djinn wars 04 - broken (21 page)

During this exchange, Julia had remained silent, eyes flickering back and forth between the two djinn while they traded verbal volleys. Now, however, she crossed her arms and said, “What, were you involved with this woman, Zahrias?”

Voice even, he replied, “It was very long ago.” Yes, so long ago that he had lain in Lyanna’s arms even before a certain star was seen above Bethlehem….

Julia angled a glance up at Qadim. “Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Then why now?” she asked. “All this maneuvering…all these people dead.
Why?
”

A good question. Zahrias held himself still and waited to hear what Qadim had to say — if he even deigned to answer her at all. He always had excelled at evasion.

But then Qadim turned toward Julia. Once again he reached out to touch a strand of her hair. This time she flinched visibly, but she held her ground, sky-colored eyes fixed on the djinn who stood so uncomfortably close. Looking at her, Zahrias could only admire her spirit, even when facing down one who possessed so much power.

“‘Why’?” Qadim repeated. “I should think that would be clear enough. Lyanna has never forgiven him for hurting her so many years ago, but her jealousy was never aroused before now, because he never truly bestowed his heart on another.”

“What about the other mortal woman he was with? Evangeline?”

At hearing that name on Julia’s lips, Zahrias wanted to flinch himself. That was a chapter in his life which had done so much damage, partly because he had never admitted to himself the real truth of his heart. He had cared for Evangeline, thought her beautiful and high-spirited and witty, but when he first brought her into his life, he had not understood that those high spirits hid an emptiness within, an emptiness that must always be filled by those around her. And when she truly realized that she would not always be surrounded by those who fulfilled her every whim and praised her beauty, that she must constantly be on the move so the secret of her long life would not be discovered, she had decided she did not wish to endure such an existence.
You love me,
she had told him once.
But not enough, I fear.

And the next day she was dead, overdosed on the laudanum she’d insisted on taking to soothe her nerves.

After she was gone, he mourned her loss, even as he cursed his stupidity for not understanding that she lacked the capacity to cleave to one person and one person only. And ever since then, he had made sure to lock his heart away, to perhaps have an encounter here or there that would slake his physical needs, but nothing more. He had not allowed himself to care for anyone.

Until Julia.

“A sad affair,” Qadim said. “But Lyanna knew that Evangeline was not a real threat. Zahrias cared for her, but he did not truly give her his heart. And when the mortal woman took her own life, Lyanna thought he would not risk such an alliance again. However, that changed when he met you, did it not?”

Julia hesitated, glancing over at Zahrias before she looked up again into Qadim’s face. “I think you’ve done a lot of damage based on some very flimsy evidence. Zahrias and I weren’t together. We never discussed the possibility of being together. We didn’t even — ” Her words broke off there, while a flush tinged her cheeks.

No doubt she had been about to say that they hadn’t even kissed until a few days ago. True enough. But Zahrias had spent the better part of six months attempting to forget about her. He thought he had done a good enough job of hiding his preoccupation, but apparently not. Jasreel had conjectured that Qadim must have a spy hidden among the djinn in Santa Fe. That seemed to be the case, for anyone observing their leader must have known something was amiss, that he appeared a little too interested in the news coming out of Los Alamos, that he listened intently whenever Jessica commented on her conversations with Julia Innes. Such attention would have seemed strange, since otherwise the two communities had very little to do with one another.

“No, you ‘didn’t even,’” Qadim said then, an amused glint in his dark eyes. “But it was still enough. And when you did, two nights ago — well, that was all the confirmation we needed.”

“How on earth could you know about that?” she demanded, her blush deepening. “It was only the two of us — no one could have seen — ”

Hearing her outrage, Zahrias felt himself go cold. Yes, they had been alone, or had thought they were. Perhaps he should have sensed the presence of another of his kind, but he had been focused completely on Julia. The spy — whoever he or she was — could very well have witnessed the impassioned kiss they shared.

But not, apparently, the quarrel that followed. Perhaps the spy had fled once he had the final piece of evidence he needed to pass on to Lyanna.

“Someone could have,” Zahrias said evenly. Julia’s eyes widened, and he went on, “Very well, Qadim. So my association with Julia Innes roused Lyanna’s sleeping jealousy. You still have not told me what she wants, what we must do to bring an end to all this.”

“As to that — ” Qadim paused then, and gave a negligent lift of his shoulders. “Why, she wants you, of course.”

Zahrias felt them before he saw them, at least ten djinn, breaking into this world through the veil that separated it from the elemental plane. They burst into existence all around him, bringing with them their weapons of earth and water, smothering any flame he summoned against them. He knew he was drowning, blackness forcing itself upon his eyes.

The last thing he saw was Qadim’s gloating smile, and the last thing he heard was Julia’s scream, echoing forever in his ears.

Chapter Eleven

This couldn’t be happening. One moment, Zahrias was there, features almost preternaturally calm as he attempted to negotiate with Qadim, and in the next, he was surrounded by djinn she had never seen before, djinn who must have been water and earth elementals, judging by the geyser that erupted out of the ground, drowning the flames he attempted to summon, quenching his fire, even as a tornado of dirt spun around him, blinking him out of existence.

