hidden talents (15 page)

The weapons - a knife holstered at his ankle and a set of brass knuckles -

would be spotted and probably ignored. He"d have seemed more suspicious if he"d left them at home. By contrast, the tiny subdermal bugs were well

camouflaged. Without the right sort of scanner, Adam might not find them again himself. They"d remain inactive until he turned them on, which he wouldn"t do unless Blackwater appeared about to incriminate himself. Once he"d recorded what seemed prosecutable, Adam would send the data to his team in one lightning burst. Because the transmission would set off alarms, he"d have to be strategic.

That the message would get through he felt confident.

Resurrection"s police force had its own magical personnel.

After a heated debate among the squad, they"d decided not to wire Ari. She had an emergency transmitter and that was it. Adam hadn"t wanted to risk even a remote chance that the bugs would be discovered on her. She was his ticket in here. That was more than enough risk for her.

A brief flash of heat at his neck informed him his saint medal had just been scanned. He was grateful he"d never had it charmed Any protective qualities it had came from faith alone.

Apparently, this concluded Blackwater"s magical gauntlet. The hall they"d been walking down ended in a pair of shiny white paneled doors. Blackwater opened them.

“Please,” he said, gesturing Adam ahead of him.

Cautious, Adam stepped into a large high-ceilinged office. Three narrow windows were spaced along one wall, their view blocked by overgrown yew trees.

Some light filtered in, revealing a space decorated in unrelieved white and gray.

Even for Nate, the decor was overdoing the cool. Adam"s detective liked plenty of color to spice up his modern style.

“Drink?” Blackwater offered.

Without waiting for an answer, he poured two glasses of an insanely

expensive single malt. He handed a glass to Adam, who sipped it like he didn"t want to let on this booze was more sophisticated than his usual.

Given his salary, he didn"t have to pretend hard.

“Nice,” he said and continued wandering the office with his tumbler in hand.

He tipped his eyeglasses back into his hair, which he"d seen Outsiders do on TV shows. Blackwater watched everything he did, his hips resting on the front of a bleached-looking driftwood desk. Ari had mentioned he disliked computers, and there were none in sight. Did he keep handwritten ledgers? Maybe in that long white wall of locked cabinets? The man seemed vain enough to want to store the records of his financial victories close at hand. Maybe he fondled them during his down time.

If the stories were true, ledgers were all he had for that.

“So,” his host began, taking a sip himself. “You and my old friend, Ari ...”

Adam allowed himself a laugh. “Ari doesn"t call you her friend.”

Blackwater didn"t like that, but it wasn"t enough to make him angry. “I"m curious to know how you met. If you"ll forgive my saying so, you"re more ...

mature than her usual boyfriends.”

That was a nice double dig: calling him old
and
reminding him Ari had a romantic past. Though he bristled inside, Adam shrugged. “Some girls dig older men.”

“Some girls always fall for users.”

Adam smiled with one corner of his mouth. “Ari"s nice. A guy like me could hook up with worse.”

Distaste flicked across Blackwater"s features. He pulled himself back on track. “And you met ...?”

Adam threw off another shrug. “I was doing my thing in the park one night.

Lighting trashcans on fire. I like to practice. Ari saw and realized we had an interest in common.”

Blackwater set down his drink. “She never mentioned you to me.”

“Why would she? You and she were on the outs by then.” Adam dropped into a white horsehide chair whose sides were wrapped in riveted aluminum. The tightening of Blackwater"s lips betrayed how little he appreciated Adam sitting without an invitation. Adam threw his vanity a bone. “I gotta say, this is a sweet set up.”

Blackwater considered him coolly. “Why did you come to Resurrection?”

“Ari told me about this place. She said I"d have more juice here, and

described the elves and shit. I thought it"d be cool to see. Of course, I also thought she might have been confused by an acid trip.”

“And now?”

“Now I think it"s freaking awesome. I hardly have to work here to do my thing.”

One of Blackwater"s fingertips tapped the rim of his glass. “Ari didn"t bring you here just to entertain you.”

Adam leaned back in the hide-and-aluminum chair. Maybe Nate should get

one of these. It really was comfortable. “Ari seemed to think she could use backup when she came to discuss your issues.”

