Kissed by Smoke (15 page)

“You’ve seen my amulet before?” That was a
new one.

This time his smile was genuine, full of
fondness and memory. “Yes. I saw it shortly after it was made.
Before the Binding.” His smile faded.

I sensed pain behind his words. Betrayal.
Something that had happened back then still caused him pain now.
Though I wondered at it, I knew better than to ask. He wouldn’t
talk, and it probably wasn’t important.

“All right,” I took a different tack, “why
would another djinni take on your form to kill someone?”

“I have no idea,” he admitted. “My best
guess is the Queen is up to something, and wants to frame me.”

“Why on earth would she do that?” In my
experience the Queen of the Fairies wasn’t much interested in
anyone but herself and her queendom. And, oh yeah, me.

“I suppose that would best be answered by
knowing what she had to gain by the death of this Vega.”

He had a point. But there was something else
niggling at my brain. “That’s true. But it might also be answered
by knowing what she has to gain by
your
death.”

A look of pure bafflement crossed his face.
“I don’t understand. The Fairy Queen has no sway here. I never
leave my land and no one can come unless I bid them. I would
certainly not bid one of the sidhe. And my own people cannot hurt
me. It’s part of the Binding.”

The nasty little thought niggled harder.
“I’m here.”

Inigo and the Marid both stared at me.
Finally the Marid spoke. “I don’t understand.”

I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward in my
chair. “I am here. On your land. You couldn’t stop me.”

“I admit, you have … interesting abilities.
You seem partially immune to our defences. Yet, I am in no
danger.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“Excuse me?” The look of surprise on his
face was absolutely priceless.

“You see,” I said, “if I were to find out
you had anything to do with Agent Vega’s murder, there isn’t a
power on earth that would stop me from ripping your heart out of
your chest.”

I stood up and walked slowly to the desk.
Then I leaned over right into the Marid’s face. “You know I can do
it, don’t you?” His expression told me I was right. I smiled.
“Lucky for you, I believe you’re being framed.” I waited a beat.
“So, maybe you should ask yourself: Why does the Fairy Queen want
you dead?”

“Great way to win friends and influence
people, love.” Inigo’s eyes twinkled just enough to tell me he was
joking.

I rewarded him with a scowl. “Well, can I
help it if he looked like the murderer? Besides, I want him to know
I’m serious. Somebody obviously wants him dead, and I think it has
something to do with this Binding he keeps going on about.” It was
a stretch, but it was the only thing that made sense.

I’d double-checked with Zip before we left
the djinn land, and she’d confirmed the Marid hadn’t left their
borders in over ten thousand years. How he didn’t go completely
Loony Tunes I didn’t know. But the point was that it was highly
unlikely that the vendetta against him had been created since then.
It had to be about something that happened
before
the djinn arrived in
America. Or pre-America.

Though how on earth I was going to find out
about that something was beyond me. The Marid wasn’t talking, and
my options for ten-thousand-year-old gossip were pretty
limited.

“I think we need to consult Eddie’s book.
Maybe have a talk with Jack.”

Inigo frowned at the mention of Jack’s name.
“You sure?”

It wasn’t like Inigo to be jealous.
Protective, maybe, in his own way, but not jealous. “He’s my
Guardian, remember? And he’s connected to this whole Atlantis thing
just like I am. I need to know what he knows.” If he knew
anything.

“It’s just that you get so… upset when you
talk to him.”

I almost laughed at that. Inigo’s
oh-so-polite way of saying I got bitchy. He wasn’t wrong. Jack
always managed to get on my last nerve. I would rather not examine
why that was. Jack had made his decision. I was in love with Inigo
and that was the end of it.

Of course it was.

Once we made it back to the car and onto the
highway, I pulled out my cell and dialed Trevor’s number. He
answered on the second ring.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Trev. How are you feeling?”

A short bark of laughter. “Like I got the
shit beat out of me.”

“I don’t doubt it. When are they letting you
out? Do you need a ride?”

“Naw. I’ve got my rental.”

Men. I swear to the gods they can be so
thick-headed. “You just had the shit beat out of you, and you think
you should be driving?”

