She Blinded Me With Science (9 page)

That earned real wails from Sophie. She dug her fingers into his arms, threatening to
poke holes in his sleeves. "Kevyn, she was trying to break in to kidnap
you
!"

"Ain't gonna happen, sweetheart." He gave in to temptation, lifted her onto his lap, and
kissed the tears from her eyes.

"But all she has to do is chain you and drag you through the wards, and you'll be her
prisoner. And stunned by the shock, to boot. I documented everything I did to keep you caged
here in the house. I even wrote down how much I used and where I got my supplies and how
often I updated the wards. She probably has a cage set up at her place, all ready for you." Sophie
sniffed, and fury drove away most of her shakes and evened out her voice. "It's probably a palace
compared to what I could give you. Once she gets a good look at you, she'll work her wiles on
you so you'll never want to leave her and --" Her voice shattered.

Kevyn was pleased to see anger still dominated. Could he hope for some jealousy?

She loathed this Jennifer, her rival. Maybe she feared Jennifer would destroy the
friendship they had built up over these past weeks? He put that thought aside to savor, and
tugged down the cuff of his sweatshirt so he could use it to dry her eyes.

"Ain't gonna happen. I
let
you keep me here, so technically, I
wasn't
a
prisoner. Silver doesn't limit magic. In fact, if it wasn't for my stupid allergy, silver would be a
magic booster for me just as effective as it is for most Fae." Kevyn grinned when Sophie went
from narrow-eyed suspicion to something like open-mouthed shock, to a thoughtful look.

"Jennifer couldn't get in because I wouldn't let her. And even if she did get in, she
wouldn't see me, because I wouldn't let her. And even if she did a striptease right here in the
living room and offered me a thousand bucks an hour, I wouldn't go with her. She's not my
type."

"She's not Human, that's for sure," Sophie grumbled.

"Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you're even less Human than she is." Kevyn
laughed when her eyes narrowed again. Anger meant she was thinking, not giving in to fear. She
was ready to fight, not sit and wail.

"She probably has everything. She can use it against us," she said, after thinking in
heavy, throbbing silence while perched on his lap.

"First things first." He sighed, hating what he was going to have to do. The sacrifices he
was called on to make in the name of friendship. And all right, in the name of seduction. He
stood up and set her on her feet. Letting go of Sophie when she actually held onto him hurt worse
than he could have guessed. Which was a danger sign he would have to investigate later.

"Show me your computer."

Kevyn knew where Sophie's computer was, knew she spent hours on it when she
thought he was asleep. He had just never considered that his life, his very existence--and a
violation of certain laws to keep the existence of Fae hidden from Humans--had been
documented on that computer.

More important than any trouble with the Fae ruling council and an entire college of
Advocates more stuffy and duty-bound than his parents, was the thought of Sophie's suffering if
her arch-nemesis succeeded. That meant more than his freedom.

"Hate computers," he muttered. "If Humans ever realized what kind of magic they work
with technology...well, it'll take another couple decades, so I'm not worried. Anyway, the thing
is, computers give me a rash even worse than iron."

"Sorry about that," she muttered, and watched him tap-dance his way through the log of
recent activity. "What does all that mean?"

"I hate to say this, but we're at about the limits of my knowledge. Like I said, I hate
computers." He flashed a teeth-bared grin at her. "What I can tell you is that no one accessed
your files from this terminal."

"That doesn't mean diddly squat," she growled.

"I wouldn't put it that way."

"Yeah? How would you put it?"

"In words that a nice girl like you should never hear. Trust me, sweetheart," he added,
pressing his forefinger against her lips when she opened her mouth to challenge him again.

Sophie's eyes went wide and glazed just a little. Kevyn would have laughed in triumph,
but a corresponding jolt of awareness shot through him, pooling like churning lava in his
belly.

The two of them were in deep doo-doo, and he had the sneaking suspicion, when the
dust settled and they had cleared up her problems, he was going to be euphorically glad to be in
that particular trouble.

