Darkness Hunts (DA 4) (16 page)

He climbed slowly to his feet, then rotated his shoulders, as if trying to work out a kink. “Look, I can’t take back the past—”

“And you wouldn’t, even if you could,” she snapped.

“True, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have regrets—”

“The only thing you regret is not being able to unleash the second part of that damn story because you were under the threat of jail time—or worse—from her uncle.”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Guys,” I interrupted before things could get more out of hand. “Let it go. That’s not what we’re here for.”

Ilianna gave me a somewhat cross look. “I don’t care what
he’s
here for.”

I walked over and caught her hands in mine. “Thank you,” I said softly, “for caring so much. But right now we need all the help we can get, and I’m afraid that means using Jak. Just trust me, okay? I know what I’m doing.”

Her gaze searched mine, concern evident in those rich depths. “No, I don’t think you do.”

Unease slipped through me. I might have inherited clairvoyant abilities from Mom, but my abilities were nowhere near as reliable as either Mom’s or Ilianna’s. She could predict a sparrow’s fart to the second if she wanted to.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Bringing
him
”—she cast another scathing glance in Jak’s direction—“back into the fold is dangerous, for both the quest
and
you.”

“He’s not in my bed, nor ever likely to be.” As for our quest, could it really get any more dangerous? Somehow I doubted it. Yet even as the thought crossed my mind, I had to wonder if I’d just tempted fate. “And as far as my love life goes, it’s surely
impossible
for that to get any worse.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.” She touched a hand to my cheek. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will.” It wasn’t like I
wanted
another bout of pain and heartache—though I had a horrible suspicion that was exactly what I was headed for. Only the source wouldn’t be Jak, but rather a stubbornly distant reaper.

“Good.” She glared at Jak once more. “And if you do
anything
to hurt her again, I will cast a spell so strong that you’ll never even fancy a woman again, let alone get it up.”

Jak winced and held up his hands. “I promise. I don’t intend to hurt her or write another story about her or anyone else related in
any
way to her.”

“Good.” She tossed her hair, her eyes sparkling. A mare enjoying her victory. “Now, tell me what you need.”

“Holy water,” I said.

“Of course you do.” Her voice was dry. “Because it couldn’t be something easy like demon deterrent, now, could it?”

“You have demon deterrents on you?” Jak asked, walking a little closer to the lounge.

Ilianna cast him a look that stopped him in his tracks. “Not on me, no.”

“But you
have
got them?”

“I can make them—”

“Holy water,” I interrupted, in an effort to keep the conversation heading in the right direction. “Have you got any?”

“Of course. Given the shit that has happened of late, I thought I’d better keep a good supply at the ready.” She paused. “What is it this time?”

“Hellhounds. Maybe.”

“Oh,
fuck
.” She shook her head. “Why are you two tackling hellhounds?”

I gave her a quick update, then added, “We need to get into that warehouse and see what we’re dealing with.”

“Which means you actually need me—”

“No,” I interrupted forcefully. “Absolutely not.”

“Ris, I know magic. You don’t—”

“I don’t care. Azriel said the warehouse
isn’t
on the ley intersection, so until I know for
sure
that’s what we’re dealing with, you’re not going anywhere near that place.”

“You don’t have to be in the intersection to use the power of it,” she said. “There’s going to be magic there, trust me.”

“Yes, but we don’t know if it’s been leashed or not.”

“If the sorcerer
has
used the intersection to hit the gray fields and open the first gate, it’s been leashed.” She paused, her concern deepening. “And if he
has
leashed the magic, then he’ll have more than hellhounds protecting it.”

“Undoubtedly. Which is why I don’t want you in the middle of it until we’re sure what we’re facing.”

“So why does
he
get to go, when he knows jack shit about magic?”

“Because risking his life means less to me than risking yours.” I flashed him a smile to take the sting out of the words.

“I love you, too,” he muttered, but there was amusement in his eyes.

I snorted softly and returned my attention to Ilianna. “I need you to do a couple of other things, too, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Like?”

I hesitated. “There’s two things I need.”

