Darkest Misery (3 page)

Now the street seemed to erupt in chatter. People were yelling, and preds poured onto the sidewalk to see what was going on. I launched myself at the cab, pushing the stunned lust addict out of the way.

Fortunately, the cabbie was human, which meant he didn't want to be in his neighborhood either. “Drive. Please. Quickly.”

He took in the chaos with wide eyes and did just that.

Chapter Four

The Phoenix Gryphon Office was just as quick and efficient in an emergency as the Boston Office. Within an hour of me stumbling through the doors and yelling for help, a team was on the move.

Like Boston, they had a more-than-passing knowledge of their local pred neighborhood. Between my description of the building, the little of the restaurant's name I'd seen, and the fact that it was connected with the furies, they figured out where I'd been held.

I was reunited with Tom almost immediately once I arrived too. He'd sustained a nasty hit on the head, one that was currently bandaged, and he had a thick scab on his lip. In order to begin a search for us, however, he'd waved off medical treatment when the EMTs had shown up at the accident scene.

A quick scan from a Gryphon healer told me the attackers had used fire-scorpion venom on me. The local magical fauna produced a toxin that caused temporary paralysis, but it left no lasting harmful effects. Nonetheless, the Gryphon agent who was leading the rescue team wanted both Tom and me to stay behind, seeing as neither of us was in the best shape.

Like that was happening. Some water and a pain-relief charm later, and I was ready to get the assholes who'd abducted me. No reason for me to sit on my butt while others had all the fun. To his credit, Tom felt the same way despite his own injuries. Of course, finding and protecting Mitch was his responsibility, so that wasn't surprising.

“You sure you're ready for this?” Tom asked as the SUV swerved to the curb.

“I'm fine.” I tapped my fingers against Misery's hilt impatiently. I'd been reunited with my belongings at Gryphon Headquarters. Thank dragons someone had found my phone, which I'd dropped in the crash, and my knife had been in my duffel. I'd have sorely missed both if they'd been taken along with me, particularly after I'd been so excited that Tom had gotten me some kind of special clearance so I could carry Misery on the plane with me.

Although I wanted to be on the scene and was eager to charge ahead, I held back like instructed while Phoenix Gryphons swarmed the place. I had no training for this sort of mission, and I didn't want to do anything that could endanger Mitch.

In the end, that turned out not to be a concern. I jogged into the restaurant after Tom, listening to the Gryphons yell “All clear.” The place was empty. No addicts. No furies. No Mitch.

I pounded the door to the room where I'd been locked up not even two hours ago. “Damn it. I told Mitch I'd come back for him.”

I hit the door again because I could feel frustration pressing against my skull, the result of a hundred insecurities. Was I wrong to have left him? Should I have tried to take him with me somehow? And why? That question plagued me most of all, and it was soon followed by another question that turned my stomach—who had told the fury addicts about what we were doing?

I held all the questions in while the Gryphons searched the restaurant for clues. Then I held them in longer while a Gryphon agent gathered all the information I could share, including a description of the addicts.

While I waited for Tom to get off the phone, I paced incessantly, and my thoughts wandered to Lucen and what he was doing tonight. A hollowness opened in my chest, and out of it poured sadness and longing. I missed him, and more. I craved his company. How dumb was that? I'd been gone for what—twelve hours? Eighteen? Surely I could live without him for that long.

But my hands trembled, and when I closed my eyes, when my memory played back the spinning car and the rush of fear when the addicts grabbed me, it was an entirely different sort of terror that chilled my veins. The thought of never seeing him again, or touching him, or hearing him call me “little siren”. I couldn't lose that.

Damn. I wanted to go home. I wanted to crawl into his bed and pretend I was safe because his muscular arms were locked around me. Yet even if I were in his bed right now, I knew better. Safety was an illusion. Whatever happened to me and Mitch was proof. I couldn't know for certain if our abduction was related to the prophecy, but it was too big a coincidence to assume it wasn't.

Pain-relief charm or not, if I kept up with this line of thought, I'd have a headache soon.

Speaking of headaches, on cue, Tom finished his call. “The car that hit us had been reported stolen about an hour before the accident, and none of the people who witnessed the accident were able to get a plate number on the van that grabbed you.”

