A Fae in Fort Worth (6 page)

When he failed to move, I decided I needed to be more insistent. I turned back to him, ready to fight my corner, but his eyes were closed.

“Happy now?” he asked, his mouth curved up on one side.

I was far from it, but if he had no intention of leaving the room, it would have to do. I slid off the bed, keeping the sheet tightly wrapped around me, and strode across the room to the dresser. I looked around and realised we must have been in a log cabin. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling was formed from a rough-looking lumber. There was only one door in the room. I wanted to wash up and brush my teeth, but I guessed that would have to wait. Besides, I didn’t want to spend any longer in the sanctuary than we had to.

I unzipped my backpack and rifled around inside. I’d packed light, bringing only the bare essentials that would see me through a couple of days on the road. I pulled out socks, clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a plain, sky-blue, fitted T-shirt which came pretty close to matching the colour of my eyes. I noticed my cowboy boots sitting on the floor next to the door. It was difficult, but I managed to keep the sheet wrapped around me as I pulled on my underwear, all the while checking on Mitch to make sure he still had his eyes closed. I mean, seriously? Would it have killed him to leave the room for a couple of minutes until I got dressed?

I’d put on my jeans and was pulling the T-shirt over my head when Mitch blindsided me. “We need to talk about Durin, the Fae who helped us last night.”

Durin. So that was his name. I stilled and closed my eyes, one arm in the T-shirt and one arm out. I’d known this conversation had been coming, but I hadn’t been looking forward to it. Fourteen hours of sleep might have helped to heal my body and rejuvenate my spirit, but it hadn’t assuaged my guilt.

I slipped my other arm in the T-shirt and pulled it down my body. “I’m decent,” I informed him. “Has he told you what he wants in return for his help?”

When he opened his eyes, I noticed that his earlier amusement had faded. “No. He wouldn’t tell me. Said he wants us both there. We’re supposed to meet him and one of the elders called Brokk.” He checked his watch then grinned. “Five minutes ago.”

“Crap, it’s gonna be bad, isn’t it?”

Mitch shrugged. “Guess we’re about to find out. Whatever it is, we’ll deal.”

I wished I shared his confidence, but I had a feeling we weren’t going to like whatever it was that Brokk and Durin wanted us to do for them.

“Do you think we can bargain with him?”

“No, and don’t even try. If we ask them for anything else, we’ll end up owing them a life debt and we owe enough already.”

I sighed and sat down on the end of the bed. “You mean
I
owe him enough already.”

Mitch’s brow puckered. “Babe, I’m the one who asked for his help.”

“Yes, to save me!” I fumed. “You shouldn’t owe him anything.”

Mitch got to his feet then crossed the room until he stood in front of me. He crouched down and looked into my eyes. His expression had turned suddenly serious. I held my breath and waited.

“Let’s get a few things straight and then I don’t want you to bring this up again, get me? I was being cautious last night, too damn cautious, but the fact is I would have charged in there and saved those humans the same way you did. You were just quicker than me. We’d have fought those vampires regardless of who made the decision to move in first.

“You did the right thing, Ash. You not only did what you’d been trained to do, you did what you had to do. It was instinctual. We were outnumbered, plain and simple. None of what happened was your fault. Do you understand me?”

I sighed and lowered my head, but Mitch reached out and cupped my jaw, lifting it so that I had no choice but to meet his gaze.

“Do you understand me?” he repeated. The tips of his fingers slid through the hair on the back of my neck, causing a pleasant tingle to travel down my back. “Ashley?” he pressed.

I nodded. “Yeah, Mitch. I understand you,” I whispered.

“Good,” he breathed.

“What happened last night? Did Durin kill all those vampires?”

“No. Do you remember the light?”

I nodded. “It was so bright I had to shut my eyes against it.”

“Me too. The light was Durin opening a portal—a doorway to the sanctuary. He brought us here then sealed the entrance right before he unfroze the vampires so that they couldn’t follow.”

“So they’re still out there?” I asked, aghast. “There were so many of them, the humans, we need to get back out there, we need to hunt them, we…”

Something changed on Mitch’s face then, an angry, fierce emotion that he made no attempt to hide. The expression was so raw, so savage that it frightened me and I found myself leaning back, putting more distance between us.