Blackwater rose and paced to the middle of his three windows. Adam didn"t think his feelings were hurt by Ari"s precautions. He seemed more like he was worried. It was the first real crack Adam had seen in his confidence. Maybe the Eunuch didn"t just
want
Ari back in the fold. Maybe he
needed
her for something.

He stood where he was, looking out at the tangled yew, not speaking. After a minute, he turned back to Adam. “What sort of „backup" are you interested in being?”

“Well, that depends,” Adam said. “I like the girl, but as you pointed out, I"m a sensible man. Seems to me you"ve hired people with my sort of skills before.”

Blackwater might not have known it, but his face got smoother when he

relaxed. “You"d be more valuable to me if you could convince her to cooperate.”

Adam"s mouth stretched into a grin. “Cooperative women are my specialty.”

Blackwater didn"t look convinced. Mostly, he looked faintly disgusted. If he had sacrificed his genitalia to a demon, maybe he made himself feel better about it by looking down on people who still enjoyed the use of theirs. For the moment, that didn"t matter. Any plan that put him and Ari back together, where Adam could watch over her, was inherently better than a plan that kept them apart.

∞

Ari"s cuffs had been removed, but the room she"d been put in might as well have been a cell. It had no handle inside the door, one small barred window too high to see out of, and a gray futon with no frame and no bedding. What she"d thought was a closet turned out to be a cramped bathroom.

En suite!
she joked to herself.
You must be a VIP
.

What truly bugged her, of course, was that the room was charmed to damp her power. She couldn"t use her telekinesis to break out. Then again, with all of Blackwater"s guards, she wouldn"t have gotten far. She"d just have felt better sneaking out, and she"d have poked around.

That was why they were here, after all. To get the goods on the Eunuch so the law could put him away.

God, she should have killed him back in Manhattan.

She paced to keep herself from going crazy. After a bit of that, she noticed the floor tingled in its center, straight through her sneaker soles. Curious, she hunkered over the spot.

Was this where the depowering charm was placed? The smooth white tile

appeared featureless. Ari patted it, then cocked her head.

Did she hear chanting?

She pressed her ear to the floor. Yes, that was chanting, and whoever was doing it hailed from New Jersey. Her cell was being charmed by a fellow Outsider.

She sat back on her heels as the chanting stopped, both offended and

befuddled. The spell caster had done something. The walls felt subtly tighter around her.

The puzzle would have to wait. Her door was opened by a guard, and Adam strolled in like the Lord of Flatbush. His hot geek glasses were on top of his head.

He folded them, then tossed them onto the bare futon.

“Hey, babe,” he said cockily.

The door clicked closed again as she rose.

“C"mere,” he said, putting out his arms. Ari wasn"t sure what script she ought to follow, but she went to him anyway. Though she knew they were being

watched, possibly with more spells, his strong embrace felt like heaven. The smell of him equalled comfort, the heat of him and the size. He buried his nose in her neck and groaned.

“You kill me, babe,” he said.

She felt his arousal, that he couldn"t suppress it even now. His hands slid up and down her back, a ridge beginning to harden within his jeans. Ari leaned back before she lost the strength to. “What did Blackwater say?”

His hands locked behind her waist, keeping his hips on hers. “I think maybe you haven"t given him a fair shake.”

“What?” She knew he was feigning this attitude, but her outrage came

naturally.

“He"s only trying to run his business. He needs you to help him out.”

“He hurt my friends. He"s holding us prisoner.”

“Do I look like a prisoner?”

She tried to fling away from him, but he held her secure. His strength did funny things to her hormones. Heat flashed through her pussy, thickening its walls and slicking them with wetness. Nostrils flaring, Adam growled and kissed her.

She must have kissed him back too well, because his canines lengthened.

When he pulled back, he kept their foreheads together. “Your friends aren"t here, babe. I am. Sometimes you have to be practical.”

“You dick!” She shoved him - possibly for the secret pleasure of being

unable to budge his hard muscles. “I asked you to come with me to back me up.”

“Sometimes plans have to change.” He stroked the side of her cheek. If she hadn"t known what it would cost her, those soft green eyes might have made her forget right and wrong. They were awfully seductive. “You could do the man a little favor. He"s not asking for the moon.”