“Fabulous.”

“It could be worse. Knowing they took you to that restaurant should help narrow things down considerably. The Phoenix Office is going to coordinate with the local PD in the search. They'll find Johnson.”

I finally quit pacing and plopped into a chair across from Tom. “I shouldn't have left him.”

“You did the right thing, Jessica. You got an opening and you took it, and now we have a better chance of finding Johnson.”

“Do we?” I rested my head in my hands, my unasked questions seeming to slither around in my gut like worms.

“We do.” Tom pressed his lips firmly together as he assessed me. “What are you thinking?”

I asked the less problematic of my questions first. “Why? The Boston furies have been interested in keeping me alive for some reason. They have had plenty of opportunities to grab me there. I don't understand why they tried it now. Here.”

“Perhaps they're trying to discover if Johnson shares your abilities.” Tom sounded like he was guessing. “Perhaps they've always intended to grab you and were waiting for a convenient time.”

“A very convenient time.” I sat up straighter, finally getting to the question that was bothering me the most. “How did they know? This was supposed to be kept quiet. So how did furies on the other side of the country know to set up a kidnapping? Or that they could grab both me and Mitch?”

Tom rubbed his chin, his eyes wide and annoyingly innocent. “It's a good question.”

“It's a damn good question. How many people knew what we were planning?”

“A handful of us in the Brotherhood are working on this mission. Unless you told people.”

I crossed my arms. The only person I'd told where I was going and why was Lucen, and he would never betray me to the furies. “No, this wasn't leaked on my end. This was a Gryphon. One of your people.”

“Not possible.”

“Not even as an accident? Somebody let something slip?”

Tom's expression was as disdainful as his tone was curt. “We do not let classified information slip. I'll look into it when we get back to Boston.” He stood to make it clear this discussion was over.

Feeling defensive, were we? I didn't sense any deception from him, which didn't mean much, but I didn't suspect Tom would have let the information slip deliberately or otherwise. From everything I'd learned about him, he was the perfect Gryphon warrior—dedicated, competent and a true believer. But those traits would also blind him to the possibility that one of his own could have betrayed us.

My jaw clenched with thoughts of the future. If the furies hadn't found out via an accidental slip, then we had a big problem. And if Tom wasn't willing to consider that the Brotherhood might have a mole, then it was going to be up to me to find out the truth. As today had proven, it was my ass on the line.

Mine and Mitch's.

“So now what?” I said, giving up the argument for the time being.

“Now we get on a flight back to Boston.”

“What about Chicago?”

Tom stretched. “I'm not taking chances and waiting another day to reach our last recruit. I notified the Chicago office while you were giving your official statement, and Ms. Park is being taken into protective custody as we speak. Once they have her, she'll be escorted to Boston.”

It made sense, but I couldn't see it going over well. “I hope she takes Gryphons at her door better than Mitch did.”

“It doesn't matter. If this is related to the prophecy, then there's no room for niceties or arguments. We're at war.”

“No, you're not zealous at all.”

“You might want to take this more seriously, Jessica.”

I jumped up and just managed to keep my voice low. “Take this seriously? How much more serious do you expect me to take things? I am the one in Olef's damn visions, and it's my friends who have already suffered for whatever twisted end-of-the-world mumbo-jumbo you and yours are going on about. I do not want a single other person to become a victim, but I don't have any idea what you actually expect me to do, and you don't have very many details on what needs to be done. Plus, now I have to worry that you have a leak in your super-secret organization. So forgive me if—given how many unknowns we're dealing with—I'm not taking all this nothingness seriously enough.”

I stood practically nose to nose with Tom in my effort to vent. All I needed to do was reach out one finger, poke him in the chest, and he'd probably fall over. His entire posture was so rigid it was amazing the force of my breath alone couldn't knock him down.

Tom stared at me for another moment. Then he placed a surprisingly gentle hand on my arm. “We do not have a leak, but I will look into what happened later. Meantime, you need to calm down. We're both shaken up from everything. It's normal.”

Right. Normal. I took a deep breath and nodded.