“Stop worrying, Morgan. I’m fine. A little
sore, but nothing that will affect my driving. Now, what did you
find out?”

“Not much. I think we found more questions
than answers.” I told him about our visit with Tommy Waheneka,
followed by our trip to djinn lands.

“So what does this vendetta against the
Marid have to do with Vega?”

“No idea,” I admitted. “But I mean to find
out. Listen, we’re headed back to Portland to do a little research.
You staying here?”

“Yeah,” his voice held a note of
determination. “I’m not leaving until I know the truth.”

“Okay, I’ll keep you posted. Let you know
what I find.”

If I found anything besides more
questions.

***

“You going to have a talk with your mom?”
Inigo glanced at me from the driver’s seat.

“Not yet. But I will.” Our visit with Tommy
had brought up a lot of questions. I wondered more and more just
what my mother knew.

She’d always insisted my dad had died when I
was a baby. I’d believed her. Until I met Trevor. And now Tommy’s
mention of her having known Alister Jones. It was all just a little
too crazy. She had to know something.

I just wasn’t sure I was ready to face
her.

“First, let’s have a chat with Jack. Then
we’ll pay Eddie a visit.”

I had no doubt things between the two men
would be awkward. I even thought about asking Inigo to wait in the
car, but that would have been even worse. In the end I kept my
mouth shut and decided to grin and bear it.

Jack was just wrapping up a piano lesson as
we arrived. I still couldn’t get over the fact he taught little
kids to play piano. It was just so … weird.

He let us into the house with some
reluctance and we made ourselves at home on his couch. I tried
really hard not to think about what had happened the last time I
sat on that couch. Inigo really didn’t need to know about that.

Jack lounged in the chair opposite, his long
fingers steepled together. He didn’t speak, but irritation was
written in every line of his body.

Inigo slung an arm around the couch back
behind me. A surprisingly possessive display that made me want to
smack him. And not in a good way. What were they going to do? Pull
out their penises and measure?

I cleared my throat. It was all so awkward.
I hated awkward. “Jack, what do you know about the djinn?”

He gave me a puzzled look. “The creatures
from the Middle East? I haven’t seen one of those since the
Crusades.”

“No, I mean do you know anything about their
involvement with Atlantis?”

Jack crossed one leg casually over the
other, but I could feel the tension simmering beneath the surface.
My Darkness could feel it too. It raised its head with a snarl, but
I shushed it.

“As far as I know, they never had any
involvement with Atlantis.” His voice was cool, calm, emotionless.
His gorgeous ocean colored eyes, flat. I couldn’t tell if he was
hiding the truth of the djinn, or if he was just hiding from
me.

“We spoke to a Marid.” I nodded to Inigo.
“Out in the high desert. He claims to have been bound by the last
High Priest, but he can’t tell us why. You’re telling me when you
were hooked up to this thing,” I flashed the amulet, “it never
showed you the djinn?”

“No.”

I wanted to growl in frustration. Why was he
being such an ass? “Okay. How about logic?”

Jack’s eyebrow went up. “Excuse me?”

I could feel Inigo beside me trying
desperately to suppress his laughter. I shot him a glare. “You know
more about ancient Atlantis than I do.” Hell, he’d lived with the
dreams of the place for nine hundred years. “Surely, there is some
logical explanation as to why the High Priest of Atlantis would not
only have had a connection to the Marid, but would have bound him
and his people.”

Jack was silent for a moment, a thoughtful
expression on his face. “The Atlanteans had dealings with many
species for many different reasons. They only had real, intimate
relationships with humans, but they sometimes traded goods or
exchanged knowledge with other peoples.”

I could have guessed that for myself. “But
you don’t know why they would be involved with the djinn
specifically?”

“No.”

His monosyllabic answers were giving me the
fits. “Okay, fine. What about the Binding? Why would the priest
have bound the Marid?”

“No idea,” Jack shrugged. “I would have said
the priest wanted something from him, but since the Binding
obviously survived the priest’s death, it must be more than that. A
task, perhaps, which he wanted carried out.”

