The Haunting (Immortals) (28 page)

“Why?” he moaned. “She never hurt anyone.” He didn’t expect an answer, so was surprised when the genie gave him one.

“I never meant for her to get hurt. It was the other one I was after.”

“Her sister?”

The genie gave him a scornful look. “No, moron. Mai. I was after Mai. Sarah looks like her. From the other side of the mirror, it was hard to tell the difference.”

“But why would you want Mai? I don’t understand.”

The genie came toward him. “Try centuries of being magically chained to that damned wish dimension. Centuries of serving morons like you. There’s only one way out for me.”

Will thought he understood. “You wanted her to trade places with you. But why her?”

The genie threw up his hands. “I swear. With a mind like that, it’s a wonder you can remember how to breathe. I only wanted her so I could lure my real target.”

“What ever your plan is,” Will told him defiantly, “I’m not going to help you. I’ll see to it that you pay for Sarah’s death. I won’t rest until I’ve found a way to put you back in that dimension.”

“How noble of you,” the genie said dryly. “It might almost be worth keeping you alive to watch you try.”

Will stared in horror as the genie walked toward him, his eyes glowing with a reddish light. He was in big trouble. He thought about casting a protective spell about him, but he couldn’t think of the words. The genie was almost to him. He tried to think, tried to recall a spell—any spell—but his mind was blank.

Will stumbled backward into the dining table, putting up his hands behind him to brace himself. “They’ll stop you,” he threatened, but the genie only smiled.

“I’m afraid I’ve already arranged for our friend Nick to have a little accident. Most unfortunate. You see, when the elevator cable suddenly gave out, he was trapped inside. Such a shame. He died on impact.”

Will shook his head. “No. I can’t let you do that.”

“And what, pray tell, are you going to do to stop me?” the genie asked.

Will remembered seeing a serving knife on the table and blindly felt around for it. When he found it, he brought it forward, slashing the palm of his other hand. “I call on Apep, the Great Destroyer; Set, God of Evil; and Am-Heh, Devourer of Millions. I offer my blood as sacrifice and pray you grant me this boon. I call upon your powers of darkness to be my strength. Genie—I command thee stop.”

The genie stopped and allowed a smile to touch his lips. “How many times do I have to tell you? Word choice.”

Upstairs in her apartment, Mai got her light jacket and followed Nick to the door. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s hurry—I don’t want any more delays.” His words warmed her as much as they worried her. So far, he’d not given her any reason for changing his mind about their relationship—nor had he said anything about breaking up with the other woman he’d told her he was seeing. All of these questions needed answering before Mai was going to surrender her heart to this man. A part of her, though, thought it might already be too late.

They left her apartment and walked hand in hand down the hall to the elevator. Mai pressed the call button and the doors immediately opened so they stepped inside.

As the elevator began to descend, Nick pulled Mai into his arms. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you and I just don’t think I can wait another second. Mai, I’m—”

The elevator car lurched, nearly causing them to fall.

“What the—?” Nick cocked his head to the side to listen.

“Nick?” She clutched him a little tighter.

“It’s probably nothing,” he tried to reassure her.

Mai wasn’t reassured.

The elevator groaned again, and then stopped. They waited, neither of them daring to breathe, which is why the popping noise, when it came, sounded like a small explosion.

Mai yelped.

They heard another popping noise. Then the car started moving again. Faster and faster.

There was no screeching sound of safety brakes. Nothing at all to stop the elevator’s free fall but the ground, twelve stories down and closing fast.

Mai knew they only had moments to live. The bright future she’d imagined for herself and Nick was never going to happen. The dream she’d had of him the night before was all she would get—and it wasn’t enough.

Wrapping her arms around him, she thought of the ocean. She focused on the cool watery depths and pulled magic from the deepest recesses of her soul, praying to every deity she could that this time they grant her full use of the magic she had previously taken for granted.

As the screeching sound of the metal scraping metal filled her ears, Mai held tightly to Nick and willed them both to the crystal-blue depths.

