hidden talents (18 page)

“You sure your boy should be doing this?” he rasped. “He doesn"t look so hot.”

Not surprisingly, no one bothered to answer him.

The air within the light-door darkened and rippled. Adam smelled the tang of eucalyptus oil and sulfur. True to lore, sulfur rarely signified pleasant guests.

Crap
, he thought. He did not want to die tonight, not when he"d finally found his twin flame.

In spite of his situation, his thoughts shocked him. He"d tried to deny what Ari was to him as superstitious nonsense, or as something too rare and fine for a down to earth wolf like him. Maybe he"d been afraid to hope for what his parents had. Maybe he"d thought he didn"t deserve it. Now, as he faced his death, those denials were stripped from him.

Ari was the mate to his spirit. Given a choice, he"d have chosen her. She was the whole package: brains, heart, a body that made him ache just to think about being holding it. How many cops would have been as good an undercover partner as she was? Nate was the best he knew, and Ari was nearly as quick-witted. Yes, she could have blown it big-time when she"d charged Darius to save Grant, but that just proved how brave and decent she was.

The only thing that could have made him prouder than loving her would be having her love him back.

He"d never know whether that could happen if he bit it tonight.

Cuz
, he thought,
your timing could be better
.

“Who summons me?” uttered a voice like doom itself. The spink demon

would have shivered had he been there, and that guy"s voice rivaled James Earl Jones.

“"tis I, Henry the Eunuch,” Blackwater answered formally.

A head materialized in the gloom of the door. The demon wasn"t hideous, merely foreign, its skin the color of indigo. Scarcely any flesh lay between its skin and skull, giving it a starved appearance. It had two large dark eyes, one sharp nose, and a wide lipless mouth full of white pointy teeth. Its ears were holes and its scalp was hairless. Black veins branched in strangely graceful trees through its dark blue skin. Though Adam had seen stranger creatures, he couldn"t recall feeling worse. This demon radiated malevolence and hunger, even through the protective wards. It made Adam glad Francis appeared to know what he was doing.

It also made him wish Francis didn"t currently look like Death warmed over.

“Where is my payment?” the demon asked.

“It"s almost ready,” Blackwater said with admirable sang-froid. “Only a few details remain to put in place.”

“You"re cutting it a little close,” the demon observed. “You know what I"ll take instead if I don"t get it by your full moon.”

“I am aware,” Blackwater said, bowing.

The demon"s use of slang sent unease skittering down Adam"s spine.

Blackwater must have been summoning it for a while, long enough that it had become familiar with their realm, long enough that it probably hoped to gain entry. Call Adam crazy, but he didn"t think this particular demon could meet the Department of Immigration"s qualifications for a work visa.

“In the meantime,” Blackwater continued, still in his bowed posture, “I thought you might accept a token of my respect.”

As Blackwater waved toward Adam, the demon seemed to notice other

people were in the room outside its portal. Its eyes narrowed and its nostrils flared. The latter worried Adam more than the former.

If a non-were knew what to look for, it was possible to identify a were by smell. Once a year, at their annual checkup, Adam and his detectives had a spell renewed to reduce the chance of that happening. So many wolves went into police work that being “sniffed out” - as it was called - was tantamount to flashing their badges.

Fortunately, the demon either couldn"t read his underlying nature or didn"t think it worth mentioning. A long blue tongue flicked out of its toothy mouth.

“There in the chains?” it asked.

Blackwater confirmed the guess.

“It looks strong,” the demon said, an extra huskiness entering its voice. “You could hurt it quite a bit without it losing consciousness.”

Blackwater straightened, relaxing now that his gift had been accepted. “I shall endeavor to please,” he said.

Again, the blue tongue licked out. “Your magician must cut a hole in the portal. So the pain can flow in.”

“He will cut a small one,” Blackwater said.

“Not too small.”

The demon was panting now, which caused Blackwater to smile as he turned toward Adam. “Do it,” he said in a low aside to Francis, who was hollow-eyed and sweating. “But no larger than the last time.”