Actually, there were three, but one I couldn’t—wouldn’t—ask with Jak present. I wasn’t about to give him that much information about the current state of my love life.

“So tell me,” Ilianna said.

“The first—can you contact the Brindle and ask if they’ve sensed any dark magic at work on or near the intersection? If he
did
use it, they’d have to know about it. Maybe they can tell us about either the magic or the man behind it.”

She frowned. “Not necessarily. It depends what sort of protection circle he’s using. It could be inclusive—keeping the magic and the spells within the circle and undetectable beyond it.”

“But surely the ley line itself would not be contained so easily?”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask. The second task?”

I hesitated. “Tao’s struggling to pull himself together after the accident in the kitchen yesterday. I was wondering if there was some sort of potion or charm that might help him.”

She frowned. “Whatever I give him would be more illusion than reality. I’ve told you before, there’s no magic beyond time that will help him heal.”

If he ever does
. She might not have said the words, but they nevertheless hung in the air between us.

“The illusion of help might be all he needs right now.”

She slowly nodded. “I’ll see what I can brew up.”

I hesitated again. “Good.”

Her gaze swept me shrewdly. She’d guessed that neither of my requests was what I’d really wanted. But all she said was, “The minute you sense
anything
magic related, you ring me. At the very least, I can advise you long distance.”

“That I can agree to.”

“Then go get something to eat before you collapse on your feet.”

“I do wish people would stop ordering me to eat,” I muttered, but nevertheless headed for the kitchen.

“Someone has to,” Ilianna said. “You seem damn determined to run yourself into the ground lately.”

“Which is an echo of what Azriel said not too long ago.”

“You should listen to him more often.”

I glanced back at her. “How much is he paying you to say that?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Speaking of our reaper, where is he?”

“Sulking.”

“What have you done to the poor man?”

I snorted softly. “He’s neither a man nor poor, and you should be on my side, not his.”

She shook her head, amusement tugging at her lips as she headed for her bedroom. I opened the fridge to study the contents, then decided on lamb sandwiches.

I glanced up at Jak. “You want a sandwich?”

“Yep.” He propped his butt up on the counter. “What sort of accident did Tao have?”

“
That
is none of your damn business.” I slapped thick slices of lamb between slices of bread and handed it to him.

“Huh.” He bit into his sandwich, then added, “So what is going on between you and Azriel?”

“Nothing. He’s a reaper.” I squashed my sandwich down with a little more force than necessary. “They don’t do love
or
life.”

“Which, interestingly enough, does not preclude them doing sex.”

I pointed the knife at him. “Drop it. Now.”

He grinned and held up his hands again. “A little too close to the mark, huh?”

“More wide of the mark, and still none of your business.”

Thankfully, Ilianna chose to call me into her bedroom at that moment. It was a cool green and normally very calming, but it didn’t do a lot to ease the tension suddenly coursing through me. She closed the door, then crossed her arms and said, “Out with it.”

I plopped down on the edge of her enormous bed. “Is it possible that some sort of attraction spell has been placed on me?”

Surprised flitted across her features. Whatever question she’d been expecting, that obviously hadn’t been it. “Why on earth would you think something like that has happened?”

“Because it would explain my unrelenting need to be sexual with Lucian whenever I’m with him.”

The surprise gave way to amusement. “Why does a spell have to be involved? I mean, he’s a hot and sensual man and you’re a werewolf—unrelenting need comes with that sort of combination, doesn’t it?”

I was shaking my head before she’d finished. “This is something else. It’s almost a compulsion. It takes a huge amount of effort to say no to the man, and I’ve never been like that with
anyone
before now, werewolf heritage or not.”

She frowned and walked across to me. She raised her hands and skimmed either side of my body, not touching me but close enough that I could feel the sudden tingle of energy flowing from her fingertips.
Reading my aura
.

She stepped back. “I can’t sense any obvious spell, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one on you. It could be a
geas
of some kind, which tends to be subtler and harder to trace.”

“Damn.” I thrust a hand through my hair. “Have you got anything that might be able to counter such magic?”

