The Haunting (Immortals) (14 page)

“I’ll buy you a new one, okay? But first, can we worry
about getting back to your place? After I take a look around.”

Nick closed his—her—eyes and grew still. The air around him shimmered like waves of heat coming off the sidewalk in summer. Mai had seen this once before, back in Jenna’s apartment when Nick’s spirit had left his body. If Mai had had any lingering doubts that it was him, they were gone now.

A minute passed and then another. Mai cast a nervous glance around. How long did it take to search the area?

“Oh,” she gasped, seeing her double’s eyes pop open again. “You’re back. Well?”

“All clear. Let’s go.”

Mai looked back in the direction of the Obelisk. “What about Lenny? Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?”

“They can’t help him now.” He grabbed Mai’s hand, but she pulled back, refusing to move. “Shouldn’t you…you know?” She waved her hand to encompass his entire appearance. “Change back?”

“Can’t. I’m bigger than you. If I change here, these clothes will rip and I’ll be nude. Or rather, you’ll be nude.” He drew in a raspy breath. “In any event, we’ll attract too much attention. And I’m not wasting energy assuming another appearance because this one bothers you.” He pushed away from the wall, leaving two ugly red stains behind.

“Oh my God. You’re hurt.” Mai held him in place so she could look at his back, which of course looked like her own. The T-shirt he wore had two small holes and was soaked in blood. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’ll be all right.”

Fortunately no one followed them, and after leaving the park they were able to get a cab right away. Giving them only a curious look and a disinterested shrug, the driver ignored them while Mai helped Nick into the backseat.

They rode in silence, and after what seemed like forever, the cab finally stopped in front of her building.

“We’re here,” she told Nick. He opened his eyes and let her help him out. His face was pale and she worried that he might be on the verge of passing out. If he did, she wasn’t sure how she’d get him back to her apartment.

Standing at the front of the building, holding on to Nick’s arm, she took a second to close her eyes. If her magic would just work this once…

She went through the steps slowly, as she did when she had first learned to use her magic. Center herself and focus. First came the prickling of magic along her scalp, like the wind blowing through her hair. The smells of the forest came next, reminding her that no matter where she lived, she was a creature of the woods. Power coursed down her arms and legs, building to a peak, and then as it broke over her, she willed herself and Nick to her living room, fourteen stories above.

Cracking open her eyes, she saw the building’s main door still in front of her. She’d been so sure it would work this time. That it hadn’t left her feeling sick.

The weight of Nick’s stare had her looking up into her own face, where she saw the concern reflected in his eyes.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she muttered, quickly keying in her access code so they could go inside.

The trek to the elevators seemed to take an inordinately long time and pressing the call button, Mai prayed that the elevator arrived before they ran into anyone—specifically, Will.

They’d been lucky up to this point and she thought their luck might have run out when she heard Will’s distinctive, off-key whistling coming from the stairwell. Seconds before the lobby door opened, the elevator arrived.

Mai hustled Nick inside and pushed the button for her floor hoping the doors would close quickly.

“Mai?”

She heard Will calling through the closing doors and willed them to close faster. She didn’t breathe easier until the car was moving.

As she stepped out of the elevator minutes later, the distance down the hall to her apartment seemed impossibly long. “Hang in there, Nick.”

“I’m fine.”

She heard the pain in his voice.

When they reached her apartment, she propped him against the wall while she searched her purse for her keys. Soon, she had the door unlocked and was helping Nick across the threshold.

“We should see to those wounds now.” She steered him toward the bathroom. “And you should probably get out of those clothes.”

He nodded, but when he reached for the hem of the shirt, Mai saw him wince. “Better let me help,” she said, reaching into the bathroom drawer to pull out a pair of hair shears. Starting at the bottom of the shirt, she cut it open, pulling it gently away from the skin as she worked.

It was disturbing to see herself looking so pale and bleeding from bullet wounds. It could have been her for real if Nick hadn’t gotten there first—only she might not have been as lucky. She could be lying dead beside Lenny this very minute. That cold realization washed over her and the fear she hadn’t felt earlier when she’d been numb with shock finally got a toehold on her.

