, presuming that I know?”
Quietly I wondered if I could hurt him. At the moment, I really wanted to, especially given how he stood aside and let that thing steal my dad.
“I wouldn’t,” he whispered.
It sounded like he wanted me to try, as if that were the first step down a road I couldn’t turn back from. So I folded my hands in my lap. “You really were draining Nicole dry.”
With a languid shrug, he said, “I took what was freely offered. And … she’ll survive.”
“But she’ll never be the same.”
“Should that concern me?”
Clenching my teeth, I started to list all the reasons why the answer was yes, but he went on without waiting. “I regret this necessity, but I cannot permit you to return to your old life.”
“Excuse me?” That shocked all thoughts of justice for Nicole out of my head.
“It’s fair recompense when you consider it. You did steal my favorite pet, so it’s only right that you should replace him. And there are perks.” When he gestured, a chill rolled over me, not painful but … bizarre. Invasive.
“Absolutely not.” I tried to get up and found that my arms and legs didn’t belong to me.
“At my current strength, it’s the only way for me to protect you. If I let you go out into the world and cause trouble, it’ll be the end for you, dearling.”
“I don’t care,” I gritted out.
He went on as if I hadn’t spoken. “You may have already gathered that my former pet is a tad … strange, a by-product of such a long life. Humans don’t always take to it.”
That distracted me enough to do the math. Aaron was born in 1922. He was taken when he was six, in 1928. In that time, he’d only aged eight years or so, an average ratio of 1:11. Extrapolating a normal life span of seventy years … holy shit. I could live to be 770. If the Harbinger didn’t put me in a pit for a gladiator fight. Which he’d done to Aaron after only eighty-seven years, and that didn’t speak well for my chances at longevity.
“Not interested.”
“Then leave,” he invited.
I glared, as he knew well I couldn’t budge. He specialized in illusions but he apparently had some real power too. Or maybe he tricked my brain into thinking I was paralyzed? As soon as I registered the thought, I stood up.
The Harbinger seemed honestly startled. “You are quite remarkable.”
“Not really.”
“Most people panic and their emotions override their ability to reason. The fact that it occurred to you to question how I did it … extraordinary.”
“Stop complimenting me.” I scowled, fomenting the hate I’d felt just before I passed out, the pain of watching my father being taken, and unable to stop it.
“I say this in all candor, though you’ve no reason to trust me. If you come to me, Edie, I shall treasure you. In time you will forget the pain of your world and relish living in mine.” His tone was smooth, seductive, even.
On the pale wood of Rochelle’s tabletop, shadows danced in a delicate promenade, spinning in response to a faint gesture from his wrist. I could live in that world—with him. No more fighting, no more worries about my safety. Everything that caused me grief would fade away into endless revels and laughter. But I’d be pinned to the Harbinger, dependent on his good will. The refusal started as a knot at the heart of me and pushed outward until I could picture Kian’s face again, and my dad’s tortured confusion as he tried to get me to leave the lab. Though he had no idea what was going on, no clue how to fight, he never ran. Never left me.
Sorry, Dad.
“No deal,” I said.
“You were tempted.” There was a smile on his mouth but it didn’t reach the mad glitter of his eyes.
I ignored that. “I’m going, unless you plan to stop me.”
“He doesn’t,” Rochelle answered, stepping into the doorway. “I have some clothes that will fit … and a day pass for the subway. That should get you home.”
The Harbinger stood. I didn’t expect what happened next—when he lifted my chin and made me meet his dreadful, grieving eyes, as if something truly awful had just happened. The pleasure came on, excruciating and against my will. He made me conscious of the extreme heat of his fingertips against my skin as he drew a curved line from my jaw to my cheek; I squirmed, imagining more, when I didn’t really want that at all. Reluctant excitement warred with shame when I jerked away, breathing hard.
He smiled. “Stay out of the shadows, pretty one. They belong to me. And I don’t like being denied anything I want.”
It was tempting to ask why but intuition told me I needed to go. Now. While Rochelle was calming him and running interference. The room felt like lightning could strike at any moment, along with gale-force winds. I had no context for the depth of this rage. So I jerked away and ran to the bedroom, where track pants, slip-on shoes, and a sweatshirt awaited me. The clothes were a little big, but not bad. Searching around the room, I found the ticket she’d mentioned and ran for the door. From the
kitchen came a great boom, followed by raised voices and shattering glass.
