Blood Before Sunrise (19 page)

Reaver pulled the Mercedes into the garage, and I followed, unsure of what I might find. Three additional cars offered plenty of cover, though I had a sneaking suspicion Reaver would be able to sense my presence if he happened to pay attention. Fortunately, his boyfriend kept him more than occupied. I crouched behind a Maserati while the pair paused near the hood of the car for some heavy petting. Good God, but I was getting some serious soft-core shows these days. Free porn, right here! Reaver paused long enough to make an open sweeping gesture with his hands, and I felt a vibration in the air.

Wards. Most supernaturals didn’t have much use for expensive alarm systems. Not when you could cast impenetrable magical protection on your property. This posed a problem. As my incorporeal self, I could easily slide in and out of anywhere with ease. But I’d never tried to infiltrate a magic barrier. The first kink in what was beginning to feel like a much-knotted plan.

Fallon was out of his mind if he thought this was a
fair and equitable
trade. But occupied or not, I didn’t feel like traipsing around Reaver’s house while he and his boyfriend got busy in the next room—or in the same room. So, I waited for the two of them to enter the house before I slid soundlessly through the garage door, out of sight.

Dawn was fast approaching when I reached my studio. Gray skies smeared with light blues, oranges, and pinks welcomed the sun in the eastern sky. Ty sat in the living room with Dimitri, playing poker. Nothing like a game of Texas hold ’em to cure what ails ya.

“Having fun?” I tried to ignore the fact that Tyler looked worse.

“Sure,” Ty said a little too sarcastically for my taste. “I’ve made a haul. How was
your
night?”

The question was flavored with accusation, and I averted my gaze. I should have been turning the city upside
down looking for whoever was making Tyler sick, not playing thief for Fallon. “Oh, you know, boring for the most part.” At least that wasn’t a lie. Watching Reaver hadn’t exactly been action packed. “How are you feeling?”

“Great.” Sarcasm aside, he tried to put up a nonchalant front. “Well, Dimitri, I guess we’re done here.” Ty stretched and folded his hand. “You can try and win it back from me some other time.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Dimitri said, clapping Ty on the shoulder. “Good morning, Darian.” He nodded and made his way to the door.

Tyler settled on the couch and held his arms out for me. Smiling, I sank down next to him, sighing at the pure bliss of relaxing in his embrace. God, if we got out of this with my sanity intact, I swore we were going to take a long and much-deserved vacation.

“You’ve been gone awhile,” Ty whispered into my hair. “I missed you. I was about to go out looking for you, but since you decided I needed a
babysitter
, I had no choice but to sit here and take Dimitri’s money.”

I balled my hands into fists, my fingers slick and clammy with the evidence of my mounting guilt complex. He was
so
onto me. “I missed you too.” His lips brushed my temple, and then my ear. “How are you really feeling?” Shivers followed the path of his mouth.

“Tired,” he said, “but not too bad. Really. It’s just exhausting to put up such a strong shield. I’m getting better at identifying the assaults when they happen, though.”

“Ty, are you sure this”—I racked my brain for the right words—“magical attack is aimed at me? I mean, how can you tell?”

“I can tell. I told you, the bond flows through you into me. Since I can feel you, I know where the attack is coming from.”

Jesus Christ, the whole “bond” thing confused the hell out of me. “Maybe someone’s using me to get to
you
?”

Tyler shifted and sat up a little straighter. “It’s possible, I suppose. But I doubt it. Something to look into
anyway. All I know is that whatever this is, it triggers all of my protective instincts to the point that it’s all I can think about. Anyone who’s close to you is suddenly a potential threat. When I find out who’s responsible for it—the bastard is as good as dead.”

Amen. And I was going to be the one to do the deed. I chewed my bottom lip, knowing what I needed to speed this business with Fallon along, and yet knowing I shouldn’t venture down this path. Weakened, Ty could barely keep himself upright; I didn’t want to add to that by drawing further on his powers. I opened my mouth, ready to speak the words—no warning, just wish. And then I came to my senses. The wards on Reaver’s house would surely protect its contents as well. There was no point expending Ty’s precious energy on a wish impossible to grant. I’d have to get Fallon’s hourglass the old-fashioned way.

“What are you thinking about?” Tyler asked.