Tom's penetrating blue eyes fixed on my face for a few more seconds while I attempted to project calm, then he let go of me. “Good. So let's figure out what we have to do to get out of here so you can go home and rest.”

I swallowed, trying to shake off my fear of the future. “What about home for you?”

“Until I get word from my superiors that we're moving this operation back to World, Boston is my new home.”

“Sorry about that.”

He shrugged. “It's part of the job, and this is the job I wanted.”

Dully, I clomped along the brightly lit corridor with him, wishing I could say the same. But all I could think was that I didn't sign up for this shit.

Chapter Five

I must have been more exhausted than I thought because I somehow managed to drift off to sleep on the flight to Boston. I woke as the plane began its descent and early-morning sunshine pierced the window and fell on my lap.

Mornings. Ugh. My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. My eyes were like raw wounds. Before we left the airport, I bought an enormous coffee, but my head throbbed by the time we reached Gryphon Headquarters downtown.

Tom had been on the phone since the moment we landed, and he clearly had plans. Whatever sort of energy pills or charms he was taking, he was being completely unfair by hogging them all.

“Anything you intend to make me do,” I started as we entered the building's lobby, “I don't see why it can't wait until—”

“Jess!”

My heart barely had time to skip with relief. Lucen must have been waiting right by the doors. His arms enveloped me in a hug that crushed my face against his hard chest.

Oh, yes. I breathed deeply and filled my lungs with the scent of his clean cotton shirt, the heady leather from his jacket and the luscious cinnamon of his skin. Lucen's distinctive pheromone smell was like a drug. The tension drained from my muscles, and my nerves sizzled with his body heat. I didn't need sleep. I needed him. Now. So what if it was false comfort? I wanted to feel the safety of his body on mine.

I also wanted to forget I was in the middle of Gryphon Headquarters, getting hot and wet while pressed against a satyr. The so-called enemy. Fuck my life. There was no way Tom or any other Gryphons watching were going to forget this happy reunion for one second. The ruse I'd maintained—the distance I supposedly kept from the satyrs—was now worth salamander spit.

Cheeks flaming, I pulled away from Lucen, begging my brain to find a way to salvage this uncomfortable moment.

If such a way existed, however, it didn't matter because Lucen didn't let me go.

“Um, you're crushing me?” I whispered into his neck.

His blue-green eyes contained none of the mischievous humor that had originally drawn me to him. They were hard as stones. “Better me than a car or a fury addict.”

“But the end result might be the same. Flattened Jess. Not pretty.” My body betrayed me to him though. I'd dropped my bag and put my hands on his waist to push him away, but my fingers curled around his shirt. They wanted to tear it off, expose more of the skin that drove me wild, and Lucen definitely knew it. I swallowed. “I have a job here. Need to be professional.”

“I hate your job.” He practically growled the words, and yeah, no kidding. It was the wrong argument to use on him.

Still, he loosened his grip enough that I could finally turn around and discover that yes, in fact, most of the lobby was staring at us. My only saving grace was the early hour. It was mostly empty, and none of the inhabitants, besides Tom, were Gryphons. My witnesses were only the security guards and a couple people in business suits going through the metal detectors.

Tom's face revealed nothing, but I could sense his surprise. “Jessica, you seem to have neglected to mention just how close you are to the satyrs.”

I winced. I was going to kill Lucen, who had to have realized what coming here would mean. Well, maybe sleep with him first, then kill him. At least maim him a touch. If I were truly mean, I'd withhold sex, but we both knew I'd be the one to cave first, so that was out.

I realized Tom was waiting for a response, and I had to stop thinking about tying Lucen to his bed and doing unspeakable things to punish him. “Uh, this isn't what it looks like?”

Lucen's muscles twitched behind me. He must have repressed a laugh. “Actually this is exactly what it looks like. Jess is one of us. You can put your uniform on her and call her a consultant, but she will always be one of us because you made her one of us.”

Tom didn't flinch. “It's Lucen, correct? We made Jessica into a warrior capable of fighting your kind. What she is is a human with enhanced magical abilities, but that's a discussion of magical properties I'd rather have with one of your own who's an expert in the topic. Not a bartender.”

