Forged in Fire (36 page)

Deidre woke me up a couple of hours later. The kids had all sacked out in front of the television, though it was off. Katie sat at the kitchen table with her head on her arms, fast asleep.

“I think you should take her home,” she said, pointing to Katie. “She needs some loving.”

I sat up, stretching and yawning. “Well, as tempting as that sounds, I can’t leave Jai Li overnight without being here myself. Besides, it’s safer here.”

Deidre had her arms crossed and, I realized, was wearing Jimmy’s shirt.

“The kids will be fine here. You and Katie need a night alone. She’s been missing you. Jai Li is fine here. She’s enjoying herself. Go home and rock Katie’s world. Make some noise, break some furniture. I have a feeling it may be awhile before you get this chance again.”

She had a point, though I was hesitant to admit it. Still, all things being equal, I wanted some quality alone time with Katie.

I got up, stepping over drooling troll babies, and squatted by Jai Li. I brushed her hair, and she rolled over, blinking up at me. “Hey,” I said, smiling at her. “Katie and I need to go to our apartment for a while. Do you want to go with me, or would you like to stay here with the other kids?”

She reached up and touched the side of my face, then pointed to her chest and then to mine.

“Yes, I love you,” I said. It was a powerful thing to say, but I realized it was as true as my love for Katie, if different on almost every level.

She nodded, patted me on the arm, and rolled back over, pulling the blankets over her head.

“There you go,” Deidre said. “Free and clear. Now please take Katie home and do things to her I don’t want to know about. She’s too wound up.”

“What, are you her pimp now?”

Deidre chuckled and rolled her chair back, turning it toward the kitchen. “Come on, sleepyhead,” she said, bumping into Katie’s chair. “Time to go.”

Katie sat up and looked around, dazed. “What?”

I walked into the kitchen and stroked her hair. “We’re leaving Jai Li here and heading home,” I said.

“No,” she said, rubbing her face. “We have responsibilities.”

“Yes,” I said, eyeing Deidre. “And tonight our responsibility is to go home and have some grown-up time.”

“She’ll be fine here,” Deidre said. “Sarah already cleared it with her.”

Katie looked at me, then looked into the living room, where the kids were all sacked out. “They’ll be up half the night at this rate.”

“Don’t you worry about it,” Deidre said. “Go home.”

I grabbed our overnight bags and headed out to the truck. When I got back in, Katie had her shoes on and was hugging Deidre. “Call if something comes up.”

Deidre shooed her out of the house, and we ran to the truck through freshly falling snow.

The long driveway already had a couple inches of snow from the night before, but the way the snow was blowing sideways, it looked to add a few more before long.

We stopped on the way home. I picked up flowers, candles, and wine, while Katie picked up some bread, salami, olives, and cheese. The ride from Bellevue to Kent crawled by in a haze of anticipation and snow. The flurries were brutal, cutting visibility and turning the other drivers into complete idiots.

Luckily, at this elevation, the snow wasn’t sticking. We got home long after dark, and we were both starving. Lunch had been way too long ago.

We carried our supplies into the apartment and turned up the heat. We hadn’t been home for a few days, and the place had that abandoned feeling.

Katie took the food into the kitchen and cut up the bread, salami, and cheese, while I cut the flowers down and placed them in these small vases Katie had. Soon I had a dozen bright points of flowers scattered around the room.

Katie went through the bedroom and took a shower while I lit all the candles. It was the winter solstice—the longest night of the year—and I wanted to fill every dark moment with Katie.

I put Led Zeppelin’s
Physical Graffiti
on the stereo and poured two glasses of wine. She came out in nothing but a bathrobe. Her hair fell down over her shoulders, and she’d put on a touch of makeup. I handed her a glass of wine and sipped my own. She drained the glass in one long pull, sat the glass on the bar, and let her bathrobe fall to the floor.

She reached out and took my glass of wine, dipped a finger in it, and traced it down her throat and across her left breast. I didn’t interrupt her, just watched her play. She dipped her finger in the wine again and drew dark swirls around her aureoles, then tipped the glass against her chest, dribbling it over her breasts and down her belly.

I leaned forward and licked the side of her neck, tracing the path of the wine. She grabbed the back of my head as I licked my way across her breasts, taking first one, then the other in my mouth, nibbling and suckling until her nipples were hard as stones.

Her breathing was coming in shorter gasps as I kissed my way down her stomach and swirled my tongue in her navel to get all the wine. Finally, I trailed my kisses lower, thrilling at the smoothness, tasting the way the tang of the wine mingled with the slick wet heat of her.

She leaned back against the bar as I grabbed her with both hands, pulling her tight against me until she filled the apartment with the guttural cries of release.

Afterward, we danced to “Kashmir” and made out like teenagers. She pulled my clothes from me as the song’s rhythmic pulse bore into us, driving us to the next round of passion.

I surrendered to her need, letting her drive the show. We made love with a fevered urgency that spoke of both fear and release. We finished a second bottle of wine, fed each other to keep up our strength, and filled the world with our exaltations.

The long black of the world slid away to the light of passion and love. I didn’t care that a predator hunted me. I was safe with the woman I loved, naked and satiated. At least until the food was gone and the passions flared into the next inferno.

Sixty-one

T
risha sat up, the memory of passion echoing from her dream. Justin sat before her, dressed in leather and pain.

“Are you ready for the power?” he asked, tapping a thin bladed dagger against his naked thigh. “Ready to embrace the raw strength you so crave?”

She hesitated, caught between the feeling of utter helplessness and the intoxicating allure of power. “I’ll be strong?” she asked, eagerly. “Strong enough to protect them, protect the children?”

