Lost (34 page)

The desire to
push past her and avoid the logical conclusion of this fight was
strong, but I forced the words out that needed to be said.

"What if I
had another way? What if there was someone else who could come take
Onyx down. I could get them down here faster than you would believe.
Do you trust me enough to leave the enclave with me and go back to
New Orleans?"

She looked at
me for several long seconds. I could see that she wanted to believe
just as badly as I wanted her to believe, but in the end she shook
her head.

"Maybe
you're right. Maybe the answer is just to call Alec up and have him
take away all of our problems, but I just can't believe it will work.
That sounds like a fairytale, and my life doesn't have room for
fairytales. I trust
you
, Isaac, not somebody a thousand miles
away who I've never met. You will do the right thing because it's who
you are. I just need you to win one more fight for me and then this
will be all over."

"I'm
sorry, Celeste, but I'm not going to be the reason that Set dies. The
longer we stay here the less likely it is that Set can talk himself
out of the pickle that we've put him in. I leave tomorrow morning,
and I'll be taking Ash and Kristin with me. I doubt that Set and the
others will let you stay here without us, so I think you should pack
tonight."

Her hand came
up almost like she was going to slap me, but in the end she just
turned and ran out of my room.

I would have
liked to stay and pack, but there was something I had to do first. I
picked my phone up off of the stone shelf where I'd left it, and
headed outside as I waited for it to finish powering on.

No sooner did
it finish coming up than it started vibrating with an incoming call.
I didn't recognize the number, but I didn't have anything to lose by
answering it, so I clicked the accept button.

"Who is
this?"

"Ah, that
was what I was going to ask you. Wait, are you reading my mind?"

The voice on
the other end of the line was female and she sounded flirty and
cheerful. It took me a second to realize why I was having a hard time
placing her. I'd never heard Rachel sound like this, but it was
definitely Rachel.

"Rach, is
that you?"

"I don't
know—which Isaac am I talking to?"

I wanted to
throw my phone into the side of the cliff. I wasn't in the mood for
more of Rachel's crazy delusions, but I forced a measure of calm into
my voice.

"It's me,
Isaac Nazir. Does Alec know where you are?"

"Well duh.
Of course it's Isaac Nazir, but which Isaac Nazir am I talking to?"

"It's me
Rachel, you only know one Isaac. Where are you? I'll call Alec and he
can have someone pick you up within a few hours."

"Why would
I want to do that, Isaac Nazir? The flowers are so lovely this time
of year."

Something about
the way she said my name sent shivers racing up my spine. It was
still Rachel's voice, but the inflection and cadence was a perfect
match for Set.

"Why did
you say that, Rachel? Who have you been talking to?"

"I said it
because you assured me that there was only one Isaac Nazir. I haven't
been so sure lately, but you promised, so I'm willing to take you on
faith. Wait, I'm still talking to you, aren't I?"

It took me a
second to follow the twisty almost-logic that she seemed to be using,
and by the time I'd decided that she really was just talking nonsense
I'd missed my chance to get a word in edgewise.

"I hear
you're back on the market, so I wanted to make a run at you early
on—you know, before all of the girls started lining up."

"Rach,
you've lost me again."

"You
are
back on the market aren't you? You know—knight-errantry, dragon
slaying, maiden rescuing, all that? Is it still knight-errantry if
you slay the dragon before they actually threaten the maiden?"

"Rachel
Graves, you really need to tell me where you are so that someone can
go get you. You're not well."

"Oh,
that's a good one. Is the disease still bad if it hasn't hurt you
yet? I like that one even better. Do butterflies get sick?"

"Rachel, I
can't keep talking to you if you're not going to make sense. Are you
going to let me help you or not?"

"I don't
know, Isaac. Are you going to let me help you?"

"Probably
not. I don't think you can get me out of this particular problem."

"Hmm, I
think I'd like to withdraw my request for your hand. There are other
maidens who are ready to let me help them. Don't worry though, it's
not you, it's me…or whatever the kids are saying these days."