Or something he wanted the Marid to protect.
The thought flashed through my mind. Holy shit, that was it. I had
no idea what the Marid was protecting or why, but it made perfect,
beautiful sense.

“Right, thanks for your help.” I stood up
quickly, trying to keep the reek of sarcasm out of my voice with
little success.

Jack’s expression softened for a fraction of
a moment before his face returned to its usual, stoic expression.
“Any time.”

Yeah. Right.

Inigo politely shook Jack’s hand. Points to
him for being the bigger man. Double points for not giving me the
third degree when we got in the car.

This time I drove. I needed the release that
control gave me. So, I cracked the window and cranked the tunes.
The freezing February slapped me in the face and the blast of ‘80s
rock music assaulted my ears. I felt better already.

Inigo just leaned back in his seat and
enjoyed the ride without a word. Smart man.

Eddie was still at his shop when we arrived.
He glanced up at the jangle of the bell over the door, his cherubic
face creasing in a huge smile. “Morgan! Inigo! Come in, come in. I
was just ready to lock up. Flip the sign. We’ll have tea.” He
glanced at me. “Or coffee.

I laughed and flipped the “Closed” sign
across the door before sliding the bolt home. Eddie knew me far too
well.

While Inigo and I made ourselves at home
around the big check-out counter, Eddie bustled around making
drinks and piling cookies on a plate. He even had real cream for my
coffee. Sometimes I could just kiss that man.

“Now,” he settled onto his stool at the
counter and took a sip of his herbal tea, “to what do I owe the
pleasure?”

“We need your help.” I took a sip of my own
drink, nearly scalding my tongue in the process. Strong and hot,
creamy and sweet, just how I liked it.

He twinkled at me. “Now there’s a surprise.
Could you be a little more specific?”

“Yeah.” I gazed at him over the top of my
mug. “We’ve got a djinn problem.”

Eddie sputtered a little. Mostly with
laughter. “A djinn problem? Now that’s a new one.”

“You’re telling me.” I flashed a grin. “But
it’s a doozy.”

Inigo and I gave him a quick run-down while
we munched on chocolate chip cookies. They were homemade. And had
nuts. Excellent.

Eddie gazed thoughtfully into his teacup.
“Well, now. That’s a new one. A Marid bound by an Atlantean
priest.”

“And not just any Atlantean priest,” I
pointed out. “The last High Priest.”

“Not just any Binding, either. The thing’s
lasted ten millennia,” Inigo reminded us.

“What really gets me is that someone had to
bind another djinni to kill Vega. Not only that, he must have
forced the djinni to take on the Marid’s form. There aren’t many
creatures with enough magic to bind the djinn.” In fact, as Tommy
Waheneka had pointed out to us, there was only one. The Fairy
Queen.

“Well,” Eddie pushed back from the counter,
“I’d say it’s time for the book.”

I’d been expecting it. Eddie and his creepy,
sentient book. I could only hope it would cooperate. It sort of had
a mind of its own.

There was the usual flurry of pages before
the book stopped its flipping. The page it landed on was decorated
along the edges in swirls of blue and silver. In the middle of the
left page was a detailed painting of two men. I recognized both.
One was the Marid. The other, the last High Priest of Atlantis.

On the right scrawled a flourish of words in
black ink. I couldn’t even begin to read it. “Is that English?” It
sure didn’t look like it.

“Norman French, actually,” Inigo said,
peering at the page.

“That’s odd.” Eddie adjusted his glasses and
leaned closer to the page. “I wonder why Norman French? Why not Old
English? Or maybe Sanskrit? Or better yet, ancient Atlantean?”

“Can you read it?” I supposed another bonus
of having a 400 year old boyfriend was his ability to read really
old languages.

“Yeah, though it’s been awhile. Let’s see.”
He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose while he and
Eddie stared at the page. “It tells of the Binding.”

“Yeah?” My patience was wearing thin.

“There’s not much here. The Marid and the
High Priest of Atlantis were friends for many years. Shortly before
the destruction of the city, the High Priest betrayed the Marid and
his people by Binding them.” Inigo glanced up from the book.
“That’s it.”

“That’s it?” My voice was practically a
screech. So not attractive.