The age-old question. I would have thought it cliché from anyone but Ty. “I’m thinking about time. How it seems to slip through my fingers. I wish I could slow it down.”

“Why?” Tyler said, softly. “You have all the time in the world.”

“Maybe.” Maybe not. Warmth pulsed from my pocket, spreading outward, the emerald’s call. What if I was sucked into that strange place again and couldn’t get out? What if one of those damned girls kept me there for an hour—or a year or ten years? How much time would pass in the real world; how many decades, centuries? I could lose Tyler. He’d forget all about me while I ran around after a trio of raven-haired beauties, unable to find my way home.

“I think I’d like to live on a deserted island.” I slid my hand under Tyler’s shirt so I could caress the ridges of his muscled stomach. “Just you and me and coconuts.”

“Coconuts,” Ty laughed. “You think we could live on that?”

“I could, if I had you.” I meant it too. I’d eat coconuts boiled, baked, shredded, and fried every day for the next
five thousand years if Tyler was there with me, safe and sound. “Couldn’t you?”

“I don’t know,” he mused. “Just you and coconuts? I think I’d need a steak every once in a while.”

“Thanks.” I pulled away and gave him a playful swat.

“I could do it.” Tyler kissed me and pulled me close. “Coconut stew every day. And you.”

As the sun rose, we sat entwined on the couch, devising the many ways we’d eat our imaginary coconuts. If only life could be that simple. But I knew better.

“There’s no fucking way.” I paced around my bathroom, my voice muted. Tyler and I had spent eighteen blissful hours in my apartment, and I dreaded what I knew had to be done once Reaver left his house for the night. “The place is locked down with wards. I can’t get past them.”

“What about your Jinn?”

If Fallon mentioned Tyler one more time, I was going to gut him. I strangled my cell phone in both hands, as if it would make me feel better, before bringing it back to my ear. “This isn’t a fair trade. I can’t use Tyler. He’s…sick.” There I went again, divulging information he
did not
need. “You’ll just have to find another way to get your piece of junk. I can’t do it.”

“Relax.” Fallon’s power seemed to snake right through the phone. “We won’t need your boyfriend. The wards aren’t aimed at you. You’ll be able to get past them without incident.”

Alarms bells blared in my head. “How would you know that?”

“That’s none of your business. But I can say in all confidence, you are only one of three people who would be able to pass the wards unharmed.”

“I won’t do this if you don’t tell me how you know that.”

Fallon laughed. I closed my eyes, the sound so sinister, it made my limbs quake. “No. You know the terms of our agreement. You bring me the glass; I deliver the Oracle.”

I stomped my foot like a three-year-old and kicked at
an abandoned shoe, sending it sailing into the shower. Tyler’s footsteps approached, and he knocked on the door. “Everything okay?”

“Fine!” I called. “I just—ah—tripped on the toilet!”
Oh nice, Darian. You couldn’t think of anything better than that? Idiot.
“I’ll be out in a sec.”

His footsteps retreated, and I waited until I could hear him moving around in the living room once again. “I’ll have it to you tomorrow night,” I seethed into the phone. “And if you even think about double-crossing me, I’ll cut you open from stomach to sternum. You got that?”

“Tomorrow night then,” Fallon said, and hung up.

I walked into the living room, favoring my right foot. Don’t ask me why; it wasn’t as if any damage I would’ve sustained in even a lethal toe-stubbing wouldn’t have healed instantly. But I was so wrapped up in keeping Tyler out of my dealings with Fallon that I put my thespian skills to work and went the extra mile.

“Were you talking to someone?” Ty asked as I rifled through the refrigerator. I stiffened and leaned forward, wishing like hell I could disappear in it. “I thought I heard voices.”

“Just talking to myself.” I grabbed a soda and popped the tab. “I swore a bit when I stubbed my toe. Hurt like hell.” I hated lying to him. And worse, I hated that the lies seemed to tumble from my lips with such ease. Was this what happened when you were trying to protect someone? Even the most unimaginable things became acceptable? Hell, I was about to commit larceny to help someone I cared for. What was a lie or two in the name of love?

“I might have a lead on who’s messing with our bond,” Ty said over his shoulder. “I was thinking about going to check it out tonight, see what I can find out. So I won’t be around; is that all right?”

