Nicole Peeler - [Jane True 01] (40 page)

I found myself in another of the Alfar Compound’s interminable hallways.
This one was narrow and lined with dark stone, and only a few doorways appeared
to interrupt its flow. I gave my eyes a moment to adjust to the lack of light
before I set off down the hall. After a few seconds I heard a noise that gave
me pause, until I realized that the sound was one of my own making. I was
crying—all of tonight’s various shocks reverberating uncontrollably through my
system. But as long as I kept walking, I decided not to worry about the tears.

Which meant I never heard my attacker’s footsteps. One minute I was
walking forward, the next I was pinned up against the wall, a hand around my
throat crushing the breath from me.

Oh nuts,
I thought, as everything went gray.
I should have
seen that coming.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

J
arl was
definitely not happy with me.

“You bitch,” Jarl hissed, his face broken with grief. “You stupid
half-breed bitch. You’ve ruined
everything
.” He was almost sobbing.

He really loved them
, my analytical self observed.
Ryu was
wrong. Jarl genuinely considered the nagas his children. And Ryu and I are
responsible for their deaths.

Overwhelming my analysis of tonight’s events, however, was my body’s
response to the fact that it was about to die. Jarl was not content with merely
suffocating me; he was slowly increasing the pressure on my windpipe, watching
my eyes as he approached the point where he crushed the life from my body. He
was going to enjoy every second of my death.

My vision was fading as the pain in my throat increased. I wish I could
say that my life flashed before my eyes, or that I saw a vision of our maker,
or that I had some other kind of epiphany about the meaning of life.
Perversity, however, seems to be my middle name, and all I could think of was
how
exactly Wally had kept all that stuff in his pants. Especially the swords.
Surely that was dangerous.

Just before everything went black, a shadow flashed in my peripheral
vision and Jarl suddenly released me. I sat down with a
whoosh
, as
oxygen flooded my system. Breathing through my crushed throat was agony, but
pain wasn’t going to quell my body’s need for air. I felt myself slide down the
wall, till I was lying on my side. I could see Jarl’s booted feet and huge paws
dancing around in front of me as my vision came and went. One second everything
was black, and then the lights went up and the boots were dangerously near my
face, before everything went black again. Then the paws were between me and the
boots, then they were shimmering, and everything went black. Suddenly there
were two pairs of feet, one pair booted and the other bare, until darkness
again whisked me away. A flurry of sound brought back the light, and I thought
I saw Jarl flying through the air to land with a resounding crash against the
wall. Then everything was black again, but I could feel someone easing me up to
a seated position. Hands were at my throat, but gently this time, and a voice
that sounded like it was underwater was telling me to hold still, that he’d
make it better. Warmth suffused my system, and my vision returned enough for me
to register a blurry face in front of mine. I closed my eyes in relief as my
agony receded, my brain scrambling to catch up with events.

Jarl
, it reminded me, with a kick, and I looked over to
where the Alfar was still lying against the wall. I blinked and whimpered when
I saw his huddled form twitch.

“Shit,” the voice cursed, obviously seeing what I was seeing. Where the
stranger’s hands were as gentle as a mother’s, his voice was as rough as a
dog’s growl. “We’re going to have to finish this later, Jane. Let’s get you
somewhere safe.”

Strong arms picked me up and flung me over a wide shoulder. I struggled,
finally registering that I had no idea who this man was. I thought I recognized
the voice, but what I thought I recognized wasn’t possible.

“Keep still,” the man growled, gently. “Until we get you out of here.”

I know you
, an eighth of my brain argued, while
another eighth told me I was nuts. The last three-quarters were still reeling
from my near-death experience.

Suddenly, my addled mind comprehended that the guy holding me was
completely naked and, with the way he was carrying me, I had a good view of a
rather splendid backside. He’d picked up the pace till he was trotting, and we
were bumping through the Compound at an impressive speed. Which meant that I’d
slipped down, somewhat, so he was holding my thighs tight over his shoulder and
I’d come nose to cheek with a single formidable buttock.

Trust no one
, Ryu’s voice again reminded me, just as we
went through a set of doors and into the cold air of the night. The evening’s
chill and the burst of fresh oxygen crashed through my system, enflaming my
senses and putting my own consciousness firmly back into the driver’s seat.

I began to struggle in earnest, still unsure of the intent of the
buck-naked stranger. He’d saved me from Jarl, but for what purpose? Why hadn’t
he put me down, or brought me back to Ryu? Panic rose as my body managed to
dredge up another burst of adrenaline from somewhere. Staring at the muscles
rippling in front of my face, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision. I wanted
down, and I wanted down
now
. So I bit, hard, at the first thing my teeth
found—which was, of course, the vulnerable keister of my captor.

The man roared, and I slipped precipitously toward the ground. I could
see from the Celtic mosaic that we were in the little courtyard right beside
the grotto. Swearing like a sailor, the man caught me just before I crashed
into the very painful looking cobblestones. Strong arms pulled my legs down his
chest, till he could get his hands around my waist. He pulled me off his
shoulder and sat me down against a wall, where I stared up at him mutinously.
He was standing with his back to me, twisted around so that he could peer at
his own backside. Where I saw, to my pleasure, a rather perfect set of teeth
indented in his smooth flesh. A dentist could have taken a molding from his
ass, I’d bitten him so hard.

“Jesus, Jane,” the gravelly voice swore, as he rubbed at the bite marks
with his hand. “You nearly broke the skin.” His stormy gray eyes met mine. “And
human bites are the
worst
,” he said as my brain went into overdrive.