Blackwater took the cat tails to Adam with his own hand, whipping him as firmly he would any strong human. Though skilled, he seemed unmoved by the procedure, neither hating nor loving it. Adam supposed the Eunuch"s sadistic bent was more psychological. The same could not be said of the demon. Its enjoyment of Adam"s pain, as it drank it through the coin-sized hole in the portal, was unabashedly sexual. It moaned when Adam did, though for different reasons.

When Blackwater laid one final lash across Adam"s nipples, the demon groaned like it was coming.

“Again,” it pleaded, its breathing harsher than Adam"s. “Do that to it again.”

“I don"t think that would be wise,” Blackwater cautioned. “You might

become overly excited and forget your judgment before your peers.”

The demon snarled, baring its many sharp white teeth. It stopped after a moment and shook itself in a distinctly animal fashion. Evidently, Blackwater had chosen the right warning, though he might not want to hold his breath waiting to be thanked.

“You are cleverness itself,” the demon said, and it didn"t sound like a compliment. “Next time, Henry the Eunuch, you"d better bring the pureheart with you.”

Ari had paced so much she"d gotten tired of it. She was sitting with her knees clasped to her chest in the corner opposite the door when it swung open.

Darius and a guard she hadn"t seen before dragged Adam in between them.

Adam was moaning softly, his head lolling. His shirt was so red that for a second she thought he"d been given a different one.

Realizing he hadn"t, Ari leaped to her feet. “What did you do to him?”

The guards lowered Adam to his back on the bare futon, more or less

carefully. His shirt was in ribbons. His bloodied skin had made her think it was new color. His jeans weren"t as ripped up, but the denim was black and wet. She didn"t know what had happened to his glasses. Then she noticed he wasn"t moaning any more.

“Oh my God,” she said. A terror like none she"d ever felt gripped her. Her parents kicking her out when she was seventeen hadn"t been this bad. If Adam died ... If she lost him ...

Darius cut through her panic. “The boss is careful about this stuff. He won"t die.”

“You mean he won"t die tonight,” she exclaimed angrily. “When the Eunuch wants him to, he will.”

Darius didn"t avoid her gaze, though his expression was impassive. “If your friend will let you, wash out his wounds. You don"t want them to get infected.”

He turned and walked to the door with the other man. Ari ran to the futon where Adam lay.

“Bring blankets,” she snapped at the departing guards. “He could go into shock. And he"ll need clean clothes to wear.”

The door shut without either man responding. Ari pressed her hands to her mouth.

“"s okay,” Adam rasped in a rough whisper. “Only whipped me as hard ... as an ordinary man.”

Ari laughed a little hysterically. As long as it had been an
ordinary
whipping, that was all right. At the sound of her choked amusement, Adam worked his eyes open. His pupils were contracted, his soft green irises brighter than normal. Ari was afraid to touch him.

“What can I do? I don"t know first aid.”

“The blankets were a good idea.”

Ari swiped at her damp cheeks. “They do that for people on TV.”

He smiled at her, his head turning slightly on the futon. “Take my hand. That part of me doesn"t hurt.”

His wrists must have. They were bruised from yanking hard at something.

“Did they chain you?”

“I let them.” He squeezed her fingers. “Didn"t ... want to give the game away.”

He"d done this for her, so she wouldn"t be left in danger if he escaped. More tears rolled from the corners of her eyes. Adam tried to lift his hand to them but winced. “Ari, you don"t have to cry for me.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “I"ll stop any second now.”

His smile made her feel like her ribs were being squeezed. “God, I love you,”

he said.

That shocked her into drying up. Her breath caught in a hiccup. The only people who"d ever told her that were Max and Sarah. Her parents hadn"t even said it to each other.

“I -” she said, then had to close her mouth.

“I know,” he soothed. “Sometimes it"s hard to say.”

“I like you,” she said, unaccountably defensive. “A lot.”

“I know.” His smile broadened.

This was ridiculous. She wasn"t going to discuss her feelings while he was lying there bleeding. A knock sounded on the door. She jumped up and went to it, reaching for the knob before she remembered there wasn"t one. When it opened, Darius handed a stack of blankets and clothes to her. An orange prescription bottle sat on top.

“The pills help fight infection,” he said.

Ari gaped at him.

“It"s all I can do. If the boss decides to kill him, that"s going to be that.”