"Wanna see real magic?" He held out his cupped hand and conjured up a
communications globe. It flashed, showing static and sparks and then stylized, old-fashioned
computer circuitry boards. The theme from
2010
moaned through Sophie's office.

"What is that?" A touch of laughter in her voice encouraged him.

"Gubur's version of call screening." Kevyn tapped the communication globe with his
other hand. The chime grew dissonant. Gubur's bug eyes and hawk's beak nose filled the globe
just before the sound grew painful.

"Kevyn, my man! Long time, no see! Hey, what's up? Isn't that fake identity I made up
for you working anymore?" Gubur's skin was green from the default coloring of the
communication globe. "Cosmic," he purred twenty minutes later, after Kevyn and Sophie took
turns explaining the situation and what they feared had happened to her computer. "Just love
playing hound dog. Put the do-bob where I can get at the system."

Kevyn put the communications globe on the keyboard, so it leaned against the monitor.
He thought it would do more good to touch the tower, rather than the monitor, but he had seen
Gubur do such things before. His friend seemed to be limited in his range of magic, and had to
have the illusion of being able to see what was going on.

Green sparks flew around Sophie's office and formed a swirling stream that shot into the
monitor. The entire room took on a greenish cast. Data streamed across Sophie's computer screen
at blinding speed. The tower hummed, the sound rising up and down through the alien tones
from
Close Encounters
.

"What is he doing?" Sophie whispered.

"It's just window dressing. He thinks he has to do it to impress the chicks."

"Are you impressed?" Gubur asked, his voice muffled as if he held a stylus in his teeth.
Or he was eating lunch. As long as they didn't have to see what he was doing, Kevyn was
happy.

"Very," she stammered.

That seemed to suit Gubur. He didn't say anything else until the humming faded to
silence, the sparks vanished, and the stream of hieroglyphics in twenty different languages,
including Ancient Fae, stopped spilling actress the screen.

"What's the diagnosis?" Kevyn asked, as soon as Gubur's face appeared in the globe
again.

"Just what you thought. Sorry." He nodded to Sophie. "Here's the condensed version.
This chick is thorough, and nasty. Hope you decide to hang her high."

The communications globe expanded, until it was larger than Sophie's monitor. Without
any sound or narration, it showed Jennifer standing over the shoulder of a mousy-looking boy
who needed to wash his hair and fix his glasses. His fingers danced across the keyboard and
images of Kevyn performing magic and hundreds of pages of text appeared on the monitor.
Jennifer made CD backups of everything. Then she gave copies of the disks to a weasel-faced
older man Sophie identified as Dr. Putney, Jennifer's advisor.

"Looks like it's on her home computer, plus Dr. P's office, plus Jennifer's office at the
university," Sophie said after Gubur finished his visual report, they thanked him, and the
communications globe vanished. She sounded calm now, but Kevyn suspected it was the calm of
exhaustion, not because she accepted defeat.

Defeat was a long way away, and it would be all on Jennifer's part, if he had anything to
do with it.

"At least Dr. Hermann was left out of the loop," she added.

"That's a good thing?"

"That means he wasn't on their side in all this. If anything, he just got sick and tired of
Dr. P whining, and all the politicking from other faculty who fell for her
I'm so smart and
innocent and I deserve every break in the world because I'm cute
routine." Sophie snarled,
sank down onto the end of her bed and rested her head in her hands. "Well, I'm glad you're free
to go."

"Why?"

"Because you have to get out of here. Like now. If not sooner. Before Jennifer shows
up."

"She won't capture me."

"That's what you think."

"You have a lot more magic at your disposal than she ever will if she studies for a
thousand years. And I already told you, none of the magic you wove imprisoned me. I stayed
because I wanted to."

"Because you needed a hideout." Her voice wavered and she turned her head away from
him.

Following gut instinct, Kevyn cupped her chin in his hand and turned her to face him
again. Sure enough, tears glimmered in her eyes.

"Guess again." The throaty, hungry growl in his voice startled him.

"Kevyn, you don't--" Sophie broke off with a squeak as he wrapped his arms tight
around her, crushed her up against him and caught her mouth under his.