“The vampires will be dealt with,” he snarled. “I called the Council as soon as we got here, spoke to your handler. They’re gonna send in more hunters to deal with them.” He seemed to battle with something inside himself then said, “We’re just two people, Ash. We can’t do it all alone. Your handler was quick to remind me that the primary concern is retrieving the grimoire.”

I got the impression that there was something he wasn’t telling me, something important, but he didn’t elaborate. I hated that those fiends had been out there all night, likely stalking and killing humans. It went against my very nature to ignore it. I sighed. “Let’s hope we find the book quickly. I hate being stuck in here when there are so many vampires in the city.”

The anger on Mitch’s face dissolved. A softer look took its place—a look which did funny things to my stomach. I ignored it and asked, “What?”

“You were nearly killed last night. That would be enough for a lot of hunters to want to quit and I wouldn’t think any less of you if you decided to hang up your stake. But you can’t wait to get back out there in the field, can you? You’re an incredible woman, Ash. Fearless.”

His gaze slid to my mouth and my breath caught as he slowly leant forward until his lips were inches from mine.

I waited for him to close the distance between us and kiss me, and I realised that I wanted it—I wanted to feel his mouth against mine, to feel his tongue sliding between my lips. Instead, his eyes cleared and he got to his feet.

“Get your shit together, sweet cheeks. I want to get this meeting over with so that we can concentrate on getting the book. Be quick about it.” Mitch turned and strode to the door. He opened it, slipped through and closed it behind him without as much as a backwards glance.

Son of a bitch!

I tugged on my boots then hastily zipped up my backpack. I was annoyed at Mitch. I didn’t know what game he was playing, but I didn’t want any part of it. I couldn’t understand what the hell that near-kiss had been about. Was he trying to prove something to himself or to me? Had he merely been testing me to see if he could’ve had me if he’d wanted me?
Damn it.
It was too difficult to decipher the workings of a man’s mind—especially a man like Mitch. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get so lost in the moment. I’d been charmed by his sweet words and flattered by his praise. I needed to remember that we were colleagues, nothing more. We had a job to do. I didn’t have time for complications in my life and Mitch Rakowski was as complicated as it got.

Throwing the backpack over my shoulder, I crossed to the door and pulled it open. Then I stopped dead, staring ahead of me in disbelief.

What I’d first thought to be a log cabin was actually some sort of treehouse and it was situated high up in the treetops. My heart began to race as I stepped out onto the porch and my hands trembled. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my body back against the wall of the house, concentrating on breathing deeply when I began to hyperventilate. I breathed through the panic attack and worked on lowering my rapid heartbeat. I hadn’t had an attack like that in over fifteen years.

The temperature inside the room had been cool and comfortable, but outside the air was hot and humid. It was like I’d stepped into the middle of a tropical rainforest. Anxiety threatened to overwhelm me as the memory of a time in my life I hadn’t thought about in years began to claw its way to the surface in my mind.

My parents had been killed in a place just like this. They’d been hunting a pack of werewolves who’d been causing problems for the Council all over the States. The pack had slipped over the border into Mexico and my parents had tracked them through the country to a rainforest in the south. The last time they’d checked in with the Council, they’d been heading into the forest with two other hunters. None of them had made it out alive. All four bodies had been discovered by a guide three days later. The newspaper report said their throats had been ripped out by wild animals, likely jaguars, but of course, we knew differently.

I’d been just six years old when my parents had been killed. They’d left me with my godparents in Austin, who had been hunters once too, but had retired when they’d had their daughter—my sister Mia. My godparents had raised me as if I was their own child and they’d been wonderful parents. They’d showered me with the same love and affection that they’d lavished on Mia, but they’d never forgiven my parents for choosing the job over me.

I’d forgiven them a long time ago. Probably because I could relate. I had the same drive, the same burning desire to wipe out vampires and other supernatural species who preyed on those weaker than them.

A team had been sent into the rainforest on a search-and-destroy mission and they’d killed every last shifter, avenging my parents’ deaths. I’d made peace with what had happened, but being in this place brought back the memory of my loss. It was as if it had only been yesterday when I’d been given the news that I would never see my parents again.