Justin grinned at her. “Stronger than you can imagine.”

She looked down at her naked body, the ropes criss-crossing her most intimate points. He had given her so much already, passion and love. And she’d seen him bring the doves back to life, seen him work the blood magic. She knew he reveled in giving pain, but she didn’t care. At least when he cut her she could feel something.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t hear you.”

She straightened as far as the ropes would allow and spoke with a surety of purpose that she’d lacked since Bob and Chloe had been killed by the giants.

“I need the power,” she said, her voice growing firmer. “I want it; I deserve it.”

He rose, bringing the blade to her. “Yes, I think it is time.”

“We must do one more thing,” he said, cutting the binding from her hands. “One more step on your path to transformation.” He held his hand out, helping her to stand. “Will you take that next step with me?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling. “Lead me to glory.”

They tended her cuts and dressed. He grabbed a pack from behind his bed while she tied her shoes. “This will be a night beyond your wildest dreams, this much I promise you.”

She felt the thrill of the unknown rush through her.

They left his apartment in Sultan and got in her car. “Where to?” she asked him.

“Take me to your home,” he said, patting her on the thigh. “The most powerful magic can be found there.”

At his touch a wave of warmth flooded her, easing the last of the worry. He’d take care of things.

Deidre had the twins for the weekend and the rest of her crew was out of town. The other units would either be on duty or in transition. She could sneak him into her place easily enough.

The drive from Sultan to Black Briar wasn’t really that far. The roads were getting bad, though, so she took it slow and careful. He seemed impatient, frustrated by the delay. She wanted to please him—for him to be happy. Something niggled the edges of her brain. Why did they have to sneak into Black Briar? Why were her thoughts sliding out of focus?

She breathed a sigh of relief when the long drive to Black Briar came into view. She turned onto it, slowing on the gravel. They’d gone about thirty yards down the long drive when Justin spasmed.

He beat the dashboard with fists. “Stop!”

She slammed on the brakes and the car sluiced to the side, skidding on the snow. Justin rolled out of the car and stumbled back up the drive. He fell to his knees and vomited.

Trisha threw the car in park and ran to him, leaving the doors open and the car running.

“Justin?” she called to him over the bitter wind. She fell to her knees at his side, placing her arm over his heaving shoulders.

“Protected,” he gasped, pushing himself up onto his hands and knees. She helped him stand, and he regained a bit of composure.

Her thoughts were muddy. What was protected? “I don’t understand.”

“Watch,” he said. He reached into a pocket and withdrew a bit of ash, flicking it into the air. “Dust of the grave,” he told her.

A barrier crackled in front of them. The car was parked just on this side. “If I’d gone any further, I’d have been killed.”

She looked at him, confused. “Why would the farm be protected from you? You aren’t a threat to anyone here.”

“Stranger,” he said, coughing. “I’m unknown and I have power. The protection sees me as a threat.”

Trisha hugged her arms to her chest, shivering in the wind. “What can we do?”

“I need to find a break in the fence,” he said, pacing east along the road. “There is something nearby, a booster of some sort.”

After a few more feet he stopped and picked up a rock. “There,” he said, pointing. He threw the rock, and it struck a snow-covered post about two feet high and as thick as his wrist. “That is one of the nodes.”

He turned to her, took her hand in his. “How badly do you want this?”

She looked from him, then to the post. If that protected Black Briar, then it kept her family safe. But he loved her. She’d given more than her body to him. If she couldn’t trust him, then she had no reason to live.

“What do I do?”

“This is crude,” he said, “but it is effective.” He lowered his trousers and squatted in the snow. She didn’t turn away.

He stood after a minute, buckling his pants. “Take that,” he said, pointing to the steaming pile he’d left behind. “Smear it on the post, making sure to cover the top especially.”

She looked at him, then down to his refuse. “Seriously?”

He grabbed her by the shoulder. “You clean diapers; you wipe up shit every day. Are you going to let something this minor stand between you and your rightful transformation?”

“Of course not.”

The feces acted as a short in the system. The post shook for a moment, and she backed away just before it burst into flames.

“Excellent,” he said, stepping toward the burning post. “I can work with this.” He stepped past the barrier and walked several yards toward the house.

Trisha wiped her hands in the snow, scrubbing them with great handfuls of the thick, wet slush.

“Let’s go,” Justin said, stepping back onto the drive.

Trisha jogged back to the car and got in. “If it’s all the same to you,” she said, putting the car in gear and pulling the door shut. “I’m still gonna wash my hands when we get to the barracks.”

They parked the car between the big house and the road. It was after dark, but probably no later than nine. The night had a long time to run. She led him to the barracks, where she cleaned up and then grabbed a camping kit, including sleeping bags and a tent.

The barracks were emptier than usual with the twins up at the big house. She wanted to see them, to kiss them good night, but she knew she needed to do this thing. To be able to protect them was paramount.

Justin paused at the burned-out barn as they made their way to the back of the farm. “There is power here,” he said, marveling at the ashen ruins and the way they looked with the snow driving down around them.

“The snow won’t stick to the wood,” Trisha said. “Too hot still.”

“Truly?” he said, stepping forward and reaching his hand out to the gaping doorway into ruined barn. “I can feel the energy that lingers here. I can feel the echo of his power.” He stared, sightless for a moment, and she waited, giving him the moment he so obviously needed. Strange that this should hold his attention. Was he enthralled by the dragon taint?

After a bit, he shook himself and looked at her, smiling. “So much power to be had,” he said. “You have no idea.”