“What freedom?” the Harbinger roared. “You’re sending her to her death.”
Despite the ominous prediction, I dashed out without looking back. The soreness ripened into actual pain when I tried to run down the stairs, echoes of the severe injuries from two days ago. Breathing hard hurt too so I slowed to a walk once I reached the sidewalk. As I spun in a slow circle, taking in identical brick buildings, nothing gave me any hint where I was, so I risked asking a stranger. Luckily, the old woman I stopped was friendly and in no hurry; she gave me detailed directions on how to get to the closest station.
Ten minutes later, I stepped from the platform onto the train that would take me home. If I had a phone, I’d call Kian to let him know I was safe, but Rochelle hadn’t given me any spare change either, assuming I could find a payphone. I hope she’s okay. The Harbinger seemed like he was about to go off the rails when I bolted. Wish I knew why.
As the train sped away from the station, I had the uneasy feeling that I’d added the trickster to my growing list of enemies, a mistake I might not live to regret.
THIS PIT OF DESPAIR NEEDS CARPETING
Once I left the subway, my steps turned automatically toward Kian’s apartment.
Mine was just an empty shell now, and my dad’s disappearance hit me all over again. The pain nearly made me topple over on the sidewalk; I caught myself on a brownstone, leaning heavily enough to draw looks from passersby. It was late morning and cold as hell, the wind chill biting through my sweatshirt. My ribs ached from the cold, as if I breathed too hard I could crack them all over again.
The phantom taste of copper clung to the back of my throat as I went up to Kian’s front door. It seemed wrong to disappear for two days and then just … knock, but I had no other options. I wasn’t prepared for how ravaged he looked when he flung open the door, staring with absolute incredulity. For a few seconds he was just frozen, staring, then he staggered against the door frame, his knees apparently giving way. I tried to hold him up but I couldn’t. My sides were still too tender to bear that much weight, so I went down too, and then he put his arms around me like I might be made of smoke and would dissipate with a touch.
“You’re real. Right?” Kian moved his hands over my back, testing for himself.
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you wait for me?” His voice broke as he leaned his forehead against mine, shaking too hard to stand.
“I couldn’t,” I whispered.
“Your dad…?”
Misery knotted my throat until I could barely answer. “They got him.”
“Is he—”
“I don’t know. If they wanted him dead, it would’ve been easier to do it there than kidnap him, wouldn’t it?” That gave me hope that whoever had taken him wanted to use his research or abilities in some fashion. If that was true, I might still save him.
“Do you have any idea how scared I was when I got to the lab and found it completely trashed and on fire? When I couldn’t find you anywhere…” Kian buried his face in the curve between my neck and shoulder, seeming on the verge of a complete breakdown.
I managed to knee-walk us into the apartment and shut the door, so we both collapsed against the other side of it, curled into each other until I couldn’t tell who was supporting whom. He touched me compulsively—my shoulders, my arms, my hair—and I cried like I couldn’t before. The questions had to wait until we both calmed down; he held me without asking and I wept until his trembling subsided. Then we stumbled into the living room, which looked like a tsunami had swept through. There were printouts everywhere, crumpled maps with red circles and purple Xs all over them, pillows and blankets on the floor.
“What happened?”
He threw me an incredulous look. “Are you serious? We’ve been searching every inch of this fucking city for you. The circled, Xed areas, we’ve already checked.”
“Who’s we?”
“Raoul, me, Aaron—who’s out looking for you right now—your friends Jen and Davina.”
“Seriously? You called them in on this?”
“What did you expect me to do, Edie? You’re lucky I didn’t lose my damn mind. Where the hell were you?”
I collapsed on the couch, wincing. There was no way he’d calm down before I filled him in, so I did—in the fewest words possible. His jaw got tighter as I spoke, until I suspected Kian was grinding his teeth, especially when I told him that the Harbinger asked me to come to him, whatever that meant. I was sure he hadn’t meant it in a romantic sense, unless you were the kind of person who enjoyed leashes and cages.