A scream tore itself from Julia’s throat, and she flung herself forward, going to the spot where Zahrias had disappeared. But then Qadim’s hand clamped down on her arm, and he pulled her back toward him.

“He is gone,” the djinn murmured in her ear, breath hot in contrast to the cool morning air.

Julia shuddered. “Let go of me.”

To her surprise, he did release her, although he did so while wearing a slow, hateful smile, as if to indicate that he could seize her again whenever he pleased. She stepped away at once, bicep aching where he’d grabbed her. But that was nothing compared to the ache in her heart, the pain of realizing that Zahrias had been stolen from her.

“Where did they take him?”

“Back to our world, of course. To my sister. You will never see him again, I fear.”

She didn’t want to believe that. Qadim was only telling her what he knew would hurt her the most. But….

Zahrias was powerful, but even he couldn’t have prevailed against a dozen djinn, especially those whose powers were so completely opposite his. Which meant he would probably have a difficult time getting away.

Even so, she put aside her doubt and worry, and said, “You’re wrong. He’ll escape somehow. He’ll come back to me.”

“You are worth coming back to, that is for certain.” Qadim regarded her for a moment, the amused glint in his eyes fading. In fact, he appeared almost regretful. “But I fear I must leave you now as well. I must make sure that all is going as planned, back in that other world.”

Despite her anger and her fear, Julia couldn’t help experiencing a faint flush of hope, followed by a mixture of worry and curiosity. If Qadim was going to that strange plane where the djinn dwelled, at least it meant he couldn’t remain here to torment her. But what would be happening to Zahrias in the meantime?

He must have seen the torment in her expression, because he chuckled and added, “But I will not be gone forever, my lovely. Have no doubt that I will return.”

Before she could react, he came to her, pulling her toward him so he could press his mouth against hers. She resisted at once, hands pushing against his chest, twisting her face away to break the contact with his lips.

For some reason, he didn’t stop her, although he did not let go of her arms. Face only a scant few inches from hers — breath incongruously scented with coffee — he said, “In time, you will not fight against me. But for now….”

In that instant, he was gone. Julia found herself pushing back against empty air, against the space that only a second ago had been filled with Qadim’s all-too-solid form. She whirled, looking around, thinking this must be a new way for him to torment her, but it did seem that he truly had disappeared. Gone back to his own world — to oversee the delivery of Zahrias to his sister, no doubt.

Tears stung Julia’s eyes, but she blinked them away. Now was not the time for weakness. She had to get back to Santa Fe and let everyone know what had happened to their leader. Surely they’d be able to come up with some sort of plan to rescue him.

Except…Zahrias had made it sound as if one of them was a spy. Had to be, for how else could Qadim’s sister, this Lyanna, have known enough for her to act on?

Think, Julia,
she told herself sternly.
What now?

If nothing else, she had to get out of here.

Her gaze fell on Margolis’ black pickup truck. Okay, she had transportation. Or would, once she found the keys. Hot-wiring a car was not included in her repertoire of useful skills.

She went over to the truck, hoping against hope that Margolis had been careless and had left the keys inside, since no one was around to steal the vehicle. But she should have known better. He was far too paranoid to have left them in the ignition, or tucked up into one of the sun visors.

God,
she thought then.
What if the keys were in one of his pockets when Qadim blinked his body right out of existence?

That would truly suck.

No, she wouldn’t allow herself to give up so easily. She hadn’t seen much of the house besides the bedroom where she’d been sleeping, the dining room, and the kitchen and adjoining family room. Margolis must have had his own space in there somewhere. She just had to figure out which bedroom was his.

It seemed that Qadim must have been here for at least a little while, because the master bedroom had several of his dark silky robes hanging in the closet, and the bed was rumpled, as if he’d slept there. Did djinn sleep, exactly? She had no idea, but this bed definitely looked as if it had been used. Looking at it made her shiver, though. Would she have ended up in there if she hadn’t been able to resist Qadim’s djinn glamour?

Recalling the sensation of his mouth on hers, she wanted to shudder. But he was gone — at least for now — and the worst hadn’t happened. She just had to make damn sure she was nowhere near here whenever he did decide to come back.

A small, square object sitting on the dresser caught her eye. She went closer and realized it was the device Margolis had taken from her wrecked Suburban. Apparently Qadim hadn’t trusted him with it. Well, she wouldn’t have, either, if she’d been in his position. She wouldn’t have put it past Margolis to use the device against the djinn and therefore be allowed free access to her. But Qadim had forestalled that eventuality.

And now neither one of them was around to keep her from using it. The device could come in handy if Qadim decided to return before she was able to vacate the premises. Going to the dresser, she picked up the innocuous-looking box, and then headed out to inspect the rest of the property.

The other bedroom upstairs looked completely unused, as if it had been left vacant even when the previous owners of the house lived here. Maybe it was a guest room. It did have a bed and a dresser, but the closet was empty, as were all the drawers in the nightstands and the one dresser.

So where the hell had Margolis holed up?

Julia descended the stairs and began exploring the ground floor. The only thing past the dining room was the living room, which didn’t look as if anyone had been in there lately. Dust covered everything — dust that was conspicuously absent in the other rooms she’d seen so far. Retracing her steps, she headed back to the family room, noting that a hallway led off the opposite side of the chamber.