She hesitated, then went over to the huge, walk-in floor-to-ceiling cupboard that housed all her magical bits and pieces. She opened one side, revealing shelves stocked with all sorts of bottles, herbs, various tools, and other stuff I had no idea about, and fished around for several minutes. Eventually she returned with what looked like a thin rope bracelet entwined with dead leaves.

“This isn’t strong enough to totally counteract any spell or
geas
, but it will mute the force of it and allow clearheaded thinking.”

“Which is all I really need.” Sex with Lucian might be extraordinary, but I sure as hell still wanted the option of saying no occasionally.

She slipped the bracelet over my left hand, but as it settled on my wrist, the Dušan came to life, its head whipping around as if to study the intruder. Its tail lifted from my skin, curled around the bracelet, then returned to my flesh. And the bracelet went with it, prickling and itching as it leached into my skin. After a few seconds, it was little more than a leafed tattoo that encircled my wrist, one that was entwined by the Dušan’s serpent-like tail.

My gaze shot to Ilianna. “Was that supposed to happen?”

Ilianna’s eyes were wide. “Hell,
no
.”

“Azriel?”

He appeared and I shoved my hand at him. “Any ideas about this?”

He studied my newest tattoo with a frown. “Unfortunately, I do not know enough about the magic that created the Dušans, let alone understand what they are fully capable of. I
had
thought they were unable to be active on this plane, but that is patently untrue when it comes to the one that resides in your flesh.” His gaze met mine. His expression was flat, giving little away, and yet I felt the turmoil in him. He was fiercely glad that this had happened, and just as annoyed by the strength of that reaction. “This is not a bad thing, though.”

No, it wasn’t, though I suspected his reasons for thinking that stemmed more from a hope that I’d now stay totally away from Lucian rather than merely being less compelled in his presence.

Ilianna tentatively touched the tattoo. “The magic is still alive within it. Amazing.”

“Let’s just hope that if there
is
a compulsion, it works, because it looks like I’m stuck with it.”

But if there
was
a
geas
, and this bracelet
did
work, did that in any way imply that Lucian had meant me harm?

He’d made no secret of his desire for revenge, and definitely no secret of the fact that he would do anything—use anyone—to get it. Having a
geas
placed on me might be nothing more than his way of ensuring a continuing supply of the information he needed to hunt down the Raziq, especially since the only time he could fully read my mind was when we had sex.

Or was I simply trying to excuse the behavior of someone I liked,
geas
or not?

There was no easy answer to that one—or at least not one I wanted to confront right now—so I pulled the sleeve over the tattoo and said, “Holy water?”

“Ah, yes.”

Azriel stepped to one side as Ilianna returned to her cupboard. She came back a few minutes later carrying a purple satchel and a knife. “There’s six bottles in here. If you need any more than that, you get the hell out of there.”

“And the knife?”

“That,” she said grimly, “is for Jak. And no, I’m not going to stab him, as much as I might want to.”

I grinned, slung the satchel over my shoulder, and led the way back to the kitchen. Azriel made himself scarce again, although the heat that caressed my spine suggested he hadn’t gone far.

Ilianna handed Jak the sheathed knife and said, “This is for you, though you don’t deserve it.”

He took the knife tentatively. “I’m not much into weapons, you know—”

“If you’re tackling hellhounds, you’d better be,” she retorted. “And it’s not just a knife—it’s a
blessed
knife. It’ll work when other weapons don’t, so use it. I don’t want Risa hurt protecting your useless ass.”

“Thanks for the concern,” he muttered.

I restrained my smile and glanced at Ilianna. “Are you and Mirri still having dinner with your parents tonight?”

Mirri was Ilianna’s girlfriend, though like many mares she was bisexual rather than just a lesbian like Ilianna. She was also very open about her sexuality, whereas Ilianna kept hers a closely guarded secret—at least where her parents were concerned. She and Mirri had been in a steady relationship for a while now, but it was only very recently that Ilianna had acceded to Mirri’s requests to meet her parents—as friends, nothing more.