Even though the temperature was high and sweat beaded on my forehead, cold shivers rolled over my body and I had to rub my hands up and down my arms to rid myself of the goose bumps which had formed there. The longer I stared out into the rainforest, the more oppressive it became. I had to find Mitch and get the meeting over with so that we could get the hell out of the sanctuary.

A set of stairs wound their way through the trees and I followed them cautiously as I made my way down to the forest bed, dread settling into the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know if the rainforest was an elaborate illusion or if the entrance to the sanctuary was a portal to another realm or dimension. With the Fae, it could be either. Whatever it was, I desperately wanted out.

It was dark at the base of the tree trunk—dark and depressing. The trees loomed over me, casting ominous shadows all around. A narrow path led through the forest. It only went in one direction so I followed it until it widened and a clearing appeared in the distance. When I arrived at it, I was relieved to see several small lumber buildings on stilts. The door of the first building was ajar so I climbed the steps to the porch and knocked lightly before pushing it wider.

The room inside was larger than I’d expected it to be. A wooden table with eight chairs arranged around it was positioned in the very centre of the room. A wrinkly-faced, black-haired dwarf was seated at the head of the table. Durin, the dwarf who had helped us the previous evening, sat on his right and Mitch was in the chair on his left. They all looked up as I entered the room.

“Ah, Miss Monroe.” Durin slid out of his chair and walked around the table. He was so short that only the very top of his head was visible until he’d cleared the last chair and approached me. The dwarf bowed low, keeping his beady eyes on me as he croaked, “You made it. We were about to send out a search party.”

I shrugged my backpack off my shoulder and placed it near the door. I nodded my greeting. “The forest path was quite easy to follow.”

“Forest,” Mitch said, drawing my attention. His brow knitted. “There’s nothing out there but desert.”

The dwarf who was still seated at the head of the table chuckled, but there was no humour in the sound. “The sanctuaries are all safe havens for Fae in the human world,” he explained. “They were designed to be unwelcoming to humans and they are different things to different people. For some, they appear as vast, turbulent oceans as far as the eye can see. For others, they are nothing but wastelands. Whatever they are to the individual has to do with the subconscious, a memory perhaps? Something you would prefer to forget?”

The news surprised me, but it explained why the memory of what had happened to my parents had been so vivid. It would have been difficult to miss the way Mitch’s entire body stilled and I was curious to know what memory had evoked the desert for him. It was far from pleasant if the stricken look on his face was anything to go by. Had something bad happened to him in such a place? Maybe that was why Mitch had been in no hurry to leave my room when I’d asked him to leave so that I could get dressed.

“Let’s get started,” I said, for Mitch’s benefit as much as my own. I stepped around Durin and took a seat next to Mitch. “I’d imagine you gentlemen are busy. We don’t want to take up any more of your time. I’m sure it’s valuable.”

Mitch’s face was expressionless, his emotions locked up tight. “Ashley, you remember Durin from last night,” he introduced tersely as the dwarf climbed back up onto the chair opposite him. “And this is Brokk, one of the Fae elders. Durin, Brokk, my partner, Ash.”

I nodded to each of the dwarves and offered them a tight-lipped smile, but just as Mitch had warned me, I was careful not to meet their eyes.

“You look much better than you did when we last met,” Durin remarked. “I’m so glad I was able to offer you…assistance.”

I ground my teeth together in an effort not to make a sarcastic retort. Fortunately Mitch spoke up before I had the chance to reply. “How did you know that my partner and I were in trouble last night?” he asked.

Brokk’s eyes widened with excitement and he leant forward in his seat as if he had a great secret to share. “We have magical enchantments in place within a hundred-mile radius of the sanctuary,” he explained. “They were designed to alert us to the presence of the Fae from the Unseelie Court, but they also detect any large amounts of paranormal activity in the area. The local werewolf pack has learned to inform us of any pack meetings they hold. There has never been a vampire nest in the city and as you know, vampires usually hunt alone or at the very most in pairs. Last night the alarm was tripped so I sent Durin to investigate.”