Lenny was dead. And Nick had risked his life to save her. Because of her, because of her story.

“We really should go to the police,” she said, feeling torn. It was the right thing to do, but if they did, then the police
would want to know why Lenny was shot and soon her “big” story would be someone else’s headline news. “I mean, someone killed Lenny and they tried to kill you.”

“Actually, someone tried to kill
you
—they just didn’t know they were shooting at me instead.”

Now she felt really awful. “You took a bullet for me—I’m so sorry.”

“Forget it,” he said. “Hazards of the job—at least, lately.”

“But I didn’t hire you to be my bodyguard.”

“Perks of dating someone in my line of business—the protection comes for free.”

“I didn’t know we were dating.”

“Now you do.”

She smiled. “I guess I do.”

“Good, that’s settled. Now, what do you say we get these bullets out? They’re starting to hurt like a son of a bitch.”

“Oh, sorry.” She helped him pull off his shirt and tossed it aside. The two holes were glaring dark holes in his blood-covered back. “Are you sure we shouldn’t take you to the hospital?” She found a clean washcloth and started wiping away the blood.

“If they’d hit anything important, I wouldn’t be standing here now. I don’t think the bullets are in too deep, so you shouldn’t have any problems getting them out.”

Her hand paused in midwipe. “What? No, I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can.” He turned to face her and Mai found herself staring at a woman’s bare breasts. Hers—more or less. He noticed her scrutiny and gestured to himself. “What do you think? Did I get it right?”

She cleared her throat, embarrassed. “It’s not a perfect replica,” she said. “But it’s close enough.”

“Well, I was working with limited data. Now, what were you saying about taking out the bullets?”

She swallowed and forced her gaze up to his. “I can’t do it. I…faint at the sight of blood.”

“Liar. If you did, you would have fainted back in the park. Now, could we get to work? Do you have any peroxide? Maybe some alcohol? Oh, and a pair of tweezers.”

She found the tweezers in the drawer and set them on the counter. Then she searched through the cupboard under the sink and found the two bottles. “Here’s peroxide.” She held out the brown bottle. “And the rubbing alcohol.” She held up the light plastic bottle.

He took the peroxide but gave her back the alcohol. “I was thinking more like Jim Beam, Jack Daniel’s…”

She colored. “Oh. Right. To deaden the pain.”

“Something like that.”

“I’ll be right back.” She hurried into the kitchen and found a bottle of Jack Daniel’s—a gift from Lexi before she moved to Ravenscroft. Taking a glass from the cabinet, she carried both back to the bathroom.

“Oh…” She came to a sudden halt at the sight of Nick, back in his normal form, looking very male and very naked standing in the center of her bathroom.

At her gasp, he reached out and grabbed a towel. “Sorry about that,” he mumbled, wrapping it around his waist.

He didn’t seem to notice the way she stared at him, and though she tried not to, she couldn’t help it. There was just so much of him. The muscles of his chest and arm contracted and bulged as he took the bottle and glass from her.

She watched him pour the whiskey, enjoying the way he moved. In a single gulp, he drained the contents of his glass and then poured another. This time, he handed the glass to her. “Drink it,” he ordered.

“Oh, no, thanks.”

He pushed it toward her. “I insist.” When she still refused to take it, he grabbed her hand and shoved the glass into it. Her hand was shaking so bad she would have dropped it if
he hadn’t cupped his hand around hers and held it steady. “Drink it, Mai,” he said tenderly. “What you’re feeling is natural after what you’ve just been through, but I really would like you to be as calm and relaxed as possible before you start digging around on my back.”

Mai found it hard to resist this gentle side of him. She gazed into the eyes that regarded her so tenderly and for the first time in a very long while, she didn’t feel so all alone. “You drink it. I’m fine.” She held the glass out to him in hands that were now rock steady. It was a testament to how much pain he really was in when, instead of arguing, he took it from her and drank.

She watched the rise and fall of his Adam’s apple with a fascination akin to a schoolgirl’s crush and had to force herself to look away. “Is there a trick to this?” she asked, picking up the tweezers. “Other than dig around until I find the bullet and then extract it?”