“He starts with little favors. He ends by me murdering someone.”

“Don"t be a drama queen.” His hand slid under her jacket to cup her breast.

His canines had gone back to normal, but the brush of her budded nipple darkened his eyes. “We could do all right here, Ari. You and me, playing around with our special gifts. We wouldn"t even be freaks.”

“Blackwater is a bad person.”

Adam palmed her butt with his second hand and dragged her hips closer.

God, he was hard now. And big. Her pussy was melting, her nipples tight and hot.

When he plucked one with his thumb and fingers, she couldn"t help moaning.

“That"s more like it,” he said.

He kissed her like he wasn"t going to stop this time, like this was going to finish with his giant hard-on rammed up inside of her. He lifted her, urging her suddenly shaking legs around his waist. The huge bulge behind his zipper rolled against her deliciously.

Ari wanted him, but she drew the line at screwing him in front of Blackwater.

She struggled, which Adam put an end to by slamming her into the wall.

She really shouldn"t have found that a turn-on.

“Trust me, babe,” he said huskily, beginning to push up her shirt front. “I"ll get us through this.”

She wore a bra today, but he pushed that up too. He ducked and his lips sealed warmly around her nipple, sucking and flicking it with his tongue. She told herself at least he was hiding her from view, but that was only useful if he didn"t undress her more.

“Adam.”

He stepped them onto the futon, where he dropped to his knees. His eyes were very close to burning as he laid her back under him. She felt him work the front of his jeans open. The metal button, the zipper ... Her excitement spiked so high she knew she needed to stop this now.

“
Adam,
” she said more insistently.

“Sh.” Holding her with his gaze, he unzipped her jeans and wedged his hand down the opening.

She forgot everything but him. His longest finger cruised into her red-hot folds and all she could do was feel. She writhed for him, trying to get the finger to curl inside her sheath. He wouldn"t do it. Groaning, he rubbed her clit from side to side
almost
fast enough to make her come. She stretched up and kissed him again.

Her eagerness seemed to push him over some edge. Grunting with impatience, he picked up his hips to shove his jeans and underwear further down. His pelvis came back naked, his erection long and hot on her denim-covered thigh. Ari moaned her approval into his mouth, caressing his now bare ass.

Without warning, the bond his bite had created became ten times more alive.

Suddenly, the urges that gripped him bombarded her. He could take her. She was ready. His cock was leaking excitement onto her skin. He wanted to claim her in the most basic way males had. He wasn"t going to be happy until he impaled her.

Yes
, she thought, her thighs straining wider.

Adam tore his lips from hers.

“Okay,” he panted. “The watching spells have turned off. We should be able to talk, though probably not for long. Blackwater will check again when he thinks we"re done. Hopefully, he doesn"t take me for a five-minute guy.”

“What?” Ari"s brain was sluggish from the way her body was jangling.

“I figured he"d turn them off. He seems to find the idea of sex repugnant.” He rolled off her with a sigh. “Are you all right?”

Apart from being yanked back an inch short of bliss, she was peachy. To be fair, he didn"t look so happy about pulling back either. His face was strained and glistened with a light sweat. He started to tuck his cock away, then winced.

“Sure,” she said, squirming into a more comfortable position on her side - or as comfortable as she"d get with her pussy pounding like a marching band. His expression softened as she came closer, which sort of squeezed her heart. Ignoring that, she shared what she"d found out, little though it was. “There"s a room under this one. I heard someone chanting. Someone from New Jersey.”

“Are you sure? Some of Resurrection"s accents are pretty close.”

“I know my Jersey shore,” she said.

Adam rubbed her shoulder as if touching her helped him think. “If

Blackwater is training Outside Talents to cast spells, maybe that"s how he burns them out. He could be promising them they"ll up their juice that way. They might not realize what it"s costing them.”

Despite the rock-hard rod that continued to throb from his unzipped jeans, he explained how sorcerers paid the bill for the rituals they performed. The idea creeped her. She"d stick with her Talent the way it was. Or at least she"d stick with whatever improvements plain old practice could bring her.