Smokeless Fire (34 page)

Jai had blinded him?

Yes,
she choked on her momentary triumph, more blood bubbling up between her lips and cutting Jai’s victory short.
I’m dying. Oh god I’m dying.

“This won’t hold, you child!” Pazuzu snarled before he began muttering something under his breath. At the same time alien words met Ari’s ears as they escaped out from between Jai’s lips. She had no idea what he was saying, but as he rose his arms like a conductor at the orchestra the ground beneath her began to shake, scraping against her wounds. Biting back silent screams, Ari watched as Pazuzu rocked on unstable talons. He cursed and began muttering faster.

Just as the white began to melt from his eyes the ground finally gave way beneath his feet and water gushed up out of it like a geyser. As it descended, cascading down over his head, Pazuzu screamed as if someone was sawing off his twisted limbs. Ari’s eyes widened at the bloody pustules that popped up on his skin where the water touched, smoke pouring from his pores like cold water on hot asphalt. His screams nipped Ari’s ears and she curled deeper into herself. When he fell to his knees, she almost breathed a sigh of relief, despite her wounds.

Desert Spirit
.
Jai turned to her to explain.
Water is poison to them.

If she could have, Ari would have nodded at him. She didn’t care why Pazuzu was going down. All she cared was that Jai was safe.

Afraid to move, Ari waited for Pazuzu to pass out, but instead he howled into the New Mexico desert with hatred fuelling his power. A gnarled hand struck out towards Jai and Ari watched in horror as Jai clasped his throat, his face turning purple as he, too, dropped to his knees. Petrified, Ari slid a hand towards him, the sickening agony of her torn skin matching her sickening fear as Jai began coughing up desert dirt, thick with his saliva and insides. The gooey dirt began seeping from his eyes and nose, even his fingernails. Pazuzu was suffocating him, filling his insides with desert.

No. No! NO!

In all the pain and confusion Ari knew there was something she was supposed to be doing. What? What was it?

Suddenly Pazuzu was kneeling before her, his vile, wounded face grinning at her evilly. “So this is the Seal. What a disappointment you are, child. So easy to kill.”

The Seal!
Ari screamed inwardly. She choked, trying to force the command out but she only ended up spitting up more bloody globules. Fury and helplessness gripped her as she saw Jai collapse onto his back, his eyes closing and hands falling limply to his sides.

JAI!
Her mind screamed.

Pazuzu laughed again.

Eyes widening as she realized what she’d done, Ari slid her narrowed gaze back to Pazuzu and whatever he saw in her face made him freeze.
Got you, you piece of crap.

Pazuzu, I command you to release and heal Jai.

Mouth hanging in horror, Pazuzu immediately turned like a robot at the telepathic command and crooked a hand out at Jai. Her guardian’s eyes flew open and he coughed, spitting up the rest of the dirt as he sucked in shuddering breaths, his eyes wide with panic.

Pazuzu, I command you to heal me.

Furious now, the Jinn spun back on her, his legs collapsing beneath him as his mind gave into her. The palm of one of his twisted hands pressed against her forehead, the slide of his skin reminding her of the feel of the lizard’s skin she’d touched at the zoo in Cincinnati years ago when she’d visited with her dad. Relief washed through Ari as the wounds began to close and heal, the pain dulling to a sting, to a throb, to nothing. Before he could disappear, Ari clamped a hand over his and pinned him to the spot with her unrelenting gaze.

Pazuzu, I command you to undo the illness you placed upon Derek Johnson. Heal him. And afterwards, never come near me or mine again.

Despite the rage burning in his eyes, Pazuzu nodded deferentially and she let him step back. The New Mexico air burst into fire as the Wind Demon disappeared into the
Peripatos
, where she had no doubt he would head to the hospital to revive her father.

Relief crashed over her, deadening her limbs, and Ari had to drag herself across the desert dirt to Jai who was crawling his way towards her. His face was pale, his eyes slightly haunted as he reached her, a large hand cupping her cheek. Ari nuzzled into it, shocked by the depth of her fear of losing him. “You OK?” she croaked, her throat still raw from being shredded from the inside.

For a moment Jai didn’t say anything and when he leaned into her, her breath caught, her heart crashing against her ribs. He was going to kiss her!
He’s going to kiss me!

The excitement fizzled out into something deeper as Jai pressed his forehead to hers, his green eyes seeking something – she didn’t know what – in hers. Frozen, afraid to move, to talk, to break the moment between them, Ari merely waited. For what… she didn’t know.

At last Jai pulled away, nodding jerkily. “I’m fine. You?”

“I used the telepathy to command him.”

“Good thinking.” He coughed again, a spittle of dirt landing on his hand. He grimaced, groaning as he eased onto his feet, reaching a hand down to help her up. “We need to head back.”

Ari frowned, swaying into him as his arms banded around her. “Have you got the energy?”

He nodded, the color still frighteningly absent from his cheeks. “We have to make sure Derek is OK.”

She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to reach up and tug his lips back down to hers so she could enjoy the deliciousness of his mouth this time feeling the way she did about him.

But she wouldn’t.

Not yet.

~25~

One Plus One Equals Two Walking Away

It was a miracle they made it back to Sandford Ridge in one piece. The flight had been slow because Jai was still suffering from the effects of having desert try to kill him from the inside out. When they touched down on solid ground they both wobbled, clinging to each other for balance. Smiling abashedly, Jai made sure she was steady on her feet before taking a few steps back from her. Ari would have taken the time to frown but as she glanced over at the hospital the need to see if Derek was awake was far more compelling than whatever was going on with her and Jai at that moment. Stepping out of the
Cloak
Ari nodded tightly at Jai and moved to head into the hospital. His hand on her arm stopped her and she turned back impatiently. He tugged her back into the shadows of a skinny Buckeye planted next to a large sign with the hospital name on it. Following him behind the sign Ari sighed.
What?