This time Lucen did laugh. “I don't think there's anything you could contribute to the discussion, Agent Kassin, that I couldn't handle. Although I'm not sure the reverse is true. But that's beside the point. I'm here to take Jess home before you can do anything else to almost get her killed.”

I should have known when I'd told Lucen what happened that this would be his reaction. I simply hadn't expected him to show up at Gryphon Headquarters so early in the morning when all good little preds were tucked in bed.

Exerting a bit more force, I extricated myself from his tight grip. “If it's all the same,” I said to Tom, “I was about to ask if my next move could be delayed for a few hours while I got some sleep.”

Around us, the lobby was slowly starting to return to normal, though the non-Gryphon guards who monitored the security checkpoints continued to watch us with uneasy expressions. Tom glanced over his shoulder toward the elevators. On the flight, he'd sprouted dark circles under his eyes. If I were him, I'd be thinking about my own bed.

But I wasn't. Because Tom was dedicated, and I apparently wasn't taking things seriously enough.

“You should continue your training today,” he said. Then, with a pointed look at Lucen, he added, “And we need to discuss getting you a security detail.”

“What?” I demanded.

“Given what happened to you and Johnson, we can't be too careful. I know you'll refuse protective custody, and I don't think it's a good idea for you anyway, but a couple Gryphons to serve as guards at all times would be wise.”

“No.” I shook my head violently. “I don't want babysitters.”

Lucen cleared his throat. “Actually, Jess, much as it pains me, I agree with the Gryphon on this one. You should have some protection, but
our
people will provide it.”

I poked him in the chest. Hard. “No, they will not. I can take care of myself.” Spinning around to Tom, I stuck my hands on my hips. “If you want to help me concentrate on my training, don't sic babysitters on me. Send them to my family and maybe to Steph. I can't think straight if I'm worrying about their safety.”

“That's not really—”

“I don't care if it's protocol or whatever. I do not need babysitters.” I glared at both the men. “But I do need sleep. I'll be no good at training if I don't get some, and you should get some too. You look like crap.”

To my surprise, Tom sighed. Then he yawned, and maybe that was his deciding factor. “Fine. Check in with me this evening.”

“Of course. I hope you'll have an update on Mitch by then.”

He nodded grimly. “So do I. But, Jess, a word first?”

Tom walked away without waiting for an answer and flashed his badge at security. I started to follow, but Lucen grabbed my arm. The fierce set of his jaw was one part protective, one part rage. No question which emotion was aimed at which person.

“I'll be right back.” I gave his hand a squeeze.

Scowling, he let me go.

Tom had stopped by the lobby's centerpiece—a massive reproduction of Michelangelo's
Triumph
, which depicted magically gifted humans fighting a bunch of furies and satyrs. I neither loathed nor loved classical art, but I despised that painting, and I purposely strode by Tom so I could keep my back to it while he got in his last word.

“Yes?”

Tom's face filled with disapproval. “Really?”

“He's a friend. An old friend. I don't need your judgmental attitude.”

“My attitude stems from concern for you.”

Sure it did. At best, it was concern for the Gryphons' alleged ultimate warrior. Not the same thing. “He's saved my life a couple times.”

“For purely selfless motives, I'm sure.”

I closed my eyes, too weary to match sarcasm with sarcasm. I simply wanted to go home. I wanted to crawl in bed and wrap my legs around Lucen's naked body. Not deal with lectures from a baby-faced, annoyingly righteous Gryphon who didn't understand the first thing about me.

“Does it matter? Look, he can't hurt me. There's a reason I'm your weapon.”

Tom bit his lip, seeming to debate something internally. “Leaving the threat he poses to you out of it, it's still a question of loyalty and appearances. Other members of the Brotherhood should be arriving in Boston tomorrow. If you want them to treat you as an equal and not like the lab rat you call yourself, give them cause to respect you.”

Though I hated to admit it, Tom had a point. This was why I would have yelled at Lucen to stay away from HQ if I'd known he intended to show up.

But I was tired and cranky and, frankly, I didn't need Gryphon approval of my love life. “After what your fraternity did to me, I have a very hard time respecting
them
. I'm not one of you just because you made me into what I am. I give my loyalty to those who earned it. Lucen's earned it.”