The spink sounded as defensive as she had. He pulled the door toward

himself. “Thank you,” she said before it shut.

She walked back to Adam in a daze. His eyes were closed, and he was

breathing more deeply, but not as if he were sleeping. His big chest went in and out like he was trying to calm himself.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Pain"s kicking in. I think ... you could take me into the shower.”

She hardly knew where to grab him to help him up, but somehow she

managed it. “You"re burning up,” she said as he leaned heavily on her. It had to be a were thing. He was way hotter than a fever could account for.

“Uh-huh,” he said, his jaw gritting. “Think I need cold water.”

They were at the little bathroom"s threshold when he bent forward and

groaned alarmingly. Was Darius wrong? Had Blackwater unintentionally injured something crucial?

“Shit,” Adam gasped, one arm clutched around his stomach. “Get me in there and shut the door.”

She got him in and lowered him to sit on the rim of the tiny tub. Her fear that his answers might be direr than she could handle kept her questions inside. He started to undress, which seemed stupid to her, seeing that he was in pain.

“All right,” she said when he wouldn"t stop. “Just let me take over.”

He let her remove his shoes and peel off the scraps of his shirt, a process that made her suck in her breath more than once. He was stoic compared to her. When she reached for the waist button of his jeans, his bowed head lifted.

His green eyes glowed like they had lasers behind them.

“Oh God,” she breathed. His canine teeth had slid out, and she didn"t think the reason was arousal. “Adam, are you going to ...”

She trailed off. She didn"t know if the watching spells were on, or if they worked in here. She guessed the room"s anti-spelling wards wouldn"t stop this particular form of magic. What would happen if he turned into his wolf? Would he try to eat her?”

He panted, and it didn"t sound quite human. Perhaps he heard the strangeness as well. He swallowed, fighting back the transformation. “My body ... wants to,”

he said, low and gravelly. “I"d heal faster if I did. Just -” He screwed his eyes shut, some invisible force seeming to roll through him. “Just turn on the cold water. The urge will ... ease off if I cool down.”

Ari rose and turned on the spray, figuring this would be faster than running a cold bath.

“Are we being watched?” she asked as low as she could. Since he clearly couldn"t stand, she helped him sit in his jeans on the tub bottom.

Adam hissed in a breath as the icy water hit the wounds in his chest. The streams were pink where they ran off him. He shook his head tightly. “Not here.

Not now.”

“Then maybe you should, you know, let yourself go.”

He jackknifed forward like a pregnant woman having a contraction. Muscles moved beside his spine that really shouldn"t have been there. “No,” he said once he"d stopped groaning.

“Are you, um, afraid you"d eat me?”

He laughed in spite of his agony. “I wouldn"t do that. I"m still me inside my wolf form. The problem is the moon isn"t full. It"d take too long to turn back. We can"t afford for me to be outed. Werewolf equals cop for most people.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well.”

He opened his eyes, the last of his spasm seeming to have passed. His canines were still longer than normal, but his eyes weren"t glowing. “Talk to me,” he said.

“Give me a distraction.”

The threat of being eaten might have been preferable. “Um, does changing form usually hurt?”

“No.” His fingers gripped the tub"s rim. “When the moon lends its power, it happens very naturally.”

“So a little kid like Ethan isn"t going to be writhing around in pain?”

Adam"s nailbeds whitened. “Ari, this might not be the best topic to calm me down.”

“What should I talk about then?” she asked.

He leaned gingerly back against the tub"s sloped end. “Tell me a story from when you were little. Maybe how you found out you had your gift.”

The shower had washed his dark hair in front of his eyes. Ari reached out to stroke it back. Because this seemed to soothe him, she kept it up. “I was four or so. I"d been misbehaving, and my mother took away this little stuffed dog I had. I made it float back to me. She screamed like she was auditioning for
Saw XII
.”

“Mm,” Adam said, his eyes closed now. “Then what?”

“I didn"t use my gift again until I was six. I think my mother convinced herself she"d imagined it, but that time my father saw it too. My parents were ...

religious, but not in a nice way. Uptight religious. They said I had the devil"s mark on me. They ordered me not to do it anymore or they"d send me away.”