She wriggled and pushed at his chest, trying to break free. He snapped a magic barrier
around them that effectively glued them together but left him room for maneuvering. Sophie
whimpered as he lifted her onto his lap and changed the angle of his mouth against hers.

Then the whimpers turned to a moan and a sigh and she stopped pushing. Her hands slid
up his chest to curve around his neck and she hung on for dear life. Kevyn muffled a growl of
pure triumph as she slowly went limp and her lips parted under his insistent pressure.

Sophie tasted like chocolate and wine and cherry cola and she took his breath away.
How long he let himself drown in the softness and taste and warmth of her, he couldn't
remember later.

It was the breathless feeling that squeezed his lungs and the alarm bells ringing in his
head that prompted him to finally release her, before their mouths melted into one unit,
permanently bonded together.

Which, come to think of it, wasn't a bad way to go at all.

Sophie lay limp in his arms, pale but for two spots of bright color in her cheeks and the
bruised, ripe look of her mouth. She sighed, a soft sound, then suddenly inhaled as if she had just
discovered air.

Kevyn gloated over the fact that he had indeed managed to kiss her senseless. He hoped
she liked it, because he certainly did and that was one experience he would never grow tired
of.

"Are you ready to listen now?" he murmured, and brushed his lips across her cheek.
Sophie purred and her eyes fluttered open. "I stayed because I wanted to, okay? You get
that?"

"Wanted to," she sighed. Awareness seeped into her eyes. Kevyn waited until her eyes
went wide open and she sat very still and stared at him. Not that he wanted to break the mood,
but this had to be taken care of. Gut instinct and a healthy dollop of guardian magic told him they
weren't out of the woods yet.

"Just think for a second. If you can," he added, muffling a snicker.

Sophie blushed but she grinned instead of getting angry.

"Think of all the magic I did for you, for your tapes. Do you think I could have done any
of it if all those preparations of yours, the spells and barriers and incense and all that rot actually
worked?"

"Not as logical as I thought, huh?"

"Sweetheart, if it worked, you would have killed me with the density of all that magic
you were trying."

"So when it comes to magic, I'm totally useless." She shrugged.

"This is the best kind, as far as I'm concerned." He brushed the ball of his thumb gently
over her lips. That silent, triumphant growl rumbled through his chest when her sweet, swollen
lips curved up, meaning she agreed with him.

"So, tell me again why you played along?"

Sophie didn't move off his lap while he told her about the Enclave Hunters, which meant
he had to explain about his family, their traditions, why he didn't want to be an Advocate and
even some of the steps he had taken to stay hidden. He told her about the close calls he had with
the Hunters at the convention.

"I thought I heard something. It wasn't in English, but I could understand some of it."
She shook her head. "Weird."

"That's just the tip of the iceberg."

"Whatever. You
were
invisible during that fight in the lounge, weren't you? So
how come I could see you a lot of the time?" she hurried on, when he nodded.

"Where'd you get this?" He touched the beaded choker around her neck for the first
time. Just as he had expected, a numbing sensation coated his fingertips for a few seconds.

"Great-aunt Serena sent it to me for my tenth birthday. Mom was furious that she found
us, but she let me keep it, at least." Sophie's eyes went wide and she sat up a little straighter.
"This affected your magic?"

"This is real magic, elemental, something the Fae and a lot of Humans learn how to use,
even if we can't really affect it. If that makes sense."

"Kind of like not really understanding electricity and the principles behind it, but still
being able to use light bulbs and electric stoves?" She grinned and nodded. "Okay, so most of
what I know is trash. I can accept that. If Jennifer tries to do anything with it, she's toast when it
comes to her credibility in the field. Which is a good enough reason to let her get away with
stealing all my work."

"Hmm. Maybe." Kevyn thought that leaving all that evidence in Jennifer's nasty,
thieving hands might turn around to bite them someday. He'd deal with that later. The fact that
Sophie wasn't angry that he tricked her and used her for camouflage was the most important
thing in his mind. When he told her that, she laughed.

"How can you be worried about how I feel, when I did so much worse to you?"