The force of impact knocked the breath out of her and she fought for air, sucking in a mouthful of salty water instead. She spat it out as she thrashed about with her arms and legs to reach the surface. She felt as if she’d been hit by a Mack truck. Her entire body ached, but as her head broke water and her lungs filled with air, it occurred to her that she was still very much alive.

Nick. Panicked, she looked around. Had her magic worked to save him? Or had she only saved herself? Was he now lying beneath the crushed, mangled steel of the elevator?

A splashing sound behind her caused her to spin around in the water just in time to see a dark head appear above the surface. “Nick!”

He turned at the sound of her voice and she caught the flash of his smile. They hadn’t landed that far apart and it didn’t take them long to reach each other. Mai was so happy to see Nick that when she was close enough to wrap her arms around him, she did, nearly drowning them both in the process.

“That was one hell of a ride, baby. Are you okay?” Nick asked.

“I am now.” She grabbed Nick to her and met his lips as they came down on hers.

Their kiss was both desperate and passionate. Seconds ago, they’d thought they were dying. Now they were alive. This kiss was as much about affirming life as it was a declaration of love.

Mai’s thoughts came to a grinding halt.
Love
. It was the first time she’d used that word to describe her feelings for Nick and it was somewhat of a shock to realize the true depth of her feelings. It would have been more of a shock if she hadn’t dreamed of him the night before. Obviously, on a subconscious level, she’d known all along.

The kiss ended and Nick released her only so they could both tread water. “I thought it was all over back there,” he said. “I didn’t see any way to avoid the inevitable, and all I could think about was how I’d never gotten the chance to tell you how much I love you.”

“What?” Mai was sure she’d heard him wrong.

“I know we haven’t known each other long and God knows that I never meant to get married, but that was before I met you.”

“Nick, I—”

“No, before you say anything, hear me out. Do you remember how I told you that my people believe in spirit
mates—a perfect someone for everyone—two spirits that find each other and become stronger together than apart?”

She nodded, remembering a conversation like that.

“Well, you’re my spirit mate.”

Her brow furrowed. “How do you know?”

“Because your spirit called to me in the dream realm and I came. I always will. That first time, I saved you from a Keltok when he attacked you—I know you remember it. And I’ve been coming to you in your dreams ever since.”

Mai thought back to the erotic dreams she’d had in the last couple of days. Had the man she’d been having dream sex with really been Nick? “What about the other woman? The one you told me you were seeing?”

He smiled. “It was you all along, only I didn’t know it at the time. I didn’t realize the woman I’d been dreaming about was real. And then you described the attack and I knew she was.”

“And when I told you it had happened to my friend,” Mai said, filling in the story for herself.

“It wouldn’t have been right to sleep with you knowing I had found my spirit mate.” He smiled. “I was trying so hard to deny having a spirit mate so I could justify being with you that I never stopped to consider the friend didn’t exist. Until last night. That’s when I knew that you’re my spirit mate, Mai.”

“I don’t know…”

“Look in your heart, Mai, and see me there.”

“In my dreams?” She was still having problems grasping that one.

“I promised to protect you and I failed,” he said. “I couldn’t have saved you just now.” He frowned. “But I think I would have done better against leprechauns.”

“Leprechauns?” She stared at him openmouthed. The conversation she’d had with her dream lover the night before came back to her. In the dream, she’d known him as
Nick. Was it so hard to believe her dream lover and her real-life lover were one and the same? He was watching her intently, his heart in his eyes. She reached out briefly to press her palm against his cheek. “It
is
you.”

He smiled. “Yes.”

She leaned forward and kissed him. She wouldn’t have thought this kiss could have been any better than the one before it, but it was. “Oh, Nick.”

“Is that ‘Oh, Nick, I love what you do to me’? Or ‘Oh, Nick, this is too freaky for me, I need time’?”

“It’s ‘Oh, Nick, I love you, too.’ How could I not? As corny as it sounds, you’re the man of my dreams.”

His laugh rumbled deep in his chest. “I know that after nearly dying, I shouldn’t feel this great.”