“Trusting preds gets people killed and worse. Even if you're correct about Lucen, which I doubt, the ranking members of the Brotherhood are not going to trust you if they find out how close you are. Instead of an asset, you become a liability. If he gets into your head—”

“He can't.” I raised my arms in exasperation. “That's the beauty of me. I can't be addicted.”

“What do you mean ‘can't'?”

My mouth fell open. Shit. Something else to blame on exhaustion—I'd just played my last card. The one last secret I'd been keeping from the Gryphons.

Tom had known I was immune to pred power, that their pheromones didn't affect me, and that was mostly true. Lucen's magic did work on me, and so did Devon's, presumably because I was attracted to them both. But my ability to flip the pred-addict bond, to addict a pred instead of the other way around… Well, that was something else.

There was no logical reason I'd kept it a secret. No reason at all except my anger over what
Le Confrérie de l'Aile
had done to me and my determination therefore to exclude them from my life as much as possible. In the end, though, I'd always assumed I'd have to tell them. It could be important.

This just wasn't how I'd planned to do it. Then again, it felt appropriate somehow that my relationship with Lucen would be the thing to bring it into the open. I was tired of hiding that too.

“I meant exactly what I told you,” I said finally. “No pred is going to addict me, not for long. I can explain later, but I need sleep.”

Tom's eyes widened, but he wisely nodded. “Fine, but I want to know more. In the meantime, be careful.”

Yeah, no kidding.

Lucen slipped on his sunglasses and a baseball cap as we left the building. The cap served the dual purposes of concealing his horns so people didn't freak out and protecting his sun-phobic head from the morning light. I also thought it made him look silly, but I kept that opinion to myself.

“What did your Gryphon master want?” he asked, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets.

My hip bumped my duffel bag, which Lucen insisted on carrying, and I stepped away. “What do you think? Look, I'm happy to see you again too, but I didn't need an escort home.”

Lucen grunted and pulled me closer as we traipsed down the stone steps to street level.

“This isn't an argument you're going to win.”

We'd see about that. But one thing was certain—it was an argument I was too tired to have at present. So I let it go.

Instead of taking me home, Lucen brought me to his place, which was never a bad choice since it was nicer than mine. For starters, he had furniture.

After making it clear how much I'd missed him, I fell asleep next to him, my legs entwined with his and my head on his chest. I didn't stir until two in the afternoon. Although this was around the time Lucen usually got up, it was also a testament to just how tired I must have been.

Blinds and heavy light-blocking curtains kept the room shrouded in the dark, but the glow from the bedside clock gave me enough light to see. Lucen's chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm under my hand, and I trailed my fingers through the fine blond hairs that ran down his stomach. They were one of my favorite things about him. Partly because of where they led, and partly because it amused me how soft they were. Fine silky hairs on a body that was otherwise the very opposite of soft.

Half asleep, Lucen reached out a hand and placed it over my arm, holding me lightly in place. He had new glyphs. I'd noticed them vaguely earlier, but I'd been too fixated on other body parts to pay much attention.

Propping myself more upright, I checked them out. Heavy black lines and mysterious symbols snaked up the length of his arm from just under his elbow to his shoulder.

I knew so little about these sorts of spells—they were one of the things I was supposed to be learning about with Tom—but they looked complex. Many were linked together into some larger pattern. Lucen had always had a couple drawn on him, usually around his shoulders or on his back, but they'd never been so extensive. Were these magical preparation for the apocalypse? I couldn't imagine another reason he'd suddenly be sporting such heavy charms.

The assumption sent a shiver of unease through my contented brain, and Lucen—probably sensing it—shifted beneath me. “Little siren?”

I buried my face against him, a move that not so coincidentally allowed me to shift more of my weight on top of him. His arms wrapped around me, one hand sliding down my back to rest on my butt. Beneath me, I felt his body stiffening with my movements.

“Just not happy to have to get out of bed soon,” I murmured into his neck. His skin was salty sweet with sweat as I planted kisses at the crook of his shoulder.

His grip around me tightened, hands slipping beneath the thin fabric of my underwear and shoving it off. “Not that soon.”