When I finished, he didn’t say much, just got on the phone to call Raoul, who was currently canvassing with my picture. Another few days and they’d probably have put me on a milk carton. He also texted Jen and Davina, then I borrowed his laptop to reassure Vi. She tended to worry if I didn’t answer her messages quickly. So I wrote:
Sorry, I lost my phone. Haven’t had a chance to replace it. Hope things are going better for you. Want to Skype tomorrow? I wasn’t in the mood but if I could keep from stressing her out too much, that would be best. Otherwise she’d steal her mom’s credit card, book a flight, and show up at my doorstep. Which would be all shades of a complication I didn’t need.
An hour later, Kian had brought me a backpack full of clean clothes and I was in the shower when the search party arrived. I checked my ribs in the foggy mirror, angling my body so I could see the deep, faded bruises wrapping around my torso. It was insane that I wasn’t in an induced coma with bleeding organs and a ruptured lung. A shivering breath escaped me as I remembered the enormous thing that carried my dad off. With near hysteria, I wondered what the university security cameras would make of that fracas, if the monster would show up on video, or if it would look like something else.
Maybe the equipment will just seem to be malfunctioning, like it’s been jammed.
When I came out of the spare bedroom, everyone was assembled in the living room. Which someone had tidied up a little. Davina ran over to me and hugged me gently; Jen was a little slower but she seemed legit glad to see me back. My gaze went to Raoul, wondering if he’d mentioned my lessons. He seemed to guess the question and shook his head slightly.
“Kian already filled us in,” Davina said. “That is some crazy shit.”
“I’m sorry to drag you into it.”
Jen shook her head. “We were worried and went to your house, where we ran into Kian, who was just sitting on your front steps. Once we realized you were missing, we had to help. I just wish we’d actually found you.”
“It was a catch-and-release detainment.” I didn’t feel like making light of my situation, but the alternative was to sit and cry.
“So sorry about your dad.” Davina put her hand on my shoulder.
Aaron was sitting at the kitchen table, just watching everyone with nervous, darting eyes. He was okay with Kian and me, but I guessed adding three new people to his circle freaked him out. I could relate as it hadn’t been long since I had nobody to talk to at all. And now, there were five people willing to go without sleep and wander the city asking random strangers about me. Hard not to be touched by that. Hell, Vi and Ryu would’ve helped too, bringing my friend-and/or-ally total to seven.
Maybe this situation isn’t hopeless after all.
“Thanks. But I haven’t given up, I have some ideas about how to track him down.”
Davina nudged me with a conspiratorial smile. “Mind showing me your belly button?”
“Heh.” I flashed it at her, loving the fact that we had an in-joke.
Once she explained the reasoning for it, everyone else did a quick shirt-flip so we could all be sure there were no immortals masquerading among us. Jen and Davina both stared a little too long at Kian’s golden six-pack, seeming unwilling to swap that for Raoul’s hairier belly. Aaron was very pale and thin, but he’d definitely been born to a human mother. I relaxed a little, tho
ugh the need to rescue my dad pulsed like a sore tooth.
“You can’t stay in that apartment on your own,” Raoul said quietly.
“Why not?” The protest was instinctive, but truthfully, I didn’t want to. Nor was I eager to crash on Kian’s couch. I wasn’t ready to flipping live with my boyfriend.
Kian sighed as if the answer should be obvious. “It’s too dangerous.”
My lips went flat against the urge to tell him I could probably kick his ass in stand-up fight, unless he had a secret black belt he never mentioned.
Raoul warned me with his eyes not to open that can of trouble today. Sighing, I said, “Then what do you propose?”
Jen said, “My room is huge. I’m sure you could stay with us. My mom’s very cool about stuff like that. If I tell her your father is traveling on the lecture circuit, she wouldn’t want you home alone.”
I hesitated. This time it wasn’t because I didn’t think that could work or that I was worried about her safety—she was already in pretty deep—but I recalled what Allison said. Basically even if Jen was human, I wasn’t fully sure where her allegiance lay. Who do you trust more, Jen or Allison? Who would definitely lie to cause trouble?
She saw my hesitation and her face fell. “If you don’t want to, it’s cool. We don’t know each other that well and all of that shit went down last year…”
“No, I was just considering logistics, wondering if your mom would impose a curfew or hinder my search for my dad. Will she want to talk to my dad?”
Jen’s widening eyes said she hadn’t considered any of that. “Shit. I don’t know.”