“Speaking of that,” Mai said, “maybe we should get back to dry land? I’m not sure how much longer I can tread water. Besides, it’s cold.”

They both looked around at the miles of ocean surrounding them. “Where do you think we are?” Mai asked.

“You don’t know? You teleported us.”

“Actually, I was too scared to think clearly. I just visualized lots of ocean and both of us landing in it.”

“I had no idea your magic was so powerful.”

A wave caught and lifted her higher in the water. “Neither did I,” she admitted. “This is the first time in more than a year that it’s even worked.”

“How did you know it would today?”

“I didn’t. But the alternative wasn’t looking so great. And I wasn’t ready to give up without a fight.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her. “That’s my girl. What are the chances you can teleport us back?” he asked when they came up for air. “Because I have no idea where in the hell we are.”

“I could try.”

“Let’s do that and if it doesn’t work, then we’ll go to plan B.”

“Which is?”

“Ever been swimming with a dolphin?”

She smiled. Life with Nick promised to be interesting. She wrapped her arms around him and willed them back to the apartment building.

Mai was less surprised this time when her magic worked, but just as pleased. They stood across the street from her building watching the flurry of activity as policemen and firefighters hurried in and out of the building.

“What do you think caused the elevator to break?” Mai didn’t really want to think about it, but knew they had to. It was too important. “And what happened to the emergency brakes? What are the odds of both of those happening while—”

“We’re inside?” Nick finished her question. “I wouldn’t think very good.”

“Which means it was sabotage,” she concluded. “But who wants us dead?”

Nick frowned. “You mean other than Preston and Will? I think we should leave Preston to the police, but it might be good to have another chat with Will.”

“Not without me,” Mai informed him. It felt good to have solid ground under her feet again. “After what we just went through, I’ve got a few things I’d like to say to him.”

“I don’t know, Mai. If he’s responsible, then he’s obviously more dangerous than we originally thought and I’m not happy with the idea of putting you in more danger.” Before she could protest, he held up his hand to silence her. “I know I’d never convince you to stay behind, so at least promise me you won’t go see him alone.”

“I promise.”

“Good.” He turned his head, looking first right and then left. Holding her hand, he led her through the crowd until they reached the police tape.

“This is Mai Groves,” Nick told the police officer. “She lives in 14-B. I’m Nick Blackhawk, her
fiancé
. Can we go inside?”

As the policeman spoke into a radio, Mai’s attention was still focused on Nick’s words. Fiancé. She stared at him in wonder. For the first time since the shock of their fall and Nick’s confession, she stopped to think about the course of her life. There was a real chance that if she didn’t do anything to screw it up, she could soon find herself married to Nick. After that, there would never be anyone else. She’d spend every day of her life with him. She’d never sleep with another man. Never know the feel of another man’s arms around her. Never know the touch of another man’s kiss. Never make love to another man. Ever. Suddenly, the rest of her life seemed very long and—she could hardly wait to start. Committing to a single mate and settling down might not appeal to most wood nymphs, but it appealed to Mai. Nick was all she ever wanted or needed.

“Mai.”

Nick broke into her thoughts just as an officer escorted them past the tape and into the building. There, another man took them through the lobby where a team of firefighters used the Jaws of Life to pry apart the crushed metal.

He turned when they approached.

“Detective, this is Nick Blackhawk and his fiancée, Mai Groves, who lives in 14-B.”

The detective studied Nick carefully. “You’re Nick Blackhawk?”

“Yes.”

“We had a report that you were on the elevator,” he said.

“I was,” Nick replied calmly.

“Mind telling me how you got out alive?”

Nick glanced at Mai, who shrugged. Nick gestured to Mai. “She’s a wood nymph with the ability to teleport. As soon as we realized the elevator was falling, she got us out.”

The detective didn’t look comfortable with the magic explanation but considering they were standing in front of him with wet hair and clothes—for no apparent reason—he was at least familiar with magical beings and their abilities.

After a minute of deep thought and consideration, he seemed to make up his mind about something. “Mr. Blackhawk, can you think of any reason why someone might want you dead?”