“Less digging and more extraction would be good, but yeah. That’s pretty much it.”

The fatigue in his voice caused her to look at him without regard for his virility. This time, she noticed the pallor of his skin and when she placed her hand on his arm, his skin felt clammy. “Maybe you should lie down. You’re not looking so good.”

“I’ll be fine as soon as we get this lead out of my body.” He looked around. “There isn’t enough room in here. How about we go into the kitchen? I can lie on the floor.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She headed out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. He followed her, holding the towel around his waist. She went over to her bed and pulled off the comforter because she didn’t want to get blood on it. The sheets she didn’t care as much about.

“You’ll be more comfortable here and neither of us will have to get down on the floor.”

He smiled weakly. “Wish I’d known it was this easy to get into your bed. I’d have gotten shot days ago.”

Mai ignored his teasing and waited for him to stretch out, facedown, on the bed.

“Looks like you did get shot not too long ago.” She lightly touched the two irregular round scars where the skin was new and pink—one on his side and the other near his shoulder blade.

“Like I said, hazards of the job. I got those on my last case.”

Mai angled the lamp beside the bed so it shone down on his back, giving her extra light to see by. “How long ago was that?”

“Last week.”

Incredible. Wounds that new should have looked raw and angry. “How fast do you heal?”

“Fast enough that we don’t want to leave those bullets in there much longer or you’ll be cutting through new skin to reach them.”

“Okay. Okay. I’m on it.” She picked up the peroxide and poured it into the wounds. Immediately it bubbled and Nick sucked in a quick breath. “Sorry. Did that hurt?”

“Mai. No matter what you do from this point forward, it’s going to hurt. So just get it over with.”

“Okay. Here goes.” Taking a deep breath, she inserted the tip of the tweezers into the first puckered wound and tried not to scrape the sides as she dug for the bullet.

“You know,” Nick said, his voice slightly muffled by the pillow. “I was worried to tell you what I was because I thought it would upset you, but you seem to be handling it well.”

“Oh, sure. I’ve known a few bodyguards in my time. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Cute.”

She heard the smile in his voice. “Actually, my best
friend is a werewolf,” she continued absently while she probed the wound for the bullet. “And I spent some time with a guy last year who could shift into a dragon, so…shape-shifters don’t really bother me much.”

“I’m not a shape-shifter.”

“You’re not?” She frowned, perplexed. “Then what are you?”

“I’m a chameleon.”

“No way.” Mai had heard of the beings, but had never met one before. “Being able to look like any living creature must come in handy.”

“Guess it depends on the circumstances,” he said dryly. “By the way, next time we’re in a situation like that, you should leave.”

“I thought that’s what we were doing when we raced out of the park.”

“I don’t mean running. I mean teleporting.”

Mai was glad his back was to her so he couldn’t see how embarrassed she was. “I couldn’t.”

“Look, I appreciate you not wanting to leave me, but next time—”

“No. I mean I really couldn’t—can’t.” She shrugged though he couldn’t see her. “My magic’s been a little off lately. It’s a long story.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

She debated what to tell him and in the end, opted for the truth. “About a year and a half ago, an ancient demon tried to destroy the world by killing off all the living magic. Do you remember hearing about it?”

“Sure. A group of witches discovered the problem and summoned the Immortals to deal with the demon. Everyone thought the Immortals were just a myth, so it was a big deal when they turned out to be real.”

“Well, the Coven of Light witches and the Immortals didn’t go up against the demon alone. There were a handful
of others with them—vampires, shape-shifters, witches—and a wood nymph.”

“You.”

“Yeah. Me.”

“Not exactly the normal company a wood nymph keeps.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mai asked, not sure if she should be offended or not.

“Only that those other beings you listed are warriors and fighters by nature. Wood nymphs tend to be more fun-loving and carefree.”

“Yeah. Well, I guess you’re right because I’m the only one who came away from the experience with psychological problems. Except Tain, of course. He’s one of the Immortal warriors. He was held by the ancient demon and tortured over the centuries until he didn’t even really know which side he was on anymore.