It was more than all right. Again it seemed Fate was clearing a path for me, making the tasks at hand easier to accomplish. No babysitter for Ty. No answering to
Raif. No Dimitri. And no wards for me to worry about. A cakewalk. “Of course I want you to go.” Anything that would help Tyler was worth exploring. “If you get any useful information, call me.”

“You’ll be the first to know,” Ty said, heading for the door. “Promise to stay out of trouble while I’m gone?”

I drew a cross over my heart. “I promise.”
To try,
I added silently.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t go anywhere.”

Didn’t give me much time for a B&E, but I could make it work. It was almost midnight, and with any luck, Reaver would be gearing up for another night on the town, and if Fallon’s information proved correct, I could slip in and out with one half of a broken hourglass, and payment for a charm-free Delilah. “I’ll be here when you get back,” I said.

“I’m serious,” Ty said. “Stay here.”

I beamed in his direction, hoping my smile was the reassurance he needed.

I swallowed down the bitter taste of deceit as Ty walked out the door. Damn, I was getting good at this whole deception thing.

Too good.

Chapter 17

“H
ave you ever wondered why an assassin’s life is so lonely?” Azriel asked.

“It’s not. Not for us anyway. We have each other.”

Azriel traced a pattern between my bare shoulder blades, curling down my spine before stopping at the small of my back. His lips followed suit, bringing delicious chills to the surface of my skin. I buried my face in the pillow, smiling as his tongue teased the area his lips had just been. “True, my love. True.”

He seemed worried, which was out of character for his usually cavalier attitude. Lorik’s father, Vasily Egorov, had finally met his end. And from what Azriel had told me, it hadn’t been a peaceful one. We hadn’t received any postcards for a couple of months, so it stood to reason that Lorik was no longer around to ascend to his father’s seat of power within the mob. I’d never understood why Az cared. And as for work, we’d land on our feet. We always did. Plus we had enough cash and valuables to keep us afloat and living comfortably for a good, long time.

“You’re so very special,” Azriel said as his lips found my shoulder. “But if anyone should find out about you, not even an entire Shaede Kingdom could keep you safe. It’s for the best that Vasily is gone. Lorik as well. Fear not, my love. I’ll protect you until the time is right for your presence to be known.”

I let him speak his nonsense. He had a tendency to talk in circles. I rolled onto my back, and his mouth caressed mine, his tongue sliding warm and welcome through my parted lips.
Let the world rot,
I thought as his hand cupped my breast.
Vasily and Lorik too.
As long as I had Azriel, I didn’t need anyone else
.

My mind swirled with innumerable thoughts and memories, clouding my focus. Azriel had known all along that once my existence became public knowledge, a shit storm was soon to follow—understatement of the century. Rather than slow down, my world spiraled out of control, rotation upon rotation, problem upon problem. And as I made my way to Reaver’s empty house, I laid out my troubles like strands of thread, each representing a singular nuisance in the braided bullshit of my life.

The Man from The Ring, the raven-haired Shaedes, and the pendulum became a single strand. And next to that lay Delilah, Raif, Brakae—and unfortunately—Fallon as well. The third strand represented Tyler, his strange behavior, the attempts on his life, and an unknown threat—aimed at driving him out of his mind. Somehow, they all came together, weaving in and out, constructing a solid length of rope. But who or what wove them together was lost on me.

Reaver’s house, only a few blocks from Volunteer Park, might well have been considered a mansion by someone who’d never seen Xander’s impressive estate. The residences had one thing in common, though: They both favored old-world elegance. Perhaps it connected the owners to their pasts, to eras they couldn’t reclaim. The Victorian beauty of Reaver’s three-story home struck me as almost too elegant for someone who came off as menacing with the potential for great violence.

After checking the garage to make sure that Reaver had, in fact, gone out for the evening, I hovered near the front door, pacing along the tiled covered porch, sensing the powerful wards designed to protect his property. My body hummed with energy, like an itch just under the skin that I couldn’t scratch. The pendulum in my pocket responded as well, heat pulsing from the emerald warming my thigh. I should have dropped the damned thing in the middle of Puget Sound, but for the life of me, I
couldn’t bring myself to part from it since the falcon had returned it to me.