“You
bastard
,” I choked, finally. Talking hurt but I was so angry
I didn’t care. “You’re supposed to be a
dog
.”

Anyan looked at me, apparently as confused as I was. “You knew what I
was,” he said, defensively. “I told you I was a barghest.”

My eyes nearly rolled out of my head. “What am I, a supernatural
encyclopedia?” I coughed, the effort of speaking finally getting the better of
me. But I was so angry I forced myself to continue. “I thought,” I started, but
it was too much. My throat up and quit on me as I was racked with pain.

Anyan knelt beside me in a flash, his large hands again enfolding my
neck. “Shush, you,” he murmured. “Keep still. Let me heal you properly. Your
windpipe was nearly crushed.”

I gave him my most baleful stare, even as I felt his hands again emit
that gentle warmth that I knew meant a release from pain. He was carefully
stroking his thumbs over my windpipe, examining me. Finally satisfied that I
wasn’t going to keel over and die, he deigned to meet my hostile gaze. But when
I saw the concern in his eyes, my anger melted away.

He was still healing me and I couldn’t yet talk, so I had a chance to
study him. He looked somehow familiar, but not in the anxiety-inducing way
Jimmu had. In his human form, Anyan was like someone I’d known in a dream. It
was a strange sensation, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. I examined his face, so
close to mine. His hair was the same color as his fur had been, and equally
wild and long. It poofed out in loose, wiry curls that fell just past his high
cheekbones. His features were very strong—a long, prominent nose that was quite
crooked, a wide mouth with full lips, and an angular jaw. His eyes were large
and expressive, but that description fit every bit of him. If he’d been a big
dog, he was a huge man. He must be well over six feet tall, and his hands met
easily around my neck. He could have crushed my head like a grape.

I know you
, I thought at him. For a second, I thought
I knew where from, but then the memory faded again. I concentrated, staring
intently into his gray eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said, finally. “I didn’t mean to deceive you. You seemed
to know what I meant when I told you I was a barghest.”

I smiled at him, ruefully. “Roald Dahl,” I eventually managed to wheeze.

He stared at me for a second, before comprehension dawned on his face. “
The
Witches?
” he asked, with a laugh. “My god, woman. No wonder you looked
worried.” He chuckled—a rich, dark sound—and his laugh reverberated through his
hands and into my body. “Don’t worry, that’s not an accurate description.”

I raised my eyebrow, and he smiled, understanding me. “We’re two-formeds,
like your mother. Human-formed and dog-formed, obviously. But with extra big
teeth and paws,” he said, smiling at me to reveal slightly elongated canines.
He didn’t show me his hands, but I was very much aware of how big those were,
considering they were wrapped around my throat.

We sat in silence for a few more seconds until he slowly released my
neck. In the meantime, I was being very careful to keep my eyes away from his
crotch. I couldn’t deal with checking out a guy whose adorable fuzzy ears I had
been scratching just a few days before.

“How does it feel?” he asked. I cleared my throat experimentally,
feeling only the slightest tickle. I extended my experiment to a cough, happy
when there was no pain.

“Much better,” I said, finally. My voice was raw, but that was about the
only evidence left over of my run-in with Jarl. That and utter exhaustion. I
felt like I’d run five marathons in a row and I knew I was minutes away from
total systems failure. I think I was also in shock.

“Good,” he said, his hand going to my chin so that he could study my
face. I studied him right back, my memory dancing forward and back, teasing me.

“Ryu should never have brought you here,” he said, his rough voice
mournful. “It was too soon.”

I was exhausted, on edge, and now Anyan had reminded me that I was still
worried about Ryu’s safety. Hearing those words meant I had two choices: I was
either going to flip out or start crying hysterically. I chose the former.

“I am
not
a child, you big mutt,” I said rancorously, all of
tonight’s frustration aimed squarely at Anyan’s hairy chest. “Just because I’m
a halfling doesn’t mean I’m weak, or unworthy, or stupid. I have handled
everything your fucked-up Court has thrown at me, and I’ve survived.” I
reconsidered that statement. “Barely,” I admitted, “but I
did
survive.
So stop treating me like some lower species. Dog breath.” I added, after a
moment, rather lowering the tone of my spur-of-the-moment speech.

My words obviously stole his thunder, and he sat down next to me heavily.
He didn’t speak, at a loss for words.

“I never meant that,” he said, eventually. “I’ve
never
thought
you were pathetic and I don’t consider you half of anything.” His voice was
sad, the tone so familiar yet unidentifiable that I wanted to scream. “You’re
Jane,” he concluded, “and that’s enough.” He looked over at me, his face
shadowed but his eyes still visible.

Of course…

“You were my invisible friend,” I heard myself say.

He frowned, looking guilty.

“When I was in the hospital, after Jason died. You came to me. We talked
and you told me everything would be all right. You told me stories and held my
hand while I slept.” Once I said those words, I knew I was right. And his
expression proved it, no matter how crazy I sounded.

“I visited you,” he admitted. “I couldn’t leave you alone in that place.
We—Nell and I—felt guilty about Jason’s death.” He thought about his next words
before continuing. “That cove, it’s ours, you know. We keep it hidden for our
own use, otherwise it would just be taken over by local kids, but you saw
through our glamour. We didn’t make it strong enough. You brought Jason there
and we knew we should have sealed it up. But you were both so young and so
innocent, and you’d been through such hard times. So we let you use it, and you
were comfortable there. Too comfortable,” he added, remorsefully. “If we hadn’t
let you use that cove, you would have been more circumspect about your
swimming. And if you’d been more wary, Jason would be alive.” He shook his
head, sadly. “I’m sorry, Jane. It’s our fault he died.”