Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel (35 page)

“What?” the woman asked, sounding resigned.

“Don’t worry about. I’ll handle it,” the leader’s voice was brisk.

“But…”

“Leave it to me,” she repeated firmly.

The woman hesitated, then nodded.

“Allie, be reasonable,” Jess said patiently.

“I am being reasonable,” Allie shot back, knowing that she didn’t sound reasonable at all. She stretched and threw back the covers, shivering slightly in the open air, but resolved to get up and get dressed for work before he could talk her out of going.

“I will be done within a few hours, by lunchtime at the latest,” he said, running his hand down her side, trying to distract her. It was a good plan. She hesitated, sitting up in the bed. It was already getting late and she knew that he had to get going as well or he would not get to the Outpost in time for his meeting. The Elven Guard had been extremely hectic since finding Jenny and losing the suspect and he had meetings at the Outpost and at the police station both the day before and planned throughout the day today. She wasn’t technically under Guard or in protective custody but Jess had been at her side whenever he wasn’t in one of these meetings and while he wouldn’t admit it she suspected that it was on the theory that the killer might go after her. She thought that was highly unlikely; while she had seen him his identity was no longer a secret and not only had his apartment provided a treasure trove of forensic evidence but preliminary DNA tied him to all three of the dead girls in the woods. He had no reason to go after Allie and she was, at this point, superfluous to the investigation.

“I can’t go with you to the Outpost and hang around all morning. I have a store to run. Business has actually been going well lately, and I have bills to pay,” she insisted, as his mouth replaced his hand. She tried to twist away only to find herself pinned on her back, blinking up in surprise at him. He grinned widely, amused by her expression.

“
Maybe I’ll just keep you here in bed all morning and you’ll be too tired to go anywhere until my business is done,”
he thought at her, his words as mischievous as his hands.

She refused to give in that easily. But she couldn’t deny he was making it very difficult to concentrate. She decided to hit back with something that was almost certain to ruin his mood. “
Bleidd will take me into work today, since the police still haven’t finished with my car. And I won’t be alone so you don’t need to worry
.”

He growled at the mention of the other elf’s name, grabbing her wrists and holding her hands above her head. One hand held her wrists and the other wandered across her torso. She started to think that she should have waited to have this conversation until they were both dressed.
Dressed and downstairs eating breakfast
, she thought her body betraying her despite her best efforts to act unmoved by his attentions. She squirmed helplessly, then decided to turn the tables on him and see how he liked it, changing her helpless squirming into intentional writhing. He groaned and clamped his mouth down over hers. She lost herself in the emotions entirely and forgot what they had been arguing about…

Afterwards she lay in his arms, her breathing slowing, his heartbeat in her ear, and she wished that there was some way that they could both stay here. She was afraid to even mention it though, because with the odd mood he’d been in he might just decide to take her up on it and she would not let herself be the reason he got into any trouble with the Guard. She already worried about the strings he may have been pulling to get permission to stay with her so much. So she carefully shielded her thoughts and enjoyed the moment as long as she dared before forcing herself to sit up again.

“We are both going to be late if we don’t hurry now,” she said reluctantly.

He sighed, “I suppose we must. Will you come with me today?”

She leaned forward and kissed him gently, “I can’t, love, you know I can’t.”

To her surprise he smiled, his expression lighting up, “Do you know that’s the first time you have ever called me your love?”

She blushed slightly and tried to look away, but he caught her chin and held her face where he could see it. He sat up as well, leaning into her and kissing her forehead, “I like it very much. And I suppose I cannot dissuade you from the course you have set.”

“You made a heroic effort,” she said and then couldn’t help giggling.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. And I suppose as well that I will have to trust your life to Morighent,” he sighed.

“You know he doesn’t like that name,” she said, feeling a bit like she was refereeing between school children.

“Good, I shall try to use it more often,” he smirked, his mood far more serious than his words.

“Jess,” she rolled her eyes, “that’s not very nice.”

“Come on then, let us go before we are unforgivably late,” he said, ignoring her comment.

She climbed out of her now very messy bed, deciding not to worry about trying to put it back together – she wasn’t even sure where the pillows had ended up – and grabbed a t-shirt and jeans. She threw the clothes on the bed and dug around for underwear and a bra, ignoring Jess’s disapproving look. She couldn’t deny that her life had taken a strong turn towards elven ways since she’d started dating – courting her mind automatically corrected – Jess, but there were some aspects of human culture that were too ingrained for her to ever willingly give up. Bras fell solidly in that category, despite her occasional willingness to forgo them for him.

Safely dressed she hurried downstairs to grab some breakfast. As she started down the hall she realized that Jess was not following her, and stopped, turning back towards the door. He smiled ruefully, “I am already late. I must go now and try to find a clever explanation for my tardiness that doesn’t involve the truth.”

Allie couldn’t hold back a giggle, despite her guilt over getting him in trouble, and jogged back to him, leaning up on her toes to kiss him quickly. “Go then, and I will see you later.”

“Do not doubt it,” he whispered, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back to kiss her far more thoroughly.

Finally she pushed him away, gasping for air, “Go already!”

Laughing in that light way the elves had he slipped out the door. Allie shook her head and turned back to the kitchen again. When she walked into the room she found Bleidd sitting at the table drinking coffee, his expression brooding. She went over to get herself a mug and then reluctantly went and sat with him. The tension was palpable.

“Good morning,” she said softly, sipping her drink.

He stared at her, then sighed, “Is it? I suppose that’s a matter of perspective.”