That actually
made me laugh. "I thought that I was the knight and you were the
maiden."

"It's all
relative, Isaac. If you want to be the knight then be the knight, but
don't come running to me complaining that you're getting saddle-sore
and your armor is too hot and heavy."

There was
something there buried underneath all of the flirting, but before I
could latch onto it and give it the analysis it deserved, Rachel
sighed.

"Sorry,
Isaac. It looks like it's time for me to go. We really could have
been great together, but try not to let it get you down too much.
Some things just aren't meant to be. Tell Alec and Adri hi for me."

She hung up
before I could respond and I was left looking at my phone in
bemusement. The old Rachel never would have managed to dominate a
conversation so completely. Maybe being crazy had some benefits after
all. It meant everyone was too busy trying to figure out what you
were saying to actually get a word in edgewise.

I shook myself
and then dialed the number that I'd been planning on calling in the
first place. I was hoping against hope that Alec had listened to my
voicemail and forgiven me for being so erratic lately, but once again
he didn't pick up.

"Hey,
Alec. If you get this I really need to talk to you. I…well, I
guess I need a favor. I know I don't have any right to ask you for
anything, but there it is. Ash, Kristin and I are all down in New
Orleans and things are every bit as bad as Ash kept telling us they
were.

"This Onyx
guy is seriously bad news and I'm not sure that anyone but you can
stop him. I would if I could, but I can't. I'm in over my head. I'd
just pack up and go home, but that wouldn't be right. It would hurt
people I care about."

Once again, it
was even harder to do this kind of thing via message than I'd thought
it would be. In person Alec was pretty forgiving and understanding,
but this way I didn't have any of the verbal or nonverbal clues that
would have told me that I was getting through to him.

Apparently in
my imagination Alec was even more remote and unforgiving than he'd
been back when he and Adri had been on the outs.

"I guess
that's it. If you won't do it for me, can you at least come down for
Ash? You said you'd be willing to come down if Celeste and the
submissives in the pack wanted an out. She wants an out now, but we
will need your help. Even Grayson or Jaclyn wouldn't be enough to dig
us out of this hole.

"Oh, and
Rachel called me. I'll text you her number in a second. I tried to
get her to tell me where she was, but she refused. I'd get online and
look it up myself, but I don't have internet access right now."

I couldn't help
the chuckle that escaped me. "I know right? Who would have
thought I could survive for more than a few hours without some kind
of access to the rest of the world? I guess some things do change
after all. Please give me a call as soon as you can. I need to make
some decisions and knowing that you're going to be able to come down
and put Onyx down would make some of them easier."

I hung up and
powered my phone down. Jax was still asleep and Celeste ducked into
her bedroom as soon as she heard me coming. It was going to be a long
night.

Isaac Nazir
The Lamia Enclave

It ended up
being a long night for reasons I hadn't anticipated. Celeste didn't
give me any more grief, but my dreams were so vivid that I felt like
I never actually got to sleep. More dreams where I was fighting. They
lasted all night and I slept for more than eight hours, which had to
be some kind of record for a shape shifter.

I'd needed
every minute of it though, because battling lamias, werewolves and
other hybrids isn't the kind of thing that leaves you feeling
refreshed afterwards, even when it's just happening inside of a
dream. Surprisingly, I seemed to be fully recovered from all of the
effects of the fight with Onyx, which had to be a side effect of
having slept for so long.

Under other
circumstances I would have missed the extra free time that I'd lost
by sleeping so much, but that didn't bother me as much inside of the
enclave. There wasn't much to do other than talk, sleep or fight, so
it was actually kind of nice to spend more of each day unconscious.

Even so, I was
starting to get a little worried by how much I was sleeping.
Hopefully it was just a side effect of all of the weird time and
space manipulation that was an inherent part of being inside of the
enclave.