“Your clothes.” He gestured to her torn and dirty appearance. “Conjure something clean so people don’t ask questions.”

Focusing took a lot of energy she didn’t have but as Jai’s appearance rippled, transforming from ‘biker in accident’ to ‘clean guy’ Ari conjured a fresh t-shirt and jeans too. With a quick glance to make sure no one had seen them, she strode out from behind the tree and sign, dashing across the ER line to the hospital entrance. She barely looked at anyone as she hurried along the corridors and into the elevator that would take her to ICU. Jai kept pace with her, quietly supportive, as her adrenaline shot her body into the stratosphere. Her heart beat out of time with her steps, her limbs not quite able to keep up with the speed it was racing at, and as she neared the nurses’ station it almost exploded when her father’s nurse, Lucy, came out of his room, her eyes widening as they caught sight of Ari.

Her pretty face blossomed into a bright smile and Ari choked on a sob. Jai’s hand pressed against her lower back as the nurse came towards them, and the delicious warmth of his touch shot through her.

“Ari, he’s awake,” Lucy announced happily. “He woke up an hour ago and the doctors are doing tests just now. You’ll be able to see him soon, I promise.”

“Is he going to be alright?” she asked dumbly, knowing for a fact that he would be. But wasn’t that something a normal relative would ask?

Lucy bounced her head cheerfully. “It’s looking good. His vitals are great and there is no sign of brain atrophy. The doctors just want to make sure they haven’t missed anything and to ask your father some questions. He’s kind of a medical mystery.”

Ari gave her a weak smile as Lucy gestured for her and Jai to take a seat in the small ICU waiting area. “I need to call Charlie,” she said, turning to him with tired eyes. “Do you have a cell?”

“Ari,” he whispered, leaning into her, “You can conjure one.”

Grimacing at her own mental deficiency, Ari nodded. “Right.” Making sure no one was watching, Ari tucked a hand behind her chair and let her magic focus on creating a cell phone with Charlie’s number in it. Feeling the solid object take shape in her hand, Ari took a moment to ponder the weirdness of her life.

Yeah, Ari, making a cell phone appear out of thin air is so much weirder than being eviscerated by a Wind Demon older than Jesus Christ.

She shuddered, not wanting to think about the fact that she now knew what parts of her insides looked like. A bubble of bile rose up in the back of her throat and she gulped for air, jerking the cell up to her ear.

You OK?
Jai’s concerned voice floated soothingly into her mind.

Not really. Trying to concentrate on the good stuff.
She smiled sadly.
I’d rather think about my dad being awake than what went on in that desert.

He squeezed her shoulder in silent understanding before dropping his hand back into his lap, flexing it like she’d burned him. Frowning, Ari pressed speed dial one on the cell, not surprised when Charlie picked up on the first ring.

“It’s me.”

“Oh thank God,” he breathed. “What happened? Are you OK?”

“I can’t really talk right now. I’m in the waiting room at ICU. The doctors say dad’s awake though.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“OK. See you soon.”

She hung up, letting her head loll back against the wall. “Charlie’s on his way.”

Like the never-ending
stretch of Azazil’s Receiving Room it had felt like forever since Derek had stood in their living room. He looked great. He had color in his cheeks, meat on his bones — he looked as if nothing had ever happened to him. He could even walk. No dizziness, no muscle weakness. The doctors couldn’t work it out and since their tests were inconclusive and Derek was feeling absolutely fine, there was nothing they could do when he ignored their advice and told them he was discharging himself. Ari had stood by, giddily, watching him as he signed a form saying he was leaving against medical advice.

She had her dad back.

Although, hours before it felt as if that was never going to happen.

Sure enough Charlie had raced down to the hospital, crushing her up into a giant bear hug right there in the ICU in front of everyone. Ari had blushed at the way he stroked her hair off her face, his eyes narrowed and dark, as they drank her in. It had been that look again. That look he never used to give her. Before he could do anything to complicate her already complicated feelings, Ari had pulled him aside down an empty corridor to tell him what had happened. For a minute she expected Jai to follow her, before remembering he was no longer contracted to be glued to her hip.

After that it was literally just an agonizing wait to see her father.

When she had been allowed into the room, she’d rushed in alone and thrown her arms around him. Ari had tensed at the tentative pat he gave her on the back, expecting him to squeeze her close. Surprised and a little hurt, she’d had to remind herself that he had just come out of something extremely weird and scary. She’d pulled back and quietly watched as he went about organizing things as he always did.

Now midnight… and they were home. Jai had transformed back to the Great Dane instead of going into the
Cloak
since Derek was used to seeing him as a dog anyway. Ari stood facing her dad unsurely, Charlie on one side and Jai in dog form on the other.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah, sir, anything you need…?” Charlie added.

Derek snorted, a noise of disbelief that set alarm bells ringing in Ari’s head. He was acting weird. Even for someone just out of a coma. He hadn’t said a word in the car and every time she’d reached for him he’d flinched away from her touch.  For the last few days Ari had gone over and over again in her mind that when her dad woke up she would have to leave him. But despite her fallout with Rachel and Staci, leaving Derek had seemed unreal, some distant unthinkable act that might never happen. Now, watching him refuse to meet her eyes, avoiding her touch, it was like she was already gone. And the thought made her want to shrivel up and die.