She resisted the urge to throw her coffee cup at him, taking another long sip instead. Part of her wanted to say something accommodating, to try to sooth his ruffled feelings and sort out what had put him in an off mood, but the rest of her was too tired. “Jason is working 1
st
shift today. I was hoping you could bring me in to work, but if it’s too much of an inconvenience let me know so I can call a cab.”

He was not at all amused by that, “As if I would let you go off alone. At the rate your week is going you’d get yourself killed before lunch.”

“If I called a cab,” she replied stiffly, annoyed at being spoken to like a walking disaster even if she felt like one, “I would not by definition be alone.”

He rubbed his eyes. “When do we leave?”

“As soon as we’re done with the coffee would be good, if that works.”

“I am at your disposal,” he said as if that were some kind of private joke.

“Okay, what is up with you today?” she said frowning over her cup.

“I have no idea what you are referring to,” he said.

“I mean why are you acting like you’re mad at me? What did I do to you?”

“You have done nothing to me, despite my best efforts to encourage you,” he replied lightly.

“Bleidd, I’m serious. Why are you giving me a hard time? If you don’t want to go with me today…”

“I would go with you whether you wanted me to or not,” he cut in.

“Then what is it?”

“Perhaps I am consumed with worry that you seem to be on a mission to embrace your own destruction,” he said, looking down into his own cup. “Perhaps I am tired of constantly seeing Jessilaen around here, spending most of his time in your bedroom. Perhaps I simply feel something in the air today that makes me certain that blood is going to be spilled and I do not want it to be yours but I am all too well aware that you are too stubborn to stay home.”

She blinked at all of that, unable to form a coherent response. Finally he stood up, still looking tense and said, “Come on then. Let us go and see what trouble you can get into today.”

“That’s not fair,” she said stiffly.

“No I don’t suppose it is,” he agreed. “If not for you that missing girl would probably have died by now, and Jason would surely be unemployed. But you have to understand Allie that it is impossible for me to stand by and watch you keep coming so close to such dangerous things. One of these times you will not walk away.”

“I’ve already been down that road,” she pointed out.

They walked out towards his car, stopping to lock the door behind them. Finally he spoke again, as if there had not been an awkward pause in the conversation, “And you seem to have no idea how lucky you were to survive that. You should have died that night. And I am afraid that the next time you will not be so lucky.”

They walked over to his small black car, which was parked directly in front of the house. Allie opened the passenger side door before answering, “I get what you’re saying, really I do. I know you care about me…”

“I love you Allie,” he interrupted, sliding into the driver’s seat with practiced ease, “Let’s not minimize that now by saying I care, as if caring and love were equal things. I care about living here, but it’s not essential to my life. I love you. You are essential to my life.”

She clipped her seat belt, saying nothing. After a moment, as he started the car and pulled out onto the street he finally spoke again, “Does it upset you so much to hear me say that?”

“What do you want me to say?” she muttered, looking out her window. “It makes me feel bad to hear you talk of loving me so much when I’m with someone else.”

“If you do not love me Allie then tell me plainly that you do not,” he said, his voice angry. “Because it would be more of a mercy than leaving me to always sit and watch you with him, wishing it was me in his place.”

She winced. “If I could tell you that and have you go on and live a happy life I would.”

“But you can’t” he pressed.

“You know I can’t,” she whispered. “Even though I should. Gods know if I could tell one lie in all my life I would tell you that I didn’t love you.”

“It’s such a paradox Allie that if only you were more elven in your approach to these things it would not matter, because he and I could both find a place with you, and yet it’s your humanity that is part of what I love,” he said sadly.

“You know there’s polyamorous humans too,” she sighed. The car was turning off onto the side street next to the road her store was on.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing. They pulled into the parking lot of the store and he parked next to the back door. The tension was still sharp when they got out, Allie fumbling with her keys to find the one to unlock the door.

She stepped up to the door, hating feeling so uncomfortable around him. He stepped up with her, one hand on her shoulder. She tried to think of something to say to fix things, but she just couldn’t give him what he wanted without compromising her own principles. Even if she was making both of them miserable. All three of them really since Jess also hated the way she was unable to flatly refuse Bleidd. She reached up with her free hand and ran her fingers through her hair, fighting the urge to pull a chunk of it out.

There was a sound like a loud firecracker and almost simultaneously she felt a sharp, burning pain lance through her left arm. She jerked her arm down and in towards her body. At the same time she felt Bleidd’s emotions swing wildly from anger to fear and panic, then his full weight was hitting her pulling her down. She fell with him to the ground next to the steps, stunned.

His body was pinning her to the ground, the concrete steps close to her side. The gravel that lined the verge between the building and the asphalt bit into her face and arms. She twisted around working her way out from under him, her brain finally grasping that the sound had been a gunshot. Struggling to her knees, she found Bleidd unconscious, bleeding profusely from a single shot just below his right shoulder. Completely panicked, she rolled him over, struggling to move him.

The exit wound was worse than the entrance, a gaping hole in his chest. She could hear a terrible sound every time he tried to draw a breath, a bubbling gurgle, and the amount of blood he was losing was terrifying. “
Jess!”
Allie screamed in her mind, heedless of everything but the fact that Bleidd was dying in front of her.
“Help! Bleidd has been shot I don’t know what to do!
” Even as she thought it she yanked her cell phone out, dialed 911 and dropped the phone. Jason had told her once if they received an open call they’d send a car even if no one was on the other end. She hoped it was true.

Jess’s voice blazed into her mind, furious, “
Where are you? How badly is he hurt?
”