It wasn't until
I stepped into the shower that I realized that I hadn't spent the
whole night fighting, or rather that I hadn't been
just
fighting. Bits and pieces of the conversation with Rachel had played
through my head too.

It had left me
with a weird collage of memories. A werewolf coming at me while
Rachel asked me which Isaac I was. A lamia sticking its claws into my
gut as Rachel told me that it was okay to kill a dragon even if it
hadn't hurt me yet. Even as the water ran down my body it still felt
like Rachel's words were still playing through my mind. Not the
memory of our conversation, but the actual conversation, happening
again and again.

It was
surprisingly disturbing.

I'd expected to
find Jax and Celeste both waiting for me. I didn't expect to see Set
likewise waiting for me to leave the shower.

"Greeting,
Isaac Nazir. I'm afraid that it is time for another challenge if you
all wish to stay here."

I opened my
mouth to tell him that we were leaving, but the words stuck in my
throat. I heard Rachel's voice in my head again, but I couldn't
remember what she'd told me. It was all mixed up for me now, but the
one thing that kept coming through was that I had a choice.

That was what
I'd been missing all of this time. I had a choice. I'd always had a
choice; I just hadn't always been willing to live with the
consequences of some of the paths available to me.

If we left now,
it would mean that Set might be able to talk himself out of a
challenge. If we stayed and I killed another one of his men, then it
would almost certainly mean that he'd end up fighting Pal, and he
would lose.

There was
another option, but even just a couple of days ago I probably
wouldn't have been willing to take it. I was ready now.

"Set, if
Pal was out of the picture, if he was dead, would anyone else
challenge you for the position of first consort?"

"What do
you mean, Isaac Nazir?"

"Please
just answer the question. Are any of the others likely to try and
kill you if Pal is out of the picture?"

"No, Isaac
Nazir. There is only one other remaining consort other than Pal and
me. I do not believe that Rast will challenge if Pal is not around to
stir things up."

"And how
much would the loss of Pal impact your ability to keep the enclave
hidden?"

"It would
reduce the time that we can safely shelter you by a day or two. We
lamias are only able to do so much to mask your presence. Mostly the
length of time you can be hidden is a function of the…reservoir."

I nodded. I'd
hoped that his answer would be something like that. It was only
logical given that Pal was ready to kill Set. He wouldn't have been
considering that course of action if the loss of another consort
would result in the enclave instantly being found by the Consumed.

"I know
that I've been having you pick out my opponents, but is it still
permissible for me to pick out my own opponent if I so desire."

Set shook his
head. "Isaac Nazir, please don't do this."

It seemed
impossible for Set not to have realized where my line of questioning
was headed. Maybe he'd known all along but just not wanted to admit
it to himself. He knew now.

"That's a
yes, then. Set, I accept the challenge but I would select Pal as my
opponent."

Celeste was at
my side, but I didn't remember her crossing the length of the room to
get there.

"Isaac,
what are you thinking? The consorts are a whole different ball game
than fighting a worker. Pal won't be able to use his venom, but
that's not going to matter. If he's looking at challenging Set then
he's got to be their number two fighter."

"Yeah, I
figured as much."

"You don't
have to do this. You've made your point. Let's go back to New Orleans
and call your friend."

Even through
all of the anger and disappointment she was still concerned about me.
Even if her actions hadn't said as much, I still would have been able
to see it in her breathtaking gray eyes. I wanted to tell her the
truth, that Alec hadn't called me back, that he wasn't going to come
save us, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her.

Alec was mad at
me, but that didn't mean that he was a bad person. There was still a
chance that he'd change his mind, and even if he didn't, I wasn't
going to let the fact that he and I had been fighting ruin Celeste's
opinion of him.

If the worst
came to pass and I died at Pal's hands, then I wanted Celeste to
accept Alec's help when he came around offering her his friendship.
It was the only real chance that she and her people had, but she was
stubborn enough to turn him away if she thought that he was the
reason that I'd died.